Floating on Cloud 9 in the LCS Power Rankings Wk 3
By Wyatt Fossett ·
Another great weekend of action int he North American League of Legends Championship Series means yet another possible shuffle of Power Rankings.
There have been some pretty interesting storylines birthed from the first three weeks of LCS action so far. Like, a gigantic pileup of teams all tied for 1st Place in the standings right now. Or, the surprising early strength of the Golden Guardians.
We’re looking ahead at the next week of games because there’s going to be a lot of movement over the course of the Week 5, but for now, let’s take a peek back at Week 4 and shuffle these Power Rankings shall we?
LCS Power Rankings Wk 4 -
1st (UP) - With Cloud9’s decent week of handing OpTic Gaming their first loss before losing to TSM by the thin margin of a single team fight that could have gone either way, it’s easy to see Cloud9 as the best team in this league right now. It’s really up to Cloud 9 to win out next weekend to move away from this packed top of the standings. For C9 to stick to the top of our power rankings, we’re going to need a bit more hitch in the giddy-up from Sneaky, who has been quietly consistent this season and needs to get out there and steal some games.
2nd (EVEN) - The Golden Guardians are an inspiring team so far in the LCS 2019 Summer Split. Even though we don’t really expect them to be contending for the title, if there’s one team outside of the major three that could surprise us come playoff time, it would be them. We might have kept GG up at first place if it weren’t for their loss to Counter-Logic Gaming who aren’t playing like slouches themselves right now. The current state of the Golden Guardians is definitely a playoff contender.
3rd (UP) - It was a great week for Team Liquid, who have been struggling a bit in the consistency department through the first two weeks of the split. In Week 3, however, the 2019 MSI finalists managed to score their first 2-0 weekend, with wins over FlyQuest and OpTic Gaming. They are among the six teams tied for first place in on the standings, but a Team Liquid that is finding their stride is probably the scariest and darkest timeline for all of their competitors.
4th (UP) - Much like their counterparts in Team Liquid, Team SoloMid truly had an amazing weekend. They also managed to score 2 wins in 2 games and both of them were hard-earned and against teams that could have beat them. The victory against Cloud9 is above the rest. It was a battle from start to finish that TSM looked like they were going to let slip in Cloud9’s favor before some epic engages by their young Turkish top-laner BrokenBlade. TSM could be a top contender again come the end of the split, but it’s uncertain if they’ll have the ability to do that while they have Grig in their jungle.
5th (UP) - They’ve been playing some pretty stellar games and clutching out some impressive moments through the past few weeks, and it’s kind of shocking considering Counter-Logic Gaming could have easily moved backwards this split with their off-season roster moves. Now, as part of the heavy pack atop the standings, it’s unlikely that they will be a title contender come the end of the split, but they may just make the playoffs.
6th (DOWN) - Some people might not understand how or why a team like OpTic Gaming could possibly fall all the way from 1st Place to 6th Place, but it happened. Riding high on their undefeated streak through two weeks of LCS play, the OG team hardly earned their spot at the top of the power ranks last week, but as the only undefeated team in a rather competitive league, they deserved the spotlight for a moment. Unfortunately, the “real” OpTic Gaming showed up this week, and when faced with two formidable foes, they crumbled in stellar fashion.
7th (UP) - Perhaps we hadn’t been giving Damonte and his Clutch Gaming -- future Team Dignitas -- team enough credit for their performance thus far. Jumping up two spots on the power rankings, Clutch Gaming had a pretty dominance win over FlyQuest, and lost a far closer than it should have been game against TSM. They are the only team that doesn’t have either a 4-2 record, or a 1-5 record, as they currently sit at 3 Wins and 3 Losses. These next few weeks will be crucial for Clutch Gaming who can either prove that they are high caliber or fall to the wayside in the playoff picture.
8th (EVEN) - Out of the three teams all tied for last place, FlyQuest is so obviously the best of them. They have a stellar roster, and that hasn’t really changed in recent months. This is almost the exact same team that beat the Golden Guardians in the playoffs last year. Something is obviously not right with FlyQuest’s synergy right now, and they are quickly running out of time to catch up to the rest of the pack and make a run at the playoffs.
9th (UP) - Breaking news!! The 100 Thieves League of Legends team is out of the basement and up off the 10th Place spot in the standings! It took 100 Thieves 6 games this Summer Split to get their first win, and it came against the equally disastrous Echo Fox squad. It could be the break through the wall that 100 Thieves needed, getting the hard-to-stomach zero out of their win-column, but it’s more likely that 100 Thieves will gather one or two more wins at most through the course of the rest of the split.
10th (DOWN) - It’s a big drop for Echo Fox this week, falling to the bottom of the pile from 7th Place, but the team that hands 100 Thieves their first win, and doesn’t play a single moment of impressive League of Legends pretty much the entire way through this weekend. Much like 100 Thieves, Echo Fox has a lot of room to grow, and here’s to hoping they find a way to do that. With this roster or a different one.