Pop open the champagne, because Europe exceeded even my wildest expectations at this year’s World Championships. Though Korea reigned supreme yet again, Europe had its most successful showing since Season 2, placing two of it’s teams in the international Top 4.

This wasn’t the year that established European talent finally capitalised on years of development. Rather, two of the teams that entered (Fnatic, H2K) were composed almost entirely of rookies with one exception in each and the sole team of veterans (Origen) built their playstyle around their lone rookie. The Season 5 World Championships was the providence of the young in Europe, a reward for years of struggling in an underdeveloped Challenger Series and a solid season of work in the newly-flooded EU LCS.

Europe performed some of the biggest upsets at this World Championships, be it knocking out EDward Gaming so candidly in the quarterfinals or placing LGD on tilt in the first week of the group stage. All of this was done off the back of brand new talent nurtured over the course of a season. In a time where other regions are looking to new methods of cultivating talent or swapping veterans around in droves it is important to remember how lucky Europe was to play host to such breakouts.

Straight Outta Challenger: OG Niels

“I think that we are one of the only teams (with H2K and Fnatic) who plays the game the way it is supposed to be played. I think we have a good idea of what to pick in the meta, how to play laneswaps and how to get good rotations. Our biggest enemy is ourselves.”

OG Niels, Interview 28/05/2015

Games Played: 13

Most Played Champions: Kalista (4), Sivir (3), Kog’Maw/Tristana/Jinx (2)

Most Successful Champion: Kalista (75%)

DPM/DMG%: 584, 32.1% (4th in role, 5th in role)

Gold Share: 28.7% (1st in role)

Never before have we seen a team with such veterancy throw so much on one rookie. Were Origen an anime series, then Jesper “Niels” Svenningsen would be it’s main character — a plucky, talented young protagonist thrust into an established world with dreams and succeeding through them as the star centrepiece in no time at all. The staunch refusal of Enrique “xPeke” Cedeño Martinez’ party to structure their compositions around anything but bot lane was a bold move that succeeded in getting them to the semifinals, but may have also contributed to their loss at the hands of an Easyhoon-led SK Telecom.

Do not get me wrong. They by no means focused on their least talented player or anything like that. It’s that Origen qualified with a bot-centricity that was the dominant way to play on patch 5.14/5.15, but out of touch with the top lane play of 5.18. Against the adaptable might of SK Telecom T1, their lack of vision priority for Paul “sOAZ” Boyer against the dual pronged assault of Jang “MaRin” Gyeong-Hwan and Bae “Bengi” Seong-ung contributed significantly to their downfall and though Origen’s bot lane was able to gain significant ground, Niels was unable to pick up the slack.

It’s easy to point towards the elephant in the room when it comes to praising successful ADCs. Niels spent much of his time laning with mechanical support prodigy Alfonso “mithy” Aguirre Rodriguez, who in turn provided some exceptionally aggressive in-lane plays and early level roams in swaps. Some of the greatest magic occurred when this duo worked in tandem as they did during their first matchup against LGD in Week 1 of the Group Stage. On his most successful champion, Kalista, Niels utilised Fate’s Call on Mithy’s command, propelling his support’s Annie into the open cluster of Gu “imp” Seung-bin and Chen “Pyl” Bo which started a chain reaction that lead to xPeke’s Orianna quadra kill and a victory for Origen.

It wasn’t all about working in tandem. Kalista became a must-ban against Niels for his ability to confidently take over the game as much as it’s utility. His decision making was potentially the best of all the western AD Carry representatives at Worlds, never the one to sacrifice anything for his own self-indulgence. Niels received the highest gold share of any ADC in his role because he was a legitimate threat in his own right. His now infamous “first time Jinx” game against the LMS’s Flash Wolves saw him playing the JuggerJinx role, aggressively positioning in the frontline for maximum damage output and dodging everything that came in his way.

Niels is a true rags to riches story. He played with the confidence, the veterans and the skill of a prodigy. That Origen reached the World Stage, let alone the Top 4, was done not just with Niels, but largely because the team was entirely willing to continue building around their AD Carry even as the meta shifted away. sOAZ may have had the counterpick, but Niels always had the priority and he rolled away with it with spectacular performances. He played as was required of him, be it defensively as part of protect, aggressively as in Jugger or taking priority as a teamfighter.

Niels is a malleable talent, a successor to a line barely formed in Europe and one of the first greats in a region that has made significant headway in the level of its bottom lane in just one year. His success is as undeniable as his skill. A true future great in the making.

Challenging God: FNC Febiven

“By the way I’m going to solo kill this guy, OK? If you ward for me I can play aggressive as f*** and jump on him 24/7, and he’s dead.”

FNC Febiven, vs. SKT at the Mid Season Invitational Semi-Finals, Game 3

Games Played: 12

Most Played Champions: Viktor/Orianna/Azir/LeBlanc (3)

Most Successful Champion: Viktor (100%)

DPM/DMG%: 563, 30.0% (5th in role, 7th in role)

CSD/GD@10: 10.7, 262.9 (2nd in role, 3rd in role)

The first time Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten stepped onto the World Stage was at the Mid Season Invitational. Dismantling Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg in the group stage was thought by many to be his highlight breakthrough moment of the tournament after the first week as Fnatic took an exceptionally clean victory over TSM. Once Fnatic were drawn against SK Telecom T1 this train of thinking was nigh-on assured.

Fnatic were the first team of 2015 to have Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok step onto the Rift for every match of what would become a full five-game series against the team of European rookies and Bora “Yellowstar” Kim. For every step Faker took, Febiven would match it move for move. Though outclassed, Febiven played with a confidence in his own skill level characteristic of the grand lineage of European mid lane from whence he came. Come the third game of the set, Febiven would confidently call his incoming solo kill, felling League’s only infallible God twice in five minutes.

Febiven never got his rematch at this World Championships, and the incredible individual showing he had in the spring and at MSI was swept under the rug come summer in favour of the new 15-minute waveclear mid meta that every team bar H2K had adopted. Sidelane priority was the optimal way to play the game and for Fnatic the creation of their defining style of early-mid game sidewave manipulation into late game teamfighting potential. It carried them through to victory but Febiven’s name was far from people’s tongues when they spoke of Fnatic. It was Yellowstar’s legacy, it was Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon in the top lane, it was Martin “Rekkles” Larrson’s return.

Those people missed that when the chips were down it was still all Febiven. He was the clutch player that brought them victory from the jaws of defeat against Gambit, Giants, Origen and H2K. He was the saviour, not the star, but he rarely if ever made significant errors and always turned up when needed to.

Then came the World Championships. Fnatic stuck with their priority on Huni, going perhaps a little too far with back to back compositions placing Febiven and Rekkles on the utility coupling of Orianna/Sivir, not understanding Huni’s difficulties in adapting to the meta of 5.18. In a tournament that would become defined by team’s abilities to utilise Fiora and Juggernaut champions Huni was detrimental in his inability to play both. Fnatic needed a saviour again and they found him where Europe always finds such things: in it’s mid lane.

Febiven played all champions equally throughout the tournament, finding the most success on Viktor but having some of his strongest individualistic performances on LeBlanc. After a difficult first game utilising the Viktor/Kennen combination against EDward Gaming Febiven would pick up The Deceiver and proceed to systematically dismantle the previous God-killer Heo “PawN” Won-seok. He ended with a scoreline of 9-0-2 and quickly transferred his power into the sidelanes propelling Huni’s Riven into a strong teamfighting threat. He wasn’t done with the Koreans just yet. Fnatic’s opening game vs. the KOO Tigers would see his LeBlanc counterpicked by Lee “KurO” Seo-haeng Kassadin. Though a loss for Fnatic, Febiven did what he could with a scoreline of 6-1-6, much of the fault landing itself in other roles for the loss.

It is a tragedy that Febiven did not get his rematch. He was easily the second best mid at the tournament by a wide margin. Some people have chosen to focus on whether or not Febiven could have done more. He could and that is terrifying given how much impact he had already made on a per game basis. The Season 5 World Championships for Fnatic was a lesson in the monster they have in their mid lane and the direction they could take in the future. Over the course of the tournament they were rewarded the more they tended towards Febiven. It would be wise to heed the lesson.

This is the next big talent in a region that produces big talent in it’s mid lane every year. No matter what international talent he meets he challenges it. When the time comes, god will be no different.

Stats provided by oracleselixir.com and esportspedia.com.

Michael “Veteran” Archer is an EU writer and former coach/analyst. You can follow him at his happy place on Twitter.