During the 2021 LCK Spring Split media day earlier this month, League of Legends team DWG KIA’s head coach kkOma and mid laner ShowMaker agreed that the team’s biggest threats in the LCK were Gen.G and T1.
And today, the world champions started off the season by taking down the team they considered one of the hardest to defeat. They beat T1 2-1 in the first week of the 2021 LCK Spring Split.
It was far from an easy win, however. Both teams played at a high level and it was an intense series full of clean early games, explosive teamfights, and clutch plays—as can be expected from world-class teams.
T1 won the first game with a significant lead, but the next two games were more intense. The early games were slower since both teams chose more scaling-oriented compositions, but the mid and late games were full of clean fights in the jungle and river.
DK’s solo laners had a strong performance, which earned them both an MVP title. Top laner Khan, who joined the roster during the offseason, offered clean engages for his team. He also outplayed Canna in the second game by surprisingly picking Gangplank to counter his Gnar.
His pick paid off. “Jayce is also a good pick against Gnar, but I wanted to show something,” Khan said in the post-match interview. “I wanted to show people that Gangplank is a good pick into Gnar.”
ShowMaker also proved his mechanical skills on Zoe by winning both games he played with her. He dealt ridiculous amounts of damage to squishy opponents at crucial moments in the last game, which was the nail in the coffin for T1’s hopes of victory.
Despite his incredible performance, he remained humble after the win. “I was underperforming in solo queue and scrims recently, so I was very sorry for my teammates,” ShowMaker said in the interview. “But I’m happy I didn’t make it happen in this game.”
T1 may not have won the series, but they also delivered high-level League plays. The biggest highlight of this series was the first pentakill of the season achieved by T1’s substitute bot laner Gumayusi on Aphelios.
In addition to this play, he had an incredible performance throughout this series, proving he could fill the shoes of T1’s main botlaner. He also grabbed a quadrakill on Samira in the last game.
This was also the first series this year in which three-time world champion Faker played instead of Clozer. He chose not to take risks and went for his comfort pick Azir in the three games.
Fans can watch the replay of this incredible series on Twitch. T1 will have a chance to bounce back by playing Gen.G on Thursday, Jan. 21 at 2am CT, while DK will face off against Nongshim RedForce in their next series on Sunday, Jan. 17.
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