After five years on the main T1 roster, bot laner and three-time League of Legends world champion Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong has left the organization he built his name with.
This is the first big League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) roster change announced this 2025 off-season.
Regarded as one of the best marksman players in the world, Gumayusi recently took home the Worlds 2025 final MVP award after T1 edged out KT Rolster 3-2 at the Dong’an Lake Sports Park Multifunctional Gymnasium in Chengdu to claim the Summoner’s Cup for the third time in a row.
Gumayusi’s three-peat legacy with T1 comes to a close
Joining T1’s academy roster as a trainee in late 2018, Gumayusi was already showing significant potential. Although stage time was scarce due to the presence of starter Park “Teddy” Jin-seong, his ambition was clear.
Having already achieved Rank 1 on the Korean solo queue ladder, he was reportedly eager to claim the starting bot lane position for T1, even while still in the academy program, T1 CEO Joe Marsh revealed in an episode of Trash Talk, an esports talk show hosted by former pro player turned content creator Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng.
Marsh recounted that even as a young Challengers player on the T1 academy roster, Gumayusi exhibited remarkable self-confidence, often asserting that he deserved a starting spot on the main roster, despite being on the second team.
Marsh explained that Gumayusi received numerous offers from other organizations in 2019, but chose to remain with T1. The player’s primary motivation for staying was to “prove that [T1] made a mistake by not starting him two years ago,” a display of determination that Marsh admitted he had to “kind of respect.”
Gumayusi was finally allowed on the starting roster in LCK Spring 2021, sharing the spot with Teddy all the way until the LCK Regional Finals 2021 where he finally stuck his claim. Together with Kim “Canna” Chang-dong, Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, and Ryu “Keria” Min-seok, they narrowly defeated Hanwha Life Esports to nab the last LCK spot at Worlds 2021, where they went on to finish 3rd/4th.
Building his legacy alongside support player Keria, the duo’s chemistry, skills, and proven results had herald a new T1 era that succeeds SK Telecom’s iconic bot lane duo Bae “Bang” Jun-sik and Lee “Wolf” Jae-wan. The core four-man unit Gumayusi, Keria, Oner, and Faker made it to the Worlds final four times together and won three of them in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
The final year that Gumayusi spent with T1 echoed his early days. Earlier in the LCK season, the team benched him to give ADC rookie Shin “Smash” Geum-jae a starting spot, citing form as a key reason. Mash the made a controversial decision by overriding staff, putting Gumayusi back on the starting five.
After winning the Worlds 2025 final MVP, Gumayusi said on the broadcast interview, “This year was a tough one for me. Every year I’ve been someone who has to prove himself, but this time I think it was a year where I had to prove myself to myself.”
