After one of the most memorable World Championships, we are back with another season in the LCS. There are new faces across the league and with them comes power shifts into the stands and our power rankings. The first week of the LCS was action-packed, but there are clearly some standout teams amongst the crowd. Also, there were big surprises in week one that not many people expected. Fortunately, it has only been a weekend into the Spring Split, so many teams can still change their fate. As for us, we will jump into our power rankings for week one of the LCS.
1. Team Liquid (2-0)
Team Liquid has gotten off to an amazing start for 2019, and so they top our power rankings for week one. Granted, everyone expects them to stomp every single game so it’s not surprising that they have had a 2-0 week. Right now, Liquid has the most kills and the least deaths of any team in the LCS. Every single member was looking clean and crisp, and they’d stomp both Cloud9 and Counter Logic Gaming.
Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in and Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen have made an immediate impact on the team, providing Liquid with incredible firepower for both positions. Meanwhile, the rest of the team seems to be running on all cylinders and looks ready to top the standings and our power rankings every week. They are facing a struggling 100 Thieves squad and Clutch Gaming, two teams that shouldn’t be too much of a threat to their dominance.
2. Cloud9 (1-1)
After a great win against 100 Thieves and a tightly-contested loss against Team Liquid, Cloud9 seems to be on-route for a good Spring Split in the LCS. As a result, they take second place in our power rankings. The team’s new mid laner, Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer, looks to have settled into his role quite well. He destroyed Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun in their game against 100 Thieves, and he would play pretty well on Zoe against Team Liquid. There were many questions surrounding his addition to the team, but right now he is looking fine.
Of course, there are still some growing pains after losing your best player. However, Cloud9 looks ready for their week-two matchups against two struggling teams in Golden Guardians and Counter Logic Gaming. Look for Cloud9 to go undefeated this weekend to help their quest to another North American championship.
3. Clutch Gaming (2-0)
Clutch Gaming surprised everyone by defeating TSM and Echo Fox this past weekend. The only concern with this roster is how consistent they can be. Many of the players on this lineup are notorious for being inconsistent with their play, notably Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon. Even still, this is a good sign for Clutch, who struggled mightily in the past split. They will need to make sure that they stay stable and maintain this level of play.
Also, Tanner “Damonte” Damonte showed off some of his ability against both teams as well. Again, we haven’t been able to see Damonte play out a full season before, so this is a good chance for the young mid laner to prove himself. They’re facing off against tougher opponents in OpTic Gaming and Team Liquid for week three. However, they should consider it a win if they come out of the weekend 1-1.
4. Team SoloMid (1-1)
Even though TSM suffered a pretty bad defeat to Clutch Gaming, there are still bright spots that need to be pointed out. Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik has impressed many fans and analysts with his incredible mechanics. He actually solo killed Huni and Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho last week, two of the best top laners in the region. Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg looked crisp in the mid lane as well, especially in the 100 Thieves match. Their performance in that game earned them the fourth spot in our power rankings.
The only problem we can see right now is TSM’s passive mindset, which sets them up for failure like their Clutch Gaming loss. They do have a relatively new roster so they will need to build more synergy with one another. However, if they aren’t able to become more proactive with their leads, I can see them losing to higher-tier teams in the coming weeks. This is the same problem that has been plaguing them for the past few years now and should be addressed, earlier rather than later.
5. FlyQuest (2-0)
Another surprising 2-0 team comes in the form of FlyQuest, who took down Golden Guardians and OpTic Gaming last week. As a result, they get a top-five placement in our power rankings. Their roster has actually looked really good so far, even though it has only been one week. Having a consistent mid laner like Eugene “Pobelter” Park is a blessing to a team like FlyQuest, and should equal more wins for this team. Even Omran “V1per” Shoura and Jason “WildTurtle” Tran had their moments to shine this weekend, showing that thw team is not just a one-sided blade.
Still, I wonder how FlyQuest will do against tougher opposition. Golden Guardians and OpTic Gaming are weak competition, but they are facing off against TSM this week. If they are able to come out with another 2-0 weekend, then we’ll talk about a possible playoff push.
6. OpTic Gaming (1-1)
I’m not sure how to feel about what OpTic Gaming is doing with their roster. In their games this past weekend, they were playing four of the Academy players. (Of course, Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett is a superstar North American jungler, but still.) It feels like they are experimenting with their possible lineups, especially with how Dardoch will play alongside Lee “Crown” Min-ho. Toàn “Asta” Trần hasn’t been looking too shabby in the ADC position either, so we will need to see what lineup they go with for week two.
They will have a pretty good test ahead of them with Clutch Gaming, who is coming off of a hot first week. If they stick with their Academy roster, keep your eyes glued to Asta and Dardoch and if they can earn themselves more playing time with the main team. If they can grab another 1-1 or 2-0 week, they’ll probably hop into the top five of our power rankings.
7. 100 Thieves (0-2)
100 Thieves could not get anything going this past weekend against TSM or Cloud9. The synergy simply isn’t there yet for the team, and it shows in their performances. Therefore, they’ll be fighting for a bottom-five spot in our power rankings until they prove us otherwise. The team looked incredibly disjointed, with sloppy team fights and decision making, especially against TSM. Bae “Bang” Jun-sik has no room to operate and is stifled as a result. Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun was also off his game, giving up huge leads to his enemy mid laners.
It’s early in the season, and there is too much talent on this roster for them to stay a bottom-five team. However, they might need to learn fast, because they have to face off against Team Liquid and Golden Guardians this coming weekend. They should end this week 1-1, but if they aren’t able to pick up a win, then bigger changes in strategy might be in order.
8. Echo Fox (1-1)
Echo Fox didn’t look great in either of their games in week one, even though they won against Golden Guardians. The team put Lee “Rush” Yoon-jae on Karthus jungle for both matchups, and he looked completely out of his element. However, as we said in our preseason power rankings, Echo Fox will have to lean on their bottom lane early in the season. Apollo “Apollo” Price and Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent have always been a solid duo for their team, so we will need to see how they perform in the first few weeks. I’d hope that they place Rush on engage champions this time around, so we can watch him make more plays across the map. (*ahem*, Lee Sin…)
9. Golden Guardians (0-2)
After the plethora of veteran signings that Golden Guardians made, we expected plenty out of this team for this year. However, after their week-one showing, it looks like they will be scraping the bottom of our power rankings for the rest of the Spring Split. Again, it’s early, but this lineup isn’t showing much promise. Kim “Olleh” Joo-sung looked downright bad in his matches last week, especially on Rakan against Echo Fox. The rest of the team seems disorganized and confused. Henrik “Froggen” Hansen might need time to warm up to LCS play again as well. The big problem right now for Golden Guardians is that they are playing more as five individuals instead of one team.
10. Counter Logic Gaming (0-2)
The faithful might be wavering after all. It was difficult to watch Counter Logic Gaming lose to Team Liquid and OpTic Gaming. Bad teleports, bad flanks, bad engages all around for this team. They also tried out two junglers in their matches with Galen “Moon” Holgate and Raymond “Wiggily” Griffin. CLG’s macro is all out of sorts, especially in the mid- to late-game. The only saving grace is that it is early in the season. They have a really good coach in Weldon Green, so he should help get this team back into competitive shape. Until then, expect CLG to be at the bottom of our NA LCS power rankings for a while.
What are your thoughts on our LCS Power Rankings for Week One? Let us know what you think in the comments below! If you want more LCS coverage, check us out here!
