With their victory, T1 claimed the grand prize of $ 400,000 out of the $ 1,000,000 prize pool.
T1 have been crowned the champions of the League of Legends Esports World Cup after they overpowered Top Esports 3-1 at the Grand Finals on Sunday (7 July).
Both T1 and Top Esports came into the competition as favourites but not the top contenders because of their recent performances
T1 first went head-to-head against tournament favourites and LPL first seed Bilibili Gaming in the Quarterfinals, in an unpredictable 2-1 matchup in favour of T1. They then clinched a 2=1 win against Team Liquid of the LCS at the semifinals to make it to the grandfinals.
Top Esports, on the other hand, made waves in just a couple of days, pulling off the biggest upset in the tournament after sweeping heavy favourites and reigning Mid-Season Invitational Champions Gen.G 2-0 in the Quarterfinals, eliminating them from the competition.
Then at the semifinals, they exacted revenge against G2 Esports for their MSI loss, sweeping the European powerhouse 2-0 to make it to the grand finals.
In the first game, Top Esports demonstrated their dominance, overpowering T1 with the early game strength of the Corki mid and Zeri bottom lane combination.
The Chinese team showed mechanical prowess on the rift, punishing T1 for the smallest mistakes and giving them no room for a comeback. And after a 23-minute encounter and a 12-4 kill lead, Top Esports took the first game of the series.
In the second game, T1 went for a draft that had tons of crowd control from Rumble, Vi, and Ahri, and Renata. Combined with the firepower from Kalista and Ahri, the South Korean juggernauts outplayed their Chinese opponents in every encounter, with LoL G.O.A.T. Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok pulling off some of the most impressive kills and assists on the rift.
T1 continued to peel the turrets of Top Esports and taking other map objectives, increasing their gold lead to over 12,000.
In a fight at the top side jungle, T1 decimated their opponents in a clean ace, allowing the South Korean team to march down and destroy the enemy Nexus and win the second game in 26 minutes with a 16-4 kill lead.
In the third game, T1 went for K’sante in the top lane, Nidalee in the jungle, and Faker’s signature Azir in the mid lane. Closing out the draft was Ashe in the bottom lane with Renata Glasc on Support.
Meanwhile, Top Esports went for Renekton top, Zyra in the jungle, Corki mid and Draven and Nautilus for the bottom lane.
Both teams were on equal footing in the early game, with Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun taking first blood and Bai "369" Jia-Hao gaining a sizeable CS lead in the top lane.
However, in a scrappy team fight that erupted while contesting for the Chemtech Drake, T1 took the upper hand and took out most of Top Esports’s members to gain a small gold lead.
With more firepower and mobility, T1 continued to dominate team fights, acing TES in the river, allowing them to take the Baron and barrel down Top Esport’s base. As their inhibitor turrets fell, Top Esports showed signs of life, outplaying T1 at the Top lane, nearly finishing everyone off in the jungle and take another Baron for themselves.
However, with TES taking care of their base, they were left vulnerable in skirmishes and could not contest other map objectives, including the third Baron that T1 took. And after a 38-minute showdown, T1 finally came with Baron-buffed minions to destroy their Nexus with a 17-6 kill lead to win the third game and take their team to match point.
In the fourth game, TES went for K’sante top, Ivern in the jungle, Corki mid and Ezreal Leona in the bottom lane.
Meanwhile, T1 pulled off another curveball in Yasuo mid for Faker, then taking Rumble top, Sejuani in the jungle, and the Vastayan couple Xayah and Rakan in the bot lane.
The South Korean juggernauts took some kills in the early game, allowing them to gain a 3,000-gold lead.
However, after a Rift Herald steal, TES outplayed T1 in the river, with 369 and JackeyLove cleaning their opponents up. T1 maintained their gold lead, however, taking a few more map objectives and kills.
They then found an opportunity to ace TES in the jungle, with Ryu “Keria” Minseok's Rakan and Faker’s Yasuo handing some disrupting crowd control onto the Chinese team and dealing a sizeable damage as well onto them.
However, TES’s Ivern have proven to be helpful, allowing the Chinese team to conceal their members to survive in team fights and push a few turrets. However, while Top Esports contested for the infernal Drake, T1 found an opportunity to punish TES in a clean ace as they scattered in the river.
After a 29-minute encounter and a 21-8 kill lead, T1 took down TES’s base to win the fourth game and the series, to become the first-ever Esports World Cup Champions.
With their victory, T1 claimed the grand prize of $400,000 out of the $1,000,000 prize pool. They also gain 1,000 EWC Club points for their team.
Meanwhile, Top Esports bow out of the competition in 2nd place and take home $200,000 in consolation, along with 600 EWC Club points.
