This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

　　With the Season 4 World Championship for League of Legends starting next week, lolesports undertook the task of deciding the top 20 players in attendance. With their list stirring up much discussion, due to the placings of specific players, I decided to create my own top 20 list.

　　

20. YellOwStaR (Support of fnatic)

fnatic is a team stacked with skill and very diverse playing styles, but YellOwStaR is the one whose play brings all the disparate parts together into unison. For a team like fnatic, famed for their skirmishing and pick style, good shot-calling is a must, as waiting in a brush will cost your team if you don't get something for it. YellOwStaR's shot-calling is as streaky as fnatic's form, and seemingly a strong contributing factors to that aspect of their nature, but he leads both his botlane and his team with an impressive intuitive force.

　　The former aspect, as he directs young Rekkles, is significant enough to bear more said on it, as YellOwStaR's guidance and synergy with Rekkles takes the mechanically gifted ADC from merely a top EU ADC to probably the best Westerner at his position and lessens his natural weaknesses.

　　

19. GorillA (Support of NaJin White Shield)

Shield had seemingly been the Save and Ggoong show for their OGN Spring run to the finals, with the star Top and Mid laner showcasing magnificent power and form on their best champions, but GorillA has quietly established himself as a top three player at his position domestically. Shield shares two weaknesses that the CJ Blaze of 2013, to whom similarities are most easily drawn due to their late-game scaling styles and star Top laners, also famously possessed: Junglers who aren't mechanically strong and a suspect AD Carry.

　　In Blaze's case, Helios showed himself unable to pull off many ganks and Cpt Jack was a liability during the laning phase. Shield's jungler, watch, has only really had two significantly impressive series all year long against top teams, both coming in the Regional Qualifier. Zefa, the AD Carry of Shield, has not been able to match up against the elite players at his position in Korea and was murdered by Deft in the OGN final.

　　Without a strong jungler, GorillA is the man who is tasked with taking care of Zefa and putting him in positions to succeed. Not only does GorillA do a wonderful Lustboy impression, keeping enemies and opposing laners off his ADC, but he also shares a similar penchant for landing skillshots. GorillA is a player whose Thresh is to be feared. He may get over-rated, in terms of his general level, for his proficiency on that one champion, as seems to be the trend with Thresh mains, but he is certainly a major threat with it in his hands.

　　

18. Bjergsen (Mid laner of Team SoloMid)

Flashy, impulsive and at times brilliant. Or at least Bjergsen is when his head is in the game, which hasn't been the case for all of the past two splits playing in North America. Adding shot-calling into the equation has clearly put a strain on the young Dane, which he has begun to learn to bear, but he already shows signs of hesitation during his play in the NA LCS Spring playoffs. Bjergsen's weaknesses have nothing to do with his champion pool or his skillset, both of which are impressive and show massive amounts of potential, but rather in his mentality.

　　Where players like nukeduck and Froggen display a steely self-belief and drive to dominate the opposition, though from drastically different perspectives and playing styles, one senses that Bjergsen doesn't always know, for himself, that he's the carry he can be. When his mind allows it, his game can shine the brightest of any Western player, we just don't see that enough for him to be raised higher up on this list. One day, Bjergsen could be in the top 10 of a list like this, but that will have to be an improved Bjergsen, mentally, and at a future event.

　　

17. Ggoong (Mid laner of NaJin White Shield)

Like many assassin players, and the champions they play, Ggoong burst into the spotlight with some outrageous plays on his signature champions. When those champions were taken away from him, through banning or nerfing, we saw his level drop off a cliff and he became merely a good Korean Mid laner, no longer a top three at that position and future rival of Faker's. The assassins are back and so is Ggoong, sort of. Despite his team's blistering Qualifier form, he was fairly quiet and workmanlike in his contribution.

　　Ggoong doesn't seem to have the tilt issues of an Ambition or Bjergsen, but he also hasn't hard carried many games since the Spring. The Ggoong we saw back in April is likely never coming back, but the one we have now is a pretty solid player and on the right champions will impress.

　　

16. Gogoing (Top laner of OMG)

Now that PDD has left, Gogoing is the man in the Top lane in China. Taking cues from his strong and pronounced jawline, rugged and manly as one could ever hope to appear, Gogoing is very much a bustling, brutish Top laner who will match up well against anyone who enters the lane against him at Worlds. Perhaps a candidate for most under-rated player in the world, Gogoing can be the solid second carry of his team, ensuring Cool is not set to a life of hard-carrying such as Faker is now cursed with.

　　My beloved Flame did not make it to Worlds, but a match-up of Gogoing and Save will have to do for those us with a love of Top lane carrying.

　　

15. Meteos (Jungler of Cloud9)

If this list had been made back in the Spring, I may well have boosted this American Jungler closer to the top 10. As it is, this last split was the worst of his career, yet he still almost walked away a champion for the third straight time. Make no mistake, Meteos is the true carry of Cloud9. The gap between himself and the other NA junglers is no longer as huge as it was after Xmithie's skills sadly passed away (R.I.P.), but Meteos is still the prime candidate for the best Western Jungler.

　　To illustrate the importance of Meteos' game to Cloud9's success, just observe the form of Balls over the last split. Meteos' dip and the change in the meta meant the Jungler no longer there to ensure Balls always got rolling in his lane, that guaranteed early tower-dive gank no longer occuring or succeeding. When discussing a team as good at objective control as C9 are, it's worth pointing out that Meteos apparently makes some of the calls on dragon and baron, so he must be credited well in that respect, as his team have always been very good at knowing which to contest, when to contest them and how to sneak them.

　　In a world with strong mechanical junglers heading over from Europe and monsters like DanDy and Spirit awaiting him in Korea, Meteos will no longer be the big fish in the North American pond. This is when we'll see how he matches up against the World's best at his position.

　　

14. LoveLing (Jungler of OMG)

The player who has also gone under names like Drug and allen, is actually best known, by enthusiasts at least, for his two periods as the Support player of OMG. He was one of the primary stars of his team at Support, even drawing comparisons to MadLife, during the Summer of last year. As a Jungler, the world saw him impress in the group stage of S3 Worlds. Now he returns to Worlds again playing in the jungle.

　　It doesn't surprise me at all to discover that LoveLing apparently has a fiery temper with team-mates and is a very driven individual. The Chinese Junglers game speaks to a determined stubbornness over how he thinks the game should be played, from his champions pick and ignored to his builds. LoveLing is perhaps the most infuriating Chinese player, as his bursts of brilliance can make him seem like a transcendent player, only for other games to see him seemingly unable to find the same player within himself.

　　A flawed gem in the Chinese scene, though a rare master of two competitive roles.

　　

13. Spirit (Jungler of Samsung Galaxy Blue)

Spirit's emergence this year was a primary factor propelling Samsung Blue on their runs, nearly yielding two straight OGN championships. With the meta in his favour and all of his carries on fire, Spirit a more mechanically gifted 2013 bengi, seemingly always in the right position to create a play, nullify an opponent's move and orchestrate a team-fight. He does seem to be one of the players in Blue who cooled in the finals, though it's understandable why, being as he was facing a jungle god in his fearsome form, in Arrow's KaKAO.

　　Spirit is still a scary proposition for any team to face and will tear apart many of the teams who hope to create early-game pressure and copy KT Arrow's approach to defeating Blue, from the OGN final.

　　

12. Rekkles (AD Carry of fnatic)

My candidate for the most over-rated player in the world, though Bjergsen only loses by a photo finish, is Rekkles, the AD Carry of fnatic. He is a very good player, close to elite level at his position, and yet the impact of his style and team-mates is seemingly often overlooked when discussing him.

　　In the context of fnatic, the team with a legendary Mid laner, the best European Top laner of all-time and the best European Support player, Rekkles is not required to hard carry often and in fact doesn't. Instead, he is able to contribute to games in which he hits peak form and otherwise can deliver solid, consistent performances and come away with wins.

　　Playing with YellOwStaR clearly benefits Rekkles, steering him away from tunnelling too hard on farming and going into that hypercarry mindset that Doublelift 2013 and Uzi 2014 are seemingly stuck in. YellOwStaR is not a mere witness to the greatness of Rekkles' ADC play, he is able to facilitate it and contribute to it, himself equipped with excellent mechanics, at least for a Support, and understanding of the ADC role.

　　Rekkles is one of the best hopes the West has of having an elite player at a position and he does seem to show signs of gradual improvement. Now he needs to assert himself as a more dominant player both domestically and in international competition. Having a good KDA in a losing game or a highlight play in a big game are not enough to establish one as elite, that comes from consistently being one of the best players in the server and the world.

　　

11. Cool (Mid laner of OMG)

The Mid laner of OMG was able to show that Faker could be rivaled last year, even if he was doomed to be defeated in the end, as all of Faker's rivals were back then. Since returning, Cool has never fully hit his peak level of performance, though he is nearing it and is now starting to deliver with more consistency. What makes Cool so dangerous is that he really is what we might wish Bjergsen, a fully actualised and self-confident Bjergsen, to be. This is a very dangerous Mid laner, from his wicked skillset through to his scary champion pool and expressed through his aggressive playing style.

　　

10. PawN (Mid laner of Samsung Galaxy White)

Maybe I spoke too soon about over-rated players, because PawN gets a seemingly unlimited amount of praise for his defeats of Faker. Firstly, PawN's team is significantly better than Faker's and PawN is not even the third best player on his team. Secondly, against anyone but Superman, that kryptonite that PawN is holding seemingly does not work the same way. He is a very good Mid laner, well suited to White's style, but he is not going to hard carry every game like dade threatens to.

　　Give PawN the right champions and he will run over his opponents, looking monstrous as he does so, but against some opponents and on some champions, he can look fairly human and beatable.

　　

9. Save (Top laner of NaJin White Shield)

Flame's heir, Save, last of the lineage of great Korean carry Top laners. Reapered and MaKNooN look on from Top laner heaven, observing the next one's progress, while his older brothers Shy and Flame can rest in the knowledge that a Korean can still carry an international tournament from the Top lane in their times. That so few of these kinds of players exist is significant, but even moreso that so few are attending the World Championship. This tournament should be considered an all-you-can-eat buffet for Save and he came with the kind of appetite that's going to put the restaurant out of business.

　　Get him off his best champions and Save does show weakness, but right now he has a strong selection of champions to his name and is leading the way in how a number of them are to be played in the lane. Let Save get to the late-game with a stacked rod of ages and you're going to have a very bad time.

　　

8. Uzi (AD Carry of StarHorn Royal Club)

Uzi lives the life Doublelift can only dream of: partnered with a Korean Support, hard-carrying from the botlane on hypercarries and making impulsive and incredible individual plays any time he pleases. The final form Uzi is an abomination to everything Riot has attempted to accomplish with their game balancing over the last year, moving the game away from monster ADCs and weak supports, but his bloodshed is sacred in as much as it is beautiful to behold.

　　Uzi is overly aggressive at times and does show reluctance to play champions which might help his team win more games, but without him carrying, something Monte had done a good job with Doublelift on during the previous two LCS splits. At his peak, his play is so powerful that I can understand why many will have him in their top five players, but I think everyone above him on this list showcases a much more refined game.

　　

7. Froggen (Mid laner of Alliance)

A white man is in the top 10 of this list, what fresh madness is this, sir? Froggen is the best Western pro and it's not even a particularly close contest between him and Rekkles for that title. Froggen is one of the most polished players in the entire world, someone who knows exactly how he wants to play the game, why he wants to play in that manner and how to go about precisely executing his philosophies in the form of his play.

　　That polish is the mushroom of the mycelial network that is Froggen's philosophy on the game. The Danish Mid laner plays a very grinding, consistent and controlled game. Creating small opportunities to gain an edge on opponents, Froggen will only accept risks when the odds are in his favour. This is often mistaken as passivity or an unwillingness to fight, but those qualities are often signs of a player who lacks for confidence or knowledge of the play he should make. Froggen not only doesn't share those qualities, he doesn't lack for confidence at all.

　　Froggen's skill level is immense, as is his champion pool. He can hard carry, as he has shown in countless playoffs, and, crucially, his nerve is cast iron. Froggen does not and will not choke. The Froggen who dominates a regular split game is the same Froggen who shows up in the elimination game in the playoffs, late in the game and with his team desperately needing someone to carry.

　　

6. Deft (AD Carry of Samsung Galaxy Blue)

When Blue were the undisputed kings of the world, Deft could at times look like the best player in that world. Get him to the late-game and nobody can seemingly output as much damage, as efficiently and without risk as Deft. Everyone can instantly conjure up images of his mighty Kog firing out ultimates that all land, destroying the enemy and dispersing them in a key team-fight that Blue rampages through to take the game. That is Deft's world and he is the king of it, at least until NaMei shows up in the same server.

　　I think Deft and dade are the best one-two punch of carries in LoL right now, though I edge the primary carry role to dade, for historical reasons and due to the number of big performances he has delivered.

　　

5. DanDy (Jungler of Samsung Galaxy White)

There never quite was a Jungler like DanDy. I think a legitimate case could be made that DanDy has been the best Jungler in the world since Ozone's rise in Spring of 2013. Others held that title, according to the general consensus, but all came and went, but DanDy endures. The master of mind-games, DanDy is unbelievable at counter-ganking and understanding where the opposing Jungler will be. He is probably the best smite-man in the history of the game, truly earning the "prince of thieves" moniker and winning many a game by turning a dragon or baron fight with one of his thefts.

　　The carries of his team can look so strong that they demand our attention, but DanDy is the diligent set-up man, throwing that alley-oop or behind-the-back pass that they put home into the hoop. Everything starts and ends with DanDy for White, one can often see how the game went by looking merely at how DanDy's game went.

　　

4. imp (AD Carry of Samsung Galaxy White)

Many will have Deft above imp, not least because his team beats imp's every time they play and has indeed been beating essentially everyone. Be that as it may, I think imp is the best AD Carry in Korea. Like DanDy, a case could be made that he has been the best since Ozone's rise, though I will concede that Piglet was phenomenal and near unbeatable at times in 2013.

　　imp is like a more refined Uzi, perhaps due to the presence and synergy of Mata, but nonetheless in a manner which is apparent. Yes, he is bristling with aggression and the desire to take over the game, but he is held in check and not let off the chain until it is the right time. Crucial to imp is that he plays with Mata, who is just as cocky and desiring to dominate as he. They are the master of forcing trades in lane, making fights they can win and initimidating the opposing players.

　　It doesn't matter that Deft is a better team-fighter than imp, as imp is not only very good in that respect, but most games he plays don't require him to display his skills in that regard, as they're over before a true late-game field can be set.

　　

3. NaMei (AD Carry of Edward Gaming)

The world doesn't truly know how good NaMei is because it hasn't really gotten the chance to see him compete, due to lack of international competition and his team not attending any. This is the hard carry of three straight LPL titles. A man whose entire team is built around the philosophy of getting him to the late game, where he is a closer the likes of which could draw comparisons with Mariano Rivera or Michael Jordan, at their peaks.

　　Chinais well known in manufacturing for churning out cheap copies of already existing brands, and their approach to LoL does at times seem like they take a successful formula and simply repeat it ad nauseum. With their history of great AD Carries, it seems as if NaMei is the modern day heir to WeiXiao and his team, while very different to the classic World Elite, is able to support and facilitate his greatness much as the old WE did. It's crucial to point out, though, that NaMei is no cheap knock-off, he's very much the equal of peak era WeiXiao and has the potential to even exceed the old master.

　　Like WeiXiao, NaMei is not just a mechanically dominant ADC, near perfect in that regard, but also one of the most cerebral to ever play that position. NaMei is not the mad bull that Uzi can appear as, for good or for ill, but rather the cunning and fearsome jaguar who circles his prey looking for the opportune moment to pounce and seize the kill.

　　imp, Doublelift and Uzi have spoiled the world, and a few million soloq games, with their brute force approach to the position, where the finesse and majesty of WeiXiao and NaMei instead coaxes an incredible consistency from that role that one rarely sees from the mechanically gifted ADC. If the former trio were compared to basketball players, they'd be powerful centres like Wilt Chamberlain and Shaq, where the latter duo are to be considered Tim Duncan and Hakeem Olajuwons, consistent finesse players.

　　NaMei will go down in history as one of the five best players to ever compete in LoL, if his career continues in the same fashion as it has so far.

　　

2. Mata (Support of Samsung Galaxy White)

The best player on White isn't even in a carry role, he's their Support player. I think you could make a strong case that Mata is the best player in the entire world, but for the natural bias of carry roles shining more vividly and Faker still living and breathing. Mata is that good, the true heir to MadLife as the god of the utility carries.

　　Mata not only keeps one of the best ADCs in the world in check, he actually plays a vital role in aiding his powerful play. Mata's champion pool seemingly knows no ends and limits, he is a god at more than a couple of champions and can seemingly play whatever he pleases, with positive results to be expected. In team-fights, he is so scarily effective that it might wake up the Riot designer who decided to give Supports more gold up in a cold sweat, the weight of the terror he has awoken bearing on his conscience.

　　No Support at Worlds can compare to Mata. They should change his name to Manna, because he comes from heaven to sustain his people daily. Mata has made us all polytheistic, no longer is MadLife the only god for the faithful.

　　

1. dade (Mid laner of Samsung Galaxy Blue)

dade is the only player who has ever seen like a legitimate alternative to Faker as the best player in the world. Admittedly, that was not the case during his latter period in Ozone, but for all of 2014 he has been an exhaustively impressive master of the Mid lane. Yes, he requires his meta, just as the vampire requires darkness, but in his element he is truly to be feared. dade is the play-maker highlight play clip-makers have prayed for, especially with a team surrounding him which allows him to pick his best champions, where Faker sometimes seems hamstrung in having to pick for his team, instead.

　　dade has been in the most OGN finals of any player in history, indeed he is on a record-tying three straight appearances on that stage currently. Had his team won the title this Summer, he would have become the first player to ever win three OGN titles. He is the only player to have won an OGN title with two entirely different teams. In short, dade is not Faker, but he is incredible and unique in his own respects.

　　

Those left off the list

I won't address all of them in great depth, but here are some of the most significant names who did not make my top 20:

　　Tabzz

　　Svenskeren

　　fredy122

　　sOAZ

　　U

　　Acorn

　　Heart

　　Looper

　　Balls

　　XiaoWeiXiao

　　Winds

　　Tabzz was a close call, but I don't think I have seen him perform well enough under playoff conditions or in LAN tournaments to consider him above any of the other names on my list. Svenskeren looks more a product of his team and their approach to the game than any other top jungler I could mention. fredy122 is very solid, but his team's success and his unique Aatrox play sees him often over-hyped. sOAZ really could have made this list, I hold him in such high regard, but I'm not convinced he has been at his peak form in a while, just occasionally showing a glimpse of it.

　　I have such a hard time figuring out what U is doing that I couldn't be clear where he would go on this list, I think after Worlds I will know whether he should have been in the bottom five or not. Acorn and Heart I have always through were vastly over-rated during Blue's zenith, though Acorn did have a phenomenal OGN Spring final vs. Save and was very beautifully suited to that meta. Looper has four team-mates who are in the top six, so I think his very solid blue collar approach gets overblown, in the context of a list like this.

　　Balls is not the player he was during C9's highest peaks and plays in a relatively weak region for Top laners. XiaoWeiXiao has literally never done anything significant beyond own NA Mid laners during the regular portion of the split, which is hardly an incredible accomplishment. He was decent in the playoffs, but he couldn't consistently carry. Finally, Winds probably could be on this list, I just haven't watched nearly enough GPL to know.

　　Photo credit: lolesports, CLOUDY, OnGameNet