Gumayusi’s road to T1: How a rising star became a LoL icon

Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyung is a 23-year-old League of Legends player who is establishing himself as one of the best ADCs in the world. With two League of Legends World Championships already to his name, Gumayusi (commonly called Guma) is currently navigating a challenging phase in his career. But who is Gumayusi, and how did he join T1?

Lee Min-hyung was born on February 6, 2002, in South Korea. He comes from a big family with six siblings, all of whom are talented individuals. His father acknowledged his passion for gaming and took his children to cyber cafés to play StarCraft multiple times.

Lee "INnoVation" Shin-hyung, his brother, is a legendary professional StarCraft II player and is regarded as one of the greatest Terran players of all time. His sister, Lee Ha-young, is a classical guitarist and a devoted supporter of Gumayusi in various competitions, as showcased in her vlogs on YouTube.

In his documentary, Gumayusi disclosed that his brother inspired him to start playing League of Legends. He realized that he wanted to become a professional player during his first year of middle school.

He started in the top lane playing Darius, Cho'Gath, and Gnar. It was on February 4, 2017, at almost 15 years old, that Gumayusi reached his first Challenger rank.

In 2018, T1 reached out to Gumayusi, and he joined the organization as a trainee. When Bae "Bang" Jun-sik's contract ended, there was an opportunity for Gumayusi to be promoted to the main team.

However, this did not happen because they decided to hire Park "Teddy" Jin-seong instead. Although he was disappointed and moved to the rookie team, he remained determined to showcase his skills. Being good at playing was very difficult for him until 2020, when everything changed.

It was in 2022 that ZOFGK was born, the fifth man "best roster" in the world: Zeus, Oner, Faker, Gumayusi, and Keria. During the LCK 2022 Spring Split, Gumayusi set a new record for the most kills in a single split, achieving 219 kills and surpassing the previous record of 209 set by Ruler in the LCK 2020 Summer.

After a harsh 2022 with only a domestic title, T1 came back stronger than ever and won both the 2023 and 2024 LoL Worlds Championship. The Korean team now has five world titles.

He earned this nickname after finishing the LoL Worlds 2024 Final without dying, becoming only the second player in Worlds history to achieve this feat, following Lwx. This championship was especially meaningful to Gumayusi, not only because T1 won, but also because it was etched in League of Legends history by iconic moments, including the "Croissant" incident and the incredible roar of the crowd that left him speechless.

But that was not the first time Guma trended on social media. This TikTok of Gumayusi dancing to the "yare yare" trend was a very popular video for a while, even on Chinese social media. In the description, it says: "He’s wanted to jump on this trend for a while, ever since coming back from MSI. He said he knows all the moves already, even though he's wearing a suit to dance, but probably everyone hasn’t had a chance to arrange it yet. T1 has spoiled him now."

It ranked top among all hit videos on Bilibili (a Chinese platform like YouTube) and it even gained high popularity on Douyin (Chinese TikTok) with 180k likes. In addition to dancing, Guma enjoys singing karaoke with Oner during Instagram Lives.

Gumayusi and Faker are distant relatives, as they both belong to the Gyeongju Lee clan, a family with centuries of history in South Korea. While they are not closely related, their connection can be considered a fun piece of trivia, akin to being "distant cousins".

In South Korea, all men are required to complete mandatory military service. However, the government allows certain exceptions for athletes and prominent cultural figures. Typically, individuals must fulfill their military duty by the age of 28, but these important figures are permitted to serve until their 30s. So far, there is still no information about when is Gumayusi complying with his military service like his team mate Keria did last year.

In fact, that was never confirmed. According to interviews and comments of other teammates, T1 ADC must be 183–184 cm (6 feet). He is likely the tallest player on the team, followed by Oner.

According to the specs.gg, the "Unkillable Demon" uses:

Monitor: Samsung G7 T1 Faker Edition

Mouse: Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Black​

Mousepad: Logitech G640​

Keyboard: Logitech Pro X​

Headset: SteelSeries Arctis Pro Black

According to op.gg, Gumayusi has been an exceptional player in three champions:

Here is a compilation of his best plays in 2024.

That's all for now. Stick around for more League of Legends news and updates on esports.gg.