Worlds 2020: Ranking and Rating All the Mid Laners at Worlds
By Josh Tyler
We break down the best mid laners that you will see at Worlds 2020.
15. Chen “M1ssion” Hsiao-Hsien (Machi Esports) – 79 OVR
M1ssion, at least, has put up staggeringly good stats in the PCS, including a ridiculous 594.8 aDPM built off a 1.4 damage-to-gold ratio. And he’s able to build those leads largely off his superior laning phase, averaging +477g/+13 CS/+356 XP at 15 over his opponents.
As to his champion pool, it’s a lot of Azir and Syndra, with some Zoe and Corki also sprinkled in. None of the champions stand out as particularly deadly, but his KDAs on all four of those most-picked champions are over 3.50.
14. Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek (Fnatic) – 79 OVR
Last year I had Nemesis as one of the best mid laners in the world, but in 2020 he took a rather large step back. His laning got weaker, he started dying more often, and his champion pool, though wide (he played 21 unique champions in 57 games), lost a lot of its effectiveness. Among his top-five most-picked champions, none have a KDA over 4.5 and his most-played champion has only 7 games this season.
Now one area where Nemesis does excel is his damage output. His 504.4 aDPM is above average compared to other mid laners, but it comes at the cost of a 25% gold share and 426.0 aGPM. That drags his damage-to-gold ratio down to 1.18, among the lowest at Worlds 2020.
13. Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen (Team Liquid) – 80 OVR
Criminally overlooked, even on his own team, Jensen had a remarkable year for TL as he took over the mantle as their primary carry. His damage and gold counts were quite good, but his adjusted KDA (4.04) was among the best in his career, and it came attached to a 70.5% kill participation. Once a pure KDA player, Jensen has leveled up and become more of an all-around team player.
The thing teams need to know about Jensen is that he is an exceptional Twisted Fate player. With an 80% win rate and 17.33 KDA in Summer 2020, he’s been a master of the draw. After that, his Zoe, Leblanc, and Orianna have all been extremely successful with high win rates and KDAs.
12. Marek “Humanoid” Brázda (MAD Lions) – 81 OVR
His KDA and kill participation are well below average, but Humanoid is largely saved by his efficiency. With a 1.35 damage-to-gold ratio and 577.6 aDPM, he is one of the few low-resource/high-damage mid laners coming to Worlds.
I am a bit worried by the fact that his champion pool is quite wide (19 champions played in 59 games) but not that deep (only 4 champions played have a KDA over 4.00 and three of them were only played once). He does well on utility mids like Galio and Orianna, his most-played mid, but he’s going up against some stiff competition opposite him in lane at Worlds 2020.
11. Gwak “Bdd” Bo-seong (Gen.G Esports) – 82 OVR
Now Bdd is the epitome of a two-trick mid laner. He’s played Zoe and Azir in 50 of his 115 games in 2020 and his third most-picked champion (Twisted Fate) was only played 7 times. There is a good reason that he and Gen.G keep going back to those champions, though, as he has a KDA over 5.00 on both picks.
Across the board, Bdd is above average in just about every major stat (4.23 aKDA, 425.0 aGPM, 526.9 aDPM, +331 gold at 15, and +7 CSD at 15). The only real knock you can make on the guy is in terms of his low kill participation (64.3% during the regular season).