[2020] Goodbye, old Fiddlesticks

I wanted to write some words about the old Fiddlesticks. It may seem... I don't know, silly, but I've played this champion for the last 7 years. For all that matters, he was a big part of what League was and is to me, and it's time to say goodbye, so...

When I joined League back at season 3 you weren't special to me, you weren't even charming. I mean, who was the champion at the big banner on LoL's website? Kayle, right. The big, glamorous angel of the justice. How was I to choose to play with a champion who were nothing but a few sticks sticked together with some strings. A support who couldn't protect his ADC? A jungler who would be invaded and killed by the likes of Shaco and Lee Sin, or a mid laner who wouldn't survive after lvl 6 to LeBlanc or Kassadin? You weren't desirable, neither by players or teammates, but one day I decided to give you a chance. I don't know what you had of special amongst the other champions, but I loved you. You weren't as glamorous as Kayle or as creepy as Nocturne, but you didn't have to be. All the other people said the way you walk was funny, that you were goofy and silly, but I never saw you that way. I saw you for what you really are, a torturer, a lurker, always looking for a spot to ult into some unfortunate soul.

Less than a season after I went from Silver to Diamond thanks to you. Still, I never felt like grinding elo; I was having fun playing with you. Other summoners pick some champions to grind elo and discard them after they're not viable anymore. It wasn't my case with you. We've been through everything; the times when Kassadin was present in every game, when LeBlanc could delete someone in less than a second, when ADCs became useless and the jungle was dominated by Udyr and Yi, through all of this I played you, not because you won me games but because it was fun to play with you. Not that you didn't win me games, you actually teached me valuable lessons about this game. One is that no game is lost. How many times did we ult into the enemy team and changed the tides of the game, or feared an assassin who'd kill an important target? How many drains required faith to last enough to kill the enemy while you had less than 10% of your health? Where there's life there's hope, they say, and with time I understood that as long as you were alive and had your ult up, there was still something we could do to turn a game.

Still, last year I thought that I should do something different. I wanted to try other champions and other roles. It's funny how part of you influenced me, because of all the other champions I tried the only ones I had fun playing were... torturers. Evellyn and Thresh could very well be friends with you, they both exhale evil, Thresh specially. It's a little sad how I can connect better to those champions or better yet, champions, than real world people. It's like after all this time I consider you a friend, more than some people I know in real life, which is why Riot's announcement you'd get a rework struck me so much. I had you for granted, right? I mean, why would Riot even bother reworking you? You're not special, not for them or the playerbase. You're not in the competitive, you're not a newcomer's number one choice, even on ranked some would say one's trolling for picking you jungle, like I do.

These past months I started to see you more like an old dog. I played with you a lot, but I know you time is coming. After all these years of joy, soon I'll have to say goodbye to you, forever, and all that will remain are the memories. I felt a little guilty for the last year, I felt like I should've played you more, even though I know everything about you. I should've made more players know your potential and, well, fear you. But with the days coming even closer I don't feel guilty anymore. I feel happy to have had so much time to play with you while I could, not everyone has the opportunity to say goodbye to their loved ones. Some other summoners saw their favorite champions out of the game in a glimpse, some saw they die slowly, patch by patch... it won't be your case. This is our final goodbye but I see that, for you, this is a relief.

Farewell, Fiddlesticks. Wherever you go, give them a surprise party.