https://youtu.be/Y8Bpa65Bwro?si=KsZGY0TLQITAXRw2

The following is a selection of CloudTemplar’s (LCK commentator) discussion of GenG vs T1 match. I left out all the Q&A and his recounting of the opening ceremony (which he liked) for brevity.

All credits to CloudTemplar (https://www.youtube.com/@CloudTemplar_official) and the production crew of CloudTemplar’s channel. All emphases are added by the translator.

Game 1

Let’s start with the first set. In any BO5, the first set is the place where the two teams lay out their cards on the table, the things that they have prepared for this. Permission to speak freely? I looked at Aatrox-Yone picks and was wondering if that was the right call for WBG. Like, are they really playing this matchup? I said this rather candidly in the preview, WBG can’t and shouldn’t pick Aatrox first. Honestly, I found myself rather puzzled from this point on. Is this the right call?

Look, Zeus as a player is someone who is best in the world when it comes to countering Aatrox with Yone. He never failed to prove this point, even. In my knowledge, he shattered all opposition with the dual blades. He may in the end have lost the game, but he decapitated all opposition^(1). I say, I really couldn’t understand why WBG was going for this matchup. It was just a really curious decision. How did that decision come to be? Who played the best Aatrox in the Worlds last year? In the Worlds, it was Kingen. Even he banned Yone, man. Like, come on, I can’t understand this decision.

Honestly, I have a lot of other things to say, but perhaps it’s because I’m playing top these days, I just can’t let this go. Why? In the end, the results were far bloodier than we expected.

Let’s think about the picks and bans as a whole for the first set. I honestly think that T1 didn’t lose out in any lane and that their comp was quite solid. The most important point here, however, is that T1 picked Yone right away with confidence after seeing Aatrox, and played toward that pick. That I think was really good. If T1 had, for instance, didn’t pick Yone in the first phase? Let’s say that they had a lot on their mind, “why is WBG picking Aatrox so eagerly? Are they anticipating Yone? Is this a trap? Did they cook something? Maybe we should call off Yone until the second phase.” If this had happened, Yone would have been banned ten out of ten. Aatrox was issuing his challenge. “I challenge thee to a single combat!”^(2) So Yone responded to the challenge, with confidence. That was really good, without being afraid. Alright, I’m here.

Look, when we discuss Game 1 and 2, top lane is going to be like the 80% to 90% of our discussion. The performance there was just so overwhelming. Of course, this is not to say that others were just passengers^(3). To put it bluntly, if other lanes fell behind, Zeus can give his best performance of the year and still can lose the game. That’s what being a top laner means. But T1 didn’t fall behind in other lanes. If anything, they did better. So the stage was set for a one-sided game. Top was shattered, other lanes did well too.

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1 CloudTemplar becomes somewhat agitated from this point onward, until the end of the paragraph.

2 Original 요네 나와!, an expression that CloudTemplar has on his soundboard. Examples include “come out, (team name)!” shout at the end of a series, calling forward to the next matchup.

3 Original 버스 탔다, riding a bus, an expression for being carried in a game. For instance, Flame was known as the pilot of the CJ Blaze plane back in his Flame Horizon days for his ability to carry the game.

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Something that is also quite important and one of the many reasons why T1 was showing such strong performance in this Worlds is their freedom in picks and bans, the optimization of meta, their leadership of the meta and the picks and bans phase. I think T1’s flexibility in picks and bans this Worlds is simply superlative, not only in botside and top but particularly the mid. Right now, mid champ pool is limited. We know this already, right? Orianna, Neeko, Azir, so on, maybe Sylas. You don’t have a lot of picks, and Faker takes his pocket picks and runs with them. No mistakes, fully performing his role in the comp. Just good stuff.

Oner shines with his abilities in skirmishing. Father Tom^(4) said this after the match, that Oner is among the top of the top when it comes to hands in the world. This is to say that Oner really shines in making snap decisions and plays in skirmishes. He’s really good at standing face-to-face with the opponent^(5). His physicals, the ability to fight, planning out his skirmishes in an aggressive way, he’s really good at that.

Of course, the other side of that is, when Oner was doing somewhat poorly, the team was not able to create that context for him to run wild with aggressive plays. There were instances where he overextended and ended up creating a losing state with his own aggression. But right now, T1? They are unleashed right now, fully in control from laning onward. That brings out the best in Oner’s playstyle. So in the end, bot held the leash. “You dare to give us Kali-Renata?^(6)” Senna-Tahm seemed to hold their own, but they were always on their back foot. But above all, we return to the top lane. What more needs to be said?

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4 Original 톰버지, or Tom father. In this context, this expression praises Tom’s role as an unsung hero of this T1 team, particularly his ability to play the picks and bans phase (that was widely seen to be lacking in previous coaches)

5 This part references the famous fight scene by Kwon Sang-woo in the film Once Upon a Time in High School (https://youtu.be/lsr9VahkiPA?si=PmgHXQFWxmPEx6hg)

6 Another oft-repeated phrase in CT’s soundboard

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Alright, this may be a bit off-topic, but we have plenty of things to talk about with WBG. Is WBG LPL’s DRX? TheShy the Supershy, Xiaohu the Spring Emperor^(7), Crisp returning for the trophy, there’s many stories to talk about. These players also have strong followings in Korea. We can for instance think about the matchup from WBG’s perspective.

(Talks about his position as a commentator and impartiality)

I think this could be something that is quite disappointing for the player and the fans. If WBG had won this worlds, the throne of the greatest top laner of all time, which had stood empty**^(8)****, would have been 99% awarded to TheShy.** At least for me. Look, when it comes to the discussion of the best players of all time in positions, there’s a huge discussion outside the mid. It was even discussed in a Riot program recently^(9), which kicked off a fiery debate. For the record, I don’t agree with the list in that program. I have some different thoughts about that. But anyhow, if TheShy had won, TheShy would have been recognized by most as the greatest of all top laners, to put it bluntly. I can agree to that sentiment, too, but in the end, the throne remains vacant. All the players in the discussion have things that hold them back from claiming the throne. Their careers tend to be short, their time at the top tends to be short as well, you can discuss the impact, but anyhow, all the candidates seem to have some things that dispute their claim. This gives credence to the idea of the throne being vacant. I have my own standards and thoughts, but honestly, top lane is quite difficult.

So why did I bring this up? TheShy against Bin, against LPL’s Terminator^(10), the one whose martial prowess reaches 99 out of 100? He showed overwhelming dominance. So people were of the opinion that if TheShy truly becomes Supershy, WBG will have the power to contest and even win. His presence coming in clutch, the DNA of the crowned^(11).

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7 Xiaohu the spring tiger is known among Korean fans as 춘제 (春帝), the Emperor of Spring

8 Original 공석, or vacant: There was a huge discussion in fmkorea about the status of the top lane GOAT after TheShy’s massive carry performance in the semifinals.

9 CT is referencing the Divephoria episode prior to the finals (https://youtu.be/iNTlvVfllgM?si=Vl11gCVln2tg04CV)

10 Originally Zhang Fei, one of the greatest warriors in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms

11 Originally 유관 DNA, the intangibles that the ones who won the competition are said to show through their daring plays.

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But… I don’t really know how to explain this. I think there are three factors at play here. Firstly, in the series, Zeus got the Finals MVP and was indeed the one who created the greatest difference in lane. What’s the issue with top? For WBG, top was super important. TheShy was the player who came in clutch in important junctures. He was the one who got things done**^(12)****. That made this difference all the more tangible.**

Alright. Firstly, Zeus was a monster. He’s a monster. Secondly, TheShy had shown some variance in his performance for some time. Those who watch LPL will agree with me here. WBG is somewhat like this too, but TheShy has moments where he plays like a god and others where he plays quite poorly. So in some ways one could interpret his performance as reaching his peak against Bin and settling down against Zeus. Thirdly, picks and bans. Zeus got the later pick thanks to being on the red side. The last game was a bit different, but the difference in lane was felt quite sharply in the first and second sets. Anyway, you can connect these points.

The strength of the later pick. The better a top laner performs, the more advantage one can win with that. But I’ll be blunt once again. Even if we account for these things, Zeus destroyed the top lane far beyond what can be attributable to these factors. I was surprised at his performance once again. He ripped it apart, so the game was almost unplayable for WBG. I’ll be really blunt. Even if Zeus got to counter, things should have not ended up this way. Like, if you can counter top and rip apart the opposition like this? Everyone will be trying to pick top late. Things don’t end up like this, even if you get a counterpick. The game was just unplayable.

Another important thing: While Oner did support Zeus frequently, WBG dedicated more resources to top. Oner did path toward top at critical junctures, but Weiwei was even more toward top. That’s what makes this difference worse. You funnel resources and help the lane, but things don’t work out in the end. Maybe things would have been better if the top lane was just left alone.

(Chat mentions how even Zeus banned K’sante) You heard it from the KDF players, right^(13)? Over the scrims with KDF, Zeus recognized the dangers of K’sante because DuShy^(14) showed it to him, those were the interpretations floating around, right? KDF was T1’s partner in scrims. Anyhow, I do think that K’sante in itself can’t rip apart the lane the way Zeus did. Put it simply, if Zeus allowed K’sante through and played Aatrox or others, he would have done equally well. But K’sante can’t also be ripped apart: It is difficult to create such difference against K’sante, and because of K’sante’s kit, he has chances to strike back even if he is forced under the turret. He is a very inconvenient opponent. T1 did well banning him early on, and conversely, WBG should have gone for K’sante early on. One could interpret this as such.

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12 Think of the team demanding some players to pull of the impossible and the players doing the said impossible thing. The example I had in mind while translating was BDD’s super plays in 2021 Gen.G.

13 The players of Kwangdong Freecs (Taeyoon, Andil) and the manager cvMax went on stream and shared some stories of their scrimming against T1 after the finals.

14 DuDu, top laner of KDF, is known as DuShy for his skills in Korean forums.

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All other players at T1 did well this game, they were all praiseworthy, but top lane just drowned their performances out. One can give a really simple summary of the game. WBG just couldn’t even match T1 in the game. How can they, when Yone was just running amok like that? Lee Sin is also tagging along, kicking ass right and left, how can you fight back against them?

These are just my opinions, but if I imagine myself in WBG’s shoes, why did WBG go for this comp? The first cause? (suddenly raising his voice) BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T KNOW!!! They knew Zeus was good using Yone against Aatrox, but they didn’t have any experience against that. They could not have imagined this! I think this is the biggest reason. Look, even if you can somehow practice against Yone, there’s no player in the world who can play top Yone better than Zeus to begin with, right now. Nobody can perform like that, so you don’t really have an idea on the matchup. Someone could have said this, someone must have said this: “this Zeus guy is cracked on Yone, even Kingen last Worlds banned Yone against him. We can’t let this through.” The response could have been “hmm, I’m not sure about that.” “Hmm… I don’t know about that”. They really don’t know! Ban Yone right now? Does that make sense?

Zeus used Yone to beat 369, right? But one can also say that at the time of the match, that was understandable. 369 as a player in the current JDG roster played weakside, right? So it is understandable that he is on his back foot, and as a player, he isn’t the type who is strong in lane, if you have to get into the nitty-gritty of things. Perhaps things were hard to tell because of that, but I personally think that if it was a match between Korean teams, no team would have went for that matchup. You know, even if one analyzes one’s opponents very thoroughly in international matches, the context is still somewhat different, particularly with experience and so on. I saw Zeus slicing people open right in front of my eyes. Would I have gone for that matchup? No.

I am also saying that WBG might not have anticipated Yone coming out so quickly in the first phase. WBG might not have anticipated Zeus picking Yone with confidence right away. “We can ban Yone after this in the second phase” and so on. After all, there’s plenty of things that T1 could have gone for in mid and jungle, right? But this all comes back to T1’s flexibility and champ pool, and their willingness to exploit the opening.

League and the picks and bans are said to be like a card game: What cards do you have in your hand, and what order are you going to play them? Theoretically speaking, stronger teams are better at this game, so they can’t lose the picks and bans. This is the theory. Look, they have more cards in their hand. They just need to play them properly, so they can’t lose, at least in theory. What is interesting, of course, is in practice this theory doesn’t hold up. Even the best teams get tripped in picks and bans, because they are only human. Think about card games, blackjack, Yu-Gi-Oh or Hearthstone, whatever. Even if you have a great hand, can you play them to the best case scenario all the time? It’s more difficult than you think. Even if you have the best hand, if you miss the opponent’s plays or fail to get the proper order of plays, you can fall behind. T1 didn’t make any mistakes, thanks to Father Tom, Roach, the coaching staff, and the players. They are just good. You see a lot of variance in picks and bans. You just need to try the fantasy picks and bans once to see why. Even if you get all the data, things change. Even if you have large champ pools, things can go wrong.

Do any teams use data programs? Well… I don’t think so, because all this depends on the opponent. Honestly, I think that as the League esports progresses, you might see data-based analyses in the future. It is true that these means are progressing, but they aren’t at the level where they matter yet. Human element is more valuable, more significant. There’s a huge lack of cumulative data for this purpose, because the patches are done all the time. You just can’t do anything with data. So, humans have to do the analysis.

It’s a bit off-topic, but I have been told that there are some cases where the two schools of data-based and experience-based analyses clash. I have heard some stuff over the grapevine that there were cases where different ideas clashed. But I guess things will be more developed as we go forward. (talks about soloQ and data analysis) I am of the opinion that at pro level, this is quite difficult.

What I wanted to say was that T1 can’t theoretically lose in picks and bans, but most of the teams can’t bring this theory into reality. Furthermore, the fact that T1 can realize this makes the team so strong. Players play well, have wide champion pools, and can bring out picks at pertinent junctures. This is what it means to be good in picks and bans. And T1 is just too good at that.

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Game 2

If the top collapses so much in the first game, that has significant effects toward later picks and bans. I think WBG suffered grievous wounds from that. It’s not the case that you always fail if you lose the first match in BO5, but WBG’s ace fell before the opposition. So WBG did ban Yone, but Gwen comes out and sets up a barber shop^(15). So WBG had no answer for that.

Look, the other lanes and picks and bans had a lot of interesting angles, but no matter how, it always comes back to the top lane for Games 1 and 2. I think WBG managed to shift things around for Game 3, but Games 1 and 2? I don’t have a lot of other things to say outside the top lane. If T1 had made mistakes in the picks and bans, things could have been different, but they didn’t. There’s just nothing to say.

WBG did manage to start off better by getting Kalista early, at least compared to Game 1. If Game 1 was a story of WBG getting pummeled in all lanes, WBG managed to hold onto other lanes in Game 2. But the top collapsed, perhaps even further. Gwen doesn’t have a lot of games where she popped off in recent memory, but Gwen is truly a problem on her own^(16). “Gwen is immune^(17)”, that OP of the OP skill, and forcing everyone to sit down on the chairs in a row and just running the buzz cut over their heads with needles? Unbelievable stuff. Everyone gets shaved like the boot camp. The thing is, it is difficult to feed Gwen to that level.

Zika played this matchup, right? Zika is good in this matchup in LPL, and he did play it in Worlds this time, right? I mentioned this before, but as Aatrox gets priority, players come up with different ways to counter Aatrox. Some use Gwen, others Yone, et cetera. Gwen indeed was performing decently against Aatrox, so you have some research backing up the decision. The critical point is that Zeus prepared for the both sides of the matchup: He prepared two counters, Yone and Gwen. But if you ask me, I don’t think that this is a problem of picks and bans.

What I said quite often about League is that there isn’t a lot of cases where there are clear counters, at least far less than what you think. It’s more about the question of the player’s ability. That’s the way the game is. Unless it is like soloQ’s dark technology that just come out of the blue, there isn’t a lot of cases in the pro level where counters are relevant. 6:4, or 5.3:4.7, even. Players can turn things around. In the end, Zeus just played very well. Even if there was a mistake with the first gank by Oner, he turned things around in the end^(18).

(Chat: “Even if TheShy played Rumble, Zeus would have won”) THAT IS A PITFALL! That’s why even the best teams lose picks and bans. Do you get it? There are bans that have to come out, like I said: Rumble and Neeko. Add Orianna and things are a-ok. Rumble and Neeko have to be banned. No questions.

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15 Gwen’s barber shop was an ad-lib comment that CT threw in during Game 2 in the Korean broadcast.

16 Original 악질, champs like K’sante, Zeri and Yuumi (on their heyday) that exerted negative influence on the matchups.

17 The contraction of this in Korean, 그면상, is a bit of a meme in Korean forums.

18 If my memory is right, CT issued T1 his emergency call when the gank failed, but retracted it after Zeus got the kill.

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The matchup was better than the first set, but when Gwen grew up and began laying waste, there was no answer. Other laners from T1 played well, too. You saw how they peeled for each other, right? The skirmishes were just artful. They were just so good, so I couldn’t help but be impressed over and over again. Top lane’s influence shone through, of course, but all the other members of the circus^(19) played well.

Keria is also just crazy. I just can’t describe him, the way he uses skills and so on. I said that his bard was unlike any other I’ve seen. He broke the frame for me. I thought that Bard was, at the very least, a champ that does require flukes, and that’s true. Even the players agree, but Keria broke that idea. Renata, Bard, his plays are just crazy. His hands are absolutely crazy, after all.

Sylas pick came out at a good time, too, and the later phase was used to counter the picks. WBG, again, theoretically has a comp that they can play. In fact, if things go smoothly, their comp can be stronger than T1’s. But what does all that matter? What team managed to take things smoothly against T1 in this Worlds? There’s very little number of cases when that happened. T1 just drags them into their tempo and breaks them in half.

Look, the comp looks bad in retrospect because of what happened in topside, but I think WBG did their best with what they had. Again, I think that WBG could not win the picks and bans, unless T1 lets their guard down. T1 even had the edge in players’ performance. All these things are connected. T1 bot lane has champ ocean, you need to think about mid and jungle too lest they wreck the game, and the top? TheShy is the ace of WBG, but you need to set him up. Just how do you expect WBG to respond to all this?

If WBG is to win, for instance, I think it would have been very difficult without T1 being poor in form on that day and Tom thinking about the dinner menu during the picks and bans. All these things had to come together, but T1 just played really well. Look, in retrospect, many people were careful not to write this match off as a foregone conclusion before the match, right? Perhaps that helped as well. Of course, predictions would mostly have favored T1, but people were quite careful, fans even doing volunteer services for T1 and all. Maybe that had an impact on T1 preparing for this.

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19 T1 is memed as a circus because of their strange picks (double ADC meta, for instance) and clutch plays in Korean forums.

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Game 3

So there was this idea that came to my head, and NoFe also said so when we were discussing the game after the series: WBG realized that there was something that they had to change, because the situation at the top lane was untenable, so why not go to red side? NoFe is after all the expert of red side^(20). You can’t go for the same thing three times^(21). Changing sides is good for clearing the atmosphere in BO5s. Blue side picks and bans didn’t work out, so one could force change just by changing sides. So I wondered why WBG continued onto blue side, but Kennen pick and Bel’veth were quite solid in my opinion. These picks turned the setup around, so WBG was going for something new.

(Chat: “We’re not wrong^(22)”) No, that’s not the case. WBG did stick to blue side, but their concept on the game did change, too. Firstly, top was the highlight of this match, right? As I said in the broadcast, Kennen is a pick that you go for when you want to hold on^(23). You play weakside, don’t get shattered against Zeus, farm quietly and hold on until you fight. Kennen is balanced and has a ranged attack, after all. Game 1 and 2 topside was a massacre, but it is hard to destroy Kennen like that, because of how balanced the champ is.

Jungle is Maokai, and what is Maokai’s strength? I’ve mentioned this numerous times, like 500 times: Maokai, when left alone, returns big. But the weakness? Nobody leaves Maokai alone to grow. T1’s style is also the case that they don’t leave the opponent alone. So this change made sense. Bard came out to accelerate the tempo, and these things did make sense for WBG. Simply put, however, T1 just outperformed, particularly playmaking, particularly centered around Keria. Faker and Oner peeling, Zeus the World Ender… WBG had no answer for teamfight. Kennen didn’t even have a chance to sweep up T1.

…

Kennen just had no opportunity to do anything. It was either just using the ult at the end of the teamfight, or using it well only for Bard to use ult on top of that. (Laughs) Bard’s ult is really difficult to use well. It’s so hard.

WBG lacked cohesion in teamfight. Why is that? Because they are a fraud? Not at all. It’s because T1 threw them off their tempo with their quick engage. Audacious yet sharp. T1 rushes in with a yell, WBG is taken by surprise, important skills are thrown haphazardly, teamfight angles can’t be found… WBG was time and again taken by surprise.

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20 This is possibly a reference to NoFe’s tenure as the manager of V5 team, when his insistence on red side is said to have cost the team the qualifiers (I think?)

21 Possible reference to Boxer’s legendary three bunker rushes in a row against Yellow in SC Brood War

22 우틀않, or “we were not wrong”, is a phrase often used when teams run a comp back without any change after loss.

23 Original 날먹, I can’t really find a good way to translate this with nuance.

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Another point, folks. Games 1, 2, 3 had different comps, but their underlying idea was the same. The broadcast mentioned this multiple times, but in the end, WBG just didn’t have any control over the side lanes. WBG’s comp couldn’t match T1 in the side lanes. The biggest factor is the top lane, but even the comp and the matchup didn’t work for WBG. What’s WBG going to do? They can’t manage the side lanes, the same goes for this game. Generally speaking, Akali-Aatrox split push is stronger in value than Azir-Kennen. In the end, WBG’s power in side lane petered out. The comp is more oriented toward skirmishes.

Losing side lanes. What does this mean? WBG’s clock is ticking. What does that mean? They have to form up in a group and move around as one. What does that mean? They have to make results as a group. The problem here? In all three games, WBG’s comp didn’t have good playmaking potential. Why is that? When it comes to playmaking in the League, whether you have a support that is capable of making plays is really important. But WBG had to prioritize laning in all games, so these support champs don’t have strong engage potential. All these factors come together to create a Catch-22^(24) for WBG. This is why picks and bans is so difficult.

In the end, WBG couldn’t lane well and had to generate wins in teamfights, but T1 consistently outperformed them in teamfights. This creates a game state where WBG just can’t do anything. This game was a case where the top lane didn’t simply collapse in the series, but in 5v5 teamfights, that didn’t work as well.

Look, you might be wondering, did T1 win the picks and bans today? I say again, it is hard for T1 to lose the picks and bans in theoretical sense. Why? Because they are better in form, have wider champion pools, are stronger. They didn’t make mistakes like misplays or in picks and bans, so there is simply no contingencies that WBG can exploit.

(praises Oner’s Lee Sin and T1 players)

(Teamfight at 17:50 mark, near dragon) Look at the comp. Wouldn’t you agree that T1’s comp just sucks for Bard to play against? Bard didn’t even play badly! Bard was roaming, playing the lane matchup well, but Bard’s reliance on non-target skills makes it very difficult to play against T1’s circus comp. It’s just hard to hit the skills. Keria often takes the lead in T1’s engage. Keria goes in and sows chaos, WBG goes into emergency mode and throws ults, and Kennen uses the ult. How do you predict all these possibilities? WBG’s ults are all gone, T1 peeling like walking on a tightrope. The comp is difficult for T1 to execute, but I honestly think that that does not matter for strong teams. Difficult comps are not in themselves bad. They become bad because teams can’t play them to satisfaction.

(Chat: Game 1 and 2 are top diff, Game 3 is team diff) No, that’s not entirely correct. Game 1 and 2 had significant top diff and team diff. That’s why T1 is so overwhelming in this game. Top diff alone can’t win games. In some cases, top winning can end up shrinking its influence in the game. But for T1, other lanes were playing well while the top was ripping the opponent apart. That’s the difference.

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24 Original 가불기, unblockable attack in fighting games