The 2021 season was not particularly successful for Faker and his teammates. They ended up empty-handed across all fronts. Furthermore, halfway through the Summer 2021 season, for the first time in the team’s history, they fired their coach in the middle of the season. Since then, the “ship” T1 has been steered by the players themselves, combined with two coaches who had almost no experience in major tournaments.
Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that T1 had a strong performance in the latter half of the Summer 2021 season after the coaching change. Additionally, at the 2021 World Championship, T1 also delivered outstanding performances even though many names in their main roster were participating in an international tournament for the first time, such as Oner and Gumayusi.
Recently, another piece of evidence showed that Faker and his teammates still maintain an incredible allure despite not winning any titles in the 2021 season. Specifically, according to statistics from Lolpedia, the most searched keyword in 2021 was T1. Meanwhile, DWG KIA finished second for the third time in the 2021 season, with the 2020 Worlds champion placing right behind their “great rival” T1.
This is not surprising when looking back at the events surrounding T1 in particular and the 2021 season in general. First, T1 experienced unexpected personnel changes in the coaching staff. Therefore, the identity of the new head coach was definitely the top concern for T1 fans as well as the global League of Legends community. Furthermore, this year marked the expiration of the legendary Faker’s contract. Consequently, League of Legends fans would visit Lolpedia almost daily to follow the developments regarding Faker’s contract renewal.
Additionally, it can be observed that on the search ranking, Cloud9 and G2 Esports remain hot names even though they also did not achieve good results, with G2 even missing a Worlds for the first time in the team’s history. The lack of high-ranking Chinese teams might be due to the fact that in the LPL, there are more ways to follow the situation of the teams. Furthermore, the use of Lolpedia is predominantly by Western regions, so teams here rank highly, including Karmine Corp – the new team of AD Carry Rekkles competing in the second division.
In the new season, Faker and his teammates are highly regarded as their roster has matured. The highest goal for the team remains to secure titles. Notably, Faker is nearing the age of military service, and besides the Worlds trophy, he also has another goal: the gold medal at the 2022 Asian Games to ensure he can fulfill his military obligations. The year 2022 will be extremely significant for Faker, and fans have every reason to look forward to the best performances from the “Demon King” in the upcoming period.