Though T1 is recognized as one of the best League of Legends teams in the world, they’ve had a recent string of heartbreaking losses between MSI 2022, Worlds 2022, and the LCK Spring 2023 finals. Faker is “desperate” for a win in London.
Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok is a player whose legacy is still being built. Though he’s already proven he’s the greatest League of Legends player of all time in a fashion that will likely never be topped, he still has a shot at winning the biggest tournaments in the world.
However, T1 have had a terrible habit of falling just short of the finish line. Their last first-place finish in a big tournament was the LCK 2022 Spring Playoffs. After that it’s been a consecutive string of second place finishes.
Faker revealed in an interview with Naver news’ Koh Yong-jun that he’s “desperate” for a win at MSI 2023.
T1 Faker doesn’t plan to be the runner up at MSI 2023
Though Faker has a ton of international titles under his belt, none of them are with the relatively new roster on T1.
For the past two years, Lee ‘Gumayusi’ Min-hyeong, Ryu ‘Keria’ Min-seok, and Mun ‘Oner’ Hyeon-jun have been working toward making themselves the best players in the region. Choi ‘Zeus’ Woo-je joined just a bit later, but he has proven himself to be a top laner that’s almost impossible to beat in a 1v1 matchup.
With this team already having a record-breaking win streak in the LCK and managing an LCK all-pro hat trick, T1 has everything behind them other than a recent international win. Faker’s desperate to get that win with his new teammates.
Fernando Decillis/Riot Games
Faker had this to say when asked about his thoughts going into the event by Naver news: “It’s been a long time since I last won MSI. Being the runner up last year has made me even more desperate for the win.”
And, though he’s been through some tough losses recently, Faker claims he’s been able to learn from them.
“I learned a lot last year, and, in this year’s tournament, I can make use of what I learned through previous experiences.”
This mirrors Faker’s sentiment from Dexerto’s interview with him ahead of Worlds 2022, with his approach back then likely being the same as it is now: “Instead of focusing on adapting to the opponent, we focus on playing our game.”
It remains to be seen whether or not T1 can play their own game well enough to take down the competition and finally nab an international win. And, with Keria having an eye injury that he’s currently recovering from, T1 may be starting their MSI 2023 run with a chip on their shoulder.
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