In League of Legends it seemed clear that the team T1 led by Faker would break up after Worlds 2023: The team had significant difficulties in the league in 2023 and the contracts of 3 players were set to expire. But now T1 has indeed become world champions in LoL and the signs appear to be changing. Especially the 19-year-old Choi “Zeus” Woo-je is now expected to stay with T1, thus giving up millions in US dollars that the Chinese league LPL lured him with.
This was the situation before the Worlds: It was actually certain that the roster of T1 would break up after the Worlds:
- The team played terribly during the regular season, when Faker was injured, almost missing the LCK playoffs – a disaster.
- The contracts of 3 young players would expire after the Worlds: Zeus, Gumayusi, and Keria were to become free agents in November, a big payday awaited them. It seemed hardly possible to pay and keep all 3, especially since Faker reportedly receives a massive salary.
- In September, the ADC Gumayusi said in an interview: It was very likely that T1 would change the roster if they did not become world champions (via oneesports).
T1 Can Keep All Players After All
This has now changed: Relatively surprisingly, T1 has become world champions, and now it is said that T1 was able to extend the contracts of Zeus, Gumayusi, and Keria.
This is reported by Sheep Esports, who are usually right with such reports.
Zeus Allegedly Rejects a Lot of Money from China
This is particularly remarkable: According to several sources (via dexerto), the 19-year-old top laner of T1, Zeus, had excellent offers from other teams, especially from China.
Before the Worlds, Zeus was actually seen as a weakness of T1 but played a brilliant world championship and was even crowned the MVP of the finals. Here, he practically outclassed the opposing star top laner TheShy.
With plays like these, Zeus became a star at the Worlds
At 19, Zeus could certainly have received a financially strong offer from a Chinese team to be the highest-paid player at a team in the LPL instead of standing behind Faker at T1.
But as a Chinese insider reports, Zeus declined high offers of several million US dollars to stay with T1.
However, the exact figures are not known.
Many Big Teams Have Been Torn Apart by the Temptation of Money
This is what’s behind it: It is rare for a team to stay together in such a situation: The careers of e-sports players are short. In the past, successful teams have repeatedly broken up after world championships as players took the opportunity to convert their success into cash: This is how the 2022 World Champion DRX nearly fell apart completely just weeks after their world championship and many players sought a big payday. Jungler Pyosik even went to the USA.
The last team in LoL that seemed like it could dominate LoL for years, DAMWON Gaming, fell apart when their supporter BeryL left – money also apparently played a role there.
At T1, they were sure that the team would fall apart. Young players had become big names at T1 and were surely looking for appropriate compensation.
But apparently, things went differently behind the scenes than expected.
It is particularly surprising that T1 can apparently keep the supporter Keria without any problems. He was also a hot candidate for a transfer:
