Oracle's Elixir

Academy Standouts: 2021 Summer, Week 15

Tim Sevenhuysen

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.

Niles, Top, Golden Guardians Academy

You might expect, upon seeing Niles’ name at the top of this list, that he got to spam a bunch of aggressive carries plus Gangplank and run over games with resources and confidence plays. But if you take a look, you’ll see three games each of Ornn and Gnar (along with, yes, three Gangplanks, two Camilles, and a Pantheon!?).

Niles Stats

  KDA KP GXD10 DPM CSPM
Proving Grounds 3.8 69.7% +75 544 7.7

It was a great week for Niles, with a mix of carry work and team fighting presence, and a 6/1/10 gem on that oh-so-fun Pantheon.

AnDa, Jungle, Immortals Academy

AnDa was a model of consistency for IMTA last week, with only one subpar performance across nine games, and four games where I thought he went above and beyond.

He found success on an array of classic jungle champions, from Lee Sin to Trundle to Sejuani. With solo laners like V1per and Pretty to apply pressure and carry, AnDa gets to focus on enabling and engaging, and that has been a recipe for success for him lately.

AnDa Stats

  KDA KP GXD10 DPM CSPM
Proving Grounds 4.9 71.2% +101 292 5.6

Fanatiik, Jungle, Resolve

Despite dropping out of Proving Grounds with a loss to AnDa and IMTA, Fanatiik had a great individual showing in the two series he played. The highlight was a 7/1/7 game on Xin Zhao in game 2 against IMTA, but he also racked up 14 kills in two games against AOE Esports on Trundle and Lee Sin.

It would be difficult for Fanatiik to do much more to set himself up for another shot in Academy, but the offseason is a complicated place.

Fanatiik Stats

  KDA KP GXD10 DPM CSPM
Proving Grounds 4.5 74.8% -420 308 4.9

Additional Standouts

The following players also stood out.

Photos courtesy lolesports.com