The most outstanding highlights of the Demon King

Over the years, the title of the best player in League of Legends has belonged to Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, the Demon King. But after Faker and SK Telecom T1 lost in the LCK playoffs, many pundits said that Song “Smeb” Kyung-ho, who had just received his first LCK championship at the time, deserved it. And Smeb won first place on the 2016 CKGT money rankings.

One year can change a lot of things. On the surface, 2017 wasn’t exactly a successful year for Faker, because it was the first time SKT lost to Worlds. But it also shows how important Faker is to the team. Many times, when every position was underpowered, it was Faker who led everyone to victory. This has certainly been one of his best seasons, and winning Player of the Year proves it.

To celebrate Faker’s achievements in 2017, here are his 10 highlights from this season.

10) Faker’s skills surpass the limits of the game

One of Faker’s top qualities is his immunity to ganks. Usually, other teams will send their jungle to help mid laners because Faker doesn’t give them any other choice – he has a really good lane. So he learned to play out of such situations. Sometimes like this situation, when Faker knows his limit, he will dry up and kill the enemy before aid can arrive.

In this highlight phase, Faker outplays ROX mid laner Tiger Son “Mickey” Young-min with a display of superb skill. He controlled his champion so quickly that the game didn’t have time to fully process Cassiopeia’s ultimate. Faker literally “too fast, too dangerous”.

9) Faker wriggles out of C9’s trap

Faker dodges ganks very well, but he can’t always “dodge”. When Cloud9 jungler Juan “Contractz” Garcia touched Faker in the opening match of Worlds, everything seemed to be over.

But Faker showed us there are other ways to survive a gank. This time, he brought 2 kills to SKT and a lead advantage for the team.

8) Revenge G2

G2 was very successful at MSI last season. They made it all the way to the finals, won one game against SKT, and left with great joy. But it seems that getting the first victory from Faker in the opening match only fueled his desire for revenge. When the two teams met again in the final round, it was time for Faker to retaliate:

Anyone who plays League of Legends has also encountered this situation, when you know you are about to be outplayed. All you can do is push the button wildly, and hope to hit something. That’s what happened to mid laner Luka “Perkz” Perkovic with his cryptic Orianna ultimate. Can’t blame Perkz either. It’s just Faker showing off his power.

7) Faker’s Fizz found his target in the match against KT

Faker has found himself in a series of matches against longtime rival KT Rolster. KT picked up Smeb in pre-season to take on Faker, but no matter how intense the matches were, SKT was always the winner. Even with a slim chance, Faker found the perfect teamfight to break the hearts of KT fans:

Faker’s fizz jumping with his horrible fish will be one of the scariest things you’ll ever see in League of Legends.

6) Don’t give him Galio

Galio was one of the strongest champions at the end of the year. A champion that has both damage, control, minion clear, and tanking, with the ultimate near half the map is truly formidable.

In the semi-final against SKT, Royal Never Give Up decided not to ban Galio. And Faker made them pay for it. Whether it’s turrets or saving teammates, Galio under Faker has become very powerful and once again saved SKT from a conspicuous goal.

Don’t let Faker play a strong champion in the meta. You will regret it.

5) Don’t dance with the Demon King

This is a fairly simple highlight phase, but Faker is always above Heo “Pawn” Won-seok whenever they meet in the professional arena. Pawn had a pretty successful year with KT, but Faker still sometimes proved himself above the former World champion. Even when Pawn had the help of his teammates, the outcome for KT was dire:

Just now is the situation where Faker survived the last 3 moves from KT. He is truly a magician with magical moves.

4) Save Huni’s life

This clip looks more like a highlight of Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon, but Faker is involved in the ending and takes an opponent’s life to save Huni. Looking back now I still don’t understand, how did Huni survive that phase?

Thankfully for LZ, they still stood firm after that and defeated SKT to claim their first LCK title. And this is not the only time Faker saved Huni’s life.

3) Faker carries a series of matches against Samsung

Everyone knows that last season ended with SKT being wiped out by Samsung at Worlds. For some, that puts aside all of the achievements Faker and the team have achieved over the course of the past year. Those people were wrong.

Faker has had an explosive year. Just look at how he gave Samsung a lesson a few months before Worlds in the LCK playoffs. Faker picked Lucian to face Lee “Crown” Min-ho’s Taliyah.

Faker keeps taking Taliyah’s life. Later, LCK caster Alberto “Crumbz” Rengifo could only exclaim, “Faker took this game completely.” Even with Samsung taking the lead, Faker still found a way out for his team. He used Fizz’s ultimate to hit the Crown from an impossible angle to save game 2.

Faker plays Fizz very well. Samsung was completely discouraged and then quickly received a 0-3 defeat.

If we look to the past, SKT will learn from their Worlds failure and come back stronger. Let’s hope that Samsung, under its new owner, will be strong enough to make a great competitive feud.

2) All 4 games against Misfits

SKT’s top and bottom lanes fell to the fierce attacks of Misfits and the Korean side was leading 2-1. Faced with the risk of being eliminated by a team from Europe, SKT looked to Faker in game 4.

He delivered one of the most sweeping performances of the year. Taking advantage of Kang “Blank” Sun-gu’s early gank, Faker became a star in that game.

And when Huni needed help again, Faker was there:

When SKT was trying to defend the house, Faker took action:

And when SKT needed one last fight to finish off Misfits, Faker led the team in:

Game 4 was a legendary performance by a famous player.

1) Ultimate Soundwave:

This is truly the highlight of the year. Here’s why KT can never win against SKT, even with a 2-0 lead in the summer playoffs:

What a wonderful year, best wishes in the new year to you, Faker.