HLE’s Draft Choices Against T1: No More “Weaknesses”
In the midst of the ongoing drama surrounding T1 – Gumayusi, the League of Legends community has identified a notable trend in the drafting strategies of teams facing T1 at the 2025 LCK Cup. Notably, from the match against Gen.G, a distinct “unusual” drafting pattern emerged prominently in the recent T1 – HLE match.
Specifically, in all five games played, there were only two instances where HLE had to ban champions for the ADC position (Kalista – Zeri in game 2 and Kalista in game 4). These two champions are quite strong in the current meta and can be seen as a significant threat to Smash. HLE also had the least bans targeting T1’s ADC position at the 2025 LCK Cup, despite being one of the most competitive teams against T1 (5 games).
In contrast, Dplus KIA (T1’s opponent on the day of the 2025 LCK Cup) banned at least one ADC champion in all three games. In the decisive match, they even banned three ADC champions against Gumayusi.
In T1’s three most recent matches, only Gen.G consistently banned multiple ADC champions against Smash (four bans/three games). Even Nongshim RedForce only banned this position three times over two games.
Conversely, T1 itself banned four ADC champions in the first game against HLE. This can be seen as quite surprising, considering that in their match loss against DK, T1 only banned once in the ADC position (in game 3). Even when facing HLE in the Summer Playoffs last year, T1 only banned ADC champions once (Viper’s Jhin in game 2).
With Gumayusi still in the lineup, opposing teams have to dedicate multiple bans to this position. However, it is clear that when the opposing team is a strong contender, top teams do not feel the need to allocate too many bans to this position, especially when Fearless Draft has already significantly weakened the strength of the opposing team.
T1’s Adaptation: A Key to Success
Currently, T1 no longer has Zeus, but in their past matches, especially against HLE, they have shown the potential to win. However, if they utilize Smash, T1 can only play in their “best ADC” lineup. Therefore, the opposing teams have had to adjust their strategies to counter T1’s playstyle. The adaptations of Keria and Oner must also align with the game’s tempo, as they need to spend more time on their own ADC’s position.
Despite all of this, T1 has completed the LCK Cup and is about to head into the Regular Seasons. Regardless of the selection process, this team will continue to face challenges ahead on their journey in 2025.
