LoL Worlds 2024: T1 Dominates To Win Again

Even though T1 had lost to Bilibili in matches earlier in the year, the Korean team was favored over their Chinese opponents. T1 came into the grand finale riding high with a 3-1 victory over their rivals from Gen.G Esports, who many predicted would walk away with the Worlds championship.

Time after time, T1 looked to leadership from players like their famous midlaner Faker to hold strong and avenge past losses. In the final bracket, this meant wins over not only Gen.G Esports, but also Top Esports who handed T1 an early Worlds loss in the Swiss Stage. 

Bilibili Comes to Play

This year’s Bilibili team was seen by some as a “discount” team, but the lineup gelled at Worlds and shocked many with their grit and determination. Early on, they contributed to the dismissal of Play-In Stage winners like MAD Lions KOI and PSG Talon during the Swiss Stage.

Moving on to the Knockout Stage, Bilibili Gaming ran over Hanwha Life Esports, defeating the team 3-1 in the quarterfinals. From there it was a face-off against fellow Chinese team Weibo Gaming in the semifinals. On paper, those teams were fairly evenly matched, but the match was all Bilibili who took the best-of-five series in just three games. 

Bilibili Strikes First

In the finals, played November 2 in London’s O2 Arena, it was Bilibili who were the first to win a game. The team, perhaps feeling like they had something to prove, dominated in all areas of the game and destroyed the T1 Nexus in 27 minutes.

Bilibili was able to build up a solid gold lead, ending the game with 55,900, almost 10,000 more than T1. On the kill front, Bilibili was similarly dominant ending the game with 18 kills compared to the 3 of T1. The tower count was also lopsided, going 11-5 in Bilibili’s favor.

Back and Forth

Fans who came to see an epic struggle to crown the Worlds champions had their wishes granted as match wins went back and forth between the contenders. T1 came back in game 2 with a 27-minute victory of their own that was just as one-sided as their game one loss.

During game 3, the pendulum swung back in favor of Bilibili, putting them on match point. With the Worlds title slipping away from them, T1 rallied back in a hard-fought 31-minute battle to win game 4. With both teams sitting at two games apiece, it all came down to the results of game 5. It was here that T1 showed why they were the favorites and took the game in 32 minutes. The win made T1 back-to-back League of Legends champions for the second time, giving them the Summoner’s Cup for a record fifth time.