NA LCS RANKINGS: TOP LANE

A few days ago I Ranked the Mid Laners and now its time for the Top Laners.   Competitively speaking it has the potential to be strong but its still weak when comparing it to international teams.  The top four are all relatively close in skill while the same goes for the bottom four.  Just remember this is just my opinion and I am sure many people have them in different orders.  As always your opinions and feedback is always welcomed.  

1.    Balls – Cloud 9.   Balls has only been in the LCS for one split and has already proven himself to be one of the best top laners that North America has to offer.  Balls has a strong understanding of the current meta and only plays champions that are currently strong.  This is clearly shown simply by the fact that half the champions that he has played this split have also been nerfed this split.   Balls has played seven champions this split with the most common being Rumble, Ryze, Kennen, and Elise.   These four champions also happen to be his most banned with Rumble being the main priority.   The only perceived weakness that one can have about Balls currently is his lack of international experience.  Also keep in mind that NA has a relatively weak top laners so it’s hard to compare him to someone like Shy, Flame or Reapered. 

 2.    Dyrus – TSM.  I actually debated for a long time whether I wanted to put Dyrus at two or three but decided at the last minute he deserved to be two.  Dyrus is very consistent in his top lane and during laning phase he tends to prioritize not feeding.  This is simply because TheOddOne is prioritize getting Reginald or Wildturtle fed over him.  This causes Dyrus to play safe.  This split Dyrus has made a bigger emphasis on carrying which is easily seen because his most played champions are Jayce and Rumble closely followed by Shen and Renekton.  Also an interesting thing to note is he has yet to play Malphite whom has always been one of his most played champions.  Even though TSM has had a less than stellar record against Korean teams, CJ Entus’s Shy has considered him to be one of the best top laners in the world. The biggest weakness I currently see with Dyrus revolves around his emphasis to carry.  Personally I like the idea but Dyrus plays very safe in lane so it’s hard for him to get fed in terms of kills. 

 3.   Sycho Sid – Vulcun.   Some people may be surprised by this pick but Sycho Sid has been vastly improving each week in the LCS.  Last split I probably would have ranked Sycho Sid around 6^th or 7^th but since the start of the new split he has impressed me a lot.   His play style is similar to Dyrus in the sense that he is very consistent and typically plays safe because his jungler is often times trying to snowball MandatoryCloud.  Sycho Sid also has a good understanding of the meta and has played ten different champions this split.  His most played are Shen, Kennen, and Jayce.  Most teams will try to ban Shen and Jayce away from him.  Vulcun is sitting at 15-8, largely due to his reliability and just playing smart.  My biggest concern is if he can carry if Mancloud is having a bad game.  Vulcun is the 2^nd best team in North America currently but I question if he can compete against some of the best international top laners. 

 4.   Voyboy – Curse.  Voyboy will always be a strong top laner despite the fact that his style is currently not in the meta.  Voyboy excels on aggression in the top lane by mostly playing stealthy assassins.  Unfortunately most of these champs are no longer strong so this split he has been working on refining his champion pool.  Elise is one of the few champions that is still currently strong that he can perform on.  Most of this split Voyboy has been trying to find champions that he can succeed on.  Recently he has discovered Zac and has performed quite well on him, showing that he can play more than just stealthy assassins.  Also Voyboy understands almost every match up and claims he can play a champion at a high level after a few games with him.  The biggest area of concern is if he can find another champion to add to his pool because currently he is still lacking in that department.  Also Voyboy is a high risk/ high reward kind of player.  In some games he can carry hard and in others he will feed.  Due to his playstyle he will often receive a lot of help from his jungler SaintVicious. 

 5.  Nientonsoh – CLG.  Honestly as a CLG fan it’s hard to rank Nien.  Nien performs well during laning phase but often times is behind his opponent.   Out of all the top laners however he might be one of the best team fighters.  This is probably due to the fact that he has played both Mid and Adc.  Playing multiple roles has allowed for Nien to develop good mechanics.  One of the best things about Nien coming into top lane was that he sucked with almost all of them when he started (Trust me, I use to stalk his Lolking).  Now the reason why this is a good thing is that it meant he could play any champion at the same level.  He had no particular play style in the top lane since he had never played top lane.   For example it’s hard for someone like Voyboy to play Rumble because it’s not his play style.  Nien has shown his ability to try and learn as many champions as he can possibly can which this is clearly shown by the fact that he has played twelve champions this split.  His most common picks tends to be Elise, Shen, and Malphite.  His biggest weakness lies still in his lane mechanics because in almost every game he comes out of lane behind. 

 6.    Cris – Velocity.  Despite spending time as a sub for Velocity, I have to say he is probably one of the best top laners in terms of laning phase.  Just recently against Cloud 9 he got five kills against Balls all during laning phase.  He has been playing a lot of champions that are currently strong in the meta.  His most common picks are Kennen, Elise, and Rumble.  Most teams will try their best to not let him get Elise because he has basically mastered that champion.  While Cris might be one of the best 1v1ers in the LCS currently he does however have many areas of concern.  The primary area is he plays like a SoloQ player and not a LCS player.  This means his communication can often be poor with the team (hence why the replaced him), often time his decision making is flawed, and his teamfighting is not that great either.  Also despite the fact that he killed Balls five times in lane, Balls still managed to keep himself useful and kept up in farm which means his last hitting can always be worked on as well. 

 7.    KiWiKiD – Team Dignitas.  KiWiKiD is an interesting player in the sense that he doesn’t have a specific play style nor does he have specific champion pool.  Last split this worked out quite well for him and his team.  This split it has punished him causing him to have the most deaths in the NA LCS.  For the most part it seems KiWiKiD picks up a new champion and that will be all he plays for the next two weeks and then he will pick up a new one.   His most played champions are Kennen and Twisted Fate.  He actually has a 4-1 record with Kennen so it’s interesting that he hasn’t gone back to him.  KiWiKiD just seems to be lost at top lane and sometimes I wonder if he should be playing mid.   If you look him up on LoLking you will see that he will basically play whatever, when he should be working on playing top lane and finding champions that he likes or that he can actually master. 

 8.    Even his teacher calls him ZionSpartan – Team Coast.  Coming into this split I fully expected him to be a top three top laner.  Since then I can clearly see that this is no longer the case.  Zionspartan has one champion that he excels at and another champion that he is okay with.  Other than that he has no champion pool.  Riven has been a permaban since week two.  He has an impressive 5-0 record with her.    Zion has been a part of eight of the nine wins that Coast has.  Zionspartan currently is 0-4 with Elise, 0-2 with Renekton, and 0-2 with Rumble.  Since Riven is essentially permabanned his fall back champion is Shen which he has a 2-3 record with.   Last split Zion was known for his Jayce play which he has yet to play this split which I find is odd.  Also one of the biggest problems he has is not controllable.  He is an aggressive top laner which is fine but his mid is also aggressive.  When you think of top teams they typically balance an aggressive top laner with a passive mid laner and vice versa.

NA LCS Player Rankings Mid Lane

I decided with the two week break from the LCS, I would do some rankings.  The biggest thing to note with the Mid laners is the rise of new talent and the decline of old talent.  As a whole this group is competitively weaker when comparing them to the international scene.  These are just my opinions so no one should take them too harshly.  I will add that the top 3 are all very close in skill and the other five are very close in skill as well.  Also I had to trim down the information tremendously because it ran like six pages on a word document so my explanations might not be as clear as I would have liked.   Feel free to respond in the comments below on who you believe to be the best/worst mid laners in NA.  Any feedback is welcome as well.  I think if there is any interest I might do Top Lane next.

1. MandatoryCloud – Vulcun.   I’ve always considered him to be an extremely underrated player.  I remember a few months back when I said he was one of the top Mids in NA I got downvoted hard on reddit.  But this season MandatoryCloud has led Vulcun to an impressive 15-8 season and no one considers him to be underrated anymore.  They have realized his capabilities.  Some of MandatoryCloud’s strengths are that he has a vast champion pool which is clearly shown simply due to the fact that he has picked 11 different champions to play this split.  He has never played a champion more than three times.  His most common picks are Ryze, Twisted Fate, and Jayce.   These also happen to be his most common bans as well.  He is one of the few NA mid laners that can play Twisted Fate at a high level.  Some of his weak points would have to be his little international experience which could very well change when Worlds start.  Although Mancloud has a vast champion pool it doesn’t appear that he has a mastery of a certain champ that makes him the best player with that champ..
2. Link – CLG.  One could make a good argument as to why Link should be ahead of Mancloud but at the moment I have to give an edge to Mancloud. Link has slowly progressed from last season to this season as a top mid laner in NA.  Last split Link performed consistently well but never did he carry games.  He is one of the most mechanically skilled players in NA.  He mostly prefers to play AP champs with the exception of Zed.  Like Mancloud he seems to be one of the few players that can play Twisted Fate at a high level.  He has played nine different champions this split.  His most common picks are Orianna, Twisted Fate, Ahri, and Karthus.  The most common bans against him are Twisted Fate (high pick/ban rate) and Karthus.  His biggest weak point in his play is his decision making (Common CLG theme).  There have been times he has been caught off split pushing while his team loses. There are times where it looks like he is unsure as to what he wants to do, causing them to miss out on important objectives.
3. Hai – Cloud 9.  When most people think of Cloud 9 they often forget its team captain Hai.  This is mostly due to his selflessness.  Hai does not have the most impressive KDA despite his team’s record.   People always tend to talk about Meteos’s KDA instead but if you analyze how the team fights play out its easy to see why Meteos lives so much.  Hai typically follows up on Meteos’s engages which leads to him dying but at the same time it also leads to his teams victory.  Hai will literally be the first player on Cloud 9 to die in teamfights 90% of the time. So far this split he has only played seven champions. Hai mostly plays Zed, Jayce, Kennen and Twisted Fate this split.  These four champions also happened to be his most common bans as well.  It’s hard to find weak points for a team that performs as well as Cloud 9 but the biggest mistake that Hai has that most aggressive mid laners also have is sometimes he will misplay something resulting in an early death.  Hai also gets a lot of help thanks to the skill level of his teammates.
4. Shiphtur – Team Coast.  A lot of people thought it was questionable to replace Jintae after he had a fairly successful split.  But Team Coast knew Shiphtur was a top mid because they had trained with him for a while.  Shiphtur is more on the lines of an aggressive Mid laner.  He has played nine champions this split but his most played are Zed and Ahri by a mile.  Zed is by far his most banned champion as well.  The biggest problem with Shiphtur is it does not look like he is comfortable with champions that are not Zed and Ahri.  One of the hardest parts for Shiphtur is that he is an aggressive player and his top lane is also an aggressive player (albeit he is also very good).  When you think of most top teams they typically have to have balance between the top and mid.  One is aggressive while the other is passive.  Having two aggressive laners who pick aggressive champions can allow you to carry hard or struggle throughout the game.  On an unrelated note, I’m still waiting for Renekton or Darius mid.
5. Ecco – Team Velocity.  I think this one might surprise some people because there is a lot of big name mids that are still left on the board.  The thing I like about Ecco is he always performs consistently well.  Despite the record of his team he almost always plays his lane well and ends the game positive.  He is relatively passive mid laner who mostly plays Twisted Fate, Ahri and Orianna.  His Twisted Fate at times looks to be the best in NA and at other times it looks like a typical SoloQ Twisted Fate who makes a few poor decisions.  I have always believe him to be a pretty underrated player even back in his Mrn days (I have no idea how that team didn’t become successful with the talent they had).   Also I like how Ecco seems to be the only player that’s innovative in NA.  He runs Twin Shadows on TF allowing him to chase people down easily.  Also he runs Lich Bane on Ahri which shows his confidence with his autos in between his spirit rushes.  The biggest problem with Ecco is sometimes his play looks to be that of a SoloQ game and often times he doesn’t try to abuse his opponent’s mistakes.
6. Scarra – Team Dignitas.  Last split I had Scarra as the 3^rd best mid laner in NA.  I have had two big complaints with him.  His champion pool was small and he mostly only plays aggressive mid laners but he plays passive with them.   Since then he has expanded his champion pool which you would think would allow Scarra to rise in my favor but unfortunately it hasn’t.  The new champions that Scarra added to his pool are high risk, high reward champions.  Unfortunately for him he tends to lose a lot with them.  Also Scarra had always been known last season for his Zed and Diana play.  Since then it looks as if his skills on these two champions have deteriorated.  He has losing records with both of which.  Scarra has played nine champions this split.  Even though his skills seem to be not up to par with what they were last split he still plays consistent and is probably one of the best roamers.  I think Scarra is one of the few old Mid laners that has the best odds of coming out of his slump.
7. Reginald – Team SoloMid.  Surprisingly I actually had Reginald as the best Mid laner last split due to his solid champion pool, shot calling, and being able to make plays despite the fact that he isn’t the strongest mechanical player.  This split he seems to only perform consistently well on one champ which is Karthus as for the rest of his pool it seems to be pretty weak at the moment.  If I see another Twisted Fate game from him I am going to throw up.  Obviously with TSM sitting at its current position the shot calling has been weak.  A problem Regi has is he is a shot caller which tends to make split pushing or farming a side lane difficult for himself and his team.  This will lead to problems because the enemy might group and take an objective like baron, turret, or dragon and his team will not know how to react.  Reginald has always been one of my favorite players because he was aggressive and could make plays happen during laning phase but lately things tends to go in favor of his opponent.  One thing to note about Regi is when he is ahead he typically wins.  I think Reginald could get back to his former glory if they could figure a way to get all of their shit settled.
8.  NyJacky – Curse.  When the question gets asked “Who is to blame for Curse’s struggles at the moment” most people point their fingers at Saintvicious.  While I agree he has been underperforming most of his team has been as well.  Recently Voyboy has picked up the slack and is starting to look a lot more comfortable on champions that are not stealthy assassins.  NyJacky however has been playing abysmally and in my opinion he is the player on Curse that is playing the worst.  He consistently loses lane, gets caught out, and has no champions that he is strong with currently with the exception of Jayce.  Jayce is one of the champions that he plays at a high level, most of his other champions have been very mediocre this season.  NyJacky consistently finds himself at the bottom of the standings in terms of KDA since the start of the split.  He has been in the bottom four almost every week except for one week. Three times he has appeared at the very bottom of the KDA standings among Mid laners.  Two times he was the 2^nd worst.  If you want to point your finger as to why Curse is struggling, start with its Mid lane first.