Before the 2022 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational, fans were excited to finally see Korea’s Spring Split champions T1 take on the best teams the world had to offer. In particular, T1’s bottom lane of Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong and Ryu “Keria” Min-seok were heralded as the best duo at the event. It didn’t look like that when they hit the stage, though.
Gumayusi finished the tournament with the lowest kill participation and total damage share of any AD carry with more than 10 games played, according to League stats aggregate Oracle’s Elixir. He also had the second-lowest average damage to champions per minute, and the lowest average experience difference at 10 minutes of any marksman with double-digit games.
Overall, Gumayusi didn’t have as impressive of a campaign through the tournament as people once thought he would. The young star struggled in a handful of two-vs-two situations and was out-traded or taken down by his opposing laner in the earlier stages of games.
It was an odd sight for LCK fans, especially because the 20-year-old star had looked so consistent for T1 over the course of the 2022 Spring Split. During the playoffs, for example, Gumayusi had a 30.8 percent share of his team’s total kills compared to the 24.5 percent that he held during MSI, according to Oracle’s. He also had much higher damage numbers during the playoffs as well.
Related: T1 head coach Polt blames MSI 2022 finals loss on map side selection
After going perfect through the 2022 LCK Spring Split, the weight of expectation might have gotten too heavy for T1 and their star-studded roster. Granted, this was Gumayusi’s first career MSI appearance, but this wasn’t his first taste of international play since he attended the World Championship the year before. Even still, he is young and continuing to learn more as he aims for the top of the mountain again.
Ultimately, Gumayusi and the rest of T1 are going to look for vengeance after their disappointing loss to Royal Never Give Up in the finals. Catch them in action once again when the 2022 LCK Summer Split begins next month.
