Tag: Worlds 2020

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League of Legends

T1 Head Coach steps down after Worlds 2020 disappointment

Kim “Kim” Jung-su, the Head Coach of SK telecom T1, has resigned from his position as per a post on social media today. The announcement broke early on August 13, heralding the end of his one season coaching the top Korean team.

The departure comes as T1 fell in the LCK gauntlet just four days ago on Wednesday, September 9. After a dramatic three-game series, the normally dominant T1, led by the legendary Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, fell to Gen.G.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WgkFlEkmwQ

As a result, T1 were eliminated from Worlds 2020 contention, despite winning the LCK Spring 2020 split. T1 were far less impressive during the summer LCK season, falling to fifth place overall. 

Coaching Woes for Kim

The fall off in performance was partially blamed on coach Kim. His decision to play up-and-coming mid talent Lee “Clozer” Ju-hyeon over veteran Faker was highly scrutinised. 

Kim is not the first T1 coach to choose not to play Faker, nominally regarded as one of the best players ever. T1’s former head coach Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun gained notoriety for choosing to start other talents, including Lee “Easyhoon” Ji-hoon, over Faker in what was widely regarded as the latter’s peak. 

The departure marks the start of a shakeup for an organisation on the verge of massive change. T1 will be part of the new franchised LCK, which will see the entire makeup of the storied league change. What’s more, speculation swirls around the future of Faker, who this year signed a historic deal with the organisation. This security and the lack of playtime could inspire one of the greatest players ever to call it a day once and for all. 

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League of Legends

LEC reveals record viewership ahead of Worlds 2020

Worlds 2020 is less than a month away, and for one region in particular there’s already plenty to celebrate. Namely Europe, where the League of Legends European Championship has had one of it’s best ever seasons for viewership.

In a detailed post on reviewing the 2020 LEC Summer viewership, the Rioter Alberto “Tiroless” Guerrero revealed the record-setting figures. Overall the LEC’s peak concurrent viewers hit close to one million, reaching a height of 952,339, an increase of 16.7 percent. However, this wasn’t some kind of outlier with the average viewership not far off that mark at 819,415.

That number, which would put it ahead of many TV shows on traditional media for live viewing figures, represents a 70% increase since last year for the Summer Split. The report also states that this was the highest viewed season ever in Europe.


The news comes as the LEC has received universal praise for it’s revitalised broadcast. The European League of Legends scene was revitalised in 2019 with the rebrand from EU LCS to LEC. Since then the broadcast team has striven to create a unique identity, and the record viewership seems to imply that they’ve been successful in engaging with the audience.

The New Kings

This is a far cry from the dismal years past in which Europe, despite often better individual talent, struggled against the individual personalities and brand recognition in the LCS. Since then, problems with production, and a failure to adapt quickly during the coronavirus pandemic, has seen the LCS loose pace with the LEC.

During both League’s respective finals, the LEC hit its peak viewership. Meanwhile, the LCS struggled to beat over half of that, peaking at 545,571, but floundering to a 205,750 on average. This would in part have been down to the five-match war between Team SoloMid and FlyQuest dragging on for so long, while the quick pace of the LEC finals would have kept viewers excited. 

Regardless, it’s a dramatic shift in fortunes for both leagues, and a wake-up call for the LCS, who must now attempt to regain their dominance of the platform in the wake of the LEC’s record viewership.

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