Reaching for the stars at 'Home Ground': Fans flood Olympic Park to see Faker at T1’s LCK showcase

Friday marked the first of T1's three-day Home Ground event on the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) road show, and fans from across the country and around the world packed into the KSPO Dome to watch the esport live. That, and to see the Demon King himself, Faker, slaughter his enemies on the rift.

Little did they know they would witness the exact opposite.

By the time the gates opened at 10 a.m., a sea of red and white jerseys stretched clear across Olympic Park, reaching toward the blazing mid-August sun as if taking the event’s title, "Reach for the Stars," literally. Fans fanned themselves with photo cards under the relentless heat of the three-day festival, which runs through Sunday.

Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok, 30, has been the face of Korean esports since his debut in 2013, and the six-time world champion anchored a Friday match against Dplus KIA as part of Rounds 3 and 4.

When fans at the dome were asked why League of Legends has outlasted every Korean esports boom before it, the answers converged on a single name.

"If I had to pick one thing, it would be Faker," said Lee Jung-ho, 41, a physical therapist who has played the game on and off since 2012 and returned to it after T1's 2023 world title. "He has won so much and still shows that hunger. That is why people love him."

Lee came to see the clash, but admitted the post-match meet and greet was the real draw for him. "I don't think the scene disappears when he retires, but I do expect it to shrink," he said. "That is how overwhelming his recognition is."

Kim Chae-won, 37, a Dplus KIA fan who has followed Korean esports since the StarCraft era, did credit League of Legends' survival to structure: no match-fixing scandal, no sequel splitting the player base and a franchising system that gave every team stable footing.

But even the away team fan circled back to the same conclusion. "People say they cannot be sure the LCK stays this big after Faker retires," she said. "He is still here, and kids keep playing because they want to be the next Faker."

For Kim, that gravitational pull has changed something bigger than viewership. "Parents of today's players grew up knowing esports is a sport," she said, pointing to fathers who now chauffeur their children to gaming academies. "It has become a real option for a child's future."

Asked what Dplus KIA's mid laner Heo "ShowMaker" Su's potential edge over the infamous demon king was, she laughed. "Honestly? Age."

The pull crosses oceans. Jung Sung-ho, who works in the live performance industry in the United States, flew in to attend with his niece Jung Ah-in, 16, after catching last year's Mid-Season Invitational, or MSI, in Vancouver together. Jung came to the rift late, only four or five years ago, and attributed that to Faker too.

"I kept seeing and hearing the name everywhere, so I finally turned on a Worlds broadcast to understand what it was," he said. "When I wear a T1 shirt to work, my co-workers want to talk about it."

However, both the uncle and niece were worried that the game itself has grown punishing for newcomers, with a steep learning curve and a player base becoming increasingly difficult to climb due to an entrenched class of veteran players.

"Fewer people play the game, more people watch the man," said Jung. 

Elias Steiner, 23, from Austria, who was among the spectators, offered a different assessment of the game.

"While it is true that Faker is a huge part of the image of the game, there is a reason the game has remained on top for many years," he said. "Some toxic fandom aside, the game has managed to expand its IP successfully like the Netflix series Arcane based on the characters."

"Just because the king is gone, it doesn't mean there won't be someone that will be able to claim the crown."

At 5 p.m., under dizzyingly bright lights, the demon king took the stage alongside his teammates. Faker took 11 kills in the first game leading to an astounding blitz against Dplus KIA.

The second game was more difficult, however, featuring an effectively suicidal move by the Demon King, who teleported unprotected into the enemy ranks while his team failed to gain ground.

The third game proved worse, as a full-team turret dive by Dplus KIA at the 16-minute mark led to a T1-annihilating quadra kill and supplied ShowMaker with a massive game-changing power spike. At 25 minutes, a failed objective skirmish resulted in the obliteration of all but one T1 member.

Down on kills, gold, and objectives, T1 met its fate 3 minutes later as a baiting Baron teamfight allowed Dplus KIA to push the home team back to its base and take its nexus for a decisive 29-minute win.

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]