League of Legend’s annual Worlds event in Seoul finished up with an epic finale between hometown heroes T1 and LPL’s Weibo Gaming. Tonight’s event has been slated as Faker’s final attempt to claim a fourth World’s Champion title, and fans worldwide rejoiced as this T1 roster closed in on the Blue Nexus for the last time.
T1’s Highlights
Overall, Zeus and Oner were on top of their game tonight. All 3 games were absolutely carried by the toplane/jungle partnership, featuring some great combos like Gwen/Nocturne and Lethality Aatrox/Lee Sin. If you had to pick one of the 3 games to watch, I’d recommend Game 2 hands down. The Sylas pick from Faker, grabbing Maokai’s ult consistently, created some really fun counterplay.
Game 1 was comprised of a T1 teamcomp built for the early game lead, consisting of Yone, Lee Sin, Ahri, Kalista and Renata Glasc. For the first 11 levels T1 locked Weibo out of objectives completely, holding a gold lead despite being 2 kills down. Across all 3 games, objective control and lane priority really played in T1’s favour.
Game 3 closed out with some monstrous Akali plays from Faker, you can hear the crowd in Seoul go absolutely wild as the GOAT initiated and got out of fights with the same precision that made him famous in the first place back in 2013. A clutch stopwatch play secured an ace, which lead into Baron, and eventually to the win. Flipping Weibo’s Bard Ult into a triple kill into a dragon secure.
I can keep going, but it’s almost just expected from the Korean legends to be making game-winning plays back-to-back, over and over again.
Faker’s Final Season
“All roads lead to me.”
T1 Faker – 2023
Widely considered as the best to ever touch the game, a lot of the marketing for this year’s Worlds surrounded Faker’s well-deserved retirement from League. I think for the majority of long-time League fans, we take this outstanding ending as the best possible scenario that could’ve played out tonight. Faker devoted this championship to his teammates, and they did the same for him.
While I’d say it was an unexpected return to form for the team, it was entirely deserved. The Summer season wasn’t looking too bright for the team, with a decent scorecard, and Faker out on injury. But in the end they managed to pull through for the last time. Now go back and watch your favourite Faker clips, I know I will.
