The Best Pros

You know, there has been a lot of jabs taken at Faker after Worlds ended and the picture of him weeping has been memed a lot.

So after it has died down a bit you could call this a bit of an appreciation thread for Faker and another player.

Let's first consider Faker. There are a good handful of mid laner players who are hyped up a lot, often compared to "The Unkillable Demon King" but are very different from Faker in a big way, and that is overall skill. What I mean is, when names like BDD, Maple, Froggen, and Bjergsen get thrown around, people often just look at what they have done lately. They praise the players for the champs they stand out best on, which are often just one or two each. Faker has been a top notch mid on a huge variety of champs. He became most famous for assassins like Zed, while also shining on mages with high mobility and burst like Ahri and Leblanc. It hasn't stopped there. When he must play utility, he is known as a solid Orianna player. SKT needed a tank in their comp? He's done Gragas and now Galio mid. Support needed from mid? He's done it with Lulu and Karma. And when nobody else could use the champ effectively, like a professor teaching a class of masters students, he pulls out the Ryze and shows everyone how to play it.

Another key point to illustrate how good he has been is longevity. Since season 3, he has been a top player leading a top team. Who else has had a run of five years near the top of the World? The only other player who comes close is Uzi.

Like Faker, Uzi has been a juggernaut at his position. Sadly, there is by design less change in play at ADC than there can be at mid lane, but through the meta shifts Uzi has remained a force and has seemed to mature as a player and person as he has had to grow with his role. While some other stars have risen in other regions, they have also faded while Uzi has been a constant.

Are there any other top notch players out there now who have had a body of work and success like these two paragons? I sincerely do not believe so, and respect these two players greatly because of those high pinnacles they have remained upon.