Faker (video gamer)

Faker
Lee Sang-hyeok
Status Active
Born (1996-05-07) May 7, 1996
Seoul, South Korea
Nationality South Korean
Current team SK Telecom T1
Role Mid
Games League of Legends
Career prize money $896,596
Championships Mid-Season Invitational: 2016
League of Legends World Championship: 2013, 2015, 2016
Professional career
Feb 2013 - Nov 2014 SK Telecom T1 K
Nov 2014 - SK Telecom T1
This is a Korean name; the family name is Lee.

Lee Sang-hyeok (Korean: 이상혁, born May 7, 1996), known by his in-game name Faker (Korean: 페이커), is a South Korean professional League of Legends player. Formerly known as "GoJeonPa" (Korean: 고전파) on the Korean server, he was picked up by SK Telecom in 2013 and is currently the mid laner for SK Telecom T1, which competes in the League of Legends Champions Korea.[1]

Faker is renowned for his high mechanical skill at the game and is considered by many to be the best League of Legends player of all time. He is consistently ranked number one by analysts and is often referred to as the "God" of League of Legends. He is one of only two players, along with teammate Bengi, to have won the League of Legends World Championship thrice, having done so in the 2013, 2015 and 2016 Seasons. He has also won the Mid-Season Invitational tournament in 2016, placing second in 2015. As of the end of October 2016, Faker has won $896,596 in prize money, and is ranked #29 in prize money won across all esports.[2]

Early life

Faker was born in Seoul on May 7, 1996. He and his brother were raised by their grandparents and their father, Lee Kyung-joon in Gangseo District, Seoul. Faker always loved puzzles and video games, including custom maps on Warcraft III and the MOBA "Chaos". He discovered League of Legends in late 2011, and quickly became very good at the game. He dropped out of high school in order to join SKT.[3]

Playing career

Faker in 2015.

Faker is widely considered to be the best LoL player in the world.[4][5] In October 2013 Faker won the League of Legends World Championship as a member of SK Telecom T1 K.

SKT K and SKT S merged in 2014 and Faker became a member of a consolidated SKT T1. SKT T1 failed to qualify for League of Legends World Championship 2014.

In November 2014 it was reported that Faker had declined contract offers from several Chinese companies including one offer of ₩500 million for streaming.[6] In League of Legends, there are characters known as "champions", and Faker is renowned as having one of the largest "champion pools" (number of champions in a player's arsenal that the player has mastered). He is best known for his LeBlanc, Zed, Cassiopeia, Ryze and Yasuo.[7]

Many former top Korean players, including Samsung Galaxy's members Pawn, Dandy and Imp, left South Korea to play in China, Faker on the other hand declined an offer of over $1,000,000 by a Chinese Team. Imp reported in a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) that his salary was larger than $200,000 a year without any specifics as to how much. If this remains true, then it is speculated that Faker might be making notably more than any of the offers from Chinese teams. It is speculated Faker has made more than $1,000,000 in his pro-gaming career.

Faker opened the 2015 Spring LCK split by getting benched by the team and then coming back for a pentakill against NaJin e-mFire.[8]

In the 2015 World Championship, he and his team won while only dropping one game in the finals for a record of 15–1 throughout the series.[9]

Faker and his team started off the 2016 Season by winning the LoL Champions Korea Spring Split. By winning the 2016 LCK Spring Split, SKT T1 was guaranteed a place in the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational.[10] At that point in time MSI was also the only major tournament they had yet to win. They were heavily favored coming into the tournament, but were initially unable to perform up to their usual standards. Their sudden loss in form resulted in SKT T1 unexpectedly losing several games in the group stages. However, they managed to turn things around during the elimination round and eventually clinched the title by sweeping the North American team - Counter Logic Gaming - in the finals.[11]

SKT got third in the 2016 Summer League of Legends Champions Korea, but still qualified for the 2016 League of Legends World Championship through circuit points. The team eventually won the 2016 championship in a match against Samsung Galaxy, in which Faker was voted as the Most Valuable Player.[12]

Team results

A group picture of SK Telecom T1 at the 2013 World Championship.

SK Telecom T1

SK Telecom T1 K

SK Telecom T1

Individual awards

References

  1. ↑ "Faker". Retrieved June 23, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Faker - Lee, Sang Hyeok - League of Legends Player Profile :: e-Sports Earnings". esportsearnings.com. Retrieved 2016-10-30.
  3. ↑ Kimes, Mina (June 10, 2015). "The Unkillable Demon King". ESPN The Magazine. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  4. ↑ Fields, Frank. "The Worlds Top 20". LoL Esports. Riot Games. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  5. ↑ Mohr, Devin Ryanne. "Froskurinn's Top 20 Players of All-Time [Part 1]". Goldper10. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  6. ↑ Kulasingham, Nilu. "Faker reportedly declined contracts valued up to $1 million in total by Chinese companies.". OnGamers. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
  7. ↑ "SANGHYUK FAKER LEE". Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  8. ↑ Lingle, Samuel (January 7, 2015). "Faker gets benched, comes back with a pentakill". The Daily Dot. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
  9. ↑ https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CV1drzCUsAEe8GB.jpg:large. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. ↑ "About Mid-Season Invitational". LoL eSports. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  11. ↑ Marshall, Paul (May 15, 2016). "Korea's SKTelecom T1 wins the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational". LoL eSports. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  12. ↑ Lam, Kien. "SK Telecom T1 wins World Championship again". LoL eSports. Riot Games. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  13. ↑ Cho, Hak-Dong (2015-11-25). "This year's Grand Prize awarded to Faker".

External links

Preceded by
Taipei Assassins		 League of Legends World Championship winner
2013 		Succeeded by
Samsung Galaxy White
Preceded by
Samsung Galaxy White		 League of Legends World Championship winner
2015-2016 		Succeeded by
Incumbent


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.