While the Demon King Faker, at the age of 25, is still diligently battling to seek his fourth World Championship title, what has become of the League of Legends legends who once “competed for fame” with him?
It can be seen that at Faker’s age, many players have already said goodbye to their competitive careers, not to mention the older generations like Marin or Mata. Therefore, it is no surprise that the names on this list no longer appear on the professional League of Legends map as players.
Mata
At the age of 25 (similar to Faker now), the legendary LCK Support Cho “Mata” Se-hyeong shocked many when he announced his retirement to return to Royal Never Give Up – the team he once had the opportunity to play for in the LPL as a coach. Mata’s departure is regrettable but entirely understandable, as in the final phase at SKT, he was willing to cede his playing spot to Effort and enhance his skills in the role of assistant coach to “Mother Bear” Kkoma, receiving numerous praises from this legendary coach.
However, Mata’s days at RNG have not been as good as he and his fans, as well as the team in general, hoped. He consistently achieved only average results, if not poor, compared to RNG’s position on the Chinese League of Legends map. As of now, Mata has also left the old team and has returned to his home country of South Korea.
Marin
The SKT T1 roster (now T1) in 2015 truly represented the perfect assembly of the best names in their positions. But if much has been said about Bang, Wolf, Faker, or EasyHoon, Bengi, then certainly more must be said about Marin – the captain and top laner of SKT T1 that year.
Although he only truly shone in 2015, that was enough for Marin to enter the hall of legends. His perfect laning phase, excellent strategic vision, wide champion pool, and especially unmatched teleport skill – these are all the qualities of the former captain Marin.
However, Marin chose to go to the LPL after the divine 2015 season only to slide into disappointment. Officially retiring at the end of 2019, Marin later got married and expressed his intention to become a coach in the future. But as of now, he has yet to fulfill that desire.
MadLife
When talking about legendary support players, ten people will immediately name MadLife as one of them. And perhaps, for long-time League of Legends players, they will never forget how Blitzcrank and Thresh in MadLife’s hands caused sorrow for his opponents. Moreover, during his professional career, MadLife was also famous for his loyalty, having only played for a single team despite that team changing its name four times.
MadLife gained international fame for his precise map reading, appearing at the right moment in all positions when his teammates needed him, even though he was just a support in the bot lane, and above all, his exceptional individual skills when using champions capable of creating game-changing moments. In fact, in Korea and later worldwide, he was referred to as GodLife or MadLife is (a) God, Machine due to his divine and cold demeanor during matches.
The most regrettable thing for MadLife and perhaps for all his fans as well as League of Legends fans worldwide is that MadLife never got to play with worthy ADCs. Now, as a streamer for Hanwha Life Esports, the name MadLife still leaves a mix of admiration and regret for many.
Wolf
Another name from the golden generation of SKT T1, along with Bang, he formed an extremely strong bot lane duo, regarded as the most successful in history, having won numerous titles together throughout their careers. Among them, the most famous moment associated with Wolf is likely the wombo combo in the match against EDward Gaming during the group stage of Worlds 2017. At that time, Rakan in Wolf’s hands executed a combo millimeter-perfect for Faker’s Orianna to use Command: Shockwave, wiping out all the item and level advantages of EDG before SKT T1 and sending four members of EDG to the fountain.
Currently, Wolf has retired and returned to the old team – T1 in the role of a streamer. However, people will always remember one of the most legendary comeback plays of SKT T1, with Wolf being the initiator and doing nearly everything.
Ryu
Mentioning Faker also brings to mind one of the players who perhaps has “held a grudge” against the “Demon King” the longest – Ryu – the once-renowned mid laner of the LCK region and the entire League of Legends community. Two years older than Faker, Ryu’s career has not enjoyed the glory that his counterpart on the opposing side has, and currently, Ryu has also embarked on his military service.
As an exceptionally talented mid laner, Ryu’s Zed even became a trademark. However, perhaps we all know the classic solo kill moment of Faker against Ryu. Nonetheless, both remain friends outside the game, competitors who have mutual respect for each other, and before going to military service, Ryu had the opportunity to “take revenge” on his younger colleague.
