T1 managed to achieve a spectacular 3-1 victory against the main favorites of the LoL World Championship 2023 in front of the home crowd and come one step closer to a historic fourth World Championship title.
In a match that met, one might say exceeded all expectations, T1 demonstrated an incredible quality of play, which is expected and necessary in order to beat a team that has not known a defeat all year. He won the JDG and both seasons in the Chinese LPL league, they lifted the cup at MSI 2023, and for a moment it looked like nothing could stop them from achieving the ultimate triumph by tying all the competitions they played in one calendar year, after the champion of Korea Gen.G was eliminated from the competition already in the quarterfinals.
Let's remind, on paper, Gen.G was JDG's main rival, while at least at the start of the tournament, not too much was expected from T1, and with good reason. T1 struggled during Faker's absence, winning just one of eight matches without him and at one point teetering on the playoffs in the summer season, but since the best player of all time has returned to the team, T1 has consistently played better and better.
Even that was not enough to defeat Gen.G in the finals of the LCK summer season, but they did not lose heart after the heavy defeat and continued to work on the preparations for the World Championship, not forgetting the bitter taste of defeat in the finals last year when they were beaten by the underdog DRX defeated in the decisive fifth game of the final.
History repeats itself this time, T1 will play against the fourth seed of the league, after Weibo Gaming managed to surprise LNG and win 3-2 in the first semi-final. Weibo has exceeded all expectations in this tournament, and now it remains to be seen if they will be able to break the curse that Chinese teams have against T1, a team they have never beaten in a Bo5 match at the World Championship.
T1 defeated all the Chinese teams in the tournament on their way to the finals and now they only have a duel against Weibo Gaming left. But back to today's match, a match in which all five players of the team had moments of brilliant moves, taking turns carrying T1 to victory.