A massive controversy has unfolded around T1 right before the 2025 LCK season begins, as its CEO, Joe Marsh, overruled the team and staff’s decision to replace Lee ‘Gumayusi‘ Min-hyung with Sin ‘Smash‘ Geum-jae in the starting lineup.
While a public statement has been issued by Marsh addressing the backlash, announcing that Smash will still participate in scrims, it has only fueled the outrage among fans.
While at first, fans were happy to see Gumayusi return, the League of Legends community started to feel a sense of injustice for Smash, a rookie player who appeared to have the opportunity to compete with T1 snatched from him.
“Gumayusi himself debuted and replaced Teddy in the same way Smash is doing with him. Please understand that in esports, it’s normal for rookies to get a chance, especially when they prove their skills and potential on stage and in scrims.
“This kind of mass bullying mentality, having the CEO interfering in roster decisions against the coaching staff, is seriously disappointing to see,” a user stated on X (Twitter).
Ever since joining the T1 Academy team and later being promoted to be a part of the main roster, Smash has showcased incredible potential on the Tier 1 stage. The decision to make roster changes so abruptly makes the move even more shocking, especially since Smash had only recently replaced Gumayusi in January 2025 during the LCK Spring Split.
“T1 doesn’t deserve Smash. Disgusting misrepresentation of stats just to undermine a super-talented rookie,” another frustrated user wrote on X.
Comparing the situation to when Lee ‘Faker‘ Sang-hyeok got benched and replaced by Lee ‘Clozer’ Ju-hyeon, a fan said: “Faker was benched by rookie Clozer when he had already won three World Championships and numerous LCK titles while being called the GOAT of League of Legends. Esports is competitive, and competition is cold and cruel, that’s the reality.”
With these roster changes in place, T1 will return to the stage for the 2025 LCK Split 1, which kicks off on April 2nd. Their opening series will be against DRX on April 4th and the match will be streamed live on LCK’s official YouTube and Twitch channels.
