Today’s cartoon is about Kim “Khan” Dong-ha’s intimidating comment in the interview after the LCK finals and a long lost player attitude.

There’s a term called ‘trash talk’ in traditional sports. Often spoken right before or after a game, it is mostly used to provoke or intimidate opponents. It’s the same in esports; although it’s a lot more gentle than in traditional sports because the players can’t talk to each other during the game. Trash talk is heard mostly during ceremonies before and after a game, through comments on social media, or in stages set for that kind of talk.

When Starcraft was very hot in Korea, often there were bold, intimidating ceremonies. In the recent League of Legends scene, very few players do the same. When it comes to intimidating players, most fans think of SKT T1 Piglet and Samsung Galaxy White Imp. The facial expressions they had while they taunted the opponents before a game were very unusual and it made the rivalry seem more intense.

After several years, the League of Legends scene of Korea became very gentle. Mostly because of the development of communities and social media; misbehavior and rumors had a much bigger impact than before and it made the players act more passively. As a result, even small intimidating comments evaporated from the scene and characters like Piglet and Imp disappeared. It was the same during the 2018 LCK Spring Split. There was less tension since there was only ‘nice’ trash talk.

However, Khan’s comment after the finals shook up the community. Khan was always very confident and witty, but it was still unexpected when he said “All top laners of the world, come bow down in front of me and kneel!” It was quite a bold provocation. His comment made fans think of ‘Joffrey’ from ‘Game of Thrones’. This also made the matches against top laners at the MSI quite interesting; especially with Bwipo’s comment on sOAZ and the EU LCS finals. As of his comment, Khan seems to have secured a spot as one of the main interests of LoL fans worldwide.

Still, there are those who feel uncomfortable about these comments and ‘trash talk’. But many fans have been feeling that something’s missing in the scene, and Khan may just be bringing that something back to the LCK. Whether he’ll be able to back up his words or eat them will be seen soon.