Ruler (gamer)

Park Jae-hyuk (박재혁; born December 29, 1998), better known as Ruler, is a South Korean professional League of Legends player for JD Gaming.

Throughout his career, he has won one League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) title, two League of Legends Pro League (LPL) titles, one Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) title, and one World Championship title.

He also became the 11th player in the LCK to reach 1,000 kills, and the third to reach 2,000.

His career began in 2016 when he joined LCK Challengers League team Stardust.

Later that year, he joined Samsung Galaxy of the LCK.

He reached the 2016 League of Legends World Championship Final in his rookie season, and the following year, he won the 2017 World Championship.

Ruler began his playing career in 2016 when he joined Stardust of Challengers Korea, a developmental league for the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK).

Ruler was signed by Samsung Galaxy (SSG) for the 2016 LCK Summer Split.

SSG finished the split in fourth place in the standings.

In the first round of the playoffs, SSG defeated Afreeca Freecs.

Their opponents in the next round was KT Rolster, whom they lost to 0 games to 3, ending their playoff run.

Accumulating 50 championship points, SSG entered the LCK regional qualifier for the 2016 World Championship.

They secured the third LCK seed for Worlds by defeating KT Rolster in the finals.

After advancing as the top seed from their group, SSG swept both Cloud9 and H2k-Gaming in the playoffs, earning a spot in the final against SK Telecom T1 (SKT).

In the best-of five series, SKT won the first two games.

After 25 minutes into in game three, SSG was losing 0–7, but four minutes later, SSG won a 3–0 fight due in part to Ruler's high damage output.

Samsung went on to win the game 19–17 after 71 minutes.

Following a win in game four, the match went to a decisive fifth game.

Eight minutes in, Ruler killed SKT's Bae "Benji" Sung-woong after a bad invade.

However, SSG ultimately lost the game 8–13, finishing Worlds in second place.

After securing third- and fourth-place finishes in the 2017 LCK Spring and Summer splits, respectively, SSG qualified for the 2017 League of Legends World Championship.

In the World Championship group stage, Samsung finished with a 4–2 record, with both losses coming from Royal Never Give Up.

Progressing to the knockouts, they defeated Longzhu Gaming and Team WE in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, SSG advance to the World Championship finals, where they once again faced SK Telecom T1.

In game one of the final, Ruler played Xayah and had no deaths and 100% kill participation, contributing two kills and five assists.

This trend continued in the second game, playing as Xayah, he maintained zero deaths, four kills, and five assists.

Switching to Varus in the third game, a pivotal moment occurred at the 39-minute mark, when Ruler used a move called Flash, propelling himself toward SKT mid laner Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok, creating a chaotic situation.

However, SKT's players were positioned in a way that created a brief opening, and Ruler took advantage of the opportunity and killed Faker.

Although this left Ruler exposed to attack, Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in used all of his abilities to keep Ruler alive, and with a miscalculated attack by SKT's Kang "Blank" Sun-gu, Ruler survived.

While falling just short of 100% kill participation in the third game, Ruler concluded with four kills, two deaths, and 11 assists.

With a 3-game-to-0 series victory, Ruler won his first World Championship.

Throughout the series, Ruler adeptly managed minion waves, secured kills, and contributed to tower takedowns.

Despite occasional mistakes, Ruler's team collaborated effectively to rectify them, and Ruler earned the MVP title for the series.

In November 2017, KSV Esports, later rebranded as Gen.G in May 2018, acquired the roster of Samsung Galaxy.

Ruler was picked up by KSV Esports, which was later rebranded to Gen.G, for the 2018 LCK season.

From 2018 to 2022, he won one LCK title, in 2022 and made four World Championship appearances.

He left the LCK to join LPL team JD Gaming for the 2023 season.

In his first year, he won back-to-back LPL titles, won the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational, and made another Worlds appearance.

He also represented the South Korean national team at the 2018 Asian Games, earning a silver medal, and the 2022 Asian Games, earning a gold.

Ruler's individual accomplishments include accolades such as a World Championship Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, an LCK season MVP award, three LCK First All-Pro Team designations, an LPL Finals MVP award, and two LPL First All-Pro Team designations.

The team finished with a 9–9 record, securing qualification for the 2018 LCK Spring playoffs.