Faker is the most successful League of Legends player of all time and along his way he has created a dynasty with T1.

Since joining T1 back in 2013, Faker has gone onto win three League of Legends World Championship titles (2013, 2015 & 2016), as well as two Mid-Season Invitational titles (2016 & 2017).

pic.twitter.com/cJOx8zRk9G

— T1 LoL (@T1LoL) November 28, 2022

Their was a lot of conjecture around the Korean superstar’s status over the off-season, after his contract expired in late November and teams started to circle around him.

There was speculation that Faker was considering offers from a number of LoL Championship Series (LCS) teams, including FlyQuest and Team Liquid, with Liquid making an official offer to the T1 legend.

Team Liquid had recently signed Jang “MaRin” Gyeong-hwan as their new head coach for the LCS 2023 season, and the organisation believed that MaRin’s arrival could be useful in convincing Faker to make the move to North America.

Faker and MaRin were teammates on T1’s 2015 LoL World Championship-winning team, and Liquid were hoping they could re-unite the pair for the upcoming LCS season.

There are reports suggesting that Faker was given shares in T1 and if he did leave for the LCS, he would have to sell those shares, similarly to what we saw with TSM and Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg.

With Faker committing to T1 for three years, it now means that all five of the players from their Worlds 2022 roster will return for the 2023 season.

T1 can now put all of the contract talk behind them and focus on winning their seventh LCK Spring title in the new year.

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T1 vs DRX LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

The 2022 League of Legends World Championship will end on Saturday with an all-Korean grand final as T1 take on DRX in a best-of-five series to decide the winner of the tournament.

It sets up to be one of the best grand finals at a World Championship in some time. Both T1 and DRX had to come from behind in their semi-finals, with both teams going down 0-1 before winning the next three maps to run out 3-1 winners over JD Gaming and Gen.G, respectively.

T1 will be back in an LoL World Championship grand final for the first time since losing in the 2017 Worlds decider to Samsung Galaxy. This team is stacked with talent, and star AD carry Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong has been the best player at this tournament by a long way.

Gumayusi has compiled a massive 10.7 KDA as well as 86 kills, while his bottom-lane partner, Ryu “Keria” Min-seok, has recorded the best KDA (11.4) for the 2022 LoL World Championship. This bottom lane for T1 is firing on all cylinders and doesn’t look like slowing down. However, if T1 want to take out this year’s Worlds, their star pair will need some more help from the rest of the team.

DRX will be competing in their first-ever LoL World Championship grand final. Since the introduction of the play-in stage at Worlds 2017, no team that has qualified through the play-ins has made the grand final, let alone won the championship, so DRX will be out to break another record this weekend.

DRX defeated the reigning world champions, EDward Gaming, in the quarter-finals and this year’s tournament favourite, Gen.G, in the semis. DRX mid-laner Kim “Zeka” Geon-woo has been outstanding in the playoffs, recording a massive 9.1 KDA against EDG and another impressive 6.5 KDA against Gen.G. Zeka will have his hands full on Saturday, though, with one of the greatest mid-laners to grace the Summoner’s Rift, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok from T1, ready to do battle with him.

Whoever wins the 2022 LoL World Championship will create history. T1 would become the only team ever to win four LoL World Championships, and DRX would be the first team to win the title after qualifying through the play-in tournament.

DRX have surprised everyone throughout this tournament by beating two of the tournament favourites on their way to the grand final. T1 are deserving favourites nonetheless, although we don’t think they will win it by much.

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JD Gaming dominated their group and smashed Rogue on their way to their very first LoL Worlds semi-final. Entering the tournament, JDG were considered one of the favourites to go all the way and they have not let their supporters down, as they breezed through Group B to finish top with a 5-1 record. Going into the quarter-finals JDG were matched up against the surprise European quarter-finalists, Rogue. Unfortunately for neutral supporters, the LEC Summer champions were no match for the LPL Summer champions as JDG destroyed them 3-0 in very quick time. JDG don’t have any outstanding players stats-wise, but they are a solid team as a unit and it makes them very tough to beat over a five-map series.

T1 look to have found the form that saw them win three League of Legends World Championships in 2013, 2015 and 2016. Even though T1 were beaten in the semi-finals last year and they didn’t win LCK Summer this year, they have been very good at Worlds 2022. T1 won Group A with a 5-1 record to finish ahead of the reigning world champions, EDward Gaming, beating them both times in the round-robin phase. The only defeat that T1 have had at Worlds came at the hands of Fnatic in their second match of the tournament. Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong (ADC) and Ryu “Keria” Min-seok (support) have been the best bottom-lane combination by far at Worlds this year, with Gumayusi recording the top KDA (18.5) and Keria the second best (12.7).

JDG and T1 have a combined record of 17-2 at Worlds 2022, so we expect to see a very competitive and tight series. If both JDG and T1 turn up and play the way we have seen them play so far in this tournament, we expect to see a full five-map series.

The second semi-final of Worlds 2022 is an all-LCK series with Gen.G taking on DRX. In the LCK Summer split, Gen.G defeated DRX 2-0 in both of their match-ups throughout the season, so from the get-go DRX are on the back foot.

Gen.G entered LoL Worlds 2022 as the outright favourite with esports betting sites, but after they lost their first game of the group stage to Royal Never Give Up, many of their supporters may have been worried. After that loss, it seems as though Gen.G woke up, as they went on to steamroll the rest of Group D, including two big wins over RNG to take top spot in the group. Once the group stage was over, it was clear that Gen.G were back to their dominant best, with the bookies pushing them back into favouritism. Gen.G were then faced with their first of three possible LCK derbies when they were drawn against DWG KIA for their quarter-final series. Gen.G were made to work for their 3-2 series win, as Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon and Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk took over to get the reigning LCK champions over the line.

The real surprise packet of Worlds 2022 has to be DRX. After they qualified for the play-in stage and dominated there, they then dominated Group C finishing on top of the group with a 4-2 record. It only got tougher from there, however, as they then drew EDward Gaming – the reigning world champions – in the quarter-finals. It was looking bleak for the LCK representatives at the start of their quarter-final series as they went down 0-2, but DRX pulled off one of the best comebacks that the League of Legends World Championship has ever seen to win it 3-2.

Even though DRX have been outstanding at Worlds 2022 and they have won series that they probably shouldn’t have, it is hard to see them winning this one against Gen.G, who have had the wood over them in 2022. Gen.G haven’t dropped a single map to DRX in 2022, but it is hard to see them winning 3-0 here, so we will be taking Gen.G to win 3-1 in the correct score market.

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Gen.G started off their LoL Worlds 2022 campaign slow after being defeated by Royal Never Give Up, in what seems to be the wake-up call they needed. Since that first game, the LCK champions have gone on to beat 100 Thieves, CFO and RNG twice on their way to taking the first seed in Group D. This Gen.G roster has stars in every single lane when they take to the Summoner’s Rift, and there is no exception when you talk about the mid-laner and jungler. Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon in the mid-lane has been outstanding at Worlds 2022, recording the fourth-best average KDA at the tournament (12.8), while Gen.G’s jungler, Han “Peanut” Wang-ho, has recorded the second-best average KDA (16.2).

The team that finished second in Group B behind JD Gaming, DWG KIA, will be looking to carry their good form out of the group stage. The only team that has beaten DWG KIA is JD Gaming, even though DWG KIA did beat JDG in their first meeting. Some consider the third game between JD Gaming and DWG KIA in the group stage to be the best match we have witnessed at these Worlds, and given that, we should see a good series here. This series could be the battle of the mid-laners, with Heo “ShowMaker” Su owning the fifth-best average KDA of 11.5, which gives us every indication that his clash with Chovy could be one to keep our eyes on.

Throughout the LCK Summer split, DWG KIA and Gen.G played out two three-map series, with both being very close, but Gen.G came out victorious on both occasions. This series will be a tight one, and even though the bookies have Gen.G winning this comfortably, we don’t see it that way. We are going to have our money on the over 4.5 in the total maps market with GG Bet at $3.25.

Coming out of the play-in tournament, DRX have been ultra-impressive considering there weren’t many people that expected them to get out of Group C, let alone finish in the first seed. After dominating the play-in tournament and finishing undefeated there, they came into the group stage of Worlds 2022 with an abundance of confidence and they played like so through their six games in Group C. There is no standout performer in terms of average KDA or high kills for DRX, but the whole roster plays on such a high level that you can’t afford to lose focus on any of the players on the DRX team. The consistency of DRX through their play-in campaign and into their group stage performance is what holds them in good stead for this matchup with the defending champions.

The defending League of Legends world champions, EDward Gaming, have looked anything but themselves since winning LoL Worlds 2021, finishing seventh-eighth in the 2022 LPL Spring split and third in the LPL Summer split. However, there have been some glimpses of their best form that took them all the way in this tournament just a year ago, but the consistency just isn’t there from this EDG roster, unlike their next opponents. If EDG turn up and play a high level of League of Legends, this series could be a very, very good one for the LPL representatives. There will be a fine line between them winning this series and losing it.

DRX and EDG are two teams that struggled to perform in their respective Spring and Summer splits, but these teams just seem to find another gear when it comes to competing in an international tournament. There isn’t much separating them and we think this series be going the distance, so we will be taking the overs in the total maps market.

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G2 were knocked out in the group stage after finishing on the bottom of Group A with a 1-5 record. After a disappointing campaign, the European organisation has now told their Jankos and Flakked to “explore all their options as they will not be a part of G2 Esports roster next year”.

Even though Jankos only re-signed with G2 Esports for two years back on January of this year, it seems as though G2 want to go in a different direction after failing to defend their title in the LEC Summer split and being knocked out early at LoL Worlds 2022.

Flakked only signed with G2 this year after spending the previous four years in the Spanish ERL scene. This was the 21-year-old’s first year in Europe’s top League of Legends division, the LEC.

It appears this change of mind and direction wasn’t expressed to the rest of the G2 roster, as mid-laner Rasmus “caPs” Winther said on his latest episode of ‘Caps Recaps’ that he was proud of the team’s new bot laner after his first season in the LEC.

“He just comes into G2 and he’s expected to perform. And I think he did, so I’m very happy for my team and I’m interested to see how we can grow in the future,” said caPs.

He also explained that G2 were already going downhill as they entered LEC Summer and most definitely at Worlds.

“We were in a downward spiral. We were doing quite well in Summer, but then we had an unfortunate final, and I think since then we kind of lost our momentum,” he said.

“I think that regardless of how the year ended out, it was not an easy task for everyone.”

Winther was still grateful for his team’s effort throughout the year, even if G2 didn’t achieve the results they had set out to achieve.

It is unknown whether Jankos and Flakked will “explore their options” and make their move to another team, or whether an ugly breakup will occur, but whatever happens, it will be a very interesting off-season for the G2 Esports organisation.

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The first quarter-final for the knockout stage sees the LEC’s last remaining representative, Rogue, taking on the second favourite to win LoL Worlds 2022, JD Gaming.

JD Gaming were one of the standout teams throughout the LoL Worlds group stage, finishing on top of Group B with a 6-1 record, with their only defeat coming at the hands of DWG KIA. Even though none of the JD Gaming players ranked in the top five for KDA throughout the tournament, the team itself has been outstanding as they have dominated just about all of their games in the group stage. The reigning LPL champions have taken their hot form to New York with them and they have kept on rolling. If any team is going to beat JD Gaming towards the back end of Worlds 2022, they are going to have to find a way to dominate the game early like DWG KIA did in their only defeat to date.

After Rogue found themselves in Group C with LPL powerhouse, Top Esports, and the dominant play-in winners, DRX, it would have had LEC supporters very worried at the start of the group stage. However, there was no need for worry as Rogue flew out of the blocks in group play as they won their first four matches, defeating every team in the group whilst sewing up a knockout spot early on the second-last day of the group stage. Rogue will be massive outsiders in this series against JD Gaming, and it could be the end of Rogue’s run Worlds 2022.

We think that JD Gaming will be winning this series against Rogue, but there is no value in taking them at the moneyline; therefore, we will be betting on the correct score of 3-1 to the favourites.

The second quarter-final of the LoL Worlds knockout stage will feature three-time world champions T1 and the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational champions, Royal Never Give Up, as they lock horns for the first time since the grand final of the 2022 MSI tournament.

T1 had many doubters as they entered LoL Worlds 2022 after the three-time world champions were dismantled by Gen.G in the 2022 LCK Summer grand final. After that loss to Gen.G, many believed that the T1 roster was no longer the best team in the LCK, but it seems as though no one told T1. They have been dominant at Worlds 2022, finishing on top of Group A with a 5-1 record. They have played most of their games through their bottom lane, with both Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong (AD carry) and Ryu “Keria” Min-seok (support) recording two of the top three best KDA’s for the group stage.

The same could be said for Royal Never Give Up, after they could only manage fifth-sixth place in the LPL Summer split and they had to qualify for Worlds through the LPL Regional Finals and the play-in stage. However, much like their opponents in this series, T1, the RNG roster must not have been told that they weren’t supposed to go deep at this year’s edition of Worlds. The AD carry for RNG, Chen “GALA” Wei, has been on another level at Worlds 2022, as he is out to make amends for his poor performance at his Worlds debut in 2021.

This series will be a battle of the sleeping giants, with T1 and RNG set to give us another five-map thriller as both teams look to lock in a semi-final date with JD Gaming or Rogue. Over 4.5 maps with GG Bet is currently at $2.75, which is massive overs, so that is where we will be playing for this series.

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If they wish to reach the LoL Worlds 2022 knockout phase, Fnatic have to win this game against a Cloud9 side that has struggled against every team in this group. In their first meeting in the group stage, Cloud9 actually started the game off really well, securing first blood and destroying the first tower, before Fnatic took over and eventually won the game. Elias “Upset” Lipp was huge for Fnatic in that game, finishing with a 8/0/5 KDA while controlling the bottom lane.

This game is a must-win for Fnatic, considering T1 and EDward Gaming should also beat C9. We will be taking Fnatic at the kills handicap of -6.5 at $1.83 with GG Bet.

T1 will be looking for revenge when they take on Fnatic in the second game of the day. In the first game between these two teams, T1 didn’t show up and they got smashed by the European giants, who had a point to prove in this group – that they wouldn’t be push-overs. Fnatic ended up taking the win, recording 19 kills to T1’s seven, whilst Marek “Humanoid” Brázda destroyed T1 legend Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok in the mid-lane, finishing with a KDA of 7/0/7.

The loser of this game will have to rely on EDward Gaming to bomb out, which would give whoever loses this game a chance of making it out of Group A. We will be taking the unders in the total kills market, which sits at 25.5 for this series.

EDward Gaming will play their first game on day five against Cloud9, who they destroyed on day two of the group stage, winning the game in 28 minutes. Just like Fnatic and T1, EDG have to win this game against Cloud9 to ensure their games against the other two teams decide who will get eliminated. EDG shouldn’t have much trouble getting past Cloud9 here and the LoL betting sites tend to agree, marking EDG very short at $1.16.

EDward Gaming should and must win this game over Cloud9, so we will back the favourites at the kills handicap.

By the time Fnatic play their final game of the group stage, they could already be out of contention; however, they could still be in a position to advance from Group A with a win over EDward Gaming. EDG, on the other hand, might already have punched their ticket into the knockout stage. No matter the situation, it will be a great game with Fnatic wanting to get revenge for their earlier loss to the reigning world champions, where EDG’s bottom lane dominated the game.

EDG may win this game and it wouldn’t really surprise anyone, but we are going to take Fnatic at the kills handicap of +8.5, as we think they will keep it close whether they win or lose.

In Cloud9’s last game of the group stage, they could play the spoiler if they were to take down T1. However, the three-time world champions destroyed Cloud9 in 25 minutes on day three, with a huge kill score of 18-3 in their favour. If T1 lose to Fnatic before this game, expect to see a bloodbath here; but should T1 beat Fnatic, we could see a tight one if T1 are a bit off their game.

T1 are very short favourites at $1.14 with GG Bet and they deserve to be favourites here, but we cannot suggest backing them at the short quote. Therefore, we will be betting on the overs in the total kills market.

The last game on day five could be the best game of the day with the reigning champions, EDward Gaming, taking on the most successful team in LoL World Championship history, T1. This game could potentially be for top spot in Group A, with EDG looking for revenge after they were smashed by T1 on day one of the group stage. EDG didn’t show up in their last meeting, but no one expects that to happen again with what could be up for grabs for the winner of this match.

Considering these two amassed 24 kills in only 22 minutes of game time in their last meeting, there should be a lot more in this meeting with more time. This game should be going for at least 30 minutes, and we believe the current line for the total kills at 25.5 is way too low, so we will taking the overs.

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The LEC Summer champions, Rogue, will be kicking off their LoL Worlds 2022 campaign as the underdogs against the first play-in qualifier, DRX, who were dominant in the play-in coming out of the LCK.

This will be Rogue’s third trip to the League of Legends World Championship since their creation in 2019, with many people believing they are the top EU team at the tournament. Rogue finished third in the regular season behind G2 Esports and MAD Lions, and in the playoffs they lost to G2 Esports to put themselves in the lower bracket. However, they won their way through to the grand final against G2 again, where they destroyed them 3-0. Rogue will have brought a lot of confidence to Worlds 2022 and they will be expecting to go deep if they can beat DRX in this game.

DRX flew under the radar behind Gen.G, T1 and DAMWON Gaming, when they qualified for Worlds, but they have shown through their play-in dominance they aren’t here to make up the numbers. DRX only finished seventh in the LCK Summer split but since the start of the regional finals they have been outstanding, finishing second to qualify for the play-in stage at Worlds. During the play-ins, DRX were by far the best team. Dismantling MAD Lions and Royal Never Give Up on their way to a 5-0 record and earning direct qualification into Group C.

DRX will be confident that they can get out of Group C as the second spot is definitely up for grabs between them and Rogue. This series will be a lot closer than the bookmakers have got it, so we will be betting in the total kills market.

Cloud9 from the LCS will take on EDward Gaming from the LPL in what will be their second group stage matches in what some consider to be the ‘group of death’.

Cloud9 are the top seeded LCS team at Worlds 2022 after they took out the LCS Championship by beating 100 Thieves 3-0 in the grand final. C9 will be up against it in this match against EDward Gaming as they are the reigning LoL World champions and historically the LCS teams have struggled against LPL teams in most international tournaments.

EDward Gaming are coming off a decent LPL Summer split, where they finished fifth at the end of the regular season ending with an 11-5 record. During the playoffs EDward Gaming were very impressive, beating RNG and LNG Esports on their way to a lower-bracket final exit at the hands of Top Esports, 0-3. Even though EDward Gaming aren’t the best LPL team at Worlds this year, they shouldn’t be taken lightly by anyone. After all, they are the reigning world champions.

Both Cloud9 and EDward Gaming are high-kill teams, so we will be taking the overs in the total kills market with GG Bet.

Kicking off their League of Legends World Championship run, Top Esports will take on the VCS Summer champions, GAM Esports, in a match that could be very one-sided. The LPL Summer runners-up have opened up as the third favourite to take out Worlds 2022 at $4.00 with LoL betting sites, whilst GAM Esports are $201.00 outsiders.

Top Esports have been ultra-consistent throughout 2022 and finished second in both the LPL Spring and Summer splits, losing to RNG and JD Gaming in both of the grand finals they played in. TES only lost two series throughout the regular season and twice during the playoffs, with three of those four defeats coming against JD Gaming. TES finished in third-fourth place at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship, so they know what is needed to go deep at an international tournament.

GAM Esports have dominated the VCS during 2022, winning both the Spring and Summer splits by beating Saigon Buffalo 3-0 and 3-1 in the respective grand finals. However, GAM Esports look like they will be one of the teams who will be making up the numbers at Worlds 2022, as they don’t seem to be playing at a similar level to the top-tier regions.

Top Esports will win this match. But at $1.07 with GG Bet, we cannot suggest betting on them, so we will be taking them at the kills handicap.

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