The Worlds 2022 finals are set: two South Korean teams, T1 and DRX will face off in a best-of-five battle to determine the champion. While T1 was among the favourites to come here and perform in this final stage, DRX was a total wildcard. Let’s take a look at what to expect from this competition.
Both LPL and LCK champions are out, and the Summoners’ Cup will be held by a team that didn’t win his league in the summer season for the first time since 2018, Invictus Gaming who finished second in LPL. Before that one, in 2017, T1 was the second seed of LCK also, and SSG won the title as the third seed. We’ll see if DRX can repeat such an upset once again.
T1 - the best team in the world?
T1 started 2022 by keeping the most of the roster together, and together with Gen.G’s super team, they were the favourite in most tournaments they attended. However, in summer, with the rapid change of meta, T1 declined heavily, and it was even questioned if they deserved the second seed of LCK.
However, the meta changed once again at the start of Worlds. Zeri left while new champions which rewarded Gumayusi and Keria’s play style entered the meta. Thus, this superstar bot lane flourished, destroying Gala and Ming, and Hope and Missing in the semi-finals.
Zeus’ superb performance got even better with the comeback of their bot laners who had a very lousy summer season. Oner’s confidence is back, Faker performs amazingly well, and T1 finally makes it to the Worlds finals after five years. On the other side of the bracket, Gen.G who was supposed to be the kryptonite for T1 was eliminated by DRX.
Does T1 have any weaknesses? They sometimes give out so many advantages in the game's early stages. JD Gaming managed to punish them better than RNG. However, even when they gave out those advantages, T1 always managed to climb back. Zeus finds a way to be relevant, and Gumayusi and Keria look unstoppable.
After that, it is up to Oner’s reading of the game or objective steals, and Faker doing what’s necessary to do: whether it be helping his team change positions with Ryze ultimate, or reaching the backline of the team fight with Akali and zoning out the enemy carries.
DRX - how long can a miracle run last?
Obviously, DRX has their own advantages as well, otherwise, they couldn’t be here. This roster was always a promising one, although they were behind of T1, GEN and DK on paper. Coming to Worlds after such a problematic summer season was a great ending for Deft and his friends, but they took it up a notch.
With the new meta, DRX was able to lift some of the responsibilities from Deft’s shoulders, activate Zeka more comfortably and Pyosik’s performance increased significantly, to the point where he easily crushed LCK Summer Finals MVP Peanut in the semi-finals. DRX managed to outperform Top Esports, Rogue, EDward Gaming and finally Gen.G, the last step of the climb is T1.
They will definitely rely on Zeka’s strong laning, which proved to be even better than that of Chovy’s. Zeka owned every single mid laner he faced so far in Worlds 2022, no matter how famous the name is. Plus, Kingen’s performance improved together with Pyosik, and BeryL entered the World Championship mode, he can play as much Genshin Impact he wants right now.
DRX’s opponent is probably even stronger than Gen.G in the current meta, but they definitely have the tools to defeat T1 in a good day. Worlds 2022 will end with the final series this weekend and you can find the latest news and live streams on Luckbox. to claim your 100% bonus before placing your bets.
The finals are played this weekend
T1 benefited from these longer games and top laners being more relevant, as they have the best top laner in the tournament. On the contrary, Zeka is having the moment of his career and he definitely looks unstoppable.
Or is he? knight definitely didn’t have the best tournament, Rogue’s performance together with Larssen dropped in second week, Scout and the whole EDG roster had problems that we couldn’t really identify, and Chovy was criticized for not being able to play more for his team.
Zeka will face a Faker who solved how to help his team around the map with whatever he plays, a player who does what he is tasked with and proceeds to lead his young team. He might get advantages in the mid lane, but Faker has done a great job at making those leads insignificant in the long run.
Plus, T1 will get advantages in both top and bot lanes. Pyosik will have problems playing aggressively, due to Oner being in a very comfortable position and being great at counter-jungling as well. Thus, the only play for DRX is getting an advantageous draft at this point.
Well, not exactly. T1 has proved countless times that although they don’t make the best drafts, they are able to overcome the difficulties of those drafts and make even the weirdest ideas work. I don’t see how DRX could defeat this machine, but I would definitely love to see them try. Let’s wait and see.
