In war, the role of a 'general' is of the utmost importance. Not only does a general lead his army and take charge of planning war strategies, but he also needs to make sure to maintain the morale of his troops. Naturally, once the general falls, the army falls into disorder. Therefore, he will always be surrounded by danger - always a target of the enemy.

This is not limited to just war, however; it is common wherever there is competition. The 'ace' member of a group will always be targeted. In football, superstars Messi and Ronaldo are highly regarded as the best strikers, and so, a number of defenders will always mark and clump around the two players to prevent them from making any winning shots. In League of Legends, Faker stands in a similar position. 

Faker is undoubtedly the best and most famous player in the League of Legends esports scene; as a matter of fact, there are people who even claim that they know Faker despite having no interest in League or esports. Fans from all over the world watch Faker and his plays, and more often than not, are awed by it. It requires almost zero thinking for other teams to speculate that shutting down Faker is their best chance at defeating SKT T1, the infamous titan of a team. 

In lane, Faker is often ambushed by opposing junglers or players from side-lanes. Not only is Faker a frequent target for ganks, but his lane and the surrounding area is also often visited for vision removal; making sure Faker isn't free to do his usual plays. 

This trend continued on to the 'League of Legends 2017 World Championship'. However, Faker made sure that most if not all the attempts were in vain. Even in situations where Faker was outnumbered, he turned it around by either trading his life for a kill or even managing to survive the ambushes. 

During the six games played by SKT in the Group Stages, Faker showed many memorable plays. This article, however, will be covering only two - how C9 and EDG pressured Faker, and how he retaliated. 

◆ vs Cloud9: Contractz's and Impacts' Multiple(?) Attempts

At approximately 9-minutes into the game, SKT and C9 were dead even with little to no global gold difference. In order to break this balance, C9's jungler, Contractz, decided to gank Faker in the midlane. The plan was simple: use Ryze's non-targeting CC to quickly liquidate Faker's Cassiopeia before he can retaliate.

Faker, however, reciprocated perfectly. Using his ultimate, Faker substantially reduced the incoming damage and calmly retreated towards his tower while using only his 'Heal' Summoner spell. Afterward, he used the 'Flash' that he was saving to cleanly juke the incoming Rek'Sai ult and collect a kill for himself. 

Thanks to SKT's prompt backup, the team also secured a kill on Jensen, successfully putting their opposition behind them. C9 used a lot of their resources to secure vision around Faker, so the failed gank attempt was a huge setback. 

As if the team judged that two was not enough, Impact joined the fray and partook in the quest to kill Faker. Cassiopeia's Flash was down, and C9 seemed more than willing to go all in this time. Ryze, Nautilus, and Rek'Sai poured all of their skills on Faker, but with Peanut's fast backup, SKT was able to trade one for one, making C9's attempt at pulling SKT down a meaningless one.

At around 17-minutes, Impact returned to the midlane. Cassiopeia's ultimate landed on both Jensen and Impact, stunning them in place; and it seemed as if Faker was going to pull off yet another miracle play. Peanut's backup at the time was also quick and well-planned.

Despite the quick backup, however, Peanut's E+Q combo failed to land on its target, Jensen, and the situation turned in favor of C9. Faker's forward Flash was also "inappropriate" for the situation, and in the end, Faker was the only one to die. After two failed attempts, C9 finally managed to take an advantage from the midlane. 

◆ vs EDG: Unfavored Matchup, and Clearlove7's Focus on Midlane

It's well-known that the focus of 'picks and bans' is always on the blue team's first pick and red team's last pick. While on the red-side, during their game against EDG, SKT opted into Orianna as the last pick. SKT was already aware of Scout's Lucian pick, so Faker was basically put into a situation where he had to perform well on Orianna and show the world why they picked her. 

It wasn't easy. Scout took full advantage of the 'Lucian vs Orianna' matchup and pressured Faker almost flawlessly. The gap in CS gradually increased over time. Clearlove7 also gave full support to Scout and secured a successful gank on Faker at level 3. Both of Faker's Summoner Spells were down, so he had no choice but to give up the lead to Scout.

Clearlove7 didn't stop there. About 3 minutes after the initial gank, Clearlove7 returned to the midlane. Although Faker was able to walk away with his life this time, he took a substantial amount of damage, having to forcefully recall. It was another win for Scout, and the CS difference was over 20.

EDG had the lead in every single lane. And through the utilization of a fast tempo, a characteristic of most LPL teams, they started rolling a gigantic snowball. Time after time, SKT took damage and only piled on death after death. EDG eventually took the Baron and widened the global gold gap to 10k. And although Faker caught up with Scout's CS and even out-farmed him in the end, the fans' attention was all on the 0/4/0 KDA. 

Faker's persistence paid off. During the teamfight which was noted as possibly the most impressive one during the Group Stages, Faker's 'Shockwave' was essential for SKT's success. Of course, Wolf's flawless initiation and Bang's DPS from the death-less Twitch was also important, but the teamfight happened while Faker was enduring constant pressure from the enemy. That's why it was so impressive, and that's why he deserved the praise that he received.

SKT T1 has now set course for the quarterfinals. This is their challenge for the 4th Worlds trophy. However, the road ahead seems a lot rougher for them this year. The LPL teams look stronger than they have ever been before, and 'Longzhu Gaming', the team that defeated SKT in the LCK Finals, also seem to be in their best form as they have escaped from their group without dropping a single game. 

But everyone needs to remember that Faker is still a part of the SKT T1 lineup. He has always shown up big on important stages, and he showed the world that he grows stronger over time. It's not an exaggeration to say that Faker is SKT T1's biggest and strongest weapon. I'm waiting in anticipation... to witness Faker write down a new line of history during the 2017 World Championship.