In South Korea, the Spring Split 2024 of League of Legends has come to an end, and as the dust settled, it wasn’t world champion Faker and his T1 at the top, but the new competitor: Gen G. with Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon is once again in front. Gen G. won the arguably strongest league in LoL – Chovy is the man of the hour.
This is the situation:
- The 27-year-old South Korean Faker has been the international star of LoL since 2013. He is considered the best player in the world, having crowned his career in 2023 with his fourth World Championship after not shining for several years. Fans believe: He had too weak teammates back then.
- Over the years he has been challenged repeatedly and has suffered some bitter defeats, but Faker has always been the star in LoL, an icon. Adults, successful men in their 30s are beside themselves at the prospect of being able to face Faker in the Summoner’s Rift once in their lives.
- But that seems to be slowly but surely changing. 2024 could be the final year for a change at the top.
Chovy wins regular season and the “Player of the Split” award
Who is the new star? The 4 years younger “Chovy” had another strong season in South Korea in 2024 and has held his ground against a Faker in top form:
- Chovy and his Gen G. won 17 games and only lost 1 match, against KT Rolster. In total, 34 rounds were won and only one lost.
- Faker and T1 stand at 15-3 in games and have had to give up 8 rounds.
In individual statistics, Chovy also prevailed, with 1,300 points he was named “Player of the Split” – Faker reached 1,100 points, securing second place.
What is another sign of the changing of the guard? Before the 2023 World Championship, the “Asia Games 2023” took place, here South Korean professionals could probably dodge the mandatory military service with a gold medal, which otherwise would lead to a sudden career-ending.
Faker and Chovy both played for South Korea, who won the tournament convincingly, but Chovy played the vast majority of matches while Faker was only used once.
At the World Championship, however, it was Chovy who had to settle for 5th–8th place after Gen G. surprisingly was knocked out in the quarter-finals.
This is how Chovy is praised: In a thread on reddit, the usually tough Western LoL players are now singing Chovy’s praises:
- He has had a statistically outstanding season
- He is extremely dominant on his lane, but roams to other lines like no one else – it’s just insane
- Chovy plays perfectly, rarely makes mistakes – and if he does, they are only minor positional mistakes. Whenever you watch him, he delivers impressive gameplay.
From Dark Horse to Legitimate Successor to the Throne
This is what’s behind it: Chovy has been the absolute dark horse for LoL connoisseurs since 2018, since his time at Griffin, but had no strong team around him for years.
Since 2021, he has had a top team with Gen G. Despite this strong team, Chovy has one flaw: he still lacks a World Championship title to finally catch up with Faker. On the highest stage, the Worlds 2023, Chovy oddly couldn’t assert himself.
Maybe 2024 – after so many years – will finally be the year when someone other than Faker stands at the top of LoL sustainably.
More on the topic: LoL: “Our Lord and Savior” Chovy is now moving to a really strong team
