On Sunday, August 21, one of the major highlights in League of Legends of 2022 took place. In the semi-finals of the playoffs in South Korea, Faker’s team, T1, faced the reigning vice-world champion DWG KIA, with Faker’s heir, Showmaker. The match was as thrilling as one could expect. More than a million people watched the battle of giants simultaneously: It was about the qualification for the LoL Worlds 2022.
What was the match about? It was the semi-final of the South Korean playoffs:
- The winner of the match secured a spot in the final against Gen G. and a ticket to the Worlds 2022.
- The loser was eliminated but still had a chance to qualify for the Worlds 2022 in Mexico and the USA through the “Regional Qualifiers.”
LoL: T1 is no longer just Faker and crew – the 19-year-old is now the star
Which teams were fighting? T1 is the team around the legendary mid-laner Faker, who became world champion three times but has been waiting for title number four for five years. In 2017, Ambition with Samsung Galaxy got in his way, and since then, Faker has not managed to secure another Worlds title.
T1 is no longer unconditionally Faker’s team, as the bot lane with wonderkid Keria (Support) and the bot laner Gumayusi is dominating. With Oner and Zeus, they also have strong players in jungle and top lane.
However, jungler Oner has been in the headlines recently because T1’s CEO, Joe Marsh, made comments about his body, which he quickly regretted.
DWG KIA has perhaps the best jungler and mid duo in the world, but is that enough?
Their opponents, DWG Kia, were actually the big deal in South Korea for the last two years. They became world champions in 2020 and made it to the finals in 2021.
In 2022, however, they lost three players, including their excellent supporter, the anime waifu lover Beryl. They seem weaker now.
DWG KIA probably has the best mid-laner in the world with Showmaker – and an extremely strong jungler with Canyon. This might be the best 1-2 combo in LoL.
A controversial position at DWG KIA is the top lane: there they have Nuguri, a player who had already reached the highest level and was predicted a bright future.
However, he is currently not playing regularly: he has been replaced by Burdol, an 18-year-old. The team’s coach, Daeny, is regularly criticized for this decision. Fans are even calling for his head.
The 29-year-old Coach Daeny, who calls himself ‘God of LoL’, is quite an intriguing figure, having also spent 8 months at T1 – that did not go well at all.
DWG Kia made it to the match with the help of a bug.
How did the match go? It indeed became the expected showdown, culminating in a match 5:
- T1 won the first two matches. Jungler Oner on Trundle was named Player of the Game 1, with 7-1-9. Faker received the award in Match 2 with Sylas. Both matches lasted only 25 minutes each.
- DWG KIA won Match 3 (with Nuguri) and Match 4 (again with Burdol). Canyon took the “Player of the Game” title both times with Morgana (1-0-14) and Wukong (1-1-10).
Everything led up to Game 5.
T1 plays a slowly torturous game with Yuumi and Zeri in Match 5
This was the decision: In Game 5, T1 went to the extreme: they played what is currently considered the “most hated combo” in LoL:
- ADC Gumayusi played Zeri
- Keria used the cat “Yuumi”.
The support champion “Yuumi” is so hated due to her parasitic playstyle that pro player Jankos is calling for to completely remove her from LoL due to “disgustingness”.
Gumayusi decided the match with Zeri at 5-0-4. Keria achieved 0-0-10 on Yuumi.
Match 5 was rather a disappointment for the fans: it lasted 42 minutes, and there were no kills in the first 25 minutes of the game.
“Should be a criminal act”
How is the match commented on? On reddit, the hate against “Yuumi/Zeri” prevails in the comments. People do not understand how DWG KIA could leave these champions to T1:
People say: “Allowing them to have Yuumi and Zeri in Game 5 of the playoffs should be a criminal act.”
Furthermore, it is not understood why Damwon KIA replaced Nuguri again after winning Game 3 with him.
How many people watched the match? It doesn’t get much better than T1 against DWG Kia in LoL. According to the site Esports Charts, the game peaked at 1,013,992 simultaneous viewers, the most-watched game of the LCK in this split, and one of the record games in LoL history (via dotesports).
Even more people will likely watch the final between T1 and Gen G.
How big LoL will get in the coming months when the Worlds start can be seen by looking at “real record numbers in LoL”:
LoL: 3.5 million at peak watching what is probably the best match of the year.
