Faker

Lee Sang-hyeok grew up in Seoul's Gangseo District, crushing solo queue matches until SKT signed him at 17 in 2013. He won a world title in his debut year. What followed was a four-year reign - five more domestic championships, back-to-back Worlds in 2015 and 2016, two MSI trophies - that made T1 the first team to win multiple world titles and the first to repeat. From 2018 to 2022 he added four LCK titles but went dry internationally, the gap long enough that people started whispering about decline. Then he won Worlds in 2023, 2024, and 2025, the first three-peat in the game's history, anchoring a core of younger players who'd grown up watching him. Along the way he crossed every statistical threshold first - 1,000 kills, 2,000, 3,000, then 5,000 assists, 700 wins, and in 2025 became the first to play 1,000 LCK games. He took home gold at the 2022 Asian Games, became part-owner of T1 in 2020, and by then was pulling nearly $5 million a year. Riot inducted him into the Hall of Legends in 2024 as its first member, a formality by that point.