For the fourth year in a row T1 has made it to Worlds Quarterfinals, is this the first time they'll be eliminated here or once again advance to at least Semifinals?
They're up against Top Esports who have multiple Worlds Champions themselves and even beat them during Swiss Stage, can they beat the current champions again?
Game 1
TES locked an insane teamfighting composition and went all in on the worlds meta. T1 opted for unfavorable matchups in all lanes, not to mention the wild picks of Caitlyn and Bard. Not only is their whole composition off-meta by Worlds standards but with teams constantly lane swapping bot and toplane, these characters do not function the way they're supposed to. T1 are taking a huge risk as they must get a lead early in order to win. If anyone can make it work it's the 4 time World champions.
Neither team went for a lane swap which is surprising as T1 consistently find leads doing it. They definitely have some secret plans with these champions. This is not the first time going against the flow worked in their favor, last year picking ranged supports when melee was considered "meta" played a huge factor in taking home a World Championship.
A very early invade from Oner forces Tian to burn flash, thanks to Zeus rotating using his lane priority; this advantage is used to instantly start pressuring midlane, trading Flashes with Creme. All part of their plan as now the constant rotations from Keria help them land First Blood on Tian. Here we can get a glimpse to their preparation as all of these champions can easily rotate and influence the entire map, all of this was thought of in advance. This is timed with the Voidgrubs spawn to easily claim them since TES has no chance to contest. With some impressive macro from T1 they're able to get the first Dragon aswell, giving no chance to fight back in any part of the map.
TES do manage to coordinate a succesful dive against Faker; T1 try to counter by diving 369 in botlane but it's so poorly played Oner gives up a kill and 369 walks away scot-free. However, Zeus pulls off the most insane escape with pixel perfect movement and timing to recall inside a bush.
Second batch of grubbs is coming up and even though T1 gets to the objective much earlier, they have to leave after only getting one as TES uses both Teleports while mobilizing the entire team. Not long after, T1 creates a fight that TES will definitely lose if they decide to take it, forcing the use of summoner spells to leave. It is with this pressure and small tempo lead that they can now get second Dragon completely uncontested.
Herald has spawned, T1 find themselves at an amazing position to fight. It will be risky for TES to engage as they're forked by Keria's Bard: Either jump on him and burn their resources to teamfight with the intention of keeping Miss Fortune safe, or ignore him and most likely lose the teamfight due to Bard's Ultimate. They attempt the first option but not only was Keria able to safely disengage, Oner takes the Herald away with him. TES' midlane tower falls quickly thanks to the grubbs. They lack the damage to beat T1 in fights; aware of this they easily take control over the map as Zeus cancels 369's Teleport, allows his botlane tower to be taken and uses his own to go toplane, pushing alongside Faker and Herald. This play guarantees that even though TES get a small lead, they get an even larger one in a play that cannot be defended.
Getting deep into Midgame and the team compositions for both teams start to flourish. TES is looking to scale and teamfight with their double ADCs whilst T1 has incredible power in sidelaning. This works to **T1'**s favor as TES will end up forced to match them, weakening their teamfighting potential. TES claims the next Dragon as pressure is instantly applied on their weak inner Toplane Tower. They're not giving them any chance of winning through fights. Now grouping as 5, desperately trying to force a fight with T1, trying to push Toplane themselves. This is slowed down to give Faker time to push Botlane. This strategy will work for now but Baron will decide this game's winner.
Same strategy is used to pressure T1's midlane Tower which fails to bait them into taking a fight. Focusing on slowing their push as much as possible, Zeus is able to trade it for TES' toplane Turret. The amount of gold going to Faker and Zeus is going to be a nightmare to deal with as the game goes on.
The Dragon is coming up and this would mean Soul Point for T1. Being the first to arrive Gumayusi starts setting down traps while his team clears vision and Zeus pushes toplane. 369 must defend but is also pressured to Teleport in case of a teamfight. T1 starts taking Dragon, Zeus rotates first threatening a flank making this extremely hard to contest. Sejuani and Bard's ultimates create so much space giving TES an extremely hard time trying; dragon is quickly slain and once again T1 give them no chance at even fighting.
It's now or never as Baron is forced with T1's most important ultimates on cooldown. Oner goes down but taking Baron would still be a death sentence. Will this small win lead to TES taking control of the game?
With Keria spotted in their botside jungle they decide to go for it. T1 quickly sniff this out, using Bard ultimate to check the pit also buying Zeus time to teleport. Patiently waiting until TES moves away from the Baron and straight into their hands. Every spell is timed perfectly, Faker trades his life for that of every TES member. Their eyes are set on the victory screen but a single nexus tower is as far as they could get before retreating.
TES will not get a better chance than this, running straight to Baron when they spawn. So close and yet so far, Keria lands an incredible ultimate; the teamfight is so one-sided, Oner steals the baron away and Faker gives his life once again to wipe out TES from the Rift and securing victory for his team.
Game 2
T1 did not commit to a specific playstyle with their composition in Game 2 whereas TES are the ones who opted to go all-in towards sidelane strength. Thanks to Xin Zhao, Xayah and Rakan they definitely have tools to counter any of TES' plans.
Faker dominates Creme on the first few waves almost landing a solo kill but ends up just trading flashes. This was not enough of a lead for T1 to capture all 3 Voidgrubs afterwards even with their whole team rotating for it. TES champions are just too dangerous right now and they must walk away with a single grub to their name. When time comes for dragon T1 is simply too fast on the objective for TES to rotate or do anything in response. A lead is slowly building in their favor.
JackeyLove gets caught midlane, forced to burn Flash after losing over half of his healthbar. T1 instantly uses this advantage trying to get Voidgrubs as they spawn. Making sure to play patiently, with a single grub being stolen by Tian, Faker's catches him thanks to some clever positioning and Keria helps kickstart the fight. With an insane Rakan Flash Charm, 369 is charmed, his Galio ultimate is cancelled and his team's chances at winning the fight are gone. Faker is looking for blood catching JackeyLove as he tries to escape. They're dominating this game from very early on.
TES is preparing the second Dragon; instead of fighting T1 decides to funnel the toplane gold towards Faker as there's no one to stop him. The same plan is used during Herald, however there's no plates this time so Faker decides to Teleport and help his team. This doesn't pay off as Tian takes the herald and T1 get nothing in return. Herald is tried to be used midlane but being that close to T1's champions could be a death sentence. The charge is wasted and no progress was made in this push.
It is incredibly difficult for T1 to walk into this team composition as TES starts to take the Third Dragon. Very good maneuvering, going in and out, gets them in a good position, taking 369's life in exchange for the objective. Fast-forward to next Drake, Meiko gets severly injured as it's spawning now being forced to recall. Being a man down leaves no choice but to drop the objective as fighting now make them lose even more.
T1 has been forced to recall or burn important cooldowns in this period of time creates very tight windows in which TES could look to force Baron or make some progress around the map. Not taking advantage of this a single time makes one wonder if they're scared of LCK's Fourth seed or simply unable to see these timings.
Getting deeper into the late game, objectives are becoming crucial. T1 must avoid Ezreal's poke and find an engage in order to win. Situation is tense with Dragon spawning along Baron being up. Teams are dancing, TES cannot start Drake when T1 is constantly pressuring baron.
Meiko gets caught trying to clear vision, Faker loses too much health while posturing to fight being now forced to recall and use Teleport to get back. This buys TES time but not enough, T1 starts Baron, forcing them to enter through a choke point. Keria finds the most incredible engage by standing in fog of war, baiting multiple important spells and throwing the whole team off balance. TES gets aced with nothing to show for it.
That baron is enough for T1 to win the game and one of the best Chinese teams goes down without getting a single kill.
Game 3
Drafts were looking very standard for Worlds until Keria locks in Pyke support. They're clearly confident winning this series as well as the whole tournament, this has to be in order for him to get a Worlds skin on the champion.
Finally we're able to see T1's expertise of lane swaps. Keria is instantly taking control over the map restarting Tian's blue buff creating a major problem as his jungle clear will be much slower, disrupting the botlane's timings and maximizing the CS obtained by Zeus and Gumayusi. Voidgrubs are spawning soon and the tempo of TES is thrown out of wack. Keria and Faker perfectly coordinated this whole series, a simple roam helps land First Blood on Creme. Oner manages to steal a single grub knowing there's no way to contest the whole objective. Keria kept giving Creme no breathing room, constantly ganking and chunking his HP, growing Faker's lead bigger and bigger.
Dragon is at a stalemate as neither team can afford to start it, so a teamfight breaks toplane close to T1's tower. With help of Keria's precise hooks and Zeus' incredible mechanics the tower dive is completely turned around, two kills to Faker while the rest of TES runs away. This countergank earned them tons of gold on every single player. TES do take Dragon for free but this is a clear demonstration by T1 of how patience pays off immensly. Playing the long con is a much better path to victory than going for whats directly in front of you.
Faker is way too tanky at this point to be punished in side lane, Keria keeps running around the entire map disrupting all of TES, the global threat of Galio's ultimate and Gumayusi constantly pushing midlane altogether create a very hostile map state, making themselves extremely hard to punish or making it easy to even farm up and survive.
TES manage to acquire Herald but going for objectives has cost them every outer turret so far. T1 is almost 6k gold ahead without going in for a single fight. T1 went for a very greedy invade since Gumayusi just recalled and the whole team was just not in position. TES thought they finally caught a break, punishing this mistake. Keria's Pyke is unfortunately too clean as JackeyLove goes down. Their blunder was slightly salvaged thanks to this play.
A teamfight starts over Third Dragon and T1 is slightly too late for it. 369 gets caught on his way out so Baron must be forced with this numbers advantage. They make the correct choice of baiting Baron, forcing a 4v5 fight. Spotted by a blue ward, TES decides to not take the bait.
“If the mountain won't go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain”, T1 now brings the fight to them. Keria is styling on them, completely in control of the fights and Xayah is just way too strong against their champions. After a quick reset Baron is finally claimed, TES cannot engage.
For a second time this game T1's players are disjointed, throwing away a portion of the lead. They still manage to claim another dragon and must keep the pedal to the metal with Baron or risk giving TES a chance to catch up. Inner turrets are gone but T1 seem to be having a harder time making progress than in previous games, even though there's a 7k gold lead to their name on top of massive XP difference.
T1 quickly burn the next Baron. This fight doesn't go in their favor with Faker dying early and TES promptly disengaging. Just for a moment it seems like they're in control, taking midlane and reaching Soul Point. Baron might not be enough to siege their base.
Faker starts recalling in a warded bush while his team sits in fog of war. This was somehow enough to bait them, members of TES fall one by one, their base follows suit not long after. Completely crushed as T1 advance to semifinals in a 3-0 victory.
This was probably the best performance we've seen from T1 all year, they definitely were saving the best for last. It's yet another year of them not missing at least semifinals and with the way things are looking they have a very real shot at winning a second title in a row.