A FAMILIAR MEME. A NEW CONTEXT.

Mid or feed: the Dota 2 pub ultimatum

What this meme means

“Mid or feed” is a MOBA pub ultimatum: give me the middle lane or I'll die on purpose. Its author is unknown; it dates back to early Dota pubs.

Add your caption

The editor opens with this picture. You can download the finished meme as a PNG.

Report this meme

An ultimatum during role selection

Mid is the central lane, and in random matches people often argue over it. The most impatient player types two words into chat as early as role selection: “mid or feed.” The meaning: either I get the middle, or I start feeding.

“Feed” is used in the sense of feeding the enemy. A 2013 glossary on dota2.ru defines it as letting enemy heroes kill you and thereby making them stronger. Threatening to feed is threatening to ruin the game for the whole team, and, as Gulf News wrote, such a player openly signals that they have no intention of playing as a team.

A phrase with no author and a 2013 guide

“Mid or feed” has no known author or date: no source names whoever wrote it first. The phrase is shared across MOBAs, known in both Dota and League of Legends, and is considered pub folklore from the DotA Allstars era and early Dota 2.

The earliest confirmed use in the Russian-speaking Dota community is a dota2.ru guide from August 18, 2013, titled simply “Mid or feed.” That is not the birth of the meme, only evidence that by then the phrase was already circulating among players and could serve as a guide's title.

Pudge, “give me mid” and Einstein

The phrase is often linked to Pudge. The esports site Hawk.live wrote that “MID or FEED” usually came up during role selection, and a player who didn't get mid would pick Pudge; joke roundups also include the related “give me mid, I'm Pudge.” Still, that claim comes from a single outlet, and the idea that it's mostly Pudge players issuing the ultimatum is more a common stereotype than an established fact. The same 2013 guide specifically warned against playing Pudge mid without reliable hooks.

Gulf News mentions another branch: the phrase spawned an image meme that jokingly attributes “mid or feed” to Albert Einstein. The joke rests on contrast: a grand “quote from a great mind” attached to a petty pub argument.

How the ultimatum became a classic

Cyber.sports.ru calls “mid or feed” a “classic of the genre” among the meanings of the word “feeder.” The phrase shows up in lists of the best Dota 2 memes, and TV Tropes includes “Mid or Feed / SOLO MID OR I FEED” among the game's memes.

Over time the threat has almost lost its literal meaning. Today “mid or feed” is quoted ironically about toxic pub mid players and fights over roles, and not only in Dota: the phrase is just as familiar to League of Legends players.

Pudge in the picture

In the catalog the meme is illustrated with Pudge's hero art: a fat butcher in a bloodstained apron holding a hook and a cleaver against a dark background. It isn't a chat screenshot but the art of the hero that, according to Hawk.live, players who didn't get mid would usually pick.

The picture works as a reference: viewers see Pudge and immediately guess who is about to type “mid or feed.”

Ultimatum captions

These examples are made up for illustration: “When there are five of you in a party and everyone types ‘mid or feed’,” “Hotel clerk: Would you like an ocean view? Me: Mid or feed,” “Me at a job interview when they ask what position I want.”

The jokes move the ultimatum into any situation involving a choice, from assigning roles to everyday trivia, where demanding “middle only” sounds especially absurd.