This desert looks familiar.
For Faker & T1 the clash against JDG echoes other pivotal moments from the past
Note: this Substack is a project born out of love for LoL esports. I plan to write more of these in the future. Any feedback is welcome. I’m aware of the difference between SKT and T1 but chose to use either more or less interchangeably.
When JDG and T1 face each other this coming Sunday, many will call it this year’s “real” Worlds final. I won’t debate the merit of that assertion, but I do understand where it’s coming from. This particular match is a BIG deal.
JDG are on the path to completing the Golden Road, a feat never accomplished by any team in LoL’s history. The other two teams that came close, G2 in 2019 and SKT in 2016, arguably didn’t look as unbeatable as this JDG roster does. This is their moment. A team of certified champions, individually talented to the point it brushes aside language barriers, playing at the peak of their powers, 6 games away from doing something most believed unachievable in a game so volatile. While the pressure is huge, can anyone name another set of players capable of rising to the occasion?
Yet, as momentous as this occasion might be for JDG, their opponents across the Rift are on a road of their own. Except there hasn’t been any gold for a while. And it’s not the first time their leader crosses it.
The first crossing of the desert
Seconds after Samsung Galaxy blew up SKT’s core for the 3rd time in the 2017 Worlds final, the cameras were zooming in on Faker. The “Unkillable Demon God” had, at last, fallen. Right there on the greatest stage of all.
And in a manner that even the best script writers at Riot couldn’t’ve imagined, Faker’s reaction was... well, frankly, human but, critically, the kind of picture-perfect reaction we’ve seen before from some of History’s greatest Sportsmen. The picture of him looking back one last time before exiting the stage was LoL’s equivalent to Roger Federer’s reaction to losing the 2009 Australian Open.
I’m aware that he might’ve just been looking for the nearest exit but hey, if you can suspend disbelief for a minute this article will be more enjoyable.
I wonder whether, as he exited the stage, he had any inkling of what was to come. Surely someone nicknamed Unkillable Demon God is prone to premonitions?
Divine sense or not, he couldn’t stop it. 2018 was a long year for SKT fans. The team finished 4th in Spring and 7th in Summer, failed to secure a spot at Worlds and was knocked out of the KeSPA Cup in the QFs. Perhaps more worryingly, the team that went on to win the KeSPA Cup that year displayed the kind of dominance that SKT teams of old often brought to the Rift (that team was, of course, Griffin). Heading into 2019, T1 was in a slump.
How do you get out of the gutter when you are a ginormous eSports organization with cash to spend? That’s right. You replace 4 of your existing players with Khan, Clid, Teddy and Mata. That should do it… except, somehow, it almost didn’t. Through most of the regular Spring season, Griffin looked like the real deal, going 10 games undefeated (before an out-of-form GenG stunned them) and beating SKT in the process.
The two would meet again in Spring finals. In a result that surprised many, SKT 3-0’d Griffin. That night, experience trumped raw talent.
And with that win, SKT was back. The first desert had been crossed. It went on to beat Griffin again in the Summer final and it took a once-in-a-generation roster of European talent to deny it at both MSI and Worlds that year, with neither of those losses carrying the same weight that losing to Samsung Galaxy did. In 2020 Spring, SKT picked up where it left off, winning the split and looking mighty good in the process.
Little did it know, another desert was ahead - and this one would be even tougher to cross.
The second crossing of the desert
You’re forgiven if you have no memory of the Mid-Season Cup 2020, a tournament that included 4 teams from China and 4 teams from South Korea, so let me recap a couple of quick bits for you.
Both JDG and SKT attended. JDG finished 3rd/4th and SKT didn’t get out of groups. The two teams didn’t meet at the time. Here’s a fun fact: the tournament was won by Top Esports, with a roster that included Knight and 369. Also attending that tournament? Kanavi for JDG, Ruler for GenG and Keria for DRX. In total, 6 of the 10 players that will meet again this coming Sunday played at that Mid-Season Cup.
That same year, it failed to qualify for Worlds, after finishing 5th in Summer split and being 3-0 by GenG in the Regional finals. The year after, it finished 4th in Spring, 2nd in Summer and barely scrapped past Hanwha Life eSports in Worlds Regional qualifiers, before losing to Damwon in that year’s semis.
Heading into 2022, T1 went through a deep rebuild. Except unlike 2019, it didn’t splash on established names. Instead, it promoted 3 players from Academy and picked up Keria. Fans had reason to be nervous - this was, after all, an unproven record.
That team, of course, went on to become the most dominant regular season team in the history of the LCK, with an unprecedented unbeaten run on their way to winning Spring 2022. It was a thing to behold; Faker leading a roster of youngsters so talented that, at least for a while, they warped the meta around themselves. Let Keria cook.
With that title, T1 had crossed the second desert. Right?
Are we there yet? Is this a desert?
Since that Spring title, across 6 tournaments, T1 has been runner-up 5 times and finished 3rd once. Does that make this latest dry patch a desert? And if so, is it like the previous two?
It depends. If all it takes to be in this metaphorical desert is to not come 1st, then yes. If we take a more nuanced approach to looking at results, then no. Five 2nd places is not something within reach for 90% of LoL organizations. And while, understandably, trophies are the gold standard by which greatness is measured, this might still be the strongest roster T1 has had since 2016 when it last won a World’s title.
Which brings us back to Sunday’s Semi-Final against JDG.
Time and again, T1 and its incomparable Midlaner have been here before. While the stakes are different, this is a match that has echoes of that Spring 2019 Final against Griffin. T1 face a team in peak form with abundant talent and on their path to greatness, while they’ve been grinding their way out of whatever has held them back. Should they win AND then go on to win Worlds (Billibili might have something to say about that), you’d be pressed to not call it Faker and T1’s finest moment.
Should they lose then perhaps it was sand after all.
This Substack is not affiliated with or sponsored by Riot Games, Inc. or League of Legends Esports.