#15 - Imp

Riot·Sep 10, 2014·0 votes·55,227 views

As part of our Countdown to Worlds, lolesports.com, we celebrate the Top 20 players of the World Championship.

#15 - Imp

Team - Samsung White Region - Korea Position - ADC Signature Champions

Redemption. Imp entered the 2013 World Championships as one of the world’s hottest stars. Praised for his incredible Vayne mechanics and hailed as one of the best AD Carries on the planet, the 2013 World Championship was supposed to be his coronation as the best ADC in the world. In the end, Imp left the tournament in the Group Stages and had an up-and-down 2014 season. Making it back into Worlds after destroying rivals SK Telecom T1 K and Piglet in the Korean Regionals tiebreaker, Imp has been given a second chance to shine under the lights of Worlds. His main champions Vayne and Caitlyn have fallen out of favor for the most part in 2014, so you will see Imp primarily playing Kog’maw and Twitch at Worlds. His stealthy play on the sewer rat has been a big success for Imp, going 14-5 overall on the champion and resulting in a flood of multi-kill sprees. Unlike his Blue equivalent Deft who can sometimes be passive in lane and fall behind, Imp is the exact opposite -- in your face, ready to flaunt his mechanical skill over yours and score a kill that snowballs into a late-game where he has 10 kills and can win the game by himself. Check out the other players on the list! Who do you think is #14 on our list of the 20 greatest players at #Worlds? Tweet @lolesports or comment below to let us know!

38 Comments

ManoiSep 10, 201421 votes

Imp should be higher :3

CeeJemSep 11, 20142 votes

he is vertically challenged, both in rankings and in real life :)) hehe

JunebuckSep 11, 20141 votes

Gott im HimmelSep 11, 20142 votes

He's short

dive me plzSep 11, 201412 votes

want a joke! imp is 15...hes pretty even with namei uzi deft...plz riot if u gonna put reckless or tabzz in front of him u will be crazy.

Shen DaddySep 12, 20141 votes

Tabz wont make it reckles is more important to his team though [although he shouldn't make it]

ExacerberusSep 15, 20141 votes

They aren't crazy, just biased idiots.

TLC FurFurSep 10, 20146 votes

Mmmhh.... I understand that Riot casters and analysts, at every single World Championships, expected an American team to win, or to be in the top 5 of the tournanment, but saying that a player like Imp has less skill than Bjergsen (I presume he will be after in the top 20) or Uzi, like in their article about "lpl and their ad carries" is not objective. Imp and Deft are the BEST AD carry in the world. They should be in the top 10, if you take 2 person per post. Again they will be suprised when Turtle and Sneaky will seems to be bronze against them (even if they are extreamly good).

OMG HedilamSep 10, 20146 votes

this is bullshit hes one of the best adc (deft imp uzi namei) should be in top 10 at least

RabidLawnGnomeSep 10, 20147 votes

you guys should not overrate koreans in lane itself, koreans win because of outrotation and knowledge of the game, someone like reckless is really as good as Deft and Imp, but their teamwork is better as a whole.

OMG HedilamSep 10, 20145 votes

not overrate, a good teamwork is based on perfect personal skill

Crocodile CrewSep 11, 20143 votes

How does that constitute as teamwork? Teamwork is a product of the team, not of one individual. As for aCeSTrEa's comment; I would like to add that the Korean players are more mechanically skilled than the vast majority of Western players. I will say, however, that the difference in individual skill between Western and Eastern players is not large enough that Korean teams can rely on individual skill to win alone. It is rather the better team play (i.e Rotations, team fighting, synergy) that gives them the edge. I'm up for a discussion if someone would like to reply, but please refrain from being toxic/rude.

Dear NameSep 11, 20143 votes

Well I agree that individual gap between mechanics of each player in west and korean might not be so large that korean teams can not depend on it to win the game soley. However, in my opinion being able to perform rotations perfectly with little mistakes also a part of individual skill. Not everyone can perform right when others say to do this, this and this.

MasterCitrusSep 11, 20142 votes

Fnatic and Gambit knocked Samsung White (still known as MVP Ozone) out of worlds last year, i dont know why people want to put them so high on the list before they can prove himselfs just because they are Korean

RessyMusicSep 16, 20141 votes

@gK Havoc MVP Ozone last year had just lost the heart and mind of their team, top laner Homme, with Looper in the top lane for the first time. Additionally, Dade's champion pool was extremely small at the time and very weak in terms of the meta. If you have seen ANY OGN since last worlds, you would not be so quick to say "just because they are Korean".

DanteLovesPizzaSep 11, 20142 votes

Actually, on personal skill, they are better. Farm and objective focused, they out-gold players from other servers. Also, skill wise, utilising everything to the maximum is why the Koreans do so well. If you even just watch the lanes, you can see how rarely they miss a minion, that is a laning skill you don't find in other servers.

In response to the guy who said Fnatic and Gambit beat White (then known as Ozone), you should know that right after the last OGN before S3 Worlds, they decided to switch out their top laner (who is also their leader, play maker, and effectively their soul player), which just put the team in shambles. If you watch the games, Imp still won his lane, and I agree with most of the people here, Imp definitely deserves to go higher, he is probably the best ADC around in both S3 and S4, and if I remember correctly, he is the one who innovated the BotRK -> PD -> LW for Vayne which became the norm build for her.

Shen DaddySep 12, 20142 votes

Why do you guys not read the original list. "These rankings are based on the importance to their team, individual skill, strength at their position, and intangibles such as leadership, consistency and clutch play." For the most part any of these players listed thusfar. Do not shotcall and are not the most important member of their squad. You replace bjergsen [who is incredibly consistent btw] with any other NA LCS player not named Xiaoweixiao and TSM is relegation bait and not close to worlds. You replace Froggen [another incredibly consistent midlaner] with any EULCS mid not named xpeke and I don't think Alliance makes it. With the exception of Clearlove every Asian player listed thusfar is semi-replacable by most of their circuit.Therefore they do not make or break the team. It's not on pure skill thus b/c Bjergsen and Froggen have teams built around them their importance and thus their standing is inflated.

AFCMSep 13, 20141 votes

It's a top 20 EVERY ROLES included.

MrStealUrWaifuSep 10, 20144 votes

Froggen is a god

ZXDYKioaMxSep 11, 20144 votes

Just because they are Korean doesn't mean they are better until proven. Yes maybe a Korean team is the best right now and maybe a Korean player is the best, that just means that individual player is the best in the world and is Korean it doesn't mean everyone who is around him is automatically better.

You need to remember that there is not much difference in skill at the Worlds level. To be honest 90% of the skill differences seen are due to 5 man teamwork and not so much 1 player being a mile better than another. There is in fact a theoretical limit to how well you can play a game individually. All of the players going to worlds are lets say between 90/100 skill and 95/100 skill individually. Its not like one of the Koreans is going to mop the floor with a Chinese/European or American player in a 1vs1 match.

All of the difference comes from team play at their level.

While 1 American player may be 90/100 skill (estimate) and one Korean player may be 95/100 skill that isn't a stomp of a difference. That is only a 5 point difference 1v1 but add in the rest of the team and the difference can add up via teamwork.

sylvana2020Sep 11, 20141 votes

I think it is also good to rate players based on their decision making in team fights and in map movement because 1v1 only happens for the first couple of minutes. I would say Koreans are really good at positioning in team fights and moving around the map to create picks and control objectives. They've mastered these things and other regions are catching up. These two things are what i believe separates a great player against a good player. Combine that with the 1v1, 2v2, etc. skill level (you know those flashy outplays) and they are just way ahead. And of course add in the rest of team's skill level will be even more.

MeanBadEvilSep 11, 20141 votes

"To be honest 90% of the skill differences seen are due to 5 man teamwork ..." That is the truest gaming statement ever right there. Sure, My rankings suck, Im in Silver. I hate it. I feel like I paly much better than that. It comes down to 1 simple thing, team work. A team that communicates and has great map awareness and understands strategy will win over 5 awesome players with no vision...

Doomsday9901Sep 10, 20143 votes

Well, imp is good. I kinda expected him to be between 10 and 12 tho.

GlørÿSep 11, 20143 votes

Why is Bjerg/Froggen ahead of Imp/GoGoing......?

DanteLovesPizzaSep 11, 20141 votes

That's assuming they are in Top 20, and if they are, they are definitely not better than Imp.

xDryderSep 10, 20142 votes

Surprised to see Kog'Maw instead of Tristana to be honest

GingerScoopSep 11, 20142 votes

Wildturtle should prob be about 8

aeca22Sep 11, 20142 votes

loool...looks like Riot hates Korean players and on top of that Chinese ones too. Imp 15 ? Very bad rankings.

Thresh is loveSep 11, 20142 votes

Bjergsen , will definetly have a chance of proving himself once again on that assassin champions that are coming back into the meta which we can clearly say he played incredibly good

The Idiot NinjaSep 11, 20142 votes

What about you actually put the top 20 players in this world championships. That is, the entirety of samsung white, samsung blue, najin white and EDG.