Three months have passed since the start of the 2023 League of Legends season, and we’ve gone through many different phases, both in-game and when it comes to the ranked system.
Not only was there the introduction of two different splits within the same season, but Riot also tweaked the LP gains, boosting up all Challengers players’ total points.
Related: LEC legend returns to top of LoL’s solo queue mountain just in time for MSI 2023
As a result, we’re starting to see more and more players staying above 1500 LPs, with a few also breaking the 1700-1800 mark. That said, there is one player who made the heroic achievement of breaking the 2000 LP mark, making it the first time in NA League’s history.
But who is this guy, and how did he manage to achieve this accolade? Here is everything you need to know about the best ranked LoL player on the NA solo queue ladder.
NA’s Rank 1 is not an LCS player
The current Rank 1 player on the NA ladder does not play in the LCS, but he has made a name for himself in the amateur and academy scene. His name is Zheng “TonyTop” Fen, and he’s a Canadian top laner with Chinese origins. He was the first-ever player to get 2,000 LPs, reaching a peak of 2,087 in the first week of April 2023.
In the previous years, he had various stints on academy teams like Dignitas, Golden Guardians, and Evil Geniuses, peaking at third place in the LCS Proving Grounds.
This year, Tonytop is currently playing in his own amateur team called Team TonyTop, which recently finished top four in the NA Challengers League Qualifier Playoffs.
Even though he’s been popping off in the solo queue, Tony’s top competitive stats haven’t been stellar. In his latest split in NA Academy Summer 2022, the Canadian-Chinese top laner had some of the lowest individual stats. He was the second-worst in terms of damage percentage, with the fourth-lowest CS per minute, sporting a negative CS and XP differential at 15 minutes, according to the stats site Games of Legends.
What does Tonytop play in solo queue compared to competitive games?
Based on his main account profile, Tonytop has shown great proficiency on four champions in particular: Jax, Camille, Fiora, and Jayce.
They share an ability to carry games and hard stomp lanes and matchups if played near perfection. While unforgiving, these are some of the best top lane champions you can play to carry in solo queue. Thanks to his strong mechanics, Tonytop can snowball in most games during the laning phase, prevailing in one-vs-one situations.
It’s not a surprise to see him have positive stats on all of them, but his mains, Jax and Jayce, are truly something else. Tonytop is boasting a 58 percent win rate on Jayce across 110 games, and Jax is at a 66 percent win rate with 76 wins and 40 losses.
In comparison, Camille and Fiora are both at a 52 percent win rate, with 44 and 31 games played, respectively. Tonytop also plays Irelia and Rumble occasionally with good success (according to his OP.GG). His most-played tank, instead, is Sion, sitting at a 64 percent win rate across 21 games.
While his KDAs aren’t stellar, he’s always able to exert an enormous amount of side lane pressure thanks to his picks. Once these champions start getting some items, they become hard to handle and will out-scale most champions.
Tonytop doesn’t seem to have a preferred secondary role solo queue: his most-played non-top laner is Rakan with seven games, but he also has games on ADCs like Varus, Draven, Ezreal, and Lucian. Aside from Rakan, he also has games on other support champions like Alistar, Soraka, and Taric, winning with all of them (according to his OP.GG stats).
NA’s Rank 1 is nearing 2,000 LPs once again
Even though Tonytop dropped below 2,000 LPs, he’s trying to climb once again, as he’s currently sitting at 1,976. He’s heads and shoulders above everyone else, with more than 200 LPs over the second-highest player on the NA ladder.
Considering how consistent he has been in solo queue so far, the 2023 season might be the year we really start to see him shine as a mechanical, damage-oriented top laner, similar to the Korean and Chinese players from the Eastern world. All he needs is a chance.
