In Europe and America, however, teams dominated by older players are more common:
- Caps is the youngest player at G2 Esports, the strongest team in Europe in recent years, at 21 years old. His teammates Rekkles and Jankos are already 24 and 25 years old, respectively.
- Team SoloMid won the American league in the summer of 2020 and traveled to the World Championship as the first-place team from their region. They competed with veterans Doublelift (27 years), Bjergsen (25 years), Biofrost (24 years), and Treatz (24 years). The result was a 0:6 in the group stage and a humiliating elimination.
America has the reputation of buying veterans from other regions and giving them “retirement contracts.” Although there are no international titles at stake, there is a lot of money involved, such as with the 6-million deal for Swordart.
Doinb, one of the world champions from 2019, and the LoL coach of G2 Esports, GrabbZ, also criticized this. He even said: Anyone who switches from EU to the USA gives up winning.
“When Faker says it doesn’t hurt, then it doesn’t”
Does age matter now? In another interview, Invenglobal spoke with Moon “Oner” Hyeon-joon, the new jungler at T1, Faker’s team. He just turned 18 in December 2020.
He was also asked about Faker’s statement and responded with the following remark:
Faker has been playing for so long – if Faker says that age does not harm mechanics, then it does not (laughs). I believe I would have to feel it by playing for long periods. I’m not sure yet if skills decline due to aging, or if you can improve through hard work.
This statement reflects a certain respect as well. Faker is a real superstar in Korea. There are even politicians who want to change laws for him. Technically, the LoL pro should now serve in the military in Korea.
Whether Oner, as an 18-year-old, can accurately assess the issue of age in LoL is questionable.
However, there are also professionals who have significantly declined with age. One of the most negative examples is probably Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao. His doctor told him that he supposedly has arms like a 50-year-old at just 23. Therefore, he ended his career in the summer of 2020:
One of the best LoL players of all time retires – health deteriorating at 23
The fact is that currently no professional LoL player who even remotely competes for the world championship title is older than 27. Whether Faker will surpass this age and perhaps even reach 30 will only be revealed in the coming years.
Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok turns 25 this year and is among the oldest active players in the professional scene of League of Legends. In an interview, he claimed that age has no impact on his performance in the game. And because he is Faker, he received immediate agreement.
What did Faker say? Faker, who was portrayed as a god by the LoL developers in 2019, gave an interview to Invenglobal. In it, he also spoke about his age and its effects on e-sports.
From the player’s perspective, however, age seems to play no role yet, and he even sees the opportunity to improve:
When I discuss this based entirely on my own experience, I rarely feel that my gameplay has declined due to my age. I have been a pro gamer for nine years, and since I sit most of the time, I don’t think my health is always in the best condition.
Apart from that part, I think it’s not much different, and I believe that I could still improve depending on my effort.
With this, Faker argues against the notion that you must be young to be successful in e-sports. Especially in LoL, players aged 26 or 27 are already seen as “veterans”.
Faker aims to dispel stereotypes by winning the World Championship
What does Faker say about age? In the interview, Faker further explains that while the average age of pro gamers is still very low, this could change in the future.
He himself wants to tackle this stereotype by winning the World Championship:
The average age of pro gamers is still young, but I think it will rise in the future. To break the stereotype, I believe the only way is to win the World Championship again as a pro gamer. The best way is to work harder to achieve that goal.
However, he has not succeeded in doing so in recent years. In 2016, T1 won the last World Championship, in 2017 they managed to secure second place. In 2018 and 2020, they did not even qualify, and in 2019, they lost to G2 Esports in the semifinals.
You can see how Faker dominated e-sports in LoL for a long time on the YouTube account theScore esports. There, the best “plays” from 2013 to 2018 have been compiled:
Are LoL pros really that young? Especially in the regions of China and Korea, which have won world championships in recent years, there is a strong focus on young players:
- Faker himself began his professional career in 2013, at just 17 years old. In the same year, he became world champion with his team T1.
- In the 2019 World Championship, FunPlus Phoenix’s 19-year-old Tian dominated the jungle. He was named MVP, the most valuable player of the World Championship.
- In 2020, the team DAMWON became world champions. A significant contributor to this was the jungler Canyon. He was 19 years old during the tournament and was also named MVP.
Most teams tend to dominate when they combine one or two experienced veterans with young, strong talents. That’s exactly what Faker’s team T1 is currently trying to do. Alongside him play talents like Zeus (17 years), Ellim (19 years), Clozer (17 years), Keria (18 years), and Oner (18 years).
In Europe and America, however, teams dominated by older players are more common:
- Caps is the youngest player at G2 Esports, the strongest team in Europe in recent years, at 21 years old. His teammates Rekkles and Jankos are already 24 and 25 years old, respectively.
- Team SoloMid won the American league in the summer of 2020 and traveled to the World Championship as the first-place team from their region. They competed with veterans Doublelift (27 years), Bjergsen (25 years), Biofrost (24 years), and Treatz (24 years). The result was a 0:6 in the group stage and a humiliating elimination.
America has the reputation of buying veterans from other regions and giving them “retirement contracts.” Although there are no international titles at stake, there is a lot of money involved, such as with the 6-million deal for Swordart.
Doinb, one of the world champions from 2019, and the LoL coach of G2 Esports, GrabbZ, also criticized this. He even said: Anyone who switches from EU to the USA gives up winning.
“When Faker says it doesn’t hurt, then it doesn’t”
Does age matter now? In another interview, Invenglobal spoke with Moon “Oner” Hyeon-joon, the new jungler at T1, Faker’s team. He just turned 18 in December 2020.
He was also asked about Faker’s statement and responded with the following remark:
Faker has been playing for so long – if Faker says that age does not harm mechanics, then it does not (laughs). I believe I would have to feel it by playing for long periods. I’m not sure yet if skills decline due to aging, or if you can improve through hard work.
This statement reflects a certain respect as well. Faker is a real superstar in Korea. There are even politicians who want to change laws for him. Technically, the LoL pro should now serve in the military in Korea.
Whether Oner, as an 18-year-old, can accurately assess the issue of age in LoL is questionable.
However, there are also professionals who have significantly declined with age. One of the most negative examples is probably Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao. His doctor told him that he supposedly has arms like a 50-year-old at just 23. Therefore, he ended his career in the summer of 2020:
One of the best LoL players of all time retires – health deteriorating at 23
The fact is that currently no professional LoL player who even remotely competes for the world championship title is older than 27. Whether Faker will surpass this age and perhaps even reach 30 will only be revealed in the coming years.
