League of Legends: Are world class passive mid laners like Nemesis being passed up for more aggressive ones?

It's hard to imagine a world where a professional mid laner with a 72% win rate and a 4.11 KDA would find him or herself without a team. That is the reality ex-Fnatic mid laner, Tim "Nemesis" Lipovšek finds himself in though.

Since leaving Fnatic on November 25th, Nemesis is without a team.

Nemesis joined Fnatic in the spring of 2019, replacing the all-star mid laner Rasmus "Caps" Borregaard Winther. This move, at the time, made sense for Fnatic as they had a reputation for being a controlled, macro style team.

At the time Nemesis joined, the meta was driven by control mages that played to reach three items and win games through excellent team fighting. During his time with Fnatic he reached the playoffs every year and bolstered a 72% win rate in the 2020 LEC spring split. This stat was accompanied by a solid 4.11 KDA.

Times change however and Fnatic saw the writing on the wall. After falling twice to G2 3-0 in back to back finals, a change needed to be made. Nemesis left Fnatic to pursue other opportunities. He was replaced by ex-C9 mid laner Yasin "Nisqy" Dinçer.

Are great teams passing on Nemesis?

After careful consideration and a lot of thinking I have decided to not compete in the upcoming Spring Split. I have had plenty of chance to join a team but felt like the presented opportunities were not of high enough interest to me. More updates coming soon.

— Nemesis (@nemesis_lol) November 25, 2020

While there is no way to know which teams made offers to Nemesis, fans can speculate that a "high interest" opportunity for a world class mid laner would be from winning teams.

Nemesis clearly got used to winning while playing with Fnatic, but a player needs to produce results in the playoffs if he wants to receive offers from top tier organizations.

Fans are split on if Nemesis made the right move, but we can expect to see him come back in the next split or 2022. Professional players want to compete and Nemesis has that drive. He may need to update his playstyle in order to compete with all of the young, aggressive players eyeing a spot in the big leagues though.

The LCS/LEC teams of the future need to keep up with China and Korea's aggressive play style

As with all sports, the way they are played evolves over time. Esports, namely League of Legends, finds itself more guilty of that than any other sport. This is because a patch is released every two weeks, essentially changing the rules of the game.

Perhaps it is a credit to the coaching staffs in the LCK and LPL, but those teams are so quick to adapt that most NA and EU players look to them to define the meta. There is a reason NA/EU teams go to Korea to bootcamp before worlds.

Fans who watch the LCK could understand Nemesis' dilemma when he left Fnatic. Not even Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok is immune to the changing times. SKT had subbed out the best mid laner in the world for Heo "ShowMaker" Su because he possessed a more aggressive champion pool.

Teams will continue to look for aggressive mid laners who can control the tempo of a game with early dominance. Gone are the days of passive, farm heavy mid laners and until the meta shifts back to control, players like Nemesis may have to watch from the sidelines.