Korea Roars to Life: T1 smites down LNG in Worlds 2023 Quarterfinals
When all hope seems dim in Busan, look no further. T1 refuses to exit Worlds 2023 without a say. LNG Esports have been eliminated from Worlds 2023 contention in the Quarterfinals. The 3rd seed from the LPL suffered a dominant clean sweep at the hands of T1, ending their run for the year. Despite coming into the tournament as the dark horse team, LNG were not able to show their true strength on the Quarterfinals stage.
What Went Wrong for LNG?
Underperformance. The issues for LNG can be summarized into one bitter word to swallow - underperformance. This issue stretches from the drafting phases of the series, in which T1 outperformed and outdrafted LNG massively, to in-game, where the individual players of LNG, the stars, did not show on the day.
Coming into the Quarterfinals and the series, many agreed on LNG’s strengths. Their mid-jungle combo of Lee “Scout” Ye-chan and Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong had proved lethal all year-long. However, in this series, many familiar with their performances noted that the pair had performed below their usual standard.
While Chen “GALA” Wei was performing fairly close to his standard, his lane partner, Fu “Hang” Ming-Hang had a difficult time in the series. His pocket pick of Blitzcrank in Game 1 was completely negated by T1’s brilliant draft pivot into Nilah. His Rakan in Game 2 saw little use in lane against a double poke draft of Ashe-Varus. In Game 3, he was on Milio duty, where he was the receiving target of Choi “Zeus” Woo-je’s Jayce barrage.
While for most of the year, these duo combos of LNG have been their premier staples, in this series, it showed in an insufficient amount to contest the mechanical and strategic advantages T1 brought on the day.
Underdogs
Despite coming in as the 3rd seed from the LPL, LNG actually finished the Summer Playoffs as the runner up to JDG. However, coming into Worlds, expectations were extremely high for JD Gaming and Gen.G. For the former, they had just won MSI 2023 in London. They had also won the LPL Summer Playoffs.
The LPL has slowly been building this reputation of a massive goliath, filled with numerous strong players and teams. So, when a team comes around in the LPL that is comprised of many such players, it turns heads. JD Gaming is such a project. And thus, coming into Worlds, in the form they look, many naturally edge most of the LPL’s chance to win on them.
On the other side was of course, Gen.G. Prince of the LCK and golden fair child. They represented the best Korea had to offer (on paper), with some of the most incredible names in the LCK, and a strong track record all year (including both LCK titles). However, unlike JDG, Gen.G, or more specifically, Chovy, had a nasty habit of choking in international events.
Coming back to it, with Gen.G and JDG at the forefront, the usual fanfare for T1 and G2, and some attention for BLG since they made the MSI finals, there were far fewer eyeballs on LNG coming in. But slowly and steadily, they made their way through the Swiss Stage cleanly, losing only to JDG.
Chance and Fated Meetings
Heading into this matchup, two primary storylines were emerging. The last LCK team standing. And the former trainee who went on to create a name for himself, returning now to face his former senior.
In the second storyline, it details “Scout”, former trainee for SK Telecom. “Scout” had begun his League of Legends career on SK Telecom, in 2015, as a trainee under Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. He would later move to the starting roster, as a substitute for “Faker” in the mid lane.
By 2016, despite a brief debut on SKT, “Scout” elected to join the LPL. He spent the next 7 years competing for EDward Gaming in China. In late 2021, EDG won Worlds, gracing “Scout” with the accolades of a world champion now. He left the roster at the end of 2022, joining the newly rebuilt LNG roster.
Despite having made Worlds numerous times, “Scout” had yet to face “Faker”, until Worlds 2023. In a video preview for the match, “Scout” spoke candidly about his desire to face “Faker” now, to show him how much he had improved since their last time.
Additionally, LNG’s ADC “GALA” also shares a bitter history with T1. At Worlds 2022, the last time he faced T1, the Korean powerhouse eliminated his team, RNG, in brutal 3-0 fashion as well, sending him home in the Quarterfinals.
The Last LCK Team Standing
As titled, T1 now remains as the final Korean representative at Worlds 2022, here in Korea. Meanwhile, three more LPL teams remain; BLG, Weibo, and JD Gaming. With China’s top seed on their side of the bracket, T1 will need to complete a Herculean task before even picturing the Grand Finals.
Worlds 2023 Knockout Stage can be watched on Twitch and YouTube. For the full list of streams in all available languages, check this link here. For any queries on the format or schedule, why not check out our handy all-in-one-guide?
Credit: LoL Esports Twitter