Was there ever any question that the greatest League of Legends player ever would choose to remain with the squad he has supported for the previous ten years? T1 officially announced today that iconic superstar Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok has re-signed with the team following another spectacular run at the 2022 World Championship.
The 26-year-old mid-laner and part-owner will be sticking with T1 for three more years, as he looks toward the future of the organization. For years, T1 and Faker have been synonymous with each other, and have continuously been the standard of excellence for many League players, coaches, owners, and fans around the world.
As always, the mid lane phenom was a Swiss army knife in terms of champion flexibility for his team, whether they needed an assassin to dive the backline like Akali, a scaling mid-laner to control the pace like Viktor, or a playmaking, macro-oriented damage dealer like Ryze. He was also much more willing to sacrifice his own success to get his teammates ahead, sporting one of lowest average share percentage of his team’s total gold at Worlds, according to Oracle’s Elixir.
This year, Faker came within a single game of winning that elusive fourth Summoner’s Cup when they blasted through the competition at Worlds. Even though he had some of the youngest teammates at the event, the experienced leader guided the group to incredible heights throughout the tournament as they took on teams from across the globe like Royal Never Give Up, JD Gaming, Edward Gaming, Fnatic, and Cloud9.
From going undefeated through the 2022 Spring Split, reaching back-to-back LCK finals, and barely missing out on history at Worlds, it’s safe to say that Faker has become recharged and rejuvenated in his quest to win another trophy.