If you like playing top lane or follow the League of Legends esports scene, you probably are aware of who Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok is. Even though he hasn’t been playing much at international stages in the last few years, TheShy is regarded as one of the most legendary top laners in the game. Why is that? Let’s find out.
Image Credits: Riot Games
Before starting his professional career, TheShy used to be a small streamer who was mechanically insane on Riven. In other words, he was what everyone considers a Riven OTP. And while BoxBox was getting famous in the western world, TheShy was making a name for himself in the eastern regions, stomping high Elo players with the Ionian champion in both the Korean and Chinese ladder, streaming his gameplay on afreecatv and panda.tv.
Throughout the years, people all over the world started paying attention to the youngster, after various Youtubers posted several montage videos of his incredible outplays.
News emerged in 2016 saying that TheShy had been elo boosting his girlfriend’s account. The girl had posted a picture of her account going 37/3 with Nidalee jungle, an astonishing feat considering she was a support main. Note that TheShy had also been renowned for his ability with Nidalee alongside Riven. When questioned by others, the girl revealed TheShy had been playing ranked on her account. This later caught the attention of many.
Following the incident, TheShy quickly responded, admitting his mistake for playing ranked, and essentially elo boosting his girlfriend’s account and that he would take responsibility for his actions. While the community did not respond in the best way, TheShy was not severely punished for this incident.
Unlike Apdo, a Korean mid laner known as being the best solo queue player in the world, TheShy was not permanently banned, nor has it received a long competitive ban. This was likely due to TheShy’s difference in intention when elo boosting, since he had been more casual and less serious, compared to Apdo’s elo boosting business where he financially profited.
Image credits: fomos
While TheShy first made his debut with Anarchy / Rebels Anarchy, he mainly gained recognition when he joined Team WE as a streamer, getting closer and closer to the competitive scene. Aside from his Riven gameplay, TheShy would often showcase his iconic Nidalee and Yasuo, stomping enemies during the laning phase.
TheShy never played professionally until 2017 when he became the secondary top laner for Invictus Gaming. He would split time with the other top laner, who happened to be Duke, the 2016 world championship top laner. Despite having such a player on the roster, TheShy was still able to impress by splitting stage time with him.
Joining IG in the second split of the 2017 season, the roster was able to finish third in the regular split. But despite the strong start, IG failed to qualify for Worlds after dropping 3-2 in the Regional Finals against Team WE, the team TheShy left to play competitive. While it wasn’t a great ending to its debut split, the Korean top laner started making a name for himself out there and 2018 became his breakthrough year that turned him into one of the most respected players in the world.
TheShy and iG kick-started their season with a 3rd place finish in the Demacia Championship, losing 2-1 to Snake Esports in the loser’s semifinal. Just two weeks later saw the start of the LPL Spring Season. Despite a regular season series record of 18-1, with their only loss being against Royal Never Give Up, this did not translate into success in the Spring Playoffs. With TheShy himself sidelined due to a hand injury, Invictus Gaming were defeated 3-2 by RNG in the semifinals, this being followed by a 3-1 loss at the hands of Rogue Warriors in the third-place match. Although their performance could be considered a disappointment, their placement secured them a spot at Rift Rivals 2018.
IG switched things up before the start of the 2018 season, with JackeyLove and Baolan becoming the new bot lane duo. The team immediately kicked things off in the best way possible, dominating the LPL Spring Split (East) with an impressive 18-1 score.
While it was a great result itself, TheShy and IG started getting real attention when they went on to defeat the LCK representative at the 2018 Rift Rivals, proving they were ready for the international stage. They achieved yet another 18-1 in the LPL Summer Split, only dropping one series to RNG.
The team led by Uzi proved to be a kryptonite, as IG went on to lose in the LPL Summer Playoffs in a close 5-game series. With that loss, the team went to Worlds as the LPL’s second representative.
At the tournament, hardly anyone was paying attention to IG, as most eyes were on KT Rolster and the #1 seed from the LPL, RNG. Everyone was thinking the two teams would meet in the finals, but IG and TheShy happened to be in their way.
RNG dropped to G2 in the quarterfinals, and IG sent KT Rolster home with the same score, after one of the most legendary games in history. After the LPL went on to take a 2-0 lead, KT retaliated to draw the score, winning the backdoor in Game 3, and destroying the enemies in Game 4.
With the momentum swinging in the enemies’ favor, IG held it to the finish line to beat the LCK team. And with RNG gone, IG had the free run to the championship.
Image Credits: Riot Games
IG and TheShy were so dominant against G2 Esports and Fnatic that both series looked one-sided. The solo laners were tiers above their respective counterparts, and there was little the LEC teams could do to contest IG.
In particular, TheShy dunked on Wunder in their semifinals match, demolishing him in the 1v1 and hard-carrying his team with incredible Aatrox and Jayce performances. If you haven’t seen them, go check out this play: it goes to show how insane he was.
The 2018 World Championship showed all esports fans the rise of the LPL, and a new era of League of Legends. Despite most players considering the top lane a low-impact role, TheShy proved that you can still have a say in matches if you’re able to dominate your opponents. And that’s what TheShy has been known for since then, staying at the top of the LPL since his first World Championship.
After becoming the first Chinese team to win Worlds, IG and TheShy’s reputations spread out across the nation. Unfortunately, IG wasn’t able to repeat its 2018 dominance in the following year. They stayed in the mid-pack of the LPL for both splits and barely made it Worlds through the Regional Finals. Despite getting into the top four, IG went on to lose to the 2019 champions FPX, as they were unable to defend the title.
Since then, TheShy and IG went on a downward trajectory, with the team being unable to get similar results as the previous years. That said, the Korean top laner was still making a difference on his own whenever he could, making his presence known regardless of the game state, or what champion he was playing. Everyone clearly knew that he was still among the very best, but things didn’t work out.
After three years since winning Worlds, TheShy said goodbye to IG at the end of 2021 to join Weibo Gaming, the new team that was previously known as Suning and finished second at Worlds. WBG kept four of its players and only changed the top lane, replacing Bin with TheShy.
Considering the run the team did in the previous year, the new WBG roster, paired with TheShy’s arrival, was supposed to elevate the potential once again. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out yet again, as the other players struggled to maintain the same level of play and WBG only finished in the top 6 and top 8 in the two splits, failing to qualify for Worlds.
WBG knew things wouldn’t work out if they stuck to the same players so they kept TheShy and brought in four superstar players: Karsa, Xiaohu, Light, and Crisp.
Just by considering the nameplates, this was at least a top 3 team in the LPL. That being said, things never go as intended and while the roster finished fourth in the regular split, WBG never looked in a dominant position. TheShy was still doing his own as much as possible, but the team struggled with the drafts and an underperforming Karsa.
Image Credits: Riot Games
WBG switched things up in the summer split, replacing Karsa with Weiwei and hiring Daeny in Easyhoon’s place for the head coach role. Things started looking better for the team, but they were still only able to finish 6th in the regular split, and eventually dropped to LNG in playoffs as well.
With the Regional Finals being the last hope for Worlds yet again, TheShy and the entire WBG stepped up in the most important series: they were able to beat Uzi’s EDward Gaming and clinch the last seed for Worlds 2023, which will take place in TheShy’s home country, South Korea.
After years and years of sacrifice, one of the most acclaimed players in the world will be back on the international stage. And with the hope WBG can deliver a high level of performance, fans will be hoping to see TheShy shine bright just like he did 5 seasons ago when he took LoL by storm.
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