The story of top laner Danny “Dan Dan” Le Comte in League begins long before Misfits or even Misfits premier. The 24-year-old has had years of experience playing for teams such as Origen, Team-LDLC and Defusekids. Dan Dan gradually built up a respectable resume and made himself a staple of regional leagues, mainly in Spain and France, before stepping foot in the LEC.
Starting in 2016 with Spanish esports club Cerberus e-Sports, Dan Dan would go on to compete for quite some time. This is a player that has proven himself in 13 different squads and placed in over 40 tournaments and leagues, all throughout the course of varying metas and team environments.
Notable results include second in the 2019 LFL finals, third in LFL 2019 Summer and, of course, first in the EU Masters Spring Main Event 2019.
It sends a powerful message that out of all the members of the former Misfits Premier lineup that was brought up during the Summer Split, Dan Dan is the only player that Misfits management decided to keep; the only player that they could not afford to lose.
But why is Dan Dan such a valuable asset?
Despite the number of metas and team compositions that he has experienced, Dan Dan has kept one thing consistent: he rarely plays pure tanks.
Courtesy of Riot Games
With his signature Vladimir, Gankplank and Jax the Spaniard is a ticking time bomb in the top lane. These are all champions which have a weak early game, but are quite powerful once they farm up and complete their items. Thus, they enables his team to play around their mid or bot lane early on while safely scaling up into the late game.
Once this happens,, Dan Dan becomes a monster that tears through teams and towers alike with powerful teamfighting and split pushing. He is the kind of player that is decisive in his aggression and has a sizeable impact in most of his games. In more recent events like in the LFL, he even brought out a Kayle that had to be banned out of respect in most games by the enemy team.
Sometimes however, Dan Dan likes to get in on the action a little earlier. This is when he brings out picks like Jayce or Aatrox to dominate the early and midgame.
Misfits has gathered a strong three-man core in their jungler, mid laner and support. Dan Dan brings much needed balance to the team both in terms of playstyle and in terms of personality.
Dan Dan lifting the EU Masters trophy with Misfits Premier (Courtesy of ESL España)
Dan Dan’s experience translates into valuable confidence and maturity. For the new Misfits roster, these qualities are twice as important considering the amount of players with limited to no time competing in the LEC. Dan Dan can act as a leader, as someone who can have a strong influence in the development of the team and promote synergy among its members.
Furthermore, a man born in Spain, with Dutch nationality and able to speak French, Dan Dan has a rich cultural background. Not just as a player, but as a person, communicating in so many tongues and travelling to so many places helps one grow and gain perspective.
For a taste of the kind of attitude that Dan Dan brings into a team, Ivan « Sting » Alperin shares with us an interview that he conducted with the Toplaner. This interview was conducted in French and can be found in the official LoL esports website. When asked about his ambitions, Dan Dan responds:
“Je pense que si une équipe ne pense pas pouvoir gagner, c’est qu’elle n’a pas assez de compétitivité pour atteindre le sommet. L’ambition de chaque joueur devrait être au minimum de rejoindre le LEC ou les LCS, et dans cette optique remporter les EU Masters est un bon point de départ pour y parvenir.”
Dan Dan demonstrating his cool, unsheakable attitude (Courtesy of Misfits)
This roughly translates into “I think if a team doesn’t think they can win, it’s because they don’t have enough competitiveness to reach the top. The ambition of each player should be at least to join the LEC or LCS, and in this perspective winning the EU Masters is a good starting point to achieve this.”
Maybe for another player, after investing so much time into the regional scene, winning the EU masters would be a lifelong dream. Dan Dan however, is the kind of person that would see it as just a starting point.
He is not cocky, he is just determined. He is the man so good they had to name him twice. He is one of the most promising toplaners in the league. He is Dan Dan.
Featured photo from Riot Games
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