The CEO of Faker’s team in LOL overrules the coaches and exchanges 18-year-olds against the favorite of the fans

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At League of Legends, the South Korean Team T1 is the world champion and the most popular team in the world, especially because of superstar faker. But in 2025 so far it has not been as desired. The start line-up has been changed to give 18-year-old ADC Sin “Smash” Geum-Jae a chance. Now the CEO says: This is the end. For this, Joe Marsh even overrules the coaches of his LOL team.

What’s going on at T1? T1 had an unusual problem for an LOL team in early 2025. You had too many good players:

  • On the role of the ADC, T1 with Smash has an 18-year-old super talent that apparently totally convinced in training and who wanted to give the coaches a chance.
  • But you also have the 23-year-old Gumaysui on the team: he is an absolute fan favorite. With him on the Botlane, T1 has become world champion. Gumayusi is known for his dedication and loyalty to T1. There was no obvious reason to exchange the man and remove another piece from the legendary 5-man squad after you have already lost Zeus.

    • The coaches decided to have the training performance decided and used the young Smash in the majority of the matches: Smash played 15 games, Gumayusi only 5.

    Faker’s life – that’s why he is a living legend

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    Rookie plays strong, but T1 flies out of the playoffs early

    That was the result: The problem was that Smash played excellently and shone in the statistics, but the success of T1 was missing. In the first round, T1 in the Playoffs of the LCK Cup 2025 against the later master Hanwha Life, who also won the first tournament.

    And every season in which T1 leaves so early, a moderate identity crisis triggers a moderate identity crisis for the successful spoils of T1.

    CEO arranges change in the start line-up

    This is the result now: The US CEO of T1, Joe Marsh, has now announced his decision (via X):

  • He understands the frustration that T1 did not comment on the “6-man squad”. The topic is discussed very strongly
  • He is now ordering that Gumayusi returns to the start line-up
  • The CEO says he trusts the coaches, but in his responsibility as CEO he believes that that is the best decision of T1

    • But Marsh says: Even if Gumayusi starts the season as a starter, he will continue to compete with Smash. The coaches then decide who is ahead and the better player becomes player.

    Joe Marsh, is the American boss of the South Korean team T1.

    That is behind it: It is very unusual that a CEO says so publicly: This is my decision. I made a sporting decision here and overruled the coaches, because actually that is not his job.

    The fans believe on Reddit:

  • Marsh wants to collect plus points here at the fans
  • It is also an economic decision, because Gumayusi with his big fan base is more economically valuable

    • However, the wording of the statement is generally perceived as difficult. It looks like the coaching team is very convinced of Smash. It is clear that Gumayusi is now under special pressure and has to deliver: LOL is the number 1 game on Twitch, sacrificing sporting integrity so that it stays that way

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