In South Korea, the MOBA League of Legends has a different dimension than in Europe: The finals of the national championship were held on August 20. The team led by Faker, T1, lost the LCK finals and must now endure ridicule. LoL fans have rented a truck.
What a match it was! For many years, there has been a feud in South Korean LoL between T1, Faker’s team, and Samsung Galaxy, which is now called “Gen G.”
In 2017 Samsung Galaxy took Faker’s 4th world championship title away from him, even though T1 was actually always the better team. Back then, Faker cried: The images of defeated Faker are legendary to this day.
Since then, both teams have regularly faced each other. For a long time, Faker had the upper hand, but he has never been able to win another world championship since the crown eluded him in 2017.
T1 is no longer the powerhouse in South Korea
But the tide has turned in recent months. Gen G. is currently in front:
- Although Faker has excellent teammates like Keria , he has been injured for a long time and is now 27 years old.
- Gen G., the old rivals, have built a mega-team: Especially their mid-laner Chovy is an exceptional talent. In the jungle, they have Peanut (25), a former T1 player, and on the top lane, they have Doran (23), a massive talent. To top it all off, they promoted a 17-year-old prodigy from their youth team named Peyz in 2022. He now dominates the bot lane.
- Last weekend saw the duel of giants for victory in the LCK 2023 Summer Playoffs.
Record viewer numbers, but a one-sided match
How did the match go? The match set a viewer record: 1,528,729 viewers watched, more than ever before in the history of an LCK final (via dotesports).
But the match ended quickly, as Gen G. wiped the floor with T1: they finished the team off with 3-0.
In doing so, “our lord and savior” Chovy secured the crown and the MVP title.
Truck turning directly against the team’s ADC
This was the truck: Fans rented a truck and sent it around the area of Seoul, where T1’s headquarters is located.
The message on the truck:
“I hope the players’ trash talk is as aggressive as your damage/gold. All the champions you play are in your hands as effective as a toothpick – except for Xayah.”
It is believed that the truck was sent by T1 fans to their team.
What is meant by this? This is apparently a reference to T1’s ADC, Guayusa (21), who has been identified as a big mouth who talks a lot but doesn’t deliver, as he is accused of.
Indeed, Gumayusi looked quite old in the duel against Gen G.: He got no kills in the first 2 games and only 3 death blows in the third. His opponent, the 4 years younger Peyz, collected a whopping 34 kills while Gumayusi died 13 times (via reddit).
Naturally, Gen G. banned Xayah in each game as the first pick. This is the only champion with whom Gumayusi previously looked good against Gen G.
How is this being discussed? Korea expert LS criticizes this action. He says no one wishes for fans to act like this. They are “damn clowns.”
Others say: The T1 fans have developed an unhealthy emotional relationship with their team. This is also the fault of the organization, which always emphasizes how much they love their fans.
LS has a very special relationship with T1; he also experienced “the fans’ truck” back then:
LoL: Coach is supposed to train the most important team in the world – Wave of hate washes him away
