At the end of the year, the E-sports teams of League of Legends are focused on assembling their roster for the upcoming season. Many negotiations and offers are taking place right now. The contracts of several players will expire at year-end: including the contract of the world’s best player “Faker”.
This is the situation regarding Faker:
- The LoL team from SK Telecom T1 chose the midlaner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (then 17) for their team when they were founded in 2013. They built and assembled the team around him.
- Faker has been under contract with T1 since February 2013 and has been able to win several titles with his team: including 3 World Championship trophies.
- In 2019, the team from SK Telecom T1 changed its name and is now only called T1.
- Faker was available as a free agent for a short time in December 2019 and was inundated with offers. However, he signed with T1 until 2022.
- His contract expired on November 21, 2022, and since then he has reportedly received several offers. Offers came from Team Liquid in America, as well as from organizations from various regions.
Here we have a video for you, where you can see what makes him the legend he has become:
Who is Faker anyway? Faker is a LoL pro and has been playing for T1 in Korea in the mid-lane since his debut in 2013. For many years, he was considered the best player in League of Legends. Through his strong performances, he was able to earn several titles for his team. Recently, he almost won the World Championship 2022.
Faker is the player with the most titles won. These include:
- 3 World Championship wins (2013, 2015, 2016)
- 2 Mid-Season Invitational wins, MSI (2016, 2017)
- 10 splits won in the LCK (Summer 13, Winter 14, Spring 15, Summer 15, Spring 16, Spring 17, Spring 19, Summer 19, Spring 20, Spring 2022)
- Additionally, various MVP awards highlight him as the best player in tournaments.
Expert Believes: Faker Wants to Get More Money from T1 by Gathering Offers
Is he really moving to America now? It is considered unlikely that Faker would actually move to the USA. Since the Korean league is supposed to be the strongest in League of Legends, there is reason to believe he might feel underwhelmed if he actually accepts one of the offers from the USA that he supposedly has.
One could assume that most mid-laners in the LCS would simply be outmatched by Faker.
However, the chances that he will actually switch are very low. On Twitter, the analyst MonteCristo writes that he is only going around as a free agent to increase his market value and T1’s offers:
Nevertheless, the offers mainly came from America. Whether he will follow through with them remains to be seen. However, the trend suggests that Faker will play again with T1 and act as a mid-laner there for the next year. They are constructing the roster based on Faker.
What do you think about the information that the best pro could move to America? Let us know in the comments.
If you want to know why America would be a difficult option, check out this article: LoL team perfectly shows why America plays no significant role at the Worlds
