The mid lane is said to be the most important position in the game, and Korea is known to produce the best mid laners around the world. The top talent pool in the mid lane for the LCK has been similar for some seasons now — it’s a matter of who comes first. After some long thoughts, here are the top five mid laners to keep an eye on for the 2022 LCK Summer Split.

5. Yoo “FATE” Soo-hyeok — Kwangdong Freecs

With good fundamentals and a wide champion pool, FATE's biggest strength is his stability and consistency. He does his role well without much assistance from his jungler while providing support to his sidelanes. FATE is more of an anti-carry style player who limits his opponents from scaling. That being said, his biggest weakness was that he didn't really show the hyper-carry performance that the S-tier mid laners have shown over the past years. However, towards the end of the 2022 LCK Spring Split, FATE overcame that weakness and started to carry for his team. 

Going into the summer season, FATE will be one of the players that benefit the most from the durability patch. More mages will be appearing in the mid-lane, and this will put a big smile on FATE’s face. He’s definitely one of the top players to keep an eye on for the Summer season.

4. Gwak “Bdd” Bo-seong — Nongshim RedForce

One of the four players that are constantly in the conversation for the best LCK mid laner, Bdd is a player who gets the job done. When his team is winning, he's usually the reason; when his team is behind, everyone looks to him to make a miracle turnaround. Bdd will be another beneficiary of the durability patch, as he is also a great mage player.

When you discuss Bdd, you can't leave out Azir and Zoe, as they take up more than 25% of his total games played. His performance on these two champions is exceptional. His Azir is something different: he can pick it in any meta and any situation and crane his team to victory. When he plays Zoe, his sleep bubbles come from everywhere and feel like targeted abilities rather than skillshots.

Bdd's last season in Nongshim RedForce didn’t tow in great results, but the team was affected greatly by COVID infections. Heading into Summer, that won’t be happening, and Bdd will be ready to climb to the top.

3. Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon — Gen.G

Since his debut in Griffin, Chovy has remained one of the most talented players LoL esports has ever seen. His mechanics are unmatched, and when it comes to macro, it's almost like he can see two minutes into the future. The most incredible ability of Chovy is his laning and collecting CS, where he often gets ahead of his opponents with unfavorable matchups.

Chovy has been to five LCK finals over eight seasons in the LCK, but he hasn’t been able to win a single championship. The Spring season was an adapting period for Chovy. He will be more prepared and more determined than ever to raise his first trophy.

2. Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok — T1

What needs to be said? The unkillable demon king has reached his Nth prime. Last season, Faker led his team full of young prospects into an undefeated championship for the first time in history. He fell shy of the MSI championship after a tough loss against RNG, but that doesn’t take away from his value in any way.

Faker comes into the Summer Split as the oldest LCK player, but he has already proven that age doesn’t matter. The young talents around him have gained international experience, and with that, T1 are ready to take off for another great split.

1. Heo “ShowMaker” Su — DWG KIA

ShowMaker put his name up as one of the greats when he won Worlds back in 2020. From laning to roaming and teamfighting, he was there whenever his team needed him. He really does everything well, and with a better top side to aid him this season, he shouldn't have to worry about a weak link in his team's setup.

Meta champions don’t matter much to ShowMaker as he’s good at playing anything — back in 2020, ShowMaker reached Challenger without playing any champion twice. All that will matter is that ShowMaker has his eyes set on that championship trophy and that he’s hungry to win more.