It's possible that no player has every faced a bigger baptism of fire into the LCS than Gabriel 'Bwipo' Rau. His debut season in the EU LCS has been turbulent to say the least.

He was thrust into a Fnatic side chasing their first trophy in three years before heading to the international stage of MSI. Things became even more difficult for Bwipo this Split as he was forced to play a new role thanks to the bizarre meta shift.

Yet, the 19-year-old from Belgium has taken it all in his stride, filling in for star players while still learning and developing himself. It can't have been an easy task but it may prove to be a valuable learning experience.

Forced into Fnatic at a crucial point and then role-swapped, Bwipo has handled everything

Most people struggle when auto-filled in solo-queue, now imagine that while playing professionally for one of the biggest names in esports history. Bwipo admits that it's been difficult for him to progress this year: 'I had to play four different types of champions in solo-queue: bruisers, mages, tanks and marksmen at some point.

'It's not that it's too difficult or taxing, it's more the fact your practise is very diluted and if I'm playing five games of tank then five games of marksmen, the decisions are completely different class to class - you're not transferring over the experience which makes it really hard to be the best. It takes a lot.

Having to practise four roles at once has held back Bwipo's progress as he strives to improve

'I think I failed my biggest challenge which is to actually be a multi-role player. I feel like the top-lane games I did play were relatively poor actually. For example, the Jarvan game that I always bring up was really poor and I made the match really hard for my team, that game left such a sour taste in my mouth. Being LCS level on both roles and consistently being the winning factor for my team was very difficult.'

With Martin 'Rekkles' Larsson deciding the new meta wasn't for him, Bwipo played bot lane for the majority of the Summer Split and despite the gruelling task of learning a new position, he still helped Fnatic to the top of the EU LCS standings.

Within that time, the Belgian has formed quite the lethal partnership with support Zdravets 'Hylissang' Galabov. Holding his own in the laning phase meant Hyli was able to roam on champions such as Pyke to devastating effect.

Bwipo says that the new-found synergy has been one of the biggest pluses of the season: 'I learned a lot, I got to know Hylissang better for example, what he likes and doesn't like as a player and as a duo.

One of the positives from the role-swap is Bwipo has built excellent synergy with Hylissang

'That was really valuable for me because personally I think it's important I know what I can do to make my teammates happy and focus back on the game. When I would duo-queue with him, I would complain sometimes like if my jungler ruined my laning phase. Hyli gets really triggered by that so I know now not to complain as much.'

Despite his impressive performances, Bwipo's role in the Summer Split playoffs remains up in the air as the meta has seen ADCs and Rekkles, the face of Fnatic, return to the Rift.

But he'll stop fighting, especially after what he endured in Paris during his first ever international event, MSI: 'The most memorable experience was after the shock of losing that game two against RNG, I've never felt worse in my life. I actually physically felt the need to throw up.

After a bad performance at MSI, Bwipo felt physically sick and never wants feel like that again

'I don't know how to describe it, what happened or why it happened but I know that I've never felt worse. That experience is really valuable to me, never again am I going to play that poorly.

'I don't know how to avoid it but I'm going to do everything I can to make sure I'm a consistent contribution to the team and that putting me in is valuable. Just playing to have another chance to show off what the team can do on the international stage is plenty of motivation for me.'

After their Spring Split win and bye into the Summer Split semi-finals, Fnatic have a very good chance of qualifying for this year's World Championships in South Korea. Yet, it still won't be an easy road as they have to face either the winner of G2 vs Misfits or Schalke vs Splyce before the final.

With both Rekkles and sOAZ to compete with, it's hard to predict how much Bwipo will play

With Worlds in his sights, a fire has awoken within Bwipo. He has plowed through every obstacle in his way so far and is ready for his toughest challenge yet: 'It's impossible not to sound cocky but I think being honest is more important than avoiding that. I've always played the game, feeling like I can at least compete with anybody in the world.

'I can play LoL against anyone and not get completely smashed individually. Having the chance to prove that would validate the effort I've put in and that would be enough for me.'