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Who else should join Faker in the Hall of Legends?
Faker was recently inducted as the first member of Riot's take on a Hall of Fame called the Hall of Legends. With the GOAT taking his spot in the Hall, who else should join him in the future?
After 4 world championships, 10 domestic titles, and numerous individual awards and records, T1’s Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok has been revealed as the first ever inductee to Riot’s Hall of Legends. As the undisputed face of the game and the greatest player to ever compete, this was a no brainer to most fans of League of Legends esports. So now the question becomes which players are on the shortlist to join Faker next?
What is the Hall of Legends?
The Hall of Legends is Riot Games’ version of the Hall of Fame for competitive League of Legends. Every year a player will be voted into the Hall by a panel of experts from every region based on a number of criterias including “international berths, international and regional titles, role specific stats, and overall contributions to the sport.”
Considering the criterias, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Faker was inducted. At this point, Faker has reached the level of the likes of Daigo Umehara, Flash, and s1mple, where even if you don’t follow their game’s competitive scene, you definitely know who they are.
Domestically, Faker is the winningest player in Korea with 10 domestic titles and holds numerous records with the most wins, kills, and assists in the LCK. Internationally, Faker is also a 4-time world champion; 2-time MSI champion; and has won a Rift Rival, IEM Katowice, and a gold medal at the 2022 Asian Games. Apart from his accomplishments in-game, Faker has been the face of the game since his debut thanks in part to the still iconic Zed 1v1 against Ryu.
To honor Faker’s (and all future members of the Hall) induction, Faker will be receiving a trophy celebrating his achievements as well as a variety of in-game items. The highlight of these in-game items are two skins, in this case a Leblanc skin which will be a part of a battle pass purchasable for 1950 RP. Then Faker will also finally receive an Ahri skin that will run your wallet for 5430 RP for the base risen version, 32,430 RP for the immortalized version, and finally a grand total of 59,260 RP for the final signature version of the skin.
So with the greatest player in the Hall, the real debate can begin on who should be next. We’ll be taking a look at each position and prioritize the criteria in this order:
- Overall contribution (legacy to the game)
- Individual performance/accomplishments
- Team performance/accomplishments
- Overall eye test/miscellaneous factors.
Lastly, while Faker isn’t a retired player yet, this list won’t feature any players who are still active so for anyone expecting players like Deft or Rookie to be mentioned for this list, you’re out of luck. So without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the players who could be considered for the Hall of Fame.
Top Lane: Lee "Flame" Ho-jong
T1 Flame
© T1
Before the likes of TheShy, Smeb, and Bin, there was Flame who was the first true carry top laner in the game’s history.
During his peak, Flame was so dominant that the term “Flame Horizon” became popular due to how often he would gain a 100-cs advantage over his opponent. While the term these days will refer to this taking place at any point of the game, Flame was regularly gaining this massive advantage over his opponents early in the laning phase on a regular basis which is nearly, if not entirely, impossible to pull off in today’s game.
While Flame’s trophy case is fairly empty for a player of his status with only an IEM world championship with CJ Entus Blaze and an LPL title (which he only played a few games behind Acorn) with LGD Gaming to his name, his individual performance and absolute dominance as a top laner during his peak makes him deserving of consideration for the Hall of Legends.
Honorable Mentions
- Song "Smeb" Kyung-ho
- Kim "Khan" Dong-ha
- Paul "sOAZ" Boyer
Jungle: Danil "Diamondprox" Reshetnikov
Diamondprox
© Furia
As one part of the legendary Moscow Five roster could’ve been considered the best team in the world at one point in the game’s history, Diamondprox should be considered for the first non-Asian player to be added into the Hall of Legends.
Considered by many as the inventor of counter-jungling, Diamondprox absolutely revolutionized the state of jungling and contributed to making it what it is today. Past that, his longevity as a top jungler was incredible as he remained a world-class jungler for numerous years even after moving over to compete in the CIS region where he almost upset Cloud9 in 2018 during play-in qualifications.
When it comes to team accomplishments, most of it came during season 2 which was highlighted by an IEM World championship title win and a top 4 finish at Worlds that year. Looking back, many will question how much more Diamondprox and the rest of Moscow5 could’ve accomplished heading into the later seasons if it wasn’t for constant visa issues affecting the team.
Regardless, for his contributions to the game and the jungle role as a whole, DiamondProx is a player who would be well deserving of a spot in the Hall of Legends.
Honorable Mentions
- Go "Score" Dong-bin
- Ming "Clearlove" Kai
- Choi "inSec" In-seok
Mid Lane: Yu "Misaya" Jing-Xi
For our mid laner, we go to China with one of the first iconic mids from the region in Misaya, who was also a 2022 inductee into the LPL’s Hall of Fame. As the mid laner for a World Elite team that was widely considered the best team in China during the early days of League of Legends, Misaya is best known for his Twisted fate, especially with a play named after him where you teleport in as Twisted Fate and bait out enemy spells with Zhonya’s Hourglass.
Unlike the first two players mentioned in this list, Misaya was fortunately able to stack up numerous titles as a part of a roster that also included the likes of Clearlove and WeiXiao. The highlight of all their titles is IPL5 where WE got their revenge against CLG EU and beat Moscow 5 and Fnatic on their way to lifting the title.
While there are many present day mid laners with much more impressive resumes, Misaya was one of the first truly iconic mid laners and is equally as deserving of a spot in the Hall of Legends.
Honorable Mentions
- Enrique "xPeke" Cedeño Martínez
- Heo "PawN" Won-seok
- Hai "Hai" Du Lam
ADC: Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao
While a lot of players have been mentioned so far, there is no player who would be more deserving of being the second inductee into the Hall of Legends as Uzi is. The iconic Chinese ADC who became an international star at the same Worlds as Faker has done almost everything there is to do as a player. While he’s fallen short of a World Championship on a few occasions, Uzi was still able to pick up a MSI title, 2 LPL titles, a Rift Rival win, and an Asian Games gold medal during his time as a pro.
But what set Uzi apart wasn’t his titles but his individual prowess as a player. Uzi was simply a killing machine as he was the first player to reach 2000 kills in 2018 which would take 10 other players another year to reach. Along with that when Uzi first retired, he had the record for most career kills (a record that was eventually taken by Deft). A lot of this success comes from his play on Vayne which has earned him 3 of his 7 career pentakills and where many consider him the best Vayne player in the world which is backed by his career 64.1% win rate.
Overall, it’s hard to argue against Uzi being the second biggest icon within competitive League of Legends history and he should be a clear option to be the second ever inductee into the Hall of Legends.
*sidenote* While Uzi did recently make a return to play with EDward Gaming it does appear that another return isn’t in the works and Uzi is officially retired again, hence why he was chosen here over some of the honorable mentions.
Honorable Mentions
- Gao "WeiXiao" Xue-Cheng
- Kim "PraY" Jong-in
- Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng
Support: Hong "MadLife" Min-gi
Stop me if you’ve heard something similar to this before, but before the likes of Mata, Lehends, and Keria, there was MadLife, who made the support role what it is today.
In the early days of League of Legends, the support’s role could be simplified down to buying gold generation items and then lighting the map up with wards. But Madlife showed to the world what the role is truly capable of and became a human highlight machine, especially on his legendary Thresh.
Unfortunately, much like his fellow CJ Entus member Flame, Madlife’s trophy case is fairly empty with only 2 titles from 2012 from OGN Invitational and Champions Summer to his name. However, as any long time fan of the scene knows, there’s know question to whether Madlife deserves a spot in the Hall as his individual play is what eventually led to the modern day version of the support role as we know it today and for his individual play and contributions to the game, Madlife should one day find himself in the Hall of Legends.
Honorable Mentions
- Cho "Mata" Se-hyeong
- Kang "GorillA" Beom-hyun
- Bora "YellOwStaR" Kim
And that’s our list of some of the players that we think should deserve consideration for the Hall of Legends! While competitive League of Legends has still had a relatively short history compared to traditional sports, there’s no question that there are a lot of players who deserve to be honored and celebrated with the Hall of Legends and it’ll be exciting to see who RIot inducts into the hall next year!
