T1 survive 1-2 deficit to overcome Anyone’s Legend in classic series
T1 made the semi-finals of another League of Legends Worlds as they overcame Anyone’s Legend 3-2 in an incredible series.
The back-to-back champions looked under threat of losing their famous streak against LPL teams when they lost Game 3 to trail 1-2 in the series.
Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok and his team forced a Game 5 after a nailbiting Game 4, before an Elder Dragon play finally gave them the series to vanquish AL once and for all.
Game 1: Outstanding Gumayusi pushes AL over
Game 1 started out extremely cagey, with almost no action across the Rift. That was understandable, considering the stakes and the fact that AL had not played an official match in two weeks.
Starting with completely conventional laning, AL secured the grubs, and T1 took the first dragon.
Overall, AL had a modest gold lead after no team fights and no team dives.
AL stretched that lead with Flandre’s Rek’Sai taking a pick onto Faker, but the first teamfight completely reversed their advantage.
Faker, Gumayusi, and Keria all starred in a hugely kinetic chase into AL’s jungle, removing AL’s gold lead with only Flandre remaining ahead.
The long wait for an objective span began, with Atakhan arriving with T1 having control of the area.
As AL were still shaping up to contest it, T1 took them off guard with a rapid dive that secured two kills, but an Oner overextension meant AL got one back and took Atakhan.
Yet, moments later, T1 were on Soul Point after getting their third, and AL were only 19-5 in petals.
The objective proved ineffective as another period of inaction burst into life at Dragons.
A Faker item spike, combined with a strong laning performance from Gumayusi gave T1 dominant damage, as they aced AL on the back of catching Flandre on the flank.
The dive onto AL’s pack followed as T1 took complete control of the contest.
T1 grouped up and took tower after tower, before a desperate attempt to get the Elder Dragon flip led to another devastating teamfight from Gumayusi.
The ADC went 7/0/8 in an incredible performance, with Faker once again getting huge impact on Taliyah.
While Faker has, at times, had little help in the Swiss stage, the victory set up the foundation for T1’s win condition, as their other pieces game alive in a dominant Game 1 win.
Game 2: Anyone’s Legend survive incredible T1 comeback scare
Game 2 saw a far more proactive start from AL. Hope took an early first blood, with Flandre’s Ambessa securing two early kills on Faker and Doran.
Despite securing their first dragon, T1 were completely routed in the first teamfight of the contest.
Tarzan’s Wukong has a strong reputation, and that is earned as he dove on Faker’s flank before AL chased T1 all the way back to their Tier 2 tower, securing two more kills on the way.
Shaping up around Rift, T1 were uncharacteristically careless in their approach with Shank’s Galio, Kael’s Poppy, and Hope’s Sivir smashing T1’s group to get two more unreturned kills.
T1 were not about to give up, as they secured the Atakhan despite going one for two in kills.
Despite AL’s 4k gold lead, the next fight was a clean ace for T1 in a huge shock for AL’s roster. They were caught carelessly in T1’s jungle, completely outflanked and outmanoeuvred, surrendering their lead completely.
AL did not lose their composure. The Chinese roster perfectly calculated the engagement as the fourth dragon of the game spawned, carefully using their crowd control.
The fight left AL with a 5-3 advantage and a platform to force Baron.
Faker made an ambitious decision to teleport close to the Baron, but it was ill-judged as AL collapsed on the bird, and it was soon an egg.
AL took Baron and were soon looking towards the base, carefully picking their moment before an ace secured the game.
Game 3: Riveting third contest gives AL match point
For Game 3, there was no space given for free. Both teams seemed to have early advantages in their lanes, with ganks and group-ups.
Despite Keria’s hook causing havoc, neither team found a kill before AL got first blood against Oner in mid.
Flandre’s early success on top allowed Tarzan to secure all the grubs, but a pick on Hope in mid set up T1 to control the game.
Hope struggled throughout the early-mid game, sitting far behind his tower and giving T1 the platform for map control as Jhin awaited his items.
Two separate picks for AL against Guma led to first tower and Herald, but T1 were quietly building a substantial CS lead, and their builds were coming online far earlier than AL.
The game seemed to be in T1’s control. Their winning lanes meant AL had no control of the Atakhan contest, forcing a bot fight in an attempt to get vision around the objective.
T1 dominated the following fight, going four for two in the engagement, and further extending their item lead.
AL reacted by taking the third drake, before a fight in T1’s top lane completely reversed the game.
AL’s builds had come online. Tarzan provided huge impact in the four for two exchange, now in favour of AL, which saw Gumayusi arrive too late to help his team.
Now on Soul point, T1’s attempt to prevent AL from capturing the Dragon Soul was messy and unstructured.
A nervy period of positioning around the Baron ensued. T1 attempted to start it, but didn’t have the damage to force it.
When AL eventually did force it, four of T1’s stars teleported in to contest it, but Shank’s Yone obliterated the T1 contingent.
T1’s only hope now was the Elder flip, but that contest went four for one in AL’s favour, and they finished soon after to put T1 on elimination point in the series.
Game 4: Gumayusi performance overcomes Flandre threat
How were T1 going to react to losing Game 3? The same way they reacted to losing Game 3 against BLG in the Grand Final of Worlds last year.
T1’s win condition immediately became evident, as Gumayusi stretched to a 20 CS lead early.
T1 secured a four-for-two early engagement, as Hope was ganked at top. Kael attempted to help, but T1 were not to be denied by the tower.
Guma flashed behind AL’s line as T1 surged through, collecting four kills with Shanks grabbing two back.
T1 had a 2.5 gold lead and advantages everywhere before Flandre began to scale with Mordekaiser, who collected the first tower.
Yet the LCK team completely misplayed the Atakhan, despite having control of the space and vision.
AL caught Keria early, before Oner fell in a disintegration of T1’s usual temfight structure, leading to a four-for-one AL teamfight.
The fight resulted in a huge lead for Flandre and Tarzan against their opponents.
This advantage played out in the next teamfight where T1 quickly tore through AL’s backline, only for Tarzan and Flandre to survive and equalise the fight three-for-three.
T1 learned their lesson and targeted Flandre immediately in every following engagement. Flandre’s dominance of the contest began to wane, with Gumayusi dominating.
Guma’s Kai’Sa had a 5k gold lead against Hope, who was 0/5/3.
A two-phase engagement saw T1 jump on Flandre again, with the teams also trading supports. AL dove back onto T1, in a questionable decision.
The fight resulted in the remaining three dying for AL, providing T1 the Baron and the Dragon Soul.
A quadra for Gumayusi was a deserved ending for the game, with Guma finishing 11/4/10 in an outstanding performance.
Game 5: T1’s objective dominance sends them to Semis
Fearless draft meant both rosters were in the dregs of their champion pools, but it was T1 who appeared to get the more workable draft.
Their poke-heavy draft made it hard for AL to stay within touching distance of the T1 roster, who took three gubs and lane control early in the game.
AL started to gain some footing in the game by trading Rift Herald for feats of strength, but T1’s early control bagged them the first three dragons.
AL simply could not find the opportunity to engage on T1, as every objective led to AL’s champions being poked down to 60% HP, leaving them no options.
However, the Chinese roster knew they had to contest Atakhan, and they looked favoured to take it after an even engagement, but Faker sniped the Atakhan from range.
That snipe followed an awkward stand-off where neither team had a smite, or the HP to fight directly.
An almost identical scenario gave T1 their fourth dragon, with AL dealing the majority of the damage to the objective but Oner stealing the Drake with his dying breath, giving T1 the Dragon Soul.
AL were not finished despite that, they fought out of the dragon to get ahead in kills before an Ace at Baron. Was this it? Were AL on their way to victory?
All rested on the Elder Dragon, with T1 coming out on top of the fight. AL were waiting to respawn as T1 got the Elder Dragon before forcing the Baron.
T1 now had every possible buff in the game, as they forced AL’s base. AL desperately tried to keep T1 at bay to time out the Elder Dragon, but T1 were not to be denied.
The final towers fell, and so did AL as the Nexus melted away in mere moments. T1 had recovered from 1-2 down, and won the series 3-2.
T1 move on to a semi-final contest against Top Esports, who defeated G2 in the quarter-finals.
Many feared for T1 after their unimpressive Swiss Stage showing which saw them succumb to defeats against 100T and Gen.G, but as usual T1 looked like a different beast on the stage.
While T1 relied on Faker to make it through Swiss, T1’s roster showed better form throughout the roster, with Gumayusi especially displaying fantastic form.
For AL, it is a heartbreaking end to the year. While they struggled domestically in the Summer split, they showed incredible form to go 3-0 in the Swiss, defeating Gen.G along the way.
Both teams had questionable moments, and throws which cost them games but only AL will have to look back on those moments with bitter regret.
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