The North American side poached the struggling Schalke 04’s mid laner to strengthen their push for the Worlds qualification spot.
Who is 100 Thieves’ new mid laner?
Though 100 Thieves were sitting second on the table after Week 4 of the Regular Season of the LCS 2021 Spring, they decided to make a change in the mid lane. Tanner “Damonte” Damonte, who they signed from Golden Guardians last November, was not performing as expected.
First, they opted to promote Tommy “Ryoma” Le from their academy, then, after losing in the Second Round of the LCS Mid Season Showdown to TSM by 3-1, 100 Thieves have decided to search for European talent ahead of the Summer Season.
Enter Felix “Abbedagge” Braun. The German has been Schalke 04’s mid laner for the last five splits. Previously, he was the mid laner of Royal Bandits, who finished runners-up in the 2018 TCL Summer Split (Turkish League). In his career with Schalke 04, his best result has been a third-place finish in the 2019 LEC Summer Playoffs.
Overall, he led his team to three Playoffs appearances, including the Summer 2020 miracle run, when they went from a 1-10 record to secure the last LEC playoff spot.
The previous Split saw them reach the third round of the playoffs at the expense of Fnatic, with Abbedagge making his mark with a triple kill after a failed dive:
The next weekend, they would fall to Rogue by 3-1 in the following round.
Abbedagge mainly played on Orianna and Azir (six games each) this year but Ryze or Zoe are also part of his champion pool. He has been steadily one of the best mid laners in the LEC despite having to face talents like Rasmus “Caps” Borregaard Winther, Luka “Perkz” Perković, Emil “Larssen” Larsson or Marek “Humanoid” Brázda.
How does this affect 100 Thieves and Schalke 04?
For Schalke, this transfer could be life-saving. It is well known that the org is in a bad financial situation since their football team just got relegated from the Bundesliga and there are rumors that the League of Legends team could sell their spot in the LEC, despite the org’s assertions to the contrary.
Abbedagge’s substitute in Schalke 04 will be Ilias “Nuclearint” Bizriken from the academy side. The Frenchman shined early in the European Masters Play-In before Schalke 04 Evolution eventually fell in the Group Stage.
Read more: The MAD Lions Story: How a below average team became 2021 Spring Split Winners
Overall, this transfer can be what Schalke 04 needed to keep their LEC place and it can also allow 100 Thieves to close the gap between them, TSM, Team Liquid and Cloud 9 as they try to earn their spot at Worlds 2021.
This isn’t the first time LCS teams looked for European talent to bolster their squad: the last off-season saw Luka “Perkz” Perković, Barney “Alphari” Morris, Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir and Finn “Finn” Wiestål make the leap across the continents.
