Edit: Thanks to TCombz, Owner of SuperNova, I was able to watch more vods of Zig and Gorica. As of 12:10am 11/14 it has been updated to Gorica’s new rank in the tier list. We appreciate the references too, Fanatiik, so please prove me wrong, we wanna see all of you make it to LCS one day.

After the end of NA at worlds and the cries for better talent within the region it’s natural that everyone will look to the upcoming NA scouting grounds for inspiration and hope in the future. I’m here to tell you to put all your eggs into one basket because after watching dozens of hours of vods and writing 30 pages of notes I am not confident in what our future holds as a region.

After melting my brain through dozens of overextentions, bad teleports, and ugly teamfights, I’ve ranked the players into tiers from S-D based on their performance and potential in my professional opinion compared to their peers. The following is a very condensed form of my notes. (please note I haven’t worked as a writer since Slingshot esports went under, so excuse me if reading is a bit difficult).

S Tier:

Wolfe (Mid):

The sole possessor of the S tier, Wolfe comes in at the top because he out of the entire class is the smartest when it comes to understanding how to move across the map. In all of the games he played, whether he won or lost lane, he was consistent in how he would roam and look for advantages by creating them himself in bot and top lane. Against Western University in the CLOL finals he exhibited a great understanding of how he should be positioning on Zoe by standing behind walls and poking his head over to create opportunities to chunk and sleep his opponents. He also maintained a strong lead in lane throughout each of these games and translated them to the other lanes through roams, while in the series against JMG he would fall behind and attempt to recover by going on these roams. Most of his roams were alongside his jungler to secure a greater numbers advantage and guarantee the kills necessary to keep his team in the game. While teamfighting he would position in such a way that kept him out of harms way while still dealing maximum amount of damage, a skill that not many other players in the scouting grounds exhibited. Overall the best player at this event.

A Tier:

MistyStumpey (Top):

Famous for having only one full arm but you wouldn’t know it considering how solid he is in top. In his series, Columbia vs UCIrvine, he is smart in prepping is lane for a gank, and plays the towerdives in top very well. Although he overextends and splitpushes with no regard for his lacking vision he understands how far in the lead he is and escapes soundly. As Lucian vs Gnar in the same series he smashes his lane and gets a massive farm lead, but this time his overextensions end in demise for him while splitpushing. In teamfights he knows how far forward he needs to move to stay within threatening range, but will step too close and gets himself blown up on occasion. Despite these flaws, compared to his peers he is still near the top of the class in terms of the way he can win lane and positions in teamfights.

BMD (Top):

Despite having only one game I could find to go off of, Dramatik Vs Sentinels, and his bot lane feeding their asses off in the same game (Gorica/Gweiss), he showed outstanding potential in terms of his all-around. He won a losing lane as Vladimir vs Renekton, he had very timely teleports to try to save his bot lane to well positioned wards, and he has well positioned flanks to try to save his team’s chances around the baron. I believe he has the highest ceiling when it comes to what we can see at scouting grounds and I have high hopes for him. I just wish I was able to find more vods.

Julius (Winston) (Jung):

He was by far the most baffling and frustrating person I watched to scout these scouting grounds. At first I was mad because he did nothing of note, then I realized it was because he didn’t initiate anything of note. He is a very passive jungler, only ever showing up to a lane to turn around a gank. In teamfights (despite being on Hecarim and Nocturne) he would only ever be secondary engage, using his ultimate after the fight already broke out. I would argue that this is a negative thing, and that rating him so high seems hypocritical, but I see value in a safe jungler that knows where to be, although just a little bit late. As Hecarim most notably in the CLoL semi-finals with Western U, he would always turn around a gank in bot lane, or a teamfight near baron. In the finals vs Maryville he started going aggressive on his own accord with Jarvan, which backfired horrendously in that game 5. This is something that can be improved upon. With this player I see a blank slate that either needs a leash or needs a push, and a team with a coaching staff that can teach him how to utilize his above average map presence can turn him into a monster.

5Fire (Mid):

At first I was very high on 5fire, thinking he was the best player at the combine… until I saw fellow Maryville player Wolfe. He has a very strong laning phase, stumbling only in his matchup as Corki vs Irelia in the SuperNova vs ANEW series. He played the lane itself very smartly, taking favorable trades that would allow him to get an incremental lead in the farm, turret damage, and kills. When it came to roaming and mid-game splitpushing he would sometimes become a headless chicken, not using corki package to gank, overstaying while on the splitpush, and either dying or giving up map pressure. He also has a good understanding of positioning in teamfights, making sure he does not fall inside the concave that his team will create such that he can escape, but more often than not he will fall too close inside that arc and will be forced to flash to safety, this is one area that can use refinement. The games where he is actively winning lane are where I see the most potential, it is just translating his leads into stronger teamfights and roams around the map (compared to Wolfe) that I feel can be worked on most to make him a strong contender for the future of NA.

Vex (ADC):

The only ADC above C tier and for good reason. Out of the entire ADC class he is the only player who consistently performed well. In the Lotus Bloom vs Polar Ace series not once did I see any major and game changing mistakes that the enemy could take advantage of. He gets aggressive when his lane opponent plays afraid in game 3, and kites around a teamfight the best out of all the other ADCs. He has the best sense of how to position in a teamfight and if this series is the baseline of what to go off of he has a very high potential. Unfortunately there was only one series I could watch, but if this is how he always plays I have high hopes.

Chime (Sup):

He is a smart laner, taking control and winning trades on his own as Karma in the Dramatik Royal vs DRose series. He is smart in holding onto his own summoners, and only really makes one mistake in this first game of the series which is a facecheck to ward with his ADC. In the second game of the series his only deaths are off the back of well timed initiations and he does a very good job on Rakan in terms of peeling for his carry and diving with his engage. He has a good mind for what is role is supposed to do and how it differs from champion to champion, positioning next to his ADC to peel when necessary on Karma, and diving the backline for a fat knockup with Rakan. An overall solid player and if this series is his floor I would love to see his full potential.

B Tier:

Inori (B+) (Jung):

A controversial player whose existence makes many angry considering he has performed on professional teams in the past. It is probably a result of that experience that he is a consistently above average performer compared to his peers, but to be “above average” as a former pro compared to 17 and 18 year old players is a problem in itself. In terms of gameplay he has good eyes for seeing when he can take objectives for free, and he has a good awareness of when to gank his laners. It’s in teamfights that he struggles massively. If you flip a coin and one side is “overextends and kills himself” and the other is “good engage that wins the game” it would be an accurate reflection of his playstyle. He is consistent in taking 11 minute rift heralds just as much as he’s consistent in engaging a fight where he has no follow-up. If a professional team can refine these teamfighting tendencies then he can become a solid jungler once again.

FrostyNomad (Jung):

This is another player who I wish I had more vods of, but from what I saw of him he is solid. In playing Karthus he knew where he needed to be to receive ganks and get kills, while at the same time having a good awareness of how to pick a fight himself while playing Sylas in the Emissary vs Dramatik series. I wish I had more to say, but he made a good first impression which is more than I can say about a lot of other players whom I ended up warming up to. I look forward to seeing more of him at scouting grounds.

KatEvolved (Mid):

Kat one trick turned pro player sounds similar to an old man- a TFT streamer by the name of Scarra. Dignitas is back this year after all… But to talk about Kat himself, he seems to play opposite of 5Fire. He was strongest outside of laning phase while inside of it he would struggle to take or maintain a lead. Unlike Wolfe who roamed with his jungler, Kat would roam by himself more often to secure kills across the map and translate that into wins for his teammates. In teamfights I would say he is overall above average, having good positioning similar to his peers. The reason why I ranked him lower is because in the Radiance vs Maryville series he looked like a headless chicken: losing lane, weirdly split pushing across the map, and getting caught out and dying are only a few of the issues he had, and exhibited how low his lows can be. If he is on then he is an above average player with superior mid-late game positioning, but if he’s off he’s invisible. If a coach can harness his highs and channel them to be more consistent, he can be a contender.

Julien (Mid):

In a class with two of the best players it’ll be hard to impress the coaches and scouts at scouting grounds. Compared to the others he is quite underwhelming, and is not solid in his laning phase being yet another seemingly coinflip player. As Yasuo and Ryze in the Mirage vs ANEW series he played very well and maintained a lead before dying multiple times in the midgame getting caught out. He pushes too far forward for kills and promptly gets punished for them. In the bad half of those coinflips he will straight up lose lane phase, but similarly to KatEvolved in the Radiance vs Maryville series he will roam by himself to try to find leads. Whether or not those work out is up to whichever side of the coin gets called, and as such a polarizing player I can’t justify putting him lower or higher than average. He has shining moments like a diamond, but is it worth the other side which is covered in crap?

Shady (Sup):

Another recognizable name that stirred up some anger at “former washed up pros” but he’s a pretty solid option amongst his peers today. In the ANEW vs Maryville series he consistently carries his ADC and fellow scouting grounds player EvanRL through the laning phase, but in teamfights he, much like some of his other peers, is 50/50. Will he have a game changing engage? Or will he throw himself into his enemy and die immediately? Rarely he will escape these latter situations and make them look like the former, but I still question a lot of his engages on champions like Rakan and Nautilus. As Yuumi he is able to stack a lead vs a Draven lane, but this lead is thrown by his teammates. As Rakan in game 2 vs Radiance he looks like a god when choosing the best engages. This is by far his best looking game but if he can’t maintain this consistency I can’t justify him over his peers at this scouting grounds.

SandpaperX (B-) (Sup):

As Gorica’s support in the Lotus Bloom vs Polar Ace series, he does very well to win lane for his ADC, picking fights at the correct times in game 1 at the very least. In games 2 and 3 however we see the dark side where he has little lane prescence, gets caught out across the map warding, but also finds a few picks for himself. I rank him at B- because I saw more of his bad side I feel, and I am not sure if this is his baseline or if Game 1 of this series is his peak. I would like to see more from him and look forward to doing so at Scouting Grounds.

C Tier:

PieCakeLord (C+) (Top):

This is another confusing player for me to evaluate because on one hand he will win losing matchups in Camille vs Poppy, but on the other hand he will lose matchups he has already won in GP vs Renekton (after receiving 3 ganks and getting assist money for each of them). I give him the + because I know he can do better, and because he knows how to play well in laning phase in terms of farming, trading, and converting ganks into kills, but all of the negatives dropped him down into C tier for me because those negatives include losing fights when he is ahead in gold/items, losing disgracefully in losing matchups such as Vlad vs Rumble where he could have salvaged something, and not having a good mind for macro in the mid-late game such as split pushing mindlessley or giving up towers for vision when the tower was perfectly defensible. Currently his negatives outweigh the positives but I do know there is a plus side, and I want to see it.

Zig (C+) (Top):

I was only able to find one recent vod in ANEW vs Team Front wherein 5Fire consistently carries him, and while he abuses Aatrox in games 1 and 3. Through the series he gets abused in the lane phase, losing lane, being down CS, dying solo, over extending and getting ganked nearly dying, and that’s not to mention outside of lane phase. He was consistently caught out, overextending, and only popped off when 5fire was around to help him. A lot of his play was questionable and I don’t see many pluses in his gameplay.

Edit: After watching a second series in SuperNova vs ANEW, I elected to give Zig a plus because of some good things I saw. He has good eyes for teleport plays even if he can’t impact them as a level 2 Gangplank, but the fact that he does have a sense for macro is a small step up from my first impression of him. As Gangplank in 3 of the 4 games this series he does his job in split pushing safely against PieCakeLord’s Camille, and does his job in joining fights when needed with well timed teleports, but other than doing what is expected of him he has no notable highlights or lowlights.

Gorica (ADC):

This is a player who I started having high hopes for, but then he started slipping and I realized his first game I witnessed was probably his best game he played. If Lotus Bloom vs Polar Ace game 1 is his high then I hope he can stay there, but in the rest of the series as well as Dramatik vs Sentinels he was invisible. His positioning in teamfights was inside his threatening range, meaning he was standing too close and he would consistently get punished for it. He is very reliant on his support in SandpaperX to do a lot of work in the lane phase, and he consistently got outplayed by fellow scouting grounds attendee, Vex, in that series. In lane his mind for positioning is very well, but in teamfights it begins to break down (in games that aren’t Game 1 of the series I mentioned). If he stays at that high then he is comparable to Vex, the only A-tier ADC, but if he cannot maintain that consistently then it is probably correct to place him here in C tier. I do believe that the potential can be pulled out of him.

D Tier:

Gweiss (D+) (Support):

Once again I could only find one game, and in this game he looked awful, which is why I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt and not placing him in a tier. As BMD’s teammate in the only vod I could find he had his head in the sand for most of the game, dying to ganks pushing up too far, dying to teleport wards behind him, getting caught out warding in the midgame, and simply performing awfully across the board. If this were the only game to go off of I would say he is the worst player, but I want to believe this was just a bad game out of many good ones and it’s unfortunate this was the only one that came to the top.

Edit: After watching two additional series, SuperNova vs ANEW and SuperNova vs AVI, and receiving some hilarious hate mail, I was able to create a better idea of how he plays and what he is consistent on. Unfortunately for him, my original appraisal of his gameplay was not far from the truth. Although he would perform better than what I initially saw inside the laning phase, he still lost 2v2s as Braum against Nautilus and Xayah, had questionable focus in teamfights in who he should peel away from his ADC that would end up dying, and would more often than not get caught out either alongside his jungler, or alone. He did have very few highlights, which is why I am giving him the plus. In game 1 vs AVI he had game changing Rakan engages near baron that turned the game around for his team and I would go as far to say won the game, but considering he has so few bright spots I was hard pressed to give him a much higher ranking than his peers who outshine him often even within the same games.

Fanatiik (Jung):

This is one player whose vods were in abundance to my displeasure. Despite the ability to have a good early game, most mid and late games are marred with overextention, tunnel vision, and lack of respect for the enemy team no matter how far behind or ahead he gets. He is not bad at all when it comes to early game ganking or power farming. He has enough map awareness to take free objectives similar to Inori, but what really grinds my gears and why I rank him so low is that he so consistently teamfights very poorly which is an awful quality to possess. It was increasingly frustrating to infuriating how the same mistake would be made every single game I watched across a dozen vods himself, and his inability to learn from these mistakes is why I ranked him so low.

EvanRL (ADC):

I appreciate you dropping into my stream and having a quick chat while I was watching a lot of these vods, but I’m sorry to say it won’t make me pull punches. In both Columbia vs UCIrvine and ANEW vs Maryville both Sona/Taric lanes went so horribly wrong, and the attempt at redemption came in using Sona’s Crescendo on a target who already used Zhonya’s Hourglass and was still in stasis. Positioning far too close to the enemy in every single teamfight led to his demise even in games they would win. When Shady leaves lane he dies, when Shady peels for him he dies, when he gets towerdove he dies, and when he survives a weak laning phase to transition to teamfights he dies. He is consistently carried by his team and even when he wins he doesn’t do much of note to facilitate the victory. I’m very unsure if he can compete with other academy laners, but I hope he proves me wrong at Scouting Grounds.

Tomo (ADC):

After seeing 3 straight games of non-Attack Damage Carries in the Mirage vs ANEW series, I was incredibly disappointed by his play on all of these mage bot picks. In game 1 he plays a Sona/Taric lane that goes horribly awry. He had no coordination on Taric stuns and teamwork is incredibly lacking. In games 2 and 3 as Neeko and Cassio he was very heavy both games, getting hit by every binding under the sun and missing ultimates that would otherwise have only hit one person. I was upset I couldn’t find any more vods becuase I would have loved to see him on a traditional ADC, but from what I’ve seen in this series alone I would go as far to say he is possibly the worst ADC in the class… if he is this bad on safe mages, then how much better can he be on traditional champs?

Overall for some players I wish I could have seen more, for others I wish I saw less, but this weekend we will have the opportunity to get a much better look at these games. I’m thankful for the ability to look closely at players like BMD, Gorica, and Gweiss in whose vods I felt didn’t tell us the full story, and look forward to seeing how all the players will perform together.

The teams for the event have already been announced here:

If teams were rated according to my tier list they would look like this:

Mtn: C+/D/B/A/B average rating of B-

Ocean: A/B/B/D/B average rating of B

Cloud: C/B+/S/C/B- average rating of B

Infernal: A/A/A/D/? Average rating of B+?

These are pretty even actually, the most surprising pieces to me are the actual draft order of the players. Inori going first is not surprising considering his previous experience, but Wolfe, BMD, Vex, and Winston going in the bottom 5 are the most baffling to me considering what I’ve seen from them as a 3rd party. Of course I have no access to comms, and I’m not there to interview the players, but from a purely gameplay standpoint I feel these teams are still balanced enough to offer a fantastic looking event. As information keeps getting released and with the stream upcoming I’m sure we will see which team and which player truly is the best, and the future stars we can look forward to competing in the LCS.

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