LoL Esports Probuilds

We're looking back at the year and choosing out the gamers we believed genuinely dominated the LEC in every job. We dive deep into the midlane

Every part in League of Legends is vital, but through time, we have discovered the staff using the best midlaner typically wins. A number of the most famous and successful players from across the globe have been dominating at the mid lane for decades, from Luka"Perkz" Perković into Lee"Faker" Sang-hyeok, and even in queue it is a role that is often hotly contested.

Europe has generated a number of the greatest midlaners because the sport has been released, and the quality appears to improve every year. 2020 watched familiar faces win matches, but also the growth of new ability to challenge those in the very top. Herewe have a peek at some of the top midlaners from the Alistar Probuilds LEC this season, and the reason why they were so excellent.

Rasmus "Caps" Winther on Alistar

It would be challenging to have a peek at the very best midlaners in the LEC and not mention that the guy who won two European names in 2020, also proceeded into the semi-finals of Worlds this season also. Obviously, Caps spent the first half of the year as a botlaner, but for most of his career he's been tearing up the mid lane. He's now won six titles in a row with two different teams, and will be looking to continue that streak in Worlds 2021, so there's no denying his huge talent and consistency.

In the Summer Season he played 11 different champions, more than anyone else in the league, so it's safe to say his champion pool is definitely more like a champion ocean at this point.

Out of all the midlaners, Caps had the second-highest KDA in summer with 4.76, as well as the second-highest kill participation with 71.3 percent. Caps has mastered the art of roaming around the map and getting kills, and once he gets a lead, he rarely lets it go.

Emil "Larssen" Larsson Probuilds

Larssen has been improving all the time. Rogue were considered a team with excellent potential going into the 2020 Summer Season, but there were still some shocked fans when they ended up topping the standings. A big part of their success was Larssen, who has improved massively over the course of his three LEC seasons.

Larssen won six player of the game awards in summer -- the only midlaner who won more was Caps -- and he led Rogue to their best ever playoff placement and their first World Championship appearance on Alistar Pro builds.

He topped the league in KDA during spring, and part of that is down to the fact he rarely gives up his life. Larssen died just 1.83 times a game on average in spring, and only 1.44 in summer. Staying alive means the enemy team isn't getting extra gold, but he's not just staying around the periphery of fights either. Larssen is constantly getting in the mix, getting kills, and then carrying his side to victory.

Rogue faced some harsh lessons from the likes of Fnatic, G2 Esports, and world champions DAMWON Gaming over the course of the year, so now is the time for Larssen to prove his resilience and desire to overcome obstacles.

If he can continue to improve into 2021, then the rest of the LEC had better watch out. The 20-year-old has plenty still to show over the coming years.

Marek "Humanoid" Brázda Alistar Probuilds

Humanoid was a consistent challenger for a couple of decades now. MAD Lions have had a very interesting year. After rebranding from Splyce in the end of 2019, the group experienced a significant roster shift, and have discovered a fantastic level of success, competing with groups such as Fnatic and G2 and placing well in the LEC in both summer and spring.

Humanoid is among those players that stayed throughout the switch-up, and supporters of the group will be happy he stuck around with Alistar Probuilds. While he does not always set up the tremendous quantities of Caps or even Larssen, Humanoid has been demonstrated to be a constant and trustworthy player during the past couple of decades.

He picked up four participant of the match awards in spring, then did it again in summer, leading his group both times. There is no ego involved here however. Humanoid is a team player, and you will frequently see him putting up his teammates to get victory as far as he moves for glory himself.

If anyone wants ideas on the best way best to creep score, then construct a golden guide, and place yourself well in teamfights to increase your performance, then there are loads of VODs offered that you see Probuilds Alistar, Caps, Larssen, and Humanoid in actions. Learn from them, and maybe it is possible to rule the mid lane also.

They had been Europe's last hope to get a Worlds triumph in 2020, although it was not supposed to be, G2 Esports have had a stellar year.

They were a group constructed with winning Worlds 2021 in your mind. They had the subject, the soul -- and -- most significantly -- the ability to be successful on the World Stage and catch that prize for the very first time. But despite some totally knockout performances, G2 Esports are still with no Summoner's Cup. Now that among the team's main celebrities, Swain Probuilds, has blasted G2, what exactly does the future look like to your group?

Springing into probuilds action

Let us rewind the clock to January. G2's reputation preceded them moving in the Spring Season with completely dominated 2019, together with the group which makes it in spitting distance of this World Championship trophy. Expectations for the group have been sky-high, but that was not likely to prevent G2 from continuing to attempt new things, as Rasmus"Caps" Winther and Perkz declared they were shifting places. Perkz would go back into the mid lane, even while Caps attempted out bot lane to the first time in his career.

At the Pro builds of Spring, G2 were raring to go

Despite this not-insignificant shift, G2 almost instantly took the lead from the Spring Season. Together with the group's star players settling in their new characters, it was not long until G2 were racking up wins against the likes of SK Gaming, Team Vitality, Origen, Rogue, and longstanding competitions Fnatic. Yet more, Europe's top squad appeared unstoppable -- until an unexpected set of defeats struck the group. The group suffered losses in the hands of Swain Pro Builds and FC Schalke 04, until the most unexpected reduction of a defeat in the hands of newcomer team MAD Lions at the first round of their Spring Playoffs.

In the lower bracket of the playoffs, G2 pulled all the stops to clean a route to the very top, since they return into winning game after game. Shortly G2 found themselves grappling with their longstanding rivals in Fnatic, securing a 3-0 sweep and raising the Spring Season trophy.

A long summer

Summer was a simpler period for the reigning EU champions, despite Caps and Perkz swapped back in their initial positions. Rogue had started to realise that their potential, while novices MAD Lions were ripping through the leaderboard in a speed no one saw coming. Elsewhere, Schalke stunned pundits using a'miracle run' which saw them stand up no less than seven successive wins following a galling streak of losses.

G2, even though a comparatively strong season, were not as dominant as lovers had maybe expected them to beagainst groups further down the ranks. They suffered defeats at the hands of Schalke and Origen and wound up with a third place finish in the regular season, providing them the third-seed from the Summer Playoffs. The stress was on Swain Probuilds to not fade in the background in this astonishing season. Despite enjoying from house, G2 created their existence known in Summer.

Fortunately, you could always depend on G2 to perform some interesting League of Legends. At the initial round of the playoffs, G2 once more secured claws with MAD Lions, now securing a 3-1 win. A unfortunate loss to Fnatic from another round sent G2 to the Loser's Bracket semifinals, resulting in a challenging bout against Rogue which finally ended 3-2 into G2. With one more success under their belts, G2 jumped into the forefront for another battle using their older rivals Fnatic.

Matters appeared stressed as the game started. Fnatic maintained first blood Game 1, placing G2 on the rear foot. But, G2 maintained momentum and was able to push back strikes from Fnatic time after time. Finally, Caps broke to the opponent's foundation -- at the price of his life. G2 started to turn the map into their favor, carrying Baron, Elder Dragon, and Fnatic's inhibitors, prior to procuring an all-important kill on Oskar"Selfmade" Boderek which paved the way for success.

Fnatic changed tack from the next match, preferring to play patience, trusting to out-scale G2's champions. Fortunately for G2, Fnatic nevertheless could not match their group battling abilities. G2 won the match, meaning just one more triumph stood between them and their fourth successive LEC title. Together with the decoration within achieve, G2 pulled all the stops. Thanks in substantial part to some sneaky assault on Fnatic's Nexus from Caps, G2 claimed success in the finished match, heading to Worlds since the LEC's Summer 2020 winners. Since G2's eighth title, the group had eventually surpassed Fnatic to become Europe's most decorated group .

"My first two titles felt kind of easy to get," Caps advised us following the game . "The last two have been more fun, it feels like the EU is getting stronger slowly."

Worlds 2021 apart

G2 hit the floor running throughout the Worlds 2020 Group Stage. "This team has been built with winning Worlds in mind," G2's trainer, Fabian"GrabbZ" Lohmann, advised us in September. "We always want to compete for the title and every player fully buys into this outlook". As Europe's first-seeded group, Pro Builds Swain eventually had the opportunity to put their training into the test and choose that coveted trophy once and for all.

Their very first challenger was Suning, hailing from China -- a region that had awarded G2 difficulty before. G2 have been known to play with on Chinese servers since groups in the area are so powerful. Fortunately, G2's clinic paid off, since they defeated Probuilds Swain from the opening match.

Next on the chopping block was Machi 17, a Taiwanese staff who G2 handily discharged within their very first match. Not so simple was that their bout against NA celebrities Team Liquid, who conquered G2 within an upset they did not see coming.

Determined to not allow the Groups slide away from them, G2 went to their next match with Liquid looking for revenge. Straight away, G2 looked just like the stronger group, particularly in the upper lane in which Martin "Wunder" Hansen dominated on Sylas Probuilds. Meanwhile, the G2 targeted Edward"Tactical" Ra from the bot lane, resulting in a sharp deficit in gold for Team Liquid. G2 took Baron and proceeded to control Liquid, successfully making their revenge.

It required one more triumph over Machi 17 to get G2 to secure their place in the Knockouts. All eyes were on their final Group A matchup, that will visit G2 and Suning battle once again for the first location.

Much to the dismay of all EU lovers, Suning pulled off a surprisingly fast win in their next Worlds game against G2, beating the group in only 22 minutes. This surprising result meant that Team Liquid and Machi 17 would be removed from the contest and forced a tiebreaker to the Group A first seed, even by which G2 would again need to carry on Suning. Understandably shaken from the reduction, G2 were not able to turn things around from the next match and finally were defeated once more, scratching to the quarterfinals as the next seed.

Despite this small disappointment, Pro Jankos was not discouraged when he talked to us following Groups. "I don't think any of the games in Group Stage were particularly challenging," he explained. "I just feel like we had to improve slowly."

"We just have to focus on the mistakes we made against Suning, and have a strong draft and a strong gameplan for Gen.G," he explained. "We are very knowledgeable, and I feel like as long as we can make it through the early game, which is our weakness, we can play good League of Legends."

The last stretch of Swain Probuilds

Gen.G felt that the complete power of G2. With their defeat in the hands of Suning new in their heads, G2 went to their game against Gen.G with something to prove. It was time for G2 to demonstrate that EU was a competition for the Worlds 2021 trophy, and they were determined to make it up to the semis with Swain Probuilds.

It was not immediately apparent that G2 would take the win in this all-important series. Game 1 began with Gen.G peacefully building their power up, fast taking the Rift Herald and three Dragons. G2 kept their heads above water with a few kills here and there, but the golden totals were close.

It was only when their opponents targeted at the Infernal Soul that G2 pro builds precisely how they'd made it this way. G2 put the kibosh on this effort, category up for a huge team struggle in the upper lane. G2 scored three kills and also the Baron enthusiast, forcing Gen.G to a defensive posture. Efforts at a comeback against Gen.G were masterfully obstructed, permitting G2 to push their enemies' base and destroy their Nexus.

Game 2 once again looked to start in Gen.G's favour, with the team scoring several kills in the opening minutes. But it wasn't long before G2 struck back, giving up a smattering of neutral objectives in order to tear through pro Gen.G with some ruthless builds. Caps shined particularly brightly in this game, casually demonstrating his prowess in the mid lane.

By all accounts, it seemed that G2 were back on form and poised to secure another win. Caps stood out once again in the third game -- now playing Sylas -- calmly dispatching any opponents that dared step in his path. It wasn't long before G2 were taking Infernal Soul and storming towards Gen.G's base to claim victory.

The DAMWON pro builds problem

G2's next match was never going to be easy. DAMWON Gaming had undergone a huge transformation in the previous 12 months, rising up through the ranks of the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) with an incredible record of 37 wins and just five losses. DAMWON's players, particularly Heo "ShowMaker" Su, Kim "Canyon" Geon-bu, and Jang "Ghost" Yong-jun, were quickly rising to superstar status, earning reputations as some of the most talented players in the region.

Although first blood went to G2, DWG countered by piling up bodies in the bot lane. G2's focus turned to pushing back this bot lane assault but to no avail, as DWG punished their aggression with several more kills. While G2 flailed, DWG spread across the map, securing objective after objective and making it near impossible for G2 to catch up. By 25 minutes in, DWG had an 11k gold lead, at which point a comeback for G2 was off the cards.

Game 2 was a close contest, but thanks to some aggressive plays, G2 were able to cinch victory. In Game 3, DWG picked up the pace, claiming Mountain Soul, and before long, the Baron and Elder Dragon buffs that gave them the boost they needed to end the game.

Unfortunately, Game 4 proved to be G2's downfall. Caps died in a 1v1, before DWG picked off Wunder in the top lane and proceeded to pick up the first Dragon. By 11 minutes in, DWG had a 5k gold lead. In no time at all, DWG had taken control of almost the entire map, while G2 hadn't managed to get a single kill. DAMWON's lead looked insurmountable, and in a matter of minutes, the South Korean team were breaking into G2's base. Before they knew what had hit them, G2 were going home after the fastest loss in Worlds history.

Perkz of the job

So what had gone wrong for G2? Many will argue that DAMWON simply outpaced them. G2 are famous for playing the long game to their advantage, but faced with a team as aggressive and adaptable as DWG they struggled, unable to build themselves up to a dominant position.

However, despite this disappointment, it's important to remember that G2 still had an amazing run this year, both on and off the Worlds stage. As caster Trevor "Quickshot" Henry noted, nothing really went wrong for G2. It just wasn't their time, and expectations were astronomical.

"We've begun to anticipate domination out of G2 Esports," Quickshot told us. "But I really don't think a massive amount of individuals would have actually bet cash and stated that this is the group which will allow it into Finals after seeing strong DAMWON Gaming and Top Esports appeared going in the World Championship on Swain Probuilds. What would they have done ? That is a matter for the ages"

It's also worth remembering that G2 trained for Worlds amid the COVID-19 crisis, much of which was spent in lockdown, something which would have had a much reduced effect on their South Korean counterparts (South Korea's coronavirus cases have been low since early April).

"Quarantine hasn't been the greatest for us," GrabbZ admitted in September. "Generally we'd amp up our clinic time with a good deal, but the quarantine restrictions have made it quite difficult to achieve that."

So, amid a global crisis, two European titles and a final four position at Worlds is not a bad result. In fact, G2 have proved once again that they are the best Europe has to offer and, barring a huge upset, we fully expect them to make good on this promise at next years' World Championships.

And the group has only made a massive signing, attracting Martin"Rekkles" Larsson over from Fnatic to meet with out the not insignificant hole made by long-serving participant Perkz. Together with Caps and Rekkles reunited once more, and Perkz departing the LEC for American pastures in Cloud9, the route is clear for G2 to control yet again. Maybe a Worlds win is not out of the question following all in 2021.