Is 2017 the Year of Lourlo? The short answer is “absolutely not.”

When North American League of Legends squad Team Liquid announced their roster, I predicted they would play around bottom lane. Solo laners Samson “Lourlo” Jackson and Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer left lukewarm impressions in their earlier League of Legends Championship Series showings, while Chae “Piglet” Gwangjin and Matthew “Matt” Elento stuck out as primary carries for Liquid, only clashing with Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett, who had left the team for Immortals.

In Liquid’s first Intel Extreme Masters Gyeonggi game, the team affirmed this perception. Piglet picked Vayne into an onslaught of crowd control from Giants Gaming, sending Liquid into the lower bracket from the start of the event.

Liquid swung back; they defeated Dark Passage and Giants Gaming 2-0 on their second encounter to reach the semifinal against World Championship finalist, Samsung Galaxy. Their stroke of fortune didn’t come from Piglet, however, but the unexpected success of Lourlo and Kim “Reignover” Yeujin, whose tandem top lane suppression yielded the upper half of the map to Liquid.

Lourlo’s role in Liquid’s comeback success, key in four consecutive wins in Gyeonggi, started waves of praise for the North American top laner heading into the 2017 season. Expectations agitated when whispers from his would-be opponents and the North American broadcast talent added to the stir. Lourlo himself, after a successful series against Counter-Logic Gaming, attributed his perceived increase in prowess in part to a change in circumstances for Liquid.

“I think this year around I have way more confidence than before,” Lourlo told Yahoo Esports. “I have a really good backing in terms of veterans with Piglet and Reignover, and also the support staff is better than ever, so yeah, I have everything lined up for me for success, so [I’m] just really looking to — just improve myself even more, just be a top tier talent this split.”

With a Week 1 15.3 KDA (the highest in the North American LCS), a top 17 kill participation, and the highest percentage of team damage for any top laner in the league at 25.8 percent, Lourlo hype is primed to frenzy. Yet almost every narrative praising Lourlo not only overlooks his flaws, but overlooks two key factors contributing to his new success: the tank meta and Reignover’s persistent fondness for top lane.

When I say tank meta, I don’t mean “tanks are easy champions to play,” but that historically Lourlo has looked his best on straightforward, beefy champions that propel themselves into the center of a fight. Lourlo’s Irelia and Ekko (though a tank, Ekko required more finesse than Lourlo provided) left much to be desired in 2016 Summer, and his best performing picks were Trundle and Shen, based on win rate.

At IEM Gyeonggi, Lourlo played only Poppy and Nautilus. This pool has so far remained more or less consistent with the exception of a Maokai and a Fiora game. Most of the champions in his current pool provide zoning tools, easy push, and multiple forms of crowd control. All of these things make questionable laning and late Teleports particularly forgiving.

Perhaps one of the most overlooked benefits of a tank champion, however, is how easily they can set up top lane ganks. Nautilus’ ult, targetable snare on Maokai, and multiple knock up or stun opportunities from Poppy make it easy to pin an opponent for high damage from Rengar and Kha’Zix or persistent crowd control from Rek’Sai to finish off the kill.

View photos Though maligned for his frequent deaths in Week 1, Reignover’s habits contributed to Lourlo’s successes (lolesports) More

In multiple instances throughout the 2017 NA LCS Week 1 games, Reignover (and, in some cases, mid laner Goldenglue) roamed top to force the opponent off the turret. This made it easy for Lourlo to push forward in the lane and get large creep leads.

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