Mid lane is possibly the most important lane when it comes to raw mechanics and playmaking. Therefore, the requirements for a very strong mid laner are very high. If you don’t meet these expectations, then you won’t help your team succeed in any way.
The best mid laners incorporate traits such as the ability to lead a team, strong mechanics, and a good understanding of how the game is moving. You can see these in players like Faker, Xiaohu, and Ucal who have done a lot for their team in the past and have created legacies for themselves.
With the competition getting even stiffer next year, there are going to be some mid laners to look out for in every region. Some of these are old veterans while others are talented hotshots that are going to take to the rift and have a shot to prove themselves to a large fanbase.
Furthermore, some of these top players are going to move to different regions and because of this, it’s extremely likely that we’re going to see even more action, especially in regions like the EU LCS and the NA LCS. Here are the top five mid laners to watch for next year.
At his prime, Febiven was known for his insane outplays and raw mechanical talent. He was so good on any champion he played that literally no one could stop him. They couldn’t play a counter-pick to match his Syndra and it was hard to five-man Febiven thanks to his great map vision.
Febiven has it all. He likes to work on getting the picks and he likes to work on winning lane. Being an all-Rift player, Febiven can easily switch from playing aggressive to playing passive in a matter of seconds. That’s what makes Febiven so great.
That’s what makes him such a great player: his ability to switch up on his opponents without saying a word or showing any indications of it. He’s so good in fact that he nearly took down Faker’s team in 2015 at the Mid-Season Invitational. In the end, though, they lost 2-3 to SKT because of a team fight that SKT’s AD Carry, Bang, barely clutched out for them.
However, at this tournament, Febiven showed just how good he could really be. He solo-killed Faker more than once and dictated how every game went. There was no point where SKT’s members were relaxed because Febiven had them on edge the entire tournament.
One wrong move and Febiven would punish it without mercy, especially on his signature champion Zed. During his time on Fnatic, he led them to a dominating run in which they would at on point go undefeated and then take down EU LCS rivals, Origen, to win the Summer Split title.
Then, his move to North America saw great results too. He was a top three mid laner thanks to the KDA he was averaging and the playmaking he was showing. However, due to his position on a fairly weak team during a time where powerhouses like Echo Fox, Cloud9, Team SoloMid, and Team Liquid were showing up, Febiven couldn’t do much.
Especially whenever you consider the fact that Febiven was the only world-class player on Clutch Gaming, the odds of him carrying that team to a Summer Split are especially low since they would have to go through four powerhouse teams in order to win the title.
However, his presence did help them place fourth at the Spring Split and with Febiven being the only real big playmaker on the team, that should go to show how big of a threat Febiven can be, especially when you give him the freedom he needs to carry. 2018 was a rough year for him overall, though. He wasn’t granted the ability to showcase his talents and time and time again, he was shadowed by players he had beaten in the past like TL’s Pobelter and C9’s Jensen.
Now, with his move to Misfits Gaming, Febiven has the chance to prove himself once again. He’s going to be joining a superpower roster, one that looks like it can go undefeated the entire Spring Split. In addition to his transfer, Misfits Gaming is getting Febiven’s former teammate FNC sOAZ and Kingzone Dragonx’s GorillA.
Misfits Gaming has landed the jackpot with three World Championship players on the roster, meaning that they’re going to have four of the best players in the EU LCS: Febiven, Hans Sama, sOAZ, and GorillA. However, they’re going to need leadership and who better to fit the role than Febiven?
Like Febiven, Crown faced disappointment in the 2018 year. He faced several adversaries such as SKT’s Faker and Kingzone Dragonx’s Bdd but on Gen.G, he was unable to show his true potential which is kind of ironic considering he was able to win a World Championship with that roster in 2017.
The Crown we knew before wasn’t here this year. Gen.G was just a mess the entire Spring and Summer Split with players consistently failing to show up. They did end up making the World Championship through a Regional Tournament Cinderella Run but at the Groups Stage, they completely flopped.
The only thing that kept Gen.G in the fight was Crown himself. With unrelenting consistency and a strong sense of how to change the sway of the game, Crown used the several mages he had inside his roster to make sure that Gen.G still had a chance to win.
He was able to take down the Korean rivals but when it came to the international stage, Crown was unable to replicate his success. However, he isn’t going to have to stress himself with carrying the same team again. Now, he’s going to have a second chance at making it big.
Crown is going to be moving to North America to work with OpTic Gaming, a team that hasn’t had much success in the past but is going to have a real shot at winning this year’s Spring Split now that they’ve acquired Crown and Meteos.
Crown knows what it’s like to lose and he knows what it’s like to win. In 2017, he literally took the same roster from Gen.G—under the name of Samsung Galaxy—to a World Championship title, taking down fan favorites South Korea Telecom to do so. That was the peak Crown: a player who could win lane nine times out of ten and rarely ever made mistakes. He was calculated and cool but he pulled off the craziest plays and was the rallying cry of his team.
But 2018 showed his losses. Despite showing the same consistency and plays throughout the season, he wasn’t able to be the rallying cry that held his team together and this led to them having a disappointing end at the World Championship.
But with his arrival into the NA LCS, Crown might be able to become a powerhouse once more. He’s not going to be facing some of the best in the world. He’s not going to facing players like PawN, Bdd, and Faker—all World Championship qualifiers.
Instead, the only threat he’s going to be seeing this year are Jensen and possibly Bjergsen, players he’s beaten in the past. Crown is starting a new legacy in the NA LCS and this might be the future MVP in the NA LCS.
Caps originally made his big debut on Fnatic after the departure of Febiven and when he arrived, Caps had big shoes to fill. But he didn’t fill them. He made his own shoes. He beat Febiven’s legacy and created his own by helping bring Fnatic to their second finals appearance at the World Championship in seven years.
He’s the hotshot player that brings results. He isn’t afraid to try things and make them work out. During one of their most critical matches during the EU LCS playoffs—versus Misfits Gaming—Caps brought out a Vayne mid pick much to his teammates’ disagreement.
However, he made it work and came up big in team fights, killing several members on his own and propelling his teammates to a Summer Split title. Now, with Caps moving to G2 Esports, Caps is forging yet another legacy.
When I say Caps is good, trust me. He is good. He’s so good that he moved former G2 Esports mid laner, Perkz, to the AD Carry position and this is the mid laner that made G2 Esports into a world-class team. He was the mid laner that helped them take down Royal Never Give Up.
If Caps can force G2 Esports to move their most valuable player on the roster, then Caps must be at another level and he’s going to get a chance to prove it at next year’s Spring Split. With the raw mechanical talent and plethora of different playstyles, I’m sure Caps won’t fail to give us something fresh to look forward to.
In the past, we’ve seen several strong mid laners from China brawl is out against Korea. There’s been the infamous Xiaohu who’s gone head-to-head with prime Faker and there’s also been Scout who nearly took down the South Korea Telecom team in 2017.
However, one name that came up this year was Rookie and his name came up because he was one of two members on the team that gave Invictus Gaming a title they never thought they would receive. Being the two seed of a region that’s fallen short so many times, Invictus Gaming wasn’t the fan favorite of the tournament.
In fact, the two major fan favorites were KT Rolster and the one seed from IG’s region, Royal Never Give Up. These two teams were expected to brawl it out for a blockbuster finish but that hope faded as soon as both KT Rolster and Royal Never Give Up fell in the first round of playoffs.
KT Rolster’s fall was thanks to Invictus Gaming where Rookie pulled out several jaw-dropping plays that left KT Rolster’s star, Ucal, on his knees. From then on, Rookie kept to it, playing a playstyle that seemed nearly unstoppable. He was on another level, almost comparable to that of Faker’s in 2013.
He swept out G2 Esports and then would go on to sweep Fnatic. After they took down KT Rolster, they stomped out every single adversary left, making history for China and bringing home the first ever World Championship title for their region and for Invictus Gaming.
Rookie is looking to stay on IG for another season and with that being said, we can expect great things from the player. He’s only just getting started on his run and because of this, we can expect him to replicate results in China. Maybe he can play another great round of League of Legends and keep us entertained with more jaw-dropping plays and highlight-worthy moments. For now, though, we’re going to just have to wait and see.
In the world of League of Legends, the name Faker can be associated and swapped out with the word legend because what Faker has done for League of Legends and SKT is matched by no one. That’s right. Faker is the only player to have ever won three World Championships—one in 2013, one in 2015, and one in 2016—and make four World Championship finals.
He’s literally the best player in League of Legends with a legacy unmatched. But this year, his time on SKT saw disappointment. They had too much inconsistency throughout their roster and it started after two of their most solid players, MariN and Bengi, left the roster.
With their starting top laner and jungler gone, SKT cycled through different talents like Thal, Untara, Score, and Blank. However, none of them matched what MariN and Bengi brought to the table. They were too inconsistent and couldn’t match the pace that SKT wanted to go at.
Furthermore, these players were more selfish and didn’t get the sense of synergy that Faker, Bang, and Wolf wanted to achieve. They did, for a brief period of time, see that synergy restored with top laner, Duke, but with his departure to Invictus Gaming, everything went back to chaos.
This year, SKT found no real starter for the top lane and jungler and because of this, the different playstyles were consistently changed and more pressure was put on Faker, Bang, and Wolf to carry but this expectation is literally impossible for any player on the professional scene.
Now, with a completely revamped roster for SKT in which the only returning starter is Faker, their star mid laner will finally get a chance to prove himself as the legend again. He won’t have to worry about the top lane since they received Khan, a top laner that proved troublesome for the entire roster of SKT.
He also won’t have to worry about the jungle as they’ve received Haru, a strong jungler from the once powerful roster of Gen.G. Faker isn’t going to have to worry about keeping his other teammates in the game.
Instead, he’s going to be able to focus on playing the way he likes to play and creating results for his team that will help SKT return to their former glory. The spotlight is on SKT’s Faker once again and when the spotlight is on Faker, anything is possible.
Furthermore, we’ve seen several major changes throughout the four major regions: North America, Europe, Korea, and China. Each of these regions have either given up or received major mid laners that could change the course of that team.
We’re excited to see what’s in store for next year as each team is going to be brawling it out for a chance to win their own respective Spring Split title. With so much riding on the mid lane for these results, only the best of the best can really thrive in this environment.
I’ve listed the top five mid laners you’re going to want to keep track of in the future because each of these players are extremely good in their own sense and bring a lot to the table. But the one thing that unites them all is the fact that their potential is unlimited.
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