2020 Honda Scouting Grounds Power Rankings (Analysis on All 20 Players)

2020 Honda Scouting Grounds Power Rankings by Tim Sevenhuysen and Pastrytime

In our recent New Viewer’s Guide to Scouting Grounds 2020, we announced that we are once again the official data partner for the event this year!

We’re excited to share that this year, we have two very special guests working with us: Tim Sevenhuysen from Oracle’s Elixer and Pastrytime, who you know from the LCS and Academy broadcasts as a shoutcaster.

In this article, we’ll be providing their analysis all twenty attendees Scouting Grounds 2020 and providing their rankings for each of the players. Their two ranks will be combined with our Mobalytics AI to determine their overall power rank.

Throughout the event, we’ll be updating our Scouting Grounds site with the latest stats from the tournament so you can keep up with how the players are performing.

If you’d like to know more about each player, they have questionnaires to give you more insights about their backgrounds and motivations.

You’ll find links to their questionnaire and their profile alongside their commentary in the list below.

Note: Please note that because of COVID, the event will be remote. Unfortunately, this means that there will not be player portraits like last year.

Scouting Grounds Attendees (Ranked)

Click on any player below to jump to their section:

1. Niles (Top)
2. Nxi (Jungle)
3. Copy (Mid)
4. APA (Mid)
5. Yunbee (Mid)
6. Shady (Support)
7. Shoryu (Bot)
8. Tony Top (Top)
9. Yeon (Bot)
10. Auto (Support)
11. Rodov (Top)
12. Spawwwwn (Bot)
13. Tomio (Jungle)
14. RoseThorn (Jungle)
15. Zoun (Jungle)
16. CptShrimps (Mid)
17. Joey (Support)
18. Plux (Support)
19. Andybendy (Bot)
20. Gible (Top)

1. Niles (Top)

Power Ranking: 1 (Tim = 2, Pastrytime = 2, Mobalytics AI = 4)

[See Niles’s profile] [See Niles’s questionnaire]

Expert Commentary

Tim:

Niles team fights very well, dancing in and out of fights to avoid enemy threat ranges and cooldowns and then selecting the right targets to attack when he finds an opening. He plays well with a lead, especially, with a strong read on when to push his lane deeper, when to move onto the map to group with his team, and when to Teleport into a fight.

Sometimes Niles tries to do a bit too much, though, which good opponents can punish. His rate of improvement over the past couple of years hasn’t been the fastest, but he has been working through a college degree, so he deserves some leeway on that point.

Pastrytime:

Niles is the name on this list I’m best acquainted with and for good reason. I cast the Maryville University sweep of the 2019 collegiate finals and that whole event had the same player at the forefront of everyone’s minds that event.

Niles is one of the few fresh collegiate talents that appears to be looking to make the transition into the North American pro scene. Extremely lane dominant, Niles is the kind of player that you just watch him play and realize why he’s so revered in the circles he competes in – he just oozes talent.

In his HSG 2020 survey, he said the reason he wanted to go pro was “to save NA”. Whether he’s serious or just flexing some of his personality, he certainly has the individual skill to make a claim so bold.

Niles has only grown since that collegiate win and while his talent certainly is there, his drive and rapid accumulation of competitive experience makes me think he’s looking to make good on his promise this event.

2. Nxi (Jungle)

Power Ranking: 2 (Tim = 1, Pastrytime = 4, Mobalytics AI = 9)

[See Nxi’s profile] [See Nxi’s questionnaire]

Expert Commentary

Tim:

Nxi is the physical incarnation of Lee Sindrome, and that is both his greatest strength and his biggest weakness. I’m not sure he’s ever landed a Nidalee javelin without transforming into a cougar and leaping in behind it afterwards.

Kidding aside, when Nxi’s aggression pays off, it’s impressive to see, and it works more often than it fails — at least at the amateur level. The main question is how well he can adapt to a higher level of opposition and rein himself in, adding more calculation and deeper game knowledge to his toolkit.

Pastrytime:

For all the credit we’ve given Cloud9 and Cloud9 Academy in the last few years for being perhaps the greatest single talent siphon the region has ever seen, as teams invest more and more into their infrastructure and the future of their organizations, we need to start adding 100 Thieves to that conversation as well.

Specifically, we need to add 100 Thieves Next who have seemingly pumped out nothing but amateur superstars since their recent inception, as well as a large number of the HSG 2020 prospects. As Kenvi moved into Academy, Nxi was right there waiting to take his place, and boy did he make an impression – which is often the case when you get 15 kills on Kha’Zix your first time out with your new team.

In a story we’re becoming happily familiar with in North America, Nxi appears as the next in a seemingly never-ending line of young NA junglers that play Nidalee, Lee Sin and Graves and wish you’d never queued up for solo-queue that day.100X miss very little when they bring in new talent and the stage couldn’t be more perfect for Nxi to demonstrate that the hype is a lot more than just that.

3. Copy (Mid)

Power Ranking: 3 (Tim = 4, Pastrytime = 12, Mobalytics AI = 2)

[See Copy’s profile] [See Copy’s questionnaire]

Expert Commentary

Tim:

Copy is primarily a control mage player, spending most of his time on Orianna, Azir, Syndra, and Zoe, with forays into Leblanc and Corki. He’s a fill-in-the-gaps Mid laner, providing what his team needs and occasionally stepping up with big plays, but more often playing a solid, anchoring style that allows his teammates to serve as focal points.

To take the next step, Copy needs to find his killer instinct and make more aggressive use of his strong mechanics.

Pastrytime:

Copy is yet another in the current lineup of the talent giant that is 100 Thieves Next. Perhaps to his detriment this year as he describes himself as more of a team or role player and some of his flashier teammates are in attendance. But, his attitude certainly seems excellent for a young player who is just starting to move forward towards a possible pro career.

Listing Bjergsen as an influence on him makes sense when you look at his self-appointed champion pool (Zoe, Syndra, Twisted Fate) and the role he takes on within 100X, but I like a little more 1v9 in my mid-laners and I’m hoping Copy is able to show off some of that as well.

Copy likely would’ve qualified via solo-queue anyway if 100X somehow weren’t as dominant in Amateur as they are, so Copy certainly has the chops to battle against the other mid-laners alongside him. Mid also might be the closest it’s ever been talent-wise at a Scouting Grounds, so everyone – including Copy – will have their chance to step into the limelight.

4. APA (Mid)

Power Ranking: 4 (Tim = 12, Pastrytime = 1, Mobalytics AI = 6)

[See APA’s profile] [See APA’s questionnaire]

Expert Commentary

Tim:

APA plays a unique champion pool led by an Aurelion Sol comfort pick that shows up a little too often. He’s fond of Taliyah as well, and has an oddball Cho’gath that he’ll break out now and then. If he wants to be seriously considered for LCS Academy, APA needs to shed a reputation of being overly reliant on those off-meta picks.

The less Aurelion Sol he plays at Scouting Grounds, the more likely he’ll be to gain real credit in the eyes of the LCS scouts – assuming he can deliver good performances when he isn’t piloting his pocket picks.

Pastrytime:

APA a.ka. Always Plan Ahead is a very fitting alias for someone who is so proficient on roaming that it can feel like the enemy team has a backup jungler always ready to pounce on an unsuspecting lane. It also shouldn’t surprise you that APA is a very-well known Aurelion Sol main. Remember when everyone said you had to ban Huhi’s ASol in the LCS just in case it was a good Sol game?

Apparently, every game for APA is a good Aurelion Sol game, so expect to see the cosmic dragon on the bench permanently when APA is on the Rift. For a player that’s only eighteen years old, it is really interesting to me that the common thread in his reputation is how intelligently he plays the map.

With young players you often hear that they’ve got ridiculously good mechanics they just need to use their brains more, APA might already have the (sometimes literal) galaxy brain plays at the ready.

APA is a player that seems comfortable in his roam-heavy style, but feels young enough that he can take to fresh ideas as well. Given the last two top prospects from HSG have been mid-laners and APA offers something unique among youngsters as his greatest strength, I’m very excited to see how that manifests.

Back to top!

5. Yunbee (Mid)

Power Ranking: 5 (Tim = 10, Pastrytime = 8, Mobalytics AI = 1)

[See Yunbee’s profile] [See Yunbee’s questionnaire]

Expert Commentary

Tim:

Yunbee is a somewhat difficult player to scout, with minimal amateur scene material to review, which is a shame since the available evidence about him looks pretty good! In his amateur matches with XT Esports and TBA, he has played a pretty standard champion pool of Orianna, Azir, and Corki, with a 3-0 record on Diana (one of my personal favorites!) to spice things up.

He seems to have decent awareness of good timings to move out of his lane. Beyond that, it’s difficult to say much about him without more opportunities to watch him play in a competitive environment. I’m very excited to get that chance at Scouting Grounds!

Pastrytime:

At first, I didn’t think much of Yunbee. Then when I asked around someone said he might be the best mid lane prospect in NA Amateur behind 5Fire without ever having really broken through in that scene. Being compared to the best player on the winning SGC Play Off team is very high praise, especially if you consider that 5Fire is sadly no longer eligible for Scouting Grounds as the reason he’s not in attendance this year, despite continuing to show that he is someone worthy of attention.

So not only is Yunbee being put in very good company for his current level of play, he also qualifies as the highest-ranked player coming into this event, being a current Top 5 Challenger in NA and peaking at #2 this season. He’s apparently a very classic mid-laner, listing his three main champions as Syndra, Orianna and Ryze.

While you don’t win any awards for champ pool creativity in this instance, impressing on control mages is only possible if you’re really good at them. From the sounds of things, Yunbee may very well be that good. I’m expecting consistency here, but I’m really hoping for some flashiness out of him too.

6. Shady (Support)

Power Ranking: 6 (Tim = 16, Pastrytime = 5, Mobalytics AI = 3)

[See Shady’s profile] [See Shady’s questionnaire]

Expert Commentary

Tim:

There are some good qualities to Shady’s game, like his engage sense and playmaking. He expresses that with a champion pool that featured Rakan, Thresh, Bard, and Nautilus this year.

All around, though, he isn’t at the level necessary to really entice LCS organizations and hasn’t shown enough in his growth curve. He’s been around, playing with Phoenix1 and with TSM Academy in the past, and participated in the 2019 Scouting Grounds but spent 2020 with Maryville University rather than landing in Academy.

That will probably be the case again after the 2020 Scouting Grounds.

Pastrytime:

If nothing else, Shady should be praised alone for how willing he has been to put his nose to the grindstone. A true journeyman of North American League of Legends, Shady has played at every possible competitive level NA has to offer, from the LCS to Amateur and everything in-between.

With already one HSG showing from last year, he’ll be looking to continue to build upon what he showed off last year and if his 2020 games are any indicator, he might have a real pop-off moment ahead of him. His Pyke is absolutely nasty and while he may be not so fondly remembered for his enchanter games back in the LCS, he has playmaker blood in his veins.

As a player that felt thrust into the spotlight too early, this event might be his homecoming back into professional play and Shady is here to rewrite the narrative that began back in 2017.

7. Shoryu (Bot)

Power Ranking: 7 (Tim = 3, Pastrytime = 7, Mobalytics AI = 16)

[See Shoryu’s profile] [See Shoryu’s questionnaire]

Expert Commentary

Tim:

Shoryu is capable of winning his lane with the right champion matchups, but it’s more common to see him go even or lose gracefully and get more of his work done in the mid and late game, with calm, poised team fighting and clean-up ability. In other words, his game knowledge and decision-making are stronger than his mechanics.

That should help him look really good during Scouting Grounds and will make him competitive at the Academy level, but he’ll have to keep working on his “hands” if he wants to contend for an eventual LCS spot.

Pastrytime:

A somewhat known quantity, formerly of Team Liquid Academy, Shoryu came out blazing with ANEW esports to finish first in the SGC 2020 play-off. While it must be stated that Shoryu had excellent teammates on ANEW that shouldn’t diminish his contributions to that championship.

Shoryu was a star in both Challenger Uprising and the SGC Play Off that they both took first in and has had a consistently successful Amateur career since he was last in Academy. In some ways, Shoryu seems like he might’ve hit his ceiling.

But, enough time has passed since his professional debut that he’ll be looking to prove himself as more than just another one-time Academy player and as the interest in domestic talent only increases, Shoryu stock could very much be rising with that tide.

8. Tony Top (Top)

Power Ranking: 8 (Tim = 17, Pastrytime = 3, Mobalytics AI = 7)

[See Tony Top’s profile] [See Tony Top’s questionnaire]

Expert Commentary

Tim:

Tony Top has an interesting profile for a Top laner. In the games I’ve watched, he has filled a clean-up carry role on champions like Renekton and Camille, doing a good job of finding a soft target in a team fight and blowing them up after a teammate engaged and created the opening.

In a Bot laner, or even a Mid, I would unequivocally praise that skill set. On a Top laner, I find myself looking for more proactivity and a stronger sense of when and how to be the primary engager.

Tony needs to work on improving his ability to visualize the next few minutes of a game before they happen, so he can manage side lanes more effectively and use anticipation to create stronger team fighting angles.

Pastrytime:

A mystery to many, unless you frequent the highest echelons of NA solo-queue. Tony Top has been obliterating people in the top-lane for years. The highest points among top laners attending HSG 2020 by far, Tony will be looking to finally make the impact on North America he’s been after ever since his first Scouting Grounds invite in 2018 which he declined due to school.

Tony’s story is also made more interesting as he has recently acquired his Canadian citizenship having been born in China and has apparently trained with some LPL Academy teams as well. Known particularly for his Jax, but plenty capable outside of it, Tony enters this event as presumably the top laner with the most raw skill, but without any opportunities to really prove it yet.

This event is a chance to showcase that talent outside of his usual arena of solo-queue and if the rumours are to be believed, he’s sure to make a very big impression.

Back to top!

9. Yeon (Bot)

Power Ranking: 9 (Tim = 6, Pastrytime = 10, Mobalytics AI = 13)

[See Yeon’s profile] [See Yeon’s questionnaire]

Expert Commentary

Tim:

As part of 100 Thieves Next, Yeon had an excellent opportunity to develop this year.

So far, he is rounding into a measured, intelligent player who, at times, he’s willing to step up into openings and chase a big play, but he’s still finding the balance between overcoming his naturally conservative playstyle and learning to recognize the appropriate times to assert himself.

That balance will come with time, as his confidence grows.

Pastrytime:

Surprisingly, despite being on one of the best-known orgs within the Amateur scene, Yeon might actually have a disadvantage perception-wise coming into this event. While 100X are seemingly incredible at finding and nurturing talent, Yeon feels like he’s in the shadow of his more hyped teammates in some ways, some of which are also in attendance this year.

That being said, not only should we trust in the 100X talent machine but Yeon has some wildcards looking through his match history. One of his main listed champions for his role, provided on surveys the players filled out themselves for this event is Taliyah! With his solo queue numbers supporting that as well as his most played champion this season.

He’s also been playing Samira, so I have high hopes for Yeon to throw more than a few surprises during this event as well as be at least a solid-looking bot laner. Perhaps being separated from 100X will actually help him when it comes to showing off his individual skill as he’ll need to prove he can play with very different teammates in a short amount of time.

10. Auto (Support)

Power Ranking: 10 (Tim = 9, Pastrytime = 9, Mobalytics AI = 12)

[See Auto’s profile] [See Auto’s questionnaire]

Expert Commentary

Tim:

Auto’s role swap from Bot lane to Support in early 2020 has paid off so far, allowing him to take some steps forward in his overall development as a player and become a leader on 100 Thieves Next in the amateur scene.

His game knowledge is strong for a player at this level of competition, and it shows in the way he steps out of his lane to affect the map. His mechanics aren’t up to the level of the stronger players at Scouting Grounds this year, though, which is somewhat understandable given his limited time as a Support so far.

Auto is the best all-around Support player coming to Scouting Grounds this year, but only a mid-level prospect in terms of receiving an Academy offer. He needs to keep grinding solo queue and growing into his new role, and the offseason is a great time to do that, whether or not he finds himself with any Academy offers for 2021.

Pastrytime:

Another name that should be very familiar to anyone who has watched the NA Academy scene closely, Auto is the former longtime bot laner of CLG Academy before switching to Support only this year, slotting into 100 Thieves Next after Poome got the express ride into the LCS team and Breezy moved back into Academy.

While individually he might struggle to stand out among a surprisingly strong lineup of supports this year, Auto brings a huge amount of savvy and experience from professional League of Legends that teams might be drawn to when they have a chance to sit down and chat with him.

He’ll also presumably be pretty valuable in helping organize the often expected chaos of the HSG pickup teams and if he can show off both his skill and his shotcalling/leadership, he could make a strong case for himself to be back into Academy and maybe even beyond.

11. Rodov (Top)

Power Ranking: 11 (Tim = 7, Pastrytime = 13, Mobalytics AI = 15)

[See Rodov’s profile] [See Rodov’s questionnaire]

Expert Commentary

Tim:

I appreciate the balance in Rodov’s game. He’s a good tank player who can function without resources, but he’s also able to carry at times and has enough skill to be a diverse player.

I’m told he is a very fast learner, which means he could benefit a ton from playing in a professional team environment with access to more coaching and analytical help. That might help with some of the odd itemization choices I’ve seen him make, too!

Rodov lacks the explosiveness of someone like Niles, but if he keeps learning and improving, he could be a reliable, solid Academy Top lane pick-up.

Pastrytime:

If we were to give Rodov a nickname, it’d have to be Mr. Reliable. While Reliable Rodov is not as flashy as his counterparts he’s known for his weakside expertise and seeming inability to not lose lanes. Thankfully for him, if that’s a strength he’s looking to lean on he’ll have plenty of opportunities to test that against some very aggressive top laners attending this event.

As one of the few players to actually be eligible for ANEW esports, the winners of the SGC 2020 Play Off that qualified for this event, he comes away from a talented amateur roster looking to strike out on his own.

We’ll know very quickly if Rodov can hang amongst the likes of Niles and Tony Top, but as someone that has flown the underrated flag for awhile in his still short career, I’m ready to be surprised once the games begin.

12. Spawwwwn (Bot)

Power Ranking: 12 (Tim = 8, Pastrytime = 18, Mobalytics AI = 10)

[See Spawwwwn’s profile] [See Spawwwwn’s questionnaire]

Expert Commentary

Tim:

Spawwwwn shows some strong awareness of what is happening inside his own screen, with smart outplays and step-up aggression, like a young WildTurtle.

But he has a lot to learn about how to read what is happening off-screen, how to move to the right parts of the map at the right times, and how to communicate actively to his team.

The good news is that his biggest weaknesses are exactly the things he would learn in an Academy environment. Spawwwwn could be a real diamond in the rough if he’s given the right opportunity to learn.

Pastrytime:

Not to be confused with my good friend and Oceanic caster/analyst extraordinaire Jake ‘Spawn’ Tiberi, Spawwwwn has been around the amateur scene for a while, most recently on Polar Ace, one of the more established amateur orgs that has churned out quite a bit of talent within that scene.

I’ve been told to watch for his teamfight positioning, particularly on the likes of Aphelios and Ashe. While his team despite lots of promise, did not fare well in the SGC 2020 Play Off, he more than made it on solo-queue points with more than 1.2k LP in Challenger.

Bot lane is certainly on the less stacked end for roles attending this year, but all the more reason to shoot your (literal) shot.

Back to top!

13. Tomio (Jungle)

Power Ranking: 13 (Tim = 14, Pastrytime = 17, Mobalytics AI = 5)

[See Tomio’s profile] [See Tomio’s questionnaire]

Expert Commentary

Tim:

Tomio is difficult to scout since he didn’t play in the Scouting Grounds Circuit, leaving solo queue as the only real option.

Analysts who follow NA solo queue more closely tell me he has strong mechanics and an expanding champion pool, which suggests some decent potential, but he apparently isn’t too far removed from being a one-trick and has had issues with tilt.

Tomio will be a player to watch more closely at Scouting Grounds to round out a more meaningful opinion.

Pastrytime:

The other solo-queue qualifier for jungle is amusingly, teammates on Zenith Esports with RoseThorn. Perhaps there’s something in that org that compels players to grind the living daylights out of solo-queue.

According to his solo-queue stats he’s played what’d I’d call a very ‘NA’ amount of Rengar, among the other usual suspects of aggressive junglers. Not that this is a bad thing at all, Rengar has been surprisingly successful for a lot of North American junglers and Tomio may well be an unearthed talent waiting to unleash the kitty cat out of the brushes.

Jungle is in an interesting spot this Scouting Grounds as none of the attending players have much history at all, in-fact even though I have Nxi at the top of my players for jungle, a lot of that rides on the recent history of the org he joined and how good they are at finding talent.

NA has consistently produced strong aggressive junglers and with the role being as open as it is this Scouting Grounds the time for Tomio will be now to make his name known.

14. RoseThorn (Jungle)

Power Ranking: 14 (Tim = 5, Pastrytime = 14, Mobalytics AI = 19)

[See RoseThorn’s profile] [See RoseThorn’s questionnaire]

Expert Commentary

Tim:

RoseThorn is very “raw”, with minimal competitive experience, but he shows great potential. He has strong mechanics and he’s a very good communicator, which bodes well for his ability to learn from coaching.

Look forward to his play on Kindred, in particular. RoseThorn still needs time to learn how to better recognize the map state and make cleaner decisions around where to move at different times, and when it is appropriate to invade.

Pastrytime:

Seemingly out of nowhere, RoseThorn ripped through solo-queue to land himself a spot at HSG 2020 as well as two different accounts in Challenger having none before that. On top of all this, the first time he hit Challenger he was taking a full course load at college and working part-time with barely any time to dedicate to League as is the usual story of the lesser known Challengers players who grind games seemingly endlessly.

While now he’s apparently flipped that idea with more free time and of his own admission, plays, and watches around eighty hours of League a week. This tells me two things: 1) that he is a somewhat young player that found a way to successfully balance his life, something that many fully-functioning adults can still struggle with and 2) that his work ethic is ridiculous.

While the pedigree of a known organization or competitive experience doesn’t sit with him, RoseThorn embodies the Scouting Grounds story. Of a grinder that has landed in a spot where he has a week to prove it all to himself, his new pug teammates, and then the world at large just how high his ceiling is.

15. Zoun (Jungle)

Power Ranking: 15 (Tim = 13, Pastrytime = 16, Mobalytics AI = 11)

[See Zoun’s profile] [See Zoun’s questionnaire]

Expert Commentary

Tim:

Playing for Maryvillle University throughout 2020, Zoun (formerly known as Iconic) paired with Niles as a duo of carry threats that could rival most top/jungle pairings in the NA amateur or collegiate scene.

He focused his champion pool around Graves, Kindred, Nidalee, and Trundle and frequently racked up high kill counts by leveraging his side laners’ pressure.

He needs to work on the efficiency of his pathing and demonstrate that he can get more done with losing lanes and other unfavorable situations.

Pastrytime:

Zoun comes in off of the collegiate hotshots Maryville University, who although they finished third in the SGC 2020 Play Off did have some invites trickle down as ANEW and 100X had some ineligible players in some positions. While Zoun isn’t a name I’m familiar with unlike a number of his teammates, he’s clearly put himself in the right places when it comes to building up competitive League experience.

He also has the most Lilia games of all the junglers attending as was one of only two players to have her listed as his main three champions for his role, somewhat outside of the Graves, Nidalee, Lee, and Kindred we so often see from NA junglers. While Lilia certainly can be aggressive, she is very delicate despite being very powerful as a jungler and Zoun might be able to lean a little on his competitive experience and perhaps a slightly different champion pool to those around him.

Like all the junglers here though, the door is wide open to impress as the jungle pool this year is very green. I feel like all my hype for Niles and Shady hasn’t rubbed off on their jungler teammate just yet, but I might feel very differently once teams start talking and games start happening.

16. CptShrimps (Mid)

Power Ranking: 16 (Tim = 19, Pastrytime = 15, Mobalytics AI = 8)

[See CptShrimps’s profile] [See CptShrimps’s questionnaire]

Expert Commentary

Tim:

CptShrimps qualified to Scouting Grounds through solo queue as a player who likes to stick to his own unique comfort, bringing out Rumble very often in amateur play as well as Karma, Swain, and the closest he gets to a consistent on-meta choice, Galio.

He sprinkles in games of Zoe and Orianna but with poor results. Unless he proves that he can adapt himself to the meta and play a more Academy-friendly champion pool at a high level, it will be tough for CptShrimps to attract attention from LCS orgs.

Pastrytime:

Collegiate League of Legends does not often get that much attention in the Amateur/Academy scene. While there are certainly collegiate players and teams that do compete outside of their college competitions, that tends to be the exception not the rule.

Not only has CptShrimps been around high-level solo-queue for awhile, but he’s been absolutely carrying his school to the playoffs two years running and would’ve done it this year too if it wasn’t for the whole global pandemic thing.

Now here at HSG 2020, ‘ol Shrimps is here to show off both his Sylas and that Canadian collegiate League players should be feared not just within the confines of academic sports.

Back to top!

17. Joey (Support)

Power Ranking: 17 (Tim = 20, Pastrytime = 6, Mobalytics AI = 17)

Expert Commentary

[See Joey’s profile] [See Joey’s questionnaire]

Tim:

Joey has been in and out of Academy in the past, most recently playing with Clutch Academy in 2019, and he’s back for another attempt to break into the pro scene. He struggles with putting his best foot forward in the most important games and didn’t find much success in the amateur scene while playing with Wildcard Gaming this year.

To earn an Academy offer, Joey will need to overwrite LCS scouts’ pre-existing ideas about his potential as a player, which will require a very convincing Scouting Grounds performance.

Pastrytime:

A familiar face to many, literal MSI 2018 competitor Joey has gone through a lot since attending that event as Team Liquid’s sub. While he’s also had some strong showings in Academy as well it should go without saying that we didn’t get nearly enough time with Joey at the pro level.

Consistently impressing with his playmaking, Joey is a player that has grown into the leadership roles he was thrust into on Academy teams and like many supports attending this event, he’ll want to show off that he’s far from past his time to compete.

While he’s competing against a strong class this year, he should be on the radars of any team in need of a support player that’s here to show he’s still got it and then some.

18. Plux (Support)

Power Ranking: 18 (Tim = 18, Pastrytime = 11, Mobalytics AI = 14)

Expert Commentary

[See Plux’s profile] [See Plux’s questionnaire]

Tim:

Plux does a lot of things right and communicates fairly well, but he needs to improve his read on potential and emerging action and get in better position to create plays or help out his teammates.

Some of this will come as he gains comfort playing in high-level teams, but some needs to come from his personal map awareness and recognition of where his teams are vulnerable and whether they are in a position to follow up on his plays.

This Scouting Grounds should be a great learning experience for Plux.

Pastrytime:

Plux (pronounced Flux) sits in the unenviable position of being both an unknown entity and also the other solo queue qualifier in his position, which means the amount of available tape on him is extremely limited. While he has competed in some small tournaments here and there, he enters this stacked support lineup as almost a true wildcard.

In his survey responses, he talked about pushing himself to learn other champions and clearly he pushed enough to qualify for this event on solo-queue merit alone, including hitting Top 50 without one of his main champions of duo’ing which as a Support seems like an exercise in masochism.

While being the greenest player out of this bunch could turn out to be a weakness or a strength with so many veterans attending, if he can compete with the rest of this class it won’t matter how unknown he is relative to the field. Like many before him, Plux has an opportunity to make a name for himself here at HSG 2020.

19. Andybendy (Bot)

Power Ranking: 19 (Tim = 11, Pastrytime = 19, Mobalytics AI = 18)

Expert Commentary

[See Andybendy’s profile] [See Andybendy’s questionnaire]

Tim:

There are ups and downs in Andybendy’s laning, and his play with Radiance in the Scouting Grounds Circuit didn’t really “leap out” with big highlight-reel plays most of the time, but he plays at an above-average level pretty reliably, much like how Radiance was an upper/mid-tier team in the amateur scene as a whole.

Out of all the roles, Bot lane is where I place the most value on reliability over pop-off moments, which is why I see some good potential for Andybendy to be a worthwhile player to develop, despite ranking him lowest of all the Bot laners at Scouting Grounds.

Pastrytime:

Apart from having perhaps the ‘funniest name but in a good way’ among the SGC 2020 attendees, Andy has actually been around the Amateur scene for quite a while. Including recently being on Radiance before landing on the Columbia College team, one of the better-known schools for League of Legends.

He also apparently tried to qualify for EU Masters a short while back, which is almost unheard of for a NA player. To say that Mr. Bendy hasn’t been trying would be a massive understatement and while he sits at the bottom for me based on what little information I could gather, bot lane does feel like it has a lot of unknowns going into this year of HSG.

He’s also apparently sick of losing to 100 Thieves Next in the Amateur circuit, so this Scouting Grounds not only will provide a place to showcase his talent but perhaps enact a little revenge along the way.

20. Gible (Top)

Power Ranking: 20 (Tim = 15, Pastrytime = 20, Mobalytics AI = 20)

Expert Commentary

[See Gible’s profile] [See Gible’s questionnaire]

Tim:

It’s difficult to track down good insight on Gible, who has played a decent number of games in Upsurge League and Challenger Uprising but has shown up on video almost as little as Bigfoot.

Experts in the amateur scene are reasonably high on his potential, and of course, he has performed well enough in solo queue to secure an invite to Scouting Grounds, but he has some work to do to prove himself as a strong enough candidate to crack the top 10 and get himself drafted by an LCS team at the end of the event.

Pastrytime:

The other solo queue qualifier for top lane, Gible comes in as an unknown quantity among a pretty top-heavy position. With Niles and Tony battling it out for best in the role, if not among the best players in attendance, and Rodov having a bigger jump in competitive experience already, Gible is going to have his work cut out for him if he’s going to stand out for his lane.

While there is some freedom in not having expectations thrust upon you from the onset, Gible will have to come up big here if he’s looking to shine among attendees. Thankfully, that’s exactly what an event like Scouting Grounds can provide and I’ll be the first to admit I was wrong if he starts trouncing the competition.

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