After a fluke in the first game against Griffin, T1 came back stronger in the second and third matches today to reverse sweep the 10th-place team in the 2020 LCK Spring Split standings.
Support Effort was T1’s savior today. He received both Player of the Game awards for T1’s wins. In the second game, he pulled out a surprise Blitzcrank pick to counter the fasting Senna playstyle from Griffin. In the third game, he played Alistar for the famous “Kalistar” combination with ADC Kalista, which was extremely popular in past seasons.
Most League of Legends fans expected a clean 2-0 in favor of T1. But after a surprising loss in the first game, the stakes became much higher. T1 managed to secure the Ocean Dragon Soul, but they lost the game after an aggressive play by Faker, who got blown up by Griffin’s ADC. Griffin responded quickly after killing Faker by teleporting into T1’s base and finishing the Nexus.
Faker picked Azir in the second game again but played much safer and learned from his mistakes in the first game. Effort’s roams in the early game secured first blood in the top lane and kept Faker safe in the mid lane with his vision coverage. While Griffin managed to secure a couple of drakes, it wasn’t enough to beat T1, who ran them down after snowballing due to their early lead.
T1 brought in Ellim to replace Cuzz after the second game, while Griffin subbed in Untara, who helped them secure their first game win. Ellim roamed alongside Effort in the early stages of the game, securing gold advantages in every lane, which allowed T1 to secure a clean win. Even though everyone from T1 was worthy of the POG award, it went to Effort in the end since his pressure was unmeasurable.
T1 remain undefeated in the second round of LCK’s Spring Split. They’re tied for first with Gen.G, who they managed to beat two days ago. They’re hungry for another championship and nobody seems to be able to stop them right now—outside of Hanwha Life Esports and Afreeca Freecs, who handed T1 their two series losses earlier this split.
T1’s next match is against an opponent who’s gained momentum in the second round of the LCK Spring Split, Damwon Gaming. They’ll face off on Sunday, April 5 at 1am CT on the official LCK broadcast.
Published: Apr 3, 2020 09:09 am