Legendary mid laner and three-time World Champion Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok has confirmed he will remain with SK Telecom’s League of Legends team T1 until at least the end of 2021.
While many fans would assume that there would be no reason for Faker to leave an organization that he has won so many titles with, there has been a fair bit of speculation that he’s ready for a change of scenery over recent years.
2018 saw SKT fall well short of its previous heights, recording the worst season in the organization’s history. This year also ended in a disappointing way, as it finished fourth in the 2019 League of Legends World Championship after eating a tough loss from G2 Esports. After that game, Faker hinted that big changes were coming to the team. Fans feared that this change would be Faker moving elsewhere, which was a very real possibility with his contract set to expire.
Faker is inarguably the greatest League of Legends player of all time and could command a massive salary just based on his fan following.
The change Faker alluded to will instead come in the positions surrounding him, as only Park “Teddy” Jin-seong and Han “Leo” Gyeo-re have contracts in place through the end of the 2020 season. Coach Kim “kkoma” Jeong-gyun is also set to remain with the team next year.
T1 won both splits in the LCK’s 2019 domestic season and made the semifinals of both Worlds 2019 and the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational. For any other team this would be a huge achievement, but T1 and it’s fans are used to being the best in the world.
While the roster of the 2020 T1 team is currently incomplete, retaining the majority of its successful 2019 roster will likely see the team continue winning splits, and likely head to the 2020 World Championship as true contenders for the Summoner’s Cup.
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