The LCK's third split kicks off in just one day. Recently, teams have been putting their main squads in the KesPa Cup to get up to speed for the intra-group matches. T1 started using their first team in the fourth match of the K-Cup group stage. They crushed DK's second team, but then unexpectedly lost to NS, another first-team roster. Despite leading by 8K gold at 24 minutes, T1 was turned around by NS.

This BO1 was quite interesting. Oner set the pace early, ganking all three lanes within just 10 minutes, resulting in a 10-0 kill score. At that point, T1 had a 4K gold lead. Just when everyone thought the game was over, T1 started giving away chances. In every team fight, someone would die for free. NS managed to reduce the gold gap to 1K, looking like they might turn the game around.

But at the 22-minute Baron fight, T1 won big, securing the Baron and executing a 1-for-5. With the Baron buff, they widened the gold lead to 8K. At this point, if they didn't make mistakes, they would win easily with item advantage. However, at the next dragon fight (the "stop" dragon), Peyz died, and NS got a 3-for-4, but neither team took the dragon. One minute later, another dragon fight broke out. In that fight, Doran had a "bright idea" and gave away a tower.

In the second Baron fight, T1 lost the smite, and NS narrowed the gold gap to around 1K again. Then came the crucial dragon soul fight. Doran pulled off another incredible play. Keria's Bard opened a portal for Doran to go after the enemy's big threat, but Doran missed all his QWER. In this fight, Doran had Flash and E, and any skill to approach the Jhin would have allowed him to knock him back, but he first used R then E, letting down his teammates. Both the jungler and support died.

After this dragon fight, the gold gap was even. On the third Baron, Oner again lost the smite. In the final decisive fight, it was again T1's dragon soul fight. Oner used his Insec kick to bring back the Jhin, but the damage didn't follow up. Doran's Gnar missed his ultimate again, and the team fight collapsed. NS only used their jungler to get a 1-for-3. With only top and support left, T1 tried to defend the base, but Doran's recall was interrupted and he was solo killed by Liye's Camille.

Keria's Bard couldn't hold on alone, and NS completed the comeback. Good grief, T1's full first team, leading by 8K, lost to the "Nirvana" team. Keep in mind that NS had been crushed by HLE's second team earlier. It just shows that Doran is truly terrible, missing his ult entirely. However, Peyz is not clean either; he died too many times this game. The funny thing is that even though T1 lost to NS, they still ranked first in Group B in the group stage.

T1's first three games were played by their second team, which achieved a three-game winning streak. The first team played two games with a record of one win and one loss. Ultimately, T1 secured group first with a 4-1 record. Among all advancing teams, T1 is the only one whose first team performed worse than its second team. The second team played three games, defeating Gen.G's second team as well as the first teams of KRX and NDS, and their overall performance was much better than that of the first team.

After the match against NS, the K-Cup group stage ended. According to the official rules, in the subsequent knockout stage, teams with the same group ranking will face each other. T1 will play against NS, the first place of Group A. The third split starts on the 29th, and the remaining K-Cup matches will be scheduled during the break. T1 vs NS is scheduled for August 3rd. It is expected that the second team will play again, but the possibility of the first team going to find some form cannot be ruled out.

Conclusion:

If T1 had used the second team the whole time, they probably could have won five straight. The first team's play was truly abstract—leading by 8K and still losing. To be honest, the second team's top laner could be promoted to put pressure on Doran. In this game, his Gnar was purely a liability; he couldn't land his ultimate, and his split pushing was poor. Even losing to a "Nirvana" team like that makes it seem even harder to win in the group stage.

So what do you think of Doran's performance?

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