So far at the 2018 World Championship, the West is looking stronger than ever. With miraculous upsets throughout the group stage and a beautifully favorable draw to transition into the round of eight, the chances of a Western team making a deep run through the tournament’s bracket stage seem higher than ever.

Yet, if there’s one team who has emerged as a serious favorite above all of its counterparts, it’s definitely Fnatic, whose dominant 4-0 run during the second round robin secured the team a spot at the top of Group D, as well as a number one seed heading into the Knockout Stage. And while it’s important to note that Fnatic’s overall record of 6-1 is the best at the tournament, the one player who has stood out for the team, propelling it to unmatched heights, is most definitely Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen.

Not only has Broxah established himself as the cornerstone of Fnatic’s success at Worlds, but he’s essentially becoming the shining standard of junglers across the entire tournament. Throughout the course of the Group Stage, Broxah, of course, led his squad to six wins in seven games, but what he did on the statistical side of things might just be the most impressive factor of his personal campaign at Worlds.

Through seven games, Broxah leads all qualified junglers at Worlds in KDA, as his sits at 11.1. His GD@15 mark also tops the field, as he averages a lead of 774g over his personal opponent 15 minutes into each game. Additionally, his GPM of 386 is the best among all junglers, and his 1.0 Death per Game is not only the top value at his position, but it’s also just 0.2 off from the best in the tournament.

In addition to his dominance at the very top of the statistical leaderboard, he ranks at least in top 3 among junglers when it comes to KPG, CSM, and XPD@15, with numbers sitting at 4.3, 6.9, and 508 for each of the aforementioned statistics, respectively.

With Broxah’s statistical dominance in mind, it’s also important to look at what can’t be quantified. Things like his leadership in the communication sector of the game, as well as his ability to pull off mechanically intensive plays when playing a champion like Lee Sin (of whom he boasts a 14.0 KDA on) are trademark characteristics of Broxah’s style of League of Legends.

And now, as Fnatic marches into a quarterfinal matchup with the LPL’s Edward Gaming, the pressure might be on the Chinese squad. While it may seem unfathomable to believe, a Western team could actually be favored over an Eastern team heading into a Best-of-5 for one of the first times in the history of competitive League. Although that concept may seem genuinely shocking, don’t forget that Fnatic took down EDG three years ago nearly to the date by a convincing score of 3-0. And while only Martin “Rekkles” Larsson is the only remaining player on either side from that series, the spirits of both teams are still present, and this time, Europe’s perennial powerhouse cannot be taken lightly.

However, if Fnatic is going to topple over EDG and make a deep run at the World Championship, the team will most definitely need their newly touted full-blown star in Broxah to continue playing at the immaculate pace he has been thus far. He is without question the defining key to Fnatic’s success right now, and as he goes, so does the team.

With Broxah playing at the rate he has been, Fnatic looks like a seriously unstoppable team. All the pieces of the formula are in place for the squad, and with the stars quickly aligning for the West, Broxah could rise into a class of his own right before our eyes.

Photo Credit: Riot Games, League of Legends, Fnatic