In the 2024 World Championship (Worlds), the premier League of Legends (LoL) esports competition, defending champion T1 once again took the top spot in the world following last year and achieved the milestone of winning five times for the first time in history.
T1 defeated China’s Bilibili Gaming (BLG) with a set score of 3:2 in the 2024 Worlds final held at the O2 Arena in London, England early today (the 3rd), Korean time, and lifted the championship trophy, the ‘Summoner’s Cup’.
T1, who lost the first set to BLG, regained concentration and regained balance by taking the second set, but was once again swayed by BLG’s fast-paced operation and lost the third set and was on the verge of defeat.
However, at every critical point in the 4th and 5th sets, captain Sang-hyeok ‘Faker’ Lee overcame the crisis with his fantastic engagement guidance and sharp ‘kill angle’ and won two sets in a row, winning a dramatic victory after a close full set.
T1 and Lee Sang-hyuk set a record of becoming the first in LoL esports history to win the Worlds 5 times. In addition, since the first competition in 2011, this is the first time a team has won twice with the same members (Zeus ‘Woo-jae Choi’ – Owner ‘Moon Hyeon-jun’ – Faker ‘Lee Sang-hyeok’ – Kumayushi ‘Lee Min-hyung’ – Keria ‘Ryu Min-seok’). This is it.
The T1 squad that won the 2024 League of Legends World Championship. Photo = Yonhap News.
Lee Sang-hyuk, who was selected as the MVP of the finals and became the first ‘two-time finals MVP’ in history, expressed his ambition to improve further, saying in a press conference after the finals, “I won, but the process was personally disappointing, and my goal for next year is to relieve that feeling.” It was revealed.
Lee Sang-hyuk said that the reason he was able to create so many decisive scenes today was, “I think a big part of it was that I acted in the moment when a situation arose,” and added, “I was able to see that because decisive situations came to me often.”
In particular, in the scene where he encouraged Silas to engage in the fourth set, which was the best moment of today’s match, he praised his teammates, saying, “The result was good and the teammates responded well.”
Other colleagues also expressed their determination to ‘not stop at winning twice.’ ‘Zeus’ Woo-je Choi said, “I’ve won twice, but I’m still thirsty. I’m still hungry, so I don’t think I’ll be looking for any other motivation.”
‘Owner’ Hyun-Jun Moon also said, “Next time, I will try my best to win the MVP of the finals,” and Min-Hyung “Kumayushi” Lee also said, “When I started playing professional gamers, my goal was to be the best in the world, but I think it’s still a little early.” “I want to show a good side of me,” he said.
[ 최형규 기자 choibro@mk.co.kr ]
