In League of Legends, the South Korean team T1 is the world champion and the most popular team in the world, especially because of superstar Faker. However, 2025 hasn’t gone as desired so far. They changed the starting lineup to give 18-year-old ADC Sin “Smash” Geum-jae a chance. Now the CEO says: That’s over for now. Joe Marsh even overrides the coaches of his LoL team.
What’s going on at T1? T1 had an unusual problem for a LoL team at the beginning of 2025. They had too many good players:
- In the ADC role, T1 has Smash, an 18-year-old super talent who apparently impressed in training and whom the coaches wanted to give a chance.
- But they also have 23-year-old Gumayusi on the team: he is an absolute fan favorite. With him on the bot lane, T1 has become world champion twice.
- Gumayusi is also known for his dedication and loyalty to T1. There was no apparent reason to swap him out and remove another piece from the legendary 5-man roster, after having already lost top laner Zeus.
The coaches decided to let performance in training decide and used the young Smash in the majority of matches: Smash played 15 games, while Gumayusi only played 5.
Rookie performs strongly, but T1 is eliminated early from the playoffs
This was the result: The problem was that while Smash played excellently and excelled in the statistics, T1’s success was lacking. T1 was eliminated in the first round of the LCK Cup playoffs 2025 against the later champion Hanwha Life, who then also won the international tournament First Stand.
And every season where T1 is eliminated so early triggers a medium-level identity crisis among the success-driven fans of T1.
CEO orders change of starting lineup
This is the result now: The American CEO of T1, Joe Marsh, has now announced his decision (via X):
- He understands the frustration about T1 not commenting on the “6-man roster”. They discuss the topic internally very intensively.
- He now orders that Gumayusi returns to the starting lineup.
- The CEO says he trusts the coaches, but in his responsibility as CEO, he believes it is the best decision for T1.
Marsh, however, says: Even if Gumayusi starts the season, he will continue to compete with Smash. The coaches will then decide who is ahead and who the better player is will play.
Unusual decision for a CEO
What’s behind this: It is very unusual for a CEO to publicly say: This is my decision. I made a sporting decision here and overruled the coaches,
as it is actually not his job. No coach in any sport in the world likes it when “the suits,” the businessmen, interfere with the lineup.
On Reddit, fans believe:
- Marsh wants to score points with fans who were upset about T1’s poor performance.
- It is also an economic decision, as Gumayusi with his large fanbase is economically more valuable.
However, the wording of the statement is generally seen as problematic. It seems that the coaching team is very convinced of Smash and that the CEO wanted to send a signal by publicly overruling them and enforcing his opinion. It is clear that Gumayusi is now under special pressure and has to deliver: LoL is the #1 game on Twitch, sacrificing sports integrity to keep it that way
