Fenix
Fenix
That's the best player you could get?
That's what everyone wanted to know when Liquid announced their new mid laner at the beginning of 2015. Coming from Korea as a relative unknown, Fenix was asked to step into the void left by former Liquid (then Curse) mid laner Voyboy. Even among his new teammates, there were doubts about Fenix's abilities -- could he anchor the team through the storm of the NA LCS season? But throughout the year, Fenix showed that he wasn't a liability in the slightest -- in fact, Liquid had discovered a burgeoning star.
At his core, Fenix is a highly skilled mechanical player who excels at playing control mages. In 2015, he played particularly well on champions such as Orianna, Cassiopeia, and Twisted Fate. But all of those seem insignificant in comparison to his must-ban Azir. Fenix went 6-0 with the Emperor of the Sands and made some of the best highlight plays of the season, including the fan-voted Play of the Year.
Largely as a result of his incredible team fight-turnarounds, Fenix asserted himself as a reliable mid laner and helped lead Liquid to two consecutive 3rd place finishes in the NA LCS. But 3rd place wasn't quite what he wanted. "I really want to go to Worlds," Fenix says.
Even though Liquid finished 3rd place two Splits in a row, Counter Logic Gaming's upset win over TSM in the NA LCS Summer Finals forced Liquid to play in the Worlds Regional Qualifier Playoffs, where they were upset by Cloud9 as part of their miracle gauntlet run. With the team devastated, Fenix and his Korean teammate Piglet made their intentions to return to Liquid clear. They had unfinished business.
"[Piglet] really does not like losing. Because he didn't get to win as an NA representative [at Worlds], he had the mindset that 'I'm going to do it here, I'm going to win it here.' So we came back together."
Now, Fenix is back to finish the job he started.
Fenix had unfinished business with the NA LCS.
But there are some new speed bumps on Fenix's road to Worlds in 2016. Former Liquid top laner Quas left the team and retired abruptly during the offseason. Liquid also announced their intention to experiment with a new ten-person roster, where starters and reserves may swap frequently. With teams around the NA LCS augmenting their rosters with star players, some even from other regions, Liquid has largely recruited local talent and promoted from within their own system. There are more questions than answers, and before the season begins, it's hard to know what to make of all the offseason moves and how they will affect Fenix specifically.
In addition, no one knows what the professional meta will look like with the mage itemization changes, the AD itemization overhaul, as well as all the other changes implemented outside of mid lane. Given that he's never had much success on neither AD-based champions nor on assassins, we could be looking at a situation where his champion pool has fallen out of favor.
From what we've seen, Liquid hasn't relied on Fenix as a pivotal member of the team. IWDominate has been the early-game playmaker and voice of the team, and Piglet has been the true hard carry. Fenix's performances have always been welcome, but never depended on, for Liquid to win. Each of his outplays was a bonus -- a luxury -- something that the team didn't expect, but nonetheless was the boon that inched them forward towards the prize at the end of the long road.
A world class player doesn't depend on the meta for success, and doesn't accept anything short of Worlds as acceptable. A world class player's top performance is expected. While Liquid has never relied on Fenix to be a leader or a shotcaller, they need him to complete his own Ascension ritual and enter God tier in 2016.
It's more important than ever for Fenix to be more than just a solid mid laner, and become the superstar that his team needs.
-- By Frank Fields