Faker (video gamer)

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Lee Sang-hyeok (Korean: ???, born May 7, 1996), known by his in-game name "Faker" (Korean: ???), is a South Korean professional League of Legends player who is considered by many to be the best League of Legends player of all time. Before transitioning to League, he used to play "Chaos", another MOBA. Formerly known as "GoJeonPa" (Korean: ???) on the Korean server, he was picked up by SK Telecom in 2013 and is currently the mid laner for SK Telecom T1, which competes in the League of Legends Champions Korea.

Faker is renowned for his high mechanical skill at the game and his ability to play any champion at the top professional level. He is best known for playing LeBlanc, Cassiopeia, Zed, Orianna, Azir and Ryze. He is consistently ranked number one by analysts and is often referred to as the "God" of League of Legends, or as "Unkillable Demon King" by his opponents and fans alike. A top rival to Faker is Song "Smeb" Kyung-ho, who was the 2015 and 2016 MVP of the league (with Faker being runner-up in 2016), where Faker's SKT defeated Smeb's KOO Tigers in the 2015 World Championship final and ROX Tigers in the 2016 World Championship semi-final. Another contemporary to Faker is Kang "Ambition" Chan-yong; their teams met in the 2016 and 2017 World Championship Finals with Ambition's Samsung Galaxy winning the latter.

Faker is one of only two players, along with a former teammate Bengi, to have won the League of Legends World Championship three times, having done so in the 2013, 2015 and 2016 seasons. He has also won the All-Star Paris 2014, Mid-Season Invitational tournament in 2016, Mid-Season Invitational tournament in 2017 and IEM World Championship 2016. Faker has won a total of $1,169,713.35 in prize money, and is ranked #39 in prize money won across all esports.

Video Faker (video gamer)

Early life

Faker was born in Seoul on May 7, 1996. He and his brother were raised by their grandparents and their father, Lee Kyung-joon in Gangseo District, Seoul. Faker always loved puzzles and video games, including custom maps for Warcraft III and the MOBA "Chaos". He discovered League of Legends in late 2011, and quickly became very good at the game. He dropped out of high school in order to join SKT.

Maps Faker (video gamer)

Playing career

Season 3

Faker was picked up by SK Telecom T1 K in 2013 as their starting mid laner. SKT T1 K dominated the Korean scene and in October 2013 Faker led them to win their first League of Legends World Championship. Later in the HOT6iX Champions Summer 2013, Faker cemented his status as a brilliant player due to his perfect outplay against KT Rolster Bullets mid laner Ryu Sang-wook, which would then become one of the most iconic moments in League of Legends in history.

Season 4

In 2014, SKT T1 K followed their success through in the OGN winter season, making the entire run without dropping a single game. They would then go on to win Allstars 2014. However, their Winter success did not follow through and during the Spring and Summer season, SKT T1 K failed to qualify for League of Legends World Championship 2014. After World Championship 2014, Riot changed the team regulation so that each organisation can only have 1 team participating in each league. This caused SKT T1 K and SKT T1 S to merged, and subsequently for Impact and Piglet to move to the NA LCS. The new team would compete under the name SKT T1.

Season 5

Between season 4 and 5, many top Korean LoL players, including the entire world champion team, Samsung Galaxy, left South Korea to play on Chinese LoL teams for higher salaries. Faker on the other hand, declined an offer of over $1,000,000 by a Chinese team, preferring to stay in Korea on SKT. In November 2014 it was reported that Faker had declined contract offers from several Chinese companies including one offer of ?500 million for streaming.

Throughout 2015, Faker shared the mid lane position with Lee "Easyhoon" Ji-hoon. Depending on the team composition the team wanted to play, either one of the players could be substituted into the game. Faker had many notable performances in the LCK such as a pentakill against NaJin e-mFire. SKT ended the summer split in first place and advanced to the world championship.

In the 2015 World Championship, he and his team won while only dropping one game in the finals for a record of 15-1 throughout the series.

Season 6

Faker and his team started off the 2016 Season by winning the LoL Champions Korea Spring Split. By winning the 2016 LCK Spring Split, SKT T1 was guaranteed a place in the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational. At that point in time MSI was also the only major tournament they had yet to win. They were heavily favored coming into the tournament, but were initially unable to perform up to their usual standards, unexpectedly losing several games in the group stages. However, they managed to turn things around during the elimination round and eventually clinched the title by sweeping the North American team, Counter Logic Gaming, in the finals.

SKT placed third in the 2016 Summer League of Legends Champions Korea, but still qualified for the 2016 League of Legends World Championship through circuit points. The team swept through the group stage into the playoff round. In semi-finals they defeated the ROX Tigers in a close 3-2 series. In the finals they defeated Samsung Galaxy in another close 3-2 series, winning their third world championship title. Faker was voted as the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

Season 7

Faker renewed his contract with SK Telecom T1 with an "unprecedented offer" which was rumored to be over US$2.5 million.

On 6th February 2017, Faker recorded his first livestream on Twitch.tv and recorded a peak views at 245,100, a record at the time for the most views for a single streamer in the history of the site. However, this record was broken in early 2018 by another League of Legends streamer named loltyler1.

At the Season 7 World Championship, SKT were still considered by many to be strong favourites to lift the cup for a 3rd consecutive time despite losing the LCK. After a dominant group stage conceding just 1 loss, SKT narrowly defeated Misfits and Royal Never Give Up in the Quarter- and Semi-Finals, respectively, before having to face Samsung Galaxy in what was a repeat of the previous year's Final. SKT's fate was sealed after Faker was caught by a flash Varus ult move by Samsung AD Carry Ruler, resulting in Samsung Galaxy clean sweeping SKT 3-0, ending the SKT domination at the World Championship. Faker himself was shown to be visibly upset after the loss, and had to be consoled by his teammates to shake the Samsung Galaxy players' hands post-game. However, this caught the attention of many League of Legends fans throughout the world, with much support and many tributes being given to the team's legacy and Faker for their sustained success, a rarity in Esports, especially among professional League of Legends teams.

Season 8

Starting from 2018 LCK Spring, Faker's personal worst season has started. Even though a similar situation has happened during the 2014 LCK Spring and Summer, Faker was a carrying mid-laner who fell behind and did not do his best after his teammates' skills were incomparably lacking compared to other teams, but this season is special in that it was mostly Faker's responsibility that SKT T1 has received 4th place in the LCK. In the ongoing 2018 LCK Summer season, it seems like Faker's personal skills as a mid-laner is slowly coming back, but the team is struggling to maintain in the middle out of 9 participating teams. Currently placing at the 7th place after winning a match against BBQ Olivers, SKT T1 and Faker is struggling to distribute his stamina and concentration many different worldly competitions, including the Rift Rivals 2018, 2018 LCK Summer, and the 2018 Asian Games.

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Accomplishments

SK Telecom T1 #2

• 3rd, OnGameNet Champions Spring 2013 (SK Telecom T1)
• 1st, HOT6iX Champions Summer 2013 (SK Telecom T1)

SK Telecom T1 K

• 1st, PANDORA.TV Champions Winter 2013-2014
• 1st, Season 3 World Championship (SK Telecom T1)
• 1st, All-Star 2014
• 3rd, ITENJOY NLB Summer 2014

SK Telecom T1

• 1st, SBENU Champions Korea Spring Playoffs 2015
• 2nd, League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational 2015
• 1st, SBENU Champions Korea Summer Playoffs 2015
• 1st, Season 5 World Championship
• 1st, Intel Extreme Masters Season X - World Championship
• 1st, League of Legends Champions Korea Spring 2016
• 1st, League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational 2016
• 3rd, Coca-Cola Zero League of Legends Korea Summer Playoffs 2016
• 1st, Season 6 World Championship
• 1st, League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational 2017
• 2nd, Season 7 World Championship

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Individual awards

• 2013 Republic of Korea e-sports destination League of Legends Most Valuable Player Award
• Pandora TV Champions League of Legends Winter 2013-2014 Best Player Award
• Pandora TV Winter Champions League of Legends 2013 to 2014 KDA Mid 1st Division
• Hot Six League of Legends Champions Summer 2013 Best Player Award
• Hot Six League of Legends Champions Summer 2013 KDA Mid 1st Division
• 2015 Republic of Korea e-sports destination of Legends League Most Valuable Player Award
• 2015 Republic of Korea e-sports destination of Legends League Popularity Award
• 2015 Republic of Korea e-sports destination of Legends League this year's Grand Prize
• 2016 World Championship Most Valuable Player
• 2017 Best Esports Player, The Game Awards
• 2018 'Jakarta Palembang Asian Games' selected as a national player in E-Sports

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References

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External links

• Faker on Twitch.tv
• SKT T1 Faker's channel on YouTube
• Faker on Facebook

Source of the article : Wikipedia