Introduction: The S15 season is fully concluded, and it’s believed that the vast majority of players have been paying attention to the recent offseason. LCK’s overall popularity and excitement are very strong. As the undisputed top region globally, they conducted their season awards ceremony, which left fans quite shocked. Despite being the top mid laner, Faker only received a minor award at this ceremony. As a six-time champion mid laner, he practically earned no major honors, while nearly all awards went to the Gen.G team, who even had every member included in the Best First Team. It seems like LCK might be somewhat biased against Faker now.

Gen.G’s entire roster takes the LCK Best First Team honors

Most players are quite familiar with the LCK region, recognized as the world’s top league. Their achievements in recent years have been outstanding, winning the World Championship multiple times in a row, with no other region able to match their dominance. As the offseason progressed, the LCK awards ceremony became a hot topic among netizens. Especially concerning the T1 team, which won the World Championship three consecutive years—would they receive higher honors? However, after the ceremony ended, LCK faced heavy criticism, with many Korean fans accusing the organizers of targeting Faker.

First, looking at the LCK Best First Team, Gen.G swept the entire lineup: top lane Kiin, jungler Canyon, mid lane Chovy, AD carry Ruler, and support Duro. If this were just an internal LCK competition, Gen.G’s honor is well deserved, as they dominated the league, easily claiming the championship in both the second and third splits, even breaking SKT’s winning streak record. However, the subsequent awards confused fans, especially the selection for the annual best lineup: top lane Kiin, jungler Oner, mid lane Chovy, AD carry Ruler, and support Keria. Honestly, the most debated position was top lane. Despite some mistakes, Doran was MSI runner-up and World Champion, yet he didn’t receive any award.

Moreover, fans compared last season’s Zeus, who was spring split runner-up and World Champion, and was named Best Top Laner. There was also discussion about mid lane being Chovy and AD carry given to Ruler, leaving people unclear whether the awards were based on World Championship results or internal regional performance. If based on Worlds, mid lane should have gone to Faker; if based on regional results, AD carry should be Ruler. The Player of the Year award went to Bdd, despite him not winning any championship all year. Ultimately, Faker only received a minor award: the LCK Annual Sportsmanship Award.

Even many Korean fans clearly see the situation, bluntly saying the LCK’s most fitting award should be "Best Parasite of the Year," feeding off Faker’s fame to gain attention. Indeed, anyone who watched this year’s matches can sense issues with the LCK awards, and the criteria remain unclear. If the awards were strictly based on regional results, giving all honors to Gen.G would be understandable, and fans wouldn’t complain much. After all, this team only faced minor setbacks at the final World Championship, failing to reach the ultimate final.

Farewell thoughts

It’s puzzling why LCK officials gave Faker the Annual Sportsmanship Award—was it meant to console him? It feels like LCK is pushing Chovy hard now; every year, Chovy performs strongly for 11 months but has one weak month, which consistently leads to new lows on the world stage. The label "big stage choke" has become synonymous with him and Knight.

What do you all think about this situation?