T1 extended their lead at the top of the 2023 LCK Spring Split table by demolishing Kwangdong Freecs in a 2-0 series. In the second game, though, both teams picked five AD carries in total.
Both teams went for long-ranged, aggressive bot lane compositions, with T1 picking Varus and Kalista, while Kwangdong Freecs chose Jhin and Ashe. On top of that, the latter’s BuLLDoG played Tristana in the midlane, which brought the number of AD carry champions in a single game to five. Still, it didn’t stop T1 from dominating the match.
T1’s jungler Oner was focused on ganking the bottom lane in order to stack resources on Gumayusi’s Varus, who was a pivotal element of their compositions as the laning phase ended. With Faker and Zeus doing fine on their own, the bot-jungle duo had all the time in the world to focus on that. And it worked since Gumayusi was the strongest player on T1’s side, and led his squad to a 29-minute victory and a 2-0 score in the series.
While seeing five AD carries could be surprising in previous years, it’s not the case in today’s meta. Nowadays, bot lane duos often pick two AD carries to increase their poke and teamfight prowess since tank and other standard supports aren’t that good in season 13.
The developers have been working to bring traditional supports back to life with some Patch 13.4 adjustments, and today’s game was the first one in the 2023 LCK Spring Split to be played on that update. Although it looks like it didn’t shake the state of the meta enough to kick AD carry supports out of regular competitive play.
Related: Aurelion Sol, AP Twitch, and Gangplank among seven champions getting nerfed in LoL Patch 13.5
With that win, T1 strengthened its position as the 2023 LCK Spring Split leader with a 12-1 score. Second-placed Gen.G sit on 9-3.
