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Faker wins his 5th title! T1 is your reigning 2024 World Cup champion

Posted on by Pranco
Faker wins his 5th title! T1 is your reigning 2024 World Cup champion

T1 is yours Worlds 2024 champions! They defeated Bilibili Gaming 3-2 in the final that went the distance.

It is the organization’s fifth world championship Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok’s also. When the same T1 squad won Worlds 2023 last year, Faker became the only player in the world to win four titles.

By winning the 2024 World Cup, he extends that record to five, a record that no one seems likely to surpass.

Ahead of this final, it’s worth noting that T1 has never lost to an LPL team in a best-of-five at the League of Legends World Championship – and this record remains true.

Likewise, Bilibili Gaming has never lost to T1 in a best-of-five international. At MSI 2024 earlier this year, they defeated the LCK representative 3-2 in the lower category final, knocking them out of the race. This time they were not so lucky.

How T1 defeated Bilibili Gaming to become 2024 World Champion

BLG put the right foot forward in game one

LoL Worlds 2024 final T1 vs BLG game 1 draft
Screenshot by Amanda Tan/ONE Esports

T1 on the blue side first picked Yone, a popular midlane champion this tournament. Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong chose one of these signature AD wearers, Caitlyn, who, on the other hand, hasn’t seen much at Worlds 2024.

On the red side, Bilibili Gaming put together a team that fights, front to back with plenty of frontliners for Ashe. Wombo combo potential is high in Skarner, Sylus, Rumble, and Rell.

BLG garnered the first three kills of the game, including a sneak level one invasion into the bot side jungle of T1 for first blood on Gumayusi. It set the tone for the rest of the game: they rotated their opponents during the laning phase, continued to find choices with Ashe’s ultimate, kept the pressure on, and didn’t let their opponents scale.

They broke T1’s foundation in just 18 minutes. BLG found more picks, secured Baron and closed out game one in 27 minutes.

T1 bounces back in game two by changing their draft

LoL Worlds 2024 final T1 vs BLG game 2 draft
Screenshot by Amanda Tan/ONE Esports

On the blue side, T1 changed things up during the pick-and-ban phase. They ditched the scaling, opted for Kalista, denied Sylus, and topped it off with Nocturne jungle.

BLG went with what worked in game one: Ashe and Rumble, and responded to their opponent’s lineup with Galio, Xin Zhao and Rakan.

Using the tools they were given, T1 initiated early lane changes, out-maneuvered his opponents and successfully found picks as they had the damage to do so, unlike the previous game. They killed themselves six to three from early to mid-game.

During a mid-game skirmish on the Top Side River, BLG reduced Faker to a quarter health, but their positioning cost them a lot of time.

Seeing three members of BLG gathering, Ornn flashed in Choi “Zeus” Woo-je for the knockup, which perfectly combined with Renata Glasc’s Hostile Takeover. BLG was unable to move and was killed when T1 returned to action.

An important turning point in the game, because the number one of the LPL could not claim anything back T1 outmatched them every fight. Gumayusi’s Kalista and Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun’s Nocturne were two important productions.

Double wombo combo for the winners of game three

LoL Worlds 2024 final T1 vs BLG game 3 draft
Screenshot by Amanda Tan/ONE Esports

Game three is the first game where we see BLG on the blue side and they immediately deny Kalista. But this in turn saw Chen “Bin” Ze-Bin’s signature champion Jax dismissed.

They built more synergy in their team composition compared to game two in Kalista-Blitzcrank and a classic, Kindred-Galio, which offers a lot of protection for the backline or for whoever gets caught.

Grabbing the third consecutive first blood of the finalBLG roamed the map with Luo “ON” Wen-Jun’s Blitzcrank. They smashed all lanes and caught T1 out of the rotation, amassing five kills to none.

They made it seven before T1 attempted a deep Teleport flank after 21 minutes. Even though it was 3v2, Galio and Rumble were too tanky and barely lost HP. By the time the rest of the team caught up, it was too late as BLG’s porters wiped the floor. With Baron buff and a second follow-up push, they put themselves ahead in the series with this 27-minute win.

The sinful checkers of Game Four

LoL Worlds 2024 final T1 vs BLG game 4 draft
Screenshot by Amanda Tan/ONE Esports

With his back against the wall, T1 blindly grabbed Sylus in the middle of the blue side. Although Faker was opposed by Smolder, he did his part in team fights.

Despite BLG’s dual AP and AD scaling team composition, they still chose to enter battles early, which didn’t work out as they planned. Both teams continued to trade kills across the board before things exploded midway through the game.

Faker positioned himself on the side and used Hijack to steal The Quickness, then propelled himself onto both BLG carries, finding the two main targets. The rest of his team followed their combination of linear spells.

Turning the tide, they ultimately took the gold lead, then Chemtech Dragon Soul and the game to stay in the series.

Silver scraping during the 2024 World Cup final

LoL Worlds 2024 final T1 vs BLG game 5 draft
Screenshot by Amanda Tan/ONE Esports

The checkers in this game five were possibly the most interesting of all, as both teams played to their strengths. T1 on the red side opted to ban Kalista, meaning Bin was finally free to pick up Jax, a champion synonymous with his name.

In response, Zeus acquired Gragas, where he has an impressive 23-4 record. Faker joins Galio’s frontline in T1’s ‘protect the Xayah team composition’.

BLG again harvested first blood, making it five out of five in this series. However, unlike the past matches, they were more controlled. After all, Jax and Kai’Sa require items to come online.

After 25 minutes of stoppage, T1 turned the tide in a full 5v5 – and it’s Faker once again who turned the tide with Galio’s ultimate. A second clutch battle in the top lane, where he escaped with a sliver of health, led to them eliminating four BLG members and their base to be crowned 2024 World Champions.

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