How the impact of Faker’s injury draws comparisons to the absence of one sports star

It’s rare for esports pros to miss time due to physical injury—at least, relative to the frequency that it happens to traditional sports stars. But earlier this month, the arguably biggest esports star of them all—Faker—was forced to hit whatever the esports equivalent of the injured list is with an arm issue, and T1 is dealing with the cost of his absence. 

Since Faker went down with an arm injury on July 2, T1’s League of Legends squad has posted an ugly record of 1-6 and is in danger of missing the LCK playoffs for the first time in five years. This experience—the one where losing a star player can completely derail a season—is part and parcel for sports fans; so much so that certain fan bases are completely desensitized to injuries and simply wait for the other shoe to drop each season. For esports fans, though, this is practically brand new—and T1 fans are getting the full experience firsthand.