If you didn’t know, Faker and Deft were high school classmates and even had a fierce rivalry while climbing to the Challenger rank in Korea at that time. However, Deft could only reach the top 100 on the Korean server, while Faker had two accounts ranked top 1 and top 2 in Challenger.
The strange thing is that the later careers of the two players mirror their high school days. Deft remains a skilled player but has struggled to achieve ultimate success, having only defeated Faker once at MSI 2015. In contrast, Faker reached global heights with multiple world championships and LCK titles, becoming the greatest player of all time.
Many believe that Deft often suffers from a psychological barrier or becomes a “choker” when facing Faker. For instance, during the 7th anniversary of professional play this past spring, he had a self-destructive Flash against Faker’s T1.
Even in a recent ranked match, Deft, whether intentionally or accidentally, chose Nocturne in the bot lane. Immediately, a fan donated to Faker to tease Deft about the recent “dark mode” advertisement from the “Chairman,” claiming that’s why he keeps playing Nocturne, a champion whose ultimate Dark Flight darkens the screen like turning off the lights.
Donate to Faker: “Surely Deft has seen the dark mode advertisement by now.”
Faker: “Ah ha, he must have psychological trauma after watching it.”
A significant step forward for Deft this summer season is that he and his teammates at DragonX achieved a direct victory over T1 in the first week. Although there weren’t any miraculous plays, playing consistently and not making mistakes against Faker is already a major psychological improvement for Deft.
Will Deft be able to maintain this momentum to surpass Faker and claim the LCK Summer 2020 championship, or will he stumble somewhere and watch T1 take the title again?