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Power Rankings - Week 32

Riot··1 votes·30,735 views
We use a system similar to the Associated Press power rankings for College Football or Basketball - a panel of writers vote on who they think should be listed, and an aggregate is produced from combining their rankings. Our panel votes on these criteria, in this order:
  • Recent results
  • Predicted future performance
  • Historical trends (as they pertain to future results and present form)
  • The "eye" test (How good does a team look, relative to the rest of the world)
Our panel is available at the footer of this article, with each of their credentials and specialties. It is important to note that all our voters follow all five major professional leagues (LPL, OGN, GPL, NA/EU LCS) on a weekly basis. Make sure to tweet @Lolesports with your Power Rankings or let us know in the comments below. Bolded teams have qualified for Worlds.
  1. Samsung Galaxy Blue (+1)
  2. Samsung Galaxy White (+1)
  3. Najin White Shield (+5)
  4. Edward Gaming ( - )
  5. KT Rolster Arrows (-4)
  6. SK Telecom T1 K (-1)
  7. OMG (-1)
  8. Alliance (-1)
  9. Najin Black Sword ( - )
  10. Fnatic (+4)
  11. Cloud9 ( - )
  12. Team SoloMid (+7)
  13. StarHorn Royal Club (-3)
  14. Jin Air Stealths (-2)
  15. CJ Entus Blaze ( - )
  16. SK Telecom T1 S ( - )
  17. LMQ (-4)
  18. SK Gaming (-1)
  19. LGD ( - )
  20. Taipei Assassins ( - )
Number of first place votes in brackets.
  1. (+1) Samsung Galaxy Blue - Korea - Qualified for Worlds - 223pts - [7]
  2. (+1) Samsung Galaxy White - Korea - Qualified for Worlds - 218pts - [2]
  3. (+5) Najin White Shield - #5 Korea Regionals - 204pts In what may have been their best week of League of Legends ever, NaJin White Shield have locked in their spot at Worlds by winning Korea's Regional Finals. Shield looked to be a completely revitalized team, retaining their solo lane-focused playstyle while injecting a new-found aggression into their play. Under the leadership of Worlds veteran Cho "Watch" Jae-gol, Shield will follow in the footsteps of sister team Sword as they mount an international campaign. Written by Alex Manisier
  4. ( - ) Edward Gaming - China - Qualified for Worlds - 191pts
  5. (-4) KT Rolster Arrows - #3 Korea Regionals - 189pts The KT Rolster Arrows went from favorites to win the Korean Regional Qualifier to unceremonious destruction at the hands of NaJin White Shield. The Arrows inconsistencies were on display during the 3-0 loss to NJWS in Regionals. While the team has one of the highest talent ceilings in professional League of Legends, they have to button up a disturbing tendency to perform poorly at certain moments. Written by Thomas Watts
  6. (-1) SK Telecom T1 K - #1 Korea Regionals - 172pts SK Telecom T1 K was NaJin White Shield's final victim in the Korean Regional Qualifier. They did manage to take a game off of Shield before losing the final best-of-five, but their fall from world #1 all the way to their loss against Shield is stunning. The team has the entire offseason to ruminate on their fall, and try to fix the missteps they made in both champion select and action on Summoner's Rift. Written by Thomas Watts
  7. (-1) OMG - Qualified for China Regionals - 170pts
  8. (-1) Alliance - Europe - Qualified for Worlds - 155pts
  9. ( - ) Najin Black Sword - OGN - 146pts
  10. (+4) Fnatic - Europe - Qualified for Worlds - 123pts
  11. ( - ) Cloud9 - North America - Qualified for Worlds - 119pts While Cloud9 was easily able to dispatch Team Curse in the Semifinals, they dropped a game in the playoffs for the first time in LCS history. They had a fairly even series against Team SoloMid, but in the end, clutch plays from Bjergsen and WildTurtle ended the game in TSM’s favor. While it’s clear that Cloud9 are no longer the kings of North America, they still look poised to make a deep run in the World Championship. Written by Frank “Riot Mirhi” Fields
  12. (+7) Team SoloMid - North America - Qualified for Worlds - 116pts Team SoloMid are the kings of North America! They escaped the NA LCS playoffs after narrowly defeating LMQ and Cloud9 3-2 in the semifinals and finals respectively. The key figure in their ascension in North America was Dyrus, who previously had played consistently but unremarkably in previous matches. It seems that their roster of varying nationalities has found their synergy at the perfect time. Now with a confidence boost, TSM will be among the favorites to emerge from their group at Worlds. Written by Frank “Riot Mirhi” Fields
  13. (-3) StarHorn Royal Club - Qualified for China Regionals - 109pts
  14. (-2) Jin Air Stealths - OGN - 106pts
  15. ( - ) CJ Entus Blaze - OGN - 107pts
  16. ( - ) SK Telecom T1 S - OGN - 83pts
  17. (-4) LMQ - North America - Qualified for Worlds - 82pts LMQ looked to be a shadow of themselves throughout the NA LCS playoffs. After dropping 2-3 to Team SoloMid, they fell to an 0-2 start against underdogs Curse before rallying to win the series 3-2. Their third place victory secured their trip to Worlds, but it gives serious doubts to the long-term strength of the team. MVP and Rookie of the Split XiaoWeiXiao did not dominate as he did all season, NoName looked like a liability and the rest of the team was similarly lackluster. Written by Frank “Riot Mirhi” Fields
  18. (-1) SK Gaming - Europe - Qualified for Worlds - 72pts
  19. ( - ) LGD - Qualified for China Regionals - 58pts
  20. ( - ) Taipei Assassins - SEA - Qualified for Worlds - 55pts Written by James Chen
Others Receiving Votes: CJ Entus Frost, Team Curse, Jin Air Flacons, AHQ, KT Bullets, ROCCAT The Panel: Alex Manisier - ggChronicle staff writer, OGN expert and President of UTS LoLSoc in Sydney, Australia. Regularly watches all five major leagues. Andrew "Glyceroll" Whitmore - Covers NA and EU LCS as well as Challenger for lolesports.com and surrenderat20.net. Regularly watches the five major leagues. Frank "Mirhi" Fields - Senior Web Content Coordinator for lolesports.com. Esports veteran, follows all five major leagues. James "Obscurica" Chen - GPL and SEA expert. Covers GPL for lolesports.com and watches all five major leagues regularly. Jason "Jayway" Wai - Web Content Coordinator and stats aficionado for lolesports.com. Watches OGN religiously and regularly watches all five major leagues. Kelsey Moser - GosuGamers senior editor and LPL expert. Covers LPL for lolesports.com. Regularly watches all five major leagues. Joshua "Jatt" Leesman - Riot Games LCS Analyst and Commentator. Veteran commentator of both Season 2 and Season 3 World Championships. Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman - League of Legends theorycrafter and statistics nerd turned esports journalist, watches NA/EU religiously and all five major leagues regularly. Michael Mooridian - Freelance esports journalist. Specializes in NA & EU LCS and Challenger leagues and follows all five major leagues. Thomas Watts - OGN expert and freelancer for lolesports.com. Veteran college football reporter. Regularly watches most of the five major leagues. Tyler "Fionn" Erzberger - TeamLiquid staff writer and OGN expert. Esports veteran and Freelancer for lolesports.com. Regularly watches all five major leagues.

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66 Comments

ElfenLied Lucy14 votes

Give me a solid reason why Fnatic gained 4 ranks, without even playing in this week. Fnatic Fanboys are omnipresent.

Big Blue Bewb4 votes

After seeing the American play-offs I assume most of the panel considered Fnatic to have played better in their play-offs compared to the north american teams. After seeing both play-offs myself I think it's hard to compare them just yet but knowing Fnatic's succes on the international scene and their experience in round robin/tournament play I too would give them a slight edge. Not saying TSM or C9 won't beat them.

Jathiel4 votes

I may be wrong, but I honestly cannot see SK or Fnatic beating any of the NA teams going to worlds this year. Alliance may be able to beat them all, but Alliance's passive early games could get them in trouble vs. some of the aggressive strategies NA has.

AnbuItachi3 votes

It's probably since the panel now thinks after c9's loss in the finals, who where the previous seasons quit dominant, that the eu teams are better then the na team overall

FlareCity7 votes

That makes no sense. C9 and FNC were both dethroned, but C9 but up a way better fight than FNC did in my opinion

Cheryl Cole2 votes

Yes vs far worse enemy team.

ThetaBarrier3 votes

Fnatic and TSM are on the same level, dont lie to yourself.

Leon9872 votes

Now you know how i felt when C9 went +3 during EU LCS Playoffs. I personally think Fnatic is SLIGHTY better than C9. So 10 to 11th place is ok. About TSM , its not like win 10 games and they are Top10. TSM went 3-2 in semis and final and that could go easly either way. TSM needs time to show consistency so they can be placed Top10.

PradaLOL4 votes

WHAT? why FNC can 4 spot up without doing anything? EU fan boy so hype! FNC=TPA level! We will see how FNC get destroyed in S4! Give me a reason, how can FNC beat LMQ? can Xpeke beat XWX? NO. can Troller Soaz beat Ackermann? NO. can Cynaine beat Noname. Maybe. Can FNC beat LMQ BOT. NO. so why FNC b4 LMQ?

BlueElk237 votes

Based on what you are saying, I feel as though you don't watch Fnatic often. Specifically the part in which you claim that FNC botlane can't beat LMQ botlane. That claim is borderline laughable. Rekkles and YellOwStaR were the best LCS botlane this last split. If you need confirmation just look at their stats and watch some of their games. If you wanna make an argument against Fnatic at least make it based off some truth rather than your raw opinion.

Scooby Pwns On U1 votes

fnatics botlane has to be strong to carry the rest of the team. ive yet to see a recent game where fnatic won for a reason other than rekkless roflstomping

Tarkamacska2 votes

You know these are ,,bronze level,, arguments. Oh, and one more thing: are you mad?

PradaLOL1 votes

yeah, the bronze FNC BOTLANE. We just need to see how badly the FNC and C9 BOT LANE was fked by OMG and SKT in ALLSTAR, then we all know the LCS BOT LANE is TRASH!

Scooby Pwns On U1 votes

never doubt the turtle, he held his own in bot lane last year at worlds even though tsm didnt go anywhere he almost always won his lane. maybe he can do the same this year. not saying tsm will beat any of the asians....but i really wanna see him 2v2 matchup against them in bot srry, i mean any of the non SEA asians

PlaXiMaXi3 votes

Watch Season 3 Championship Semi Final, sOAZ were the only one winning his lane against Royal Club, guess who was the top laner of Royal Club at the time? Yes, it was Ackermann aka Godlike

Kingphil631 votes

Same seed in there respected regions and previous results against each other

killingu651 votes

i honestly have no idea fnatic lost to a half a cloud nine roster at all stars and woulda lost to tpa if not for a baron throw and cloud nine almost won this series, thereis nop way in hell fnatic places above cloud nine not to mention alliance destroyed fnatic in the finals, also why the hell is shield above edward gaming edward gaming domuinated the last three weeks and the first round to cloinch top seed for china and shield barely made the dam playoffs also why isnt alliance a top five team what do they need to prove they roflstomped everyone this split and in the playoffs had no slumps and without a doubt can match up against samsung galaxy and make it really close like im a cnine fan but the tsm loss was extremely discouraging and questions if our entire region will get murdered at worlds

FNC Nick1 votes

Probably because Fnatic tends to perform very well in high pressure situations where games matter. Like last year, Fnatic finished first in their group and made the semi-finals. Look at the criteria: "Historical Trends" and "Predicted Future Performance".

Skumfúk1 votes

something with voting, votings going away from other teams to them.

Aarsvijand1 votes

They didn't rise because they got better, they rose because the teams who were above them got worse. Cloud9, Jin Air Stealths, LMQ and StarHorn Royal Club were above them, but the panel thinks that those teams have gotten worse in comparison to next week, while Fnatic didn't get worse.

CuriousChameleon1 votes

they didnt rise, other teams dropped down which made them rise. Discussion closed.

AnbuItachi5 votes

Monte left the panel? :(

TooPrettyToDie5 votes

Lol He probably didn't want his name on a panel that isn't dominated by Korean teams :D

FNC Nick1 votes

It kinda is dominated by Korean teams. The top 3 are Korean and there is a total of 9 Korean teams on the list (12 if you count the ones receiving votes).

Xtrbacklash5 votes

Velkoz TSM? Above Royal? epic memes guys Velkoz

Kingphil634 votes

Let me just say that because C9 did not live up to expectations and loss the finals to TSM the same way Finatic loss to Alliance, you see FNC above C9. I love C9 and their team fight to win games but history has shown FNC one tiny step ahead. S4 Worlds will tell all and to be honest I hope I get a group with C9 and FNC to fight in two more times :)

Runellieb3 votes

Wait... So TSM beats Cloud 9 3-2... Gains 7 spots in the power rankings... But then is still below Cloud 9? I would maybe understand if the series was extremely close in TSM's 3 wins and super in favor in Cloud 9's 2 wins, but that isn't how it happened at all. All 5 games were at least somewhat close, with only game 1 coming close to a true stomp, but even then game 1 was still winnable for TSM.

Another thing that would've helped make sense of C9 being ahead of TSM was if the article stated that it thinks that C9 would match up better against international competition, which it didn't. In fact the only thing even close to that was the statement that "they still look poised to make a deep run in World Championship." (And maybe I'm a bit biased, but after that series TSM seemed pretty well matched up map control and general strategy wise, and definitely ahead in mechanics and skill) I get that there is still the eye test, and that of course is open to interpretation and all that, but if you are going to put a #1 seed in a region below the #2 seed, then you had better explain why.

Boshiwukins18 votes

Makes plenty sense to me. All games that Cloud 9 won, they were incredibly ahead. Every game TSM won was extremely close.

KaLiIsLu1 votes

Agreed. TSM won basically on game ending team fights while all the games that C9 won, they were clearly ahead. Even some of those game that TSM, C9 was still ahead in gold.

Deyturkrjobs8 votes

Because what international competition has this TSM roster seen recently? none. Cloud 9 hasn't changed their roster. They've been in IEM Cologne, BotA, IEM Katowice, and Allstars with the same roster. TSM hasn't attended a single international event with their current roster ,and, heading into the biggest international tournament, that's might be why they're placed lower still.

Venoxis2 votes

This is exactly why the LCS should change to the circuit point system. A 6th placed team in the regular season could become 1st seed into worlds is a little unfair as the team would not need to perform really well during the regular season and just make it count during the playoffs.

Throughout the season, C9 has been better than TSM, TSM suddenly becoming better in the playoffs might not carry on their current performance into the worlds, I think jumping 7 ranks up is already a lot for only doing well for a short period of time.

If TSM can perform this well in worlds, surely they will then surpass C9 in rankings. So stop wrrying.

TooPrettyToDie5 votes

There is always two sides of the story. A team that performed very well for two splits might be struggling in the spring split. This was the case last split with KT Bullets not making it to worlds despite clearly being a better team than both najin sword and Samsung Blue. That is the problem with circuit points. The LCS aims to put the best team to the worlds at the moment. Not someone that has performed the best overall during the entire year.

Humble2Him3 votes

There is another thought to this as well. LMQ clearly beat TSM in game 1, but TSM has proved that that they are better at adjusting mid series and gaining momentum in losses, which is something you don't do in regular session. TSM might lose best of 1s to C9 and LMQ, but they are stronger when they play series. So, it is yet to be seen what will happen on the world stage.

Bloodtotemz1 votes

Its because the games have been so close and the fact that historically Cloud9 has done much better on the international stage. Plus if you look at champ select in each of the games Cloud9 is the clear winner even if their play was a little behind. If Cloud9 can get mechanically better as a whole, which they will in korea the strongest region in the world, they will be monsters to be feared by alot of teams.

They are both REALLY strong teams and I'm excited to see what they can do on the international stage

Scooby Pwns On U2 votes

thems dangerous words. remember how much korean bootcamp helped clg >.<

ZachTea3 votes

These rankings are so fucking laughable every week. When Blue, White and Shield fucking slaughter every other team at Worlds maybe these power rankings will actually be changed to reflect the strength of Korea. Or Riot will continue to try and give off the image that NA / EU / China are even competitive with Korea

TooPrettyToDie5 votes

Actually, its hard to gauge the strength of the Chinese scene because they brought a lot of Korean players and analysts. They always had the same mechanics and talent level. Just lacked strategy that Korean teams had. I wouldn't be surprised if they put a good fight against top korean teams

Tarkamacska6 votes

Blue, White and NWS have the first 3 spots, i have no idea why are you so mad.

Jathiel3 votes

Fnatic does not deserve their spot at all. Did not even play. Played poorly in weeks past. Still rise +4. LOGIC.

Leon9873 votes

Oh but when C9 went up like 3 or 4 spots DURING EU LCS Playoffs that makes perfect sense? Gimme a break. I respect you are NA fan but atleast be realistic.

FlareCity2 votes

Explain how people think that EU is better than NA when in games that NA have a lead, they pretty much end asap and convincingly vs EU teams, but EU takes like 20 more minutes to close games VS NA

Tarkamacska4 votes

I think it because the NA quarterfinals were awfull, the semifinals were enjoyable but not a high lvl of play, the finals were enjoyable too but it was all about the individual plays. I simply cant see the strenght of TSM as a team for instance, they are individually talented players but... im not sure about the teamplay. And about the strong individual players, Bjergsen is far the best but he is nowhere in compare with Froggen for instance. Thats my opinion.

Cheryl Cole6 votes

nobody is saying EU is FAR better. But slightly? Yes. Statisticly NA games are longer sowhat you think is not even true, but even if it is... NA teams usualy win games after fatal mistake of enemy team. EU teams win games after 35 min tactical coherent play.

NeoDeimos1 votes

Pretty much every EU fanboy says that "NA is worst ever" and "EU > China"; when we all know that SEA is the weakest of the 5 regions (outside of TPA, none of their teams could sniff the top 3 in EU or NA). EU and NA are very close currently, no matter what the fanboys of each side would like to tell you.

Prior to Spring Split, C9 and Fnatic were considered the best teams in each region. C9 actually leads the career matchups over Fnatic, by just 1 game (I want to say it's at 5-4, but I'm not positive) . Even at last year's Worlds, TSM 1-1 LemonDogs, XDG 1-1 Fnatic, C9 1-2 Fnatic, XDG 0-2 Gambit (and of course, as per their usual, XDG had a large lead over Gambit before one of their patented throws).

The balance of the 2 regions may slightly tip in favor of one side, but it's very close, and can certainly swing based on the results in the next few weeks.

Galex2 votes

Dyrus? Bjergsen carried the shit out of TSM in playoffs what are you talking about lolesports...lol bjergsen finally plays good after months like he was playing at the start when he came to tsm and i've to read "DYRUS CARRIED", wtf lol

TheMateotis4 votes

Yeah. Funny isn't it, how the best player in NA is an European? :P

Scooby Pwns On U1 votes

tsm would be a better team if they could replace dyrus with someone, im so tired of watching him play like garbage and get lucky from time to time. they say dyrus carried when he literally cost them an entire game with a random zhonyas

Leon9872 votes

You must be proud to have MVP of playoffs came from EU and FROM relegation. So much about NA>EU -.-

GODGIVEN2 votes

For those asking how FNC got higher. I'd like to tell you that it wasn't FNC playing and winning game, but other teams losing.

C9 lost to TSM, so they automaticlly lost some points, then TSM is not worth being higher than C9 due to lack of consistency.

Then we have Jin Air Stealths, which haven't playied any game in a while, and they didn't qualify to world as FNC did, and Starhorn Royal Club recently lost some games.

And speaking of all this thrash before worlds NA>EU, EU>NA. All I can say now is that NA LCS has been most competitive split ever in NA, and we remember when people were saying "EU is bad because 4 teams fight for 1st spot". Recently you had this situation in NA, and I can see people taking it differently than EU situation. In my opinion, NA should be scared of seeding against #1 EU, because Alliance showed dominance through split and in playoffs, but #2 EU shouldn't be scared of #1 NA, because TSM keep playing inconsistant. I think that Cloud 9 will be way more dangerous at worlds than TSM or LMQ (even when I like LMQ).

Why is FNC still a strong team, and have to be considered equal to Cloud 9.

  1. September/November 2013 - S3 Worlds - FNC Win
  2. March 2014 - IEM World - FNC Win
  3. May 2014 - AllStar - C9 Win

We see that last match between them was C9 winning. It was C9 with Link instead of way better Hai, which suggest that FNC struggles. And what we saw later in LCS, Fnatic did struggle in 1st half of the split going 7:7 (Weeks 1-6), but then, since July 1st they went onto 8 game winning streak. Finishing 2nd half (Weeks 7-11) of the split with impressive 12:2, FNC was best team of 2nd half by win:lose ratio, they showed consistency losing only to SK Gaming and Alliance.

I think that all people saying that FNC didn't deserve to get higher spot than C9, they don't consider facts, and team performance. They go with hype of NA LCS finishing later. I'd like to tell you that just because NA split finished later, this does not mean that NA teams deserve to get "free" points.

Even when matches were exciting, this was a very dirty game showing weaknesses of NA teams. NA 29 Games playied 37 Champions picked, with Tristana being considered the best pick going 13:4 overall. EU 26 Games playied 44 Champions picked, with Tristana being a mid tier pick finishing 8:9 overall. If NA doesn't change their "pick Tristana win games" strategy, then NA will get crushed by EU, OGN, LPL strategies of using KogMaw , Corki , Lucian , or just simple Tristana ban.

In NA Kassadin wasn't banned or picked at all. In EU he was banned 16 times, picked 6 (going only 1:5), but we remember what happened last time NA considered a champion weak and ignored it because it wasn't viable. EU picked it, playied it, and won a game. NA must work on their picks otherwise they will get outpicked by other regions. Koreans often leave something strong open, but they pick direct counter to "op" champion, as if they say "I dare you to pick it, I double dare you".

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