Photo: LoL Esports
Lee " Faker " Sang-hyeok is the GOAT of League of Legends, the "Greatest of all time". A true prophet in his country, he has taken part in numerous international tournaments since his professional debut in February 2013. While he is currently in his 10th season at the highest level, we no longer really count the Worlds and the MSI he disputed. But beyond simply participating, he also very often won... In his trophy cabinet, we find in particular 3 world champion titles, what a giant!
But after all these years, there was still a small anomaly: never Faker had played an international tournament at home until now. This is all the more surprising since South Korea is considered by some to be the birthplace of League of Legends and hosts many events. How is this possible?
Faker traveled a lot during his tournaments... But he shunned South Korea!
The community is always eagerly awaiting the announcement of host cities and countries during international competitions. The process is kept secret and it is usually very difficult to know in advance who the lucky winners are. We just know that Riot Games generally tries to ensure a regular rotation to satisfy the public as much as possible. In addition to taking care of its relations with its " large regions " (China, Korea, North America and Europe), it is also necessary to think of offering some small attentions to the emerging regions (Brazil, Vietnam).
And if Faker never had the opportunity to play an international tournament at home, it is above all his fault. Even if he participated in a dozen major tournaments, he missed quite a few. It's complicated to stay at the highest level with regularity and the competition is devilishly dense in LCK. Besides T1 (formerly SKT), the region has other behemoths like Gen.G (formerly Samsung) or DWG KIA .
- Faker thus missed the Worlds in 2014 and 2018, when the competition took place in South Korea (Busan, Seoul, Gwangju, Incheon)
- For the MSI , even if Faker missed out on many editions, the competition had so far never taken the direction of South Korea.
A statistic that deserves to be a little dug
Worlds and MSI are the two big international tournaments that punctuate the League of Legends competitive calendar. Today, it is established and there is no debate. However, in the past, other international events were also scattered from right to left. We think in particular of the IEM (alternative circuit), the Rift Rival and the All-Stars, tournaments on the verge of exhibition. If we take into account all the international tournaments, we have the same trend as for the Worlds and the MSI: Faker is on the move and hasn't really been able to take advantage of the fervor of the Korean public.
- IEM Katowice 2016: Poland
- Rift Rivals 2017: Taiwan
- All Stars 2017: USA
- Asian Games 2018: Indonesia
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Rift Rivals 2018: China
The only exception we found were the 2019 Rift Rivals (LCK, LPL, LMS and VCS). This is the only international competition where Faker has been able to play from South Korea and with an audience. We let you enjoy the opening ceremony on video.
And for his only international competition at home, Faker had shone. The LCK had walked on the 2019 Rift Rivals : 7-1 in Group Stage and 3-1 in the Grand Final. SKT beat Top Esports there. Does this bode well for MSI 2022?
In the world of video games, there are a lot of consoles and there is something for everyone, and at Nintendo, you have plenty to do! If there are several more or less rare versions of its machines, and here's one that's quite peculiar.
