Note: CSD/GD@10 stands for CS Differential/Gold Differential at 10 minutes, indicating how far ahead of one’s opponent the player is at 10 minutes

Do you hear that? It’s the silence. It’s the sound of quenched doubt, smothered in the ashes of the international community’s allegedly superior competition. Simply put, it’s the sound of results.

They said it wasn’t Season 3 anymore, and it most certainly is not. This is Season 5 and the European mid lane scene has exploded into this year’s premiere international event. It’s not the fact that xPeke was granted a buff at Worlds, it’s that the standard of mid laners in his group is lower than that he faced in his home region. None in his group have delivered performances equal to those of Fnatic’s Febiven. Yes, there is a distinctive amount of hyperbole in both the title of this piece and the title I have attributed to these respective mid laners, but at no point have I considered that they would have to truly fear any mid but Faker.

Group B is the focus of part one of this series. The European Apdo vs. the European Faker. Nicolaj “Incarnati0n” Jensen, banned from competitive play for almost two years, was finally re-admitted. An absurdly strong solo queue legend, he was frequently at the very top of the ladder. Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten began his solo queue climb as a Riven player, expanding into AD casters in general, assassins, Twisted Fate, mages. Now, he can play everything. Those who focused on Febiven’s growth as a player could not help but be astonished at his deep champion pool and ability to learn and quickly adapt. Great things were predicted, and great things occurred.

In Group B they both clashed and took dominance of their group in different ways. They only have one thing in common. They are European mids.

The European Apdo: Incarnati0n

World Championship 2015 Statistics

Games Played: 3

Champions: Azir (2), Veigar (1)

Most Successful Champions: ALL (100%)

DPM/DMG% (Playoffs): 700, 35.8% (2nd in role, 3rd in role)

CSD/GD@10 (Regular Split): 6.0, -186.3 (4th in role, 12th in role)

This is the third piece I will have written on Incarnati0n. The first was on how Cloud9 were using him incorrectly, not granting him the island laning that European mid laners have in solo queue. Cloud9 fixed that with the transition of former mid laner Hai into the jungle, granting the team a jungler who realised camps weren’t everything and facilitated the mid lane island through vision control and early pressure. Cloud9 also adjusted their mid lane champion pool to further allow Incarnati0n to transition into the competitive scene. Much of the criticism of his early split performance stemmed from absurd expectations. Incarnati0n was always great, but he was still a rookie player in his rookie split on a team undergoing major transition with both their shotcalling and structure.

That old, struggling Incarnati0n died just before regionals. Incarnati0n was dominant, putting on a performance worthy of the European mid legacy in the latter portion of the summer split. Though Hai’s shotcalling was yet to be calibrated, he did far more for his priority lanes than Season 5 Meteos had. The mid laner was able to be a vehicle for his team, and Cloud9 pulled off the upset win against TSM, facing Team 8 in the tiebreaker and entering regionals. Incarnati0n reached the level truly expected of mids from his home region, delivering an astounding performance where he was able to deliver every single game regardless of his team’s situation.

Incarnati0n deserved to be at Worlds and he only had one split to prove it. Now he’s performing exceptionally well. Granted, Rookie was able to solo kill him in their first encounter, but Incarnati0n remained ahead by more than 50 CS for the entirety of the lane, rarely losing control. In teamfights Incarnati0n performed without hesitation, being both initiator and disengage, zone and damage. His Azir was unstoppable and in the end was able to match Rookie’s performance on Ekko (Rookie is considered to be the best Ekko in the LPL).

Westdoor’s Fizz might as well be his one trick for the amount of priority it gets, and it was picked into Incarnati0n’s Veigar. What the Taiwanese mid laner likely did not count on is the mastery his opponent held over both champions in this matchup. While Incarnati0n’s Fizz is what brought him international fame in solo queue, his first real main on his first account was Veigar. The account’s name? Veigodx. A name certainly befitting of his performance here. Though Fizz has the edge in this matchup and can be considered a counterpick, Incarnati0n was able to play intelligently throughout the lane and pick up kills under towers as Cloud9’s now feared siege came into effect.

The thing about Incarnati0n is that in the entire time I have been typing this, I have never had to pretend that he was anything but comfortable on the stage against this level of mid laner. He has been playing the game competitively since the end of May and yet the quality he delivers has been truly world class. As tempting as it is to lay everything on his origins, credit has to be given where it is truly due. Incarnati0n himself is a prodigy, and Cloud9 eventually took the right steps to properly bring out his talents and translate them into competitive play.

The future looks bright for Incarnati0n. The answer to the West’s big ‘What if?’ has arrived.

The European Faker: Febiven

World Championship 2015 Statistics

Games Played: 3

Champions: Orianna (2), Azir (1)

Most Successful Champions: Azir (100%), Orianna (0%)

DPM/DMG% (Playoffs): 502, 33.9% (10th in role, 6th in role)

CSD/GD@10 (Regular Split): 5.3, 342.3 (6th in role, 3rd in role)

Febiven is the best mid in the west. Unlike Bjergsen, the entire team doesn’t rest on his shoulders. Unlike Ryu, he doesn’t have a stringently defined role in his team’s plan. Unlike xPeke, he doesn’t have the veterancy or legacy to show for it. But Febiven is the best mid in the west.

Referring to Febiven as the western equivalent of Faker might seem extremely exaggerated. Let me take you back to a time when Febiven wasn’t even in the LCS: the expansion tournament. In their final set against RG, the pick/ban was progressively more focused on Febiven. This culminated in six mid champions being taken off the table, and RG first picking one as well. H2K (Febiven’s previous home) had no issues taking champions off the table too. Their mid still landed on comfort with Orianna. He still carried. This may have been the Challenger Series but Febiven himself was still just a rookie displaying a professional level champion pool, and now he is an LCS rookie and heading to Worlds. There is a Febiven with possibly the most extensive champion pool in Europe but you will never get to see it challenged. It’s pointless to try anyway, and he simply isn’t the star of his team anymore.

The Febiven of the spring split must have seemed like a different monster sometimes. Mages were not actually his thing, but most of you probably wouldn’t have been able to tell as his opening weeks on Xerath became the stuff of legend: insane accuracy, controlled gameplay and mind games worthy of any highlight reel. His performances continued to be strong as only Fox and Ryu were challenging him. At the Mid-Season Invitational, he became the golden boy, playing with extreme confidence against the best player in the world and successfully dueling them. When Febiven won these duels it wasn’t an outplay - it was entirely on his terms. For periods of these games, Faker was finally losing control.

In the summer split Fnatic’s sidelane centric playstyle threw the bulk of their resources onto Huni and Rekkles. Febiven was left alone. Many people wouldn’t acknowledge much, if anything, of Febiven except for his teamfighting. Huni was clearly at the heart of Fnatic now - always on a carry champion, frequently being rotated to safe pockets of farm arising from Fnatic’s exceptional sidewave control, turning into the hypercarry the team wanted him to be. Rekkles on Kalista would be critical to their control of neutral objectives. Febiven was just left to his own devices on Azir/Viktor. So it becomes a lot easier to forget that when Fnatic were about to lose, it was always Febiven that brought the game back.

Giants? Febiven successfully zoned PePiiNeRo for the entire turnaround at baron buff. Instantaneous decision making that allowed Rekkles to output the damage required. Gambit? The moment Betsy misstepped, Febiven wiped him off the map and initiated a sequence of events that brought the game back into Fnatic’s favour. H2K? Febiven casually assassinated Ryu off to the side despite being down in gold the entire game, allowing Fnatic to ride their power spikes on Huni and Rekkles into a comeback. Origen? What other player would flash so aggressively, to play so decisively, with their inhibitors down and every advantage to the opposing team - much less score a Quadra Kill out of such a situation.

So it is with much regret that I witness Fnatic developing counter to a player who is likely the strongest on their team, and the strongest in his role bar none in the west. As Fnatic tunnel in on the amount of S-tier top laners in the meta, Febiven’s role has become more and more supportive. Left to last pick only to claim Orianna, how much different would their game against Cloud9 have been if Fnatic had opted to pick away Azir? Why not let Febiven match Westdoor for power? Why leave the bulk of your team’s options with it’s riskiest, most naive carry in Huni.

Febiven is not a player that sees the safe option or the risky option: he just sees the right one or the wrong one and he chooses ‘right’ every time. He does not need to be the star of the show. If he has to be, he will be every time without a single moment of hesitation. He will never be anything but an asset to your team. He has grown and developed to become exactly what his team needs in any given situation. He mechanically matches and out-does any player he faces. He has stood up to the best already and he is returning to the international stage to prove that he is among them.

Febiven is the best mid in the west. When Fnatic start utilising him as such, they will find their footing again.

The Calling Card of Europe

I never lost faith in Europe’s central lane. I called for Febiven as the only real chance the West has of matching Faker before he even played an LCS game and he has gone on to deliver spectacular performance. The faith was not blind. European mid lane has been at the centre of our solo queue and competitive culture since the inception of League of Legends. European mids have experienced and delivered pressure at every stage of the game, early, mid and late. No other region has focused so heavily and required so much for one role to outperform all others.

The fruits of that system are being bore in international play. Europe as a region has grown in every other role in season five but it’s calling card remains the same. The bot lanes and top lanes of Europe far outweigh their counterparts last season and the region has finally sent complete teams but though the pressure on its central lane may have been released somewhat, the skill level of it remains high. It’s players still play against some of the best in the world on a daily basis.

Europe’s mid lane culture is unique. It’s laners are unique products. It’s calling card is unique.

Welcome to European mids.

Michael “Veteran” Archer is an EU writer, former coach/analyst and winner of #EUphoric bets with Korean analysts. He’s glad the title was clickbait enough for you. You can follow him on Twitter.