Origin

The controversy broke out in February 2025 when T1 announced that he would play with the 5 -person squad, but then added the Friday player - Smash. This made the fan community stirred up. Facing the reaction wave, CEO Joe Marsh spoke on March 19, saying that bringing Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong into the squad was "after discussing with the coaching staff." The next day, he confirmed the coaches who wanted to use Gumayusi at the starting lineup.

The incident was then transferred to the Kespa's sports arbitration committee to consider whether Mr. Marsh violated Article 31, Clause 1 of the regulations - involving "abuse of power". The focus is whether a CEO has the right to intervene in the decision to choose a squad - a responsibility of the coaching staff.

Conclusion of Kespa

In the conclusion, the Committee emphasized that despite the clear separation between the management and training role in modern electronic sports, the final decisions are still made by the organization. At the same time, both LCK's regulations and internal internal rules of T1 have no clear guidance that who decides to choose the official team, making the determination of violations become unclear.

Besides, Joe Marsh also confirmed that the decision to choose the squad was agreed with the coaching committee and did not have any objections. In the League of Legends, the player's effectiveness is often not fully assessed by objective indicators, so the choice between Gumayusi and Smash is mainly based on internal assessments.

Considering all of the above factors, Kespa concluded that Joe Marsh's actions did not violate any regulations and did not need to apply discipline. The decision was made on June 19, 2025. Thus, T1 and the team leaders can continue the work without being affected by the authorities.

At the time of the published article, T1 officially won the right to attend MSI 2025 after a 3-0 victory over the champion candidate Hanwha Life Esports in the final. MSI 2025 will take place from June 27 to July 12 in Vancouver, Canada. T1 will start its journey in the playoffs round on July 2.