The LOL World Championship play-in stage will officially begin in 6 days. IG recently traveled to Korea for training, sparking considerable controversy. Some IG fans feel that the official practice squad only starts assisting world championship teams on the 15th, but IG has to start competing on the 14th. This so-called practice squad has provided no support to IG, leading many to criticize the officials on IG’s fan forum.

During a recent livestream, Zhu Kai responded to the issue of no LPL teams scrimming with IG. Zhu Kai said: "Who told you there are no LPL teams scrimming with IG?" This implies that IG does have scrims within LPL, and the reason for training in Korea is to deeply study T1’s playstyle from LCK teams. Although Zhu Kai’s credibility is questionable, it’s definitely impossible for IG to have no scrims at all.

LOL World Championship prize pool revealed

With the World Championship about to begin, Riot has yet to announce the theme song or prize pool officially. However, foreign media recently leaked details about the S15 prize pool: this year’s total prize pool is $5 million USD, with the champion receiving $1 million, the runner-up $800,000, third and fourth place $400,000 each, 5th to 8th place $300,000 each, 9th to 11th place $175,000 each, 12th to 14th place $125,000 each, and 15th to 16th place $112,500 each.

Besides the above prizes, there is also a 17th place team receiving $75,000. This means the loser between IG and T1 will earn less than the Asian Invitational champion (King Pro League champion gets $600,000). Importantly, next year’s World Championship likely won’t have a 17th place. The loser between T1 and IG will become the only 17th place team in LOL history, so both teams must fight hard.

Faker becomes the oldest player in S15

This year’s World Championship does not include players over 30 like Impact and CoreJJ, making 29-year-old Faker the oldest participant. Another player of the same age is CFO’s support, Rest, who is just 5 months younger than Faker. Next is 28-year-old Uzi. Apart from these three, all other players are 27 or younger.

CFO is quite an interesting team. Their mid laner HongQ is only 17 years old, making him the youngest player at Worlds. Yet, their top laner is 29 and support is 27, creating a 12-year age gap within the team. Nowadays in LOL, such young rookies are rare. Even the youngest players in LPL are in their twenties, and it seems the current roster will stay for years because newcomers are very scarce.

Xiaohu ranks second in World Championship appearances

Recently, foreign media shared historical data on players’ match appearances at Worlds. Unsurprisingly, Faker tops the list with 147 appearances and a 74% win rate. The closest to him is Xiaohu, who did not qualify this year but has exactly 100 appearances with a 55% win rate. The third-ranked player, Chidi, is expected to surpass Xiaohu this year.

Chidi has appeared 93 times, and after this year’s Swiss stage, he should become the second all-time. Fourth place goes to Deft, who has one fewer appearance than Chidi but has retired, so he can’t catch up. Among the top 10, besides Xiaohu, Meiko and Scout from LPL also appear, ranked 7th and 9th respectively, with 76 and 74 appearances.

Conclusion:

Unknowingly, Faker has become the oldest player at Worlds. However, unlike others his age who slack off and let younger players carry, Faker not only stays active but often leads his team to victories. Remarkably, he has signed a 3-year extension with T1, meaning he will play at least until 2029 before retiring.

So, how many more years do you think Faker can keep playing?

Feel free to leave your thoughts and join the discussion!