The Knockout Stage continued this Saturday with a quarterfinal between the LPL's second seed and the entitled World Champions: Top Esports (TES) and T1. In a one-sided best-of-five, T1 thoroughly dominated the series today, sending TES home. With this victory, T1 secures their 9th Worlds semifinal in as many appearances, continuing their flawless record of not losing a single series to an LPL team at Worlds. TES, a shadow of the team they appeared to be during the Swiss Stage, leaves the tournament with plenty of regrets. In light of this intense matchup, Sheep Esports has decided to offer ratings for each player from both teams.

Top Esports: 3

369: 3

Often invisible, Bai "369" Jia-Hao crumbled once again against Zeus in this best-of-five. He started the series being counterpicked on Rumble versus Camille, followed by his Galio pick, which failed to challenge Zeus' Rumble. However, the worst moment came when TES positioned him on Kennen in a key carry/flanking role, but he struggled to make any impact in teamfights, leaving a lackluster performance throughout the match.

Tian: 3

The Adidas Arena in Paris can smile, as T1 just humiliated the jungler that crushed Europe's hopes in 2019. Gao "Tian" Tian-Liang struggled through the first two games, playing largely invisible picks. First, he was put on Ivern in a composition severely lacking damage, then an extremely poorly drafted Viego, which didn’t manage a single reset as TES lost without securing any kills. He managed to salvage some pride with a Xin Zhao pick in the final game, gaining a few early resources, but only delayed the inevitable defeat for his team.

Creme: 2

Lin "Creme" Jian unfortunately fell short in his best-of-five series. TES entrusted him as the primary carry in all three games, giving him two Sylas picks (with a very high win rate before this series) and a counter-pick Tristana against Faker's Sylas. However, in none of the games did he make any significant offensive plays, as evidenced by his participation in only 8 of his team's total kills (3/8/5) over the three games. The young Chinese prodigy struggled in his duel against Faker, who played at an excellent level throughout the series and couldn't bear the responsibilities he was given.

JackeyLove: 4

In the first game, Yu "JackeyLove" Wen-Bo was on Miss Fortune, countered by Bard, and struggled to make an impact due to Keria’s well-timed ultimates. His second game on Ezreal saw him scale effectively and become the team's main damage dealer, but he felt isolated as Tian's ineffective Viego left TES unable to execute anything in the early and midgame. He ended up without doing a single kill despite his mechanics and poking being pretty accurate. In the third game, JKL played more aggressively on Kai'Sa, making some plays, but his efforts were quickly overshadowed by T1's superior control and mastery throughout the series. Even if he tried real hard to make a difference, the team gap was way too strong for him to standout.

Meiko: 3

The 2021 World Champion, Tian "Meiko" Ye, was practically invisible throughout the series. Tasked with engage picks in all three games, neither his Leona nor his Rell were able to secure any impactful catches against T1’s players, who executed teamfights with near-perfect synchronization. His only successful Rell ultimate on three targets came in Game 2, but resulted in no kills. Though he held his own in the laning phase, Meiko was completely outshone by Keria, who was on a different level today, influencing every part of the game and leaving Meiko looking outmatched.

T1: 9

T1 took on the role of a masterful surgeon, with TES as the patient on their operating table. Dominating almost every aspect of the game, T1 showed up in what appears to be their best form of the year. Superior in drafting and macro decision-making, they manipulated TES across the map with ease. Their exceptional teamfight coordination and timing left TES looking like a second-tier team, despite being among the world's top 8. To top it off, T1 even delighted fans with a Pyke pick and finished Game 2 with a flawless 15-0 victory.

Zeus: 8

Choi "Zeus" Woo-je performed countless mechanical feats during this BO5, starting with his Camille in game 1 which was the perfect fit for T1’s composition. He handled the shock perfectly against 369’s Rumble and even against his Galio in game 2 (also helped by his team’s good lane swaps management). With his Gnar, he was always a threat to Jackeylove who had to flash for his safety more than once to escape from him. But on Camille and Rumble especially, he was always playing accurately — and had great damage outputs during teamfights.

Oner: 7

Mun "Oner" Hyeon-jun stole another Nashor to close game 2 and is now the only one who stole more than one at Worlds 2024. Moreover, he was also playing very aggressively in Tian's jungle and managed to get his teammates ahead either with objective control or ganks. While the jungler was mainly playing frontline for his team, especially with Sejuani, he had to be the sacrifice (as is often the case) for his team on many occasions. He still managed to escape at the last frame sometimes but might’ve been the only one that was not as clean or clutch as his other teammates. Anyway, Oner didn’t even needed to be, as they were all running the game on their own.

Faker: 8

The GOAT showed Creme no mercy as he came out on top of every matchups against him. First by playing Sylas against Tristana and ending the laning phase ahead of the melee vs range matchup, and then showed that Sylas could indeed be dominated in lane with his Ahri in game 2 or with his Galio in game 3. As good laning was not enough for the King in HIS competition, he also stepped up his game in teamfights to be as accurate as his toplaner and even flashy at some points, especially with his Ahri. The pick did not have a great success so far in the playoffs but it seems like when Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok handles it, the Fox hits differently.

Gumayusi: 7

Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong is now the first player of Worlds 2024 to end a series without any deaths. If he couldn’t do much better, the truth is he also didn't have to put in too much effort. As accurate as Guma had to be to win the games, all he mostly had to do was bend down to help himself to the all-you-can-eat buffet served by his team... He bended well tho.

Keria: 9

Even though his duo never died all three games long, Keria ended with the best KDA of this series… 34. Not only statistically, but the support also clutched countless teamfights, either with his Ults/Qs on Bard, with his hooks on Pyke, or his ults on Rakan. The support was doing it all, from engaging, baiting CDs, dodging, making space for his team. He eventually displayed the peak of his art to close the series, with his Pyke… Even hitting some disgusting hooks as the one on Jackeylove, in the midlane in the middle of a full wave. Seems like the support woke up from his long nap to come back in his best shape. And what better time than Worlds playoffs to do so?