T1’s journey in the first tournament of the year, the KeSPA Cup, was ended by SANDBOX today in a 3-1 defeat in the semifinals.
SANDBOX kicked off the semifinals by winning both first games over T1 within 37 minutes each. T1 then took over the third game, but SANDBOX finally sealed the victory by winning the last game.
SANDBOX jungler kim “OnFleek” Jang-Gyeom was the best player on the day, earning two MVP titles and scoring a pentakill with Olaf in the last game.
On their way to the semifinals, SANDBOX knocked out defending champions Griffin in the quarterfinals. The team then won its match against T1 playing with its three new recruits: the rookies Yoo “FATE” Su-Hyeok and han “Leo” Gyo-Rae, backed up by the veteran support player Kang “GorillA” Beom-Hyun, who signed SANDBOX after one year with European team Misfits.
Related: Riot Games led all Twitch channels in hours watched in 2019
This tournament is an opportunity to get a glimpse of the synergy built by the teams which changed their rosters during the offseason. The results must be taken with a grain of salt, however, as the stakes of the KeSPA Cup are low and the teams won’t unveil their strategies before the launch of the LCK 2020 season.
The next KeSPA semifinal match will have DragonX and Afreeca Freecs facing off and take place tomorrow, Jan. 4 at 2am. The winning team will play against SANDBOX on Jan.5. The broadcast will be available here in English.
