Maç Tahmini: Hanwha Life Esports - T1 | LoL

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The playoffs of the top League of Legends tournaments are heating up in all regions and South Korea is no exception. There are 3 teams left in the race for the championship and the last slot on MSI 2024.

The top three are Hanwha Life Esports and T1, who will play each other in the LCK Spring 2024 Playoffs Small Final. And it will be a rematch of the semi-final matchup.

Trying to figure out if T1 can rehabilitate themselves after a scoreless loss a few rounds below.

Let's go.

T1's form.

We start the match analysis with an analysis of T1's form. In this match they will play as favourites despite their absolute failure in the previous match against HLE. The odds for a win in this match are at around 1.7.

T1 won at LCK Spring 2022 and then three consecutive top-2s: MSI, LCK Summer and Worlds 2022.

The curse of top-2s carried over to the 2023 season as well. At the Long Run of the Year, Faker and company took 2nd place at LCK Spring 2023, and then finished third at MSI 2023.

• T1 line-up: Zeus, Oner, Faker, Gumayusi, Keria.

LCK Summer 2023 was a real challenge for T1. The team made it to the play-offs, but did it with difficulty, taking 5th place in the group stage with the score 9-9.

There were problems for the main protagonist - Faker. The legendary mid laner injured his hand and it obviously affected the overall playing conditions of T1. But now Faker is kind of back on track.

The Faker factor has played out. T1 defeated a serious opponent in the person of Dplus and made their way to the next round, where their opponent will be KT Rolster. The latter, by the way, chose T1 as their opponent.

Next up was no less capable opponent than Dplus. Faker and company played against KT Rolster and won that match with a score of 3-2.

The opponent in the match for the play-offs for T1 was Gen.G. The first tried, and even started the game with the score 2-1, but it didn't work out: Gen.G camebacked, and Chovy was better than Faker.

In the grand final match T1 almost lost to KT Rolster after an excellent Long Sogpeg 2-0. They were saved by Gumayusi, who pulled it off on the 5th map with his Xayah.

However, it didn't allow them to win the final. T1 faced their nemesis Gen.G, where they crushingly lost 0-3.

T1 opened Worlds 2023 with a game against Liquid. Being the clear favourite of the series they closed the match against Liquid in their favour, but it was not an easy win: Liquid held on for 36 minutes and Ledge only 1 kill. Everything was decided in the final midlane brawl, after which T1 closed the series.

In a 1-0 basket, T1 ran into their own kryptonite - Gen.G. Faker and company started great, but the first LCK team was the first to adjust the pace of the game to their own and eventually win the match.

Next up, T1 faced Cloud9. Perhaps, it was the most defeated match of all that I had the chance to watch on this Worlds. Naturally, it ended in T1's favour.

After trampling Cloud9 T1 started to beat Bilibili Gaming, and they succeeded. T1 easily defeated the vice-champions MSI 2023 with the score 2-0.

In the play-offs, T1 played against LNG. Scout, who was not unreasonably named the best player of Worlds 2023, was like that until the 5th of November: T1 wiped out LNG, closing the series with a score of 3-0.

In the semi-finals of Worlds 2023, T1 faced perhaps the top contender to win the championship, JD Gaming. As formidable as the Chinese were, they were unable to outplay the experienced T1. As a result, Faker and company won the match with a score of 3-1 and T1 for the sixth (!) time made it to the grand finals of the most important League of Legends tournament. And then won it for the 4th time, which is an absolute record in competitive League of Legends and in esports in general.

After an excellent Long Cоrnеg regular season, LCK Spring 2024 T1s slipped a bit in the regular season, finishing 15-3 and in third place. T1 started the championship playoffs with a match against Hanwha Life Esports and surprisingly for me, they blew the game wide open, losing it 0-3. In the lower set of play-offs, T1 played against DPlus KIA and beat them 3-0.

Most popular T1 champions

Fiora (5 games, 60% wins) was the most often sent to the top line. There was also Jax (3 games, 100% wins), Camile (2 matches, 100% wins), Irelia (2 matches, 100% wins).

In the forest Maokai (7 matches, 85% wins), Sejuani (4 games, 75% wins), Viego (2 matches, 100% wins).

The centre line was occupied by Azir (5 matches, 80% wins), Sylas (3 games, 66% wins), Kassadin (2 matches, 100% wins), Ryze (2 games, 50% wins).

Shooters: Varus (4 games, 50% wins), Lucian (4 games, 100% wins).

Sapports: Nami (3 games, 100% wins), Ashe (3 games, 0 wins), Varus (2 games, 100% wins), Miss Fortune (2 matches, 100% wins).

Hanwha Life Esports uniforms

We continue our match analysis with an analysis of HLE's match form. In this match, they are playing the number two side with win odds around 2.

HLE, being a solid mid-table side, are getting to the late stages of the regular split. Moreover, this started to happen only in 2023. Before that, in the 2022 season, HLE were the worst team in the race, twice finishing in the top 10 in regular splits.

They managed to improve by 2023, after a major Reshuffle. Two reigning world champions joined the HLE roster, which strengthened the club considerably.

• HLE roster: Doran, Peanut, Zeka, Viper, Delight.

With the addition of Zeka and Kingen to the HLE lineup, it was clearly more vigorous. So much so that they made it to the top 4 of LCK Spring 2023. The latest addition to HLE is Grizzly, a jungler who got promoted from the academic roster.

It seems to be working out pretty well. HLE finished in the top 3 in the regular season, which with teams like Dplus, T1 and other top teams is pretty good.

In the first play-offs match HLE warmed up against DRX. Nominally reigning world champions couldn't do anything against their visions and HLE easily closed the match with the score 3-0.

Then the situation was not so rosy: HLE ran into Gen.G and fell 0-3. The favour went to the bottom set of play-offs, but it did not save them for long.

Hanwha Life Esports faced KT Rolster in the first match of the last chance grid. The pressure was too hard and HLE was washed away: 0-3 and a play-offs exit, and at the same time not a pass to the Worlds 2023.

They tried to make it to the Worlds in the regional finals, but again failed. The final LCK tournament of the season finished in the top 3, having failed to use either of their two attempts to qualify for the Worlds: they lost first to KT Rolster 1-3 and then to Ledge or DPlus KIA with the same score.

The LCK Spring 2024 Hanwha Life Esports regular season is in third place with a 15-3 record. And that's one of the best HLE results in team history. It's not often you get to play the regular season on par with T1, but HLE did at LCK Spring 2024.

Hanwha Life Esports started the playoffs with a match against Freecs. As expected, that was an easy outing for HLE. But an equally easy win against T1 came as a surprise. However, Gen.G was not able to take Gen.G down, even though they started well with a win on the first map, but then three straight wins from Gen.G.

Hanwha Life Esports Champions

HLE utilise a wide pool of characters for the top line. The most popular are Gnar (12 matches, 75% wins), KSante (5 matches, 40% wins), Ornn (4 matches, 75% wins), and Sion (4 matches, 50% wins).

Sejuani (9 matches, 11% wins), Vi (7 matches, 85% wins), Elise (4 games, 75% wins) appear most often in the forest.

Azir (9 games, 55% wins), Sylas (5 matches, 80% wins), Kassadin (5 matches, 80% wins), Akali (4 matches, 100% wins) appear on the centre line.

Shooters are chosen as standard: Zeri (11 matches, 63% wins), Varus (7 matches, 42% wins), Caitlyn (7 games, 57% wins), Lucian (5 matches, 80% wins).

From the supporting heroes choose Lulu (10 games, 70% wins), Heimerdinger (7 matches, 42% wins), Lux (6 matches, 66% wins), and also Nami (4 matches, 75% wins).

History of head-to-head meetings T1 - Hanwha Life Esports

The teams have played each other 5 times in the last year and the advantage is on the side of Hanwha Life Esports: 3-2.

Predicted result of HLE vs T1 at LCK Spring 2024 Playoffs

I don't expect a repeat of HLE vs T1 history in this match. Although Hanwha Life Esports look better than T1 this season, the latter still have a tremendous experience in such situations and should take the series.

Bottom line: T1 wins.