After a great player emerges and establishes himself as one of the best of all time, the follow-up question is the obligatory, "Who's next?"
When Michael Jordan took the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships in the 1990s and made basketball a worldwide phenomenon, the globe wanted to know who would pick up where he left off. The same happened with Wayne Gretzky in hockey. Pelé in soccer. Michael Schumacher in auto racing.
In League of Legends, since winning the world championship in his rookie year, Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok has established himself as the greatest to ever download the game, and the gap between him and his peers has only widened over the course of his career.
This is the story of teenage Gwak "Bdd" Bo-seong, who carries the burden of living up to Faker, a man known as "God" in his home country of South Korea.
His team isn't supposed to be here, and neither is he.
The Nexon Arena in Seoul, South Korea, is sold out for the climactic match of the summer 2017 season. The League Champions Korea regular season and a qualification to the postseason final comes down to a single match, winner takes all. Samsung Galaxy is the runner-up of the most recent world championship, with its entire starting roster from last year's tournament run still intact. The opposing club, Longzhu Gaming, is the black sheep of the proud and dominant Korean region; formerly known as Incredible Miracle before being taken over by a Chinese title sponsor in 2015, the organization has been a constant series of embarrassments.
After a convincing Game 1 victory, Longzhu is on the verge of rewriting history; while in seasons past something would occur to trip up Longzhu, whiplashing the team back into reality, tonight nothing can go wrong. The club's veteran duo in the bottom lane, Kim "PraY" Jong-in and Kang "GorillA" Beom-hyun, are firing on all cylinders, and the team's young nucleus is playing up to the moment. The screams of the fans change from pure cheers to urging them forward, almost begging the team to turn what was a foolish dream before the season to reality.
The game and series are almost at a close. Longzhu breaks into the base with little resistance and pushes across the Nexus turrets. The final line of static defense falls, Samsung scrambles, and victory is in the crosshairs for the team with the cartoonish dragon across its breast.
One Longzhu player falls. Another follows right after. The team had gone too deep. PraY dies, and GorillA is sent back to his home fountain seconds later. Only one member of the team is still breathing. Even though minions are crashing toward the Nexus and a berth in the final is almost assured for Samsung, the Longzhu fans tense; this is the same team that for years failed to deliver on false promises. The same team that made a sport of creating superteams just to find the most elaborate way possible to fail. The same team--
Bdd kites back from the surviving pair of Samsung, whittling down the Nexus before downing Lee "Crown" Min-ho, last season's MVP, to the delight of the Longzhu supporters. An instant later, Bdd charges in, erasing the final Samsung player from the board to be the last man standing on Summoner's Rift. The game is over, and Longzhu's curse is officially broken. The fans are half-ecstatic, half-dumbfounded -- Longzhu is actually in the final.
The 18-year-old mid laner sits staring at the "VICTORY" screen, his hands clamped around his mouth, a look of disbelief on his face to mirror the fans before turning into an embrace from one of his coaches. Bdd's expression shifts into a childlike grin and a sigh of relief escapes his body; the days and sleepless nights of practicing have not been in vain.
A year ago, he'd been relegated from the league, another hyped-up amateur who couldn't cut it when removed from the comfort of his bedroom walls. It was one of the worst moments in his life.
Tonight, named co-MVP of the league, with his teammates' arms draped over his shoulders and fans chanting his name, there is nowhere in the world Bdd would rather be.
Bdd's childhood was nothing out of the ordinary.
He did not grow up as some sort of prodigy in math or sports. Growing up in the city of Incheon with his parents, he was just a kid who enjoyed video games. After a day at school and a night out with friends, he would spend his remaining hours before bed on the computer.
"At first I played flash games," said Bdd of his earliest days with video games. "Then I naturally transitioned into online games. The first game that really caught my attention was a strategy game named 'Nova 1492.'"
Although no prodigy, Bdd's competitive spirit, which would eventually transition into the world of professional video games, was there from the start. He remembers when he was a kid and would break down crying after losing in sports. His favorite childhood memories, still, are the nights when he would return from playing sports or going to school to grind on those flash and online games.
In eighth grade, his life would change forever with the introduction of a wildly popular online game called League of Legends. After seeing some of his friends play it and thinking it might be fun to give it a try, he began playing himself. His first champions when starting out were the explosive expert Ziggs and the void monster Kog'maw.
A little over a year after being introduced to the game, his games evolved from playing alongside and against his friends in PC bangs to playing against some of the players he idolized watching on television -- and beating them, too.
"I started to dream more about becoming a pro gamer after my [rank] rose enough for me to meet pro players and find that I could go [toe-to-toe] against them," he said. "I think that was around the middle of ninth grade."
It was the start of a dream that would change not only the teenager's life but also the South Korean esports community. As Bdd's online presence grew and he rose up the online solo queue rankings, so did his reputation. With each victory over a pro gamer, his "Bdd" ID became known by players and fans alike. It wasn't long until his mechanical outplays and highlight videos started getting posted on YouTube.
In particular, his Zed montages became his signature online. His plays were instantly compared to the one and only Faker, SK Telecom T1's ace and the face of League of Legends worldwide, who made his name the same way -- rising through the online ranks with flashy, dominant play that made pros look like amateurs. Bdd's Zed, vanishing, dashing and assassinating his opponents in an elegant but brutal style, made him a sensation in online circles.
At, home Bdd was a simple high school student sitting in his bedroom, playing the game he loved. To the League fans in South Korea, spreading his growing legend online and whispering of rumors of his possible pro debut, he was becoming the next coming of Faker himself.
The League world knew Bdd would eventually turn pro, but not as quickly as he did.
Needing to be 17 years old to compete in the LCK, the premier domestic competition in South Korea for League of Legends, Bdd's signing to CJ Entus -- one of the most prestigious organizations in Korean esports with over a decade of accomplishments -- at the age of 16 in 2015 was a move for CJ's future. An organization that once was the center of the League of Legends world in 2012 had decayed over the past three years and needed an ace for the future. Bdd was that player -- their supposed savior. They would train him, and when he turned 17, he would debut as the face of the future of the CJ Entus brand.
For a year, people waited for his debut, and as time went on the fervor only grew. Each week online there seemed to be a new "CJ Entus Bdd" montage video in which he embarrassed a starter already in the LCK. CJ Entus was sinking without him, however. The players who were once great were slowing down, and the rookies the team brought in weren't panning out. All eyes were on March 1, 2016, Bdd's 17th birthday, the day CJ Entus would be saved.
"The hype around Bdd before he debuted was significant. CJ Entus was flagging significantly in spring 2016 and Bdd was hailed as the saviour of CJ Entus, the original Korean League of Legends organization, with fans waiting and counting down the days for him to debut," said Chris "PapaSmithy" Smith, an English commentator for OGN and the LCK. "CJ had been using Bdd on and off in scrims for over a year. They knew the talent they had on their hands, and the fan base had scrutinized his highlights and Korean Solo Queue ladder ranking for many months prior."
The day after Bdd turned 17, he would make his debut in the LCK.
"I couldn't even sleep on the night before the match because I was so nervous," Bdd said. The wait was over, and in his first game as a professional, Bdd ended up with an impressive 1/0/9 (kills, deaths, assists) on Lulu, acting as a utility cog for the team, but he dropped his debut game. The team rallied and won the series, taking a 2-1 victory over fellow hamstrung organization Kongdoo Monster.
At the center of CJ as the team's new ace, Bdd was where he had wanted to be since he began towering over pros in solo queue. To boot, he was on the team competing with the player who inspired him the most when he first started playing the game: the original "God" of League of Legends before Faker appeared: Hong "MadLife" Min-gi.
"As my fans already know, I really loved Madlife," said Bdd. "Before my MMR rose a lot, I used to play support Blitzcrank all day because I thought Madlife's Blitzcrank [montage] movies were so cool. He's the player that made me dream about going pro."
The good times didn't last more than a few matches, though. On a team that was trying to blend young talent with veterans, CJ had trouble communicating. One loss turned into two losses, and before Bdd knew it, CJ had a 17-game losing streak spanning two splits. His stats, while above average, didn't tell the whole story; his play was still stuck back in his room in Incheon where he would play solo queue. He didn't know how to play around his teammates, and his teammates didn't know how to play with him. Not even a half-year since his debut, Bdd was not at the top of the table, battling Faker for the throne of the best in the world, but instead was sitting on the bench, watching as Kim "Sky" Ha-neul replaced Bdd as starting mid laner.
"I thought that I would get a chance [to start] if I kept practicing hard, so I did," Bdd said of his time on CJ watching from the sidelines. "But as the wait grew longer, there were moments when I felt tired or unmotivated. I hung on by looking at the people who kept cheering me on even though I wasn't playing in [official] matches."
Bdd would get inserted into the lineup irregularly throughout the rest of the year, but the damage was already done. CJ Entus was going under, and Bdd was not Faker. When CJ was ultimately relegated from the LCK, it was the end of an era; the team with the lineage of the first Champions/LCK champion, MiG Blaze (before becoming CJ Entus Blaze), had been sent down to the minor leagues. An organization that was a pillar in Korea was no longer relevant, and in the mid lane sat Bdd, the weight of expectations grinding him down and crushing him.
He wanted to be the player that he believed he could be. He wanted to be the savior CJ needed him to be. He wanted to be the superstar that the fans wanted him to be.
If only it was so easy.
For many, that would be the end of the story.
Bdd was given too much praise, and he just couldn't handle it when things became real. It's one thing to defeat pros and shine when sitting at home, and it's another playing in a pro environment, working tireless days and needing to be in sync with your teammates. Bdd was not the first "Next Faker," and he would certainly not be the last. When he failed, another amateur with montages on YouTube was waiting in the wings for fans to get invested in. On to the next one -- maybe the next Faker was in Brazil or Indonesia or South Africa.
Bdd would not let CJ Entus be the last chapter written in his legacy, however. He wouldn't let the scene of him being relegated, defeated, pain across his face, be the lasting image his fans and the community remembered him by.
"Between when CJ was relegated and when I joined Longzhu, I played 15 to 20 solo queue games every day," said Bdd. "[I] only [paused] for food or sleep, aiming to patch up my weaknesses."
His work paid off, and a second life was given in the form of Longzhu Gaming. A club infamous for failing to live up to expectations, it was the home of strays and star players about to have the worst seasons of their career. This was the opposite situation for Bdd; Longzhu needed a savior, but no one expected one. The team was destined to fail forever. If Bdd never played a single game and retired sitting on the bench, no one would bat an eye.
In his first split on Longzhu this spring, Bdd didn't play a single game. A substitute for Kim "Sky" Ha-neul in his final days on CJ Entus, Bdd started his LZ career the same way, this time as the understudy for Song "Fly" Yong-jun. The team added world-class bottom PraY and GorillA to the roster, expecting stronger results than years past, but as usual for Longzhu, things didn't pan out. The team stalled midway through the season, and by the time the playoffs started, the Dragons were nowhere to be seen, mediocre as the team had ever been.
When the team decided to make even more changes in between spring and summer splits, switching up its starting roster except for the bottom lane, Bdd officially took his first steps back into the LCK after almost a year without playing a professional game.
"Outside of the game, [Bdd's] a very energetic [18-year-old]," wrote the Longzhu coaching staff. "He can be silly and fun-loving, but also quite mature and sensitive at times. He is a very wholesome individual. And he practices hard. When the coaching staff instructs him to practice a certain champion, he goes to work without question and [soon] gets the job done."
"Previously I used to be a bit intimidated by Faker's [name and reputation], but I've overcome it now, so I [will] play with more confidence and joy. My role model at the moment is Faker. I switched from support to mid after watching Faker. When people think of mid laners, everyone thinks of Faker first. I want to inherit that position." Gwak "Bdd" Bo-seong
Back in the starting chair, Bdd would not let this chance pass him by. A year of practice would not go to waste, and it took him no time to remind people why he was so hyped. In Bdd's first match back, he and the new Longzhu roster blitzed the runner-up of the previous split, KT Rolster, winning in a sweep.
Once he couldn't play the macro game, but Bdd could now fill the role the team needed. He still possessed the mechanics people heralded as an amateur, but Bdd was more than that now. Where Faker always had coach Kim "kkOma" Jung-Gyun by his side to guide him, Bdd wasn't given that luxury. For Bdd to become a complete player, he first needed to taste defeat, and then he learned what it meant to become a professional player.
"I had been severely lacking in terms of [macro play on CJ]," said Bdd. "And since most of the team were rookies, we didn't really know how to turn early game leads into a late-game victory."
Bdd's persistence fueled Longzhu throughout the season. When the team would fall, showing a glaring weakness, it returned the next game with a newfound motivation. As an individual, Bdd shined; his stats were staggering as the weeks went by and his KDA ballooned. Each win gave Bdd more confidence, and he started to feed off it, his Galio and Taliyah becoming world-renowned. Those two champions, which require communication and synergy with the rest of the team to reach their full potential, were what Bdd had become.
While the faceless Bdd became famous as an amateur for the champion Zed, fighting alone and dazzling with his one-on-two duels, the Bdd on television, playing alongside his teammates, wanted to be a player others could rely on when they needed him. If top lane was in in trouble or needed to get ahead, he would use Taliyah's Weaver's Wall to ride across the map in an instant to assist playmaking top laner Kim "Khan" Dong-ha. If the bottom side of the map needed a helping hand, Bdd would be there on Galio, flying in at the last possible moment to save the day and turn the fight around on a dime.
"[Bdd] is very mechanically talented, understands lane matchups very well, has a lot of confidence, and is able to show all that on stage," wrote the Longzhu coaches. "His eye for the game and his communication also improved massively through practice. That led to the team as a whole playing with more steadiness and purpose, which then again helps him play [even] better."
The finals are now where Bdd and his team sit after Longzhu's greatest season by far as an organization. After defeating Samsung, Longzhu waited in the team house awaiting its finals opponent. The team watched as defending league, Mid-Season Invitational and world champion SK Telecom T1 started from the wild-card round and battled through the bracket, tearing through both Afreeca and Samsung before reverse-sweeping archrival KT Rolster in the semifinal to again reach the final in the most climactic way possible.
In the first final of Bdd's career on Saturday, he will sit across from the man he has been connected to far longer than he's even been a pro.
Faker, going into his seventh LCK final, has six rings for his domestic play; SKT with Faker has participated in six LCK finals, and each time SKT has walked out the victor. MSI titles. IEM titles. So many accolades you would need five scrolls of paper to name them all. Everything that Faker has, everything Faker is, Bdd works toward.
"I want to win all of the League of Legends tournaments that currently exist," said Bdd. "My final goal is to retire as a player who will be remembered in this fashion: That player was really amazing. He was an awesome player."
Generally, when compared to the best player by a large margin to ever play the game, players, and especially coaches, are afraid to touch the subject. It's far too early. It's sacrilege. Longzhu, though, believes in its ace mid laner, after years of laughable results, disastrous games and watching as players failed to reach their ceiling. Bdd's entrance into the team, along with Khan and his close friend and fellow rookie Moon "Cuzz" Woo-chan, changed what was thought to be an unsolvable puzzle.
"We believe it's very possible [for him to become one of the best]," said the coaching staff. "[Bdd] is just getting started. He's already playing very well of course, but if he works harder, nothing is impossible. He's very competitive and is full of confidence at the moment, so the coaching staff will also work harder as to synergize."
Saturday night in Seoul, almost exactly a year to the day he was relegated from the LCK with CJ Entus, Bdd will be playing against more than just Faker and SKT T1. He will be playing against every expectation ever held up for him to accomplish and every criticism thrown his way. While this is a team game now more than ever, Bdd's legacy will be changed forever -- regardless of how fair it is - based on how he performs one-on-one with the man who has no intentions of handing over his position as "God" anytime soon.
"Bdd is the first player to debut after Faker who really fits the bill of the 'next Faker,'" said Smith, who will broadcast the Longzhu vs. SKT final for OGN's global audience. "This doesn't mean he will ever realise this potential and become the best player in the world; this means that Bdd is a player whose nature is to push for advantages in lane and who invites being the carry for his team, but also on Longzhu has evolved the ability to play a more subdued role if the team comp needs it. The brilliance of Faker is to look uniquely assertive and aggressive on Zed with Ignite and Karma with TP, and I saw the same swagger and mindset in Bdd from the moment he debuted, even if it's taken him just over a year to find his place in competitive play."
A year ago, Bdd was not ready for this moment; two months ago, when he was doing well, he wasn't ready, either. Even now, named co-MVP of the league with one of the highest KDAs ever for a mid laner (11.3) in pro play over an entire season, whether he's ready is still a question mark. This will be his first playoff best-of-five, and his opponent is someone who doesn't lose when it's the LCK finals.
If it wasn't Faker in the final, the Unkillable Demon King as his opponent, it just wouldn't seem right.
"Previously, I used to be a bit intimidated by Faker's [name and reputation], but I've overcome it now, so I [will] play with more confidence and joy," said Bdd. "My role model at the moment is Faker. I switched from support to mid after watching Faker.
"When people think of mid laners, everyone thinks of Faker first. I want to inherit that position."
Young Jae Jeon contributed to this report.