T1 bot lane dominates Worlds 2021 group stage, knockouts next?

T1’s bot lane of Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong and Ryu “Keria” Min-seok impressed at the 2021 World Championship group stage with high KDA’s and very few deaths. 

Over the course of the six group-stage games, the T1 bot lane managed to top the charts in both KDA and fewest deaths. The great performance puts support Keria at the second-highest KDA of all players going into the playoffs at 14, with bot laner Gumayusi following right behind with the third-highest at 12.3. The only player who managed to pull off a better KDA is DWG KIA mid laner Heo “ShowMaker” Su, who finished at 14.2. T1 will hope that its dynamic pairing can carry that momentum over to the knockouts stage.

The great KDAs from the T1 bot lane are mainly due to the fact that the two only died seven times combined. Gumayusi died three times over the course of six games while Keria experienced death no more than four times. These few deaths speak towards the high level of play T1 showcased as a whole in group B, where it finished with the first seed and a 5-1 record in front of potential tournament favorite EDward Gaming.  

Gumayusi and Keria highlight T1 bot lane dominance

Such stellar play from the T1 bot lane wasn’t necessarily expected going into the tournament, as T1 has been fairly shaky this year while experimenting with its 10-man roster. Luckily, T1 looks to be finding the right shape when it matters most, and it’s clear that fielding Gumayusi as the starting bot laner over veteran Park “Teddy” Jin-seong has been the right choice so far.    

19-year-old bot laner Gumayusi has played the likes of Jhin, Aphelios, and even Ziggs at Worlds 2021. The Ziggs game was the only loss for Gumayusi so far on the international stage, where EDG got the better of the team on the second day of groups. After that, T1 has only improved each game and is looking like a big threat in the quarterfinals with Gumayusi as one of the main carries. 

To enable Gumayusi and the rest of the team to carry, Keria has been the rock for the squad in this tournament. The young support has most showcased his skill on mage supports such as Yuumi and Lulu so far, but has also tried his luck on tankier champions such as Shen. 

Playing enchanter supports seem to be the way for Keria, enabling Gumayusi to be the carry with heals and shields. What makes Keria scarier is the fact that he has almost strictly been playing engage supports during the LCK season, but has shown that the meta shift towards enchanter supports fits him just as well. This makes the champion pool of Keria very scary moving forward as its hard for opposing teams to ban him out in champion selection. 

Gumayusi, Keria, and the rest of T1 will be looking to continue the Worlds 2021 dominance when they face off against Hanwha Life in an all-LCK quarterfinal as knockouts begin on Friday, October 22.