NA LCS Power Rankings Heading Into Week 8
By Zac Cameron ·
The games of the North American League of Legends Championship Series are becoming more important as teams find themselves with less opportunities to advance in the final weeks of the regular season.
Each of these teams only has a handful of games remaining, and each match is more important than the last. After a week full of surprises, some teams have managed to improve their situation, while others are starting to fall.
Echo Fox
Echo Fox are still sitting at the top of the list, but it’s a very close comparison to Cloud9 at the moment. Another 1-1 week saw them handed an embarrassing loss by the Golden Guardians on day 1. An outcome that no-one could have expected, what made the situation worse was the way in which they lost, with Golden Guardians giving them the complete run-around for the whole game. Their redeeming factor for the week was their victory over OpTic Gaming, but even then it was a lot closer than it should have been. This should have been an easy 2-0 week for Echo Fox, and their performance is more than a little concerning. They'll have to pull together and hammer out the kinks if they want to stay king of the hill in their coming matches.
Cloud9
The only reason Cloud9 isn’t sitting at the top is the fact that they also suffered a 1-1 week, taking down the Golden Guardians but losing to Counter-Logic Gaming. While their loss can be explained away by a resurgence of CLG, finally showing the skill that many expected them to display from the start, their victory of the Golden Guardians was closer than it should have been, considering the standings. Cloud9 has every oppotunity to overcome that final push to the top place. It will be interesting to see if they can figure out those final steps it takes to make the move into the top position.
Clutch Gaming
Clutch Gaming had a great week, going 2-0 and cementing their spot in Playoffs. Their victory over OpTic was nothing less than total annihilation, losing no objectives and only a single kill the entire game. Their win over Flyquest was not as clean, though they still managed to get the job done. With two more weeks’ worth of games, it would not come as a shock to find Clutch Gaming challenging Echo Fox and Cloud9 for the top two spots.
100 Thieves – Team Liquid - TSM
All three of these teams are about as strong as each other right now, with TSM finally showcasing the skill that many expected after a rocky start, while Liquid has been hit and miss all season, and 100 Thieves have made a habit of setting small streaks, both good and bad. These teams all have supposedly “easy” matches to come, as well as “hard” matches, so it’s really up in the air as to how they will be situated come Playoffs, but each of them is fighting for their continued life in the final battle fields of this regular season. The pressure is on.
Counter Logic Gaming
It was a surprising 2-0 week for CLG, as they not only bested Team Liquid, but they also managed to take down the number 2 team, Cloud9. They also have tough matches this week facing off against Flyquest and Echo Fox, so it will be interesting to see if this new-found power will stick around, or if this was the last gasp of a dying team.
Golden Guardians
The Golden Guardians got off to a shocker of a season, losing their first 7 games of the split before finding their first victory. Since then, they’ve managed to do well, losing with grace and winning matches that many thought impossible, such as their shock victory over Echo Fox. While this may have been indicative of an upwards trend, it’s just as likely that Echo Fox simply had a bad week. Fans of GG shouldn’t get too hyped for a possible Playoffs appearance. That said, stranger things have happened, especially when it comes to mid laner Hai “Hai” Du Lam’s ability to carry teams into the post season.
OpTic Gaming
OpTic haven’t had a great last couple of weeks, but then they haven’t really had a great split overall either. Their wins have only come at the expense of other weak teams, and they have yet to prove they can take on the teams with winning records. It’s unlikely they will find many more wins this season, but at least they haven't been completely snuffed out.
Flyquest
Flyquest have not had a good time this split, being forced to play with a less than optimal team after visa issues kept their import mid laner Song “Fly” Yong-jun away for the start of the split. Once Fly arrived, many thought that the team would take a while to settle him in, and then start performing well, but it’s been a while now with seemingly no improvement. If there was ever a week to get some wins though, this would be it, but they are still unlikely to find themselves participating in the post-season.
For more action from the League of Legends scene, check out our round-up of some of the minor regions from across the globe, and for more information on which teams are facing off against one another, check out the Official Schedule page, here.