Whether you’re a new kid on the block or a seasoned veteran of League eSports, you can never fail to recognize the names “Faker”, “SKT”, or “SKT T1”. You can definitely ask the everyday average League player if he knows Faker, and the likely answer is a solid yes. What’s with this Korean team that is always easily identifiable by many players?

Turns out, there’s a whole load of history that etched the team name in League of Legends mythology. Join us as we take a look back on the history of League’s arguably most popular eSports team.

A Season of New Beginnings (2013-2014)

The team “SK Telecom T1” has been popular in other genres; specifically, Starcraft II due to its popularity in South Korea, a huge market for real-time strategy games.

The protocol in the LCK permits two rosters to play as different teams, but belonging to the same organization with a way to distinguish the rosters. In December 2012, SKT Telecom T1 S was formed from the roster of an older team named “Eat Sleep Game”. Two months later, SKT Telecom T1 K was formed where the organization specifically brought Lee Sang-hyeok, or Faker, into the competitive scene and built a roster around the mid lane prodigy.

Fast forward to the Season 3 World Championships, Faker in particular was an underdog in the eyes of many, but quickly proved to be good with his signature LeBlanc picks. Despite being the secondary team, Team K beat Team S and won the tournament.

This is the first championship win of the Korean team that everyone knows.

In the following year, the team competed in LoL Masters 2014 just as well as they performed in the Season 3 World Championships, but lost to Samsung Galaxy who would take the World Championship title in 2014.

In the 2014 Season Korea Regional Finals of the same year, Team K was seeded into the finals but lost to NaJin White Shield, losing their chance for Worlds 2014.

Round Two, This Time for Sure (2015)

A new rule was adapted in the Korean pro scene, which required teams to merge their two rosters into a single 10-man roster. From this point on, they were now referred to as SK Telecom T1, the widely-recognized team name.

The new team entered SBENU Champions Spring 2015, where they matched against CJ Entus and KOO Tigers. They were able to beat both teams, and even beat KOO without Faker, earning them a spot in the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational. Again, they almost won the invitational until EDward Gaming upset them 3-2.

Later in the summer season, they came back in a better state, finishing first in the SBENU Champions Summer 2015 and solidifying their Worlds 2015 first seed. When Worlds came, they were an unstoppable force, even against powerhouses AHQ e-Sports Club and Origen. A second championship title was close, and by beating KOO Tigers 3-1, they finally got the second title.

Three-peat Champions (2016)

Coming out of Worlds 2015 with a total of two championship wins, SKT now became the fan favorite during this era. During their off-season runs, they took part in events where they were eliminated early such as in the LOL KeSPA Cup.

This loss was a blessing, however, as Blank—the substitute jungler during the cup—played well enough to be moved to the starting jungler role when spring season came. Once more, SKT stormed through the competition and took first place, moving to the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational.

As the only returnees from the 2015 MSI, expectations and hype were skyrocketing for the team. They endured a rocky start after being beaten by Royal Never Give Up and Counter Logic Gaming, seeding into fourth place at the bracket stage. Fortunately, they quickly regained their dominant form, and ran it back and beat the aforementioned teams, clutching 1^st place from a wild comeback.

When the 2016 LCK Summer Split started, SKT dominated with a 100% winrate in 5 series and 10 games, but ironically losing to Afeeca Freecs, a lower ranked team during the time. In the playoffs, KT Rolster was their match, trading blows and sweeps, putting SKT into third place. Given their record that split, they earned the second seed for Worlds 2016.

The highlight of Worlds 2016 for SKT was the battle against ROX Tigers, where the Miss Fortune Support pick completely threw the team draft into disarray. SKT barely managed to win 3-2 in that series.

They then faced Samsung Galaxy in the grand finals, and another 3-2 series marked SK Telecom as the first team to garner three Worlds titles in League eSports history.

The Dark Ages (2017-2019)

2017 onwards was a steady decline for SKT, and we can summarize it by saying they became the team that “almost” won championships.

Starting in 2017, SKT would dominate the majority of the competitions like the 2017 Spring Split and the 2017 MSI, but start to falter in the Summer Split by finishing 4^th in the regular season, then losing to Longzhu Gaming 3-1 in the finals. They still move to Worlds 2017, albeit as a second seed.

SKT started well in the Group Stage, but then slowly got chipped out by the rising European teams during this season. Notably, Misfits Gaming gave SKT a hard time on getting the win, and the same trend followed suit with Royal Never Give Up. When it came to the finals against Samsung Galaxy, SKT was out of juice and lost 3-0.

2018 wasn’t any better than 2017 for SKT. During the Spring Split, their playoffs spot was being threatened by Kingzone DragonX and KT Rolster, but managed to secure the 4^th playoffs seed by beating other teams in the tournament. It wasn’t over as they had a runback with KT Rolster in the quarterfinals, losing the seed for the 2018 Mid-Season Invitational for the first time.

In the Summer Split, they performed poorly with an 8-10 record, losing the playoffs seed but still competed in the 2018 Korea Regional Finals due to their earned points from Spring Split. This did not matter as they were defeated by Gen.G (formerly Samsung Galaxy), marking the first time SKT did not ever go to the annual World Championship for 2018.

2019 gave the team a glimpse of hope in redemption. After weeks of training, SKT finally did well once more in the LCK 2019 Spring Split, only dropping a single series like the previous glory years. Against Griffin in the finals, the crowd became disappointed after an anticlimactic clean sweep from the latter. They still get to play in the 2019 MSI, and they played well, only losing the trophy run to G2 Esports in the semifinals.

The Summer Split, however, brought back another common tale of SKT playing poorly at the start. With comeback wins against KT Rolster and Gen.G, they regained their footing and gained a chance for playoffs through the wildcard match against Afreeca Freecs. When playoffs came, they showed why their team withstood the test of time by winning playoffs in a dominant 3-1 fashion, representing LCK as the first seed at Worlds 2019.

Worlds 2019 started like the traditional SKT stomping as they won 5-1 in the Group Stage against Fnatic, Royal Never Give Up, and Clutch Gaming. Later on, they won against Splyce, the LEC’s 3^rd seed, in a 3-1 fashion. The LEC teams want a runback, and G2 Esports made sure to upset the world by picking off Faker and throwing SKT into another round of disarray for the series. Despite SKT winning Game 1, they lost to G2 Esports with a reverse sweep 1-3.

T1 (Preseason 2020 and beyond)

In February 2019, the SKT Telecom T1 organization formally changed their brand to T1. Due to League eSports ongoing during said change, the League team did not reflect this change until the offseason.

With the brand change, Faker officially became part-owner of T1 Entertainment and Sports. Not only that, a few weeks ago the legendary mid laner of T1 got his own ice cream flavor sponsored by Lotte Confectionary.

As of today, T1 has won their 9th LCK Spring Split title even against the rising powerhouses like DragonX and Gen.G, unfazed even during a time of global pandemic. They are set to battle, along with other top LCK teams, against the top LPL teams in the upcoming 2020 Mid-Season Cup.

Concluding Thoughts

T1 is a team that stood the test of time. As of writing, I have yet to hear any other League eSports team to match the popularity, hype, and success that this team has constantly established.

Faker, the only player to see all generations of SK Telecom T1, has truly made a mark in the history of the game’s competitive scene, even to the point of global recognition.

This team truly amazes the masses, and as we see the top two regions looking to duke it out later this May, T1 has nowhere to go but up.