Defending world champions DWG KIA started out the 2021 LCK season with a clutch win against T1.
After beating T1 over three games, DWG KIA continued its impressive winning streak. DWG KIA lost its last game in the 2020 World Championship group stage where JD Gaming snatched a win in a best-of-one. Losing isn’t something DWG KIA is used to, especially in a best-of-three series. This was proven once again against T1, despite an impressive showing by T1 bot laner Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong who pulled off a pentakill.
GG! @DWGKIA make the final push to finish the series against @T1LoL! #LCK pic.twitter.com/Y4Q81b0jGk
— LCK Global (@LCK_Global) January 15, 2021
With a pentakill in the first game, Gumayusi showcased why he was given the chance to play at the biggest stage for the most storied organization in League of Legends. Gumayusi was put on Aphelios, which resulted in his first pentakill as a professional player only 15 minutes into the game.Â
PENTAKILL for GUMAYUSI #LCK pic.twitter.com/8DyXCm2ZoJ
— LCK Global (@LCK_Global) January 15, 2021
To help Gumayusi pull off the pentakill, mid laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok set up the fight perfectly with a smooth Azir combo. This enabled Gumayusi to do what he is best at, which is dealing damage and securing the kills for himself. Luckily for DWG KIA, they managed to cool down T1 in game two, where the world champions finally found their stride.
Starting out game three, the young superstar Gumayusi also managed to impress. Gumayusi picked up the newest marksman, Samira, and ended up getting a quadrakill early on. He continued his dominance until hitting a 9/0 scoreline before DWG KIA found a way to punish T1.Â
When it looked like T1 would close out the series, DWG KIA showcased why they won Worlds and turned the whole game around. All it took was a single team fight for DWG KIA to grab both the Baron buff and the Cloud Soul. These buffs were enough for DWG KIA to close out the series even though the young Gumayusi will likely still steal all headlines.Â
The match between DWG KIA and T1 has been highly anticipated by fans all around the world and the viewer numbers on Twitch confirmed that. During the three-game series, the LCK Twitch channel peaked at over 200,000 viewers which is usually unheard of for a regular split game in the LCK. The numbers prove that the LCK is finally back as one of the best regions in the world and that fans want to follow its best teams.Â
The defending world champions from DWG KIA has only made a single roster change in the offseason, making them just as scary as in 2021.Â
Gumayusi is 18 years old and one of the youngest players in the LCK. He made his debut with T1 during the 2020 LCK Regional Finals, where he and the rest of the squad fought for a spot at Worlds 2020. T1 fell short of qualifying, so it’s been a while since Gumayusi played an official match. For the 2021 season, T1 has given Gumayusi another shot at success by giving him the starting position in the bot lane against both Hanwha Life and DWG KIA.Â
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