After a dominant series against BiliBili Gaming (BLG) in Round 2 of the MSI Playoffs, HotSpawn had the golden opportunity to chat with the GOAT legend himself, T1 Faker.
I’ve been trying to request Faker for years, and I was finally granted the hardest-to-get player interview in esports. I didn’t want to spend the 10-ish minutes I had with the single most influential player in the sport asking him questions about matchups, players, or any of the things that he’s been asked 1000 times.
The crux of the interview was this: I wanted to ask Faker about all the parts of the game that we often forget about when writing a narrative for esports but play just as much of a role in why people fall in love with this ridiculous 2010 MOBA. Despite his titles and accolades, the man behind the moniker “Faker” was at one point, like so many others, a quiet, nerdy, kid whose imagination was captured by a janky, garishly-coloured online game – so what keeps Lee Sang-Hyeok having fun after accomplishing everything there is to accomplish, and how does he interface with the pieces of League of Legends that have little impact on competitive play?
The Inner Game of T1 Faker – Discipline, Growth, and Greatness
Nick James: Coming off of an incredibly strong series into BLG. Yesterday at the press conference, you had a line about how BLG was going to be a lot easier than CFO.
Why was BLG an easier opponent than CFO?
Lee “Faker” Sang-Hyeok: Throughout the CFO series, I could feel that we are in great form and our performance is good, but I think the key of them pushing us through Game 5 was that they were so well prepped and their strategy also kind of attacked us really well. So because I knew that our performance was really good, I could tell that the upcoming BLG series would be also pretty good.
Nick: We’ll jump onto the main bulk of the interview. You’ve won all of the championships there are to win, and you’ve sort of accomplished everything there is to do. Why do you still find the game fun? You’re clearly still enjoying this goofy 2010 game over a decade later.
What are the things that made you fall in love with League of Legends and are those still there?
Faker: First and foremost, I loved video games, you know, of course, and ever since I turned pro, just doing my best to improve, you know, find the aspects where I can improve and becoming actually a better player and having a better performance was really big for me, so I really enjoyed that process. Also, I just loved video games since I was a kid.
Nick: That love for video games is something I want to touch on. I’ve been talking with a lot of pros, particularly the MKOI players I found out are huge fans of all of the modes that aren’t Summoner’s Rift. JoJo plays ARAM, Myrwn and Elyoya duo in Arena, Myrwn’s a big PvE guy, and Supa loves Odyssey. I know that you play Arena, and so I’m just interested to sort of know, what’s your experience with the games that aren’t Summoner’s Rift?
Do you have a favorite? And why do you enjoy the modes that you play so much?
Faker: Arena mode definitely helps you warm up, and also it’s very fast-paced, and also it actually helps you when it comes to fast reflex, you know, decision making, and reactions, so I think it’s pretty helpful.
Nick: Do you have a favorite augment, item, or champion combo in Arena? Because you can do some pretty wacky things in that mode. Does he have a particularly powerful combo that he finds fun or that he’s done before that was really fun to do?
Faker: So there’s this one time where I played Udyr and Galeforce, and a lot of the augments that extend your range, and I built a lot of assassin items, so I could just literally one-shot everyone. That was really fun.
Nick: I know you don’t watch any TV shows or movies, but presumably, he’s aware of Arcane’s animated show about League of Legends characters.
If he could decide what League of Legends character would get their own animated show, who would he want? And since he doesn’t watch any shows, is there any character that they can make a show about that he’d be tempted to watch?
Faker: So I know really well about League champions and their skills. I don’t know about them actually. I don’t know about their backgrounds or storylines. And I also don’t know anything about TV shows. So it’s like asking an Iron player how to play League well.
Nick: I know you don’t watch shows, I know you do read books, and recently, League has started to branch out into books. There are two books available in paperback & hardcover, and they are Ruination, which is about Viego, and there is book about Ambessa. I think I know the answer, given what you just said, but have you read either one of them? Are you tempted at all to read any League lore books?
Faker: If it’s good, I’ll try.
Do you have a character whose splash art, whose profile art you really like? Is there a character whose way they’re depicted is cool to you or resonant with you?
Faker: I also actually don’t really pay attention to the splash arts, but I collaborated to actually make my Ahri skin, so I will go with that one.
Nick: They added the card game during the Noxus season. The Star Guardian, Odyssey, and Anima Squad modes, where you fight a bunch of monsters. Have you tried any of those while they’ve been out? And do… I know you’ve talked about improving, but Arena improves reflexes, and there are other ways that you can interact with these game modes. Do you get any enjoyment? Did you try any of these game modes?
Faker: I really liked [Demon’s Hand] where you play with the cards and combine the numbers. That was really fun. I like those kinds of games. I really enjoyed it. Anima Squad, I did try, but it was a little too long and I thought it was not going to help me improve my League skills, so it’s a no.
Nick: You’ve been in this game for a really long time, you’ve seen how it’s evolved, and while you haven’t observed, well, you haven’t watched Arcane, League is beginning to expand out into a lot more than just one video game. You know, there’s now Teamfight Tactics, Legends of Runeterra, there’s stuff like Arcane, and they’ve announced that they’re working on a live-action show.
What do you think about the way that League of Legends is growing to so much more than just what it was when you started playing? And what has that been like to see as a player?
Faker: Well, myself, you know, I didn’t really pay attention to other [aspects] of League of Legends (like TV shows or recently announced live action movie), but still, you know, those kinds of attempts of Riot tells a lot about their core value, which I really like, and I hope it can inspire a lot of other people out there.
Nick: Now that we’ve talked about all the things that aren’t competitive, we will take it back to competitive for the end of the interview. You guys have looked very strong this tournament, especially in your recent games, I think even stronger than people expected coming into these games.
When you look ahead at the teams ahead of you, are there any matchups that you’d be really excited to face, that you really want to test this version of T1 against?
Faker: First off, Gen.G is right ahead of us. I’m really excited for the matchup, but also AL (Anyone’s Legend). They were able to put up a good fight against Gen.G, so I wish we could get a chance to actually go up against them.
Nick: T1 fans have been cheering you on as hard as they always do. You know, it’s hard to find a more passionate, more invested group of fans in esports. So I’ll leave the camera to you.
Anything to say for the fans in red, black, white, and gold all over this arena that have been cheering you guys on throughout this event?
Faker: I was really happy to see our fans having the joy of watching our match so I really wish you could continue that happening, and I will do our best to keep our best form to bring more joy to the fans.
