Worlds 2022 Player Power Rankings (10–1)
1 OCTOBER 2022 — by League Analyst | ft. Yohan Markov
It is time for part two of the Worlds 2022 Player Power Rankings! We have ten players to go, and Yohan Markov's last honorable mention. If you missed part one and want to catch up, you can do that right here. Otherwise we will jump straight into it!
Disclaimer
The usual reminder, these ratings are all in good fun and hugely based on subjective opinions. With that in mind, let’s continue!
The early game master of JGD, it’s Kanavi. Surrounded by calm and collected laners, Kanavi is the player who brings the spice to JDG. He tends to favor early-game champions, such as Vi, Viego, and Lee Sin, and uses them to put his team into a favorable position going into the mid- and lategame. Against the aggressive and lane dominating teams of the world, it’s Kanavi who keeps JDG on pace and applies the pressure needed to keep his laners ahead of the curve.
You are in game 5 of a Worlds qualification match and have to blind pick toplane, what do you do? If you are Breathe, you slam Fiora, hard carry the game and refuse to elaborate. This is the ultimate fighter player of the LPL, the most mechanically gifted region in the world. Even though the team doesn't give him resources very often, Breathe makes himself the strong side of the map and beats down every single player who dares to challenge him to a duel.
One of the most dominant players in the LPL, it’s Knight. It’s not often KDA stats can be used to rate a player without further context. But this madman pulled off a 10.0 KDA during his LPL regular season (38 games), beating the 2nd highest rated player by miles. It’s safe to say that if left to his own device, Knight might be the player with the highest chance to take over a game in the entire tournament.
Mr Toothpaste himself. Jokes aside, Yagao has probably had his best split in his career over in the LPL. His ability to impact the map and synchronize with his team has been unmatched. A big reason for JGD’s success has been their ability to outmaneuver their opposition as a team. It is difficult to identify exactly who is pulling the strings, because the team feels more like one coordinated unit rather than five individual players. But as the centerpiece of the team, Yagao is most certainly holding steady and provides the pressure needed, freeing up his teammates on the map.
Ruler has always been a personal favorite of mine, and seeing his growth this year has been a pleasure. I’ve always viewed him as the perfect weak-side ADC. A player that always provides value, regardless if he gets resources or not. But this year, that definition hasn’t been enough. When Lucian became a priority pick during summer, Ruler was probably the best at it worldwide. When you watched his games, it felt like he was doing more damage than should be possible with the resources given to him. But Ruler just makes it work. Given his abilities, it wasn’t a big surprise that Yohan considered Ruler the best ADC in the world.
Our second honorable mention, Xiaohu! Despite his team barely scraping into Worlds, Xiaohu was voted into the summer 1st all-pro team in the LPL. And it comes as no surprise seeing as he is one of the premiere playmakers of the region. He is the type of player who never backs down and plays the game on a knife's edge at all time. In 2022, he has had a hard time adjusting to the meta and has been hurt because of it. But if Xiaohu can find his niche, we all know what he is capable of.
Into the top five we go! To start us off, we have the dice rolling 369. In 2022, the once shaky toplaner seems to have gotten the game down because he has only been rolling nines. As most of the players towards the end of the list, 369 has few apparent weaknesses. His stellar performances awarded him a place in the LPL 1st all-pro team in the summer split together with a certain jungler who is coming up next!
High activity jungling balanced out with great mind for the game, it’s Tian. You might remember him from back in 2019, where he was awarded MVP in the Worlds finals together with FPX. After struggling with injuries for quite some time, he is back in shape and is outperforming junglers left and right in China. What makes him stand out? In my eyes, it’s quite simply that he finds angles that others don’t, and executes his game plan with a precision that is unmatched.
Peanut does undeniably have some great laners around him. But what impresses me the most about him is that he's able to get ahead in-game without relying on them. In a sense he is the driving force, the commander who directs GEN.G towards victory, and few junglers could do it with such creativity and confidence as Peanut. This is a player who can win a game simply by being smarter than his opponent, and his unique abilities adds a complexity factor to Gen.G that few other teams have.
The super carry of EDG, the defending world champions. Viper actually reminds med quite a lot of Uzi in the sense that his team naturally tends to play towards him because of his insane mechanics. In my eyes, he is the most complete ADC at the tournament. He plays virtually every ADC in the game at a level that few to none are able to match. So if I had to place my bets on who’d be able to carry their team to the title, my money would be on Viper.
With a new team supporting him, Chovy has been completely unleashed and is in my eyes the best player coming into the World Championship. Many have acknowledged his stellar laning phases before, but in 2022 he has looked sharper than ever. He seemingly never loses individual matchups and has been able to transition his leads into victories together with his team, making Gen.G a big contender for the title.
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