Before helping T1 beat Kwangdong Freecs on Aug. 2, Faker had been inactive from the LCK roster due to a hand injury. But despite spending one month away from competition, the League of Legends GOAT actually learned more about the game all thanks to his substitute Yoon “Poby” Sung-won.
Faker was helping T1 behind the scenes during his injury and this period allowed the superstar to get a new perspective on the mid lane after watching over Poby. Although T1 only won one match while playing with Poby, Faker gave a shoutout to his substitute following the 2-0 victory against KDF on Aug. 2.
“I realized that Poby, who played in my place, has many strengths,” Faker said in a post-match interview. “Also, I’ve learned some things about laning in the mid lane from the process of communicating to Poby. I could think alone about the gameplay that my team needed a third-person’s perspective. There were also things I saw that I hadn’t seen before while I was playing.”
Related: T1 fans stunned by instant impact of Faker’s LCK return: ‘The GOAT is back’
Faker also said Poby is a “team player” and that he’s able to execute plays with his teammates. Poby had big shoes to fill in his matches with the first team and practically had a baptism by fire with the LCK playoffs ahead of him.
The young gun averaged 1.6 KDA and 55.5 percent kill participation in the 18 games he played with T1’s first team in the 2023 LCK Summer Split, according to stats site Oracles Elixir. Poby’s average KDA is significantly lower than Faker’s (3.8), but that’s understandable considering how important he is to the team.
Faker and T1 will return to action against SANDBOX Gaming on Aug. 4
