Buzz
As long as this formula continues to work well, T1 probably fears no opponent.
T1's victory over LNG Esports has sparked a slight 'fever' in the global LoL community. The reason is that LNG was initially considered and has shown parity with JD Gaming - the current number 1 contender for the 2023 Worlds championship. However, when facing T1, 'The Unicorn of Seoul' strangely underperformed. Even Tarzan - the player also known as the 'Jungle God' couldn't secure any Dragon or Baron buffs throughout the 3 matches. Interestingly, the only Herald LNG managed to get couldn't even touch the turret.
Speaking of LNG's dismal performance, it's crucial to emphasize that T1 played exceptionally well. Each of their positions had a flawless performance, and this time, no one made any mistakes, not even a slight slip in movement. However, there's a particular factor that T1 demonstrated since the match against Bilibili Gaming and became even more apparent against LNG: the wide champion pool of the Bot Lane duo Gumayusi - Keria has returned.
Renowned as the players with the widest champion pool in the professional LoL scene today, the duo Gumayusi - Keria had to confine themselves to more meta-appropriate picks. Therefore, when patch 13.19 for the 2023 Worlds was released, many opinions suggested that this was the patch tailored for T1 as the favored champions of the duo received buffs. However, despite that, T1 still made an impression and secured victory with less common picks, such as Varus or Senna. According to the specialist website Gol.gg, Varus has only been deployed 3 times since the Swiss rounds and secured 2 victories, all when in the hands of Gumayusi.
Furthermore, the formula maximizing the wide champion pool synergy of Gumayusi - Keria has brought about 8 different Bot Lane duos throughout T1's 9 matches at the 2023 Worlds up to now. And notably, all 8 of these duos have a 100% win rate in lane. In the 2 matches where Gumayusi had to use meta champions like Kai'Sa and Xayah, they also didn't use the usual Support champions (Alistar, Rakan) but instead opted for Kai'Sa - Bard and Xayah - Tahm Kench.
The wide champion pool of Gumayusi - Keria has previously played a significant role in T1's undefeated achievements in Spring 2022 or their strong performances leading up to subsequent tournaments' finals. And now, JDG must truly be cautious as this formula has resurfaced, showcasing T1's past devastating dominance.
