In fact in an interview with Invenglobal in May he even had that attitude himself, saying: “I feel that there isn’t much time left in my career, but there’s a big difference between ‘not much time’ and ‘no time’. Most esports players are considered venerable at 26, where the average age of League of Legends pros is around 21 and most retire by 25.įor Deft, who had never been able to fight his way into the ring for a title bout, the question seemed to be 'when will you retire?' and not the 'will he ever retire?' usually pointed at Faker. Despite Deft being on a competitive team at Worlds most years, the last time he even played in the semifinals was 2014, whereas Faker has never been eliminated before the semis.

In fact, over the years, both Deft and Faker have been to the World Championships seven times apiece, but while Faker has been with SKT since his debut, Deft has moved around to do it with five different teams-Samsung Blue, Edward Gaming, KT Rolster, Hanwha Life Esports, and DragonX.īut by 2022, Deft and Faker had come to a different stage of their career, one where even Faker was being questioned and whispered about as past his prime by some. Despite accolades and celebration of Deft as a regular candidate or runner up for most valuable player of the Korean league and several appearances at worlds-including a brutal loss in five games to eventual World Champion team Invictus Gaming in 2018 in the first round of knockouts-Deft had never made it to the Grand Finals once, where by 2016, Faker had already won it all in them three times. This was the first time Deft and Faker would have a showdown, and it ended in an SKT 3-0 victory. But for Deft, his first year was a struggle, joining newly formed MVP Blue as their bottom laner, MVP Blue failed to make it out of the group stage at several tournaments before being acquired by Samsung Blue and playing in the 2013-2014 Champions Winter tournament.

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