When you think of old age, your mind might go to the latter years of life. 80, 70, 60—you may even view 40 or 50 as being old. League of Legends superstar extraordinaire Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok thinks of old age a different way, however, through the eyes of a professional gamer.
In an interview published by ESPN today, Faker explained the rarity of pro gamers climbing in their career past the ages of 22 or 23. At 22, he’s actually the second-oldest mid laner in the LCK behind Song “Fly” Yong-jun at 23. His team, SK Telecom T1, is generally an older team, too.
“If I take care of and maintain my health especially, I think I’ll be able to continue playing for a while,” Faker said in the interview. “Also, the average age of [SKT] is surprisingly high among the LCK teams. Our top laner and support are also quite old. I think it’s very interesting that we are putting on a good performance, despite the age.”
Old age isn’t slowing him down, though, as SKT just toppled KT Rolster today in the latest installment of the Telecom War, the nickname given to the long-time rivalry between the two teams in the LCK. With that victory, SKT now sits in third place behind Griffin and SANDBOX Gaming, which is a welcome step in the right direction after the team’s lackluster 2018 performance.
Faker seems to be doing just fine, especially after winning a double-MVP for his play in SKT’s series against Gen.G on Saturday. After that, he still considers himself to be one of the best mid laners in the world. More specifically, he feels he’s the best or second-best mid laner in the LCK, and he definitely added some kindling to that fire after popping off as LeBlanc and Zoe during the series.
Faker and SKT play again on Sunday against DAMWON, but, according to the interview, he won’t be satisfied until they bring down Griffin when they play again on March 8.
