The League of Legends tournament at the Esports World Cup 2026 is heating up, and T1 have earned a huge victory over Hanwha Life Esports.
In a match between the LCK’s top two teams, it was T1 who surprisingly came out on top and got revenge for the LCK Road to MSI final.
It was a clean 2-0 sweep and the strongest performance reigning LoL World Champions T1 has shown in a long time.
It puts T1 and Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok one step closer to adding the Esports World Cup trophy to their extensive collection.
T1 Get Revenge on HLE
After winning an LCK title and MSI, HLE were heavy favourites to win the EWC at 39% on Polymarket.
Yet, they were stomped by a T1 team that struggled at MSI and had lost to G2 – showcasing how unpredictable recent international matches have been.
In Game 1, Faker died twice early, but T1 responded in spectacular fashion.
HLE thought they had free access to Grubs, but Mun ‘Oner’ Hyeon-jun went all in on Lee ‘Gumayusi’ Min-hyeong and won T1 the fight.
Suddenly, Oner was everywhere on the map finding skirmishes while HLE jungler Seo ‘Kanavi’ Jin-hyeok Kanavi kept getting caught.
T1 were 3k up old 15 minutes in and stomped the match in just 23 minutes. Choi ‘Doran’ Hyeon-joon had a great game on Renekton, but the highlight was Kim ‘Peyz’ Su-hwan’s Ezreal, which finished 12/0/5.
Then Game 2 was all about Ryu ‘Keria’ Min-seok’s Poppy. He expertly used Poppy ult to send away the enemy Swain, which allowed T1 to win team fights.
Keria’s smart ult usage and the mobility of T1’s comp helped the team earn a clean around the 26-minute mark.
And Doran had yet another excellent performance. This time on Jayce with an individual gold lead of over 3k on Choi ‘Zeus’ Woo-je.
Who do you expect to win the Esports World Cup LoL tournament now? Share your predictions with us on the Insider Gaming Discord.
And see how T1 fans protested and demanded that Doran be dropped following MSI. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
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