The 2007 rookie achieved a successful victory over T1!

T1, as a legendary team in League of Legends history, has always been the main target for challenges from all major regions. Not only do LPL fans hope for an LPL team to defeat T1 at Worlds, but even within the LCK, many fans eagerly anticipate T1’s defeat, as long-term dominance by a single team can become dull. Recently, BFX’s 2007 AD carry Diable boldly declared in the playoff promo: “I’m not here to stop T1 from winning; I’m here to crush T1.” This statement quickly trended on LCK social media, with many viewers and commentators considering the young player overly arrogant.

Before the match between T1 and BFX, 14 casters from LCK and overseas platforms unanimously predicted a T1 victory, with five of them expecting a clean 3-0 sweep. However, the final result was hard for many T1 fans to accept. BFX upset T1 with a 3-1 win in this BO5 series, with Diable’s overwhelming individual performance shattering all pre-match predictions. In the fourth game, he even executed a kill that humiliated T1 players at their own fountain. Many LPL fans marveled at the strength of the LCK’s youth training system, noting that last year’s LCK rookie could now dominate T1 in a BO5 series.

A female fan at the venue broke down in tears on the spot.

After Diable fulfilled his promise, many T1 supporters began harshly criticizing their AD carry pezy. Pezy’s performance in this BO5 was truly disappointing. In almost every game, pezy was dominated by Diable, even though the team targeted Diable with three or four bans during the pick-ban phase. The gap remained glaringly obvious. Some fans of the player known as “Little Lü Bu” mocked T1’s management sarcastically after witnessing pezy’s poor showing. There were even jokes using the saying “you get what you pay for.”

Of course, the happiest people were the BFX fans present at the venue. After the match ended, cameras showed BFX supporters in the audience, including three female fans who were so moved they cried, and their images quickly went viral. Many viewers praised their courage—after all, before the match, almost no ordinary fans or industry insiders believed BFX could win. Moreover, since the match was held at T1’s home ground, most BFX fans didn’t even dare to come and cheer for their team in person.

A player rejected by the LPL dominated Faker.

Besides pezy’s poor form, T1’s mid laner Faker also left many T1 fans feeling helpless in this BO5. After all, T1’s many championships have largely depended on Faker’s individual skill. Many fans regarded pezy as T1’s “new egg,” believing that even if pezy was overwhelmed, as long as Faker performed well, T1 would still defeat BFX. However, viewers noticed that Faker did not display his usual strong individual prowess; instead, he was pressured in lane by V from BFX and was even killed during a tower dive in the third game.

It should be noted that BFX’s mid laner VicLa was once a player discarded by the LPL. During his time with RA, VicLa was often criticized by fans for inexplicably dying and was labeled the “weakest Korean import in LPL history.” Many T1 fans believe that the frequent mistakes by Faker and pezy in lane were due to serious problems with T1’s coach’s pick-ban strategy. Even many LPL commentators think that if T1 had not focused so much on “research” during the competition, both teams would have likely played a full BO5 series, and T1’s loss to BFX was mainly due to pick-ban differences. (Do you think this makes sense?)

Conclusion

After watching this BO5, I personally feel that T1’s loss to BFX was mainly due to flawed pick-ban decisions on the bot lane, forcing T1’s bottom duo to endure pressure in almost every game, which made things very difficult for pezy. What do you think caused T1’s defeat? I believe T1 still has a good chance to advance to the VCT Masters, since on paper, BFX and DK don’t match up to T1 and GEN. (Do you think T1 has a strong chance to qualify for the VCT Masters?)