T1’s first match in the LCK Summer Split without Faker ended in disaster as they were hammered by DRX in a quick 2-0 series. And there is little time for respite, as the team will take on league leaders Gen.G in their next match.
The LCK giants produced a woeful display as they were dismantled by DRX, one of the league’s bottom teams, in a one-sided series that barely went over the hour mark.
As the teams took to the stage, all eyes were on Yoon ‘Poby’ Seong-won, the 17-year-old rookie promoted from the Challengers squad to replace Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok, who is taking a break from competition while he deals with an arm injury.
Many doubted Poby’s ability to compete in the LCK, but it quickly became apparent that T1’s problems extended beyond the young mid laner. The issues that the team has shown all split long became even much more apparent as they missed not only Faker’s mechanical prowess, but also his shot-calling ability.
DRX, who were 2-6 heading into the series, snowballed an early top side lead in the first game into an easy win, with Poby claiming T1’s only kills in a game that ended with a lopsided 19-2 kill score. T1 looked just as lost in the second game, where DRX ran riot with Kim ‘Rascal’ Kwang-hee on Jax and Yoo ‘FATE’ Su-hyeok on LeBlanc.
“They got four towers in two games,” analyst Marc ‘Caedrel’ Lamont said after the series on his stream. “T1 without Faker… Dear God.”
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Nick ‘LS’ De Cesare, another analyst, said that fans should not point the finger at Poby for the result. “It feels really bad for Poby,” he wrote. “I imagine he’ll get a lot of flame his way. It’s going to be rough until Faker is back.”
Feels really bad for Poby, I imagine he'll get a lot of flame his way. Team looks lost w/o Faker, but the same inability to play control remains the same in game 1. Poby's laning is as I remembered it, just shoves/trades w/o thought. Going to be rough until Faker is back #LCK
— H. Baker (@LSXYZ9) July 5, 2023
What next for T1 in LCK without Faker?
T1 have not set a timetable for his return, though it could be a while before we see the Korean star back in action.
While T1’s English statement mentions only that Faker is taking “a break” to focus on his treatment and recovery, the Korean statement indicates that he will rest “for a few weeks”.
T1’s next match is scheduled for July 8, against LCK leaders Gen.G, who have a perfect 8-0 record this split and have only dropped three games. It remains unclear at this point whether Poby will continue to fill in for Faker in the mid lane.
T1’s LCK Summer schedule:
- July 8: T1 vs DRX
- July 14: T1 vs Nongshim RedForce
- July 16: T1 vs Dplus
- July 21: T1 vs HLE
- July 23: T1 vs BRION
- July 27: T1 vs DRX
- July 29: T1 vs KT Rolster
- August 2: T1 vs Freecs
- August 4: T1 vs SANDBOX Gaming
