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.
Eyla, Support, Team Liquid Academy
Eyla Stats
| KDA | KP | DTH% | WPM | WCPM | |
| Week 9 | 11.0 | 78.6% | 14.3% | 1.47 | 0.45 |
| Overall | 4.5 | 69.3% | 18.5% | 1.43 | 0.41 |
We deserve to see a bidding war for Eyla’s services come November.
Will, Jungle, Dignitas Academy
Will is one of the young players who came into Academy somewhat unplanned in mid-Summer (in Will’s case, due to the parting of ways between Dignitas and Dardoch), and he has been making the most of his opportunity. He led his team to a 2-0 victory over 100 Academy, posting 9/3/12 and 5/1/7 scorelines on Lee Sin, which is highly impressive for multiple reasons, not least because it came against Kenvi, one of the most LCS-ready North American prospects in the league.
We’re going to see Will spend at least one more full split in Academy, most likely, but if he keeps making steady progress, he’s going to break into the LCS before we know it.
Will Stats
| KDA | KP | GXD10 | DPM | CSPM | |
| Week 9 | 6.4 | 67.1% | +415 | 465 | 6.7 |
| Overall | 2.2 | 67.9% | -313 | 400 | 5.9 |
Nxi, Jungle, FlyQuest Academy
Nxi had a week of highs and mediums. He played fairly well against TL Academy in an 0-2 series loss, but then against EG Academy he blew everything up with an 18/1/8 Viego and an 8/0/16 Xin Zhao.
Nxi’s instincts as a carry have always been strong, as I’ve called out before with his strong work on Rumble. All the way back to his late-season stint on 100 Thieves neXt in 2020, you could tell he had an aggressive mindset — carnivorous, if I may use a now-archaic term. We saw that mindset shine through very brightly this week, with great snowballing work (aided, it must be said, by EGA’s own aggressive tendencies when playing from behind).
FLY Academy will be a strong contender for Proving Grounds, and favourites in the Academy playoffs before that. Nxi is a central part of that.
Nxi Stats
| KDA | KP | GXD10 | DPM | CSPM | |
| Week 9 | 8.4 | 70.2% | +1,377 | 440 | 6.3 |
| Overall | 5.1 | 70.4% | +240 | 431 | 5.8 |
RoseThorn, Jungle, Golden Guardians Academy
Over the course of the summer, RoseThorn has become a mainstay in Academy Standouts. This week he got his comfort Volibear twice and performed very well both times, then put together another strong game on Viego. Maybe it’s really about champions with V names? His Xin Zhao game had good moments but you can tell he and the team still have certain comfort zones.
All in all, the Golden Guardians should be very happy with what they’ve seen out of RoseThorn in the last couple of months.
RoseThorn Stats
| KDA | KP | GXD10 | DPM | CSPM | |
| Week 9 | 4.9 | 70.2% | -195 | 440 | 5.8 |
| Overall | 2.4 | 71.1% | -273 | 345 | 5.4 |
Additional Standouts
The following players also stood out.
- Kenvi, Jungle, 100 Thieves Academy
- It was a 2-2 week for 100A as a team, going 2-0 against EG Academy before dropping an 0-2 against DIG Academy. Kenvi played Volibear three times and Lee Sin once, and his gank timings and application of pressure were solid. His game in the LCS against EG doesn’t count into this Standouts selection, but he did pretty well there, too, for what it’s worth.
- k1ng, Bot, Cloud9 Academy
- Three Varuses and a Tristana made for a more standard week for k1ng this time around, and he made the most of it with an explosive 9/1/7 game on Tristana, an ever more impressive 5/0/7 showing in the same series, and overall a week with only 5 deaths in 4 games.
- Newbie, Support, Golden Guardians Academy
- Newbie had probably his best week in Academy so far. He played Taric, Galio, Leona, and Braum, and while his Taric game (the team’s only loss) was forgettable, the rest of his performances were very solid, with double-digit assists in each game and only 1 or 2 deaths in each.
- Prismal, Bot, Golden Guardians Academy
- Like Newbie, Prismal had a forgettable first game, losing on Ezreal against TSM Academy, but he followed it up with with excellent work in two games of Varus and one of Ashe. I can’t fault Golden Guardians for keeping Stixxay in the LCS over promoting Prismal, since GG have now made it into the LCS playoffs and Stixxay has played well, but I still think Prismal is ready to promote.
- V1per, Top, Immortals Academy
- V1per’s series against C9 Academy was impressive, on Lucian and Lee Sin, pumping out damage, pressuring the map, solo killing the enemy mid laner at one point, and generally being the carry we know him to be. TL Academy did a better job of shutting him down when he played Irelia and Kalista against them, but he still looked pretty good on an individual level.
Photos courtesy lolesports.com