Damwon Gaming put a stop to T1’s dominance over the past couple of weeks with rookie Clozer in the mid lane instead of Faker. Today’s League of Legends matchup was explosive from both sides, but Damwon secured the 2-0 series win in the 2020 LCK Summer Split regular season.
The highly-anticipated mid lane matchup between Clozer and ShowMaker finally took place and ShowMaker asserted his dominance once again. He’s seemingly unstoppable, leading the mid lane leaderboards in multiple stats. His performance in the first game on Twisted Fate was spectacular, ending deathless with a score of 6/0/10, which earned him the Player of the Game award.
The series started off passively for both teams, even though short trades happened all over the map. The third dragon fight set the pace for the rest of the game, however. Damwon’s superior teamfight and mechanical prowess allowed them to ace T1 while only losing two players.
With that lead, Damwon were able to get a Baron and then lay siege to T1’s base. While T1 were resilient and tried their best to stop Damwon, the item difference was too high and Damwon were clean sweeping T1 in every fight. Following 29 minutes of Damwon dominance, they ended the first game of the series.
After the disastrous performance in the first game, T1 adjusted their draft and banned away Lillia and Twisted Fate. Damwon responded by picking up Sett and Kassadin instead, which came back to bite T1 even harder. As Damwon scaled into the late game, they became even more unstoppable.
A slight hope appeared for T1 after they secured the Cloud Dragon Soul. But they quickly threw away this lead at the Baron and lost the game.
This series showed that Clozer still needs time and practice to stand up to top-tier mid laners. But there are signs of promise for the young player. It’s unclear if he’ll start in T1’s playoff run or if Faker is going to come back from his break.
Damwon’s dominance most likely locked them into first place in the LCK, unless they somehow lose to KT Rolster in their last match of the Summer Split. Based on their recent matches, though, Damwon are the clear favorites and will most likely get two easy 20-minute wins.
This loss locks T1 into fourth place in the 2020 LCK Summer Split regular season standings. However, their play shows them looking like a clear top two team.