by T1 defeated Top Esports 3-1 in the grand final of the inaugural Esports World Cup League of Legends tournament in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The second seed from the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) ended the four-day event undefeated, while 2024 MSI champions Gen.G were eliminated on the opening day of the tournament.
[#EWC 2024 LoL Grand Final vs TES]
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A story for the books that we wrote, together as 1.??#T1WIN #T1Fighting #EsportsWorldCup pic.twitter.com/IJ4PEbiRUe
— T1 LoL (@T1LoL) July 7, 2024
T1 and Top Esports won their way through to the grand final by defeating Team Liquid and G2 Esports in their respective semi-finals on Saturday.
After defeating pre-tournament favourites Gen.G 2-0 in the quarter-finals and dominating G2 Esports in a swift 2-0 win, TES entered Sunday’s grand final undefeated through four maps.
On the other hand, T1 was pushed to all three maps against Bilibili Gaming in the quarter-finals before playing out a close series with Team Liquid, with the LCK powerhouse winning both clashes 2-1.
Heading into the final series of the EWC LoL tournament, esports betting sites marked T1 as a slight favourite; however, early on in the match, T1 supporters would have been worried as TES took an early lead.
TES started with some aggressive plays, which helped Lin “Creme” Jian get ahead in his crucial matchup with Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok in the mid-lane.
TES quickly converted the early advantage into a 1-0 series lead, claiming all three dragons and the only baron on the map before knocking over T1’s nexus in just under 23 minutes.
The reigning LoL World Champions knew they had to respond on map two, and respond they did.
Led by some huge plays by Faker and Moon “Oner” Hyeon-joon early on, T1 returned serve with a dominant map win of their own to tie the series 1-1 in 26 minutes.
The third map was the closest encounter of the grand final, but it would be T1 that continually won team fight after team fight and controlled the map.
TES mounted a small comeback and even slained the final baron of map four; however, T1 broke the base of TES and moved onto series point after 39 minutes of play.
The last map of the series was once again dominated by Oner and Faker as they continued to control the mid-lane and jungle, ultimately leading T1 to a convincing 3-1 victory in the grand final of the EWC LoL tournament.
Following the completion of the match, Faker was awarded the Most Valuable Player after consistently performing at a very high level throughout T1’s three series.
The man.
The myth.
The legend. pic.twitter.com/fN92J3mY0r— Esports World Cup (@EWC_EN) July 7, 2024
EWC LoL tournament standings
- 1st: T1 (USD$400,000)
- 2nd: Top Esports (USD$200,000)
- 3rd-4th: Team Liquid, G2 Esports (USD$100,000)
- 5th-8th: Bilibili Gaming, Fnatic, Gen.G, FlyQuest (USD$50,000)
