As of now in 2024, the LoL world has gone through a total of 13 World Championships. The players and teams that have won the championship have had very different journeys, and their fates after that glorious title are also very different. Some have become immortal legends, like Faker, who is an example.
However, there are also those who have experienced ups and downs, or even fallen into financial hardship despite never doing anything illegal, such as Imp – the former superstar of Samsung White – one of the two predecessor teams of today’s Gen.G. Imp is also the one who “shut down” the mighty SKT T1 of Faker, forcing him to take an additional 2 years to achieve the record of successfully defending his championship title at a World Championship.
However, after the championship, Imp had a very troubled career. He was not successful in LCK or LPL and ended his career after one year with JD Gaming. Yet, the former World Champion left a “mark” through thoughtless statements aimed at both opponents and former teammates. Notably, early in 2024, Imp claimed that Faker and T1 were “structured” by Riot to win 4 World Championships, and he stated that GALA was just an average AD. According to various reports, Imp has suffered business losses, leading to his financial struggles, and he has also been diagnosed with level 4 mental health issues.
In a recent livestream, Imp received an invitation from TheShy to play games together, but he overslept and arrived late. Imp could only give a gift to express his apology, but the concerning part is that Imp didn’t even have 500 yuan (approximately 1.7 million VND). He had to borrow money from others to buy a gift. Moreover, the gift from Imp was the cheapest possible gift to give to a streamer on the platform, to the point that it didn’t even have an effect, so TheShy was completely unaware of the gift from his friend.
However, Imp is still quite well-known in LPL, so the possibility that he is in such a dire situation that he cannot afford to give a gift to TheShy is quite hard to believe, even with Imp himself admitting it. Nevertheless, the former SSW player is perhaps indeed one of the champions with the most tumultuous lives since ascending to the throne, and until now, people still only remember him with a sense of regret.