There will be no repeat MVP in the North American League Championship this season, as the spring split winner, Phoenix1's Noh "Arrow" Dong-hyeon, failed to even make third-team All-NA LCS at the AD carry position and won't in reality be in contention. However, a repeat winner, namely TSM's superstar mid laner searching for his fourth league MVP in Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg, could be in the cards.
With the All-NA LCS teams announced, let's break down which players have a chance at the coveted MVP award as we near the announcement in two weeks at the NA LCS Finals in Boston.
The most annoying debate in League of Legends today: Bjergsen or Jensen?
Some people like Coke, and others Pepsi. Some Burger King, some McDonalds. Some think Bjergsen should take home his fourth NA LCS MVP, and others believe that Cloud9 ace Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen is the rightful owner of the split's top individual prize.
In the All-NA LCS voting, Jensen narrowly edged out his Danish countryman, getting the nod thanks to the majority of casters and third-party media siding with him. Players and coaches, though, were the opposite, taking the three-time MVP winner as the league's best mid laner for the summer split.
When it comes to numbers and pure statistics, it's hard to vote against Jensen. Like the debate this year for the NBA MVP where Russell Westbrook eventually took home the award, Jensen was the main focal point of his team's success this split. His kills, lack of deaths, and the reliance his team put on him to carry allowed Jensen to put up some of the biggest numbers we've seen out of the mid lane in league history.
Bjergsen, well, is Bjergsen. Since coming to North America almost four years ago, he's been the face of the league. If Jensen is Westbrook, Bjergsen is LeBron James. He has multiple domestic championships, multiple individual accolades, and something almost no other NA player has, an international title when TSM won the IEM World Championship back in 2015 in Katowice.
Come the MVP voting, it's anyone's game. Jensen's numerous Player of the Game awards will be a factor, but the players and coaches picking Bjergsen are likely to stick with him as the No. 1 player in the league.
Splitting the votes: Immortals' influential duo
Jake "Xmithie" Puchero and Kim "Olleh" Joo-sung of Immortals are equally deserving of the summer MVP award. The one issue for the pair is that there is a good chance the votes will be between the two players, and Bjergsen and Jensen will take the other two spots. The word "most valuable," especially when there is a slew of acceptable candidates, usually divides players who are on the same team.
On their own merits, neither player would be a shock winner. When it comes down to putting who was the most valuable to the Immortals, many voters will mull who was the most influential to the Immortals' rebound season after missing the playoffs last split.
Xmithie was the catalyst to the team's early season success, with the former Counter Logic Gaming jungler guiding the former early-game focused team into becoming a complete package. Come the second half, Olleh emerged as the team's ace player in the support role, his playmaking and roaming on champions like Alistar, Thresh, and Bard locking in the first-round bye for Immortals.
On separate teams, Xmithie and Olleh could have finished both in the top 3 in MVP voting. Both being on the same team, however, it could be the difference between one of them taking home the trophy to neither finishing in the top two positions for the award.
But hey, if the duo can help Immortals win the league overall and qualify for the World Championships over Bjergsen's TSM and Jensen's C9, the MVP award will be an easy price to pay for a trip to China in October.
The longshots
These players could pick up votes, but don't expect any to win the award unless something unimaginable happens.
Kim "ssumday" Chan-ho: Ssumday was the first-team top laner this split and the leader of a much-improved Dignitas team. Problem is, the top lane was the closest position throughout the split, and the top four top laners all have arguments on why they should be the considered the best. While that will be settled in the playoffs, ssumday should receive the most MVP votes at his position.
Nam "LirA" Tae-yoo: LirA is the everything of Team Envy. He's the de-facto strategic coach, the ace, the tempo-maker, and the guy the team looks to make the hard decisions in-game. When push comes to shove, LirA is the player that is certainly the most valuable for a single team in the league. Without LirA, Envy would be nowhere near a playoff spot; with him, although in the No. 6 position, it has a chance for an upset over CLG, a trip to Boston, and an outside shot at qualifying for Worlds.
Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng: The all-NA LCS top AD carry, Doublelift is expected to be in a few ballots for MVP. The issue is, like mentioned before with the Immortals duo, that voters tend to shy away from putting two players from the same team on the same MVP ballot unless that team is far and away the best in the league. This season, the teams are relatively close in skill, and that means Doublelift, someone who has come so close to winning the award before but just finishing behind the winner, will probably end up losing a good chunk of his votes in favor of supporting Bjergsen.