Cho ‘Mata’ Se-hyeong’s career has been probably one of the most successful and longest in LoL history. His achievements include 1 LPL title, 4 LCK titles, a World Championship, and a KeSPA Cup. He has been an absolute class act his entire career, cementing his position in LoL as one of the best.
Season 3
He made his debut in the big leagues as MVP Ozone’s Support in the Champions Spring 2013. During Mata’s first season as a pro player, MVP Ozone secured the OLYMPUS LoL Champions Spring 2013 title 3-0 against CJ Entus Blaze in what is considered as one of the major upsets in the history of LoL. They also played pretty well in Champions Summer 2013, securing third place.
After HOT6iX Champions Summer 2013, the tech-giant Samsung acquired Ozone, as well as its sister team Blue, right before the Worlds 2013. However, Ozone got eliminated after they lost a tiebreaker against Gambit Gaming.
2014
Despite everything, Samsung and Mata went back to Korea to participate in LCK 2014. Samsung Ozone, now called Samsung White, managed to bag the third place in the Summer, Winter and Spring split. This was when Mata became famous for his playmaking-focused style and was considered the game’s best player.
This claim was furthered in the 2014 Worlds. His playing enabled Samsung White to dominate the whole tournament. They only dropped two games during their run. And in the final match, Mata and his team took down Star Horn Royal Club, acquiring the world championship. Mata earned an award for being the Most Valuable Player in the entire tournament.
In November 2014, Mata, along with several SSW teammates, left the organization and joined Vici Gaming.
2015-2016
Mata joined hands with Looper (his ex-SSW teammate) on the Chinese esports organization Royal Never Give Up. There, he won the Spring LPL. In summer, MATA came second. He decided to head back to Korea in 2017 after bagging a top-8 finish at the 2016 League of Legends World Championship.
2017
Mata united with several legendary players in 2017 to form a KT Rolster team made to win tournaments. The team was close but not quite enough in their first running year.
KT Rolster lost against SKT in Spring finals. In Summer, it went through the same thing in the semifinals. After another loss in the finals against Samsung Galaxy, the team did not go to the Worlds 2017.
2018
2018 was the year KT Rolster finally won a domestic title after four years thanks to Mata.
In Summer, KT won against Griffin in a 5-game thriller. This was when Mata earned his 2nd LCK title. During the off-season, Mata made a move to SKT T1. And straight away, the team was dominating the Korean esports scene once again.
In the coming Summer split, he was sharing play-time with Effort (Lee Sang-ho). Eventually, Lee was assigned the role of starting Support, whereas Mata assumed a coaching/substitute position. Despite an average regular season, SKT won the regional League of Legends Champions Korea title for a 2nd straight split.
2019
At the Worlds 2019, the team got to the semifinals with Lee “Effort” Sang-ho as the Support. However, he was replaced with Mata for game 4 against the team G2 Esports. This was his last professional tournament. He was farewelled with applause despite the European crowd. Everyone recognized Mata’s legacy.
Only three days after announcing retirement as a professional LoL player, Mata rejoined Royal Never Give up as a head coach, replacing Steak (Chou Lu-Hsi).
While some people question if Mata is ready to coach one of the best teams, his shot-calling ability, in-depth knowledge in his field, and experience make him a reasonable choice for the position.
