At the Mid-Season Invitational we saw some interesting focus on the Top Lane. The first game of the weekend played between Team Solomid and Fnatic is a perfect example of this. All six bans where targeted at the top laners. Fnatic banned out Maokai, Lulu, and Sion with TSM banning Rumble, Hecarim and Vladimir away from Huni. This introduces an interesting situation where both top laners have very few champions to fall back on, none of which would be comfort picks unless they had prepared for this situation. Dyrus picks Gnar during the first red side rotation, and Fnatic picks up LeBlanc in their second rotation and Cassiopeia in their second rotation. The Cassiopeia was given to Huni in the top lane which was a rather unexpected pick but was clearly premeditated by Fnatic.

Where does Cassiopeia fall in the Top Lane tier list?

In my opinion, I don’t think Cassiopeia should be played as a top laner. She is a relatively low mobility caster, causing her to fall prey to early jungle pressure, especially in the long side lanes. She has minimal self-peel to keep people from running her down in a lane. She also requires extensive time to power up, about fifteen minutes to get Tear of the Goddess/Archangel's Staff fully stacked after the tear is purchased. She’s not going to do anything significant in the game until this point if she is in top lane. She also is forced to take Teleport as one of her summoner spells. This leaves her extremely weak as she cannot bring Cleanse, Ghost, or Ignite, all of which offer more use in a lane or fight than Teleport does.

She does have some traits that give her an advantage in a 1v1 scenario with most top laners. She has a range advantage on most top laners and can bully some opponents out of lane. This is augmented by her zone control from her pools of poison. She can accrue a large CS lead from simply zoning people away from minions just with the threat of her damage. She can also sustain decently well with the mana return when Twin Fang kills a unit and the health return from the spell once the first benchmark of passive is reached. If she can make it to her second item and get Seraph’s Embrace then she will be at an extremely strong place and be able to deal with most top laners in a 1v1 scenario.

Cassiopeia, for me, is way down on the top lane tier list. She falls prey to the likes of Shyvana, Maokai, and Hecarim who can ignore the minor slow on her Miasma and jump straight on to her. She suffers when having to bring Teleport and sacrifice her second combat summoner. She was played in a specific scenario in the Fnatic vs. TSM match and I think it was a risky situation to pick her in.

How did Huni’s Cassiopeia pick pay off?

Huni’s Cassiopeia pick paid off not because Fnatic made it work, but because TSM let them get away with the pick. TSM elected to forgo a lane swap which I think was a huge error because Sivir and Thresh aren’t going to do well against Urgot and Nautilus, who also push lanes much slower, and it puts the Cassiopeia in a solo lane where she can get farm with relative ease. The lack of a lane swap was a huge error, in my opinion.

Santorin didn't ever enter the part of the map covered in red at any point of the game.

Santorin had no pressure on the top lane despite the inherent kill pressure between a Rek’Sai and Gnar on an immobile champion. Which is massive. Huni takes the turret for free and gets a significant gold lead over Dyrus. That shouldn’t happen. Regardless of Dyrus’ comfort on Gnar or the impact he might have, the impact that Huni is going to have on Cassiopeia is much more significant. Fnatic realizes this and has ReignOver visit top twice, netting two kills in the first seven minutes of the game. From this point on, Dyrus can’t hold off Huni and the Cassiopeia is given free rein to scale into the late game.

What makes a Champion playable in both Top and Mid?

The biggest physical difference between top lane and mid lane is the distance between the outer turrets. This is relevant for numerous reasons, the most notable being wave control (freezes and slow pushes) and the fact that it’s harder to escape ganks. Mid lane is a relatively short lane with lots of directions to run and relatively short distances to safety in multiple directions. A top laner needs to still be able to escape ganks with less options and over a larger area.

The biggest meta difference is that top laners take Teleport. This can significantly affect how a champion is played because now both of their summoner spells are being dictated instead of just one. This means that a combat summoner is missing for that champion and this can hinder a champion significantly. The other difference between mid and top is how each is treated in the lane swap scenario. Top laners can be turned into nothing if a lane swap goes poorly for a team while the lane swap will most likely leave mid lane untouched. A top laner needs to be able to find a way to be useful despite being behind everyone else in the game in items.

Lulu is the one champion who has truly bridged the gap between top lane and mid lane. She can handle herself well in the long lane and can still function well without a second combat summoner. In my opinion the second combat summoner isn’t as useful on Lulu as it is on other champions. Lulu's utility also allows her to still have an impact even if she is set behind in a lane swap. Lissandra is another mage who can be played in top and mid. She however is susceptible to being punished by a lane swap and the setbacks it can cause. This is one of the reasons she’s seeing less play. Vladimir has seen some play in both top and mid lane but I think he is better as a mid laner because he benefits greatly from having a second summoner spell and he suffers heavily from a lane swap scenario. He also lacks the utility to still be useful when he is set behind by a lane swap.

The number of champions that can be played in either mid or top has been decreasing over the past few months. The lane swap has gotten more volatile, making it riskier to send a carry into a scenario where they could potentially get set very far behind. This along with a shift to a tankier meta overall has led to a decrease of squishy top lane carries, and as a result champions who can be flex picks for the top lane or mid lane. As teams look for champions to use a flex picks between top and mid, they should pass over the Cassiopeia.