#abberdagge

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.