LCS Summer 2020: Rating and Ranking Every Starting LCS Player
By Josh Tyler
We continue our LCS player power ratings and rankings ahead of Summer 2020!
35. Colin “Solo” Earnest (FlyQuest, Top) – 72 OVR (NR)
I’ve been a bit Solo supporter during his tumultuous time bouncing back and forth between Academy and the LCS. I’m happy to see him finally get a permanent starting job in Summer 2020, but he still needs to work on the two “D’s”: deaths and damage.
Solo averaged 3.3 deaths per game, the second-most in the league and racked up 11 unforced deaths in just four games. You would expect him to be among the most aggressive top laners as a result, but unfortunately he actually posted the lowest damage numbers other than his teammate V1per.
34. Andy “Smoothie” Ta (CLG, Support) – 73 OVR (-1)
Smoothie lands about where we would expect going into last year. I must commend him for managing to salvage his KDA and death shares despite playing on the worst team in the LCS last split.
Unfortunately, however, where Smoothie really struggled was in vision. His 2.17 VSPM was not just last in the LCS for supports, it was last by a lot.
33. Tanner “Damonte” Damonte (Golden Guardians, Mid) – 73 OVR (NR)
Oh look at that folks, it’s Tanner Time! For as popular a personality and as big a breakout split as Damonte had in 2019 Summer, many fans were sad to see him not get a starting slot in the 2020 Spring Split. Luckily, he managed to take full advantage of his time in Academy, ending the split graded as our highest mid laner in the league.
That said, it’s not as though Damonte was incredibly dominant over his Academy counterparts and he still hasn’t quite shown he’s ready to be put in the upper echelon of NA mid laners. Still, he’s absolutely an improvement over Goldenglue for Golden Guardians in the mid lane and has a lot of upside.
32. Apollo “Apollo” Price (Immortals, ADC) – 74 OVR (NR)
I’m really happy Apollo has gotten a starting LCS spot in Summer 2020, because he’s been one of the most consistent AD Carries in North America for a few years now. Is he a monster who is going to pop off and carry games? No, not at all, but he is at least stable enough to not lose your team games.
Looking at AD Carries last year Apollo (in his 9-game stint as the starter) was top three in his role for kills per game, deaths per game, kill participation, kill share, death share, and gold difference at 15. His damage numbers were underwhelming and he was on the low end in terms of income numbers, but Immortals could do much worse than Apollo.
31. Eugene “Pobelter” Park (CLG, Mid) – 75 OVR (NR)
The Notorious P.O.B. came out guns blazing last year in relief work of Crown and showed a lot of people, myself included, that teams were wrong to not at least consider him for a starting mid lane spot. His stats rebounded nicely from Summer 2019 and showed he is still one of the most efficient laners in the game.
There really are no major holes to point out in his game other than the fact that he dies a lot and a lot of those deaths are low quality (either isolated or unforced). That said, Pobelter is most certainly capable of being a top-5 LCS mid laner in Summer 2020, especially given some of the competition around him.