Faker lifts 5th Worlds trophy as T1 trips Bilibili Gaming in finals

Faker lifts 5th Worlds trophy as T1 trips Bilibili Gaming in finals

LONDON, United Kingdom – The best there is. The best there was. The best there will ever be.

Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok continues his already historic career as T1 lifts the 2024 League of Legends World Championship title after beating China’s top team Bilibili Gaming last Sunday (PH Time) in five games.

Faker, awarded as the series’ Finals MVP, led the Korean side from a 1-2 series deficit with crucial plays in Games 4 and 5 to deny the Chinese LOL Professional League another champion since 2021 while doing a back-to-back after winning the 2023 title in their home turf.

From barely making it…

The LCK side’s journey wasn’t easy.

With the team failing to win the 2024 Midseason Invitational after losing to the very same BLG roster and Chen “Bin” Zebin getting the better of them, T1 had a rough start in the LCK Summer Split, ending Week 5 with an unconvincing 5-5 record.

The SK Telecom-backed side found their groove in the last four weeks of the regular season, winning six of their next eight matches to go 11-7 and entered as the fourth seed. However, eventual champions Hanwha Life Esports ended T1’s run as the former relegated the latter to the lower bracket and then eliminated them in the lower bracket finals.

With T1 falling short, they were placed instead in the regional finals, where they struggled again and conceded against former tormentors Dplus Kia, before escaping rivals KT Rolster in a 3-2 close series to make it to Worlds.

…to getting back to the finals…

T1 conceded their first series in the Worlds swiss stage against another Chinese team in Top Esports. But it was their last defeat on the stage as they cruised past CBLOL champs PaiN Gaming, BLG, and LEC champs G2 Esports to secure a playoff spot.

From there, T1 defeated their tormentors, getting a 3-0 sweep against Top Esports to start their playoff road, before finally defeating Gen.G Esports for the first time since May 13 last year.

Meanwhile, BLG toppled the top Korean team in Hanwha Life before sweeping LPL rivals Weibo Gaming to be the LPL’s last hope in the Worlds and once more getting their hands on T1.

… and defending the crown

Bilibili Gaming dominated in Game 1 with a 18-3 scoreline as Zhuo “knight” Ding’s Sylas and Zhao “Elk” Jiahao’s Ashe combined for 12 kills and 16 assists with Ryu “Keria” Min-seok and Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyung struggling to fend BLG.

T1 answered back with their own 18-3 win in Game 2 as Keria’s Renata Glasc and Moon “Oner” Hyeon-jun’s Nocturne became berserk, mostly keeping knight’s Galio from comfortably executing plays.

BLG put a 17-3 masterclass against the defending champs to secure match point thanks to Bin’s Rumble getting a flawless 7/0/5 KDA and Peng “XUN” Lixun’s Kindred contributing to 15 kills. The Korean side answered in Game 4 with a close 14-10 game as they prioritized Gumayusi’s Ashe. Faker, getting his 500th Worlds kill in the game with Sylas, executed some huge plays including a takedown on Elk with Oner’s help.

Choi “Zeus” Woo-je’s Gragas became huge in Game 5 as he attracted four BLG players after getting the Baron before Faker’s Galio arrived and disrupted BLG’s plans before the rest of T1 scavenged what remains of the Chinese side, living to his “unkillable demon king” moniker.

With knight being the sole survivor, T1 toppled down the Nexus to end the match and retain the crown.