T1 Zeus on BLG finals match: “I think we have the upper hand”

Jaxon.gg spoke to Choi “Zeus” Woo-je after T1’s vicotry against Gen.G, chatting with the legendary top laner about his team’s meteoric rise, lane swaps, and even his favorite lore characters.

T1 has been on a Worlds progression arc worthy of an anime. Struggling in the regular season, one single game from not attending Worlds to defend its title, the four-time championship organization looked to be on the ropes as the biggest international event of the year rolled around. They’ve since chained together a series of jaw-dropping performances, culminating in their 3-1 dispatching of Gen.G, the tournament favorites, and those performances have completely changed the narrative for this squad in 2024.

We sat down with Zeus to discuss his victory against Gen.G, his upcoming match against BLG for the title, and more.

Zeus chats Gen.G victory, lane swaps

First things first, congratulations on the victory, Zeus. You guys have struggled against Gen.G all year, but you finally got your win this series. How are you feeling about the series and what do you think was the difference-maker that let you guys take down Gen.G this time?

Choi “Zeus” Woo-je: I’m happy, especially because each team member played his role well. I know that we lost every match against Gen.G coming up towards Worlds, but preparing for the match this week, I felt like we’re in pretty good shape and if player played his role I thought we had a pretty good.

Speaking of performing roles, I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the continued lane swap meta. We saw you having to try and survive a four-man dive as Maokai that series, do you feel that lane swaps change those roles that people need to play in the game, and how do you feel about them?

I think the lane swap meta has been going on for some time, and at the beginning we didn’t adapt to the lane swap meta well. But now I think we are one of the best teams at it, and are understanding the laneswap meta pretty well. In regards to each player playing his role really well, I think I mean more in regards to team fights. A lot of skirmishes happen in this meta, so in those team fights each member has to know his role really well. And, when it comes to laneswap as well, each player needs to know his role really well because it continues through to other stages of the game very very smoothly, so we need to do our roles really well.

You’ve mentioned that Choi “Kuri” Won-yeong was one of your mentors when you first joined T1, have you talked to Kuri during this world or since last? What does he think of your performances?

I haven’t really, but, Kuri, when I came onto the team, he was like a big brother to me, that took care of me, so I’m very grateful for him.

Okay this next question is just for fun and has nothing to do with pro play, have you seen Season 1 of Arcane, Zeus?

I did! I really enjoyed it.

Great. So Riot has announced that in Season 3 of Arcane, or their next animated project, we’ll go to a new region to tell new stories about new champions. If you, Zeus, got to decide what region and what champions got the spotlight in Season 3, what region would you choose and which champion do you want to see in this imaginary season?

I enjoyed Arcane very much, and if I could choose the region and champions, I’d love to choose Ionia. I want to see those energy waves going in Ionian fashion, and I want to see champions like Irelia and Karma in Season 3.

We’re about to run out of time, so how are you feeling about the finals against BLG, and do you have any final words for your fans?

I think our series against Gen.G could have been hard to watch for our fans, given our track record. But, we’ve managed to come out victoriously. We are still defending our title as World Champions, so going into finals I think we have the upper hand and that we are in a pretty good spot. So, if you could just cheer for us, root for us, we’ll do our best.

T1 will play against BLG in the 2024 World Championships Grand Final starting at 7am PST, October 2.