During the LCK Awards 2023, many players received awards recognizing their contributions to a highly successful year for the LCK. Despite going home empty-handed at MSI 2023, the LCK remained incredibly strong as it entered the 2023 World Championship. T1 went on to achieve another “Miraculous Journey” to retain the World Championship trophy for the Korean League of Legends scene. In addition to T1 dominating the major categories, other players like Peanut and Peyz also received well-deserved awards.
However, there were several players who went home empty-handed, such as Chovy and ShowMaker. Notably, the mid-laner superstar of Dplus KIA did not attend the award ceremony. Many viewers felt disappointed that ShowMaker’s “timeless” speech describing the power of K’Sante did not win the “Meme of the Year” award, which instead went to commentator CloudTemplar. According to the reasoning provided by the LCK organizers, ShowMaker’s dialogue was part of a personal stream and therefore did not meet the award’s evaluation criteria.
However, according to some audience arguments, it is possible that Riot intervened to influence this award. Clearly, if the LCK organizers were impartial, there would be no way ShowMaker’s famous dialogue could be less significant than CloudTemplar’s. Even though this was a personal stream, it was conducted as part of the team’s scheduled activities within the LCK. But acknowledging ShowMaker’s dialogue would be tantamount to Riot admitting that they indeed created an excessively “broken” champion. Not to mention, at the end of the dialogue, ShowMaker directly pointed out Riot’s responsibility, urging them to promptly fix K’Sante’s out-of-control strength.
Currently, K’Sante has been adjusted significantly since ShowMaker’s stream segment aired. However, as tournaments have not yet resumed, it is difficult to assess whether K’Sante is still “overpowered” following the latest adjustments. Nevertheless, the audience’s opinions regarding ShowMaker missing out on the “Meme of the Year” award are entirely valid.
But regardless, fans will continue to widely circulate ShowMaker’s dialogue for a long time to come, especially if K’Sante or any other champion appears excessively dominant in the new season.