The mid laner Felix Braun (21) played for 2 years on Schalke in the League of Legends, until the club ran into financial trouble and sold him to the USA. There, “Abbedagge” made a name for himself, becoming one of the top 2 mid laners in the LCS and actually leading his team “100 Thieves” to the LoL Worlds 2021.
What happened there? Like in football, Schalke 04 shows a great ability to discover and develop talents that then continue their careers successfully elsewhere.
Young mid laner Felix Braun was signed by Schalke in November 2018 from the Turkish team Royal Bandits. It was a rollercoaster ride for Schalke starting in 2019, until in 2021 it all went downhill:
- In 2019, Schalke signed the veteran star Forg1ven and trusted that he could lead a group of young players to the top of the LEC. However, that went horribly wrong, Forg1ven criticized the young players, Schalke lost everything, and the Greek was gone after just a few months.
- Then a young team actually formed, with Abbedagge as a key player, but they never quite made it to the top 3 of the LEC and thus to the World Championship.
- Just when it looked like the group of young players was slowly maturing into a top team, Schalke 04 was relegated from the Bundesliga, needed money urgently, sold Abbedagge to the USA, and then lost everything they had in the LEC. Schalke even sold their spot in the LEC to a team in Switzerland.
This is the team Abbedagge joined: The e-sports organization 100 Thieves had previously finished fourth in the US LCS, but had no big name in LoL. In the US, teams like Team Solo Mid, Team Liquid, or Cloud 9 are the big names that regularly go to the World Championships and dominate them since 2016.
100 Thieves was founded in 2016 by former Call of Duty pro and YouTuber Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag. They are an organization more rooted in shooters and focus on content creators and style. They have signed big YouTubers like Valkyrae and Courage and operate their own clothing line. In LoL, they haven’t achieved much in recent years.
German talent matures into a star player in the league in the USA
This is how it went for Felix Braun in the USA: In April 2021, Schalke sold the 21-year-old for allegedly 1 million US dollars to “100 Thieves”.
While things rapidly went downhill for Schalke in Germany, Braun was shining in the USA. Braun became one of the best mid laners in the USA in just 26 games:
- Braun won 69% of his matches – the best rate
- achieving a KDA of 4.5 – good enough for second place
- notably, Abbedagge dies relatively rarely. With 52 deaths, he plays much safer than the expensively acquired star player Perkz, who has died 71 times.
In terms of the kill-assist-death statistics, Abbedagge ranks second among the most frequently used mid laners in the USA. Only Power of Evil is ahead of him. However, he has left a veteran like Jensen (4.4) or star purchase Perkz (3.7) behind.
This is what he has achieved now: 100 Thieves secured a spot at the Worlds 2021 with a victory against Evil Genius in the playoffs, making them one of the first teams worldwide to do so – the last time the team made it to a World Championship was in 2018.
Abbedagge is seen as a key change, along with a change in the coaching staff, that made 100 Thieves as successful as they are and helped them find their identity as an “early game” team.
Does Abbedagge have a chance at the World Championship? No, he does not. It is still unclear which top teams from around the world will qualify for the World Championship. So far, only a few have qualified. However, teams from China like FunPlus Phoenix or from Korea like DAMWON Gaming are already clear favorites.
For Felix Braun, however, a dream is surely coming true, as he gets to measure up against the top Asian players in the world like Showmaker or Doinb in the mid lane. That was never enough during his time at Schalke.
Are there other German LoL players going to the World Championship? The other strong German player in the US LCS is “PowerofEvil”, who plays for Team Solo Mid. However, they are already on the verge of embarrassment.
Although TSM finished first in the regular season, they have already lost a playoff series against Team Liquid and now have to somehow make their way through the Loser’s Bracket.
In Europe, there are actually only two Germans left playing for strong teams:
- 22-year-old Norman “Kaiser” Kaiser is a supporter for the Spanish team Mad Lions. They are already qualified for the Worlds after defeating G2 Esports in the playoffs.
- Elias “Upset” Lipp is the bot laner for Fnatic. Whether they will make it to the LoL Worlds 2021 is still uncertain. They will play against Misfits in round two of the LEC playoffs in a few days.
Fnatic recently made a great comeback in LoL:
LoL: How the most storied team in Europe pulled themselves out of the crisis with 3 crazy moves
