T1, the formidable South Korean team, secured victory by claiming the Summoner’s Cup with a decisive 3-0 triumph over the Chinese powerhouse Weibo Gaming in the Grand Finals held on Sunday (November 19) at Seoul’s Gocheok Skydome.
Despite facing distinct challenges throughout the year, both T1 and Weibo Gaming overcame formidable opponents to reach the pinnacle of the grand finals. In their ultimate opportunity of the year to showcase their prowess, T1 emerged victorious with an impressive 3-0 sweep.
T1 becomes the only organization with four World titles
In 2022, T1 faced setbacks in both the MSI and Worlds finals, the latter being a heartbreaking 3-2 loss. Despite maintaining their roster of Faker, Zeus, Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun, Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong, and Ryu “Keria” Min-seok, speculations arose about this lineup’s future after a year of achieving little success domestically and internationally.
The rumours suggested that Worlds 2023 could mark the conclusion of an era for this roster. Since their formation in 2022, this team has now played the most international games together (74) in the history of League of Legends, as reported by Riot Games.
While it might still be the end of the road for this starting five, they can take pride in their recent world championship victory, adding to their LCK championship, MSI final, and Worlds final achievements in 2022.
Their championship journey involved overcoming a formidable lineup of all four Chinese teams at Worlds. T1 secured a 2-0 victory against Bilibili Gaming to qualify for the playoffs.
In the quarterfinals, they triumphed over LNG Esports with a 3-0 score and proceeded to defeat JD Gaming 3-1 in the semifinals. The grand finale witnessed a dominant 3-0 performance over Weibo, sealing their world championship title. These three playoff victories against LPL teams contributed to one of Faker’s remarkable feats. Across eight world championships, Faker has never lost a best-of-five playoff series against a Chinese team.
T1 resigns all World Champions for the 2024 season
After winning the 2023 World Championship, there were many speculations that the team would split due to higher offers from other teams. However, T1 has successfully retained three players whose contracts were set to expire in 2023.