Hi guys this post was created in cooperation with one of our students Michał Bagiński, so everything you can see below was written by him.
Hi! Today I want to introduce you to the world of LoL esports. Last weekend, we witnessed an absolutely historic match where the four-time world champions, T1, with their legendary midlaner Lee Sang-hyeok, a.k.a „Faker,” faced off against GenG. You might ask why this match was so important. First of all, it was a semifinal between the greatest midlaner in history and the best midlaner today. This was a chance for Faker’s fifth trophy and seventh final, or the first Worlds final for Jung Ji-hoon „Chovy.” For context, GenG had beaten T1 in every one of their last 10 matches, making them something of a nemesis for T1.
Another significant aspect was that Chovy and Faker had faced each other 52 and 53 times, respectively. In this match, T1 defeated GenG 3-1. As fans, players, and even casters said, T1 at Worlds is a different team. Also, T1 barely made it this year; in the Korean league regional finals, they lost to Dplus Kia, then had a match against KT Rolster. T1 won 3-2, meaning that if they had lost one more series, they wouldn’t have qualified for the Summoner’s Cup. So, the team that almost didn’t qualify is now going to the finals of the World Championship. As I said, T1 at Worlds is different; it’s like their second home.
The second match over the weekend was between Bilibili Gaming and Weibo Gaming. BLG is the best team in the Chinese league; they won the LPL playoffs against Top Esports and qualified for Worlds as the first seed from China. Their roster includes probably the best midlaner in the LPL, Zhuo Ding „Knight,” and a strong team with toplaner Chen Ze-bin, known as „Bin,” returning jungler Peng Li-Xung „Xun,” and one of the best bot lanes in the world, AD carry Zhao Jia-Hao „Elk,” and support Luo Wen-Jun „ON.” On the opposite side was Weibo Gaming. Last year, they were the runners-up, losing to T1 3-0. The team featured League legend and toplaner Kang Seung-lok „TheShy,” jungler Wei Bo-Han „WeiWei,” midlaner Li Yuan-Hao „Xiaohu,” AD carry Wang Guang-Yu „Light,” and support Liu Qing-Song „Crisp.” This year, TheShy retired from pro play and was replaced by Chen Chen „Breathe,” while WeiWei was replaced by jungler Lee Seung-yong „Tarzan” from LNG Esports. People were surprised that they reached the semifinals, speculating that maybe they would repeat last year’s run and make it to the finals with T1 again. However, they were decisively defeated by BLG, 3-0.
I hope you enjoyed this blog! I also invite you to watch the Worlds finals between T1 and BLG this Saturday at 3 PM UTC+1. You can watch it on LoLesports.com or co-stream it on Twitch; I highly recommend Caedrel. See you soon with more League esports content. Byeeeee!
