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The Sheep Esports recently reported that their sources confirmed that Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau is set to make his return to the North American League of Legends scene as the Top Laner for FlyQuest for the 2024 Competitive Season. If the transaction goes through, it would be a significant signing for FlyQuest, who had another veteran in “Impact” in the Top Lane position this past year. The team seems to be making a rather big overhaul to its roster after an incredibly disappointing Summer Split. Will FlyQuest be able to find some elevation in the standings, or are they doomed to crash at the bottom like they have so often? Only time will answer that question.
Bwipo’s Journey
Bwipo has been a big name in the League of Legends competitive scene ever since he burst onto the scene back in 2018 with Fnatic. Back in 2018, the LEC was still the EU LCS, and the kings of Europe were none other than Fnatic, an organization known for its historical success in esports. Fnatic would win the 2018 EU Spring Split with their legendary Top Laner Soaz, who would have an injury prior to the Mid-Season Invitational, rendering him unable to play at the tournament.
Bwipo would take the rift with Fnatic and find instant success, surpassing everyone’s expectations for the team. Fnatic would end the tournament in the 3rd-4th place spot, exceeding what many thought their ceiling as a team would be down a player. Soaz would return to play in the Summer of 2018, with Fnatic utilizing both of their Top Laners throughout the remainder of the season. Fnatic would blow all of the other European teams out of the water that split and earn a trip to Worlds 2018.
At the 2018 League of Legends World Championships, Bwipo would help Fnatic make one of the greatest runs by a Western Team at Worlds in the history of the esport. After going 5-1 in the Group Stage, Fnatic would take down EDward Gaming and Cloud9 to earn themselves a shot against Invictus Gaming for the title of World Champions. Unfortunately, Fnatic would fall short that day, but the magical run still is still one of the lasting memories of the EU LCS era.
Bwipo would continue his career with Fnatic, taking full ownership of the starting position in the Top Lane with Soaz’s departure in the offseason following Worlds 2018. Bwipo and Fnatic would have plenty of domestic success, ending a majority of the LEC splits from 2019-2021 in 2nd place, falling short to the G2 Esports dynasty that was taking over Europe at the time.
The Move to North America
Following the 2021 season, Bwipo would make the decision to leave the LEC and move to North America’s LCS and join Team Liquid, which has been a top team in the LCS since the move to franchising. The 2022 competitive season started out well for Team Liquid, who was able to win the Lock-In tournament. Unfortunately, that was also their peak as they’d finish 3rd in the Spring Split and 4th in the Summer Split and ending the season without qualification for Worlds.
Hopefully, he will be able to help a struggling FlyQuest team rebuild and find the success that he is used to. FlyQuest had a great Spring Split this past year, ending in 3rd place. They looked to continue that momentum into Summer but were unable to replicate their Spring success ending the Summer Split in 9th.