On Jan 23, T1 faced off against Liiv SANDBOX in the 2nd match of the day. With a score of 2-0, T1 managed to take the quick victory over LSB and continue on their undefeated match streak in the LCK.

After the match, T1’s bot laner, Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong, joined Inven Global for a brief post-match interview. He shared some thoughts about the current bot lane metagame and how pro play will be affected by patch 12.2.

For a very long time, tanky engage supports like Nautilus and Leona have dominated the competitive meta. However,  One of the big changes to the bot lane meta is the rise of the mage/enchanter supports. Gumayusi stated that one of the big reasons why this is the case is due to long-range marksman champions rising in the meta. He also stated that the recent teleport changes now rewards teams that excel at laning, which naturally opts teams to pick lanes that can punish their opponents harder in lane.

Most of the community, and even pro players in the scene, shared that the Chemtech soul and the fog effect that the Chemtech dragon had on the map was overbalanced. Due to such, Riot Games removed the dragon itself as a mid-patch 12.2 update [this update took place on Jan 25]. When Gumayusi was asked about it, he shared, “It’s definitely hard for the losing team because the [Chemtech] fog limits a lot of vision. As for the soul... The revive effect isn’t that strong.”

Patch 12.2 saw the release of the new marksman champion, Zeri. So far, the consensus on Zeri was mixed, where some thought she was in an okay state, but many stating that she was far too weak. Gumayusi was of the latter, where he said “I don’t think she’s that good. Even if she becomes available in pro play, I don’t think people are going to pick her in her current state. Her autoattack mechanism isn’t that appealing, and I don’t think she’s a great fit in the current meta.”

Many thought that changes to Janna and Tahm Kench in patch 12.2 shot them straight to the top of the meta. Not only does Janna fit the criteria of being the long-range, enchanter support champion, the changes to Janna now allows her to slow her enemies by 100% with her W when taking the keystone rune, ‘Glacial Augment’. When asked about the two champions, he wasn’t optimistic about Janna being picked in pro play, but that “Tahm Kench has potential to return to pro play, because Senna also got buffed, so the ‘fasting Senna’ lane definitely has potential.”

On that day, Gumayusi was chosen as the Player of the Game [POG]. In his POG interview, he shared that he believes he’s the best ADC in Korea, and he’s gunning for the title of being the best in the world. When asked about his goals in 2022, he stated, “Definitely winning the championships. If I get the opportunity, I want to win the gold medal at the upcoming Asian Games, and earn the title of not just being the best ADC in Korea, but in the world as well.”