LCK Regional Finals 2024: T1 vs DK. Don’t underestimate underdogs!

There are two main reasons to follow the League of Legends matches at the LCK Regional Finals 2024 tournament. Sure, the general excitement to witness the top-level gameplay is always the primary one. Not so many regions can be compared to the toughness of the Korean championships. The LCK had two vacant slots for the upcoming Worlds event. Both of these should be distributed here: one for the upper final winner and one for the low final. Seeing T1 among the contenders? This may even create anxiety for dedicated fans.

The upper final at the LCK Regional Finals 2024 event was between T1 and Dplus (T1 vs DK). One won it all! The other will have a second chance to qualify for the Worlds. All of the details of this high-stakes battle are here.

The LCK has its official channels on YouTube and Twitch, so that's where they streamed the Regional Finals matches. You can also watch the upper final between T1 and Dplus on this very page: the stream is embedded below.

The fate of the upper final was decided in a best-of-five (Bo5) match. Three games were needed to secure the World 2024 qualification.

Most people probably expected to see the dominance of one team in the upper final of the LCK Regional Finals 2024 event. T1 players certainly have better results on the Korean and the international LoL esports scene. Their most recent achievement is victory at Esports World Cup 2024. It’s been a few years since DK won a match against T1. This head-to-head record has a new chapter.

The series was chaotic and full of back-and-forth situations. No one really dominated, and the games continued for a pretty long time. It felt like both teams could win here — and it’s a great achievement for DK.

Dplus brought the series to Game 5, and they did not give up when T1 enjoyed early successes. A few decent team fights let DK take the lead and destroy their opponents.

Dplus are the winners of LCK Regional Finals 2024. One of their rewards is the 3rd LCK qualification spot at the League of Legends World Championship 2024.

What’s next for T1? In the lower final, they will face the winner of the match between KT Rolster and FearX. It’s the last chance for them to qualify for the Worlds event.

DK turned out to be difficult opponents — even for T1. They got early kills, and they had a pretty decent plan of hunting for objectives. Still, T1 were in such situations before. With the chaotic nature of Game 1 and many missteps from both teams, T1 managed to find better positioning and strike at excellent moments. 

T1 won this game, but it was too long and uncertain for them to feel comfortable as the match favorites.

In a way, this game looked very similar to the previous one, and at some point, it was easy to expect from T1 to win again. DK were aggressive in the beginning. Then, T1 stabilized the situation and started developing their advantage. But after a slow period, DK suddenly got Mountain Drake and won a wonderful team fight right after that. Instead of resetting, they just started their siege and destroyed T1’s Nexus.

The LCK Regional Qualifier #1 for LoL World 2024 was getting even more interesting.

A well-calculated understanding of available tools helped T1 win this game. While the opponents looked somewhat disjointed, T1 knew what they wanted, went for their goals, and achieved them.

The game was long again, around 45 minutes. DK had great moments and impressive potential. But they faced defending World Champions, and you can’t underestimate this. T1 were on match point!

Many things went right for Dplus in this game. First of all, they managed to secure a few Dragons and get Inferno Soul. With this and the Baron buff, they easily killed T1 champions. Moreover, DK did not overcommit at a crucial moment! They stepped back for a reset after tearing the base of T1 apart. And after another great team fight, they returned for the Nexus.

Not everyone expected this series to be so close. T1 and DK went for Game 5.

For a while, it looked like T1 were ready to win this game. They were snowballing with champion development and oppressing their opponents. But then, Dplus suddenly recovered and started striking back — and T1’s plan just fell apart. 

Slowly but inevitably, it became obvious that DK dominated Game 5. Nexus destruction was a logical consequence. Dplus won the series against T1 and qualified for the LoL World 2024.

For T1, the last chance for the World Championship is the LCK Regional Finals 2024, on Sept. 14.

One thing is pretty much certain about LCK Regional Finals 2024 — T1 fans did not expect their team to be in this position. Most people hoped T1 qualified for the Worlds event from LCK Summer 2024, but the team lost to Hanwha Life Esports in the lower final. HLE won the whole split after that, defeating Gen.G as well.

On the opposite side, we have Dplus fans. This chance for their team to face T1 after some shaky performances by these legendary opponents created some hope. Dplus were 2nd at LCK Regional Finals 2023. They defeated HLE back then. Now, they landed to place 1st!

T1 already won a match against Dplus this season in the lower semi of LCK Summer 2024. But Gen.G also won the upper final vs HLE, and you know what happened in the grand final.

In the lower brackets of the LCK Regional Finals, KT Rolster play against FearX. The winners face T1 for a chance to earn a LoL Worlds 2024 qualification. For more League of Legends news and updates, stick around on esports.gg!