Long time comin’: Veteran Gen.G ADC Ruler wins first LCK MVP award for 2022 Summer Split

One of the best AD carries in League of Legends history has another piece of hardware to add to his trophy case. Gen.G’s Ruler was named the MVP of the 2022 LCK Summer Split today by a panel consisting of 40 LCK commentators, players, coaches, and affiliated media members. 

This achievement marks the first LCK MVP award earned by Ruler after seven seasons in the league. In 2017, he earned Finals MVP honors after winning that season’s World Championship with Samsung Galaxy, denying SK Telecom T1 a potential three-peat. Despite that historic feat, the veteran never won an MVP award for his efforts on the domestic stage until today. 

This summer, Ruler led Gen.G to a near-perfect match record of 17-1. Gen.G became just the third team in the history of the LCK to win 17 or more matches in a single split. Additionally, the team won 35 individual games this summer while only losing five. That 35-5 game record was good enough for a winning percentage of 87.5 percent across this summer’s individual games, the best single-split mark by any team in LCK history, including this Spring Split’s undefeated T1 team, who only had a winning percentage of 83.7 percent in their individual games. 

Ruler earned 21 out of 40 possible first-place votes for the LCK’s MVP award, while nearly every ballot had the Gen.G ADC among its top five players this split. Ruler posted the highest KDA among all LCK players this split with a mark of 7.6 while tying Liiv SANDBOX AD carry Prince for the league-lead in total kills with 213 this summer, according to League stats site Oracle’s Elixir. Ruler and Prince also tied for the league’s “Player of the Split” trophy, which honors the player with the most “Player of the Game” awards throughout the summer. 

Related: Here are the matchups and bracket for the 2022 LCK Summer playoffs

Ruler’s MVP honors are only the apex of Gen.G’s near-sweep of awards season, as the team had four players on the league’s first All-Pro team, while first-year head coach Score was recognized as the LCK’s Coach of the Year. 

Gen.G will return to the LCK stage for their first postseason match of the Summer Split later this week. The team earned a bye directly into the LCK playoffs’ second round and will have the luxury of selecting their opponent for their semifinal match, which is set to take place on Aug. 20.