They may be the team of the year, but T1 couldn’t stand up to the European’s on their home turf.
G2 Esports have defeated T1 in a unique showcase event that saw the “Esports Team of the Year” taken down by a peg by the LEC squad at Red Bull a League of Its Own. After back-to-back competition over the weekend, G2 were able to score a surprise win over a less than motivated T1 in a match that will likely be chalked up to “just a friendly.”
But friendly or not, the South Korean Worlds-winning team found themselves struggling against a determined G2 lineup at the Velodrom arena in Berlin, Germany. The unique ruleset of the event had limited the champion pool for much of the event, but the final matchup had seen all Champions now available. And with a full roster of Champions G2 gave T1 a best-of-one shellacking.
In response to their victory over T1 at Red Bull a League of Its Own, G2’s Sergen "BrokenBlade" Çelik had this to say: "We both took the game a little less seriously, but we managed to win anyway, and I’m very happy about that. I’m very jealous of T1 for being able to play so many games in front of this amazing crowd.” T1 had ultimately played four games in the day, against local Berlin stack NNO OLD, Karmine Corp, and Team Heretics. From local heroes, to LEC champions, T1 had been primed to run the gauntlet.
But on the day, four matches was just too many on the trot for T1 to emerge victorious from. Choi "Zeus" Woo-je explained the atmosphere and difficulty in the matchups: "I came here to play some enjoyable show matches, but everyone was very competitive, so I actually felt like I was competing at Worlds!”
“I think the moment when we won Worlds was the best moment of the year, and this moment will stand out later, so thank you very much. I'd like to say thank you to Red Bull for inviting us, and I'd also like to express my gratitude to all the players that have played today - we've had a really great experience."
Red Bull League of Its Own will return in 2024 in Paris, France, at the world-famous Accor Arena on Dec. 15, seemingly becoming a postseason staple of the League of Legends calendar.
Cover image via Marcel Lämmerhirt/Red Bull Content Pool
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