Faker finally ends long wait as T1 qualifies for Worlds 2023

On Saturday, T1 became the second Korean team to qualify for Worlds 2023. For star mid laner Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok, it will be his first World Championship in his home country.

T1 added their name to the list of teams for the 2023 World Championship after beating KT Rolster 3-2 in the lower bracket final of the LCK Summer playoffs.

This will be Faker’s first World Championship in South Korea. The country hosted the latter stages of Worlds in 2014 and the entire event in 2018, but his team, then called SK Telecom T1, could not qualify for either competition. It also missed Worlds 2020, which was held in Shanghai.

For a while, it seemed as if Faker would miss his third straight Worlds in his home country. He watched as T1 went on a 1-7 run in the Summer split while he recovered from a wrist injury.

He returned to action in the final week of the split and helped the team qualify for the playoffs in fifth place with victories over Kwangdong Freecs and SANDBOX Gaming.

The team has continued its remarkable recovery in the playoffs, beating Dplus and KT Rolster (twice) and narrowly losing to Gen.G, whom they will face again on Sunday in the final.

T1 are the ninth team confirmed for the Swiss Stage of Worlds 2023, joining Gen.G, JD Gaming, Bilibili Gaming, LNG, Weibo Gaming, Cloud9, NRG, and Team Liquid. The event will take place between October 19 and November 19 at four different locations across Seoul and Busan.

Faker will be seeking his fourth Worlds trophy after winning the event in 2013, 2015, and 2016. At last year’s championship, T1 lost the title to DRX in a dramatic final — the second time in Faker’s career that he had to settle for second place.

Faker’s Worlds record

• 2013 – 1st place
• 2014 – Did not attend
• 2015 – 1st place
• 2016 – 1st place
• 2017 – 2nd place
• 2018 – Did not attend
• 2019 – 3rd/4th place
• 2020 – Did not attend
• 2021 – 3rd/4th place
• 2022 – 2nd place