South Korea, the host country of the 2023 League of Legends World Championship, is down to its last representative. Despite a challenging year in 2023, T1 and Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok found their form at Worlds in Busan.
The Korean fan favorites defeated the Chinese team LNG Esports 3-0 in their quarterfinal match on Sunday. The series was one-sided, with T1 winning all three games in under 30 minutes each.
With the win, the team earned a spot in the semifinals for the eighth time in the tournament's history. This is the first time since 2014 that a South Korean team has reached the Worlds semifinals. T1 is closer to matching Samsung White's accomplishment of winning Worlds on home soil.
The LoL Champions Korea (LCK) is widely considered to be the best League of Legends region in the world. However, the LoL Pro League (LPL) has significantly improved in recent years and is now at the top of the scene. At Worlds 2023, three of the four teams remaining in the semifinals are from the LPL. The other three teams are Bilibili Gaming, Weibo Gaming and JD Gaming.
T1's dominant victory
T1's victory against LNG was a comprehensive one, with the Korean team posting 34 kills for only eight deaths. T1 also took 25 towers compared to LNG's six. The Chinese team also failed to secure drakes, barons or inhibitors during the three matches.
T1's dominant performance was led by bot lane duo Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong and Ryu "Keria" Min-seok. Gumayusi finished the series with a combined KDA of 20/4/19. Meanwhile, Keria had a KDA of 10/3/25. Meanwhile, top laner Choi "Zeus" Woo-je finished with a combined KDA of 13/2/15.
LNG struggled to keep up with T1's aggression throughout the series. The Chinese team made several critical mistakes at the start of each game. T1 leveraged each opportunity to snowball their leads and secure the victories.
LNG's one-sided loss received mixed reactions from fans, considering they are not a team of rookies. Notably, the team has a former world champion, Lee "Scout" Ye-chan, in its ranks.
Last stand to final
T1's victory was the only bright spot for South Korea. The other two Korean teams, Gen.G Esports and KT Rolsters, were eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Bilibili Gaming defeated Gen.G 3-2 on Friday. Gen.G had been undefeated at Worlds this year. Meanwhile, JD Gaming eliminated KT with a score of 3-1 on Saturday.
Despite the LCK's losses in the quarterfinals, three of the four remaining teams at Worlds have at least one Korean player on their roster. T1 is, of course, one of them, with all six members being Korean.
Bilibili is the only Chinese team at Worlds to field an all-Chinese roster.
T1 will now face a formidable opponent in JD. The Chinese team is trying to complete the Golden Road—winning every match in the playoffs without losing a single game.
T1 and JD will have a best-of-five semifinal match on Sunday, November 12, at 3 p.m. PST. Viewers can tune in live via Riot Games' official channels on Twitch and YouTube.