Popular League of Legends streamer Caedrel has defended T1 star Faker from criticism after his performance on Orianna against Hanwha Life Esports in the LCK 2026 Rounds 3-4, arguing that viewers are overlooking how unfavorable the matchup can be against Cassiopeia.
Faker found himself 20 CS behind in the early game while playing Orianna into Zeka’s Cassiopeia, prompting some viewers to criticize his laning performance. However, Caedrel pushed back on the League community’s reaction by pointing to an almost identical matchup involving another elite mid laner.
“This exact same matchup happened the other day, and Chovy was playing the Orianna, and he was also 20 CS down. I can copy-paste the game state. It’s like the matchup, I think, on paper is just Casio favored. This is seven minutes in. He’s 20 CS up almost on Chovy with perma mid push,” he said during a stream on Twitch.
Caedrel argued that the comparison showed the early deficit was not necessarily evidence of Faker playing poorly. Instead, he believes Cassiopeia’s ability to control the lane naturally gives her an advantage against Orianna.
Orianna can struggle into Cassiopeia because Cassio is much stronger in extended trades and can constantly pressure her with sustained damage. Orianna generally wants to poke with her Q and W before backing away, but Cassio can use Miasma to limit her movement and keep the fight going with repeated Twin Fangs casts.
If Cassio also secures permanent mid push, Orianna is forced to farm under pressure while Cassio controls the pace of the lane. That helps explain why both Faker and Chovy could find themselves around 20 CS down in the same matchup without the deficit necessarily being a sign that either player was simply playing poorly.
Caedrel defending Faker: It's funny because people are saying criticize faker, but this exact same matchup happened yesterday. I just feel like some people in chat just don't watch League. They just watch like the games that they want to watch and then they expect things to just be different outcome
by u/Yujin-Ha in leagueoflegends
For Caedrel, the repeated game state was enough to question why viewers were immediately placing the blame on Faker. “I’m not sure why people are just saying and blame this guy,” he said. He appeared frustrated with viewers who were criticizing Faker without considering the matchup itself. “This matchup, I’ve seen it already now a couple times. This just looks like a winning match for a Casio. Chovy’s losing this lane. People just larp,” he further added.
According to stats site Oracle’s Elixir, Orianna is Faker’s third most-played champion during his entire career, where he has a KDA of 5.2 with a 72 percent winrate in 104 matches.
With Faker once again at the center of intense community scrutiny as T1 qualifies for the LCK Season Playoffs 2026, the team’s performance has fallen short of the lofty expectations surrounding them.
Still, Caedrel’s defense serves as a reminder that individual laning statistics do not always tell the full story in matches, especially when champion matchups can heavily influence how a lane plays out.
