Image: Riot Games
While Hanwha Life Esports (HLE) secured their Worlds 2024 slot, T1 still need to play the LCK Regional Finals to secure theirs.
The League of Legends Korea Championship (LCK) Summer Playoffs) is getting close to its conclusion, with two of the region’s strongest teams facing off for a spot in the Grand Final. After an intense four-game series, Hanwha Life Esports triumphed, defeating T1 3-1 to secure their place in their first-ever LCK Grand Final.
T1 had a difficult Summer season, struggling against several teams during the Group Stage. These challenges seemed to affect the roster, notably when Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok was seen hitting his head against a wall in frustration. Despite these struggles, the team persevered, finishing the regular season in 4th place with an 11-7 record, which secured them a spot in the Playoffs.
In the Playoffs, T1 started strong, defeating KT Rolster 3-1 in the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals. However, their momentum faltered in the Upper Bracket Semifinals, where they suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Hanwha Life Esports, dropping T1 to the Lower Bracket Semifinals.At the lower bracket semifinals, they edge out DK Plus 3-1 to make it to the Lower Bracket Finals.
Hanwa Life Esports (HLE), on the other hand, had a more or less stellar Summer, finishing second in the regular season with a 14-4 record, and then breezing through most of the LCK Summer Playoffs. They hit a road bump upon meeting Gen.G in the upper bracket finals, where Gen.G defeated HLE 3-1, dropping HLE to the Lower Bracket Final.
Here's how the games went:
In the first game, both teams opted for highly contested meta picks, such as Ziggs and Leona in the bot lane for T1, while HLE went with Smolder mid, alongside Jhin and Bard in the bot lane.
The most surprising pick of the match was Faker’s Caitlyn mid. Although the gold gap remained small, HLE capitalised on their laning phase dominance, securing more kills, turrets, and objectives across the map. After claiming the Baron, T1 overextended at the Dragon pit, losing their advantage.
From that point, HLE dominated team fights and demolished T1’s defences, securing the first game after a 30-minute encounter, ending with a 16-4 kill lead.
In the second game, T1 took a small gold lead, focusing on map rotations and securing all neutral objectives despite only securing one kill. However, HLE still looked stronger in team fights, especially with the constant pressure of Yone in the mid lane and Smolder in the bot lane. T1 managed to hold their ground, only engaging when necessary.
After a brief interruption caused by Ryu “Keria” Min-seok’s “technical issue”, which the LCK humorously dubbed the “Toilet Issue”, T1 took control. Oner successfully baited HLE in the top jungle, and as HLE overextended, Faker’s late-game Tristana, despite the nerfs, shredded them with a quadra kill.
T1 seized this opportunity to open up HLE’s base and, after a 37-minute battle secured the victory despite a 9-10 kill deficit.
The third game remained fairly even in the early stages until HLE started gaining the upper hand by securing kills and map objectives. Lee “Zeka” Geon-woo’s Smolder and Delight’s Rakan posed significant challenges for T1, who struggled to find answers.
With a fed Smolder, T1’s carries were unable to scale, and after a 25-minute siege, HLE crushed T1’s base with a dominant 16-3 kill lead and an 11k gold advantage, putting themselves at matchpoint.
The fourth game was a bit closer, with T1 keeping a slight gold lead but struggling to take objectives across the map. Facing the same issue with a scaling Smolder, T1 struggled against HLE in team fights. However unwilling to give in, T1 continued to find small plays across the map, to maintain a very small lead against HLE. However, as the stacks on Zeka's Smolder continued to increase, HLE's threat only continued to increase.
After a 36-minute encounter and a 15-6 kill lead, HLE take down T1's Nexus win the fourth game and the series.
With this victory, HLE advanced to their first-ever Grand Final, where they will face Gen.G on Sunday, 8 September. HLE, having accumulated 150 championship points—tied with T1 but victorious in the Summer Playoffs Lower Bracket Final—have secured their spot at Worlds 2024 as either the LCK’s first or second seed, depending on the result of their match against Gen.G in the LCK Summer Grand Final.
T1, meanwhile, conclude the LCK Summer Season in 3rd place, taking home ₩50,000,000, approximately $36,142.71. This marks the first time since Summer 2021 that T1 will miss the LCK Grand Final. However, T1 still have a strong chance to qualify for Worlds 2024 as the third seed. They will face Dplus KIA in the Regional Finals, with the winner earning the LCK’s third seed for Worlds. Should T1 lose, they will have one final chance in Round 2 of the LCK Regional Finals.
