T1’s League of Legends coach Kim Jung-su has resigned following the team’s failure to qualify for the 2020 World Championship via a Gen.G sweep in the LCK regional finals, the organization announced.
The Korean organization “respects [Kim’s] decision,” with both parties splitting “under a mutual agreement.”
“We thank Kim for his commitment to the team this year and wish him the best in his future endeavors,” T1 said.
Kim was enlisted as T1’s coach in 2019 after guiding DAMWON Gaming to a fifth-eighth place in Worlds 2019. He had previously won the prestigious tournament with Invictus Gaming in 2018 and reached the 2016 finals with Samsung Galaxy.
T1 dominated the 2020 LCK Spring Split but failed to make it out of the group stage at the 2020 Mid-Season Cup in a startling upset. The Summer Split saw the three-time Worlds champions falter at the start of the playoffs to Afreeca Freecs. Their last chance to qualify for Worlds 2020 was thwarted by Gen.G in the regional finals.
Gen.G took control of the series from the first couple of minutes. Even though Ruler got target banned with seven ADC bans, he managed to perform well on Senna. While he was farming up in the bottom lane, his team was dominating the top and middle lanes with Bdd getting ahead early on. His Azir is feared around the LCK and most teams either pick or ban it away. T1 decided against that, however, and paid for it with a game loss.
In the second game, Faker tried his best to carry T1. At one point, he survived a one-vs-three encounter, allowing T1 to come and kill Gen.G to equalize the gold lead. But a couple of minutes later, all their hopes were shattered when Ruler’s Ezreal picked up a quadrakill, setting Gen.G up for the second game victory. T1 fell to Gen.G in the next teamfight without an answer to the former world champion’s Ezreal.
The third game was tragic for T1. Their composition didn’t synergize and they couldn’t secure a single neutral objective. Gen.G had a superior draft, secured all objectives, and eventually used calculated plays to take down the legendary T1 and advance to this year’s World Championship.
With former long-serving T1 coach Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun headed back to Korea after a 10-month stint with Vici Gaming in the LPL, the esports club could be looking to bring the band together for one more ride, for one last time.