Hanwha Life dealt T1 their first defeat in the 2023 LCK Spring Split despite their explosive bot lane performance in game one, which gave them the series lead. Gumayusi and Keria of T1 performed a Ziggs Jhin combo. According to League stats website Oracle’s Elixir, this was Ziggs’ first appearance during the 2023 LCK Spring Split. However, as Jhin was previously chosen by Hanwha Life’s Life, viewers watched him in an unexpected support role for the second time this split.
When professional bot lane duos pick classic AD carries like Jhin or Ashe for the support roles, their goal is to win the laning phase with strong, long-ranged attack. The case was no different this time around, as both Keria and Gumayusi abused the enemy bot lane from level two, grabbing a double kill before the fourth minute.
T1 played through the bottom lane for the first 20 minutes and then started putting resources in Faker’s Kassadin and Zeus’ Jayce. And while two of their solo laners were strongly ahead around the 30-minute mark, T1’s squishy and not-so-mobile team composition was in no position to firmly finish the game. That’s while despite being significantly ahead, it took T1 to close the series.
That was all she wrote for T1 though, who lost the following two games, mostly due to stronger drafts and dominating display from the side of Hanwha Life. As a result, Faker and his crew were handed the first loss of the season, and find themselves sitting at 4-1 in the standings.