T1 are headed to the 2021 League of Legends World Championship semifinals after trouncing Hanwha Life Esports with ease in a short three-game series today.
The match was hyped up as a meeting between two of League’s best with Faker coming in as the greatest of all-time and Chovy as his equal counterpart of the future. The teaser video for this series failed to predict, however, that there would be a massive team difference in each game.
This wasn’t the first time that T1 faced off against Hanwha in a best-of-five setting, either. During the 2021 LCK Regional Qualifiers, these two squads battled it out for a spot at Worlds and it was much closer in comparison since it went the full five games. But after 92 minutes, T1 solidified themselves as the superior Korean representative.
From uninspiring drafts with three of the same picks to disjointed team play on Summoner’s Rift, Hanwha just couldn’t bring their roster together to mount any kind of defense against T1’s stalwart and unrelenting attack. Hanwha’s jungler Willer failed to record a single kill in the series and died 12 times with one assist. As a team, they were only able to grab nine kills to T1’s 43.
T1, on the other hand, were playing like a well-oiled machine. If you were hoping to see Faker put on a big carry performance, you might be disappointed because the veteran was put on Lissandra duty for two of the three games. But he did play well around his teammates and they rose to the occasion, whether it was Gumayusi dealing massive damage on Aphelios or Canna popping off on a plethora of champions.
Now, T1 will await the winner of the quarterfinal match between DWG KIA and MAD Lions. Many fans and analysts expect the Korean first seed to sweep the matchup, but the fiery European representatives could surprise the world when they meet on Sunday, Oct. 24.
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