T1 narrowly defeated Hanwha Life Esports earlier today in week four of the 2022 LCK Spring Split after they realized they didn’t have an answer to League’s newest champion, Zeri.
Zeri has become a popular champion pick since her release in pro League of Legends. And since her first appearance in the 2022 LEC Spring Split on Feb. 4, she’s been played 45 times across 23 different tournament leagues, according to lol.fandom.com.
In these 45 games, she boasts a 64-percent win rate. She’s also been banned 126 times. In such a short period of pro play, Zeri has become a big problem for competitive League teams and has become a focal point in all pick and ban phases.
And today, the new champ played a big part in the ninth-place Hanwha Life squad nearly ruining T1’s perfect record in the 2022 LCK Spring Split.
Zeri was drafted by T1’s opponents as their first rotation pick in game one. Zeri ended game one with a scoreline of 5/1/4, but her impact allowed Hanwha Life to carry the game through other lanes.
Throughout the game, she was ungankable in the early game, which allowed Hanwha Life to prioritize their focus onto top laner Dudu, who was eventually able to carry the game and also stole Zeri’s pentakill.
This resulted in the Spark of Zaun being permabanned by T1 for the remainder of the match, where both Hanwha Life and T1 battled closely throughout the three-game series.
In the end, T1 slightly edged out Hanwha Life following some clutch performances from T1 jungler Oner and support Keria in two key teamfights. But the series showed that T1 has some chinks in their armor that they need to polish, including looking for an answer to League’s newest champion.
For now, T1 have protected their perfect regular-season record and are 7-0 in the 2022 LCK Spring Split. They’ll look to improve that record to 8-0 when they take on Gen.G in a highly anticipated matchup between the top two LCK juggernauts on Saturday, Feb. 12.
As for Hanwha Life, they’ve moved down to 2-5. But after challenging T1, this close series may help them start a run up the standings beginning with a series against DRX, who had troubles of their own when KT Rolster stole a game win because of Zeri.
The 2022 LCK Spring Split will continue tomorrow, Feb. 10, where teams will have to try and find answers to Zeri.
