LCS Summer 2020: Week 8 Player Power Ranking
By Josh Tyler
Our LCS Summer 2020 Week 8 player power ranking ranks the mid laners.
Mid Lane
1. Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage (FlyQuest) – 90.9
It baffles me that in the discussion of who is the best mid laner in the LCS, the conversation revolves around the trio of Jensen/Bjergsen/Nisqy. I’ve said for over a year (and will continue to scream it) that PowerofEvil deserves to be in that top three more than Nisqy (we’ll get to him in a second).
Once again, PoE is having a great split, ranking top-three in kills per game, solo kills, adjusted KDA, gold per minute, damage per minute, damage-to-gold ratio, CSD at 15, gold difference at 15, and experience difference at 15. This week, he just continued to do PoE things. He popped off with a 13-kill game on Leblanc to take down 100 Thieves and then added another seven against Evil Geniuses. 20/2/7 is the scoreline you want to see from the biggest carry on your team and PoE is putting in work for FlyQuest.
2. Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen (Team Liquid) – 88.5
3. David “Insanity” Challe (Immortals) – 85.9
4. Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg (TSM) – 85.6
5. Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro (Evil Geniuses) – 82.6
6. Jérémy “Eika” Valdenaire (Immortals) – 79.7
7. Tommy “Ry0ma” Le (100 Thieves) – 79.5
8. Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer (Cloud9) – 78.7
There is going to be a lot of outrage to see Nisqy graded so low, and I totally understand that. Nisqy is one of those rare cases where his bad stats (low kill share, negative CSD at 15, damage per minute and damage share) explain his great stats (second-highest aKDA, highest kill participation, a gold and experience lead at 15 despite being behind in CS).
Nisqy is the consumate “team player” willing to sacrifice himself to power up his teammates. His most-played champions this split include Galio and Twisted Fate, two champions he has six games and six wins while playing. So why should that be held against them?
Well, unfortunately, as we saw this weekend when given the resources to carry Nisqy isn’t able to hold up as well as other mids might. In Week 8 against TSM, Nisqy got his hands on Azir, a champion that has the fifth-highest DPM among mid lane champions that are regularly picked this split. He did over 1,000 less damage than his 1/7/4 Kennen and his full-tank Volibear.
Games like this explain why Nisqy has one of the lowest damage-to-gold ratios of any mid laner, despite the fact that his adjusted GPM is third-lowest in his role. Playing for your side lanes is great and Nisqy definitely deserves credit for that, but I can’t give a vote for MVP to a supportive player in perhaps the most important position in the game.
9. Kim “Fenix” Jae-hun (Dignitas) – 78.1
10. Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer (Evil Geniuses) – 77.9
11. Eugene “Pobelter” Park (CLG) – 75.0
There’s been a lot of outrage with the rumors that Pobelter might be benched for CLG’s final game. While it was warranted for fans to be peeved when Pobelter didn’t even have an Academy job at the start of the LCS season, over the course of 2020 he has confirmed that he is a below-average to solid mid laner, probably never ranked higher than fifth or sixth. I’m totally okay with CLG giving their Academy mid laner Jean-Sébastien “Tuesday” Thery some LCS experience.
11. Tanner “Damonte” Damonte (Golden Guardians) – 73.1
12.Henrik “Froggen” Hansen (Dignitas) – 67.9