Analysis and Opinion

AC/AM Standouts: 2021 Spring, Week 14

AC/AM Standouts highlights the players who performed best in the most recent week of NA Academy and amateur play. I’ll discuss a few of the most noteworthy standouts, then list some other players whose performances caught my eye below.

V1per, Top, No Org

Photo of 99322416267384658.pngV1per entered the amateur circuit this Spring hoping to rebuild his confidence and prove to the LCS that his potential is not defined or limited by the version of himself that we saw during 2019 and 2020. He became the focal point of the No Org team, developed a great partnership with AnDa, and ramped up his play continuously over the course of the past four months, starting by absolutely wrecking all of the amateur Top laners and ending by doing the same to the Academy players en route to winning the first ever Proving Grounds tournament.

V1per Stats

  KDA KP GXD10 DPM CSPM
PG 4.5 60.1% +197 582 9.0

There’s no question that V1per would dramatically improve almost any Academy team you put him on right now, and he would probably be an upgrade for multiple LCS teams. The question is whether any LCS orgs will make room to give him his next shot (and whether they’ll be prepared to build game plans around him as a carry, though his Sett team fighting in the tournament-winning game shows that he doesn’t have to carry).

5fire, Mid, No Org

Photo of 103537074956928254.pngIt was a somewhat up-and-down Spring split for 5fire in terms of his individual performance, but after some mid-split “wobbles” he put together his best run of play at the most important time and made good on his legacy as the King of Amateur.

5fire Stats

  KDA KP GXD10 DPM CSPM
PG 4.6 72.0% +401 586 8.0

LCS orgs passed on 5fire coming into this year for unclear reasons, leading to assumptions of the usual excuses. Fans were forced to speculate: maybe he’s toxic, maybe he’s uncoachable, maybe there’s some other excuse.

Or maybe LCS orgs just didn’t do their due diligence and should have signed the guy by now. Time to make it happen.

Darshan, Top, Cloud9 Academy

Photo of 98926509756623464.pngAcross both series against No Org, Darshan put in very solid work from a very difficult footing. V1per and AnDa came at him relentlessly, and he got his job done and contributed in a variety of ways.

Some of the things Darshan does are easily visible, like outplays on tower dives, but many of his contributions are more difficult to spot, like his attention to detail on minion waves in the mid-game and his positioning and zoning play in team fights.

Darshan Stats

  KDA KP GXD10 DPM CSPM
PG 5.7 55.9% +321 438 7.7

He was the best player in C9A’s first series in No Org, and the team’s most reliable contributor in the Finals as well.

Additional Standouts

The following players also stood out.

  • AnDa, Jungle, No Org
    • Very solid player, paths to the right places, does his job in team fights.
  • Big, Support, No Org
    • Had his strongest performances of the year in the most important series.
  • K1ng, Bot, Cloud9 Academy
    • Some strong carry games, worked with what he had but was drafted into some very difficult positions.
  • Isles, Support, Cloud9 Academy
    • Played mostly Rell and Alistar and had some strong roams into mid and team fight engages.
  • Luger, Bot, 100 Thieves Academy
    • Huge carry games against EG Academy, but couldn’t shine as brightly on Senna/Xayah against No Org.
  • Tenacity, Top, 100 Thieves Academy
    • Continued to put in work on tanks and in weak-side scenarios.
  • Value, Bot, No Org
    • Broke the narrative around himself and carried with resources.

Photos courtesy flickr.com/lolesports and lolesports.com