MSI 2022 ended over a week ago, but the echoes of this event still linger. There are many reasons, but they all revolve around the final match between Royal Never Give Up and T1. These two teams were seen as strong contenders for the championship before the tournament began. As a result, RNG defeated T1 after 5 intense games, successfully defending their MSI championship title.
However, while RNG’s championship victory was convincing and not much to discuss, T1’s defeat has been dissected extensively. Many reasons were provided by the LCK representatives to justify the loss, but they can be summarized: T1 did not perform as well as RNG, and Faker and his teammates’ loss in game 5 was simply an inevitable consequence of being outclassed by the LPL representatives from the start.
Recently, player data from MSI 2022 was released, and it provided even more reason to believe that T1’s failure fundamentally stemmed from the players themselves. Specifically, RNG dominated almost all impressive statistics, from KDA (Wei, GALA), vision score (Ming), to winning 2v2 skirmishes in the bot lane (GALA – Ming). Notably, in terms of solo kills and damage dealt, Xiaohu only lagged behind Zeus.
As for T1, Zeus was the standout player for the team at MSI 2022. He ranked first in solo kills, damage dealt, and gold differential at the 15-minute mark. Additionally, T1 topped another statistic, although this one was not desirable. Specifically, the bot lane duo of T1, Gumayusi – Keria, had the highest number of 2v2 skirmish losses in the tournament (16 times). They even surpassed the bot duo from the VCS, Shogun – Taki (only 13 times).
Another interesting point is that, with their aggressive playstyle, Shogun – Taki ranked second among bot lane duos for the most 2v2 wins, just behind GALA – Ming. This is an impressive statistic that clearly showcases the talent of this duo at MSI 2022.
However, it is evident that the duo Gumayusi – Keria did not have a truly successful MSI, especially Gumayusi. Despite being highly anticipated and allocated many resources, he did not perform well. At one point, Gumayusi was even considered a weakness for T1, causing the team a lot of difficulties, even against strong opponents or teams perceived as weaker, such as PSG Talon or Saigon Buffalo.