Two weeks after we took the T1 Academy classes, T1 sent Inven another invitation. This time, however, our lecturer was Chae "Piglet" Gwang-jin, who was a lot spicier with his lectures and feedback. We also wanted a rematch against the T1 Office team, so we were naturally pretty hyped as we headed back to T1's Academy headquarters. 

We’ve also had a change of members this time around. We were joined by an ace jungler from our team of journalists, who unfortunately couldn’t be there last time due to personal reasons. We were hopeful that things would be different this time around because not only did our ace in the hole have competitive experience, but the five of us also had experience playing as a five-stack.

The location of the five control wards in a drake teamfight? Piglet explains ward locations and dragon fight calls

“Where should we place our control wards before the dragon teamfight?”

It was quite the shocking question that PIglet asked. Five pink wards? Not regular wards? Piglet automatically assumed that each of us would buy pink wards. We each pointed out a place on the map, trying to hide our looks of surprise. After listening to our theories, Piglet gave us the correct answers. 

Some pink ward placements we were already aware of, but others we never thought about for example the one right in the middle of the mid lane. Although we’ve seen it placed there in the LCK, it wasn’t the case for solo queue. After explaining to us the value of having a pink ward right in that location, Piglet gave us a detailed explanation on how to gain vision for a dragon teamfight, as well as how a team can push through the vision that the enemy has gained. 

The next part of the lecture was about in-game communication. Truth be told, this was the most disappointing aspect of our match against the T1 Office team last time. Overlapping calls led to murky communication and from there to our huge loss in the Rift Herald fight, which made the game unsalvageable. By presenting mock scenarios to us, Piglet showed us how teammates should communicate.

Hearing Piglet teach us about this through his experiences in pro play made us realize just how detailed the calls are in pro play. Keeping track of summoner spells timers is a given, but you have to also be very detailed in your enemy’s projected pathing, as well as strategizing how you are going to play out the skirmish. I personally have a habit of not saying anything when I’m hyper-focused in the game, so hearing how detailed the communication needs to be was very surprising. According to Piglet, there are pros that don’t talk much, but it’s always better to be talkative.

Piglet checked every detail of our calls. From ward locations to asking for ganks, roaming, gaining vision, the calls made before recalling for dragon teamfights, summoner spell timings, and the calls to push the lane out together. Piglet ran us through mock scenarios, explaining how each call should be made.

Once the lecture ended, it was time for the rematch against the T1 office team. After checking our champion pool, he told us about both the draft and the game plan. Determined to win this time, we headed to the playing area.

Team INVEN vs T1 Office: The rematch

Watching the draft made us very nervous. The enemy drafted Jayce and Kindred, while we drafted Jarvan IV for our jungler. Given how much of a lane bully Jayce is, we knew that things were going to be tough in the top lane, so we braced ourselves for struggle in the early game. 

Game 1 kicked off, and as we predicted, Kindred invaded our jungle level 2 to mess with our Jarvan, who was at the time, taking his Gromp. We predicted this however, so our support went to back him up, and we were able to defend the invade. For the top lane, we also drafted Malphite to handle Jayce. Although Malphite didn’t necessarily win the lane against Jayce, he didn’t exactly lose either, and since Malphite was better in teamfights, things were looking much better than our last match against T1.

With Leona, Jarvan, and Malphite’s great engage, we slowly took control as the game went on. Despite T1’s best efforts to out-macro us, the difference in teamfight abilities led to our victory. 

After the cheers for T1's exploded Nexus ended, everyone started sharing the great plays that they made. We were able to heal the wounds from the losses we suffered last time and the victory felt that much sweeter. Truth be told, we were expecting much more spice from Piglet’s feedback, but seeing us win put a huge grin on his face. Although we made a few mistakes here and there, the overall feedback was that our teamfighting was executed well and in a bold fashion.

The warmth in his feedback, however, did not last long. In game 2, we basically threw a game we could’ve won. Team composition-wise, as long as we played defensively, we would’ve won. However, we took fights we shouldn’t have, and some of us ended up dying without being able to do anything. Piglet was happy with our draft, but as soon as our Nexus exploded, so did Piglet. 

“What is this, Mr. ADC?”

“Pardon?”

“There was absolutely no reason for you to be there. If you didn’t troll there, we definitely could’ve won… Don’t you feel bad for your teammates?”

That’s right. Piglet was a former world champion ADC. Our team’s ADC got scolded hard by a former world-class pro for about 10 minutes, just as how actual pros would receive feedback. Our ADC wanted to say “Sir, I’m only a Platinum Andy”, but he was too scared to say that. It felt like Piglet was even more disappointed than us in the loss, as the feedback continued on for another 10 minutes.

Resolutions at the end of the T1 Academy class

We’ve heard the same cheers from the T1 Office team after game 2, so it was safe to assume that they also had a blast. As the day came to an end, the T1 Office team told us that they had a lot of fun playing Team INVEN and they’d love to play us again. As each of us headed home, chatter about the games continued, which made our way back home that much more enjoyable. Here’s what each of our teammates had to say about the experience.

Kim “Koer” Hong-Je

After we lost 0-2 to the T1 office team the first time, we were excited to have our ace jungler, Laff, join us for the rematch. To be honest, I had lower expectations the first time, as the focus was more on the overall experience, but seeing how dedicated the T1 Office team was motivated all of us to play without regrets.

Based on what I’ve watched in his streams and from his days as a pro, I already knew how spicy Piglet’s feedback can be. With Untara, he was more understanding and tried to dummy down his teachings to our level, but Piglet was much more opinionated. He did say that he lacked experience as a teacher, so his feedback felt it was directly from pro play.

Shin “Arra” Yeon-Jae

Unlike the gentle nature of Untara’s feedback, I can still vividly picture my teammates’ shocked faces as Piglet’s feedback threw salt on our wounds. It worked, however, as we were able to win a game this time around, so I was incredibly happy.

Nam “Juneau” Ki-Baek

I felt that the matches were very hard because our opponents were able to stall through their macro, in both rounds 1 and 2. Through Piglet, I was able to realize the mistakes that I was unaware of, so it was a big help.

Pack “Laff” Takyun

It was the first time for me to experience the academy class. I really like how detailed Piglet’s explanations were about the things that I knew in theory, so that was really good. Playing a match right after the lecture made us realize the things we lacked as a team, and I was personally very satisfied with the post-game feedback as well. Directly hearing how I should’ve played in certain scenarios was really helpful, and one of the biggest lessons I learned was to look at the bigger picture, rather than to focus on my KDA.