A Change of Pace

Bulbs flashed, the crowd roared, and the score was shockingly settled. Samsung Galaxy was headed to the 2016 World Championship and KT Rolster was headed home. It had been over two years since KT Rolster had dropped a match to the Samsung organization, yet they faltered when it counted the most. As Samsung’s players danced and cheered, Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho sat in silence with his teammates in the KT Rolster booth, wondering how things had gone so wrong.

Ssumday, one of the world’s most feared top laners, let the cold reality of defeat sink in. He knew he had to make a change, but what? Not even he knew. After Worlds concluded, the answer was soon to come. The League of Legends community began buzzing with reports that Ssumday was a free agent and fielding offers. As the world watched, the common assumption was that he’d fill the void left by Lee “Duke” Ho-seong in the top lane for SK Telecom. He fit the mold and clearly had the skill to turn the reigning champions into an even-more-formidable juggernaut -- but Ssumday had other plans in mind.

In December of 2016, it was announced that Ssumday would be making his way to North America as Team Dignitas’ first major acquisition since their rebirth. The news sent shockwaves that reverberated through the community. One of the best top laners on the planet was headed to the NA LCS and the expectations ran so high that you couldn’t reach them without a SpaceX shuttle to blast you there. “Of course I often feel pressured,” says Ssumday, “but thankfully the people who support and trust me always encourage me to work hard and to be happy.” He was going need support early on, because the transition wasn’t going to be all happiness and hype.

A Bumpy Takeoff

All it took was one step off his flight for Ssumday to confront his first major challenge in North America: culture shock. “It has not been easy to adjust to a new environment because I have had to learn a new culture, a new language and a new system.” says Ssumday. This isn’t a new or surprising phenomenon, especially in the NA LCS where teams with import players often need extended periods of time to develop sufficient chemistry. But playing League is just one part of the acclimation equation and there’s much more to figuring out a culture than just getting settled in at your new job. Unfortunately for Ssumday, the world of eSports is fast paced and all-too-often it’s do or die. He was about to find out just how difficult it is to find success on the Rift while simultaneously scaling the mountain of cultural acclimation.

To say that Ssumday’s NA LCS career got off to a shaky start would be putting it mildly. Team Dignitas tripped out of the gate, falling flat on their faces to a 1-6 start in the 2017 NA LCS Spring Split. But Ssumday never lost hope in his new squad, “I was thinking that we needed more time as a team,” he says, “Every one of us was still learning to work together so I wasn’t concerned that things wouldn’t improve.” His faith in himself and his teammates began to convert into victories and Team Dignitas roared back to a 9-9 record to finish the split. The impression around the league was that Ssumday and company were heating up at just the right moment for a deep push through the playoffs.

Their seemingly destined playoff run was cut off just as it began. In what analysts tabbed as a match-up of equals, Phoenix1 proved too powerful and dominated their way to a 3-0 thrashing of Team Dignitas. When I asked him about that series, Ssumday didn’t see it quite like the analysts did: “We absolutely improved a lot from the first half of the split. However, in my opinion, we were still not a top tier team,” he explains. “We were disappointed but we were still happy that we could make the playoffs.” This type of reflection -- one that acknowledges faults, but tempers those criticisms with positivity -- has become a hallmark of who Ssumday is, and his evolution as a player. It’s a small glimpse into the way he carries himself and those around him.

An Adaptable Leader

This split, after making massive strides in the spring, has showcased how much Ssumday’s leadership means to Team Dignitas. The team relies not only on his skill, but his ability to teach those around him and expand their strategic repertoire. “I’m learning a lot of rotations from him,” states his teammate, Lee “Shrimp” Byeong-hoon. Ssumday’s ability to pass on what he’s learned from playing in Korea’s LCK adds to the potential ceiling that Team Dignitas can reach. And even though it feels obvious that he’s Dignitas’ most valuable asset, he doesn’t view himself as some type of god among mere mortals.

“Of course, there must be a leader on a team, but I believe that each of the five team members makes a great team, not just the leader.” says Ssumday, “Teamwork is the most important to me and that’s why I try hard to be a good teammate.” This team-centric, player-first approach to his duties as a leader has earned Ssumday the respect and friendship of his teammates and others outside of the organization. And for those that still don’t respect him? Ssumday’s got a simple message for them: “My gameplay will make them respect me.”

Speaking of gameplay, Ssumday’s performances are known around the world as some of the top lane’s best. It hasn’t just been a flash of greatness, it’s been sustained performances year-over-year at the absolute highest levels. Part of that success is building an ocean-deep catalog of champions that he can return to as the meta continues to shift and evolve. “I have experienced so many changes in the long time that I’ve been a pro player. I have also played other positions in solo-queue, so I can handle any champion.” he explains. The flexibility of his champion pool means that you never quite know what champion he’ll come at you with next. So it’s no wonder Ssumday strikes fear into the opposition; you can’t prepare for Dignitas without attempting to cook up a gameplan to stop Ssumday.

It’s not only his experience and leadership that make him so well loved, it’s how he approaches his life holistically that makes him one of the most unique talents to ever hit the Rift.

A Tale of Two Ssumdays

If you judged Ssumday solely off the destruction he brings to his enemies in game, you’d believe he has one emotional state: dead freakin’ serious. But then the camera would pan to him after a big play, cracking his undeniably charming smirk, and it’d make you question every assumption you ever held about him.

For many players, public and private life become one once they don their jerseys for the first time. They cease being the person they were just days earlier and instead come to embody their in-game handle. That new identity comes to largely define who they are in -- and out -- of game. This is where Ssumday’s approach differs from many of his contemporaries. “I tend to keep business and private matters strictly separate,” he says, “While I tend to have a positive outlook in general, when it comes to playing games professionally, I am very competitive.” When he’s duking it out across the Rift, he’s Ssumday, terror of the top lane. But, when you catch him after a game he’s cheery, warm, and feels like he could be your best pal. Simply put, he’s himself: Kim Chan-ho.

There’s a stark contrast between his two identities. On one side you have a confident, ultra-competitive and laser focused professional. Flip the coin and you’re face-to-face with no fierce competitor, but a rather humble and down-to-earth guy who just so happens to play League professionally. Ssumday cares immensely about competing at the highest levels, but he also cares about the mark he leaves on others: “I, personally, am not very competitive. However, I got used to being competitive in this environment where a loss can easily lead to failure. But, I still want to be considerate to others in daily life when I don’t have to compete,” he says. It’s a careful blend of confidence and humility; of competitive drive and deep empathy. It’s these contrasting traits that continually endear him to fans all over the globe.

Even the way he conceptualizes competition is unique. Ssumday, while always wanting to crush his opponents, believes that competition truly is a symbiotic relationship between him and the enemy. “If I have a competitor, I think the competition is mutually beneficial for us,” says Ssumday, “He will also probably make me less lazy.” In Ssumday’s eyes, his rivals contribute to his success by pushing him to be a better player with each and every play. In the same way that iron sharpens iron, Ssumday’s growth is, in part, due to those he faces off against.

His ability to easily switch between his serious, no-nonsense competitive mindset and a happier, more approachable demeanor off the Rift are hallmarks of who he is as a player and as a person. “When I play League, I focus more on winning. But outside of games, I like to focus more on having fun,” he says. That split down the middle may not always be easy to maintain, but Ssumday strikes a balance that gives him the composure to put his all into League of Legends while also crafting the person he aspires to be offline. He’s not known for making compromises on the Rift, so it’s not surprising that he approaches his life off the Rift with the same type of enthusiasm and drive. His method sustains a larger-than-life personality with equal parts humility and confidence -- Ssumday’s own recipe for success.

Leaving a Legacy

It’s no secret that, historically speaking, eSports careers are incredibly short. Whether it be burnout, injuries, or waning of interest eSports pros don’t tend to stick around for long periods of time. This makes building a legacy tricky business. Luckily, this trend is starting to change with the rise of consistent wages, proper support staffing, and retirement options being implemented in major eSports leagues. It seems that young Ssumday, at age 16, may have jumped into eSports at just the right time. Now a 21-year-old veteran of some the best eSports leagues on the planet, Ssumday’s best days as a pro may lay ahead of him. If you were to ask him, he’d tell you he’s still got room to grow before he reaches the pinnacle of his career.

When I inquired about his drive as a professional, his humble attitude shone through in his response: “While I appreciate the nice things people say, I think that I am still not good enough and always try my best to improve every day.” Of course there’s room for improvement in every player, even if legends like Faker seem untouchable, there’s always more to be done. That’s partly the allure of playing as a professional, your growth is limited only by what you can sustain physically and mentally. There’ll always be one more minion to last hit, one more flash to burn, and one more accolade to collect -- but only so much time on the clock of one career.

Ssumday knows these challenges first-hand and has lived with them for years. While he likes to keep his private and public life separate, he’ll always have that yearning to hit the Rift and compete. Having a support system in place makes all the work he puts in easier to cope with: “Those who support me include my family, fans, friends and other people. They even can be those who support me secretly or indirectly,” says a reflecting Ssumday, “Whenever I get stressed, when I think of them, I feel like I can handle that situation much better.” Ssumday recognizes that being a professional isn’t about going it alone and because of this he feels indebted to his friends, family, and fans. The support system Ssumday has found truly enables him to do great things on and off the Rift.

Even though Ssumday does his best to balance between his work self and his private self, he knows there’ll be room for improvement once his time in League has come to a close. “I was lucky enough to be able to have the unique experience of being a pro player. At the same time, however, I haven’t had some of the general life experience that other people have had. So, after I retire, I think my life will be filled with more general life experiences, just like other people.” It goes to show that no matter how well a player like Ssumday can separate private and public affairs, there will always be trade-offs in life, no matter how skillfully it’s constructed. In Ssumday’s case, the most important thing is to be happy with himself once the sun sets on his career.

That includes turning any of his career’s remaining skeptics into believers, “If you watch me for a little bit, you will be charmed. Enough said,” he states with his signature blend of confidence and swagger. But even the most confident of people have small cracks in their armor. When I asked Ssumday about how he’d like to be remembered, his confidence seemed to melt away. Not in the sense that it disappeared, but rather that the monumental guard built by his confidence was dropped, even just for this single answer. “I hope people will remember me regardless of my performance,” he says, “I just wish that they could remember me as a good player.”

Perhaps I had the wrong read from the outset. Maybe Kim Chan-ho and Ssumday were more interconnected than he led on. And even though he largely tries to keep his two sides exclusive, together they make the player we cheer for and the person that so many people love: Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho.

All photos courtesy of Riot Games' Flickr!

Ian Nowakowski is an eSports writer based out of San Diego, California. He currently writes for lolesports.com and Team Dignitas. Follow him and the adorable cat pictures he retweets @ian_nowakowski