The Power Rankings of the EU LCS Heading Into Week 8

With only two weeks left in the regular season, the teams of the EU LCS only have four more games to secure their spot in playoffs. It wouldn’t be the EU LCS if there wasn't still the possibility of a massive tie breaker scenario, and with each team seemingly able to take down the rest, it’s only going to get weirder.

Fnatic

Fnatic had a pretty average week, going 1-1 where they lost to Misfits but won against Vitality. With their winning streak broken, Fnatic are looking more human than they were before, but unfortunately for the rest of the EU LCS, even a Fnatic brought down to the level of humans is still a Fnatic to be very afraid of. Facing off against ROCCAT and the Unicorns of Love this week, Fnatic should go 1-1 at worst, but realistically they should take this week 2-0 and potentially lock in the first place spot heading into playoffs.

G2 Esports

G2’s woes are similar to Fnatics, with just a slightly worse match record. While their victory over Giants was to be expected, their match against Splyce really should have been much closer than it was. It’s not uncommon for the higher ranked teams to lose to the lower tier teams on occasion, the number of times the first seed has dropped to the last placed team in both the EU LCS and NA LCS is really too much to bother counting at this point. The only problem with G2’s loss to Splyce was the way that they lost, as they seemed completely lost the entire match. If they want to retake the number one spot, they’re going to need to fix whatever broke last week.

Splyce

Splyce had a great week 7, going 2-0 by taking down ROCCAT and G2. It was within normal expectations for them to have beaten both of these teams, but the level of gameplay they showed while taking down G2 really puts them up a notch or two. Splyce are right on track to make playoffs, and if they keep playing the way they have been, it’s entirely possible that they could take the second spot away from G2, and maybe even challenge Fnatic for first.

Misfits

Misfits are doing a little better than before, while they only managed a 1-1 week, they did take down Fnatic, which does earn a lot of points by comparison. Their loss to H2K isn’t really even that bad, with H2K showing enormous growth since their roster shuffle. Misfits may not be the same team that performed so well last year, but they are showing glimpses of that fire that served them so well. They are most likely a shoe-in for playoffs, and could even challenge the other top teams when the format changes to best-of series, rather than individual games.

Vitality

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Vitality pulled out a 1-1 week last week, and they can’t even really be super proud of that. Losing to Fnatic is ok at this stage, but taking down Schalke isn’t anything to write home about these last few weeks. Vitality have an extremely tough couple of weeks ahead, and of the four matches left for them, three are very unfavourable to them. Vitality are probably going to make playoffs, but they probably also won’t go very far beyond that.

Unicorns of Love

People have said that the Unicorns of Love weren’t playing like a last place team, and now they have the winning streak to prove it. Their toughest matches are still to come, as they’ll end up taking on three of the four best teams right now, but even if they can’t pull out a victory every time, there’s still the possibility that there will be some convoluted tie-breaker scenario, and if they need to play against the other bottom five teams for a spot, the Unicorns of Love will most likely win that battle.

Giants

Giants are still sticking with their tried and true strategy of waiting for their opponents to make a mistake, then jumping on that nice and quickly, but truth be told, it’s simply not working anymore. This team needs to find a new style of play, and fast, as time is running out to pull away from the pack.

H2K

H2K has really turned around since their roster has had a chance to settle in and get used to each other. It’s truly a shame that it happened when it did, as this H2K team could very well have been sitting near the top of the standings if they had started out like this. There are tough matches ahead, and they can’t be expected to win all of them, but in the event of a tie-breaker scenario, H2K might still be in with a chance.

ROCCAT

ROCCAT are simply not putting wins on the board against the teams that really matter. Whatever fire they had at the start seems to be gone now, and this is just the last, slow attempt to hold on to what they have before the end. ROCCAT will most likely not make the post season, or at best, drop very early into it, unless some kind of miracle occurs.

FC Schalke 04

Schalke have been hovering around the middle of the pack for most of the split, but even that is proving a bit too difficult right now. Whatever luck they had that helped them snatch victory from the jaws of defeat seems to be spent, and they are still making mistakes that are too costly to allow in professional play. The last couple of weeks will not be kind to them, but at least they can take the time off to work on their issues.

The games are only going to get more intense, as the teams in the top half battle for seeding, and the teams in the bottom battle for the right to compete. This should prove a very interesting week for the EU LCS. For more on this week’s matches, check out the Power Rankings for the NA LCS, and to see the schedule for the EU LCS, check out the Official Schedule page, here.