For all of his greatness, pro League of Legends star Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok may have encountered the one opponent he can’t beat: an injury that is preventing him from playing the game.
Fans of Faker and his long-time team T1 were shocked to hear that he would be taking a break from competitive play due to an injury. What was meant to be a brief break has become prolonged, and there’s now reason to wonder if Faker will ever play again.
Will Faker return from his injury?
Faker’s injury was first confirmed during a media interview in Korea. The injury involved in right arm, and was soon confirmed by T1. At the time, T1 insisted that Faker would only need a matter of weeks to heal the injury and return to pro play with his T1 teammates.
Fans were already concerned at the time, however. During the interview in which his injury first became apparent, Faker was unable to even lift his right or use it to hold a microphone. This immediately triggered speculation that the injury was worse than T1 was letting on.
Speculation intensified when former T1 support player and world champion Lee “Wolf” Jae-wan addressed the issue to fans only by calling it “unfortunate” and declining to elaborate further.
The original timeline for Faker’s return from injury has now passed, and the star player remains on the sideline with no further updates from T1. With each passing day and week, speculation grows that the injury may not be healing as T1 had hoped.
T1 struggles without Faker in LCK
T1 has a had a very difficult time in the competitive LCK without its star player Faker in the lineup. He was replaced by mid laner Yoon “poby” Seong-won, and the results haven’t been there since.

poby is a developmental prospect for T1, coming up through the esports organization’s academy and challenger teams. It would be unfair to pin T1’s recent struggles on poby, but it’s hard not to think that it’s a factor.
T1 has dipped to a losing record in the LCK, and while there’s still time to recover, it’s clear that the squad needs Faker now more than ever. But with no apparent progress on the mid laner’s right arm injury, the side may be forced to wait even longer. And at this point, there’s no guarantee that the wait will ever end.