Throughout the bracket stage at Worlds 2017, there was a sense that Faker had to be at his absolute best just to reach the final. One might call it a desperation; just from watching SKT play, you would be hard-pressed to find a player trying harder to win.

This was never more apparent than during the semi-final against Royal Never Give Up when Faker was on Galio for all five games. Why Galio in particular? Faker literally had to help out both top and bottom the entire series, or rather, he felt he had to. This burden, in light of a faltering bot lane and easily exploitable top lane, had forced Faker into Galio.

Galio, the champion, is the ultimate team player. With various tools at his disposal to engage, roam, and drag teammates to victory, Galio became the symbol of Faker’s desperation to win together with his team. Sure, one might argue it was practically a solo performance given how he played, but the key to reaching the final, he might’ve thought, was in making sure his teammates did not fall behind too heavily. Through Faker, and to a lesser extent Blank and Peanut’s efforts, Bang and Huni eventually found their groove and had their moments to shine.

Then came the final, against Samsung Galaxy. Before the final, SSG’s coach Edgar had remarked to Inven Global in an interview that SKT were perhaps too reliant on Faker to win. He ended up being spot on; if Faker did not perform, there was a high chance that they would succumb under pressure. His roams not succeeding represented a larger problem that is emblematic of this iteration of SKT; the inability of the other teammates to step up when counted.

Surely, even with his status as the greatest of all time player, Faker should not be counted on that heavily to win the game. SKT T1 might have built its dynasty on Faker as the focal point, yet he has always been surrounded by players whom, at their core, were strong, yet stable players. This lessened the burden on him to carry historically, even though he still showed up with aplomb. 

This track record of having players whom rarely made mistakes ended in 2017 with the acquisitions of Huni and Peanut, famously known for their mechanics and aggression, but also prone to making mistakes and guilty of being over-aggressive. These mistakes, along with Bang and Wolf, consistent throughout 2015 and 2016, dipping in performance, exponentially increased the pressure on Faker to make zero mistakes.

We should know by now that humans, even a demigod like Faker, are not impervious to errors. This is not the point of singling out Faker’s teammates for their errors - mistakes are inevitable. The point is that League of Legends has, thanks to its title winners over the years, become a game that is won by the team that makes the fewest crucial errors.

This time at Worlds 2017, Samsung Galaxy became that team. Strangling out their opponents once they got ahead and rarely ever slipping up brought them their deserved success. Meanwhile, SKT as a unit made too many individual errors for Faker to salvage - unlike against Misfits and RNG who ultimately also slipped up when it mattered, Samsung were hardly in danger through the series.

Game 1 was emblematic of the sort of game that League of Legends at its highest level had become known for: two teams putting up their defensive shields, waiting for the other to slip up. With the game finely poised and even, Samsung made the first move: setting up vision and rushing Baron. This move was so crucial because although Peanut ended up stealing the Baron, they had lured SKT into aggro-ing.

Faker had flashed over the wall like an anaconda that had paralyzed its prey (even though in this instance SSG were far from paralyzed), and like a swift counter to the face, CuVee arrived on the scene and wiped their over-eager opponents out. SSG had lured SKT into a false sense of bravado, ironically, because of their inability to secure the Baron.

So Faker did end up making crucial mistakes this series. Yet, again, we are not here to point out how bad he is, because of what it took to get this far in the first place. That Faker looked so distraught, for the first time ever, had to be in part due to his inability to carry the team when they needed him most.

I argue that the team should never have put Faker in that position in the first place. Star player notwithstanding, SKT were supposed to have other carries in Huni and Bang. Even more mistake-prone than Faker throughout Worlds, they should feel a lot worse about themselves. In his desperation to carry, Faker made several uncharacteristically over-aggressive errors during the series. The team should have calmed down and tried to minimize their mistakes instead of trying to style on SSG -- such as in that final Game 2 Yasuo pick or Game 1 Gangplank against RNG in the semi-finals -- something which Huni has always been guilty of, except for a period during Spring.

SKT has no room for egoistic players - not if they ever want to lift another Worlds trophy. Faker has been anything but egoistic throughout his career, always humble despite his immense skill. He, perhaps more than anyone else in League of Legends, knows what it means to win. He does not deserve to have teammates who saddle him with such undue responsibility; it is exactly because he is the GOAT that he deserves more stable players by his side.

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Image courtesy of Riot Games' LolEsports Flickr.