Perhaps in the League of Legends community, it would be hard to find a unique player like BeryL. The player currently representing KT Rolster is the second Support in League of Legends history, alongside Wolf, who has won the World Championship twice. But more remarkably than Wolf, BeryL has won with two different teams, and DRX in 2022 is referred to as a miracle when no one thought the team, which qualified for the World Championship through the regional qualifiers, could make it to the finals and defeat the mighty T1 to claim the throne. It can be said that BeryL is the most unique Support in League of Legends history.
But if we only look at the achievements, it would be difficult to highlight what makes BeryL special. Perhaps those who regularly follow the LCK understand clearly: BeryL is a player who rarely livestreams climbing ranks. Instead, he dedicates his attention to his favorite games like Honkai Impact 3rd or Genshin Impact. In fact, the former coach Ssong of DRX even stated that BeryL does not climb ranks but studies through patch notes, watches matches repeatedly: “He will research the characteristics of players, observe and gather data on lane strategies, and analyze videos on YouTube of some notable names. Basically, he will do various tasks.”
Explaining his infrequent rank climbing, BeryL recently provided the core reason: “For example, in the current Master rank, there are too many people reaching that level. Of course, there are some skilled players. But I feel that the Master players from a few years ago are not like today. There were many good players before, but perhaps they are no longer playing. The skill level of current players is not as good as the old players.”
In reality, over time, issues like game sabotage or elo boosting have become quite familiar, and not just in Korean ranks, but almost every server worldwide has recorded instances of this. And certainly, the skill level of these individuals cannot compare to those who climb ranks through their own effort. Not to mention, there’s also account buying, which allows many players to compete at ranks far beyond their actual skill level.
Furthermore, as the former coach of DRX affirmed earlier, BeryL has other ways to study League of Legends. And not only the KT Support, other professional players like Faker also do not place too much importance on rank. For them, ranked games are more about honing skills and studying playstyles rather than achieving high ranks. Therefore, whether one climbs ranks or not, perhaps only plays a very small part in influencing the performance of professional League of Legends players.