Perhaps for many T1 fans, the team’s struggle at MSI 2024 was unexpected. While it is known that this tournament brings together champions and runners-up from the Major regions, the level of competition is undoubtedly intense. However, T1’s difficulties with the meta shifts and the mental and injury issues surrounding Faker were unforeseen. Therefore, the loss to Bilibili Gaming in the lower bracket finals was somewhat predictable, especially considering BLG and Gen.G were the two teams that performed almost perfectly at MSI this year.
However, for many fans, the reality is that not every T1 player performed poorly at MSI this year. Excluding Faker, who was still suffering from a lingering injury and was constantly targeted by opponents regarding his comfort picks (as seen with BLG always dedicating their first two bans to Azir and Orianna in all five recent matches), the other players had contrasting performances. Among them, Gumayusi and Oner are considered to be the two players with the most stable and even explosive performances for T1 at MSI this time.
But there is one name that clearly has not shown the skills and form that made him famous. That is Keria. MSI 2024 can be considered one of the tournaments where he performed the worst, even while using champions that made him famous. The bright spots for Keria may only be his games with Ashe, Tahm Kench, or the recent unexpected Triple Kill with Nautilus. However, in the decisive game 5, Keria was completely ineffective. Even in the previous match against BLG, in game 4, Keria with Renata only used Renata’s ultimate once in a defensive situation at the bottom lane. Of course, at that point, everything was meaningless.
Besides Keria, another player, Zeus, has also been rated as having very low performance. SofM even stated that Zeus had a phase that felt like he was just “playing to fill the quota.” Zeus also failed to completely counter Bin in the lower bracket finals. And clearly, the 2004-born player seems to shine only when his team has a significant advantage.
In the past, it could be said that players faced psychological issues. But currently, this is a lineup that has won the World Championship together and has experienced ups and downs. No one understands why players who normally perform well are now facing numerous issues. Not adapting to the meta is one thing, but perhaps the pressures weighing down on the T1 players have caused them to adopt a “fear of losing” mentality, resulting in the visible consequences in their performance.