In League of Legends, some of the top coaches are changing their teams. The struggling T1 around superstar Faker has now secured the coaching duo from the world champions DAMWON Gaming. DAMWON, in turn, has brought in kkoma, the coach who made T1 world champion three times.
This is what has been happening with T1 lately: The legendary LoL team that became world champion in LoL in 2013, 2015, and 2016 has recently been in a crisis:
- After gathering a strong team in 2019 and reaching the semifinals of Worlds, they lost 2 of their best players and the legendary head coach kkoma
- In 2020, the new coach Kim temporarily benched Faker and received death threats for it. Overall, 2020 was just mediocre, and T1 missed the Worlds – coach Kim subsequently left.
- Fans were furious when rumors surfaced that T1 would hire a Starcraft player and an American as new personnel. Fans demanded that T1 should rather hire “experienced LoL coaches.” The fans even rented a truck to express their concerns to T1’s management.
World Champion Duo Switches to T1
These are the new coaches for T1 now: T1 has finally announced who they have hired as coaches:
- Yang “Daeny” Dae-in will be the new head coach; he previously worked at DAMWON Gaming and made them world champions.
- Lee “Zefa” Jae-min will be the new coach; he was previously the head coach at DAMWON Gaming and had worked at SKT1 before.
The two will exchange their positions: At DAMWON, Zefa was the boss; at T1, it will be Daeny.
It is said that the position change came at Zefa’s request, as he prefers to be a coach rather than a head coach. Daeny now has the task of rebuilding the “dynasty”; he will have full authority to choose players and set the strategy.
Zefa expresses how happy he is to be back at T1. He admits that “he received a good offer”, but what is more important to him is rebuilding the dynasty around T1.
The two are likely the best you can buy for money in current LoL. Success proves them right. DAMWON played an outstanding Worlds in 2020, and at no point did it seem like they were faltering or struggling.
They first dominated the LCK in summer with a 16-2 record, then wiped out their opponents from DRX in the LCK playoffs with a 3-0, and at Worlds, they were similarly unstoppable. The European top team G2 had no chance against DAMWON, and DAMWON brought the world championship title back to Korea after it had gone to China in 2018 and 2019.
Who else is coming to T1?
- The Starcraft coach previously mentioned actually comes on board as General Manager.
- However, there is no mention of the American coach Nick “LS” De Cesare. Rumors suggest he might still join T1 as an analyst – or not at all.
- Interestingly, Bae “Bengi” Seong-woong is returning to T1. He was the jungler in the legendary team that made Faker a three-time world champion. He will now coach T1’s academy team.
Typical Anime Situation in LoL
What is DAMWON doing now? The world champions from Korea are losing their coaching duo and, in return, hiring kkoma, the legendary world champion trainer from T1.
This is an action straight out of one of those anime where former characters return in new seasons, but in different roles.
It seems that if Faker really wants to become world champion for the fourth time, he must go past his old coach, who has Showmaker, Nuguri, and Canyon, three of the best LoL players in his team.
This could be challenging.
Coaches in LoL are mostly not in the spotlight for fans. They set the strategy and determine which player plays which champ. But usually, they tend to stay in the background. One coach from Korea has been more famous than his players in recent years – cvMax.
He was banned for life from LoL for allegedly choking a player, but he made a comeback:
LoL: Coach was banned for life for violence against players – Can now win Worlds
