Fnatic Bwipo Names His League of Legends Dream Team

Fnatic top-laner Gabriël "Bwipo" Rau has had quite the League of Legends career, especially in just the last two years. After one of Europe’s most decorated players of all time Paul “sOAZ” Boyer was unable to play due to an injury, Bwipo stepped up for Fnatic and made the starting top-spot his own.

From there, he would help Fnatic reach the 2018 Worlds final in his debut year and has since played against some of the best players in the world. The Belgian is never shy of sharing his opinions and knowledge surrounding the game so GGRecon caught up with him at the LEC studio in Berlin to find out who would make the cut for his dream League of Legends squad.

Top-Lane - Marin

Starting off the list with Bwipo’s own role, the Fnatic man has opted for the now-retired Jang "Marin" Gyeong-hwan. The Korean had a career-defining season in 2015, winning the World Championships back with SK Telecom T1. He recorded the fourth-most kills at the tournament though it’s worth noting that his top-lane rival at the time, Song "Smeb" Kyung-ho, had just three more kills but did so while playing one extra game.

Marin’s career never quite reached the same heights following his Worlds triumph but his electrifying performances in that 2015 season were enough to earn the admiration of Bwipo who said:

“I think Marin, 2015 Marin would be my top-laner, I always respected the way he played the game and I always looked up to how he played it so big props to him.” 

Bwipo himself has become known for his aggressive play-style, it’s fair to say he’s taken some inspiration from his Korean counterpart.

Jungle - MLXG

Speaking of aggression, you won’t find a more offence-orientated jungler than Liu "Mlxg" Shi-Yu. The Chinese superstar retired after last season which was a decision that really disappointed Bwipo:

“Jungle would be… MLXG honestly. This guy is so crazy I love it, he plays jungle like nobody else does and I respect that a lot. I’m sad he retired because I think he was a really good player and I looked forward to seeing what he could do. 

“That’s the thing, it wasn’t what the champion could or what the game allowed him to do, it was always what will MLXG do? That’s such a unique thing, something I’m a bit jealous of. That’s very impressive.”

MLXG spent the majority of his career on Royal Never Give Up and most years helped the organisation become one of the strongest in the world. And though he helped RNG win the Mid Season Invitational in 2018, he couldn’t help the team get any further than the Worlds semi-finals.

Mid-Lane - Faker

This man doesn’t need any introduction but just in case you didn’t know, Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok is, almost unanimously, considered the greatest League of Legends player of all time. The mid-laner has won a record three World Championships and is still holding his own against the best players around the globe.

Bwipo hardly had to argue for Faker’s inclusion: “I think Faker, any time. He’s been the player to look up to and I think he deserves to be on any kind of super, super team, he’s the guy. No other mid-laner is justified compared to Faker in my opinion.”

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ADC - Uzi

Opting for another RNG legend, Bwipo has decided to name Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao as the ADC in his dream team, though he admitted this was the position he had the most difficulty deciding on:

“AD Carry, that’s a really tough one. I feel like AD Carry across the board has been the closest but I have to admit that Uzi was usually above the rest or at least considered to be so I’ll give it to Uzi.”

The superstar ADC is considered one of the all-time greats but still hasn’t quite been able to lift the Summoner’s Cup. Though the Chinese legend has reached the Worlds final on two occasions. While it feels like Uzi has been around forever, the mechanical-genius is still only 22 years old so there’s still time for him to complete his ultimate career goal.

Support - Hylissang

Closing off this list is perhaps Bwipo’s most interesting pick as he opted to back his Fnatic teammate Zdravets "Hylissang" Galabov. Together, he and Bwipo are the two most aggressive members of Fnatic, they are the ones who will look for a risky play which is perhaps why they get along so well.

There was one other support that Bwipo considered but in the end, recent performances swayed his decision:

“Support is also up in the air. So I think this comes down to personal taste. Mata probably deserved it a couple of years ago but he had a really meh showing at Worlds last year and that split in general. So, I’m going to give it to… honestly the only support I can think of right now is Hyli so I’ll give it to him.”

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Sub - Apdo

Bwipo was also allowed a substitute and refused to include himself. Instead, the Belgian opted for the interesting choice of Jeong "Apdo" Sang-gil. Apdo is considered one of, if not the best, LoL player to have never properly competed professionally. The mid-laner initially refused offers from pro teams as he was making more money from ELO-boosting accounts. It was that rule-breaking behaviour which resulted in him receiving an astonishing 1,000-year ban from the game which also halted his own attempts to go pro when he tried in 2013.

Like many, Bwipo is fascinated to know how good Apdo, also known as Dopa, could have become: “I’m going to say Dopa. In a world where he could play I would love to see him and Faker switch positions, it would be awesome to see.”

Images via LOLEsports | Flickr