T1 Push Their Streak to 4 With Game 2 Control

TL;DR: T1 came into Game 2 with a chance to close the series, and they did it by surviving a wild skirmish game and turning it into firm map control. Their 25-15 win over Hanwha Life Esports at EWC 2026 stretched the team’s winning run to 4, with Keria’s Poppy posting a superb 0/1/16 line to anchor every decisive fight.

Key Takeaways

• T1 turned a messy brawl into a clean finish, winning the kill score 25-15 while building a 74.0k to 64.9k gold edge, and that gap gave them full control of the map by the late game.
• Keria on Poppy delivered a stunning 0/1/16 for a 16.00 KDA, and that support performance was the stabilizing force that let T1 win repeated engages without losing structure.
• Doran’s Jayce hit the hardest number on the Rift at 32.4% damage share, and his 10/4/9 scoreline turned T1’s side-lane and siege pressure into 9 towers and the game-ending push.

Early Game

T1 entered this map with all the pressure on Hanwha Life Esports. After the one-sided opener, HLE needed this second game to keep the best-of-3 alive, while their opponents had a chance to slam the door shut and extend their run to 4 straight wins. What followed was not a slow chokehold but a scrap-heavy Game 2 on patch 26.13, the kind of match that sounded chaotic even without a screen.

The first stretch felt like both teams testing how much violence the draft could handle. Hanwha Life Esports found ways to trade back, especially through Gumayusi’s Jhin, whose 5/3/2 line and 26.1% damage share kept HLE in striking distance whenever the map threatened to break open. In mid lane, Zeka on Syndra added 28.9% of his team’s damage, the highest mark on his side, and his 3/3/8 showed how often he was present when HLE answered skirmishes.

But T1 never let those punches become control. Oner’s Xin Zhao was constantly in the middle of the action, finishing 6/3/16 with 26.3% damage, and each successful re-engage kept the game from settling into HLE’s rhythm. Around him, the support pick mattered more and more. Keria’s Poppy was not the flashy finisher, yet the 0/1/16 told the real story: T1 had a bodyguard, a disruptor, and a traffic cop all in one.

The Turning Point

The game swung when the fights stopped being random and started favoring T1’s structure. HLE could still threaten with Zeus on Swain, who posted 4/5/5 and 22.0% damage, but their composition struggled to convert those moments into objectives. By contrast, T1 kept stacking advantages that could be heard in the cadence of the match: one cleaner engage, one more wave pushed, one more retreat forced.

That is where Doran took over. His Jayce finished 10/4/9 with a massive 32.4% share of T1’s damage, and once he found space, every fight began with HLE already under pressure. If Hanwha Life Esports grouped too tightly, the poke hurt; if they split, T1 had the tools to collapse. Faker’s Akali at 5/5/10 was not a perfect scoreline, but it was a dangerous one, because his threat changed how HLE positioned before every major engage.

The objective count tells the rest. T1 moved from trading blows to owning the map, ending with 3 dragons, 1 Baron, and 9 towers to just 1 for Hanwha Life Esports. That shift, more than any single kill, was the moment the game tilted from contestable to controlled.

Closing Out

Once T1 had Baron pressure and superior lanes, the finish came with authority. HLE ended on 64.9k gold and never stopped fighting, but T1’s 74.0k total showed how much cleaner their transitions became in the final minutes. The match lasted 35:19, long enough for resistance, yet the closing sequence felt inevitable because every route back onto the map was cut off.

The support line remained the perfect symbol of the win. Keria on Poppy only died 1 time, assisted 16 kills, and helped turn a skirmish-heavy game into something much more disciplined by the end. Beside him, Peyz’s Taliyah contributed 4/2/13, while the frontline and flanks bought enough time for T1 to break base and seal the 2-0. For Hanwha Life Esports, there were moments of punch and promise, but not enough objective control, not enough tower damage, and not enough answers once T1’s map play clicked into place.

Match Stats

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