T1 faced defeat in the series, but a single game-changing move by their in-game leader, Faker, secured their spot in the LoL World Championship Finals.
In 2017, during the World Championship Finals, Samsung Gaming's bot laner, Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk, outplayed Faker in the final moments of the game. Fast-forward six years, and Faker has finally avenged that defeat with an incredible outplay of his own against the same bot laner.
The 2023 World Championship has been exciting for everyone, with high stakes games throughout the tournament. Now we're heading into the Finals with T1 against Weibo Gaming.
LoL Worlds 2023: Faker's Outplay In Game 3 Saved T1
Faker is the oldest member of the T1 squad and the in-game leader. During the 2023 LCK Summer Split he missed a month of play due to an injury and his absence was felt in the roster, with the team losing almost every single match until he returned.
While he doesn't play the carry-champions he used to, he's still got an insanely deep champ pool with more experience than anyone else in the world when it comes to League of Legends esports and that was shown during the series against JDG.
After taking Dragon in the 27th minute of the match, JDG were marching down the mid lane, ready to break open T1's base and secure themselves a victory. Then, from the side, Faker on Azir swooped in, saving the day.
Faker used his sand-soldier to shuffle forward and get as close to the JDG carry – Ruler – as possible. Predicting Ruler's flash away was also crucial and Faker managed to land his ultimate perfectly to be able, killing the enemy bot laner in an instant.
This one engage was the 'go' button for T1 who collapsed onto the enemy team, with Oner following up Faker's engage with Rell and Keria also throwing out his own Ultimate to CC the enemies.
The play shocked streamers and viewers alike, with everyone watching transfixed as T1 barreled down the mid lane after ace-ing JDG to take game 3 and move the series to match point. All I could say was, "Faker what was that?"
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