On paper BLG should be the favorite. They beat T1 2-3 in the MSI final — wait, that was HLE. BLG beat T1 in the MSI group stage and T1 got eliminated by G2, not BLG. But the narrative still applies: T1 arrives at EWC with questions, BLG arrives as the team that just pushed HLE to five games in the MSI Grand Final.
And yet — the only BO1 these two teams have ever played was Worlds 2024, and T1 won. That’s not a large sample but in a single-game format, precedent matters.
The Key Matchup: Bot Lane
Peyz and Keria have to carry. That’s the plan and it’s the right one — BLG’s bot lane has been strong all tournament but Keria’s roaming impact and vision control creates advantages that pure laning stats don’t capture. If Keria gets ahead early and starts moving the map, BLG’s solo lanes can’t compensate fast enough in a single game.
Doran playing weakside against Bin is the right call. Don’t fight the matchup, survive it, and let the bot side win the game. The risk is if BLG reads this and collapses top early to get Bin snowballing — but that’s a draft and preparation question that Reapered will have answers for.
The Pick
BLG are strong. But T1 in a BO1 reset environment, with Faker motivated after MSI, and Peyz and Keria as the win condition — that’s enough.
T1 1-0.
