We’ll Have an All-Korean Final
After two very intense and exciting semifinals, the finals stage is ready. And after one month of non-stop League of Legends matches between the best teams in the world, there is only one thing that we can be sure of: the Korean region is back on top. We can’t forget that the LCK failed to win the LoL World Championship last season despite having three teams in the semifinal matches in 2021.
This time around, the LCK firmly stomped on China’s chances of winning the title, posting a combined 16-7 game record against the LPL at Worlds and setting up an all-Korean final in the process. For reference, the LPL won the head-to-head at last year’s World Championship by a score of 10 games to nine.
Every single one of the Korean teams had positive records against China at Worlds. In fact, DRX alone, which was considered to be the weakest Korean team, earned wins on three different LPL squads during three different stages of the tournament, which is why this grand finals is turning out to be one of the most exciting ones in the history of the game.
Can T1 Claim it’s 4th Worlds Title?
For the first time in five years, Faker will compete in a Worlds final. And as mentioned before, all signs point to him and T1 coming into this match as heavy favorites, though they can’t rest on their laurels against the dark horse DRX.
With a clean 12-2 record at Worlds, this version of T1 looks much better than the team that was swept out of the LCK Summer Split in convincing fashion by Gen.G just two months ago. At Worlds, T1 has a higher KD ratio across the board, higher early-game scoring, and has shaved about two minutes off the average play time it had at LCK. This T1 is a lot hungrier for kill, more proactive and overall more efficient, especially during the early game.
Still, T1 has lost in back-to-back major event finals (MSI, Summer LCK), and at Worlds a familiar face awaits for them in DRX. Luckily for T1, the team has won all eight of its individual matches against DRX in 2022. But that doesn’t seem to mean much against a red-hot DRX team that also had a 0-8 record against Gen.G this season before dispatching them in the semifinals.
Ultimately, we can be sure that T1 has every single tool needed to take down DRX. From top to bottom, they seem like a superior team, at least on paper. The biggest thing DRX got going for them is the plot armor, and we all know just how strong that can be, especially on the grand finals stage.
Zeka is the Hottest Player at Worlds
Yes, you read that right. Zeka, who was considered to be one of the most inconsistent and unreliable players during the LCK Summer split, is now aiming for the title of best mid laner in the world. In the semifinals, he held an average gold lead of 388.5 at 15 minutes over Chovy, while also earning two solo kills during the series. Zeka leads all players at Worlds with a total of 16 solo kills, making him one of the most impressive players in the world.
Sure, every single one of DRX’s players had 2 great series in a row, but it’s impossible to not put Zeka on the spotlight. The scariest thing about this player is that he doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Right now, the way that Zeka is performing is exactly what people expected from legendary mid laners like Knight and Chovy, who always end up choking on the international stage.
But that’s not the case for the 19-year-old Korean player. It’s not often that you see a player reach the grand finals on their very first Worlds appearance. Now Zeka has his biggest challenge in front of him, Faker. The three-time world champion is not going to give the up-and-coming DRX mid laner an easy time, but we might end up having the most interesting mid lane matchup in a grand finals ever.
T1 vs DRX Match Information
- Date: Saturday, November 5
- Time: 7:00pm ET
- T1 vs DRX Live Stream: Twitch.tv
T1 vs DRX Prediction
Heart vs brain, there is no better way to describe this match. On one hand we have T1, the team that has looked the most dominant throughout the whole tournament, beating some of the teams that were considered to be the absolute favorites to win the whole thing. And on the other hand we have DRX, the team that has earned the love of every fan after their incredible run that started all the way back from the play-in stage.
While DRX has managed to upset both of their playoff opponents, this is going to be an incredibly tough matchup for them, because I think that T1’s playstyle directly counters them. Yes, DRX loves to have a chaotic game and more often than not, they rely on Zeka simply outplaying his counterpart. But if Faker has demonstrated one thing at this year’s worlds is that he’s not willing to give the slightest advantage to the opposing mid laner.
Also, the way that DRX has won most of their games is due to their opponents heavily underperforming, especially when it comes to the jungle-mid duo. In this case, Oner and Faker are putting up amazing performances, and I don’t think that this time will be an exception. While DRX might be able to pick up a single game, I think that T1 should simply roll over them and ultimately claim their 4th Worlds title.
This year’s world championship has been a wild ride, and we can’t be more excited about the grand finals. We hope that you enjoyed all of our esports picks, and we hope you have a great time watching the last match of the tournament. Also, don’t forget to bet on esports at BetUS Sportsbook & Casino. We’ve plenty of lol odds for you to consider.
