HLE 3-1 T1

HLE defeated T1 3-1 to reach the LCK Grand Finals, making head coach Yoon Sung-young’s 3-1 prediction a reality.

“We knew T1 were strong, but I believed we were stronger, and I said we would win 3-1. We started with a difficult 48-minute game, but we stayed composed and found our opportunities. Now we’ve earned another chance to fight Gen.G for the LCK title.”

The victory sets up a rematch with defending champions Gen.G for the 2026 LCK title.

(via LCK post-match press conference)

HLE coach Homme expects a 3-1 victory over T1, highlighting the importance of the first game and T1’s recent focus on the bot side.

“HLE has a winning H2H record against T1, and I think our players are in good form individually too. We will make sure we take down T1 today and advance to the Finals.”

(Via LCK pre-game interview)

HLE 2-0 T1

HLE 1-0 T1

"normally, all 7 periods were mandatory, but thankfully my homeroom teacher backed me, he'd never usually do that, but after we talked, he let me leave after period 4., so I'd go to school, and at school, from 8:00 AM to noon, I'd sleep without waking up once, then I'd eat lunch and come home"

"I'd play games non-stop, then lie down for an hour and head straight back to school, that was pretty much my routine"

"when I won gold at the Asian Games, my teacher took the lead and hung a banner at the school, I'm always so grateful to him"

"our school was the kind of place where everyone focused on studying, so when I said I wanted to focus on gaming, not many teachers would have supported that, I'm always so grateful for his support"

(via Beyond the Challenge)

Title Fix - HLE vs GenG - What the team needs ? (Part 3)

This part of my series of posts where I try to a bit more in-depth analysis sharing pros and cons related to the team. This post mainly acts as a platform for other fans to discuss how they feel about the team's current state and what could be the missing link which is holding them back.

Last week I had done an analysis of HLE vs T1 (part 2).

I am sharing these thoughts after watching the games multiple times.

Game 1-
The start was a bit rough I think because HLE wasnt used to playing against cho especially with karma sp giving speed boosts to it. But I loved the way team crawled back and got the win from the jaws of defeat. The plays from zeus got a brief respite for the team to get more items instead of getting bodied by Gen G. Then the picks and synchronization that followed up saved the game.
And Guma was weaving through their skillshots once he got used to the enemy teams pattern (in terms of cho +karma combo). Also the way in zeus put down his acceleration gate vertically ensured that team had speed boost for longest duration in Gen G tried to jump on them. Them stacking up five man saved the game.

Game 2 -

There were 2 major mistakes. the bard ult that saved canyon in the bottom half of Gen G's jungle. It lead to Gen G getting 4 kills instead of 1 or 2 kills. The 2nd major mistake was going for baron and getting wiped. It would have been a good call if they didnt spend so much time chasing after jhin after killing multiple members from Gen G. But they overchased and didnt have enough damage to burst it down. Also, if delight had saved his ult for baron it would have helped a lot.

Tbh Bard was seriously lacking in this game. Initially I thought his bard wasnt that bad but rewatching the match while closely focusing on the bard I realized it was really bad. I have seen better bard plays from delight. Other than this, I think teams in general havent been able to figure out locke completely.

Overall, the first 2 games were bangers.

Game 3-
I feel like Gen G read HLE drafts really well. Aatrox and gwen were amazing picks. Also, delight has been kind of ass on camille and hasnt been picking it for sp role since MSI. And I think HLE should have gone for kalista renata for this match instead but they picked ziggs. Guma had such good tempo on adc that putting him on mage kind of hampered it. And delight's pyke was egregious this game (bard was a lot more useful in previous game). I think delight is good at making picks in team fights but he isnt that good at roaming and helping in making the plays with pick heavy champs.

Game 4-
This one was a mixed bag in terms of drafting. I am not sure if Nasus was the best pick but either way we never got to see it in the intended manner. As the varus was fed before nasus could come online which made Zeus' laning experience even worse. I think gragas would have been a better fit as it could disengage neeko and mf ults if the team was in a pickle. Kanavi went too deep for those wolves while not respecting Gen G's damage. they should have tried to disengage after getting the kill on duro.

Final thoughts -

I think the team was playing really well. Game 1 and game 2 were amazing. Delight should practice a bit more with bard and gain more confidence. And they should stick to their strengths as fearless reduces the amount of impact meta change can have on a team. Other than that I think the team was experimenting a bit during this match with Gen G since there was a fallback option with lower brackets. And I think they should let guma pick more hypercarries as he has been looking really good on them both against T1 and Gen G.

P.S. - I might seem like I am being too harsh on certain players but I am trying to be as objective as possible. I am not trying to be nitpicky or expecting all players to be perfect every second of the game. And I hope you enjoyed reading my post.

HLE 2-[1] T1

I know they were able to beat T1 last time, but it looks like T1 is much more cohesive as a unit now compared to the las time they faced them. Though they lost the GenG series, they showed a lot of their skill (esp in Games 1 and 2) even if it ended up rough. Unfortunately, Delight was the biggest concern last time, and I hope we don't see the Bard-Renata anytime soon.

Drafting-wise, I hope we can see picks they are better prepared/more comfortable on. The Bard, Pyke, and Nasus picks were not it, especially with the set-up and scaling of the enemy team. T1 seems to be preparing a lot of picks (Peyz is doing AD TF, but that could be nothing...)

Match-up wise, I know this team can (hopefully will!!) beat T1, and if they rematch GenG, hopefully it's reusing the LCK 2024 playoffs script.

What are your thoughts/predictions?

The collection of customized gear by Corsair and Gumayusi is out in the US! It was released today on the US server, while those in Korea knew about this and have ordered starting today. This was released on his 6th debut anniversary (i would say to honor him and his legacy). The collection includes:

- A keyboard: Vanguard PRO 96

- A mouse: SABRE v2 PRO CF

- 2 mouspads: STARRY NIGHT, BLACK/GOLD

The link to order is below, and if you are in the US, it will ship around November. Also 2 fan cards are shipped with each box.

UPDATE: THIS COLLECTION IS ALSO SOLD IN CANADA, EUROPE... so im quite sure its global now!!! just go on corsair.com or search corsair [YOUR REGION/COUNTRY] gumayusi to see if its there.

1. Delight teasing Coach Sin about relationships/getting married

2. Zeka sulking because Guma won't go to the gym with them

3. HLE is out of budget for September and dipping into their October budget because its their first time going to this many international tournaments

4. Delight speculating that the coaches are pocketing the money 🤣

5. Zeka sulking part 2

6. Manager telling Kanavi not to buy One Piece packs using the company card

Never change boys, never change 🤣

It seems like Doran & Oner is little by little coming back to their form and Keria was mostly given a play making champs than before that is really a big threat in teamfights.

The only thing I want to say to our team is I hope Zeka & Zeus keep their form as it is, Kanavi to be aggressive and also play safe when needed (I still cant forget that G2 againts GenG), Guma to stop overextending too much and position well to not easily pickoff by enemy and to Delight to be more proactiave, be confident in his plays and trust his teammates more esp Kanavi & Guma, support is very important role so I hope he perform better on the game againts T1.

Fighting to our team 🔥

"It's not a surprise that we're facing GenG, I think they're an opponent we absolutely have to take down to win it all"

"GenG is in a really good form too and they're great at that solid style of play, but I'm confident"

"I don't think we're playing perfectly yet so I figure we may drop a game or so, I'll make sure we win and advance directly to the finals"

"We are gonna win 3-1"

(via LCK pre-game interview)

What is your prediction?

GEN 3-1 HLE

GEN 0-1 HLE

GEN 1-1 HLE

GEN [2]-1 HLE

Tomorrow, we'll be facing GenG in the upper bracket finals.

For me, it's terrifying considering that GenG is perhaps the most surgical in terms of teamfights, macro, and even drafting. They are also the polar opposites of HLE in terms of style. I have lots of faith, but this will be the hardest series yet.

Drafting: Compared to the T1 series, I doubt GenG will be giving much over (esp Zeka's assassin/skirmish pool) or even Guma Ziggs/Cait. Picks like the Panth, Lee, Ryze, and Cho will be heavily contested. I think the game though will be broken open depending on the support match up, so I hope we can see either a better performance on the Sera-Lulu or prioritize other picks like the Blitz, Shen, Renata, and Neeko.

Top lane will actually be the most situationally dependent. Zeus' Gragas and Kennen were incredible, but we know Kiin can definitely play picks like Top Vayne or Varus. ADC will depend on what's left or what they're preparing.

Tbh, I don't want to see Annie or Noct. Maybe Qiyana.

Momentum: Coming into the playoffs, the overall team form is much better than the start of R3-4, but their struggle to win game 1s is showing up a bit recently. GenG has shown their capacity to steal objectives even when the enemy has prio (Lee Sin vs Panth-Kalista), and their series vs KT was the cleanest BO5 the entire playoffs. GenG is also the only team HLE wasn't able to beat even once during R3-4.

Lane Matchups: Chovy vs Zeka will be game-breaking, esp since Chovy is one of, if not the best at laning in the world. Kanavi and Delight's proactivity vs Canyon and Duro's stability will also determine the state of the mid/late game. Kiin vs Zeus will also limit how much Zeus can impact the map, especially with how much influence he had in the recent T1 series (on Kennen, Gragas, and Ambessa especially). Guma has been especially challenged by other LCK ADCs, so I just hope we don't see him going too aggressively like before.

Let me know your own thoughts/predictions for tomorrow. I genuinely can't predict, but I hope for the best.

“I wasn’t performing well at the time, and it was good that it was seen from the outside. Sitting back helped me understand what the team requires from me.”

A setback that gave Delight a chance to reset and better understand his role.