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zechleton · 3 years ago

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Fakerdagge: a Meme Come True?

NOTE: I wrote this a couple of weeks ago. The exact stats may no longer be 100% accurate, but I think the points they support still stand. Take a look at LCS player stats on a website like gol.gg and you might be surprised to find that it takes a while to find a category where Felix ‘Abbedagge’ Braun stands out. Well, if we’re not including win rate, of course, where 100 Thieves are tied with TSM for first.

For a mid laner, 3.1 kills per game is a prety low average (though it’s worth nothing he has played three games on Karma). He is tied with Xerxe for least deaths if we discount substitutes and role swaps, and the same goes for KDA, but in every other stat he’s somewhere near the middle of the pack.

So what’s the big deal? Is the Fakerdagge label just a meme?

Not exactly. See, although Faker, having stayed at T1 for so long, gets a lot of the credit for SKT’s historic success, what often gets overlooked is the fact that he was part of an exceptional team. T1 have tried rebuilding squads around him numerous times but never again found that winning recipe.

Through this lens, the comparisons make a lot of sense. Abbedagge is an important cog in a well-oiled machine, not the all-conquering European superstar some might have expected. This shouldn’t have been big news either. In Schalke’s playoff run last split, he wasn’t that much of a standout player, contributing roughly the same amount of damage as AD Carry Matúš ‘Neo’ Jakubčíkn and slightly less gold.

Looking back over his time with Schalke, what does hold true across Abbedagge’s professional career is that he is really good at not dying. In his first LEC split (Spring 2019), he averaged just 2.3 deaths per game. Granted, he only averaged 2.2 kills as well, but Schalke finished 7th that split and failed to make playoffs. He has always been a steady hand, including his final LEC split, where averaged 3.1 kills and 2.2 deaths.

What you get with Abbedagge is a promise. He is always going to do well in lane. He is always going to be a solid foundation for the rest of the team to build on. Even his champion pool bears this out, with his most played champions being Azir, Zoe and Orianna. All safe champions with few bad match-ups. He is rarely, if ever, going to be the reason 100T loses a game. He isn’t likely to be the direct reason for them winning games either, but that’s a worthwhile trade.

What is less clear is the idea that Ry0ma needed replacing. He had a rough start to his 100 Thieves career, but by the end of Summer 2021 his numbers didn’t look much worse than his replacement’s do now. The guy is clearly too good for Academy, posting multiple games with ten or more kills and a couple of deathless games.

From the outside, it seems as though Ry0ma was the scapegoat of some deeper-seated problems. After a couple of years in the wilderness, they were doing alright with his steadying influence in the mid lane. Don’t forget, in Spring this year they finished a respectable 4th place.

Something has definitely clicked with Abbedagge, though. Maybe it’s something that doesn’t show up in statistics, like camaraderie or team spirit. Whatever it is, there is no denying the fact that 100T have improved on the most important statistic of them all: friendship wins. With just one roster change, and a statistically negligible one, they are tied for first, having won their head-to-head.

Tellingly, in an interview with Travis Gafford, Closer noted that Abbedagge had improved both on and off Summoner’s Rift. He should know, having played with him together on Royal Bandits in 2017.

There is, of course, a very big Korean elephant in the room, though. While Abbedagge may have been the sole in-game change, Bok ‘Reapered’ Han-Gyu was a huge addition to the coaching staff of 100T. Known for both his success with Cloud 9 and his willingness to try out weird picks, it makes sense to see his new team playing things like Lee Sin and Vayne in the bottom lane. It also makes sense that he has them winning a lot.

In truth, 100T’s success hinges on a combination of factors. Abbedagge is but one of them. Reapered is another, arguably bigger piece of the puzzle. Both of them are wrapped up with a neat little bow of intangible team spirit. The fact that two of the usual title contenders continue to struggle has surely helped, but that shouldn’t detract from the fact that 100 Thieves is a much-improved team with genuine hope of going back to Worlds.

#esports #LCS #100thieves #abberdagge #league of legends #leagueoflegends #lol #lolesports

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c9sneaksen-blog · 7 years ago

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As Love is My Witness *slightly NSFW*

Author’s Note: This fanfiction is heavily based on As Love is My Witness, a song from Westlife. I’m not a fluent English speaker, nor this is my primary language, so I tried my best when it comes to grammatical rules, even if I used a spell-check software. I think there aren’t loads of OOCness and if so, I apologize in advance. It is also slightly NSFW due to the few swearwords and some explicit terms. Enjoy!

___________________________________________________________

Once in a lifetime

You look in someone’s eyes

And it feels like the world stop turning at once

Zach remembers perfectly when he met him for the first time. Hai had decided few weeks earlier to step down from the Cloud9 roster because of his wrist issues. Several people had come to try out; including Alex Ich, Yusui and, last but not least, Incarnati0n. While the latter was introducing himself, his icy blue eyes fell upon the AD Carry’s hazelnut ones.

He never believed in long-lasting relationships; although he had dated a girl named Jennabella and had a somehow friends with benefits relationship with Meteos, the jungler, in their beginnings as a team. It was everything but serious.

“Hello, my name is Nicolaj Jensen, but you can call me Jensen. I’m from Denmark,” the skinny player nicknamed Incarnati0n had said.

That’s what it felt like for me

I knew right away this day would be

Standing together, believing forever

Is there in our reach

Zachary had tried to push his feelings away, to deny them. But, day by day, he fell more and more in love with the Dane. But the 2015 Summer Split did not happen as well as the Cloud9 community had hoped. It was very shaky and inconsistent: Jensen always apologized when they went through losses, even if it was not necessarily his own fault. And even if they won games, he felt bad for his poor laning phase or even his creep score deficit.

‘Cause love is my witness

I swear

I’ll be with you till the end

During those times, the whole squad, as well as Charlie and Jack, was doing its best to comfort their new midlaner when he fell in those moments of self-hatred. It was unfair for their newcomer to keep blaming himself. He did not deserve that. It was unhealthy. Towards the middle of the split, Meteos announced to Jack his need to step down from the team. Sneaky was, to say the least, surprised to hear this: he was fully aware that Nicolaj and William did not get along well. Because of issues related to the Danish player or not, the jungler quit the team.

Nothing in tear this love apart

I’ll put my head upon my heart

This is the promise I’ll make to you

Whatever comes we’ll see it through

Hai came out of retirement and replaced Meteos during the last few weeks of the split. They were on the verge to be relegated, something which would have been unthinkable for some. However, their win over Team 8 in a tiebreaker had prevented such a thing. Thanks to their Championship points from Spring, Cloud9 was able to attend the regional qualifiers for Worlds. They successfully won their series against Gravity Gaming, Team Impulse and, lastly, Team Liquid.

“We are going to Worlds!”, Jack excitedly told his team members at the end of the third day, feeling relieved.

Nothing can break it

This feeling’s too strong

‘Cause love is my witness

Later that day, they flew to South Korea, in order to go to their bootcamp. The members streamed regularly, especially Sneaky and Jensen, who duo-queued lot together. Jack had noticed drastic changes in the Dane’s personality: throughout the split, he became more and more confident with his aggressive playstyle, and he meshed well with his teammates.

“Someone told me my girlfriend is so hot. Is that you?”, the European player asked, a grin on his face.

“There’s no other lesbian ADC in the NALCS. So yeah, same”, his teammate replied, chuckling.

However, this year, no NA team had made it past the groups stage, due to the week 2 curse. But going to Worlds was already an achievement for Cloud9. They were the team from North America that was at the seventh place in the regular season and, yet, they had the most wins than any other team from their region. Jensen’s father had even attended a couple of his son’s games during those two weeks: a huge feeling of pride was surrounding him.

We’ve both known sorrow

We have known heartache

When our dreams for tomorrow

Seem so far away

Even if Zachary was still in touch with Will, it still hurt him to not see him around anymore. They had played within the same team during more than two years together, you can’t forget a relationship like that one. It hurt him to let his fans down. But he couldn’t really tell them “Yeah, Meteos and I fucked around for months. How are we doing now? Well, I’m in love with someone else” either.

But that brought us closer – yeah

It brought us together

So that we’d know the real thing

That’s why I can yeah – ye-eh-yeah

‘Cause love is my witness

I swear

I’ll be with you till the end

Jensen and him were close but he couldn’t quite figure out whether the glances they exchanged were ‘no homo’ or not. Off-season always hit the player from Florida the worst: he could hardly deal with distance without feeling broken inside. Of course, they called each other every few days or so but, to Sneaky, it wasn’t enough.

He was addicted to his European teammate, who was always bringing candies from Denmark when he was back in NA. Candies that Sneaky loved, even if they were for all the team.

Nothing in tear this love apart

I’ll put my hand upon my heart

This is the promise I’ll make to you

Whatever comes we’ll see it through

Nothing can break it

This feeling’s too strong

‘Cause love is my witness

Before the following split, LemonNation had quit his position as a support in order to become a coach for the team. Hai was known as a versatile player, so he filled in his role, and Rush from Team Impulse, was brought in as a jungler. The Korean player had a great synergy with his midlaner, but it didn’t have a negative impact on the others. Indeed, the newcomer from the team often played SoloQueue with Sneaky and Jensen during some evenings. One night, when Sneaky was streaming, he and Jensen were playing in the botlane. The former was playing Vayne and the latter Orianna… but as a support.

“I swear it works, I tried it out few days ago!”, the Dane had tried to justify, unsuccessfully.

“Be careful what you wish for, Yensen” the ADC added, mockingly. “If we lose, we’re gonna go to Starbucks for a date!”

“So… we mustn’t lose. Hopefully your laning phase can be decent this time, Senpai!”

I know whatever comes to be

Together we’ll face the mystery

Here in my heart, deep in my soul

Somehow I know, I know

‘Cause love is my witness

I swear

I’ll be with you till the end

They had indeed lost that game. So here they were, having a hot date in Starbucks. When it came to the hot drink called coffee, they were polar opposites. As a matter of fact, Sneaky loved coffee with vanilla and plenty of cream whereas Jensen preferred black, plain, coffee.

“How can you drink that piece of shit? It’s undrinkable as fuck!”, the blond-haired male whined.

Jensen did not answer; he only shrugged with a wide smile on his lips.

Prior the Summer Split, Rush left NA in order to come back to his home country. One of his prior teammates from Team Impulse whose name was Impact, the 2013 Worlds champion, replaced Balls in the toplane. Due to this change, the jungler slot was once again empty: Meteos went back in the team, even if he was rather reluctant with the idea.

Jack had even managed to convince Edward Gaming’s coach, Reapered, to train the team during their mid-season Korean bootcamp. The latter enjoyed the team so much that he ended up dropping his contract with EDG and decided to coach the North American team instead. BunnyFuFuu and Smoothie were both supports, exchanging whenever it was needed. Another gauntlet, another trip to Worlds. This time, they had managed to qualify for quarterfinals but lost against Samsung Galaxy from South Korea in a swift 0-3 trend.

Nothing in tear this love apart

I’ll put my hand upon my heart

This is the promise I’ll make to you

(This is the promise I’ll make to you)

Whatever comes we’ll see it through

Nothing can break it

This feeling’s too strong

‘Cause love is my witness

A new season happened. Ray, from APEX Gaming, became Impact’s substitute and, a seventeen-year-old player, Contractz, was playing in the jungle. Thus, Meteos was out of the main roster, again, as well as Bunny.

Cloud9 went through ordeals this year: starting with Jensen’s mispositioning during a crucial teamfight in the last game of Spring Split Finals, being one of the main reasons they lost, followed by a tough 0-2 weekend during the first week of Summer, Ray being hit with depression shortly after Rift Rivals and, last but not least, their elimination from playoffs in quarters against Team Dignitas after six straight wins. Yet, Japanese people often say, “fall seven times and stand up eight”. They had three weeks to prepare for the Gauntlet and, maybe, have a shot at attending Worlds. This year, however, they were the final boss. One series and they were in. Or out. After a 3-1 win over Counter Logic Gaming, they played some Korean SoloQueue before actually going to China. Sneaky and Jensen had even found Rush at some point.

Thanks to SKT, they were once again in quarterfinals, nicknamed as NA’s latest hope before getting out of groups. In spite of their bitterness for losing 2-3 against Team WE, they were glad of making it that far. Once back in NA, Sneaky waited a couple of days before resuming his stream: only Contractz and him were left in the gaming house. But it was only a matter of time before they both left in their respective families as well.

Nothing can break it

This feeling’s too strong

‘Cause love is my witness

It was during the middle of the month of December when the players were back in Santa Monica: they had to release a video about their 2018 roster a couple of days later. Sneaky was playing Super Mario Odyssey on his computer when someone knocked onto the wall. Much too focused on his screen, he did not hear the door opening, mostly due to his lack of answer.

“Okay, I’m back from a fifteen-hour-long flight so I could see my Snacky and all I see is that he’s more interested in video games than his aesthetic best friend. BibleThump”, the voice said in a sad tone.

“Yensen?” the marksman asked, raising his eyebrows and turning his back from the computer.

“Yeah, it’s me, dumbass. I got some candies from Copenhagen, by ze way!”

“Candies?” Zach frenziedly repeated. “Count me in! That’s so SneakyGasm by ze way.”

The AD Carry took his headset off and hugged deeply his friend. Jensen was wearing his Veigar hat, one of his birthday presents from last year: he was still as skinny as Fiddlesticks and his light blue eyes were glimmering.

“Wow, who would’ve thought I had such an effect on you?”, the Slavic male teased.

“About that… I – I think there’s something we need to talk about”, the latter answered in a serious tone. “Like I – I am fucking in love with you. It – it’s not even some ‘no homo’ stuff or whatever. I’m dead serious, Nicolaj. Say something, please, even if it’s not mutual: your silence is killing me.”

“I – jeg elsker dig, Zach. I want you. I love you and your lesbian hair”, the midlaner ended up replying.

“Wow. Never thought it would take us so much time. Anyway, wanna take a welcome back pic? And with a caption like ‘my Danish lover is finally back from home’ or something like that?”, Zach asked, brushing his hand through his hair, his face slightly blushing.

“Sounds FeelsGoodMan to me. Damn, I missed you so badly,” his boyfriend agreed. “You should travel to Copenhagen with me someday.”

#submission #fan work #Sneaksen fic #Glaeweth #OH MY GOOD LORD #MY FEEEEEELS #THANK YOU #AMAZING

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