T1 beat JD Gaming in the first semi-final of the League of Legends World Championship. In his fifth Worlds final, superstar Lee "Faker" Sang-Hyeok secured a record.

"In our last game against Gen.G, we couldn't do anything at all and just lost. This time we are making more effort," Faker said according to a translation in the post-match interview about the possible final duel. "We are a different team now, it would be our chance to show that.»

After the quarterfinals, a clear picture already emerged: three of the semifinalists were Korean teams, only JD Gaming remained from the Chinese league. But the team won only the first game in a semi-final full of team battles, T1 prevailed in the end with three contested games in a row.

The upcoming all-Korean World Cup final is already the fifth for T1 and Faker, in which the first title since 2016 is at stake. Since then jungler Bae "Bengi" Seong-woong has since moved to the coaching position of the team, Faker could become the only LoL player with four world championships with a victory.