League of Legends: Top Five Players from the LCS Spring Split

Here are the five players that impressed the most this split.

The LCS Spring Split has come to a close. It was a crazy one, as teams performed outside of expectations and the COVID-19 pandemic moved the league online. Nevertheless, Cloud9 emerged victorious in the end and made their triumphant return to the top. They won't get to participate in this year's Mid-Season Invitational but proved themselves as the most dominant team in the region by far.

Though they made their marks, plenty of other players did as well. They didn't get the spotlight the C9 players did but deserve recognition regardless. Five players, in particular, stood out as stars this split. It should be noted that, of course, a C9 player is listed, but only one player per team is listed here to keep things more interesting. If not, it would probably just be a repeat of the official 1st All-Pro Team voting.

5. Closer – Golden Guardians

The first name that should be mentioned is the Golden Guardians' Can “Closer” Çelik. As the jungler for the team, Closer made a profound impact on his team and performed at an incredibly high level. When he was first signed, people knew he was spectacular in the TCL, but there were plenty of questions about how he would perform in NA. Thankfully, he answered those questions quite well.

Many expected Golden Guardians to be a bottom-tier team. Tenth place was a definitely possibility for them before the split started. Fortunately for them, Closer became a shining star on a roster that wasn't the best. They struggled in their support position, switching from former Academy ADC Yuri “Keith” Jew for Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun in the middle of the season, but Closer and the team managed to work past all of this to secure a coveted playoffs spot. They were knocked out early on but still defied expectations.

Closer can be given a lot of credit for this. He was the main reason GG found advantages in the early game and always was a reliable player. His pathing gave him his own advantages in the jungle, which he effectively used to get his lanes ahead. If not for him, the tenth place expectations might have been a reality. If he continues to perform like this, Closer will be a major threat in the Summer Split.

4. Jiizuke – Evil Geniuses

Next up is the Italian Stallion, coming to NA from the LEC, Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro. This explosive mid lane is known for his time on Team Vitality and was a great pickup for the Evil Geniuses this year. The beginning of the split wasn't that great for EG, but around the halfway point the squad found their footing. Consequentially, this is the time when Jiizuke began to pop off.

Jiizuke is a unique player in the LCS. He's much more aggressive than most and loves to gain a lead in the early game. With champions like LeBlanc and Zoe, he can assert lane dominance, but is apt with scaling champions too, pushing their limits to get the most out of them. Unlike C9's Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer, who is known for heavy roaming, Jiizuke uses his leads to propel himself further ahead. Once off the ground, Jiizuke is always willing to pull the trigger and make game-winning plays.

Evil Geniuses are convincingly the second or third best team in the league after the Spring Split. They have a good blend of talent and show a lot of promise moving forward. Jiizuke and Svenskeren looked like a strong mid-jungle duo thus far and will be critical for their success in summer. If they continue to perform well, a deep playoffs run and potential Worlds ticket is within their reach.

3. Broken Blade – TSM

At the halfway point in this list is Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik, top laner for TSM. There aren't many top laners in the league that are the focal points of their team, so Broken Blade stands out in that regard. He was, without a doubt, the strongest point on the map for TSM this split. And for good reason. He is excellent at pushing the advantages he gains and is great at setting up plays throughout the game. He's good on quite a number of champions, meaning he is fantastic with counter picks.

Broken Blade isn't playing the game to play tank duty and scale. No, he's a strong laner who wants to play things like Aatrox and Sett in order to smash peoples' faces in. In addition, he often receives jungle attention from Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett and roams from Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg. This allows him to win lane, move for skirmishes and put on significant pressure through split pushing. The drafts are catered to him a lot of the time too, giving him counter picks to enable things like Pantheon, Qiyana and Kayle.

After this Spring Split, Broken Blade has solidified himself as arguably the best top in the league, in contention with Licorice and Ssumday. It definitely helps that he receives a good deal of attention, but that doesn't take away from the fact he's on top of his game. If the rumors about Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng moving to TSM are true, Broken Blade and company will be a team to fear for next split.

2. PowerOfEvil – FlyQuest

In second place is FlyQuest's mid-laner Tristan “PowerofEvil” Schrage. The mid lane has plenty of strong players in NA right now, but PowerofEvil still stands out as one of the best. He's been playing professionally for a long time and has a history of consistent play. Though he has a very specific style, POE has been the hard carry FlyQuest needed in their miracle run to the Finals this split.

Truth be told, FlyQuest wasn't expected to achieve much this split. Sure, they were expected to probably make playoffs, but most people didn't think they'd make a deep run. Despite all odds, they did though, and much of their success came off the back of POE. Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun was the playmaker for the team and often spent his time roaming mid to help out there, as POE is someone who is always going to output damage and carry through team fights. This strategy proved to be valuable for the team, as this allowed them to make it all the way to the Spring Split Finals

Unfortunately, FlyQuest lost pretty handily in the Finals. But this was to be expected against the insanely dominant current Cloud9 squad. However, it did demonstrate that FlyQuest is finally a top tier team in the LCS. Maybe the TreeQuest initiative helped out, but it's more probable that PowerofEvil was a major part of their success thus far this year. It'll be interesting to see if the squad is able to recreate this in summer.

1. Zven – Cloud9

Claiming first place is, of course, a Cloud9 player. Though there can be arguments made for any of them, the most compelling one has to be for Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen. After a rough time with TSM, Cloud9 acquired him, but many fans doubted how good he would be. Especially so considering he was replacing fan-favorite ADC Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi. But he had an absolutely monstrous split and displayed that he's still a top tier player.

As you may remember, Zven had a period at the beginning of the split where he was deathless over numerous games. This streak was paired with the same amount of games where he accumulated multiple kills and hard carried the games. Even when that period ended, Zven continued to make his name as the best ADC in the league currently. His laning, skirmishing and team fighting are all excellent, and he is quite honestly a beast of a player.

Every member on C9 is incredible, but Zven still manages to stand out even when surrounded by stars. He's overcome the community's negative perception of him quite handily too. There's not much to criticize with Zven's Spring Split play, which makes him that much more impressive. If anyone deserves to be called the best player in the LCS right now, it's definitely Zven.

For more League of Legends and esports news, follow ESTNN on Facebook and Twitter.