The consensus best professional League of Legends player in the world now has the highest rank on the most competitive server.
SKT T1’s Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok reached the pinnacle of success in-game on his account “hide on bush” playing a wide variety of champions, according to League stats site OP.gg. Faker has a 100 percent winrate in six games on Darius over the past week at the time of writing, but his most played champion this season has been Azir—he has a 59 percent winrate over 111 games with the Emperor of the Sands.
Faker instantly became a prodigy during his first professional season in Korea’s competitive league, then named the OGN Champions League. He began as a mid laner for SKT T1 K, the less experienced of two SKT squads, during the 2013 Spring Split. Faker and co. took first place in their group with their aggressive early game, shocking many opponents due to the presence of three rookies on the roster. They proceeded to win the World Championship that year and went on to create one of the strongest dynasties in esports history.
In the first half of 2018, however, the team struggled mightily. Faker began making more mistakes, getting caught out before fights, and he didn’t look like his normal self. The team took fourth in the spring with a 9-9 record and they were washed out of the playoffs in the second round, losing to longtime rivals KT Rolster.
SKT’s first match of the 2018 Summer Split ended in a 2-0 loss to the Afreeca Freecs. In order for SKT to regain the throne as kings of Korea, Faker must once again shoulder the burden of carrying—and his rank one status in solo queue might be a sign of things to come.
