T1 kept their dreams of a four-peat alive Friday, beating Karmine Corp 3-1 to advance to the semifinals of the League of Legends World Championship in Allen, Texas.
T1, the three-time defending champion of the event, will next play Bilibili Gaming in a semifinal on Sunday. Invictus Gaming faces Gen.G in the first semi on Saturday.
Nineteen teams began play in the $5 million event, with eight qualifying for the single-elimination playoff bracket. The knockout stage, consisting of best-of-five matches, is being played in Allen except for the grand final, which will be held at Barclays Center in New York on Nov. 14.
The champion will receive $1 million, the runner-up $800,000.
On Friday, the winning team played on green in all four maps, with T1 taking the first two in 36 and 30 minutes. Karmine took green and avoided the sweep with a 37-minute win, but T1 spoiled the comeback bid with a 35-minute win to put it away.
Kim “Peyz” Su-hwan of South Korea dominated the match with a 35-3-29 kill-death-assist ratio for the winners. Swedish-Peruvian Martin “Yike” Sundelin paced Karmine with a 9-11-15.
League of Legends World Championship prize pool
1. $1 million
2. $800,000
3-4. $400,000
5-8. $300,000 — Top Esports, LYON, Dplus, Karmine Corp
9-11. $175,000 — Hanwha Life Esports, LOS, Movistar KOI
12-14. $125,000 — CTBC Flying Oyster, G2 Esports, Team Liquid
15-16. $90,000 — Anyone’s Legend, Team Secret Whales
17. $50,000 — MVK Esports
18. $40,000 — FURIA
19. $30,000 — Cloud9
–Field Level Media
