With the 2017 North American League of Legends Championship Series playoffs around the corner, it’s time to look back at another tumultuous but entertaining season of LoL. Alongside playoffs come season awards, the first of which is the All-NA LCS team.

Here to present their criteria and individual picks, which contributed to the Yahoo Esports vote aggregate, are staff writers Taylor Cocke, Kelsey Moser, and Emily Rand.

Taylor: With the parity in North America during the 2017 Spring Split, standout players made themselves known by eking out the smallest advantages to help their teams get through the scrum that was the middle of the NA LCS pack. While I hesitate to focus purely on results-based praise, the first half of the 2017 season was, to me, defined by the players that pulled their teams out of the muck and into the tops of the standings.

Kelsey: Many of the teams in the NA LCS this split formed as a mess of miscommunication, making standout performances more obvious. Rating players just on individual “carry” ability, however, discounts efforts to improve the team overall. It’s important to assess not just how often a player goes for the flashy moves, but how consistently he manages to apply pressure and create opportunities for his team.

Emily: It’s been an odd split for North America. Another influx of primarily-Korean imports combined with a few notable domestic talents and rookies form a muddled stew of parity. I leaned toward players that I felt contributed the most to their team’s efforts along with their individual standout moments and statistics. As in previous years, I weight efficiency and reliability highly in my evaluations.

View photos Team SoloMid’s top laner Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell (Jeremy Wacker) More

Top Lane: Team SoloMid’s Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell

Runners-up: Phoenix1’s Derek “Zig” Shao, Dignitas’ Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho

Taylor: As for top lane, I was in absolute agreement with Kelsey and Emily about Team SoloMid’s Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell. While the kid has always been a carry threat from up North, the Spring Split saw him finally evolve into a veteran player capable of taking advantages and running with them. He punished misplays better than anyone in the league, used TSM’s newfound top side focus to great effect, and generally made intelligent plays around the map to ensure his team’s first seed. He may not have had the highest highs of any NA top (that award is reserved for Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong), but his influence on TSM’s first place run is undeniable.

Kelsey: Like Emily and Taylor, I selected Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell as my top laner for this split. Team SoloMid shifted much more to a top side focus in the absence of Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng. This meant more attention from Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen and Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg, which occasionally led to catch outs when top side vision wasn’t properly defended, but also meant the team relied much more on Hauntzer. Though he only got occasional leads from misplays made by his opponents, he converted them well, and his Teleports made a strong impact.

Emily: I first watched Hauntzer on Gravity Gaming in 2015. Back then he had occasional moments of teamfighting brilliance that made me wish he was on a team that could make the most of that talent and nurture it. Last year, TSM was that team, yet he often played from behind, especially in laneswaps, as the team funneled more attention and resources towards AD carry Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng. This split, with Jason “Wildturtle” Tran back in the bot lane, TSM turned their attention top, as did their opponents. Hauntzer turned enemy dives — admittedly some of them were ill-advised — into immediate leads, then snowballed those advantages into team control of the top side.

View photos nV jungler Nam “LirA” Tae-yoo (Jeremy Wacker) More

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