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.
Watch Tim’s pick for Game of the Week
eXyu, Jungle, Dignitas Academy
eXyu got to play Lee Sin twice in week 2 for some reason. He picked up 7 kills in each game, and his 7/1/9 showing against C9 Academy must have felt especially good since he was part of the org’s now-defunct Amateur team last year and they opted to import Malice instead of bringing him up into Academy themselves. His constant trap plays with JayJ paid off beautifully, and he capped his week with a game-winning Baron steal against TLA.
Trust me, you need to keep watching this player.
First up, the spotlight shines on EG Academy’s new bot laner, Kaori. EGA went 1 and 3 this week, splitting their series with Team Liquid Academy and dropping both games of their second series to Immortals Academy, but Kaori played well in the losses and played INCREDIBLY well in the wins. His Jhin against TL Academy was an explosive arrival to North America, with great ult snipes and snare setups throughout. His Jinx team fighting was nearly as good.
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!?).