As the race for the championship reaches its crescendo, the search for the NA LCS Spring Split 2020 MVP narrows in on 10 hopeful candidates.





Image Source: Riot Games





On Friday the 10th April, at 2PM PT, Riot Games announced the finalists for the coveted Honda MVP award for the 2020 Spring Split. The question on everyone's mind? Who will take home this prestigious award. The results are in, your LCS Spring Split 2020 Honda MVP finalists are...





Image Source: Riot Games





It will come as no surprise to a viewer of the LCS to see not one, not two, not three, but four of the first placed Cloud9 roster present in the Honda MVP top 10. Every starting player on the 17-1 roster, except Eric "Licorice" Richie, are currently in contention for the award





In place of Licorice, we have two behemoths of the the top lane in 100 Thieves' Kim "Ssumday" Chan-Ho, and Team SoloMid's Sergen "Broken Blade" Çelik. Although both top laners place below Licorice in most major statistics, the difference is often rather minor with Broken Blade boasting an impressive 3.81 KDA to Licorice's 4.75. Likewise, Ssumday has an incredibly high damage per minute of 396 to Licorice's commendable 4.18. Given that Team SoloMid and 100 Thieves finished with a 50% and 55% win rate respectively to Cloud9's 94.4%, it is a testament to these two players that they are able to maintain such impressive stats, whilst losing more games on average.





Ssumday has demonstrated immense carry potential on conventional top lane picks such as Sett, Aatrox and Gangplank and he has been a driving factor in many of 100 Thieves' wins. Ssumday's performances helped 100 Thieves steal away a playoff spot. Can he pull of the ultimate heist and claim the MVP award too?





Broken Blade has also shown proficiency on more standard top lane picks, being coined by many analysts and casters as "the best Sett in North America", whilst also pulling out a showstopping carry performance on Qiyana in Team SoloMid's convincing win versus Golden Guardians in Week 3. Broken Blade is here to Sett the record straight- he is coming for that MVP title.





Image Source: Riot Games





Mid lane is the most represented role in the Honda MVP final 10, with Team SoloMid's Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg, Flyquest's Tristan "PowerOfEvil" Schrage, Evil Genius' Daniele "Jizuke" di Mauro, Dignitas' Henrik "Froggen" Hansen, and Cloud9's Yasin "Nisqy" Dinçer all beating out their opposition to obtain a shot at being proclaimed the MVP of the LCS.





Bjergsen has shown once again that he is a perennial competitor for the title of best mid laner in the LCS, sporting a whopping 5.29 KDA and 373 DPM as well as an undefeated 5-0 streak on Syndra this split. Bjergsen showed, once again that if needed, he truly can live up to his organisation's namesake. One need only look at his fantastic week 7 performance on Zilean and Irelia versus Cloud9 and Flyquest respectively, which earned him player of the week, to see that sometimes you really do only need a solo mid.





Image Source: Riot Games Twitter









PowerOfEvil's move to Flyquest was met with considerable excitement by the organisation's fans, and for good reason. PowerOfEvil was a powerhouse in the mid lane for Flyquest, showing mastery over control mages such as Orianna and Viktor. These dominating performances meant that PowerOfEvil had the second highest gold per minute in the LCS, as well as the highest overall creep score. Although he may have cooled off in the latter quarter of the split, his five player of the game awards and week five player of the week award make PowerOfEvil a true contender for the Honda MVP award.









Image Source: Riot Games Twitter









The first week was met with gasps of excitement from fans of Froggen as he exploded out of the gates with a dominant 2-0 week 1 performance featuring Froggen's signature control mage style of Viktor and Orianna. Although Dignitas may have not made playoffs in the end, Froggen racked up impressive numbers and had the third best KDA of any mid laner. His Orianna was particularly impressive sporting a 5-2 win/loss score as well as an absurdly high 8.75 KDA. Froggen showed that if you give him a control mage, he will control the game into a Dignitas win.





Image Source: Riot Games Twitter

The acquisition of Jizuke by Evil Geniuses was met with trepidation and potential concern for fans. After a difficult split on Vitality in the LEC 2019 Summer Split, many were wondering whether Jizuke could return to the form shown during his 2018 Worlds run with Vitality. The answer? A definitive yes. Jizuke started off slow but quickly accelerated as the split progressed, showing a true mastery of side lane control on staples such as Ryze and LeBlanc. Jizuke was praised by analysts for his understanding of macro and side laning, resulting in him being awarded the week eight player of the week award as well as topping the player of the game standings leaderboard with six awards. Jizuke appears to be one of the clear front-runners to win MVP not on a team named Cloud9.





Image Source: Oshin Villa Tudayan for Riot Games





That brings us onto Cloud9. Sporting a historic 17-1 record, Cloud9 truly dominated the LCS this spring split, losing only to Team SoloMid in week seven. This dominant performance earned every Cloud9 player a spot on the first NA All Pro Team, as well as player of the week awards for Blaber, Nisqy, Zven and Vulcan.

It is impossible to talk about Cloud9 without discussing the powerhouse in the jungle that is Blaber. The only jungler on this list, Blaber, is the proud owner of the highest win rate of any long-term LCS player, at a fabled 83%, having won 39 games and losing a mere 8. Fans of the LCS were eager to see whether Blaber could follow in the footsteps of Svenskeren, the former Honda MVP and Cloud9 jungler, and follow them he could. A quick glance at the statistics of junglers this split shows Blaber leading in every major metric. Statistics aside, a viewer of a Cloud9 game can see the pressure exerted by Blaber on the map and just how mechanically strong he can be on picks like Lee Sin and Gragas. Blaber is without question the King of the Jungle this split, but will he be able to smite steal away the Honda MVP?





Nisqy spent the off season studying. Studying what you may ask? The unique playstyle of FPX's World's winning mid laner Kim "Doinb" Tae-Sang. Nisqy fully embraced the roam-heavy style of Doinb this season and achieved immense success with it. When thinking of Nisqy this split, one can't help but picture his iconic Zoe pick. However, whilst most North American mid laners use Zoe to pressure lane and look for mid game picks, Nisqy's Zoe is incredibly aggressive, often leaving lane to get his other laners ahead. Nisqy's lane stats and creep score may be lower than his mid lane counterparts, however this is more than made up for in his KDA and shows how able he is to carry a game on this pick. Nisqy plays to win, even at the expense of his own stats, but can this help him win the Honda MVP?

Replacing a beloved staple of an organisation is never an easy task, but if there ever was a player to show people how it's done, that's Zven. The KDA king of the LCS this split, with an astounding KDA of 12.25, Zven showed Cloud9 fans, and LCS teams alike, that he came to play. Although he may not have quite reached the eye-watering heights of Jeong "Chovy" Ji-Hoon's famous 104 KDA, he showed that dying is not something that comes easy to Zven. His Aphelios stands out as his strongest pick with an absurdly strong 6 wins 0 losses on Aphelios and an impressive 13 KDA. Zven is no one trick however, and if given Varus, paired with Vulcan's Tahm Kench, you may find yourself down a nexus rather suddenly.





Finally, we have Vulcan. With the dissolution of Clutch Gaming at the end of last split, it appears Vulcan absorbed the remnants of his former organisation because the man just can't stop making clutch play after clutch play. Whenever a Cloud9 member looked set to ruin their KDA, Vulcan was there on Tahm Kench to pluck them away to safety. With an impressive 7-0 on the champion, Vulcan was also the prime benefactor of the very first 'fasting Senna' bot lane, resulting in him having a bemusing 48.57 average creep score on Tahm Kench 'support'. With the MVP vote fast approaching, will Vulcan be able to backdoor his way into the top spot?

This split saw the rise and fall of dynasties. Which player will rise up to claim the title of King of the LCS?

In a split where nothing has gone how people expected, what's to say the MVP vote will?

The Honda MVP for Spring Split 2020 will be announced on the 17th April 2020. For more information and for a breakdown on the winner, check eludisesports.com



