Image credit: LoL Esports
T1 struck down JD Gaming yet again at Worlds.
The grand finals of the League of Legends World Championship have been confirmed after 
T1 defeated 
JD Gaming to secure yet another appearance on the grandest stage in the game. They will join 
Weibo Gaming, who defeated fellow LPL compatriot 
Bilibili Gaming in yesterday's semifinal series.
And unfortunately for JDG, they will join the exclusive list of teams who failed to achieve the Golden Road in League of Legends after they won both the LPL Spring and Summer Splits alongside the Mid-Season Invitational. This was also the second time that T1 have defeated JDG at the world championship semifinal with a 3-1 score line like last year. The only difference between then and now is that T1 will now face the final LPL team that stands between them and Summoner's Cup.
T1's Redemption Arc Begins
After losing to 
DRX last year in a heartbreaking grand final, T1 made sure they won't be denied another opportunity after they easily dismantled JDG in four games. And the first match was the perfect example of just how dominant T1 can be, even when they're up against the best team in the world at the moment. From the get-go, it was all T1 as 
Choi “Zeus” Woo-je was given licence to run riot in the top lane with Aatrox. This included a triple kill in the late game as well as a solo kill on 
Bai “369” Jia-Hao.
Moon “Oner”Hyeon-joon also proved why he's one of the best junglers as his Rell was a constant nuisance to the JDG backline with his game-high 16 assists. Only Ryu “Keria” Min-seok came the closest with his Bard that got 15 assists alongside three kills. But it was Sang-hyeok “Faker” Lee with his signature Orianna that proved to be the difference-maker as he was the only player on T1 to end the first match with a perfect KDA of 6/0/13. He also had several impressive plays to set up his team for success.
However, JDG bounced back in the second match as 469 was finally able to get things going for himself, this time with K'Sante. JDG took control of the game from the start and didn't look like letting up with some great team fight coordination to win them multiple skirmishes and to take objectives. Zhuo “Knight” Ding showed great usage of Orianna as he got 15 assists to go with a sole death and a kill. Even Lou “Missing” Yun-Feng on Senna proved to be a real handful as he had a KDA of 5/1/15 while Jae-Hyuk “Ruler” Park ensured there was no way back for T1 as his Kalista went 5/1/10.
Game three would end up being the closest match in the series between both teams as this was a bloodbath from start to finish. And it was JDG who actually took the lead from early on, able to set the tone of the game and to pressure T1 into making costly errors. Faker's Azir would not be denied as he showed just why it's one of his best champions. He also had a clutch flash-into-ultimate combo against Ruler to instantly burst him down and eventually the rest of the squad as well to team wipe JDG.
And with their backs against the wall, JDG brought in a niche Bel'Veth pick for Jin-hyeok “Kanavi” Seo, who has only ever been picked four other times before today. But T1 would respond with a surprise pick of their own as Zeus chose Yone for the toplane. While the early-to-mid-game portion mostly saw JDG hold a slender gold lead against T1, it wasn't enough to keep the LCK second seed at bay as Faker's Azir was yet again instrumental in his team's decimation of JDG.
Even Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong got the chance to flex with his Varus pick as he was just one of two T1 players with perfect KDAs with the other being Zeus, who had one kill and four assists. As for Gumayusi, his Varus was able to secure six kills and four assists, which also included a shut-down on Ruler's Zeri. Speaking of which, only Ruler and Kanavi were able to secure kills for JDG with the former getting four and the latter getting only two. This showed just how well T1 was able to suffocate JDG from very early on.
T1 will now have to wait a full week before making its back-to-back grand final appearances in two straight years.
