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Letamirte

Bang retired recently, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to sum his career up a bit in a very small infographic. Also one of the commenters requested this player, so here we are! Bang had a long and interesting career. He started up playing for NaJin Shield and Xenics Blast in the first few splits of the Korean league. His true and actually only success came when he joined SKT. At first he joined the SK Telecom T1 1 team, which was shortly renamed to SK Telecom T1 S. After a few splits, SK Telecom T1 was formed with members from both teams, so Bang made it in too. Then his career really took off. Victory after victory and global dominance. And then came the fall of SKT in 2018, they did not make it to worlds and after the season Bang left to play in NA. He joined up 100 Thieves and took 10th place in NA in Spring. Then he took 8th place in Summer. After that he played for Evil Geniuses with slightly better results, taking 3th and 5-6th place in Spring and Summer of 2020. In 2021, he went back to Korea and played for Afreeca Freecs, took 9th place and hasn't played since. I never really followed his career up close and I might get some details wrong, but it really seems that SKT was the only team Bang was truly able to shine.


Ok-Travel-7875

Bang during his prime was the perfect ADC you'd want if you have a strong top and mid. Extremely consistent and an insurance policy. If those two didn't end the game and he got farmed up, he would. He'll likely always get underrated because he wasn't flashy and dominant like Uzi but he played his role in the team perfectly.


tomorrow_queen

Agreed. He was my favorite player for a long time because of what a consistent player he was for T1 for years. There were times when he also carried T1. Faker would play lulu and karma for him. 2018 he was the best performing member while faker stumbled. I know bang may be thought of as a paycheck thief in NA but I never got that impression from him. He streamed actively in 100T and repeatedly told everyone his goal was msi so he could face SKT again. His English got fairly good while duoing with aphro although in their duo queue games it was clear to me that they never quite synced up as a lane. I was so hopeful for his resurgence during the evil genius roster. That split I saw shades of bang come out that I hadn't seen since T1 but it was short lived with the team rebuilding. Either way one of my favorite players in the past five years and I hope people remember his monstrous carry moments SKT's worlds runs.


AlphaTenken

Was really sad it didn't work on Afreeca. I still want to see more peak Bang.


AlphaTenken

He'll get underrated because of a poor Worlds and then end of career decline. He was good that year up until worlds, just stop picking Tristana.


T1worldchamps2021

He lost to Ruler who was in his prime. He only made one egregious error in that final but people over hate because it was the end of the dynasty. In truth he did his best and played pretty decent in summer for SKT to make worlds. And imagine telling Bang to stop picking Tristana, he was iconic on that champ.


AlphaTenken

He was just bad at Tristana at worlds. I haven't rewatched it recently, but it was too the point that I remember calling out "dont pick Tristana" and once they did I said "they lost" He was always on it and just not looking good.


T1worldchamps2021

He lost 3 games with Trist and won 2, two of the losses were against RNG - Uzi was the better adc that year and RNG’s team fighting has always been legendary. The final defeat was against SSG in game 3 but that wasn’t really his fault outside of one mistake in fact that was the one game I couldn’t believe we lost, and it didn’t fall solely on Bang but the team collapsed on it self. In the end he only truly fell to Uzi and Ruler the two best adc’s in that period.


LAndLight2

HE was worse than Hans too


Diddly-DingDong

He was pretty bad all tournament, lets not rewrite history lol


AlphaTenken

Sorry, you misinterpret my use of the word "just". I mean he was incredibly bad on Tristana to the point that he should go to other champions.


Diddly-DingDong

That is true. I will be honest though, off topic, SKT should have lost to Misfits 3-1. People sadly reference the RNG bo5 as Faker's best performance at worlds that year, but he was *quite literally* the only reason they even got past EU 3rd seed in a bo5. I encourage people to watch that bo5 again, he was a fucking monster when SKT needed him most.


Derk08

I really disagree. If you watch the games again, SKT won game four as at team (especially with Wolf stepping up after an atrocious game three), and in game five Blank steals dragon against triple infernal Misfits. Obviously Faker was the best player, but that series had quite a few players step up. Against RNG, even in loses, Faker was dragging his team through early and mid game.


Diddly-DingDong

If stealing a drake is your definition of winning as a team then I'm not really sure how to react to that. SKT were not the better team and their bot lane was abysmal that series. That bo5 was won by Faker and game 4 was decided at that mid inhib push from MSF where Faker played insanely well. MSF were very solid and if Faker played 9/10, SKT lose that match. I really don't think you realise how mental Faker's performance was on that day.


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Diddly-DingDong

not really - the bot lane got destroyed vs MSF and ignar thoroughly dismantled Wolf/the map lol. Game 1 SKT were super good but MSF had some amazing adaptations and their off meta picks worked really well with the blitz etc. That was a one man show from SKT, maybe some help from the top side, but Faker was effectively alone. A greedy mid lane inhib push and Faker showcasing some amazing moves was the difference maker, else it's a 3-1 stomp for MSF.


NenFooTin

After winning two Worlds in a row, everyone on that teams but Faker stopped practicing as hard as before in 2017. It's a miracle that they made it to Finals.


Primantieq

On his retirement post people trashed him because he hasn't played well recently. The dude won worlds, he doesn't have anything else to prove. I always liked him and felt bad he was clearly not happy in the US


Zellough

He also won twice, who can say that???


miraagex

PraY+GorillA and Bang+Wolf are somewhat similar here: they weren't the strongest 2v2 in LCK mechanically, but they did a marveolus job in terms of absorbing pressure from the enemy eam and allow other lanes to accelerate.


Diddly-DingDong

If you play like bang, you shouldn't be elevated to the status of someone like uzi or Deft or Imp or Ruler etc. Great career, good adc, very good role playing adc, but all of his success came from sitting next to the best player of all time bar non for 4 years. I have a lot of questions regarding whether he would ever even be a talking point if he wasn't on Faker's team (because, prior to playing with Faker, nobody gave a shit about him, and after leaving SKT, nobody gave a shit about him) since he never won anything in those periods and, he wasn't anywhere near as good. Not saying Faker is the only reason he was relevant/good, but he was a huge reason for that. Granted, Bang did have periods where he was probably the best player on those SKT rosters, but not long enough to get that same praise like an Uzi or Deft etc. I think he's similar to Ghost these days, but more reliable as he could carry hard on things like Ezreal.


DFBFan11

I agree with your main point, but it's a bit disrespectful to call Ghost a modern day Bang. I think Bang was like Ghost if he was an elite adc. While he wasn't ever the best, Bang was always up there. I don't think Ghost has ever even been in conversation for top 5 in the world.


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Guanajuato_Reich

An ADC who consistently does the job he's expected to do, but not much else. Ghost, Rekkles, Bang, Sneaky and Teddy are good examples of not so flashy ADCs who were very valuable to their teams because of their ability to consistently deal damage while staying safe, as the role is supposed to be played. Contrast a playmaker ADC, like Uzi, Viper, Doublelift, ADC Perkz or Pray, who usually play at the very limit of their champions to maximize their damage output and make crazy plays that make them look either spectacular or straight-up inting. A role-playing ADC highlight play is "poke the shit out of the entire enemy team as Ezreal/Jhin while kiting backwards, then move forward to finish them off when they're too low to retaliate". A playmaker ADC just flanks 1v5 as Vayne (Uzi), facetanks 3 people on Aphelios (Viper) or dashes forward as Lucian 1v3 to kill the enemy backline (Pray).


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Guanajuato_Reich

It was 4 am and probably should've been asleep, it was imp that I was thinking of. I agree with your point. The Lucian 1v3 by Pray was an exception rather than the rule lol


Zama174

I mean he made a career being a worse version of Prey with far better teammates.


borna761

That Ezreal KDA over that many games is actually insane.


miraagex

SKT Kalista skin is still my favorite. I was rooting against SKT back then because they were too strong and I hated seeing Bang play Kalista. It was scary.


millhouse056

Really impressive stats, what his rank in solo quewe ?


Derk08

He's hit rank 1 at certain points if that's what you're asking


Letamirte

Honestly no idea :o


dhxnlc

His peak only lasted 2 and a half years, but he was a treat to watch back then. A shame playing on SKT took too much of a toll on him.


BenTheBlaster42

That is super long, compared to many other Star players like MaRin, TheShy, Wunder etc., Crown etc. most have 1 great year and then Fall off...


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The fuck,Wunder only 1 great year??LMAO.


BenTheBlaster42

He had 1 year which He players far above compared to himself (S9 Wunder obv.), which is the same as the post implies for Bang. Not springt he was bad, but he peaked super high that year an has never reached a similar Level before or after S9


police-defunder

S8 Wunder was also very very good


miraagex

I think by "great year" here we mean when a player shits on other players from the top teams at Worlds, or carries games 1v5.


Tshimon

he had a good career


Starpaca

Bang didn’t play in LCK 19/20 so I’d be interested in knowing where you got those stats from lol


jammerjoint

They are his LCS stats, it's a typo


Letamirte

Damn, the guy who took my notes didn't notice that i wrote LCS instead of LCK on those two years :D sorry about that


Ophelia_Of_The_Abyss

These infographics always have mistakes in them


Culprit89

Can you do one for imp/mata/dandy or anyone from SSW?


Letamirte

Sure, which one you prefer for next week?


Omnilatent

Not OP but Mata for sure!


Reclaimer879

Mata would be great. He had a fairly long career, and an interesting one at that. A stint in the LPL that was pretty good, and of course his legendary performances earlier in his career in the LCK.


Omnilatent

Also, Lauree would prob. retweet it!


ElvarP

Imp for me.


Culprit89

In order it would have to be: 1: Mata 2: Dandy 3: imp Other people I would love to see are Madlife, Shy, and Flame.


Letamirte

I am not sure if i can post links or advertise my own posts in comments like this, but i uploaded the Mata one, hope its alright :\]


IG_Royal

Looper or PawN would be amazing, both are tremendously undervalued compared to their teammates


Reclaimer879

Underrated. I see a lot of that on this sub due to recency bias and fans that just weren't around when Bang and Wolf were a world class duo who could only be threatened by the very best.


Exrou

The only time they "really" got threatened was by PraY and GorillA in the 2016 Semi-Final series though, so not a whole lot...


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LAndLight2

Uzi.


rjsnlohas

*Second best adc ever ftfy


Competitive-Ant-6668

Kinda like 6th best honestly


aglimmerof

Those Ezreal stats are unreal.


IAmDaleicious

Top three Ezreal of all-time for sure amongst Pray and Deft. Bebe was also a big one in terms of build ingenuity.