T1 looked dominant today, even though League of Legends fans haven’t seen them in action for over three weeks due to the LCK’s hiatus as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. T1 went deathless in the first game, but the second match was filled with blood and chaos after a pause that lasted more than an hour.
They outclassed APK in both games, which was expected considering T1 are battling for first in the LCK standings while APK are at the bottom of the barrel.
Rookie jungler Choi “Ellim” El-lim made his LCK debut today in place of Moon “Cuzz” Woo-chan, who had played in all of T1’s previous games this season. Ellim has been a substitute jungler for T1 since December 2018 and he received the Player of the Game award for the first match against APK after a perfect game on Jarvan IV.
The first game started with APK’s top side players overextending in the top and middle lane. T1 read them like a book and were ready to counter gank every time. This allowed T1 to snowball their early lead and keep extending their advantage to take an early 23-minute win without dying a single time.
The second game started with some déjà vu. APK tried to kill T1’s top laner but Ellim was there to back him up and got two kills again just like in the first game. APK’s plan to focus on the top side seemed to be their core tactic and T1 were prepared for it.
The match was then paused for around one hour after several technical issues in the mid game. But Chronobreak came to save the day, which allowed the teams to continue without having to remake the game.
APK tried their best to maintain the early gold lead and even brought the game to Dragon Soul point. T1 didn’t contest it but instead engaged on the zoned-out players. APK picked up the Ocean Dragon Soul but four players died in the process, which led to a clean win for T1.
APK should be proud of themselves, though. They put up a good fight in the second game against a team that’s fighting to be at the top of the standings. The online environment seems to be having a positive impact on APK.
With this win, T1 cemented their position in second place behind Gen.G. The rookie Ellim played well, but going forward, he’ll most likely be subbed in only for weaker matches to give him some playing time and prepare for international events.
You can tune in tomorrow to see T1 battle against the third-place team, DRX, on the official Riot LCK broadcast at 7am CT.
