League of Legends is currently the pioneer in eSports and competitive gaming overall. The game, despite having been released in 2009, the game still enjoys a mass following and a towering player count. League of Legends Worlds 2023, the title’s World Championship recently took place in Seoul, and South Korea’s eSports team, T1 emerged victors for the fourth time, seven years after their last championship victory.
The World Tournament Final was streamed on Twitch and even broke numerous records, including the highest number of concurrent viewers for an eSports tournament on Twitch. With that, League of Legends fortified its place in the eSports scene once again. After securing the top spot by emerging as champions of the world, T1 recently ensured that the championship-winning roster stays mostly intact and at home by offering the final-winning team fresh contracts.
League of Legends Worlds Victor T1 Secures Not Just the Championship but Also the Champions
eSports Team, T1 is home to inarguably the most familiar face in the world of eSports currently, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. The powerhouse of an eSports star, Faker, is often mentioned in the same sentence as “Michal Jordan” when it comes to his contribution to the popularity of eSports.
T1 has been the four-time League of Legends champion’s home ever since he began his career a decade ago. He has made a huge contribution to the team’s success and has been part of all four of the team’s World Championship Winning rosters.
For League of Legends Worlds 2023, T1’s Roser included Choi “Zeus” Woo-je, Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun, Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong, Ryu “Keria” Min-seok, and Kim “Sky” Ha-neul along with head coach Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun.
Taking to its social media channels, T1 announced that it had ensured that Zeus, Gumayusi, Keri, and Assistant Coach Tom would continue to garner laurels for the team. This was done by offering all of them fresh contracts just four days after T1 made its mark on Worlds 2023. The contract extension was confirmed after the contract expiration started gaining traction.
Since these were World Champions of inarguably the greatest eSports title currently in existence, any team would benefit from their presence. On T1’s part, this was great judgment to ensure that their star players, especially Zeus who was crowned as the Worlds 2023 finals MVP, remained theirs.
T1 League of Legends 'Keria' 류민석 선수가 2024년에도 T1과 함께합니다.
— T1 LoL (@T1LoL) November 23, 2023
역천괴 'Keria' 류민석 선수가 보여줄 행보에 많은 응원과 관심 부탁드립니다!🐶
'Keria' has re-signed with T1!
We are looking forward to our journey with our LEGENDARY GENIUS MONSTER 'Keria'.🐶#T1WIN… pic.twitter.com/4t3NoNz4xi
Amongst the roster, the team League of Legends team also bid farewell to Sky, one of the team members who was a part of the roster at Worlds 2023. This was done in a heartfelt post by the team. T1 wrote that:
Today, we part ways with ‘Sky’. We were able to lift up the Worlds trophy once more thanks to his contributions to the team.
The announcement further stated that:
We thank him for his times at T1 as a player and as a coach. We wish him the best of luck in the future.
T1 is one of the strongest contenders for Esports Team Of The Year. The last day to vote for the award which is presented annually at The Esports Awards was in November 2020. The awards ceremony will take place on November 30, 2023, at Resorts World Las Vegas. It will be interesting to see if T1 secures the eSports team of the Year after having shaken hands with Paradise at Worlds 2023.
While fans await the team’s 2024 lineup, it will be interesting to see what the team’s head coach Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun has in mind for the defending champions. All of this alludes that Faker and company have a long, long way to go in the world of eSports.
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