Things are getting heated between Korean esports organization T1 and their fans, with the latter being outraged over some of the recent decisions and rumors. But why are T1 fans so mad right now and which decisions brought on this situation?
Despite a very rich and winning history things haven’t been going extremely well for T1 in the League of Legends department. Even though they’ve won Worlds three times (2013, 2015 and 2016), they’ve only been able to qualify for Worlds once in the past three years. With superstar mid laner Lee “Faker” Sang-Hyeok on board, their results have been lacking to say the least.
Coaching changes
Recently T1 decided to make some changes to their coaching staff after the departure of Kim Jeong-soo, who left the organization following the 2020 LCK Summer Split. According to accidental (possible) leaks through T1 support Lee “Effort” Sang-ho, the organization would be signing Choi “Polt” Seong Hun as a head coach and Nick “LS” DeCesare as a coach.
So as many of you have sent me, it was leaked by Effort on stream that LS will be joining T1, confirming rumours of some time ago.
Rumours I’ve heard about this said that T1 was a good choice for LS because of his projects, which are related to player development https://t.co/HM2JSUlZbv
— LEC Wooloo 🇪🇺 (@LEC_Wooloo) November 2, 2020
T1 received quite a bit of backlash for these rumored signings from fans. According to the fans, Polt (a former StarCraft II professional player) is way too inexperienced and too big of a risk to be the head coach of T1. LS, in turn, has coaching experience from his time with bbq Olivers but is generally disliked by Korean fans for his attitude and comments regarding bbq Olivers jungler Sebastian “Malice” Edholm’s behavior in soloqueue.
A lot of passionate Korean fans of T1 are angry at the organization for thinking about bringing in someone as head coach who doesn’t have a lot of experience, alongside signing someone they consider a controversial figure. LS himself decided to take a break from Twitter after his personal life got exposed and attacked, with T1 releasing a statement shortly after. In the statement T1 doesn’t deny the signings and asks for the support of the fans along with some patience.
A Message from @T1 pic.twitter.com/Tjg19Zj1AP
— T1 LoL (@T1LoL) November 7, 2020
Content strategy
In recent months T1 also seems to have changed around their strategy when it comes to making content. They’ve signed popular Twitch streamer Tyler1 as a content creator for their organization, with T1 CEO Shaun Marsh explaining that they are also looking towards creating more content and want to create a fanbase over in America as well.
Ready to RUN?#T1xRUNBTS with @bts_bighit pic.twitter.com/HPM6IQmqim
— T1 LoL (@T1LoL) November 2, 2020
Korean fans have been quick to point out that T1 doesn’t seem to care all that much about competition anymore and is only looking towards promotional deals, such as the recently announced collaboration with K-pop boy band BTS.
Response
As a response to the Korean outrage towards the possible signing of Polt and LS, some players have come out to talk about the situation. Fnatic top laner Gabriel “Bwipo” Rau posted a statement to Twitter in which he defended LS, citing his previous personal experiences with him, while also giving his opinion on the recent course of T1 in terms of content and their decisions when it comes to roster moves.
To my Korean fans
Read: https://t.co/eM3HUNdcBW
— Bwipo (@Bwipo) November 8, 2020
In response to Bwipo’s statement, Malice also tried to clarify the situation and his stance.
Regarding the recent accusations and allegations towards LS and my side
Read: https://t.co/lBrchLjdm5
— Malice (@LolMalice) November 8, 2020
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