Unofficial End of Season Gold Player Rankings - By Toxin
Hey everyone, it’s Toxin! One of the most requested things people ask for in our community is player rankings. In the beginning of the season, I did a quick top 10 for each role based on everyone’s starting rosters. In the midseason, I went through each player and ranked each starter in a tier list from C to S (or Smurf tier in the case of Snowlife). For the final regular season rankings, I’m going to combine the two and make a top 10 list for each role with a few honorable mentions. These lists will also be broken into tiers, with S at the top and A at the bottom. I chose to do it this way mainly due to the fact that some rosters completely boomed multiple times throughout the split, or changed their players out from week to week. Thus, I didn’t really feel confident ranking every player that played this split. Instead, I want to highlight the cream of the crop in the league. I also don’t have a lot of time to individually breakdown each player about how cracked they are at the game and their best picks, but I will try to give some explanation of why they were ranked where they are. Also, I asked for other people’s opinions in order to fully get the rankings of each role to a place where I was happy. A lot of time was spent arguing over where each player is put, but this is where they ended up. Let’s get into the rankings!
Top Lane:
S tier:
ShadowBalls000 (CB Rangers)
Altazi (VBU Argon)
Clarken (NSG Infinity)
At the top of the top lane tier list is Shadow, Altazi, and ClassyKru. Shadowballs000 is the best top laner in my eyes due to the dominance he showed throughout the season. I didn’t really see a series where he was consistently behind in his matchup, and I thought he was the best performing player on CB Rangers in the final. Altazi is next and an argument can be made for him being the best, but I think that Shadow outperformed him in the finals. I might be an Argon player, but I’m going to give Shadow the nod. Third is Clarken, which was the only other top laner that really gave a problem to Shadow. Personally, I think Altazi’s carry potential is higher than Clarken, which is why Clarken is third.
A tier:
S10 Survivor (CB Royal)
Classykru (Oasis NADS)
Yung Natz (Limitless Chaos)
Feathers and Fur (Trying for Third)
Actual Bird (Imperial Gaming)
Synirr (Crimson Dolphins)
Triple Cute (CB Obsidian)
Jumping down into A tier, you have S10 Survivor at 4th and Classykru at 5th. Statistically, Classykru was the 2nd best top laner in the league, and S10 Survivor gapped him in their first round matchup in the playoffs. S10 Survivor put up a good fight against Altazi in the Quarterfinals, but that was primarily through ganks and not individual play. That’s why S10 finds himself in A tier instead of S, and why Classykru is 5th. Next up on the stats train is Yung Natz, who did a good job of CSing throughout the season. That being said, he hopped around to three total teams, and would randomly decide to turn his mic off and permasplit if things were not going well. At his peak performance, he would be higher. But with those things considered, he finds himself here. Feathers and Fur was the big carry player on Trying for Third’s miracle run, so he gets major points to find himself in 7th. Actual Bird is 8th mainly due to the dominance he showed over the two players directly beneath him. I think that the biggest debate on the top lane tier list is between 9th and 10th. Statistically, Triple Cute is better but he was also on the better team. Personally, I have Synirr in 9th due to his ability to contend with both Clarken and Yung Natz throughout the regular season, whereas Triple Cute did not play against a single player in the top 10 until playoffs.
Honorable Mentions:
Habloufough (Collective Cosmic)
Kappa Krusader (Twin Spirits)
Th0r22 (Gob Squad)
For top lane, these are the three honorable mentions worth shouting out. I think Habloufough did well into Triple Cute but unfortunately, I don’t have the West top lakers ranked very highly in my mind. Kappa Krusader is a solid player, but top lane is not his main role and he was exposed pretty hard in the playoffs. Th0r22 was statistically a strong performer on a non-playoff roster, but I valued players ability to make the playoffs more than stats. That being said, I did want to shout out the great job he did despite not being seen in the playoffs.
Jungle
Graduated Tier:
Kral Sultan (VBU Argon)
PacaPaul (Literal Monkeys)
So specifically for Jungle, I wanted to put a Graduated tier for the two players that ranked out this split. I think both Kral Sultan and PacaPaul would easily be in the S tier, and we will never know where they would have ended up if they had finished the season. That being said, they both smurfed in the games that they played and deserve recognition.
S tier:
Jg isnt Ruined (VBU Argon)
Anderson Cooper (CB Rangers)
Outside of Kral Sultan and PacaPaul, I think there are only two junglers that can be considered an S tier jungler in the league, and that’s Anderson Cooper and Athena (Jg isnt Ruined). Both of these players are insanely smart on the game and know how to facilitate their team to bring home the dub. That being said, the finals showed that one was clearly above the other, so it is clear that Athena is number one and Cooper is number two.
A tier:
Vandrahl (CB Royal)
Warhead852 (Oasis NADS)
Creepin (KQC)
Bªtman (Final Esports)
Jayyster (NSG Infinity)
Swággy P (Imperial Gaming)
Myth Jones (CB Obsidian)
Flatzoner (Limitless Chaos)
Now we get into the A tier, which is all of the other junglers that stood out as being strong players on their rosters. I think the only other jungler that gave Athena a difficult time throughout the season was Vandrahl, so my opinion of him is pretty high. My next couple picks can be pretty controversial, but let me explain. Warhead852 was statistically the next best jungler after the top 4(including the two rank-outs), and his play with Classykru was very strong throughout the season. As for Creepin being 5th, the main thing you need to know is that he was on KQC, one of the worst teams in the league. Despite that, his stats were solid and he was constantly the strongest performer on his team. I think that on most rosters, those players would have upgraded them a good amount. In 6th is Bªtman, who, although he didn’t have the best player around him, is consistently a strong player within the role. Multiple people vouched for him to be high up on the list, so I am solidly putting him here. 7th is Jayyster, which is where I start to value playoff longevity. I think that credit is due for the work he put in to make it to the semifinals, but ultimately I think he was more so along for the ride than the one driving the bus. Swággy P gets 8th place primarily due to his performance against CB Obsidian, where he genuinely was smurfing out there with his cracked Sejuani gameplay. That series is also why Myth Jones finds himself at 9th despite a strong regular season. Finally, I think Flatzoner gets the final nod for 10th due to his victory over Ëmperör in the playoffs.
Honorable Mentions:
Ëmperör (Twin Spirits)
EternalCr1es (Trying for Third)
KronicN1nja (Collective Cosmos)
Finally, we have honorable mentions. I think that Ëmperör could have been a top 10 player, but it was hard to argue against putting Flatzoner beneath him after the playoff series. EternalCr1es and KronicN1nja are the other two shoutouts as players that made the playoffs, but I thought that Ëmperör was clearly above them in skill level.
Mid Lane:
S+ tier:
Kaïten (VBU Argon)
I think that watching Kaïten play the game throughout the season has placed a strong belief in my head that he was the MVP of the league. There was not a mid laner that really contested him throughout the season, and the only player that came close really was only due to champion pool differences rather than actual skill. For that reason, Kaïten belongs in his own tier.
S tier:
BTG (CB Royal)
BuhRock (CB Rangers)
Karma Divine (NSG Infinity)
S tier for me are the next three best players after Kaïten that could have potentially come close to him in skill level. Of all the players in the league, BTG gave him the hardest time throughout the season, which is why he is firmly ranked second. 3rd place would then go to Buhrock, who stomped players throughout the season until he made it to the semifinals. I thought that Karma Divine and him were both of equal skill, but ultimately Buhrock won the match, which is why Karma Divine falls to 4th.
A tier:
Eastonn8 (Final Esports)
Azurexfire (Imperial Gaming)
A Clogged Toilet (Trying for Third)
JJH (CB Obsidian)
SayJoe (Collective Cosmic)
TheFireOfTheFox1 (Limitless Chaos)
Starting off the A tier is Eastonn8, which was a very strong player in the mid lane statistically. While he did not have any playoff success to speak of to propel him into S tier, I think his stats, along with the fact that he beat Azurexfire during the regular season, made him the easy choice for 5th place. Next up is Azure and A Clogged Toilet, followed by the West mid laners JJH, SayJoe, and TheFireOfTheFox1. The reason that I have them in this order is due to the fact that JJH got absolutely gapped by Azurexfire, and SayJoe was taken down by A Clogged Toilet in the playoffs. For that reason, my opinion of the West mid laners is automatically a lot lower than the other two. Looking specifically at the three from the West, JJH beat them both in the regular season, and SayJoe was better than TheFireOfTheFox1. Then if you compare Azure and A Clogged Toilet, Azure beat the better mid laner from the west, so he finds himself in 6th.
Honorable Mentions:
ExStarZ (Crimson Dolphins)
ClassyNatsu (Oasis NADS)
Wise324 (Shrimp Fried Rice)
ExStarZ and ClassyNatsu are two players that are getting shoutouts here mainly due to their strong regular seasons. They did not show up in their playoff matches, but they were still good enough to get there. Finally, a shout out to Wise324 for hitting plat 3 after the regular season ended. His stats weren’t anything insane during the season, but he has continued to improve even after the season ended, so I wanted to give him a mention here.
AD Carry:
S tier:
Snowlife (CB Obsidian)
Toxìn (VBU Argon)
Kawaii Bubbles (NSG Infinity)
YRÙ Running (CB Rangers)
HowIMetYourTable (Imperial Gaming)
I think the most confusing thing for these rankings involved Snowlife and how to rank him. On one hand, he had the best stats by far and after the regular season he was in a league of his own. On the other, he got knocked out of the playoffs without a single win and completely disappeared off the face of the Earth. I think that it’s safe to say that he is human and not in smurf tier after that loss, but I still think that despite that loss, he is the best adc in the league. I can’t really say anything about him versus me since I’ve never played against him, but I’m willing to give him the nod over me with those crazy regular season stats. I think the next two after Snowlife are pretty clearly Kawaii Bubbles and myself. Between the two, I think that YRU Running did better against Kawaii than me, so I had myself in 2nd. Speaking of which, I think YRU Running and HowIMetYourTable were not really touched by many players until they made it to the semifinals. I think No Name played better into me than Table, but the fact that Table took down Snowlife is the reason that both of these players, while they are a step down from the top 3, are still a step above the A tier.
A tier:
Sushisuwa (Gob Squad)
Rivered (Trying for Third)
Wunderworld (Literal Monkeys)
Riv60 (Twin Spirits)
ADISHAWN (Collective Cosmic)
Starting off the A tier for AD Carries is Sushisuwa, who was the only other ADC outside of Snowlife that I was sad that I didn’t face. I thought this guy was the main benefactor of Gob Squad’s pack mentality, and he was the one that ultimately won his team the game. Give this guy a better supporting cast and I think he has what it takes to be the best ADC next split. Falling just below that is the trio from the East, Riv60, Wunderworld, and Rivered. I think the East was filled with strong ADCs (BarbaricChampion just missed out on being an honorable mention to be honest) and it’s hard to separate which order to put them in. I think that if you were to take each of them at their best, Wunderworld would be the clear best and probably could push into S tier. That being said, he had some low lows and also had to autofill jungle for the Literal Monkeys at times, so he finds himself sandwiched between the two. Rivered actually beat Riv60 in the final regular matchup of the season, and did the best of the three in terms of playoff success, so he is 7th. Riv60 comes in last of the three, even though in the regular season he was the highest performer of the three. His playoff performance was as spotty as his internet connection was the last two week of play, which is why he falls so low on the list. In 10th is ADISHAWN, which gets the final nod in the rankings due to his outstanding statistical performance in the regular season, even if it didn’t translate to much in the postseason.
Honorable Mentions:
ClassyTrux (Oasis NADS)
Ablazxe (Crimson Dolphins)
ThatDeckerGirl (CB Royal)
Finally, for the honorable mentions we have ClassyTrux, Ablazxe, and ThatDeckerGirl. I think you can make a good case for the first two to be in the top 10, but they did as well as ADISHAWN in terms of playoff success and did not do as well statistically. For ThatDeckerGirl, the biggest thing for her is the number of games played and her play in the series against me. There’s not a large sample size of games to look at for me to rank her any higher, and ultimately I thought she was more of a passenger on CB Royal than a carry.
Support:
S tier:
WolfyEX (NSG Infinity)
Drakas424 (VBU Argon)
GrandFayte (CB Obsidian)
Just Bobo (Literal Monkeys)
Guardian Wakka (CB Rangers)
Okay, so of all the positions, there specifically was the most arguments over the placements of the S tier supports. I think there is a genuine argument to change the order around in any order you would like (I know that my personal ranking of them was not what I ended up putting down), but ultimately this was the order that made the most sense with the least amount of pushback. WolfyEX came out this season on a mission to prove that she is the best support around, and personally I don’t think there is a strong argument to dethrone her. She had the best stats of all the supports, and that’s WITH Grandfayte laning with the player with the best stats in the league. She made it to the semifinals mainly due to her and her duo’s performance, a performance that was better than Guardian Wakka even in defeat. The only two in my eyes that come close are Drakas424 and Just Bobo, but there aren't many things that could be said about those two that can realistically make a difference. Drakas424 is next, and while I would have like to see him go against Grandfayte and really prove that he is the better support, the best argument I can give is that he is the BOL Champion for a reason, and his play throughout the season to get his team to that title should speak for itself. Then obviously is Grandfayte due to how insanely well he did throughout the regular season and I thought he himself played well in the playoffs despite his team losing. Fourth place goes to Just Bobo. This dude is the only player that could actually play lane phase and not just wait for mid game to do anything. I got super gapped by him in one game during the regular season, and if you were playing lane with him, you would know that he belongs here. That being said, his play in the League fell off as a result of Literal Monkeys roster dilemma (his stats took a huge hit as the engage button to a team that couldn’t team fight without PacaPaul), so it’s hard to rate him over players that got results and are similar skill. Finally, we have Guardian Wakka in 5th place. I think that he is a clear step down from the other four on the list, but again, similar to No Name, this man was absolutely gapping every bot lane he went against until the semifinals. That in and of itself deserves a spot in the S tier.
A tier:
I Rïn I (Imperial Gaming)
Best Plunger (Trying for Third)
ThatDeckerGuy (CB Royal)
Blisś (Oasis NADS)
Botl4ne Hok4ge (Collective Cosmic)
Now that S tier is out of the way, the A tier is pretty straight forward. I Rïn I is very clearly the best of the rest with how his team did throughout the season. While he clearly was not on the same level as someone like Wakka or Grandfayte, I think it was a no brainer to have him at the top of A. Best Plunger is next up because the bot lane change to Trying to Third was a large reason for their miracle run. ThatDeckerGuy is just behind him and ahead of Blisś; he defeated Blisś in their playoff matchup, and unfortunately the only tie breaker I had to go off of was stats, in which he was slightly behind Best Plunger. This was the same metric used to tiebreak between Blisś and Botl4ne Hok4ge; Blisś had the better stats and won more games in the playoffs, so Botl4ne Hok4ge fell to 10th.
Honorable Mentions:
Woo am I (Twin Spirits)
Frozxen (Crimson Dolphins)
Nightxwolf871 (NSG Gold)
The other three supports worth mentioning are Woo am I, Frozen, and Nightxwolf871. The first two had abysmal playoff performances, the same as Botl4ne Hok4ge, and you could honestly make a good argument for either to be 10th. Ultimately though, they both had worse stats than him, which ended up being the tie breaker. Finally, you have Nightxwolf871, who I wanted to shout out as being a strong performer despite being on a poor team like NSG Gold. I think that their bot lane duo, if placed on a different roster, could have easily made the playoffs in a different division but ultimately the bot lanes in the East were pretty stacked, which led to lackluster results.
MVP Race:
Kaïten (VBU Argon)
Snowlife (CB Obsidian)
Jg isnt Ruined (VBU Argon)
WolfyEX (NSG Infinity)
ShadowBalls000 (CB Rangers)
I think that if we are talking about the MVP of the league, we are really only talking about five names, which are the ones shown above. Let me quickly break down the arguments for each and tell you why it's Kaïten that should get it. Shadow was the best top laner and easily the best part of CB Rangers in the finals at the very least. That being said, I can’t see a world where he is voted as the MVP when he did not win the title, his stats being so low, and the gap between him and his competition being relatively close. WolfyEX comes in fourth here, as she was the best support in the league, statistically strong, and was instrumental to taking her roster to the semifinals. That being said, the gap between her and her competition was relatively close and she did not win the title despite having the highest ranked team in the league. Then you get to the top three, where there are genuine debates for all three. Athena was the best jungler and the gap between him and the next best was not that close, but that being said, he would not have played if Kral Sultan did not rank out. Also, I think that while he was a major reason VBU Argon won the title, I don’t think he was the number one reason. Snowlife is in the running due to having stats that are leaps beyond everyone else in the league regardless of role. That being said, he had absolutely no playoff success, which completely holds him back from the MVP award. Finally, you have Kaïten. He showed on stream that he was a clearly better player than his competition in the mid lane. He was the major reason why VBU Argon was able to win the championship. His stats are still extremely strong compared to the majority of the league. I can’t really accept any argument that would say that he isn’t the most deserving candidate. Will Snowlife probably take home the award? It’s pretty likely. But in my eyes, Kaïten should win.
Kral Sultan’s Team Rankings:
Finally, Kral Sultan begged me to post his opinion of every team in the league, ranked from best to worst. Do I agree? Not completely but I did tell him I’d let him post them if he would help me out with some of the player rankings, so here ya go. Flame him not me!
VBU Argon
CB Rangers
NSG Infinity
CB Royal
Trying For Third
Imperial Gaming
CB Obsidian
Limitless Chaos
Oasis NADS
Twin Spirits
Collective Cosmic
Crimson Dolphins
Gob Squad
Final Esports
VBU Plutonium
Literal Monkeys
NSG Gold
Mad Rawrs
Dead Orbit
Shrimp Fried Rice
KQC
Silverline
NSG Amethyst
Classic Esports