South Korea’s most successful eSport player, Lee Sang-hyeok or popularized as Faker is famous among gamers as one of the best League of Legends players of all time. eSports enthusiasts, especially players of League of Legends may have heard Faker one too many times in the eSports community, because who hasn’t heard of Faker in this time and age in the eSports industry? 

Faker was introduced to gaming at the age of 12, he started playing Multiplayer Online Battle Arena games (MOBA) with a game called “Chaos” before transitioning to League of Legends. At the early age of 17, he dropped out of high school and signed up with the South Korean Telecom Team 1 (SKT T1) as a professional eSport player.

Faker is also known for his brand loyalty as he has been with T1 since 2013. In 2020, it was announced that Faker was officially part-owner of T1 Entertainment Sports along with his renewal of contract with T1.

He has won numerous awards in his entire career since 2013, his most recent achievement being Korea’s eSport Hall of Famer as an eSport Star consistently from 2018 until 2020.

As South Korea’s most prominent eSport player, it’s almost common knowledge that Faker is the highest paid League of Legend player ranks first among other eSport players, he makes as much as 2.5 million USD (2.8 billion SKW) in a year with T1.

Other than being a champion as an eSport player, Faker has also appeared on variety shows such as Hello Counselor in 2018 alongside K-pop stars Seulgi and Joy from Red Velvet and in 2020 BTS’ weekly variety show “Run BTS!” Faker along with T1 members Cuzz, Canna, Teddy, and now former member Effort was featured playing with the said K-pop group.

T1 gained mainstream recognition from BTS’ fans, ARMY, after being featured in their weekly variety show. BTS member, J-Hope, even introduced T1 as the “BTS of eSports.” T1 and BTS are considered to be cultural leaders of South Korea as both groups have set their own records and have made global impact in their respective careers.

There was no doubt that the appearance of both of these record breaking groups in one variety show appealed to the majority of their fans.

While BTS fans marveled at how each member of BTS were playing esports with the professionals, esports fans enjoyed watching T1 members play icebreaker games and sing along to popular BTS songs. One of the highlights in the first episode of Run BTS! That featured T1 was of course playing LoL but rather than the typical 5v5 PVP game, they played Mundo Dodgeball.

This particular scene in the episode stirred up a storm in social media, fans of both groups were delighted with the collaboration and found BTS’ and T1’s camaraderie quite appealing. After which many fans of BTS started showing interest in T1 members as well, Faker was also considered one of South Korea’s elites alongside BTS.

Lee Sang-hyeok is widely known for his nickname as Faker, but he has other nicknames such as the Unkillable Demon King as gamers think of him as the final boss who’s most likely the most difficult to beat. True enough, Faker lives up to that nickname as he usually wins tournaments with zero deaths in his games.

Faker's champion pool is one of the most diverse in the game's history. In his career, he has played 71 different champions, making it tougher to target in drafts. Faker also holds the most number of kills in the entire history of League of Legends Championship Korea (LCK) as a mid-laner, most usually using Zed, LeBlanc, Ahri and other mid-laner champions.

He has more than 3,000 kills as an LCK player and holds the world record for most kills. Faker is notorious for taking champions and putting their skills to the test. During the Season 3 World Championship, he had a remarkable solo-queue performance with Riven on the North American server, earning him a 92 percent victory rate in 24 games.

Faker's ability to advance as the team's primary carry through multiple roster changes is a tribute to his versatility and adaptability. For a brief period of time, many players have reached Faker's level.

Nobody, however, has ever come close to matching his long-term success. Faker does not appear to be fading away any time soon, considering he is still an excellent player on a strong team.