The best plays of Faker's career

Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok, a man synonymous with League of Legends greatness, added another bullet point to his unmatched résumé on Thursday.

Faker, a three-time world champion with T1 widely considered the best player to ever enter Summoner's Rift, earned his 2,000th career kill in League Champions Korea on Thursday. It's an unprecedented mark in the LCK and brought to mind the countless other big moments The Unkillable Demon King has been a part of.

Here's a look back at some of the iconic moments in Faker's career that led to Thursday's milestone, from domestic dominance to inspired international play.

April 2013: Faker's first kill

In his first game in Champions Spring 2013 in South Korea, Faker caught Kang "Ambition" Chan-yong as he evolved a Kha'Zix ability, making him unable to move. Ambition had no cover from minions, allowing Faker's Nidalee to lead with a close-range Javelin Toss, followed by a shapeshifted all-in to kill Ambition under tower.

Prior to that Champions split, few knew about Faker. He was revered across solo queue in South Korea but had never competed professionally on a big stage, other than to qualify with SK Telecom T1 2 for Champions a couple of months before this moment. That would soon change, as his 2013 season would put the mid laners of South Korea on notice.

-- Jacob Wolf

September 2013: Faker outplays Ryu in Zed one-on-one

Even after nearly seven years, this might still be Faker's most iconic play. In 2013, Champions still made Game 5s blind-pick, which allowed teams to pick the same champions, unlike in draft, but without knowing what their opponents were picking. And so, in the fifth game of the Champions Summer 2013 final, both Faker and Ryu "Ryu" Sang-wook picked Zed, the swift, high-damage mid lane assassin.

ESPN Daily: Sign up now!

As the rest of SK Telecom T1 2 pushed into the bottom side of the KT Rolster B's base, Faker solo-pushed into the mid lane. Ryu went to counter the push, and thanks to a few tower shots, caught Faker off-guard. But in a quick, smart use of Zed's ultimate, followed by a Quicksilver Sash cleanse, a flash and finally Zed's Living Shadow, Faker executed Ryu and lived with just a small sliver of health.

"FAKER, WHAT WAS THAT?!" Champions commentator Erik "DoA" Lonnquist exclaimed in a now-famous call.

-- Wolf

May 2014: Faker kills Cyanide, steals Baron from Fnatic

In this game at League of Legends All-Star Weekend 2014 in Paris, SK Telecom T1 K decided to use the champions they earned skins for at the world championship six months prior. That put Faker, once again, on Zed.

After Fnatic caught out SKT top laner Jung "Impact" Eon-yeong and jungler Bae "Bengi" Seong-woong, the European team turned their attention to Baron. As Fnatic started Baron and Impact respawned and teleported, Faker popped over the wall using Zed's Living Shadow and onto Fnatic jungler Lauri "Cyanide" Happonen. Cyanide died in mere seconds. Faker went back over the wall until AD carry Chae "Piglet" Gwang-jin and support Lee "PoohManDu" Jeong-hyeon could flank, then went back into the Baron pit with Impact and stole the Baron.

Good night, Fnatic.

-- Wolf

August 2015: Faker posterizes KT's Nagne with Riven to cap off landmark season

Summer 2015 was supposed to be a rocky one for the GOAT. He'd just lost his first international tournament and was also being benched for the first time in his career, with backup mid laner Lee "Easyhoon" Ji-hoon outperforming Faker when it came to ranged mages like Azir. It was not a great time for the former world champion.

More: Doublelift benched by Team Liquid | NBA 2K adds Make-A-Wish kid as playable character | Winners and losers of the Overwatch League's first hero pool bans

So, what did Faker do coming off that devastating international loss with his starting position in jeopardy? He just shut everyone up by having his best season ever. Faker averaged more than five kills a game in the summer split of League Champions Korea, and to cap it all off, he had this dazzling, ankle-breaking (tail-breaking?) elimination with Riven on KT Rolster's Kim "Nagne" Sang-moon and his outmatched Cassiopeia.

In an anticipated final between the longtime rivals, the Telecom War turned out to be more of a coronation than anything else. Faker silenced any critics about his play with a 3-0 stomp over KT, and the rest was his history, this season being the start of back-to-back world championships for the living legend.

-- Tyler Erzberger

October 2017: Faker and SKT T1 make miracle comeback vs. EDward Gaming

I remember this game like it was yesterday. During the first week of the 2017 League of Legends World Championship group stages, Faker and SKT were on the ropes with little hope of turning it around. China's EDG were rolling, especially the team's rookie AD carry Hu "iBoy" Xian-Zhao, who, feeling himself, taunted the reigning world champions by raising his team's flair in pre-celebration.

Faker did not take too kindly to that.

After holding off for the perfect teamfight, SKT, the quintessential counterpuncher, found its opening as Lee "Wolf" Jae-wan dashed in Rakan to set up a perfect Shockwave on Orianna from Faker that deleted EDG's star support, Tian "Meiko" Ye, from the map. Fifteen minutes later, SKT marched down Summoner's Rift to keep their record perfect and begin another run toward a worlds final.

Let this be a lesson to all teams: Don't taunt Faker.

-- Erzberger