đź“ť Crazy Racoon vs. T1 Full Match Recap
The third match of day four of the World Finals brought us an all-Korean matchup, with Crazy Raccoon looking to run it back after a shock loss to Al Qadsiah earlier in the day. T1 would try their best to trouble Korea’s finest, but in the end, left the competition losing 0-3.
Off the back of their loss, Crazy Raccoon looked to set themselves back on track. A matchup they know all too well, emphatically beating their Korean compatriots 3-0 in the regional playoffs.
T1 have had a very promising run of games thus far, barely losing to Twisted Minds in a 3-2 reverse sweep. They then beat Geekay eSports and NA Champions Team Liquid in a fairly dominant fashion.
Map 1 - Ilios (Crazy Raccoon pick) Crazy Raccoon ban Ashe, T1 ban Lucio
Crazy Raccoon took T1 to their favoured Ilios. They lined up with Park “JunBin” Jun-bin on Wrecking Ball, Chae “HeeSang” HeeSang on Tracer, Lee “LIP” Jae-won on Sombra, Sung “CH0R0NG” Yoo-min on Kiriko and Kim “shu” Jin-seo on Ana.
T1 chose anti-dive with Kim “skewed” Min-seok on Brigitte, Kim “DONGHAK” Min-sung on Winston, Hong “Proud” Suk-jin on Freja, Kim “ZEST” Hyun-Woo on Tracer and Kim “vigilante” Joon on Kiriko.
The first flip went the way of T1, with vigilante immediately finding Lip’s Sombra. After this exchange, JunBin decided it was time to trade Wrecking Ball for Winston. Donghak died early in the following engagement, which forced T1 to disengage and give the flip.
Coming back to the action, T1 were greeted with an early Nano Winston engagement. Zest picked up a crucial elimination, and T1 eventually flipped the point back. Shu is taken out early during the next fight, which T1 looks certain to win. Skewed is caught overextended after using Rally and falls. Crazy Raccoon clean up T1.
In the final fight, Crazy Raccoon recognised their slight ultimate advantage with LIP’s EMP. T1 became disorganised and could not keep the overtime going long enough.
The second point brought the teams to Well. Crazy Raccoon immediately showed their superior understanding as Donghak dived slightly too aggressively and paid the ultimate price. The next fight was rather comical, with HeeSang getting us underway with a teabag onto Zest. Shu used Nanoboost on JunBin, who eliminated skewed, then popped Primal Rage and jumped off the map. T1 won the point.
The rest of the map was a mess from T1. With a Nano onto JunBin and good calculated aggression, Crazy Raccoon won the fight and ensured T1 would pay with their lives to touch for overtime, giving them the map.
Map 2 - King's Row (T1 pick), Crazy Raccoon ban Venture, T1 ban Zarya
Crazy Raccoon would attack first and played D.Va, Genji, Ashe, Kiriko and Ana, with MAX replacing JunBin. On defence, T1 replaced their tank with Jasm1ne to play Sigma.
On their attack, Crazy Raccoon displayed domination for the first two points. They forced T1 to drop from high ground and smothered them. With a staggered elimination onto Sigma, T1 were forced to concede first.
Ramattra entered the lineup, a move echoed by Max. Crazy Racoon used their quick Kitsune Rush to find ZEST, whilst HeeSang eviscerated skewed and vigilante. The cart had already been pushed halfway, which took the payload to third with only two teamfights won.
T1 did well to string together three fight wins. In the end, they ran out of steam, and Crazy Raccoon used Kitsune Rush to overwhelm T1, capturing the final point with a 53-second time bank.
Crazy Raccoon traded Ana for Wuyang, and T1 changed the Rammatra back to D.Va, Ashe for Sojourn and Symmetra for Tracer. T1 attempted to replicate their opponents by dislodging Crazy Raccoon from the high ground. They found little success. T1 were unable to stop themselves from being traded, and Crazy Racoon full held Kings Row, putting them at match point.
Map 3 - Runasapi (T1 pick), T1 ban Echo, Crazy Raccoon ban Mauga
Lee “Viper” Jung-woong switched in for ZEST. Crazy Raccoon played Rammatra, Sojourn, Wuyang, Kiriko and Tracer. T1 opted to play Zarya, Genji, Sojourn, Lucio and Kiriko.
Viper immediately came alive, trading a kill for LIP and finding the opposing Kiriko. With CH0R0NG falling, T1 began the push. Crazy Raccoon came back and found an easy pick on Viper, rolled over Jasm1ne, and took control. They pushed nearly to the checkpoint but were stopped just short. Viper used Dragonblade to take out Shu, but was dismissed by LIP. Jasm1ne’s Graviton Surge caught three and won T1 the fight.
In the next fight, Viper eliminated two to put T1 in pole position, capturing the checkpoint. Proud flanked with overclock and forced Shu and Lip into the arms of their Zarya. Crazy Raccoon used Kitsune Rush and forced the retreat from T1 and eventually got the checkpoint.
The remaining minutes were scrappy. Crazy Raccoon secured the pushbot after T1 used Sound Barrier in a 4v4, punished by Kitsune Rush. In the fight to take the lead, Viper was taken out early. CH0R0NG used Sound Barrier, Lip’s Overclock supplied the damage, and they needed only one last fight. With a flurry of ultimates, T1 won the first fight they needed. Before the final fight, vigilante was sent to spawn by LIP, not able to use Kitsune Rush. Without sustain it was only a matter of time before Jasm1ne fell.
With this, T1 were sent crashing out of the World Finals in a brutal 3-0.
Lip said: “All I had in my mind was to get revenge on Al Qadsiah, so that's all we focused on.”
It was almost inevitable that Crazy Raccoon would win this game; they stack up better in every composition and are now headed to Round 4 of the lower bracket.