The Kings Retake Their Throne in Week 4 of the LCS
By Wyatt Fossett ·
It was an interesting week in North American professional League of Legends and we finally saw that pack at the top is starting to break up.
There was something different about this week in the North American League of Legends Championship Series, or maybe it was different because it felt proper. The teams we both expected and hoped to win all did just that.
It was a week of restoring the balance in the LCS, and on the cusp of a Rift Rivals break in the regularly scheduled programming, it couldn’t have come at a better time.
LCS Power Rankings after Week 4.
1st (UP) - The rightful heirs take their seat on the LCS throne this week, with it also earning the top spot on our Power Rankings. It’s hard to combat or argue what’s working, and then Team Liquid are firing on all cylinders they are the most terrifying team in recent history to play against. Just ask World Champions Invictus Gaming what an on-point Team Liquid feels like.
2nd (UP) - Alright, I was wrong about the powers of this OpTic Gaming squad. Last week I threw them all the way from the top spot completely off the podium and then they showed up in Week 4 and completely acted against my understanding of them. They deserve to be in the conversation for best teams in this league right now, and they proved that on Saturday by destroying TSM. Even in their loss against Echo Fox on Sunday, OpTic Gaming looked fierce, like they know what they’re doing.
3rd (DOWN) - Much in the same way that OpTic Gaming proved that they were able of critical and skillful play, even in their loss, Cloud9 did the opposite. They had a 1-1 weekend, but even in their victory, there wasn’t a whole lot to convince me that they’re playing as a cohesive unit right now. Luckily for them, they are crazy talented, and the split is still young, so there is plenty of time to figure out their stride.
4th (EVEN) - Team SoloMid also had a 1-1 weekend, dropping a tough game to OpTic to kick off their week before barely winning a nearly 50-minute marathon against the Golden Guardians. TSM keeps flip-flopping on who their starting jungler is, and Akaadian finally got his first win of the split on Sunday, but we’re still convinced that this team isn’t going to grow enough by the end of the split if they keep shifting their 5th man. Pick a jungler, and push hard as a team to synergize and maybe TSM will be in podium contention.
5th (DOWN) - The Golden Guardians probably made the biggest move on our rankings this week, and it’s not even really their fault. Sure they had a rough weekend, dropping both of their matches, but this team is still the Guardians we’ve come to expect some danger from. Rather, the Golden Guardians had such a fall purely because of so many others moving up.
6th (DOWN) - At this point, 8 games into the LCS 2019 Summer Split, I feel like this Counter-Logic Gaming team has stood up and proved that they can play together. The mix of new and old faces have played some incredible League of Legends in the past four weeks. If it were any other league they might be stellar, but in the company of some of these squads you just have to kind of nod your head until CLG go above and beyond these expectations. 0
7th (UP) - If you’ve been keeping up with Twin Galaxies, you know that this week saw 100 Thieves hit their third win in a row! That’s right. After starting the season 0-5, the entire world though “oh boy, here we go again”, but then all of a sudden (with a few minor tweaks) everything seemed to click for them. So far they have savagely beaten one of the best teams in the league and closed out 2 wins that they could have easily lost had they been playing like their former selves. We’re not going to say that 100T is going to continue to climb, but it’s a possibility.
8th (DOWN) - Clutch Gaming has been mediocre all split so far. In one game they will play up to the skill of their opponents, even beating some impressive teams at points. However, many of those wins are bought on the back of the other team’s mistakes rather than Clutch Gaming really doing anything to step up. They beat a tough FlyQuest, who could have easily won at any moment this week, which is the best Clutch has looked in a while.
9th (DOWN) - I really want this team to do better. There are so many reasons to love FlyQuest in its current state. The only problem is, when it comes down to those little moments that win or lose a game, they just can’t pull it together. On paper, it would be a no brainer to take this line-up over almost every other team in the league. Instead, all of us are left rooting for them while they rack up the losses.
10th (EVEN) - You might be yelling at your monitor or smartphone right now wondering how I can leave Echo Fox at the bottom, even after they beat an OpTic Gaming team that I have at number two on this very list. It’s easy. Go watch the VOD. OpTic Gaming gave Echo Fox the game, and there was hardly a moment in the entire game where Echo Fox made a huge splash. Here’s to hoping that Echo Fox continue to grow, and shake things up a bit to end the Summer Split.