On Oct. 29, T1 and JD Gaming faced each other in the semifinals of the 2022 LoL World Championship. It was a battle of pride between the two leagues, as T1’s victory would mean that the LCK would be taking the title this year. JDG fought as LPL’s final hope, but it was T1 who was victorious after four games.

Game 1 started with T1 banning Sejuani, Sylas, and Aatrox from the blue side while taking the Lucian-Nami duo, aiming to play through the bot side. The two teams traded kills from early in the game. Whenever T1 scored, JDG had some answers of their own, and they collected the dragon stacks well. When JDG secured the Cloud dragon’s soul, T1 slew Baron. However, the bot side dive with Baron went in JDG’s way, and the Baron power play was wasted. Although T1 cut off JDG’s Aphelios just before the Elder dragon, JDG fought well and earned enough time for Apehlios to return. JDG ended up securing the Elder dragon and finished the game in the next teamfight.

T1 struck back in game 2. The game was difficult as JDG went ahead through Seo "Kanavi" Jin-hyeok's Bel'Veth, but as Choi "Zeus" Woo-je's Yone met his power spike, the game started to tilt towards T1's side. JDG still managed to stay close. The last fight came as Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok seemed to attempt a backdoor. Through that play, JDG's formation crumbled, and T1 took advantage to tie the game.

T1 pulled out a global composition in Ryze, Nocturne, and Gangplank in game 3 and played the game to their pace. JDG's counters were sharp, as they maintained a close game, but the mid difference was big. Faker's Ryze had priority over Zeng "Yagao" Qi's Azir, and as Ryze started roaming all over the map, T1 took over the Rift. This created a great synergy with T1's global comp, and the game was concluded after they snuck Baron and scored an ace.

JDG had no more places to retreat as they were down to match point. This time, JDG banned Lucian and Ryze, while taking Sejuani for themselves. However, the game went in T1’s way from early, as T1’s bot duo picked up an early kill. JDG secured both Rift Heralds, but this didn’t make much difference. In the second Rift Herald fight, T1 pounced on JDG and killed most of their champions. This tilted the game too much, and T1 smoothly conquered the Rift to reach the finals.

As the last LPL team was eliminated, the LCK have secured the World Championship title. T1 will face the winner of Gen.G vs. DRX.

All images by Riot Games