From World Champion to a Heartbreaking Conclusion
In 2022, after the conclusion of the 2022 World Championship finals with a victory deemed “unbelievable” by DRX, all praises were directed towards the team nicknamed “Dragon X.” Notably, the player who garnered the most attention at that time was Deft – an older player who, before 2023, was the oldest player ever to win the World Championship. In fact, Riot even released a song for the 2023 World Championship shortly after – the song GODS, to honor Deft’s tumultuous journey.
However, everyone knows that Deft has hinted multiple times that after the 2024 season, regardless of KT Rolster’s performance, he would retire to fulfill his obligations. Unfortunately, in KT’s final match, Deft performed incredibly poorly, if not to say he had almost no impact on the outcome of the game. Throughout all 5 games, Deft received the lowest score from KT. Particularly, a spectator’s comment during game 5 was truly heartbreaking: “Everything should have ended after the 2022 World Championship. But you’re still stuck in that dream. Now the dream is over, and it’s time to say goodbye, Deft.”
The Tragic End of the World Champion
In reality, since the 2022 World Championship, Deft and KT Rolster have battled through 4 more domestic seasons and 1 World Championship. To be fair, the AD carry born in 1996 still had plenty of matches that reminded fans of his peak performance. However, Deft is no longer the type of AD carry “who can take down opponents if cared for” like Aiming, Peyz, or the highly volatile AD carries like Viper and Gumayusi. Among the top 5 most successful teams in the LCK, Deft is perhaps the least regarded AD carry.
In the match against T1, there was a poignant image at the end of game 5, which made the League of Legends community feel sorrowful, as Faker chased after Deft. The (perhaps) last kill of Deft’s career was not by Faker but by Oner. But it can be said that he has completed his mission and has achieved all the glory a player can attain.