The below are 11 Fun Facts About "Faker" You Didn’t Know. By the end of this article you will have a good glimpse into the life of a true gaming god.
1) Sk Telecom T1 – What’s that?
SK Telecom T1 (or better known as SKTT1), is a professional esport team originating from South Korea. They are most widely known for competing in the online game League of Legends (LoL). The second thing they are known for, is there midlaner Faker. They have an entire list of fantastic achievements, but the most notable of those include winning the League of Legends World Championship twice.
SK Telecom T1 Team Image/Symbol
2) World Championship Victories x2
Yes, SKTT1 won Worlds twice. The first instance was in 2013, the third season of professional League of Legends gameplay. The team was a bit different back then, but Faker was still there (as well as his teammate Bengi who plays the jungler position). They went through the finals with a 7-1 (wins-losses) score, only losing to their rival team OMG from China. After a close semi-final match with Korean team NaJin Black Sword (3-2 SKTT1), SK Telecom T1 moved on to the Grand Finals in a battle for the Summoner’s Cup. They fought hard against the China team Royal Club Huang Zu, and won in a crushing 3-0 score.
SKTT1 2013 World Championship Victory Pose with the Summoner’s Cup
Their next win was last year in 2015, during the 5th League of Legends World Championship. SKT1 went the entire World Series without losing a game until the very end against the other Korean team, Koo Tigers. Korea was clearly the dominant force at the finals, and SKTT1 were the ones who claimed the title of world victors. The Grand Finals came to a 3-1 score in favor of SKTT1, with this single loss ruining their perfect record. This was the second time Faker and Bengi won Worlds, and the first for the rest of the squad. Although it was sad to see their perfect score ruined, it just leaves room for improvement for the team. They are nowhere near retiring, or calling it quits. Can they do the perfect record this upcoming year?
SKTT1 2015 World Championship Victory Pose with the Summoner’s Cup
3) So who is this guy, what’s his reputation?
Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok
Midlaner Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok is from Seoul, Korea and a part of the team SK Telecom T1. He is twenty years old, and already has two World Championship Victories under his belt. He and his teammate Bengi are also the only people in the world to have won Worlds twice. He is known as the “God” of League of Legends because of how aggressive and successful is competitive play is. In fact, because of his insane mid lane plays, the Vice President of Riot called him the “Michael Jordan” of League of Legends. He can jump in 1 v 5 and make it out alive and pick up kills on the way. He makes plays when no one else considers it, and he makes it work in his favor more often than anyone else.
Watch Faker’s Best, Most Epic and Funny Moments in LoL and Real Life.
4) Was he always this godlike with games?
Faker used to play games like Tekken and King of Fighters down at the local arcade in Seoul, Korea. Apparently, he wasn’t good at it, but he kept going back to play. Eventually as PC games hit wide popularity, he turned to games like Maplestory, Warcraft 3, and Chaos (a moba branched from Warcraft 3).
Faker spent quite a lot of time on the MOBA Chaos. He stated that he was “extremely good” at the game and mainly focused there until League of Legends came to Korea. So in the end, due to his humble personality we can’t really know if he was always godlike, or became that way when he started on League of Legends.
The MOBA Chaos Online that Faker played up until LoL.
5) What’s his personality like?
As stated, Faker is very humble. He doesn’t like to brag or really acknowledge any of his glorious moments like how the rest of the world does. He will usually try to shine the spotlight on someone else.
He is very caring, sincere, and respectful to his teammates, family, rivals, and fans. He has a kind of innocent personality, which may be partly due to the culture in Korea.
An interviewer once told him another professional player called Faker the best midlaner in the world and Faker responded with total disagreement. When asked who he thought the best midlaner was, he named a different player called Ambition. Faker is a god in our eyes when it comes to the professional League of Legends scene even if he can’t admit it.
The quote above is a loose translation of a Faker comment. It is believed he actually said HotshotGG can SOMETIMES beat him with LeBlanc. Not cocky, or rude but respectful and truthful.
6) How did his League of Legends journey begin?
Faker was browsing the internet one day and just so happened to see an ad for the game League of Legends.
It was 2011 when his destiny changed from being a normal highschool student, to the best LoL player in the entire world. He started off like the rest of us in normal games, until he finally dared to rank. He has been famed for his solo play, where he moved to the very top of the ranks extremely fast.
Players speculated that he was just a smurf (high ranked person playing on lower accounts for easy wins) or a foreigner playing on the very new Korean servers.
This new player made it to the highest rank of Challenger and soon after was recruited by SKT1. With permission and support from his parents he dropped out of high school to join the esports team.
He’s so young here, but still a God.
7) Well, what champions are he good at?
His most well-known League of Legends champion, Leblanc. She is an assassin mid lane mage.
Faker is known for having such a diverse pool of champions, and being able to master them all.
However, he does have those “god-like” picks.
When the enemy team has to go against Faker, they almost have to ban his amazing champ picks. The biggest Faker champion is Leblanc. If you hear the name Faker, the name Leblanc is sure to follow close by.
The other champions he owns at are Ryze, Azir, Ahri, Zed, Riven, Gragas, and Orianna. He is one of the only players in the world who can use Ryze like the powerhouse killer he is. Many rivals think they can out pick him, or bait him into an unlikeable decision…but it’s literally almost impossible to do with Fakers skill.
8) What’s he do in his free time?
Faker likes to relax and listen to his favorite artist, Taylor Swift. Did you see that coming? Neither did we.
Whenever he gets stressed, he also likes to look at his two flower pots fill with blooming plants. Faker doesn’t get a whole lot of free time, so most of it spent in scrimmages with his team in practice for the professional games.
He used to not be allowed to stream on the side like almost all other League of Legends professional gamers. However, he now has a stream account! Just know his stream smurf account name is “Hide on bush”. Happy watching!
Proof that Faker likes Taylor Swift.
9) Does he ever lose, or have fail moments?
Faker’s reaction to a bad call. How shocked he looks.
Faker has plenty of fail moments, mostly on his stream we discussed earlier. He has had a few “PVE Deaths”, to the dragon, baron, and wolf camps. SKTT1 also loses games, and even lost 2015 MSI event to the Chinese team Edward Gaming.
However, every time Faker or his entire team have a fail moment, or hard loss, he stays positive and happy. He has a great self-esteem, and loads of confidence. This is why you can’t shut down Faker for long. While others question and doubt themselves, he and his team stay strong.
Watch this video for funny fails, flashes, and misses! Yes, even faker can sometimes make Bronze plays.
10) Faker likes to dance? OPPA GANGNAM STYLE!
Faker, shake your hips!
If you ask Faker nicely, he will dance for you. In the video above you can see an awkward, embarrassed Faker embrace his Korean culture with a small dance bit to the song Gangnam Style. Like the rest of us, we wish we saw more.
His personality makes this a really cute, and funny moment. He may have mastered his in game mechanics, but I think our little god needs to practice a bit more on those dance moves.
11) Faker is a nose picker…
Exactly what it looks like….our faker on the right….digging for gold. I guess minion kills aren't enough.
The camera man during the set up before a match deserves a lot of credit for capturing this funny picture. His nose either had an annoying booger, or it was really itchy. Either way, Our God, Faker, picked his nose….for the entire world to see. He dug deep, just like his plays. What can you say, the man is aggressive.
That pose, Faker. You intimidate me...
Faker makes plays, supports his team, streams for his fans, and even gets a nice nose picking in as preparation for his upcoming matches. He is a great player in the League of Legends community, and we can’t wait to see what he’ll do next. Will he ever leave SKTT1? As of late no money offer has been worth leaving his home team, and we like it that way. Can Faker push his team to a third victory at worlds, or maybe hit a solid five championships?
So if learning about the amazing life and plays of Faker leave you itching for more, you can always check out these links on League of Legends. Join the game and see where you belong. Are you the next God?
