T1 see off Estral ESports to move up in MSI 2024

The second match of Group A in the MSI 2024 Play-In Stage saw T1 defeat Estral ESports with relative ease.

T1 are now just one series away from qualifying to the Bracket Stage of the Mid-Season Invitational 2024 after they saw off Estral ESports in the second Group A match on day one. The LCK second-seed and two-time MSI champion managed to comfortably dismiss Estral 2-0 and booked a slot in the upper bracket final against FlyQuest where the winner will move on to the next round.

As for Estral, that loss now meant that they will have to go up against PSG Talon in a do-or-die series for their tournament lives. The same can also be said for PSG, who lost earlier today. The winner of the elimination series will move on to the lower bracket final, where they will face the loser of the deciding match-up between T1 and FQ.

Despite having a slow start to the season that saw them lose two playoff matches in the LCK Spring Split, T1 started its MSI run with a spirited 2-0 over Estral. However, it wasn't as clean cut as T1 would have liked with Estral not rolling over and actually taking the fight to the reigning world champions on multiple occasions. With every pick-off T1 got, Estral was able to respond in kind.

However, despite conceding kills all over the map, nobody does smash-and-grab jobs on objectives much like T1. Their ability to transition from taking drakes to taking down structures are second to none and they proved it in the first game. The second match saw a similar story to the first as T1 only made two changes to its champions: Rumble and Viego took over in place of Neeko and Lee Sin respectively.

And it was it game two where T1's jungler Moon “Oner” Hyeon-joon proved just why he's one of the best with a resounding display on Viego. He secured a total of nine kills in the second game, which also featured a quadra towards the end of the game. Sang-hyeok “Faker” Lee was also on his A-game with Orianna for a second time, showcasing great movement and playmaking ability to not only get kills for himself, but to also be in a great position to help secure kills for his teammates as well.

With Group A now done for the day, we look ahead to Group B tomorrow for day two of MSI 2024 with two back-to-back matches to look forward to.