T1 had a great win over JD Gaming in the semifinals of the 2023 LoL World Championship. In one of the most anticipated matches of the year in LoL Esports, T1 won decisively 3-1 and reached the finals. After the match, T1 interim head coach, Im “Tom” Jae-hyeon joined the LCK analyst desk to talk about the match.

Despite all the pressure and high expectations, it seems Tom didn’t feel any of it as he said, “I didn’t think at all that we would lose.” He mentioned that he wasn’t as ecstatic as he thought he would be and praised the players. “We were able to win quite comfortably since the players did so well.”

About the match, Tom said that he thought T1 was advantageous because of the bot duo. “Our bot duo players have a wide range of champions they could play. I think we had an advantage in the draft from our bot duo’s champion pool.”

When asked about the Bel’Veth pick in game 4, he said that T1 knew JDG would have prepared a unique pick. “We did think JDG would have an unconventional pick,” he said, explaining how T1 planned to deal with it. “When they picked Bel’Veth, even if they were to take the Rift Herald, we could minimize the damage with Bard’s ult.”

In game 4, T1 picked Yone into Aatrox, which was one of Choi “Zeus” Woo-je’s signature picks. “Obviously, we had prepared it for a long time. It was a good situation to pick Yone, and Zeus was confident playing it,” said Tom. “In today’s match as well, Zeus did well and dealt well with the opponent’s chances.”

After watching and talking about some highlight reels, the analyst desk asked Tom about his expectations at the grand finals against Weibo Gaming. “We reached the finals at Worlds held in Korea. We’ll make sure to show a good performance and win the championship,” he said and added a last comment for the fans. “I saw people draw cheering messages in the sand at Haeundae. I’m so grateful for all the support. We’ll make sure that we repay you by winning the championship.”