T1 vs. JD Gaming recap: Worlds 2022 Semifinals

LCK second seed T1 advanced to the 2022 Worlds Final after they beat LPL first seed JD Gaming in a 3-1 series in the 2022 League of Legends World Championship Knockout Stage on Oct. 29 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

T1 will face the winner of the second Semifinal series — either LCK first seed Gen.G or LCK fourth seed DRX — in the all-LCK Worlds Final at 5 p.m. PDT on Nov. 5 at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.

Game 1: JD Gaming wins

JD Gaming kicked off their Quarterfinal against T1 with an exciting 20-14 win in 39:52. The two teams both picked teamfight-heavy compositions, with legendary T1 midlaner Lee "Faker" Sang-Hyeok attempting to center his team's attack on his iconic Galio pick. However, JDG midlaner Zeng "Yagao" Qi's 3/1/12 Taliyah was the better facilitator for his botlaner, Wang "Hope" Jie, who went 7/3/7 on Aphelios. Never separated by more than 4.5k gold, the teams traded objectives and kills all game, but JDG's Dragon Soul and Elder Dragon put the team further ahead than T1 could catch up to. T1 botlaner Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong performed better in the loss than his 5/4/7 KDA would suggest — dealing a game-leading 38.2k damage on Lucian — and support Ryu "Keria" Min-seok had the best KDA on his team with a 3/1/11 scoreline.

Game 2: T1 wins

T1 fought back against JD Gaming in Game 2 with a 17-12 win in 33:59. T1's Faker and Choi "Zeus" Woo-je took over the game on two signature picks, Ryze and Yone, and went 0/3/6 and 6/3/6 respectively. Like Game 1, it was another scrappy affair, but T1's objective control after 20 minutes kept JD Gaming on the back foot until their Nexus fell. After securing numerous towers, kills and an inhibitor before 27 minutes, T1 snuck a three-man Baron and found some more kills before being thwarted by a respawning inhibitor. T1 later ended the game after a 5-for-1 teamfight in which Faker sacrificed himself for the victory. T1's Gumayusi and Keria justified their team's repeated Lucian-Nami priority with a combined 9/4/13 KDA, while JDG toplaner Bai "369" Jia-Hao was unable to find impactful plays on a surprising Malphite counterpick in the champion's first appearance at Worlds 2022.

Game 3: T1 wins

T1 moved to match point vs. JD Gaming in a 23-18 Game 3 victory that lasted 30:54. In addition to global ultimate users Gangplank and Nocturne, T1 Faker brought out Ryze again and went 7/3/5 on the pick, while Gumayusi's aggressive Lucian play earned him a 7/2/7 scoreline. JDG 369 found three solokills on his 7/5/5 Renekton -- two against Zeus and one against Faker -- for a tournament-leading total of 10 at Worlds 2022. T1 snuck a Baron and then used Ryze's ultimate to catch out JDG jungler Seo "Kanavi" Jin-hyeok and then finished the clean ace before pushing down top lane for the win.

Game 4: T1 wins

T1 advanced to their first Worlds Final since 2017 -- and cemented a Korean world champion in 2022 -- with a 30-7 stomp in just 24:53. With Lucian and Ryze banned, T1 Faker was forced to play his first Azir game of Worlds 2022, supporting his team expertly: Zeus's Gragas went 4/1/16, jungler Mun "Oner" Hyeon-jun went 7/1/17 on Viego, and Gumayusi annihilated JD Gaming with a 12/1/11 score on Varus with the help of Keria's 4/1/21 Renata Glasc. T1 was never pushed in the final game of the series, with JDG's Hope and support Lou "Missing" Yun-Feng combining for a 3/11/8 KDA on a Jhin-Karma botlane that was unable to overcome T1's quick Ocean Soul stacking.

Featured image by Fernando Decillis/Riot Games.