After winning the 2022 World Championship with DRX, Deft became the most talked-about name in every forum. Not only because of his first world title in his career, which made Deft the first player in history to hold all titles of the two largest regions in the League of Legends scene, but also because he defeated his colleague Faker in the finals. At that time, Deft was even compared to superstar Lionel Messi – who also won the World Cup in 2022.
However, unlike Messi, who left the top football environment to play in the U.S., marksman Deft continued to join top-tier teams in the LCK after winning the World Championship. The thing is, it seems that all of Deft’s brilliance converged in the “last dance” at the 2022 World Championship. From DK to KT, Deft has yet to regain his former glory. Even in the DK jersey, Deft became a former champion, and his DK team didn’t even make it to the playoffs – the worst performance of DK since they began to experience the atmosphere of the World Championship (in 2019).
There were reasons to suggest that Deft should have retired right after winning the World Championship, especially since his last opponent that year was Faker, making it a complete ending. But the fact that Deft continued to compete at a high level, without achieving good results, accidentally turned him into a backdrop for the greatness of his peer and lifelong rival.
Indeed, in the year when Deft’s DK had the worst performance in the history of this team at the World Championship, Faker and T1 rose to glory. T1’s mid-laner became the oldest player to ever win a World Championship – something that is likely very difficult for anyone to achieve. Moreover, Faker also secured his fourth World Championship trophy in the history of the tournament and in his career. Simply put, the only player who can compare with Faker is Bengi, who retired long ago. Duke, with two trophies, has also retired, while BeryL has fluctuated with KT, and perhaps only Canyon could win a World Championship with Gen.G this year, but only if Gen.G doesn’t “choke” at a crucial moment. Even then, Canyon has only two World Championship trophies.
Not to mention, in 2024, when Deft was reunited with BeryL, he became the weakest link in the KT lineup. Currently in the LCK, there are two main playstyles: either concentrate firepower on the marksman with the mid-laner or top-laner as the second damage dealer (Gen.G, Kwangdong Freecs, Dplus KIA, Hanwha Life Esports) or have the bot lane as the weak-side marksman (T1). But with KT, Deft has been given a lot of resources, yet he has not been able to “carry the team” as expected. A typical example is in the second game against Gen.G in the recent LCK Spring 2024 group stage.
Meanwhile, Faker is soaring high with T1 and is currently leading the POG rankings of the Spring group stage alongside Chovy. Admittedly, Faker and Deft play in two different positions, but in reality, Faker has a much greater impact on his team. In fact, if Faker were absent, T1’s playstyle would be severely affected. On the other hand, no one can count how many times this season Deft has made many fans regret that he did not… retire earlier.
Furthermore, Deft’s KT has already lost to T1 twice this Spring. They will likely face each other many more times. But at this moment, many League of Legends fans may find it hard to ignore the contrasting fates of these two players, both of whom are the same age and have achieved great success in the LCK, yet their paths are so different.