Did Effort just leak LS and Polt joining T1 as coaches?

William Davis Published 02/11/2020

A big offseason leak might have happened recently live on T1 support Lee “Effort” Sang-ho’s stream.

T1 recently released coach Lim “Comet” Hye-sung as well as head of strategy and analytics Gary “Tolki” Mialaret, and will now be looking for new additions to the coaching staff for the upcoming season. Some of the new additions might already be leaked after Effort shared a private discord chat by accident on stream.

[Leak & Rumour] So as many of you have sent me, it was leaked by Effort on stream that LS will be joining T1, confirming rumours of some time ago.
Rumours I’ve heard about this said that T1 was a good choice for LS because of his projects, which are related to player development https://t.co/HM2JSUlZbv — LEC Wooloo ???????? (@LEC_Wooloo) November 2, 2020

The discord showed what looks like a chat between T1, streamer and commentator Nick “LS” Cesare, and former Starcraft 2 player Choi “Polt” Seong-hun. According to translations, a member of T1 introduces the two as the new coaches, with Polt being the head coach.

It has been known for a few days that T1 has been looking for new coaches, which could mean that the leak has some truth to it. T1 CEO Joe Marsh has also been teasing an announcement on Twitter recently and it might have something to do with the coaching staff. Many fans have speculated if former T1 coach Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun would return to T1 after leaving Vici Gaming earlier this year, but that seems less likely now.

Well at least in an hour we can finally to start to: pic.twitter.com/UPgba5Fgv6
— Joe Marsh (@JoeMar) October 31, 2020

Could LS be the right coach for T1 in the LCK?

Fans have speculated around LS becoming a coach for a while now, but the popular streamer has denied it plenty of times. According to LS, he wouldn’t go back into a coaching role because it would have an impact on his LCK casting career and his successful stream.

LS has previously coached teams including bbq Olivers, Tempo Storm, Gravity, and others, but has been focused more on casting and content creation in recent times. He has grown to be one of the most respected analysts in the League of Legends scene and is known for his strong opinions on drafting and itemization.

Paired up with Polt, the two could potentially be an interesting coaching duo. Polt is known from the StarCraft 2 scene and doesn’t have a lot of League of Legends experience at the highest level, but contributes with his overall esports experience and fluent Korean. LS would then likely act as the expert on the field and collaborate with Polt to develop the talented T1 roster.

On paper, the duo could work out very well, but it still seems like a big risk for T1. The Korean teams are known for its rather conservative coaches and it is still unknown if Polt can live up to such a role. No matter what, many fans would love to see LS coach the legendary Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok.

If the leaks are true, an official announcement could happen at any minute.

William Davis

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