With Zeus off the team, T1’s ZOFGK roster is officially over. It was arguably the greatest LoL roster of all time, and now it’s gone. While most of the League community is still reeling from the news, this move may end up being the best thing that could have happened to League of Legends.
Zeus is a player who was built up within T1’s ecosystem, someone who came into the team as a rookie and emerged a legend, someone who earned Worlds MVP in 2023 and carried the team through some of their biggest rough patches.
If it weren’t for him dragging T1 through their last matches in the LCK regional finals, they would have never made it to Worlds 2024 in the first place. The team was just 1 loss away from missing the World Championship they just won, after all.
Zeus was a key part of the way the team functions, and they’ll probably be worse without him. Fans of the team aren’t happy with how things turned out. So, what could possibly be good about him leaving?
Putting all your eggs in one basket
There’s a long-running joke that, when T1 qualifies for big matches, Riot cheers from the sidelines and breathes a sigh of relief. But this team is absolutely carrying the esport at the moment. The best jokes tend to have a twinge of truth behind them.
Almost every viewership record that’s been broken in competitive League of Legends has been off the back of T1 matches. The organization missing an international would be disastrous for Riot.
What’s more, we’ve seen what happens to this team when Faker’s on the bench. His wrist injury in 2023 left the team flailing, making it clear that he’s the core of their roster and the reason why it functions so well.
In the event that Faker retires – well, a lot would happen. League of Legends would be in for a reckoning, forced to grapple with the question of whether or not the esport can survive without him. So many storylines in League of Legends center around him that his absence will leave a void that could never be filled.
However, the current T1 roster would also be dead in the water. There’s no mid laner that could come in and take his role. Faker retiring would be the end of T1 as we know it no matter how good the rest of the team is. And, as hard as it is to say, Faker will retire eventually. Don’t let his iron grip on League of Legends from the inception of the esport fool you into thinking he’s not mortal.
If he steps away from competitive League of Legends and the rest of the team that helped him rebuild his legacy and cement himself as the greatest player of all time falls with him, what’s left in the esport?
To the person reading this, yes, you’re probably a diehard League of Legends fan and follow other teams. You know there’s more to this than just T1 and Faker; other stories to engage with, other players to be a fan of. But there are also fans who exclusively watch T1. If LoL wants to retain that fandom, they’ll need somewhere else to go, other teams and players to root for.
To be completely honest, I was hoping that rumors of this team sticking together weren’t true. We can only watch the same team win Worlds so many times until it starts to get old, and an ecosystem carried so hard by one team is destined for failure.
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A worse T1 could result in a healthier competitive League of Legends ecosystem, and I want to see what these players can do beyond playing under the T1 banner.
It’s time for some of these talented young players that Faker has brought up to leave the nest.
T1 Zeus is spreading his wings
Out of all the players to leave T1, Zeus definitely has the best chance of succeeding on another team if they can work around his talents. Sure, he can play weakside, but his ability to flex carry picks and win the game through top lane is something whichever team that picks him up should play into.
And he’ll need to succeed if there’s a new rivalry to be born between T1 and the team he ends up on. It’s looking likely that’ll be Hanwha Life Esports at the time of writing, making the story even better with new T1 top laner Doran having to fight against his previous teammates as well as the person who replaced him.
What are the odds of a T1 fan rooting for HLE at an international if Zeus is on the team? Pretty damn high. And, if their roster meshes and these players live up to the expectations set for them, they’ve got a shot at winning Worlds 2025.
That person would likely be inclined to learn more about the HLE, to learn about the players behind the team. They’d probably know (and perhaps have a bit of resentment for) Zeka after he denied T1 the Worlds win in 2022. Viper won Worlds in 2021 and has a rich history as one of the most mechanically gifted ADCs of all time. Peanut has ties with T1 as well, creating even more history between both teams. These are players worth getting behind for T1 fans, players that can build a new dynasty.
The point of these hypotheticals is that, the moment a member of T1 leaves a team, a new narrative thread is created. It immediately gives fans of the org reasons to fall in love with other teams and explore different fandoms. Having someone like Zeus branch out at his peak rather than waiting until T1 has an off year only strengthens the narrative and builds a better future for the LCK.
While this is a downgrade for T1 in the moment and a tragic end to one of the best rosters in League of Legends history, it’s also a new beginning. This is Zeus’ chance to show that he can succeed beyond just playing for T1 and prove it not only to his fans, but to his former teammates.
Now that the roster has lost a member, ZOFGK has been cemented as one of the very best teams in LoL history. The chance of T1 having an off-year and nosediving has been entirely eliminated, and there’s no way to taint ZOFGK’s legacy.
Don’t be sad it’s over, be glad it happened. Be glad that a roster of rookies with the League of Legends GOAT at its center came together and made something beautiful, a story of hope for players new and old that now exists in perpetuity.
A dynasty has to end for a new one to be created, and I hope Zeus can take what he’s learned and become a player that can rival Faker instead of living in the shadow of his achievements.