T1 content creator and analyst Nick “LS” De Cesare sat down with professional mid laner Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek to create a Mid-Season Invitational 2021 competitive champion tier list for the tournament’s patch 11.9.
Each of the five roles have six tiers each, starting from Z, which he defines as broken, followed by A, B, C, and lastly, “DON’T”.
Only Gangplank is classified as broken in top lane
Even though Gangplank hasn’t been buffed recently, a slew of top laners like Gragas and Mundo received nerfs, which gave Gangplank room to rise up to Z-tier.
Six champions occupy S-tier, all of whom are also multi-flex options. Lulu and Karma were recently buffed and are also considered broken supports by LS and Nemesis.
Lee Sin was buffed twice on patch 11.4 and 11.8. This caused pro players like Rasmus “Caps” Borregaard Winther to play Lee Sin in solo lanes because his base stats are so high now.
Down at the bottom, after getting nerfed twice in patch 11.5, which increased the cost of Barrell Roll (Q), and MSI patch 11.9 which reduced the base damage of Body Slam (E), LS and Nemesis think that Gragas simply cannot be played at top anymore.
Watch out for Kindred and Rumble in the jungle
It’s no surprise that LS and Nemesis placed Kindred and Rumble in Z-tier in the jungle. Kindred received three buffs in two patches, which made her meta again, while improvements to Overheat in patch 11.8 single-handedly caused solo queue players and pros alike to pick Rumble once more.
In the S-tier, all of LS and Nemesis’ choices are AP champions. Lillia has been meta since her conception, while the other three are champions we haven’t seen in a while.
Morgana jungle in particular was intentionally buffed by Riot Games. At first, Tormented Shadow’s damage against non-epic monsters was increased to 200%, but has since been reduced to 185% in patch 11.9. She’s a fast clearer, and gives pros more drafting options.
Interestingly, despite the buffs, LS and Nemesis dropped jungle Lee Sin in B-tier, which is even lower than top and mid lane Lee Sin. He simply doesn’t fit the fast clear meta right now, and will be a situational pick.
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Not a single champion is broken in mid lane
The first thing you’ll notice is that LS and Nemesis did not place a single champion in Z-tier in the mid lane.
That said, six champions LS and Nemesis included in S-tier are all AP mages with great wave clear. The exception of course, is Zed, who could be sleeper OP.
A-tier cannot be ignored either, for Riot has been buffing Soraka a lot since Season 10. LS has been vocal about how great Soraka is, just that teams have not been using her. Will she finally make a solo lane appearance at MSI 2021?
All eyes on Kog’Maw and Varus
In patch 11.5, the bonus magic damage on his Bio-Arcane Barrage was buffed. In patch 11.9, three of Kog’Maw’s other abilities were also strengthened, which gave LS and Nemesis every reason to bump him to Z-tier.
Going along with the Soraka train where she could be paired with Senna, LS and Nemesis put her in S-tier alongside Jinx, who has been in the meta for quite sometime now since patch 11.3’s buffs.
Will Shields and heals make a comeback?
All of Spring 2021, major League of Legends pro leagues have been prioritizing Rell, or Alistar as a counter, or Tahm Kench and Thresh to pair with Jinx, or when all else fails, Leona and Rakan.
Supports have been pro teams’ primary engage, but with the recent buffs to Karma, Lulu, and Soraka, LS and Nemesis believe it warrants a completely shift in the meta towards shielding supports who benefit from Moonstone Renewer and Staff of Flowing Water.
Watch LS and Nemesis’ full explanation of their MSI 2021 best champions tier list here:
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