Cover-Credits:
Emotions soared high at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea on 19th November. After almost a month of continuous League of Legends action, the winner of Worlds 2023 has been crowned. In a poetic conclusion, T1 took down China's Weibo Gaming in the grand finale of Worlds 2023 and won the series comfortably with a 3-0 scoreline. Winning the fourth title on home soil was a memorable and special moment for T1.
The best-of-five (BO5) grand final was extremely one-sided as Weibo Gaming struggled to keep up with the blows and punches of T1.
T1 Ends LPL Single-Handedly at Worlds 2023
In all its Worlds appearances, T1 has never lost a BO5 series against the LPL. At Worlds 2023, T1 won every series against the LPL representatives, a payback to MSI 2022 and 2023. After winning the finals against Weibo Gaming, T1 single-handedly won against all the four Chinese teams —Bilbili Gaming (2-0), LNG Esports (3-0), JD Gaming (3-1), and Weibo (3-0) — at the tournament.
Currently, T1 has a 11-1 win-loss record against the LPL. With this, the team and star player Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok continue their win streak.
Faker's Legacy Sealed As He Lifts 4th Worlds Title
Faker started his League of Legends journey with T1, previously called SK Telecom T1 (SKT T1), in 2013. Fans, pundits, and players alike consider Faker as the “GOAT” (Greatest of all time) of League of Legends esports.
Faker won his first World Championship with SKT T1 in 2013, his debut year, and has been a pivotal part of the team ever since. After having missed Worlds in 2014, SKT T1 and Faker returned to their winning ways in 2015 and 2016, becoming back-to-back champion.
On 19th November, Faker won his and T1's 4th Worlds title by defeating Weibo Gaming in the finale.
In the first game, T1 got its hands on two iconic champions: Ahri for Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok and Lee Sin for Mun "Oner" Hyeon-jun, champions that they excel on. Despite early kills going to Weibo Gaming (WBG), T1 picked up two dragons and a Herald in 12 minutes.
After winning a huge team fight at 22 minutes, T1 took down Baron Nashor and collected a 6K gold lead. Very soon, the Korean powerhouse took down an array of towers and at 30 minutes, T1 secured the Cloud dragon soul and its second Baron of the game.
The base was broken into shortly after and T1 closed out the first game of the BO5 series.
Weibo Gaming's draft in Game 2 was too great as T1 walked away with strong champions — Gwen, Draven, and Nocturne — in its composition. While WBG had two early dragons, it was losing individual fights across lanes. After T1 won a decisive team fight, it blew open the gold lead. At 27 minutes, T1 took down the Baron Nashor and collected its 10th kill, pushing its gold lead by 10K. Within a couple of minutes, WBG's nexus fell once again, thanks to a splendid performance from top-laner Choi "Zeus" Woo-je and attack-damage carry (ADC) Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong.
With this T1 was just one game away from winning Worlds 2023.
The third game was under Weibo's control early on as it had lane pressure. However, after losing a team fight near the dragon pit, WBG gave away its advantages and allowed T1 get its second dragon. At 18 minutes, Faker on Akali picked up a triple kill after Ryu "Keria" Min-seok flawlessly engaged with Rakan. With this skirmish win, T1 inched towards soul point.
After killing three people of Weibo, T1 took down Baron Nashor at 20 minutes. At 24 minutes, T1 aced Weibo Gaming and took down the mid inhibitor.
Within another minute, T1 marched down Weibo's base and closed out the game and the series.
Leading up to the tournament, a lot of reports suggested that the current iteration of T1 would most likely split after the end of this competitive year. As a result, bouncing off from a defeat like Worlds 2022, and winning it in 2023 just shows how talented the roster is.
After seven years, T1 is League of Legends World Champion once again!
