Typically, a skilled player competes professionally at the age of 17-18, then reaches the peak of their career and conquers titles in their 20s. However, there is a saying that talent does not wait for age, and a few outstanding individuals in the esports scene have reached the pinnacle of their careers right from the start of their professional journeys, and the term “prodigy” is precisely used to refer to such individuals.
Recently, the American esports portal Thescore Esports presented gamers with a list of the top 10 greatest prodigies in recent years. Notably, League of Legends, the largest esports title in the world, only has one representative, but in the number one spot, none other than Faker.
The specific list:
10. Braxton ‘Brax’ Pierce (CS:GO)
9. Jason “Beaulo” Doty (Rainbow 6 Siege)
8. Kyle “Scrub Killa” Robertson (Rocket League)
7. Leonardo “MkLeo” Lopez (Super Smash Bros)
6. Topias Miikka “Topson” Taavitsainen (DOTA2)
5. Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (CS:GO)
4. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut (CS:GO)
3. Lee “Flash” Young Ho (Starcraft)
2. Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan (DOTA2)
1. Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (League of Legends)
It’s probably unnecessary to debate Faker’s number one position on this list as our “Demon King” displayed his innate talent at just 16 years old by making it into the top 10 Challenger in Korea in Season 2. Following that, in his very first year of professional play, Faker secured the OGN Summer 2013 title (equivalent to the current LCK) and most notably, the World Championship that same year.
Many DOTA2 fans might be dissatisfied and argue that Sumail also won the DAC 2015 and The International 2015 in his first year of professional play, even when he was just 15 years old. It is true that if we only compare the first year of professional play, Sumail and Faker can be seen as equal in terms of titles, but in the following year of their careers, while still being a young player, Faker clearly outshone Sumail.
In the years that followed, Faker added 2 World Championship titles, 2 MSI championships, and numerous LCK cups, while Sumail did not secure any more Major or TI titles. Talent may be difficult to quantify, but titles are tangible and can be counted immediately, so it is understandable that SumaiL holds the second position and yields the number one spot to Faker.
