T1 Zeus: Top Lane Kingdom and a Return to Form

It is safe to say that Zeus and T1 did not perform well during the summer split. Despite managing to qualify for Worlds by scraping through as the last seed in the Telecom Wars, the expectations for their performance at Worlds were lower compared to 2023.

Nevertheless, T1 has consistently demonstrated why they are considered strong contenders to regain the throne and win the 2024 Worlds.

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Let's analyze Zeus' comeback performance against G2, showcasing that he remains one of the top laners globally.

Game 1

Draft

G2: Jax, Nocturne, Orianna, Draven, Nautilus

T1: Gragas, Skarner, Ahri, Jhin, Leona

Upon allowing Jax to pass through the draft for BrokenBlade, arguably the standout performer for G2 this Worlds, Zeus picked Gragas for the first time since the LCK Summer Playoffs in 2023, confirming that T1 had a strategy in place to handle Jax's hyperscaling. In high-level solo queue, Gragas typically achieves a 61% win rate against Jax when the correct build is used. Zeus demonstrated a strategic approach by prioritizing scaling, survivability, and faster power spikes over Jax, choosing to build a Cosmic Drive followed by a Frozen Heart and Fimblewinter.

Choosing a more durable strategy enabled Zeus to soak up a considerable amount of resources toward eliminating him. The protection provided by the Fimblewinter shield and the reduction in attack speed affecting Jax, Nocturne, and Draven gave Gragas and T1 the opportunity to converge on G2 and shift the battle to their advantage.

After the T1 reinforcements arrived fully prepared with their cooldowns, the outcome of the fight was already decided as they managed to push this play into ending game 1.

The Anti - Dive barrels

In both matches, G2 selected a composition focused on diving. The combination of Orianna and Nocturne as a ball delivery system has been a fundamental strategy in League of Legends for more than a decade. When combined with Nautilus' Dredgeline and Depth Charge abilities, it is theoretically possible to keep an enemy champion crowd-controlled until they die.

At around the 22-minute mark, we observed G2 executing the strategy by catching Gumayusi's immobile and flashless Jhin from a screen away. Gragas was absent at the beginning of the fight, which G2 took advantage of.

T1 had a more favorable outcome when Gragas was there from the beginning.

The explosive barrel not only separated the G2 team members and cleared the minion wave, but it also propelled Jax into Skarner's hard crowd control, resulting in T1 securing two kills without reply.

Game 2

Draft

G2: Gnar, Nocturne, Orianna, Kaisa, Nautilus

T1: Jax, Vi, Ahri, Jhin, Leona

In high-level solo queue, Jax typically struggles when facing Gnar, as evidenced by his disappointing 38% win rate. Nevertheless, thanks to professional lane swaps and excellent macro decision-making, Zeus' Jax managed to keep pace with, and even surpass, BrokenBlade's Gnar in terms of farm in the early game.

The Flanking gameplan

T1 was completely unwilling to engage in a front-to-back fight against G2's composition. The strategy outlined by their team for the fighting game was straightforward: devise a method to get Jax onto the backline.

We caught a glimpse of the strategy near G2's tier 2 mid-lane resulting in a 2-for-1 trade in favor of G2.

Despite the setback, Zeus and T1 stuck to their plan and continued to find picks with the flanks of Jax.

T1 collapsed on Caps' Orianna in the side lane with an excellent teleport flank.

Perhaps the best flank of the series came around the 31-minute mark.

This image may as well be captioned 'eSports images that precede unfortunate events' for G2. An excellent ward placement and a teleport flank enable T1 to access the backline of G2, win the fight, and extend the game.

In game 2, T1's jungler Oner deserves praise for his performance, especially for successfully stealing the baron and delaying the game until T1's inhibitors could respawn.

However, Zeus' performances should absolutely not be slept on. He is returning to form after what can be considered a lackluster summer by his standards. It would be somewhat of an exaggeration to say that T1's success solely depends on their top laner's performance. There were several different reasons why T1 did not achieve its full potential in the LCK this summer. Some of the poor performance was not due to the players, but rather because they could not practice due to DDOS attacks.

It is clear that this roster is incredibly talented and should still be considered among the best. We have seen them clutch many moments over the past few years and grow as individuals and as a team. It would be disrespectful to not include them among the favorites to win and reclaim the throne at Worlds.