Greatest Of All Time, GOAT. It refers to the strongest player in a specific field.
Argentina's Lionel Messi, who has reached the "Level of God", lifted the trophy at last year's Qatar World Cup. Since Messi is the GOAT player in football,The GOAT of game genre, is THIS player, from South Korea.
In Jakarta·Palembang Asian Games 2018,a demonstration event was held in sensational popularity. It is an online game, the 'E-sports'. Now it is an official event since Hangzhou Asian Games 2022. And truly, Korean e-sports players are one of the strongest.
Especially, the spotlight is definitely onthe League of Legends Korean national team Captain, Faker; Sang-hyuk Lee.
Born in 1996, 27 years old this year. Made his debut in the second year of Korean high school, started to get attention for his extraordinary plays. "The path that Faker takes, is history." Plenty of stunning records prove this statement.
One and only, 100 wins in major international competitions, won MVP in all major international competitions, for the first time in the world. Annual salary estimate is about 5.3 million dollars. It's the highest annual salary among the professional Sports players in WHOLE Nation.
Most appearances, most wins. Both youngest, and the oldest player who've won the victory. Faker is a professional gamer who has overcome its ecosystem which has a very short life span; since he has been on a field for nearly a DECADE.
Moreover, he is the player whose existence itself is a symbol of the whole game, in name and reality. In sports competitions, ticket prices reflect the popularity of events. The most expensive event in this Asian Game competition is; The E-sports. It is up to FOUR times more expensive than the others.
Though it is played in the Internet; the virtual space, the team's strategy, tactics, and even individual physicality are considered importantly so that it have also become a 'sport'.
Following the six exhibition games in the last competition, now there are seven official matches will be held in this Asian Games. Dota 2, Street Fighter 5, Arena of Valor, Dream Three Kingdoms 2, Battleground Mobile, EA Sports FC Online, and the League of Legends.
Since it is the first official state contest, interest in Faker, who has reigned as the strongest, is hotter than ever; such as; will Faker be able to win in the national team, not his pro-team T1, so that he could finally prove his ability?
Particularly, the home team China is the biggest rival of South Korea. During the exhibition game at the last Asian Games, the Chinese national team has won the gold medal, beating Korea. It's not going to be easy this time either. Chinese players started training a month earlier to prepare the game against Faker. Even there is a rumor that the Chinese national teamconfiscated players' mobile phones during a training session, and starts practicing for 13 hours a day, from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Also there was an internal revelation of Chinese team, that they secretly practiced the game version for the competitionbefore the official announcement.
Definitely China seems determined to beat Faker. So, not only with the skills in the game,Faker has to go beyond the unilateral support of Chinese fans, and the presence of the host country; China.
Faker, the GOAT of E-sports, on the road to the Asian Game Champion against China, is an inevitable path to prove both of his worth, and ability.
Who will take the honor of new history in E-sports? Captain Faker of South Korea, or home team China, or the other team? League of Legend match will be heldfrom September 26th, and the long-awaited FINAL will be held on the 29th.
Narration | Yongho Jeon (yhjeon95@ytn.co.kr)
Graphic | Hyunsoo Kim (kimhs4364@ytn.co.kr)
Producer | Yongho Jeon (yhjeon95@ytn.co.kr)
Chief Producer | Woongrae Kim (woongrae@ytn.co.kr)
[저작권자(c) YTN 무단전재, 재배포 및 AI 데이터 활용 금지]