We all know that a League of Legends World Championship is not the same without one of the most successful teams in T1 and it’s star who we fondly call by many names such as, the G.O.A.T, Unkillable Demon King and GOD himself Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok! With T1 sitting precariously at 4th in the LCK with DRX as their final opponent, here are some of the likely scenarios that would see T1 qualify for the 2020 LoL Esports World Championship being held in China.
FINAL UPDATE: T1 AND FAKER ARE OUT OF WORLDS 2020 QUALIFICATION. T1 LOST 0-3 TO GEN.G, GENG WILL REPRESENT LCK AS THE 3RD SEED AT WORLDS 2020 ALONG WITH DAMWON AND DRX! T1 FAIL TO QUALIFY AND WE WILL NOT BE SEEING FAKER IN CHINA. FAKER WILL BE DEALRY MISSED AT WORLDS AS A LEAGUE OF LEGENDS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IS NOT THE SAME WITHOUT HIM!
UPDATE 2: 5th September!
T1 will face the winners of Afreeca Freecs and KT Rolster in the semi-finals with Gen.G waiting in the finals of LCK 2020 Regional Finals! The winner of the finals will qualify to Worlds 2020 as the third seed from LCK, with Damwon Gaming beating DRX, the 1st and 2nd seeds are DWG and DRX respectively! All Regional matches are best of 5!
UPDATE! After T1 lost to Afreeca Freecs in the LCK Wild Card Round on 26th of August, T1 CANNOT qualify for Worlds 2020 as the 1st or 2nd seed from LCK. BUT, they do have enough points to be placed in Round-2 of Regional Finals/Regional Qualifiers which is basically the Semi-Finals. Unless Afreeca Freecs win the LCK playoffs, T1 and Faker will require to win 2 Bo5’s to qualify for Worlds as the 3rd seed! If Afreeca somehow manages to win LCK Summer, then T1 will be pushed down to Round-1 of Regional Qualifiers and will have to win 3 Bo5’s to be able to qualify. Either way, we will have to wait and see whom they will have to overcome in the semis and finals of Regional Qualifiers as Afreeca Freecs take on Gen.G later this week. Full match report on AF vs T1 and other games this past week will follow shortly!
1) The best way for T1 to qualify for worlds would be to make it to the semi-finals or higher in the LCK Summer Playoffs. To do that T1 have to get past Afreeca Freecs in a bo3. That will take T1 and Clozer (assuming Clozer continues) the current replacement for Faker, to the Quarterfinals. As LCK get only 3 slots for World Championship, 1 team among DRX, Damwon Gaming, Gen.G and T1 will have to miss worlds. So, T1 are required to overcome GenG in the quarterfinals which will see T1 Esports secure a berth to Worlds as the second seed from Korea’s LCK due to championship points from the 2020 LCK Spring season (90 point) in addition to the minimum of 70 points gained from finishing top 3. Hence with a combined tally of 150 points, T1 will secure their spot at Worlds.
Will T1 Qualify For Worlds 2020 If They Finish 4th in LCK Summer Playoffs?
No. T1 will not qualify for Worlds as T1 will have total championship points of 130 while GenG and DRX will be set to finish at 140 points or higher. But T1 can still qualify via Regional Playoffs.
2) Scenario 2 would be to win the LCK Regional Finals. The seedings for the regional qualification are determined on total championship points accumulated over Spring and Summer Season of LCK. T1 are likely to be the top seed at 130 championship points and hence will directly qualify to the finals of the Regional Qualifiers and have to win only 1 best-of-5 game against whoever makes it to the finals. But it could get tricky here as well, let’s see how:
a. If DRX win Summer Playoff Finals and Damwon finish second, then Damwon Gaming will also enter the Regional Qualifiers. Given Damwon’s recent performances, it is safe to say that T1 will have a mountain to climb with the likes of Nuguri and Showmaker as their final obstacle.
b. If Damwon Gaming win LCK Summer Playoff Finals with DRX and GenG finishing on equal championship points of 140 [DWG 1st, DRX 2nd (50+90) & GenG 3rd(70+70)], then T1 won’t even be the first seed in the LCK Regional Qualifiers and will have to win the semifinals as well as the finals with either GenG or DRX waiting for them.
Given the form and performance of GenG, DRX and DWG, T1 fans are right to be worried. Yes, we are all aware of T1’s playoffs buff but there are no guarantees. Moreover Clozer is starting ahead of Faker despite T1’s coach Kim reassuring that Faker is in no shape or form performing below Clozer. Clozer even started against DWG recently as many expected Faker to make a comeback when facing a formidable team unlike the first few teams Clozer faced. Undoubtedly Faker’s experience will be a crucial factor in high stakes games such as the playoffs as we saw just last year when T1 formerly known as SKT made an amazing run through the entire playoffs and demolished Griffin in the finals after having a nightmare split until playoffs.
We know better than to count out T1 and Faker especially after he and his team have time and again defied odds before, let us know what you guys think! Nevertheless, this LCK season will have a very interesting end to it and we will be covering all of it, so stay tuned and enjoy your games!
Thank you Rahul BS for your reactivity !!
I was looking for this information since i wasn’t sure despite leaguepedia website details this.
Great job and thx for the *UPDATE*.
Haha no problem, glad you found it useful!
In the event that multiple teams are tied in the standings at the conclusion of the Summer Split, then the team that gained the most points in the Summer Split will be considered the holder of the tiebreaker.
So in your b. case, DWG 1st, DRX 2nd (50+90) & GenG 3rd(70+70). DRX has higher summer score of 90 to GenG’s 70. DRX goes to World as LCK 2nd seed. GenG goes to Regional Qualifiers Finals
You’re right, so Gen.G will make it to the regional finals while Drx qualifies to worlds, thanks for pointing that out! Nice Twitch Channel btw, keep grinding, got a follow in me!