Oner and Hang both shared their thoughts after the T1 and LNG series concluded yesterday. T1 has managed to keep Korea’s Worlds hopes alive, beating China’s LNG Esports 3-0 to make it to the semis and stopping the LPL from dominating the entirety of the Worlds 2023 Knockout Stage.

They also maintain the organization’s record of having never been eliminated before the semis in any Worlds they’ve attended, but they’ll now be facing tournament favorites JDG in the final four.

Credit: Esports.net / T1 LoL

Oner thinks T1 haven’t reached their peak yet

Jungler Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun feels his side is benefitting from the elimination of all other LCK teams, explaining that “because we are the only LCK team standing at Worlds the entirety of the LCK fanbase is now supporting T1.” He feels it’s given T1 “more energy” which can help them reach even further in the tournament.

On their semi-final opponents, Oner revealed that it’s “too bad” they’re facing the favourites already, though he’ll ensure “to have a lot of fun in that matchup.” He also feels that T1 can continue to improve into the latter stages. Despite “doing a great job” so far, the jungler still thinks they haven’t reached their peak.

Oner will be up against fellow Korean jungler Kanavi in the next series. Oner’s T1 beat Kanavi’s JDG at this stage in 2022, and while Oner may feel he has Kanavi’s number, JDG has been unstoppable so far this season.

“I’m excited to go up against Kanavi again. It’s going to be a really fun matchup together because last year I beat him at Worlds, I hope we can repeat the outcome and make it to finals.”

Hang acknowledges lack of bot lane defence for T1 aggression

On the losing end of today’s series, LNG Esports support Fu “Hang” Ming-Hang felt his team knew what was coming from T1 but didn’t act accordingly:

“We expected our opponents to pick a double marksman bot lane, maybe have a bot lane duo that can push into the lane or play super aggressive in the early game. But we didn’t manage to make a good defence for their aggression.”

Credit: LNG Esports

Hang was still able to be proud of his run this year, finding the experience of Worlds on the whole to be “very important” despite “some regrets” about his team’s performance. He added that it felt “kind of amazing” to go up against Faker in Korea specifically:

“The interesting and impressive part is that when Faker won his titles I was still studying at school and now we’re competing on the same stage.”

Looking to the remainder of the tournament, Hang wasn’t being drawn into any predictions, asserting that “all of the remaining four teams have the potential to win [the tournament].”

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