


Chovy won Esports Athlete of the Year at the 2025 Game Awards. The Gen.G mid laner is hailed as one of the best players in League of Legends. Chovy is Faker’s rival, and in 2025, many said that he had dethroned the GOAT. So who is Chovy? Is he really better than Faker?
Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon began his career in the 2018 season, and he did not waste any time before making an impact. The mid laner spent his first split in the Challengers Korea league, and he did not lose a single game there. His team Griffin was promoted to the LCK for Summer 2018, where they finished second. From that point on, his results never dropped.
| Tournament | Team | Regular Season result | Playoffs result | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CK 2018 Spring | Griffin | 1st place | N/A | Promoted to the LCK |
| LCK 2018 Summer | Griffin | 2nd place | 2nd place | Not qualified for 2018 Worlds |
| KeSPA Cup 2018 | Griffin | N/A | 1st place | |
| LCK 2019 Spring | Griffin | 1st place | 2nd place | Not qualified for 2019 MSI |
| LCK 2019 Summer | Griffin | 1st place | 2nd place | Qualified for 2019 Worlds |
| KeSPA Cup 2019 | DRX | N/A | 3rd – 4th place | |
| LCK 2020 Spring | DRX | 3rd place | 3rd place | |
| LCK 2020 Summer | DRX | 2nd place | 2nd place | Qualified for 2020 Worlds |
| KeSPA Cup 2020 | DRX | N/A | 3rd – 4th place | |
| LCK 2021 Spring | HLE | 3rd place | 3rd place | Not qualified for 2021 MSI |
| LCK 2021 Summer | HLE | 8th place | N/A | Qualified for 2021 Worlds |
| LCK 2022 Spring | Gen.G | 2nd place | 2nd place | Not qualified for 2022 MSI |
| LCK 2022 Summer | Gen.G | 1st place | 1st place | Qualified for 2022 Worlds |
| LCK 2023 Spring | Gen.G | 2nd place | 1st place | Qualified for 2023 MSI |
| LCK 2023 Summer | Gen.G | 2nd place | 1st place | Qualified for 2023 Worlds |
| LCK 2024 Spring | Gen.G | 1st place | 1st place | Qualified for 2024 MSI |
| LCK 2024 Summer | Gen.G | 1st place | 2nd place | Qualified for 2024 Worlds |
| KeSPA Cup 2024 | Gen.G | N/A | 3rd – 4th place | |
| LCK Cup 2025 | Gen.G | N/A | 2nd place | Not qualified for 2025 First Stand |
| LCK 2025 Rounds 1-2 / Road to MSI | Gen.G | 1st place | 1st place | Qualified for 2025 MSI |
| LCK 2025 Rounds 3-5 Legend Group / Season Playoffs | Gen.G | 1st place | 1st place | Qualified for 2025 Worlds |
Chovy’s regional records are outstanding. The mid laner started out strong, and has remained at that same level through a whole 8 seasons. Whereas many players shine over a period then fall from grace, he has the consistency. That same consistency that makes Faker so unique. The fact that no matter the year, these two players will be among the best regardless.
Chovy is mostly known for his farming. Gen.G’s mid laner averages creep scores per minute that everyone aspires to attain. In the 2025 LCK, he got 9.54 cs per minute. This is an insane number as the goalpost figure of 10 cs per minute cannot be kept in every game, or on every champion.
Ji-hoon’s farm comes from being very precise in his play and making no mistakes. These numbers don’t show a player that makes one excellent play, they’re the consequence of near-perfect play all throughout the game. Capitalizing on every small detail, grabbing every single advantage.
Chovy started as an exceptional laner that would need to rely on his early prowess to win the game. However, over the years, he also turned into a teamfighting monster. Chovy’s fans perceive him as a god of League of Legends. As such, his fandom is called the Church of Chovy.
Alongside Ji-hoon’s fast rise to glory, Faker lost part of his panache. As of today, the Unkillable Demon King is not the mechanical genius that he was in his early years. Faker doesn’t rely on flashy assassin plays anymore. In fact, this year, many LCK mid laners got the better of him in lane. Chovy ended up beating him in all matches save for one single Best of 3.
So, is Chovy better than Faker?

Chovy, the 2025 MSI MVP. Image Source: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games
Chovy is the best in the LCK, there’s no doubt about that. Be it through results or in-game performance, he eclipses all the competition on home turf. However, what happens on the international stage is a different story.
| Tournament | Team | Result | Final match’s outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worlds 2019 | GRF | 8th place | 1-3 against IG |
| Worlds 2020 | DRX | 8th place | 0-3 against DWG |
| Worlds 2021 | HLE | 8th place | 0-3 against T1 |
| Worlds 2022 | Gen.G | 4th place | 1-3 against DRX |
| MSI 2023 | Gen.G | 4th place | 0-3 against BLG |
| Worlds 2023 | Gen.G | 8th place | 2-3 against BLG |
| MSI 2024 | Gen.G | 1st place | 3-1 against BLG |
| EWC 2024 | Gen.G | 8th place | 0-2 against TES |
| Worlds 2024 | Gen.G | 4th place | 1-3 against T1 |
| MSI 2025 | Gen.G | 1st place | 3-2 against T1 |
| EWC 2025 | Gen.G | 1st place | 3-2 against AL |
| Worlds 2025 | Gen.G | 4th place | 1-3 against KT |
Chovy, the would-be best League of Legends player, has never won Worlds or even reached Worlds finals.
In 2024, he reached the finals of an international event for the first time, and won the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational. Chovy continued with these achievements and won both the MSI and Esports World Cup in 2025.
Yet in spite of these achievements, the Worlds trophies remained out of reach. Gen.G and Chovy swept through every competition in 2025, and even then, they fell short before reaching the finals. Korean fans even call him “8884844”, referring to his placements at Worlds.
Faker’s mechanics have dulled over the years, and he loses his lane to the likes of Chovy. However, he keeps his cool at all times. Where most players do worse on the big stage, every international stage is Faker’s home turf. League’s GOAT knows how to find the game-changing play no matter the stakes.
This ability to remain clutch is one that Chovy lacks. Chovy falters on the World stage, and he makes mistakes that he would never make back in the LCK. Because of that, Gen.G’s mid laner has never reached Worlds finals no matter how good he looked through the rest of the year.

Chovy at the 2025 MSI, a tournament that specifically isn’t the World Championship. Image Source: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games
In the end, that answer is up to anyone, based on their own standards.
Most people consider that one’s level is defined by how well they do when the stakes are highest. It doesn’t have to be about titles, since titles reflect a team’s power rather than an individual’s. However, performance in these internationals and most of all in the World Championship is what most people see as the measure of strength for a player.
In that case, Chovy definitely isn’t the best player in the world – and he especially isn’t better than Faker.
However, there are also people who claim that performance at Worlds alone shouldn’t weigh more than results over the rest of the year. Worlds only lasts for a month, so it shouldn’t erase ten months of games. That version also makes sense, and it definitely changes the response to who the best player in the world is.
Coincidentally, most of the people who say that year-round results matter more than Worlds are also fans of Chovy.
Regardless, Gen.G’s mid laner did earn the title of 2025 Esports Athlete of the Year. Whether he is the best player or not, he is without a doubt one of the best players that League of Legends has ever seen.
Featured Image Source: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

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