Is T1 Having An Identity Crisis?
T1 has had a rocky start to the 2021 LCK season. The team is currently hovering around the bottom of the league table with some pretty miserable 1-2 losses that have set them back. A slow start is somewhat expected for this team.
T1 went through a back office overhaul in the offseason, adding new coaches and a general manager while also retaining a few promising players on long-term contracts. The organisation also skipped the region’s preseason tournament, the KeSPA Cup, sending its secondary roster instead.
While this slow start does have some structural excuses, the team also looks lost at certain points in the burdening season, unsure of how to play off of each other. This is the more worrying storyline for the team as it moves through this transitional phase. The storyline of how the team is integrating together as new younger players are breaking into the starting rotation over the more established, and storied talent.
Faker falling to the wayside
Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok, the greatest player of all time and T1’s franchise player, has fallen out of favour at the organisation. He has only played six of the team’s 16 games and only registered two wins in those games. The unkillable demon king has been riding the bench consistently since the summer split, when he first started splitting time with Lee "Clozer" Ju-hyeon, and now it looks like his fate may be sealed.
Clozer was part of T1’s last second push towards a World Championship appearance in the summer split and cemented himself as another T1 youth product that could make some noise in the LCK. The aggressive young player has a slightly different champion pool than Faker and has brought significantly more value to his team when on the rift.
Clozer has been better statistically than his counterpart, with better laning statistics despite not getting a counter pick for his lane. But, Faker’s six games were in the teams most back and forth matchups and against the top two teams in the league, Gen.G and DWG KIA. Either way, the consensus right now is that T1 has its post-Faker plan in mind and may only pull out the tenured veteran in specific circumstances or when his play is on form.
Click to enlargeGumayusi exploding onto the rift
Park "Teddy" Jin-seong has been put into a pickle of sorts this season. The former Jin Air Green Wings bot laner was having a resurgence with T1, turning his consistent high-mechanical form into some important wins for the team last spring. But, he had a difficult showing in the summer, along with the rest of the squad, and paved the way for the debut of his potential replacement, Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong.
Gumayusi has joined Clozer in replacing a starting player and outperforming him in statistics and number of games played. Teddy does have the better laning statistics, but Gumayusi brings a lot to the table in the form of teamfighting. The 18 year-old also has more carry potential than Teddy, especially on Aphelios which is a champion that T1 can play consistently at this point in the meta.
Top and Jungle Youth Expansion
The other positions are also not immune to this renaissance of youth. Both T1 junglers, Moon "Cuzz" Woo-chan and Choi "Ellim" El-lim, are under 21 and are filtering out at the same rate as Mid and Bot lane. Ellim, the younger counterpart, is getting more games while Cuzz, the elder statesman by a year, has been relegated to just four appearances.
The top lane has been a slightly different story. Kim "Canna" Chang-dong has yet to miss a game, but there has been rumbling that young talent Choi "Zeus" Woo-je may be getting a starting nod since his signing with the main team in 2020.
Is T1 a young up and coming team or a rookie squad with veteran guidance?
T1 seems to be at a crossroad with its youth prospects and how they should be integrated into the lineup. While the youth do have the lion’s share of stage games, the results have not panned out yet as the team is 2-4 in series play. When Clozer, Ellim and Gumayusi are on the first team together the squad is mechanically strong and knows how to gain a lead and win the game, but also fall into the common failings of a rookie team when set behind.
The addition of Faker or Teddy in a few series may have been to mitigate those macro problems and to add a calming presence in the game, but it does not look like T1 have committed to either as a captain to the team.
T1 has a good problem, too many skilled players, and that has caused its current identity crisis. Is T1 a team with only young skilled players, or a squad with a veteran anchor to guide the new hot prospects? Or is there a combination of both that has Teddy, Cuzz and Faker cycle in to take the reins a few times?
At this point in the season, it is hard to tell what this T1 team will look like at its peak, but the organisation does have time to figure these problems out. Unlike last season, where T1 was looking like a Worlds contender in spring and then bombed out in summer, the team is coming out in spring to find an identity for summer and international competition.
Images via lolesports