Who was the best LPL player for each lane in this 2018 Rift Rivals? 

On the 9th of July (CST), the LPL region claimed the 2018 LCK/LPL/LMS Rift Rivals trophy. China delivered a solid performance with 6 wins and 2 loses. In the finals, they defeated the LCK representatives 3:2.

Now that Rift Rivals is over, we have selected the top LPL player for each lane. The following are the LPL All-Stars for this Rift Rivals by Inven Global.

Top lane: Invictus Gaming Kang 'TheShy' Seung-lok

TheShy is rated as one of the best-performing top laners in the 2018 LPL. In 2014, when he played for WE, he couldn’t perform due to an age restriction policy. His first on-stage performance was in June 2017 against IMAY in the Demacia Cup. Although it took almost 3 years for him to debut, the team was still willing to spend the time and effort to support this prominent young player.

Due to his hand injury, TheShy was not expected to participate in this year’s Rift Rivals. However, he managed to come back on the iG roster for the competition and delivered a remarkable performance against Machi E-Sports using Aatrox.

▲ TheShy's reworked Aatrox was the center of attention.

▲ His performance was indeed the best among the LPL top laners

Although he is known as one of the top young players in the LPL, some have criticized him for his misbehavior, such as when he purposely left in the middle of a solo queue. There also were rumors about TheShy using an account that was not in his name. As a pro, he’ll have to improve his professionalism in order to be respected as a top player in the LoL scene.

Jungle: Royal Club Never Give Up Liu ‘Mlxg’  Shi-Yu

As a member of a second division team in 2014, Mlxg already was praised for his seemingly limitless potential. This young jungler started to peak after he moved from Team King to RNG. His strength is not only from his crazy mechanics but also his creative early-game jungle routes.

In the Rift Rivals final against SKT T1, Mlxg picked Camille. He succeeded on his level 2 mid gank and constantly pressured top lane, which stopped SKT from snowballing early. His adventurous plays deserve more respect in the current meta since other junglers these days choose to farm up safely rather than going for risky ganks.

Mlxg is currently competing with former Flash Wolves’ jungler Karsa to be in the starting lineup. The fact that RNG has two of the best junglers in LoL is a huge advantage. It is expected that their ‘friendly rivalry’ will have a positive effect on both junglers.

Mid lane: Rogue Warriors Kim ‘Doinb’ Tae-sang

It was indeed difficult to choose a single player because every LPL teams’ mid laner delivered such a high level of performance. Still, we had to go with Doinb since he almost single-handedly led his team to victory as Kled in the finals against Kingzone DragonX.

As a matter of fact, Doinb has won 4 times in 4 games with his mid Kled in this 2018 LPL Summer split. Needless to say, his Kled was recognized as a ‘must-ban’ card in this tournament. However, Kingzone did not ban Kled. Doinb confidently picked his signature champion and managed to constantly pressure and kill PraY’s Lucian.

As a mid laner Doinb makes a lot of the team calls. Given that he is a Korean player, it is surprising to see him deliver consistent laning prowess while also leading the team despite their communication barriers. Now that the Rogue Warriors are aiming for the Worlds, Doinb seems to be the clear X-factor for the team.

Bot laner: Royal Club Never Give Up Jian ‘Uzi’ Zi-hao

In China, there are numerous young marksmen that have exceptional mechanics such as JackeyLove, iBoy, and smlz. Among all of them however, Uzi sticks out as No.1. The LPL superstar again managed to deliver consistent performance throughout Rift Rivals.

In this tournament, Uzi won 3 games and lost only once with an overall KDA of 9.7. This is almost double the amounts of the aforementioned bot laners. The closest was 7.3 KDA from smlz, which still seems quite distant compared to Uzi’s stats.

In 2018, Uzi is currently accomplishing significant feats for his career. This year, he won every single tournament he participated in, such as the LPL Spring, MSI, and Rift Rivals. Currently, he only has 2 trophies left for his 2018 LoL Grand Slam; LPL Summer and Worlds. From what he has shown throughout this year, it seems quite possible that he will win both.

Support : EDG Tian ‘Meiko’ Ye

The biggest trait of LPL supports is that they tend to focus on supporting their marksman as much as possible. That is why EDG Meiko and iG Baolan are considered the best supports in the current LPL.

Although it might be rather difficult to see flashy plays from LPL supports, their high understanding of the game and their basics are respected by LoL players and professionals from across the regions. Meiko is a support that is known to have those two strengths in spades, making him capable of playing alongside any marksman in the LPL. He also excels at initiating teamfights.

Meiko currently acts as a leader for the team with Scout. His ability to deliver persistent performance in every single game makes him an indispensable player for EDG; he indeed enhances the overall quality of the team. His strengths make him clearly stick out among the rather colorless LPL supports.