The best team in the world in 2022, T1, will face European team G2 Esports in the second semifinal of the Mid Season Invitational on Saturday. This match is not expected to be as lopsided as the first semifinals, but T1 still have a massive advantage. How will this pan out? Here is a breakdown of the factors that could impact this match.
T1: More human, but still devastating
Firstly, we’ve finally seen the human side of T1 at MSI as a few errors in team fights have resulted in three losses in the Rumble stage. In the playoffs, we may see the return of the machine-like performances that T1 unleashed in the LCK throughout the 2022 spring split.
Even without those performances, no player has averaged under two kills per game. Stunningly, even support Keria has racked up averages of two (2) kills, 2.44 deaths and 9.38 assists per map (4.67 KDA Ratio).
As expected, both their mid and bot laners have been prolific: Faker scored 3.31 kills, 1.75 deaths and 6.06 assists per game (5.36 KDAR) and a creep score of 219.94, while Gumayusi has managed 4.06 kills, 2.25 deaths and six (6) assists per map.
G2 Esports: Limping into the semifinals
G2 Esports started strong and could have improve their initial 4-0 mark to build momentum in their match against T1 in Rumble but they committed too many mistakes. Instead, team fight blunders, overextensions and unfathomably random deaths led them to a 5-5 record. If they repeat those errors in this one, we are in for another short semifinal.
If they are to have a chance, there will be heavy reliance on Caps, who has led the team in kills (4.22) along with 2.33 deaths and 6.61 assists per map at a KDA of 4.64 and an average creep score of 252.83.
We don’t think G2 have much of a chance against this resurgent T1 unit. There could be a Game 4, but not much more as we brace for China vs. South Korea in 2022 MSI finals.
