In the fourth season of the new decade for League of Legends, the LCK maintains an impressive streak in esports, exemplified by T1’s recent semifinal victory over JD Gaming. This marks the fourth consecutive year that a Korean League team secures a spot in the Worlds finals.
T1 is representing the region for the second consecutive season and will seek redemption from last year’s near-win as they face Weibo Gaming on Nov. 19. Throughout this decade, a team from the LCK has consistently reached the finals in all four seasons, with DAMWON, DRX, and T1 being the three different franchises achieving this feat. Notably, among these three, T1 is the sole team yet to secure the Summoner’s Cup in the 2020s.
League of Legends Worlds finals participants and outcomes in the 2020s
| Year | Champion | Runner-up |
| 2020 | DAMWON Gaming (LCK) | Suning (LPL) |
| 2021 | Edward Gaming (LPL) | DWG KIA (LCK) |
| 2022 | DRX (LCK) | T1 (LCK) |
| 2023 | TBD | TBD |
Korean teams had a Worlds finals streak through the near-entirety of the 2010s, but it went cold in 2018 and 2019 when the finals featured matchups between Chinese and European teams in those seasons. For the majority of the previous decade, T1 (then known as SK Telecom T1) was one of, if not the sole LCK representatives in the finals, as they reached the last match in four of the six seasons between 2012 and 2017.
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This marks the second time in franchise history that T1 has reached the Worlds finals in back-to-back seasons. The team did so first in 2015 and 2016 when they won consecutive titles over fellow LCK teams KOO Tigers and Samsung Galaxy.
In fact, next weekend’s final will mark the first time in 10 seasons that the T1 organizations will play a Worlds finals match against a non-domestic opponent. In 2013, SKT beat Royal Club to win their first international title, but in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2022, the organization faced off against one of their Korean leaguemates.
Three of the four seasons in the 2020s have featured a world final between a Korean and Chinese team, and similarly to Worlds 2020—which took place in Shanghai—one of the regions will have home-field advantage in next weekend’s series, as T1 will have the chance to win it all on home soil. For the first time in his career, T1 mid laner Faker will be playing for the Summoner’s Cup in his home country, with next week’s final being played in Seoul.
T1 and Weibo Gaming will battle in the 2023 Worlds final next Sunday, Nov. 19.