Long gone are the days of Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok being the young superstar of T1.
In T1’s newest episode of The Locker Room 2021, fans got a look at how the 24-year old superstar is leading the team’s 10 man roster with its new young stars.
Bright-eyed rookie Choi “Zeus” Woo-je was the first to receive some special treatment from Faker. With it being his debut match against Nongshim RedForce, T1 has a tradition of letting Faker duel against the more inexperienced players for practice.
After a few rounds in the top lane and some teasing quips from Faker, he told the rookie top laner to not be complacement when using Gnar against Jayce.
“You clearly haven’t met a good Jayce,” Faker continued. “Khan plays Jayce well.”
For those who don’t know, Kim “Khan” Dong-ha was Faker’s former teammate in 2019. While it may look like a simple name-drop from the GOAT, Khan is the new top laner of DWG KIA so Zeus will likely face against him in the near future.
Park “Teddy” Jin-seong also emits a similar big brother presence, especially to his ADC apprentice, Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong.
The senior ADC took charge of the bot lane in game two and came up short for not staying calm in engagements. Even as one of the veteran players, Faker took time to praise Teddy for his efforts on the Rift.
Fortunately enough, Gumayusi was able to step in with Teddy’s critiques of their opponents and get the win against Nongshim.
“Of course, I’m learning a lot from Teddy and he always works hard,” said Gumayusi.”I get motivated by him. I think it’s a good relationship.”
- Is 17-year-old Zeus a better fit for Faker than starting top laner Canna?
- EXO is joining forces with T1 for new theme song
One heartwarming moment that captured Faker’s leadership was at the end of the episode. While Ryu “Keria” Min-seok was rallying up the players to eat after a loss, Faker jovially told the support player that he’ll be paying for the meal.
As he scanned the room, he saw Gumayusi still at his desk, already in a game to improve on his mistakes. Instead of leaving with the rest of T1, the Demon King sat next to the young player, consoled him, and wanted to make sure that he ate after his game.
With Faker ditching the win-at-all-costs attitude and turning into the wise old man of T1’s 10-man roster, we see him being more understandable and involved with his other teammates. T1 may be going through growing pains with such a big roster, but Faker’s role in the mix shows that he’ll always be there for his squad through everything.
“I don’t think a moment of defeat is the proof of any failure,” said Faker. “It’s just a part of the process. I don’t intend to run away anytime soon.”
T1 is currently in fifth place with a 4-4 record and will face DRX on February 19.
You can watch the full The Locker Room episode here:
