The World’s Top ADC Now a “Sacrificial Lamb” at T1
In the T1 – Gumayusi drama, the first “victim” that must be mentioned is the ADC born in 2002. If the LCK Cup 2025 is meant for experimentation, then until now, there is no reason to bench Gumayusi. Not to mention, Gumayusi himself admitted in a chat with fans that he only found out he wouldn’t be playing when the match was about to begin.
With a player who is in stable form and has just won the World Championship for the second consecutive time, it is clear that Gumayusi has every right to be surprised and saddened. His fans are also understandably upset. Recently, many fans of the 2002-born ADC have sent trucks to express their dissatisfaction with T1’s management.
T1’s Young Star’s Unfortunate Debut
For Smash, his performance in the match against KT Rolster was truly outstanding, if not perfect. If T1 hadn’t allowed KT to “turn the tables” in Game 2, everything might have been even more perfect. Smash was even named the Player of the Match. However, all of this has been overshadowed by the T1 – Gumayusi drama.
This is a significant injustice to Smash as it is not easy to break into T1’s main roster, especially when it is Gumayusi’s position—a name considered irreplaceable alongside Faker. However, on a day when he had a great opportunity, no one was talking about Smash’s achievements, only revolving around the T1 drama.
Finally, the T1 Fans
Of course, the most severely affected are the T1 fans. It’s not just about the cost of tickets or the lost benefits, but more importantly, it’s about trust. To this day, T1’s management has not provided any explanation for the sudden player substitution, and fans only learned about it through the media and rumors.
Meanwhile, T1 has previously acknowledged that revenue from fan service is one of the team’s significant income sources. It seems that alongside various statements regarding fans, the upper management of this team is doing the opposite of all that.