On July 4th (Vietnam time), League of Legends players will enter matches at the Esports World Cup 2024 – the tournament considered the World Cup of Esports. T1’s opponent will be Bilibili Gaming, and the participating League of Legends teams will be the 8 names that appeared at MSI 2024 from 4 Major regions. Of course, with a relatively new tournament like EWC 2024, the organizers can only do their best to contribute to the development of Esports in Saudi Arabia. However, there is a rather clear truth: Riot and League of Legends in general will face significant challenges if Faker is no longer competing.
Firstly, in the introduction clip for the League of Legends teams participating in EWC 2024, other teams merely had summaries of their notable achievements. But when the clip reached T1’s introduction, it consisted of just 2 lines: “4 World Championship titles” and “Home to Faker.” For those who are not experienced in organizing large-scale Esports events or have not delved deeply into a team, “having Faker” has already been an achievement for T1.
Many T1 fans admit that they do not play League of Legends but know about the game thanks to Faker and love T1 because of Faker. And the target audience for any game to grow is those who have never experienced that game before but find some reason to love it and are willing to give it a try. League of Legends currently has Faker. But perhaps by the end of the 2024 season or even extending to 2025, that reason may no longer exist.
Next, there is the tournament poster published on the official EWC 2024 page on July 1, featuring Faker at the center of the image, with Chovy and Knight’s images subtly appearing in the background. In the LCK and LPL, Chovy and Knight share some common traits: they are currently the best Mid Laners in the region and two players who reached the MSI 2024 finals. However, the visual belongs to Faker.
It goes without saying that in a photo, the central position will always be the focal point for the viewer. The arrangement of the three players also shows that for the EWC 2024 organizers, when needing to communicate broadly to the League of Legends and Esports community in Saudi Arabia and the world, Faker must still be the first name mentioned, even if he does not have the same number of titles in 2024 as the other two.
In reality, the LCK and Riot have always strived to find new “Fakers” to prepare for the possibility that the “Demon King” may take a break. But perhaps, for now, there is still only one Faker in the League of Legends and Esports scene.