The League of Legends S15 season is nearing its end, and the LCK region hosted its annual awards ceremony in late December. The awards are not much different from ours. Let’s see which players the LCK officially recognized. For the Player of the Year, nominees were BDD, Chovy, Faker, and Gumayusi. After the selection process, the award went to KT’s mid laner BDD.

There’s no denying that BDD performed exceptionally well at the World Championship this year, consistently carrying his team forward. However, in terms of honors, it feels somewhat lacking. Chovy secured three titles—the Mid-Season Invitational, the KeSPA Cup, and the league championship. As for Faker, he achieved a historic three consecutive world championships. Awarding BDD seems a bit abstract. Regarding the all-star lineup, Faker wasn’t even included, while T1’s jungler and bot lane duo, along with GEN’s top and mid laners, made the cut.

Oner’s performance this year was flawless; he has been the most consistent player on T1. Keria is the same, clearly leading in the support role with no real competition. The MVP selection was undisputed, though Chovy could have contended. Kiin’s individual performance ranks first in the top lane, so there’s no debate there. For mid lane, it’s more contentious, with BDD, Chovy, and Faker all deserving consideration.

The controversial part about the all-star lineup is that Chovy was named best mid laner, yet the Player of the Year went to BDD. It’s obvious the officials are trying to spread the awards around. Furthermore, LCK created a first all-star team entirely composed of GEN players. This means Faker didn’t even make LCK’s first team. In this year’s awards, he received nothing substantial—in fact, the only recognition he got was the Best Sportsmanship Award.

The six-time champion with three consecutive world titles was only given a newly created consolation prize. This move by the LCK officials sparked immediate controversy, with many fans questioning the criteria: Why only give Faker a minor award? Honestly, Faker should have earned at least one of Player of the Year, best lineup, or first team. The officials’ clear targeting is quite distasteful, almost as if they deserve a “parasite” award themselves.

Besides Faker’s consolation prize, the LCK also introduced many miscellaneous awards. DK’s mid laner ShowMaker won the Most Champions Played award—an odd category to even have. Additionally, DK’s top laner Siwoo and HLE’s top laner Zeus shared the Highest Single Kill Count award. The LCK’s Coach of the Year didn’t go to T1’s coaching staff but instead to Kim, formerly of GEN and now head coach of WBG.

Chovy not only made the all-star lineup and first team but also won the Regular Season MVP award, which is well-deserved. Ignoring the World Championship, his dominance in the league was unmatched. The LCK Rookie of the Year went to BFX’s DaBora, which is reasonable given Diable’s impressive performance this year—he even killed two AD carries in a single BO3 while T1 was still experimenting with AD rotations.

The remaining awards seem rather trivial, such as Ruler’s Best KDA award, which feels like it was created just to fill time during the ceremony. Overall, this year’s awards stirred significant controversy. Faker only received a consolation prize, and Doran got nothing at all. Faker’s sportsmanship award likely exists just to ensure he attends the ceremony and boosts its appeal, as arranged by the LCK officials.

Conclusion:

Giving a three-time consecutive world champion only a consolation prize feels quite unreasonable. Considering Faker’s achievements and status, if this were the LPL region, he would undoubtedly be both the mid laner of the year and the Player of the Year. The LCK seems to be riding Faker’s popularity while handing out awards to others, which is really excessive. Faker certainly doesn’t need these awards, but outright denying him is hard to accept.

So, what do you think? Was this awards ceremony fair?

Feel free to leave your thoughts and join the discussion!