At League of Legends, the World Championships are taking place in South Korea, and so far it has been a victory march for the teams from China: The Chinese league LPL had put all 4 teams into the quarter-finals. On Sunday, 3 of them had already won their quarter-finals and were in the semi-finals of the LoL Worlds 2023. For South Korea, only one team was still upholding national pride on Sunday, November 5th: The legend Faker and his team T1.
That was the situation on Sunday:
- China had put 4 teams into the quarter-finals and dominated in the quarter-final matches: 3 teams were already in the semi-finals, even the No. 1 from South Korea, Gen G., had been defeated. For the teams from Europe, it was already over in the group stage.
- Only T1 with Faker was still in the tournament for South Korea and they had wavered a bit in the preliminary round. T1 had lost a game against Gen G.
- Now T1 had to face LNG Esports, the number 2 from China. Strongly staffed with top players like Tarzan (Jungle), Scout (Midlane) and GALA on the Botlane.
The disgrace loomed: A World Championship in South Korea where, starting from the semi-finals, only Chinese teams would play against each other. Could Faker avert the disgrace?
T1 Dominantly Defeats Chinese Top Team 3-0
How did the match go? It went for South Korea much better than one could have dreamed. T1 won clearly with 3-0.
Especially jungler Oner on Rell dominated the first two games. The 20-year-old died only once but got assist after assist on tank Rell. Top-laner Zeus also delivered two flawless games on Aatrox.
That T1 looked so dominant was all the more surprising because they had played miserably in the LCK for a long time while Faker was injured. Only since the 27-year-old has been back in the squad, things have been going well for the South Koreans.
Oner is a strange type for a South Korean LoL pro, who likes to pose half-naked on Instagram – the stark contrast to the rather shy Faker.
Jungler’s Solo-Kill on Poppy Puts T1 on the Winning Path
That was the decisive scene: In Game 3, LNG won the draft, and T1 showed up with a combo that the German expert Tolkin considered practically “unwinnable”, but in the match, everything went for T1: Once again it was Oner, who with Poppy brought his team onto the winning path.
Oner was able to kill the opposing jungler Tarzan, himself an elite player, solo in the jungle by throwing him against a wall with Poppy. He thus led his team onto the winning path. However, at the beginning of the duel, Oner actually looked like the clearly inferior player.
The “Greatest of All Time”, Faker, played a support role with Azir and prepared many team fights for T1 so intelligently that Gumayusi, a distant nephew of Faker, only had to finish it off. Top-laner Zeus contributed 6 kills on Jayce.
Even Game 3, which seemed to run so against T1 during the draft, was surprisingly won clearly with 13-3. Much to the delight of the fans in Busan.
Semi-Finals Against Favorites from China Likely to Decide Tournament Victory
What’s next: T1 will have to face JD Gaming in a kind of distorted final in the semi-finals; they have dominated the Worlds so far. The match will take place on Sunday, November 12.
JG Gaming is considered the absolute uber-team in League of Legends in 2023 and was the heavy favorite to win the championship according to bookmakers before the tournament started. They have knight (23) in the team, someone whom many consider to be the currently best midlaner in the world, as well as Ruler and Kanavi, two strong mercenaries from South Korea.
In the final, they will face the remaining opponent from China. Whoever wins on Sunday will likely enter the final as the clear favorite.
The appeal of Oner has already caused the boss of T1 some serious trouble:
