LCS 2021: Ranking Every Single Starting Support in the LCS

2. Hu “SwordArt” Shuo-Chieh (TSM)

One of the flashier signings of the offseason, TSM hoped to pair SwordArt with their legendary ADC Doublelift. Of course, that plan got scuttled by Doublelift’s sudden retirement, but TSM still appears to be committed to making things work with SwordArt and rookie Lost.

In looking at SwordArt, it’s important to distinguish between the aura of his performance and his actual performance. This man was in the World Championship Finals last year as a member of Suning, a breath away from hoisting the Summoner’s Cup. But his performance last year was middling-to-bad.

He had a 1.92 aKDA and 239 gold per minute. His damage output was great (7.6 EDD), but his laning was anything but great (-167.2 MAGXD @ 15). So how is he rated at the number two slot?

Well, first of all, he’s barely rated higher than CoreJJ and Newbie. Those three are grouped very close together in our rankings. But what pushes SwordArt above those others is that he played against infinitely harder competition last year in the LPL.

SwordArt didn’t get to pick on Smoothie and Aphromoo and Keith (yes, remember that Keith was a support) like the NA players did. His laning numbers are bad, yes, but he had to face off with JackeyLove and yuyanjia, LokeN and LvMao, and Lwx and Crisp. Those are not easy lanes to put up sterling stats with, especially when paired with a rookie ADC.

The hope (and expectation) is that this year, against far easier competition, SwordArt’s numbers will improve. TSM fans are certainly hoping so.