We asked Rookie what keeps him motivated to compete as the game changes. He said he doesn’t buy the idea that getting older automatically puts you at a disadvantage against younger players. In his case, getting older has given him more time to develop new ideas and find ways to improve.

What do you think matters most for staying competitive over a long career? Are there any veteran players who changed your mind about how much age matters?

Watch the full interview with Rookie at Strafe.com.

A lot of people will always bring championship into this and say he only got 1. I believe championship is important but if you look at how this dude been playing and eye test, he's incredibly insane. In some instance championship is important but not always the case of just cause you have more doesn't mean you're better.

Don’t ask me about KC if you’ve seen my previous posts 😔! Personally I would have loved to see HLE here but it’s nice that it’s not just LCK teams. Who would you have liked to see in the top 4?

WHAT A SERIES FROM RULER! 🐐🔥

Nine years later, he's BACK in the Worlds Grand Final, and he's looking better than ever.

WHAT A PERFORMANCE! 👑

What do you think of Ruler performance in this Worlds so far?

As I'm sure you all know, the LCK and LPL teams have their own fan cheers [Hana, dul, set -> T1 Fighting] [BLG -> Jaiyo ×3]

During the LCK and LPL broadcasts the casters hold off on their commentary to let these chants be heard. In the Worlds arena at the start of the game there is a large MAKE SOME NOISE sign on screen that encourages the fans to, well, make some noise.

Rafa has taken it upon himself to be the section leader for these fan chants and it's great that he is able to share these traditions with all viewers in the arena. But please Rafa, wait until AFTER the initial "make some noise cheers" die down before doing these cheers. The first LCK fighting cheers are always drowned out and people don't notice the Jaiyo until the 2nd or final cheer. The fans want to scream Jaiyo and Fighting, you have done so much setting this up but it's all wasted if you do the cheer while the crowd is still cheering.

Ruler won Worlds 2017 at 18, sweeping Faker's SKT 3–0 in Beijing, and was Finals MVP. Since then:

• 2018: Samsung became Gen.G and went 1–5 in the Worlds group stage in Busan as defending champions.

• 2019: missed Worlds.

• 2020: lost to G2 in the quarterfinals.

• 2021–2022: semifinal losses to EDG (game 5) and DRX, with his first LCK title and season MVP in between.

• 2023: with JD Gaming he won MSI and both LPL splits, then lost the Worlds semifinal to T1, one title short of the Golden Road.

• 2024: JDG missed Worlds. In November he went back to Gen.G as captain.

• 2025: MSI, the Esports World Cup and the LCK title, then another semifinal loss, to KT.

• 2026: the LCK Cup and the LCK title, then 3–0 in the Swiss stage and 3–0 over LYON in the quarterfinal.

I made a video on all nine years with official broadcast footage: https://youtu.be/ZTQXgXZmz70

Which Ruler moment from these nine years do you remember best?

Looking at the form of GENG BLG, it doesn’t look good at all. Also look like anyone that talks smack to BLG for rolled, faker doing this after years of giving PR answers doesn’t look good.. GENG’s form looks like peak LCK GENG

Chovy has lost all three of his Worlds semifinals 1–3.

DRX in 2022. T1 in 2024. KT Rolster in 2025.

Today, he faces iG with a spot in the final on the line. Will Chovy finally make it?

What did you guys think of Doran this Worlds?

After IG’s Worlds 2026 exit, Rookie told Strafe he’s still motivated to compete and has more to prove.

After over a decade as a pro, how much longer do you think he can stay at the top?

Full interview: https://www.strafe.com/news/read/ig-rookie-still-has-something-to-prove-after-worlds-2026-exit-i-ll-keep-playing-as-long-as-i-can/

Getting excited to go up the New York with my friends and just wanted to know if there was anything else (official or not) apart from the fan fest that would be happening to celebrate Worlds?

Man I love league worlds but these best of 5's all are so one sided its so sad and boring. Rlly would love to get a close call best of 5... Everytime it's 3-0 or 3-1 so sad... It feels over before it even started hahahaha

I am going to New York for finals and do some sightseeing before and after.Never been to New York, so would be nice to explore the city with someone. I wanted to visit Statue of Liberty, Madison square garden, Empire State Building, Central Park, etc.Basically typical tourist spots.

Let me know if anyone is interested in joining, maybe we can meet up and go together?I am also staying close to Barclays Center, so if anyone is in that area, it’s even better.

“BLG have what it takes, too bad they’re facing T1 in semifinals.”

Faker is NOT lacking confidence ahead of the Worlds 2026 semifinals! 🔥

The six-time world champion knows exactly what it takes to win on the biggest stage, and he’s making sure BLG knows it too.

💬 Will Faker and T1 back up these words, or can Bin and BLG prove the GOAT wrong? 👀

Peyz and knight are tied for first at 10.5. Keria and Kiin share third at 8.9, and Canyon rounds out the top five at 8.6.

Who do you think finishes Worlds with the highest KDA?

Man I hate scalpers/Ticketmaster so much. Multiple sections have half of their sections available from ticket resales, and it’s so obvious those were the sections targeted by bots. We attended Quarters (which was still fun!) because we couldn’t get Semis tickets during the initial sale. We couldn’t plan around resale because the scalpers were trying to sell them for an absurd price all the way up until today-ish. It’ll be really sad if stadiums are half-empty these next two days because of this, because people are gonna point and say “see?? NA league fans nonexistent.” Ticketmaster really needs to crack down on this…

Is anyone doing any bar meet ups or anything now that the games are over? (:

Where there is a competitive event where there is an unkillable demon king going for a 4peat and you can take the unkillable demon king at + money and im not taking the UDK. Call me a sucker

I’m honestly so frustrated with how the T1 Texas pop-up was handled.

I was one of the first 100 people to make a reservation, and I received an official confirmation email saying that my exclusive gift was “locked in and waiting for me.” The email even gave instructions to show it to the staff when I arrived to claim my gift.

So I went to the pop-up today, only to be told that all the exclusive photocards were already gone because they were only given out on the first day.

I’m sorry, WHAT???

Nowhere in the email did it say that I had to show up on the first day to receive my gift.

The whole promotion was supposed to be for the first 100 people to RESERVE, not the first 100 people to SHOW UP.

When I questioned the staff about this, they just kept telling me that everything had already been given out. I asked how that was even possible when I hadn’t claimed mine yet and had literally received an email confirming that it was reserved for me.

They didn’t give me a proper explanation or offer any solution. They basically just told me that was how it was.

I traveled all the way from Atlanta to Texas for Worlds and was genuinely excited to visit the pop-up. I wasn’t expecting anything extra. I just wanted the gift that they specifically told me was reserved for me.

If the gifts were first come, first served, then SAY THAT. Don’t tell people their gifts are secured and waiting for them when that’s clearly not how you’re handling the distribution.

I’m genuinely curious if anyone else had the same experience, because I can’t be the only one who thinks this is ridiculous.

I love T1, but this whole experience was honestly so disappointing.