LNG vs T1- Worlds 2023 Quarterfinals Preview & Analysis

LNG and T1 will be the most explosive 2023 Worlds quarterfinals: who is going to stay alive in the tournament and who will leave South Korea? Will Scout take down his former teammate Faker?

Let’s go over what the two teams have done so far and what we can expect going into the match.

Worlds 2023 – LNG vs T1 Quarterfinals – November 5, 09:00 CET

LNG – are they the underdogs for the title?

LNG joined Worlds as the LPL #3 seed but they proved that they are not a passenger at the tournament. Throughout the Swiss stage, the team was able to go toe-to-toe with title favorites JDG, and looked convincing so far. They had a few hiccups in the series against KT Rolster, as their early game wasn’t one of the best. But LNG compensate for that with impeccable and quick decision-making, as well as exquisite team fighting in the late game teamfights.

In a recent interview with Scout, the Korean mid laner mentioned they need to work on the early-game proactivity, something that they will definitely need going forward, especially a team like T1.

Tarzan and Scout will likely have to dictate the flow of the early-mid game and put GALA into a position to properly take over the skirmishes around neutral objectives. If they can’t do that, T1 won’t probably give them a chance to make a comeback.

T1 – evolving at the very end

I was worried about T1 coming into the tournament given the up-and-downs they had throughout the season and the general feeling that the team wasn’t able to fix the issues that plagued them in 2023. This is also why I ranked them fourth in our Power Rankings.

The Swiss stage chased away those doubts: T1 was great in their meta read and they have been adapting well as the tournament continued. In particular, Zeus has seemingly stepped it up once again, making him the main damage dealer of the team, something that only a few other teams are doing like WBG TheShy.

So far, I liked how T1 have been drafting and they seemingly have found what works for them. Oner is also looking a lot more comfortable on proactive bruisers like Jarvan IV, so it will be interesting to see how he behaves when going up against a player like Tarzan, who is also known for his bruisers.

Apart from that, I’m mainly looking at the bot lane matchup. While I think GALA has better carry potential, I feel like Keria will be able to put T1 and Gumayusi in a position to deliver.

Related: LoL Worlds 2023 Song

LNG vs T1 Predictions

With these things in mind, it’s hard for me to call on who might take this series. I personally feel that both teams have immense potential, and it will entirely depend on how they show up on the day and what their preparation is like. T1 has been struggling with scrims due to internet issues, according to General manager T1 Becker, so this might hurt T1 going into the series. Additionally, LNG will get side selection in Game 1.

For me, this is the series I’m expecting to go to Silver Scrapes: I don’t see any of these two teams backing down until the very end and even if it’s not a 5-game series, I believe we will get at least four explosive games. If I had to make a prediction, though, I would probably still favor T1 by a small margin, given how they were more proactive in the Swiss stage.