The signature champions of MSI mid laners
Riot·5/19/2015, 12:17:31 AM·0 votes·19,998 views
Every star player has their signature champion. Shu Wei “Westdoor” Liu's ever-dangerous Fizz. Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg's insanely bursty Syndra. And, of course, Sanghyuk "Faker" Lee's previously undefeated LeBlanc.
Each mid laner who played in the Mid-Season Invitational has a champion or two that they just feel extra comfortable on, one that they can pull out at any moment and make work. Says Bjergsen, "When I play a signature champion, it doesn't really matter what matchup I'm playing. I'm so comfortable in my play style on my own champion, no matter what they pick or what kind of champion they can pick, I feel so confident in my own play, it doesn't really affect me much."
With one of the greatest collections of mid lane talent ever put together playing on the big stage in front of us, Lolesports had to know the champions they thought they'd be remembered for.
You could argue that Faker's Zed is the champion he'll be remembered for, but his LeBlanc has been his most dominant. Up until the final game of MSI, it was undefeated at 12-0, and didn't show any signs of slowing down. In fact, it took an entire team composition built by Edward Gaming to finally hand him a loss on the Deceiver. With his dominance in the laning phase, the masterfully timed roams, and the impeccable teamfighting on LeBlanc, there was a reason why she was banned for much of MSI against SKTelecom.
"I've played [LeBlanc] a lot since Season 2, and I've continued to be very confident with that champion," said Faker. When he's on her, he told us that he would "rate myself as either the best or the second best mid laner out of all the players that are gathered [at MSI]."
The one who he says could be better than him? None other than Team SoloMid's Bjergsen.
Much like Faker, Bjergsen hopes that he's going to be remembered for mechanically difficult, bursty champions in the mid lane. "I think my signature champion would probably be LeBlanc or Syndra, something that has a lot of kill potential in lane."
He often picks these burst mages so he can punish anyone who makes even the slightest misstep. "[These champions] can always surprise someone if they make a mistake. That's something I've been really good at, and once you get that kind of lead from getting a kill in lane, you can snowball it all over the map."
And with TSM's largely mid-focused play style, that snowball is incredibly important. Both LeBlanc and Syndra have immense potential to create solo kills in lane or make picks happen in mid game, allowing Bjergsen to essentially find wins on his own. Whenever he takes either of them onto the map, opposing squads will want to make sure to keep the mid laner down.
Even though BJK didn't have the greatest run through MSI, their young mid laner Isak "Energy" Fjell had flashes of brilliance. As of late, he's become known as an Ahri player, but he says that another AP assassin has always been his favorite. "I'd say Diana [is my signature]," he says. "She was by far my most played and probably my best champ all the way back in S3, and to this day I still really like her."
She may not be the most popular pick in the current meta, but Energy says she's always got a place in his pool of champions. "She's a champion I'm really comfortable on so if I feel like we need a power pick she's someone I can always fall back to."
And it showed. In the Day 1 matchup against ahq, he picked up six kills with Diana, often by way of solid positioning during team fights. He's a player to keep your eye on, especially when he grabs one of his AP assassins.
Jihoon “EasyHoon” Lee's career may just be getting off the ground in terms of his presence on the international stage, but he thinks he's already found the champion he's going to be known for -- at least for now.
"Ziggs is the champion that got me to the Quarterfinals in LCK Spring, so that's the champion that represents me the most right now," he told Lolesports. As the mid lane substitute on SKTelecom, he had to figure out a way to make himself stand out. Rather than attempt to out-assassin the greatest assassin player of all time, he chose to focus more on ranged casters in the mid lane, picking up the likes of Ziggs, Cassiopeia, and Azir.
He's become so good at them, SKT will often put Easyhoon in over Faker when they want to run poke or siege compositions, as he arguably plays better in that style than the God of the Mid Lane himself. In the coming years, he might just find a new signature, but for now, the Hexplosives Expert will more than do.
We were a bit surprised when Fabian "Febiven" Diepstraten declared that his signature champion was LeBlanc; he'd just solo killed Faker twice while playing Zed, after all!
However, he likes the ability to use split-second reaction times to pick off an enemy and escape afterwards, and LeBlanc allows him to do that more effectively. "I'm good with LeBlanc because I think I have good reaction times, and I know basically every combo," says Febiven. "It's really lane dominant. You can always do good in lane, and in team fights, if you play correctly, then it's super strong."
In fact, during the regular season of the EU LCS Spring Split, he grabbed LeBlanc five times, finishing the Split with an 11 KDA. He does quite well on the magical assassin.
And as one of the up-and-coming stars of the mid lane, Febiven will have plenty of time to show off what he can do on every style of champion. For now, though, he's known for his ability to straight blow somebody up.
At this point, "Westdoor" is synonymous with "Fizz Master."
Ahq's mid laner is one of the few players still playing the Tidal Trickster in the mid lane, and oh boy does he play him well. He was the only player to pull out the little guy during MSI, and was near uncatchable much of the time. Says Westdoor, "I like Fizz because he's very dynamic and agile."
And in a meta where tanks are constantly rushing directly at Fizz's face to bring him down, that agility is incredibly important. "Against Sejuani, Nautilus, or Hecarim, I can use Fizz to escape and finish them off," he says. Still, though, the meta doesn't exactly suit assassins, as a multitude of tanks means fewer targets to one-shot.
Westdoor is confident, though. He says he wouldn't pick Fizz just for the sake of it -- he has to be sure that he can win on him. "I'm just good at Fizz, I don't necessarily think that he's good right now. Winning is more important than what champion I play."
And really, isn't that one comfort pick the reason why players rely so heavily on their signature champions? Even the best players need to have that one comfort pick they know can carry them to victory. And at MSI, that was never more evident.
SKTelecom Faker - LeBlanc
You could argue that Faker's Zed is the champion he'll be remembered for, but his LeBlanc has been his most dominant. Up until the final game of MSI, it was undefeated at 12-0, and didn't show any signs of slowing down. In fact, it took an entire team composition built by Edward Gaming to finally hand him a loss on the Deceiver. With his dominance in the laning phase, the masterfully timed roams, and the impeccable teamfighting on LeBlanc, there was a reason why she was banned for much of MSI against SKTelecom.
"I've played [LeBlanc] a lot since Season 2, and I've continued to be very confident with that champion," said Faker. When he's on her, he told us that he would "rate myself as either the best or the second best mid laner out of all the players that are gathered [at MSI]."
The one who he says could be better than him? None other than Team SoloMid's Bjergsen.
Team SoloMid Bjergsen - LeBlanc or Syndra
Much like Faker, Bjergsen hopes that he's going to be remembered for mechanically difficult, bursty champions in the mid lane. "I think my signature champion would probably be LeBlanc or Syndra, something that has a lot of kill potential in lane."
He often picks these burst mages so he can punish anyone who makes even the slightest misstep. "[These champions] can always surprise someone if they make a mistake. That's something I've been really good at, and once you get that kind of lead from getting a kill in lane, you can snowball it all over the map."
And with TSM's largely mid-focused play style, that snowball is incredibly important. Both LeBlanc and Syndra have immense potential to create solo kills in lane or make picks happen in mid game, allowing Bjergsen to essentially find wins on his own. Whenever he takes either of them onto the map, opposing squads will want to make sure to keep the mid laner down.
Besiktas e-Sports Club Energy - Diana
Even though BJK didn't have the greatest run through MSI, their young mid laner Isak "Energy" Fjell had flashes of brilliance. As of late, he's become known as an Ahri player, but he says that another AP assassin has always been his favorite. "I'd say Diana [is my signature]," he says. "She was by far my most played and probably my best champ all the way back in S3, and to this day I still really like her."
She may not be the most popular pick in the current meta, but Energy says she's always got a place in his pool of champions. "She's a champion I'm really comfortable on so if I feel like we need a power pick she's someone I can always fall back to."
And it showed. In the Day 1 matchup against ahq, he picked up six kills with Diana, often by way of solid positioning during team fights. He's a player to keep your eye on, especially when he grabs one of his AP assassins.
SKTelecom Easyhoon - Ziggs
Jihoon “EasyHoon” Lee's career may just be getting off the ground in terms of his presence on the international stage, but he thinks he's already found the champion he's going to be known for -- at least for now.
"Ziggs is the champion that got me to the Quarterfinals in LCK Spring, so that's the champion that represents me the most right now," he told Lolesports. As the mid lane substitute on SKTelecom, he had to figure out a way to make himself stand out. Rather than attempt to out-assassin the greatest assassin player of all time, he chose to focus more on ranged casters in the mid lane, picking up the likes of Ziggs, Cassiopeia, and Azir.
He's become so good at them, SKT will often put Easyhoon in over Faker when they want to run poke or siege compositions, as he arguably plays better in that style than the God of the Mid Lane himself. In the coming years, he might just find a new signature, but for now, the Hexplosives Expert will more than do.
Fnatic Febiven - LeBlanc
We were a bit surprised when Fabian "Febiven" Diepstraten declared that his signature champion was LeBlanc; he'd just solo killed Faker twice while playing Zed, after all!
However, he likes the ability to use split-second reaction times to pick off an enemy and escape afterwards, and LeBlanc allows him to do that more effectively. "I'm good with LeBlanc because I think I have good reaction times, and I know basically every combo," says Febiven. "It's really lane dominant. You can always do good in lane, and in team fights, if you play correctly, then it's super strong."
In fact, during the regular season of the EU LCS Spring Split, he grabbed LeBlanc five times, finishing the Split with an 11 KDA. He does quite well on the magical assassin.
And as one of the up-and-coming stars of the mid lane, Febiven will have plenty of time to show off what he can do on every style of champion. For now, though, he's known for his ability to straight blow somebody up.
aqh e-Sports Club Westdoor - Fizz
At this point, "Westdoor" is synonymous with "Fizz Master."
Ahq's mid laner is one of the few players still playing the Tidal Trickster in the mid lane, and oh boy does he play him well. He was the only player to pull out the little guy during MSI, and was near uncatchable much of the time. Says Westdoor, "I like Fizz because he's very dynamic and agile."
And in a meta where tanks are constantly rushing directly at Fizz's face to bring him down, that agility is incredibly important. "Against Sejuani, Nautilus, or Hecarim, I can use Fizz to escape and finish them off," he says. Still, though, the meta doesn't exactly suit assassins, as a multitude of tanks means fewer targets to one-shot.
Westdoor is confident, though. He says he wouldn't pick Fizz just for the sake of it -- he has to be sure that he can win on him. "I'm just good at Fizz, I don't necessarily think that he's good right now. Winning is more important than what champion I play."
And really, isn't that one comfort pick the reason why players rely so heavily on their signature champions? Even the best players need to have that one comfort pick they know can carry them to victory. And at MSI, that was never more evident.
Sona would be my number one comfort pick because she's one of the easier champs to master and I've been playing her for over a year now, plus she was the one that got me started on Support.
Up this if you think Thresh is just freaking awesome! He has one of the highest skill caps for supports and it's takes an EXTREMELY long time to learn him completely (#MadLife/#Mata). I've definitely NOT learned him through and through but I'm getting there and I am very comfortable on him.
Janna is a very effective support with a high skill cap. I'm pretty comf on her and seem to know her better than most. #flash/ult
