T1 stomp their way to Worlds Semis, peaking at 2.2M viewers

The road to the Worlds 2021 finals has started, and there's no better way to start the journey towards the Summoner's Cup than with a duel between two LCK squads.

The first game of the quarterfinals brought us a more-than-dominant side of T1, the legendary world champion squad which seeks to reach the highest level again, led by Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok.

During the game, we could see Faker's desire to dominate Worlds once again after being absent in 2019. Hanwha knew the mid laner would be an important piece for his squad, so they focused on limiting most of his options when playing.

For the first game, Hanwha sought to secure the lead for the mid lane by giving Chovy comfortable picks and trying to keep Faker off the map. However, Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong answered for T1 and from the bot lane, began to take the early advantage.

His Aphelios became a key piece for T1's offence, which was dominant not only individually, but also in group executions, giving them an early led.

In the second match, Chovy sought to lane with his LeBlanc but T1 responded with the Lissandra for Faker, limiting the impact of Hanwha's mid laner. Kim "Canna" Chang-dong was the protagonist this time, as his Gwen sentenced the rival's options to equalize the score, placing themselves on the verge of victory.

The last game had the same selections for the mid lanes, while Gumayusi repeated champion as well. T1 wanted to go early and came out to dominate the confrontation, and from the first minutes, they took advantage of the map keeping the objectives. Bit by bit, Faker's team expanded its advantage and after a couple of teamfights, T1 sentenced the series to lock their ticket to semis.

HLE vs T1 peaks at 2.2M viewers

As such, this series managed to break several statistics within Worlds 2021, by having not only some of the fastest games so far in the tournament, but also by placing in the Top 2 of the games with the most viewers so far, with 2.2 million viewers.

Interestingly, the Top 1 currently belongs to the match between T1 vs DFM, a game that managed to attract 2.23 million viewers, who joined to see both the return of T1 to Worlds, as well as the debut of the Japanese squad in the Group Stage.

Thus, as expected from the Draw Show, T1 dominated the series against Hanwha Life Esports with a resounding 3-0, achieving their qualification to the semifinals without any problem.

Now a long-dreamed duel against DWG KIA or MAD Lions awaits them, one that is expected to surpass this mark and even place Worlds 2021 within the Top 5 of the most-watched esports events, thanks to its potential as an instant classic.

• Read more: Worlds 2021 winners to receive NBA-like 18-karat white gold rings

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Featured image courtesy of Riot Games and Getty Images.