Zeus is leaving T1, replacement already announced

T1 Choi “Zeus” Woo-je is no more, with the two-time world champion’s departure from T1 being announced on social media early on November 19.

Zeus began his LoL esports career on T1’s Challengers roster, before being promoted to its LCK roster in November of 2020. In the nearly four years since then, Zeus has distinguished himself as a world-class top laner, achieving two World Championship titles in that time and becoming one of the few players to ever do so. T1 has already announced his replacement in ex-HLE top laner Choi “Doran” Hyeon-jun.

Here’s a look back on Zeus’ time with T1 and a preview of what can expect from Doran.

T1 Zeus out, T1 Doran in

Zeus is officially out of T1 League of Legends on November 19, 2024, leaving behind a legacy of excellence.

Early on November 19, T1 published a “Thank you, ‘Zeus’” post to its social media, announcing the departure of the veteran top laner and two-time world champion. This announcement was met with much surprise and despair from many T1 and Zeus fans. It had seemed likely that the back-to-back World Championship roster would be breaking up come 2025, especially in the wake of its second World Championship, and T1’s post confirmed such.

Less than half an hour later, T1 published another post on social media announcing who would be replacing Zeus come 2025 LCK. In the post, T1 welcomes Doran, LCK Summer 2024 champions Hanwha Life Esports’ top laner. Many fans were surprised, as Doran had a famously difficult final series at Worlds 2024, falling to the Gen.G he beat during Summer Finals with what many fans saw as a particularly embarrassing performance for Doran personally.

Doran’s addition to the roster begins a new era for T1, moving from the lauded “ZOFGK” roster to the newly-minted “DOFGK”. At the time of writing, it is unclear what team Zeus will be playing for in 2025, but it would be a wild development for the back-to-back World champion not to find a high-quality roster to play with.

Doran will play his first matches for T1 during the 2025 Spring LCK split come January of the new year.