Is Faker capable of guiding Doran to victory?

Since T1 decided not to renew Zeus's contract during the transfer period and brought in top laner Doran, many LPL fans popped champagne, believing T1 would be severely hurt by Doran at Worlds. After all, Doran hadn't won a single BO5 in his five-year career in LPL. However, what shocked many LPL viewers was that Faker actually led Doran to successfully reach the S15 World Championship finals this year. Many fans joked, "The God King is just a position," especially since after Zeus left T1, he only reached the quarterfinals at Worlds, while after Doran joined T1, he broke his mental block by winning five consecutive BO5s against LPL teams in one year.

In this year's Worlds, T1 once again proved to be the "nemesis" of LPL. The fourth seed IG was defeated 3-1 by T1 in the play-in stage, the third seed TES was "spun around" by T1, and LPL's championship hope AL was stopped by T1 in the quarterfinals. Many fans are curious: if Faker truly leads Doran to win the World Championship, will T1 be able to "sell their player slots" next year? Any aspiring top laner in LCK could pay to join T1 to boost their esports career credentials.

"Faker's sleepy picture" became a sensation

During the match between TES and T1, TES was weaker than T1 both in draft phase and team fight execution. As a result, T1 players appeared very relaxed during the game, especially when they saw TES players making all kinds of "panicked" moves, which amused them greatly. T1 mid laner Faker was even caught yawning on camera. It's worth noting that Faker was once famous for his "eyes-closed praying" playstyle, but in this match against TES, he didn't need to close his eyes; instead, it seemed TES players were putting him to sleep.

After T1's easy victory, Faker gave an interview to official media, admitting he was not in his best form today. Fortunately, his teammates performed excellently, allowing T1 to win comfortably. The host asked Faker what to watch out for when facing KT in the future. Faker said KT has strong mid-jungle synergy, so the key is to suppress KT's mid laner BDD to have a chance of winning. (It feels like Faker hasn't shown his "Dark Lord" form yet, and TES is already spinning out of control)

TES losing the match blamed on poor macro?

In this BO5, TES's top laner 369 and bot laner JKL performed reasonably well in lane. However, TES repeatedly made mistakes in mid-game macro. Especially jungler Kanavi's performance throughout the series confused fans and viewers. In the first game, despite having an advantage across three lanes, Kanavi wandered around the dragon pit for 20 seconds without attempting to take the dragon. In the third game, Kiana killed an enemy but then immediately gave away her life. Many LPL fans suspected Kanavi might be "betraying the nation."

Besides LPL fans questioning Kanavi, LPL caster Mact revealed during a live broadcast that TES's sponsor CEO was watching the semifinal match on-site. Midway through the game, the CEO asked his assistant if they could substitute players. The CEO also wanted to know why TES was so much weaker than T1. The assistant explained that LCK teams have better macro play. Finally, the CEO wondered why TES couldn't learn proper macro strategies. (To be fair, LPL has been playing for over a decade, but their macro has never matched LCK's)

Conclusion

Before the TES vs. T1 match, I hoped TES could at least win a game, but they ended up very disappointing. It's undeniable that TES and the entire LPL have been dominated by LCK this year. In previous years, LPL could still win some BO5s against LCK, but this year LPL hasn't won a single BO5. Unless LPL forms a super "galactic battleship" next year, it will be very difficult for LPL to claim the World Championship.