After the conclusion first day of the Swiss stage at Worlds 2023, teams with a 1-0 score were pooled together.
A draw took place, which pitched T1 and Gen.G as fate would have it.
They’ve played 84 games against each other over the years. T1 won 44 times while Gen.G has won 40 times prior to this match, casters shared on broadcast.
Many of T1’s victories were nabbed before 2022. As fans would know, Gen.G ramped up rapidly over the last two years especially when it matters — they’ve bested T1 three times in three finals in LCK Summer 2022, LCK Spring 2023, and LCK Summer 2023, and again here at Worlds 2023.
Gen.G and T1 rivalry continues in the Worlds 2023 Swiss stage where Kha’Zix and Akali were drafted
Gen.G drafted boldly in this best-of-one, deciding to go big or go home. Riding on the shoulders of Akali, one of Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon’s signature champions, and Kha’Zix, they did not draft a real tank or long range wave clear except for Xayah.
T1 on the other hand, has a clear front-to-back heavy crowd control team composition centered on Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok’s Orianna as the ball carrier. Typically paired with Jarvan, Alistar and Aatrox provide more options.
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The weaknesses of Gen.G’s team composition were apparent in the early game. Peanut’s Kha’Zix was shut down at Scuttle Crab twice as T1 used their lane priority to group up around river to deny him experience.
However, they did manage to find pockets to gain dragon control and secured the first two dragons of the game — a factor that played well into the late game.
Despite trailing two kills to four and having less farm overall, Gen.G’s objective trades across the map meant that they weren’t falling too far behind in gold.
The first shift in momentum happened 20 minutes in: Faker’s Orianna had pushed in a tad too far without support from his team.
Clipped by Rumble’s Equalizer, Chovy dived straight in for a full Akali combo that wiped Orianna off the map.
The real kicker happened three minutes later when they met for a full on 5v5 at dragon. Peanut focused on the half-HP Cloud Dragon while Yoo “Delight” Hwan-joong’s Rakan stepped out into the river to soak damage and crowd control.
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With less than one quarter HP, he got out, but immediately went in again with The Quickness, landing the perfect Grand Entrance onto Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong’s Kai’Sa.
That was the signal for his entire team to dogpile on the enemy AD carry before killing everyone else and the dragon into Baron.
Proving that the last team fight wasn’t a fluke, Gen.G once again challenged T1 after securing Cloud Soul.
Hanging out in the front line, Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun’s Jarvan cleared a ward in the river bush, but lingered too long. He was well within range of four Gen.G members, who melted his HP bar before his teammates could regroup and react.
By then, it was too late. Despite the game plan, T1 could not execute their front-to-back wombo combo team composition, as they conceded defeat in 29 minutes.
This puts their all-time rivalry score at 44-41 — and from the looks of it, Gen.G might even it out very soon.
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