Only Worlds counter, right?
LoL Fans Questioning Winner of LCK Awards Player of the Year
The LCK Awards took place on December 22, 2022. Players were awarded with multiple awards like best jungler, the best rookie and so on. The biggest prize of them all was the Player of the Year award and some fans aren't sure about the decision of Riot Korea.
The LCK Awards take place every year when players get recognized for their hard work throughout one calendar year. While most fans didn't blink at the awards given out, one award has some people scratching their heads.
LoL: Zeka Awarded Player of the Year Award
Kim “Zeka” Geon-woo, the mid laner for Hanwha Life was awarded with the most prestigous award of the night, the Player of the Year award. This had many fans in Korea, as well as in the West, confused and upset.
While Zeka did have one of the best performances of all time throughout the 2022 League of Legends World Championship, beating out names like Scout, Chovy and Faker, he did not have as impressive of a regular LCK season.
DRX was average throughout the 2022 LCK season, unable to beat either Gen.G nor T1 the entire year, only during their miracle run at the 2022 World Championship.
Since the award was for the player of the year and not the player of the World Championship fans feel that other players should have been on the receiving end of such honour. Many fans also pointed out that these awards are called 'LCK Awards' and Zeka did not even get close to many votes during the LCK all-pro votes either.
Fans feel that recency bias is at play with DRX, whom Zeka had played for throughout 2022, winning Worlds in such insane fashion. It is Korean media outlets and journalists that vote on the winners of the LCK awards and that they are sometimes skewed when they cast their votes.
Fans feel that either Ruler, who had an incredible year on Gen.G, Zeus, who made it two to finals in his rookie season, or Prince, who was the breakout star in 2022, would have deserved to win the 2022 LCK Player of the Year awards.
Zeka will have to prove himself in 2023 on his new team to show why he was named Player of the Year. Will he be able to prove everyone that the award is deservedly his?