“Suddenly, Faker is amazing again”… Why did the ‘surprise worship’ meme arise? < Game N Culture < Gameplay Press Room < Text of article

[게임플] “Looking at the chaos of the Stove League, I suddenly feel that Faker, who has been a legend on the same team for 10 years, is amazing.”

‘Adoration’ is pouring in from all fields beyond e-sports. In the finals of the 2023 League of Legends World Championship (Worlds Cup) on the 19th, T1, led by ‘Faker’ Lee Sang-hyeok, defeated powerful Chinese LPL teams in succession and won the trophy for the first time in 7 years. In particular, Faker further solidified his status as the ‘God of e-Sports’ by winning the World Cup four times, an unprecedented achievement.

Praise for Faker poured in from all industries, including a congratulatory message from the President, and the media, including all terrestrial news channels, also added to the craze. At the World Cup held in Korea, Korea’s position as the strongest LoL player was solidified for two consecutive years, and the stories of the players and teams who did it were also great.

Among them, the ‘surprise worship’ template has been around since before Worlds. Suddenly changing the conversation to a completely unrelated topic by saying, “Suddenly, I feel like Han Faker is amazing again.” In internet communities and broadcasts, you can often see reactions such as “Damn, it’s my brother again” and “Daesanghyuk”.

In fact, the origins of this meme were negative. This meme started longer than you might think. Around 2018, a conflict arose in the basketball community NBA Mania over the frequent responses to other players’ slumps or misfortunes such as “I feel like LeBron is amazing again” and “That’s the majesty of LeBron”, and this was used to ridicule this fandom phenomenon. They used to be used together.

And this year, its meaning as ridicule and ‘sudden humor’ grew as the DC Inside soccer community actively used it targeting Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo does not have a good image in Korea after the ‘no-show’ incident. However, because his character was solid and well-known, it served as an opportunity to spread the use of the meme as a joke.

The grand prize was moved to Faker ahead of Worlds. Antis naturally follow a player who has reached the top in a field. Although Faker’s career and symbolism were incomparable, he became the subject of criticism just because he was briefly runner-up in return.

However, as the ‘surprise worship’ of Faker spread wider, the meaning of ridicule was diluted. This is because the proportion of fans is overwhelming compared to antis, and there are very few people who can deny that “it’s really great.” Later, it became established as a joke that was used so naturally that it was often used without knowing the origin.

The versatility is also very wide. It can be used on anyone, not just famous stars, and is sometimes expressed as ‘habitual worship’ beyond surprise. It is gradually being used as other expressions that make use of surprise, such as ‘surprise sighting’ and ‘surprise bathroom’. In the end, there is also a change in thinking, such as “We were habitually worshiping, but you witnessed this by surprise.”

And, Faker turned even the slightest hint of ridicule into cheers through his own abilities.

In the World Cup quarterfinals match against LNG, they pressured LNG from the mid lane to a landslide victory of 3:0, and in the semifinals against JD Gaming, which was called the number one candidate for the championship, the entire series was dominated by Azir Super Play in an unfavorable situation. turned over.

The more we look back at the history of memes, the more it is confirmed that Faker is a player who deserves ‘habitual worship.’ He rocked the world since his debut in 2013, and he’s still rocking it just the same 10 years later. There was not a single accident or controversy during the process. The public came to know that even if something faltered, he would eventually rise again and write history from the forefront.

Overwhelming achievements, performance, and professionalism transform even negative memes into cheerful and bright memes. Suddenly, I once again felt amazing about Faker, who had even absorbed the constant harassment from haters into the subject of myth.