Is IG’s support Meiko acknowledged as a clear shortcoming?

As the two most popular teams globally, T1 and IG have many LOL viewers discussing who holds the superior skill level. Since IG and T1 will engage in an intense battle to claim the final group stage berth for the S15 Worlds. Currently, most LCK teams have been expressing support for IG during interviews, including HLE’s top laner Zeus, AD carry Viper, as well as GEN’s coach and mid laner. Even KT’s jungler and coach revealed in interviews that KT played scrims against IG during the offseason.

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Although most LCK teams hope T1 gets eliminated by IG, many players from the European and North American regions have openly backed T1 in interviews. For example, the entire G2 roster predicted before the match that T1 would dominate IG. Particularly, G2 players viewed IG’s bot lane duo as the team’s main weakness. Many G2 members believe IG’s support Meiko will be thoroughly outplayed by T1’s support Keria. At the same time, G2 praised IG’s top laner TheShy as very powerful, stating that IG’s chances of beating T1 rely heavily on TheShy’s performance.

Champion coach publicly threatens IG’s coach!

Besides Meiko being underestimated, IG’s coach DanShen has recently been targeted by ZhuKai. ZhuKai accuses DanShen’s training stint in Korea as “worshipping foreign ways” and even worries that DanShen might leak LPL’s tactical strategies. ZhuKai openly claims that IG became the LPL’s fourth seed solely because DanShen is overly infatuated with LCK’s draft picks and tactics. Had DanShen employed LPL’s mainstream draft strategies, IG could have at least secured a top-two seed instead of fourth.

Finally, ZhuKai revealed on stream some dark history about IG’s DanShen, claiming that during his coaching in the LPL, DanShen once leaked information about LPL scrims to the LCK side. ZhuKai promised viewers that if IG gets swept by T1, he will expose DanShen’s detailed scandals live, vowing to take DanShen down so he can no longer earn a salary in the LPL and his reputation will be ruined. This statement shocked many LPL fans, who are eager to know what concrete evidence ZhuKai holds against DanShen.

IG fans criticize ZhuKai, sparking heated discussions

After ZhuKai declared his intention to “expose” DanShen, a large number of IG fans rallied to support their coach, believing DanShen’s actions are justified, especially since the LPL officially does not treat IG as “one of their own.” It is rumored that the LPL World Championship practice squad will only be fully assembled by the 15th, including star players like mid laner Xiaohu, support Liu Qingsong, and jungler Xiaotian. However, IG’s match against T1 is scheduled for the 14th, meaning without DanShen’s connections, IG might not even get to scrim before the match.

After all, LOL champion mid laner DOINB revealed that TES, AL, BLG, WBG, and JDG are on break, with only NIP still active. If IG wants scrims, they can only face NIP and a group of weaker teams, which is ineffective. Recent performances at the World Championship have shown that mid-tier LPL teams are quite weak. Therefore, IG going to Korea for bootcamp is definitely beneficial. Moreover, according to insider reports on IG’s recent scrim results, IG’s potential ceiling is not inferior to GEN, so IG still has a chance to beat T1.

Conclusion

IG’s qualification for the World Championship largely depends on the relentless efforts of their bot laner GALA. However, T1’s bot lane duo has been consistently strong in recent years. Personally, I feel that if IG wants to defeat T1, TheShy must step up and dominate Doran. Also, what do you think—will IG’s support Meiko become the key factor deciding this match? If Meiko returns to peak form, can IG overcome T1?