For years, the EU LCS was known to produce star mid laners hailing from Denmark. You practically had to bleed red and white to become one of the best at League’s most important position.
But this year, a bold, exciting, bearded young rookie from Italy broke that mold. After an entire season spent shattering expectations and sometimes single-handedly carrying his team to victory, Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro has earned a berth at next month’s All-Star Event by being one of Riot’s two selections from the EU LCS region.
He’ll join fellow EU LCS stars Ramus “Caps” Winther and Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen. Caps and Martin “Rekkles” Larsson were voted in by fans to represent Europe, and Rekkles gave his spot to Broxah, who honestly was the better player in 2018.
Related: IG’s Rookie and Ning invited to League All-Stars 2018
Unlike past years, fans voted for only two representatives from each region to attend the event. Riot invited an additional four pros: Mid laner Song “Rookie” Eui-jin and jungler Gao “Ning” Zhen-Ning, who just won Worlds with Invictus Gaming, and jungler Han “Peanut” Wang-ho of LCK team KINGZONE DragonX.
The exclusivity of the invitee list makes this invitation extra special for Jiizuke. And he certainly deserves it. He’s simply one of the most thrilling players to watch from any region. And now he gets to see if he can measure up against the best from around the world, including Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, the mid lane god from Korea.
In addition to the invited players, Riot will invite two to three content partners from each region to attend All-Stars. The event will take place from Dec. 6 to 8 at the Esports Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.