This Saturday, in London, with T1, his long-time team, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok will compete in his seventh Worlds final. League of Legendsout of 14 editions in total. In nine appearances in the competition, he has never finished worse than semi-finalist and lifted the trophy four times. Crazy statistics which sum up the domination of the South Korean midlaner, each year portrayed as the final boss of the Worlds when it comes to promoting it.
An absolute star of esports, he constantly pushes the limits of a discipline where everything often happens very quickly and careers are generally short. A look back at the “six jobs of Faker”, before the outcome of the seventh, this Saturday, against the Chinese from Bilibili Gaming.
2013: SKT T1 – Royal Club (3-0): first
It only took seven minutes, from his first competitive match, in April 2013, to understand that Faker was not made of the same caliber as the other players. But to convince himself that he was the best in the world and here to stay, he had to wait for the World Championships of the same year, the first of his career.
In Los Angeles, the rookie with a still adolescent face impresses with his mechanics and proves that the reputation he acquired in South Korea throughout the year has not been usurped. SKT T1 flies through the tournament and crushes the Chinese Royal Club in the final, at the Staples Center (3-0). At 17 years and 150 days, Faker became the second youngest player to win the Worlds, the youngest since the establishment of an age limit to be a professional. Eleven years later, the record still stands.
2015: SKT T1 – KOO Tigers (3-1): the start of an era
After a year in 2014 where its star midlaner survived individually in a struggling team, SKT T1 experienced its most dominant year in 2015, with two domestic titles in Korea. At the Worlds in Europe, it was the peak: the club did not lose a round until the final. After sharing his playing time with Lee “Easyhoon” Ji-hoon all year, Faker regains his indisputable starting position.
Facing KOO Tigers in Berlin, he graced the audience with a roll to enter the stage, then played the entire match, which he ended with a sparkling performance with Ryze. With his teammate Bae “Bengi” Seong-woong, the South Korean became the first player to win two world championship titles… Which earned him to be considered the indisputable best player of all time. No one has challenged him for this title since.
2016: SKT T1 – Samsung (3-2): the most competitive
Until 2016, a curse hung over League of Legends : never has a Worlds winner managed to qualify again the following year. That year, SKT T1 defeated the Indian sign… and did much more. At the end of a magnificent edition across the United States, probably the most beautiful of all, the club definitively entered the legend by achieving the first – and still today the only – double in history.
Not favorite at the start of the tournament, the team defeated ROX Tigers (3-2) in a grandiose semi-final, before going to the end of five rounds again in the final against Samsung. Imperial on his Viktor, Faker carried his team to victory and was crowned MVP of the competition. With his partner Bengi, they are now the only ones with three world titles (in as many finals!). So, when he was asked on stage if he was the best player in the world, he simply replied: “You already have the answer. And you know it. » Before making an appointment the following year.
2017: SKT T1 – Samsung Galaxy (0-3): the most frustrating
In 2017, T1 presented himself at the Worlds in China as the reigning double world champion but with a brand new topside. Of Faker’s first three coronations, Bae “Bengi” Seong-woong left his place in the jungle and this departure left a void. The team is still strong, but it is perhaps relying even more than before on its star midlaner. In the quarters against Misfits, in the semis against RNG, the T1s came through in pain, in five rounds each time and largely thanks to Faker, but qualified for the final where they found… Samsung Galaxy. And a year after its defeat, SSG has a plan.
Three times, Lee “Crown” Min-ho neutralized his opponent in the mid with a Malzahar designed to fix him in his lane. Overwhelmed, T1 could not find a solution and lost 3-0 on an iconic flash-in from Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk on Faker. In a strange atmosphere of the end of a dynasty in the heart of a Bird’s Nest (40,000 people) in Beijing, stunned by this scenario, he collapses, in tears, and will need long minutes – several months, in reality – to get over it. For the first time, “God” fell in the Worlds final. It will take him a few years to find his way back.
2022: T1 – DRX (2-3): the craziest
Five years after his last final (and after two halves, in 2019 then 2021), Faker makes his return to the biggest esports stage in San Francisco. Over the years, rumors of departure and retirement, in a discipline where careers are short, have multiplied. But it is still there, with a changed status. He is no longer this mechanical monster, individually ahead of all the players on the planet. Always brilliant, he is above all the leader of a young squad which is being talked about for the first time under a somewhat special acronym: ZOFGK, Zeus (Choi Woo-je), Oner (Mun Hyeon-jun), Faker, Gumayusi (Lee Min-hyeong), Keria (Ryu Min-seok). Six years separate Lee Sang-hyeok from his younger brother.
In the final, T1 is the big favorite against DRX. The last of the South Korean qualifiers had a crazy journey that year, but the expected return of the “GOAT” to the throne seems inevitable. However, another story will take over: that of Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu, Faker’s ex-classmate in a high school in Seoul. Often placed, never winning, he finally won (2-3), at the end of a completely crazy encounter which left the Chase Center stunned by this epilogue. Five years after Faker, Keria collapses in tears and it is his captain who comforts him. The return to the throne will wait, but a unique team is born.
2023: T1 – Weibo Gaming (3-0): the masterpiece
Overtaken by GenG in the LCK, by the Chinese JD Gaming internationally, T1 presents itself at the 2023 Worlds with underdog status at home – a rare first for Faker and his club, absent from the meeting in South Korea in 2014 then in 2018. The five finalist a year ago has not changed and he intends to rely on his experience to take the next step… despite a wrist injury which forced the three-time world champion to take some weight. rest a few weeks earlier. And without him, T1 was no longer the same team.
But Faker is there and with him, his group will gain strength throughout the tournament. Last South Korean hope against four Chinese teams, T1 crushes LNG (3-0), dominates JDG (3-1) with a monumental Faker on Azir in particular, and slaps Weibo Gaming in a one-sided final (3-0) , in Seoul. This time, it’s the public’s turn to cry at this crazy accomplishment: at 27 years old, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok becomes the oldest world champion and the only one to have won four titles. Ten years after the first, at home, some fear that he will decide to stop. But he’s still hungry.
2024: T1 – Bilibili: eternal glory?
After two world finals in a row, ZOFGK has chosen to repeat one more season, despite the temptations of the transfer window, with the desire to achieve an unprecedented three-peat. T1 almost missed the big time, coming within a small game of missing the Worlds. But once on the biggest stage, the aura of Faker and his team remains unchanged. Since they arrived in Europe, they have only gained strength, until they have found their best collective level. Sunday in Paris, they crushed GenG (3-1), the tournament favorite, to offer a seventh final to their captain who became an icon.
Favorite against the Chinese from Bilibili Gaming, this Saturday (2 p.m.) in London, the South Korean has the possibility of making a little more history in esports, by obtaining a fifth title at the Worlds – no player currently active no longer has two – at 28 years old. Above all, he has the opportunity to show everyone that he has lost none of his splendor: in the semi-finals, he has already gained the upper hand in the duel against Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon, supposedly the best player in the world at the moment… Thus proving that he still has, if he wishes, many good years ahead of him. And, why not, other finals?
