In South Korea, the LoL player Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok is something of a national treasure. He is considered the best player in League of Legends of all time. However, the 24-year-old is in crisis and his coach has benched him. Some fans responded with angry messages, demanding that the coach should kill himself.
What’s going on with Faker? Faker apparently has trouble motivating himself and is not in top form. His team, T1, has coped well with the departures of two stars from the 2019 team and currently stands at a decent 11-4 wins in the LCK, but Faker has faced a lot of criticism.
The new coach of T1, Kim Jeong-soo, has even benched him. Instead of Faker, a newcomer in the midlane, the rookie Clozer (17), is starting, and he is doing well.
This can be seen, for example, here in the Twitch clip, when T1 turns around a 3-5 against KT Rolster even without Faker.
Coach prefers his team without Faker right now
Why is Faker out? The coach says in an interview with Inven that the change has several reasons:
- There were too many people in the team wanting to make calls with Faker – rookie Clozer is calm and just does what he is told. That fits better right now
- Faker is currently stressed and not in top form. He even has problems, even when the opposing team bans only a few of his champions
- With Clozer, things are going well now. T1 has won 5 games in a row. The coach finds it hard to change anything
However, Kim says: He has spoken a lot with Faker and criticized him. Faker has found new motivation in the criticism of him and is training hard. In practice games, it can be seen that Faker is just as strong as the rookie and they are practically equal in strength.
It is suggested that Coach Kim is considering reintroducing Faker when facing the best midlaners in Korea, as he has yet to prove himself against them.
“Just go kill yourself”
These are the outcomes: The coach says both the players and the management receive many messages every day. 80% of them are positive, but 20% are hate messages that are discussed a lot.
Sometimes they receive the gruesome image of a ghost sent with red writing saying something like “Die – damn it.”
It’s not even about how the team is currently performing. He has received messages stating: “If you don’t let Faker start in the next match, you might as well just kill yourself.”
Coach Kim says he naturally blocks people who send such messages, but it doesn’t feel good to have to read such things.
Management threatens with legal action
This is now the consequence: In a statement, T1’s CEO, Joe Marsh, addressed the fans. He says the “online hate” has increased to the point where he can no longer remain silent. While it is understandable that decisions made by professional teams are criticized, there is a clear line crossed with threats of violence.
If this doesn’t stop, T1 will start taking legal action.
This is what’s behind it: Currently, the “1st generation” of LoL stars is gradually retiring:
- Faker’s teammates like Wolf (24) are retiring
- the big rival Uzi (23) has ended his career due to health issues
- Pros who had become icons of their teams have been replaced like Sneaky at Cloud 9 or have had a really weak year like Doublelift recently
LoL pros who have made a name for themselves are now in their mid-20s and are being replaced by younger players. Moreover, it seems to be hard for star players to motivate themselves for regular league activities and consistently perform at their best.
These “veterans” have built huge fan bases over the years, and the fans still believe in their idols. But time seems to stop for no one, not even for the “undying demon king Faker.”
He already seemed unusually vulnerable at the Worlds 2019 when he lost against “Europeans” and got eliminated, something previously unthinkable.
Faker is the showcase player of LoL. He is normally seen as emotionless and stoic: a LoL machine that became world champion in 2013, 2015, and 2016. All the more memorable are the images where he fails and shows weakness.
LoL players are almost obsessed with the “crying Faker” when he lost the final against Samsung Galaxy in 2017:
Everyone loves the crying LoL god before the Worlds – 3 videos depict Faker
