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.
10. Lev “Nomanz” Yakshin (Unicorns of Love) – 82 OVR
Perpetually underrated by the League of Legends fandom, Nomanz returns to Worlds for the second-straight year looking to make it to the group stage. Like last year, Nomanz enters the tournament having beat up on opponents in the LCL, posting a 5.71 aKDA and 685.6 aDPM. Oh, and he averaged gold leads of 910g, a 13 CSD, and almost a 500 XP lead at 15 during the regular season.
Of course, the big question is whether these performances will translate to the world stage. I’m super excited to see how his famous Kassadin (8-0 record, 9.82 KDA) will fare in this tournament.
9. Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage (FlyQuest) – 83 OVR
The Notorious PoE did not get nearly the credit he deserved in 2020 for FlyQuest’s run to their first Worlds appearance. His damage output (589.5 aDPM) and efficiency (1.35 damage-to-gold ratio) ruled not only North America but are among the best in the world. Speaking of NA, PoE also dominated opposing laners in the LCS, especially in the playoffs when he averaged +300g and +8 CS at 15.
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Although PoE’s champion pool gets memed a bit, his top three picks (Orianna, Azir, and Syndra) are not only firmly within the meta but all are justified. On none of those champions does he have a KDA below 4.00, making him equally deadly on all these champions.
8. Su “xiye” Han-Wei (LGD Gaming) – 83 OVR
Xiye is probably the most-overlooked mid laner coming out of China this year, but he is going to be a formidable opponent nonetheless. He’s one of the best TF players at the tournament and one of the few Sylas players we might see (10 games played, 3.07 KDA). Xiye’s stats aren’t at all impressive by the eye test, but the assumption is that, now that he’s facing a bit weaker of competition, he’ll be able to show his prowess.
7. Xiang “Angel” Tao (Suning) – 84 OVR
Angel is a mid laner that I am extremely excited to watch, as he might be the next up-and-coming star. This is a guy who is extremely efficient with his gold use (1.46 gold-to-damage ratio) with solid damage outputs (547.9 aDPM). He does tend to die a lot, which is to be expected of such a young player, but he is certainly able to make plays with his aggression.
He has quite a wide and deep champion pool, having played 20 unique champions this season and having a solid (4.00 or better) KDA on 13 of them. His two go-tos, Zoe and Syndra, are also both deadly, with KDAs above 5.00 on both champions.
6. Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon (DRX) – 84 OVR
Back with a vengeance, Chovy returns to Worlds after last year’s disappointing performance as a member of Griffin, now with talk of Korea DRX. Chovy is an absolute monster in laning phase, averaging a ridiculous 14 CSD at 15 on average in the LCK. However, a few of his other stats are underwhelming, including his high deaths-per-game (2.1 during the regular split but 2.9 during the playoffs) and his low damage share (26%, right at the average for mid laners).
The best piece of Chovy’s game, though, is that he can take over games with his signature Leblanc pick (8-3 record, 10.55 KDA) and is probably the best Leblanc player in the world. I’m also interested to see if he breaks out the Sylas or Rumble mid at Worlds.