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

Kumo, Top, FlyQuest Academy

Kumo is technically the LCS starting Top laner for FlyQuest now, but with FLY’s new Academy Top not ready to join the team yet, and the LCS starters all playing Academy this week, Kumo was still playing for the week, and he delivered another strong set of games in the vein of what he’s been doing to earn his promotion over the past month.

Kumo Stats

	KDA	KP	GXD10	DPM	CSPM
Week 6	6.3	62.5%	+1,963	628	7.3
Overall	4.8	61.7%	+323	533	7.7

RoseThorn, Jungle, Golden Guardians Academy

RoseThorn is continuing to be happy and comfy in the current jungle meta, busting out Volibear whenever it isn’t banned away from him — which was 3 of this week’s 4 games — and doing a good job of balancing his jungle pathing with gank timings and a playmaking mindset. We haven’t seen him go to his pocket Rek’sai yet, despite other junglers bringing out the pick, but you have to think it’s there waiting for the right moment.

RoseThorn Stats

	KDA	KP	GXD10	DPM	CSPM
Week 6	4.8	72.7%	-423	322	5.2
Overall	2.2	71.1%	-212	328	5.3

Josedeodo, Jungle, FlyQuest Academy

All of FlyQuest’s LCS players did well in their Academy “demotion” week, but Josedeodo especially took the opportunity to prove he’s too good for the lower league, styling on the opposition with three games of Lee Sin and a Volibear.

Josedeodo Stats

	KDA	KP	GXD10	DPM	CSPM
Week 6	8.6	75.0%	+344	441	5.5
Overall	8.6	75.0%	+344	441	5.5

Additional Standouts

The following players also stood out.

• Contractz, Jungle, Evil Geniuses Academy
  • Contractz couldn’t quite make things work on Nidalee this time out, but he led EGA to their only victory on Viego and generally performed well with his pressure into the lanes.
• Darshan, Top, Cloud9 Academy
  • Mr. President is on the list again with a couple of Gwen carries, a solid Gangplank game, and a forgettable outing on Camille.
• Inori, Jungle, Team Liquid Academy
  • Inori is settling in with his new team, but he ramped up noticeably after a forgettable first game on Xin Zhao and was one of the leading performers in TLA’s 2-0 of DIG Academy on Thursday.
• Mystiques, Support, Evil Geniuses Academy
  • Mystiques was a relative bright point in EGA’s forgettable week 6. The playmaking profile of Nautilus and Alistar certainly seems to suit him.
• Pretty, Mid, Immortals Academy
  • My appreciation of Pretty is well known at this point, but when he pulls off a 14/1/7 game on LeBlanc, and then goes 6/0/6 on Ryze in the next series, you can see where I’m coming from. His other LeBlanc game and a game on Karma didn’t work out as well, though.
• Newbie, Support, Golden Guardians Academy
  • My expectations were much higher for Newbie this year, but he impressed me on Thresh and one of his two Senna games this week.
• Palafox, Mid, FlyQuest Academy
  • When Palafox was last in Academy, he was the best Mid in the league. He didn’t quite fulfill that title in this week’s venture back into the developmental league, but that’s mostly because the Academy mid lane position has leveled up a lot compared to 2020. He carried hard on Akali and also did pretty well on Azir and LeBlanc.
• TeamLuke, Bot, Evil Geniuses Academy
  • Luke’s two games on Ziggs went pretty well from an individual standpoint, and he carried on Tristana. None of his games were huge pop-offs, but he was a reliable threat and played out his role well in each game.
• Thien, Top, Counter Logic Gaming Academy
  • Thien’s Nocturne game was the highlight of his week, but he also busted out Ornn again and had mixed showings on a pair of Lee Sin picks. He continues to show signs of how much better he might look with a stronger supporting cast around him.

Photos courtesy lolesports.com