Power Rankings 3/22/2016

Teams gear up for the Spring Split Playoffs push. As we sunset the regular season for the LCS, we say good bye to Power Rankings for the rest of the split.

But in case you can't get enough of ranking teams, there are several other editorial sites that have frequently published Power Rankings, such as ESPN or The Score.

Feel free to skip ahead to your region of choice.

NA LCS | EU LCS | LMS | LPL | LCK

NA LCS

Written by Carlos "h0tsawce" Bravo

• S Tier: IMT (17-1)
• A Tier: CLG (13-5) | (-) C9 (12-6)
• B Tier: (+) TL (10-8)
• C Tier: (+) REN (5-13) | (-) TSM (9-9) | NRG (9-9)
• D Tier: EF (6-12)
• F Tier: TIP (5-13) | DIG (4-14)

As the regular season comes to a close, we set our sights on the 2016 Spring Split Playoffs and Promotion Tournament. Let’s take a look at our final NA LCS Power Rankings for the Spring Split!

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S Tier: Immortals (17-1)

Immortals kicked it up a notch and looked impeccable during LCS Week 9. Adrian's champion pool was finally challenged on stage, and he rose to the occasion, showing some nifty skills with Karma. With 1st place sewed up, we finally saw some different team compositions and points of emphasis by Immortals, but with the same results -- absolute domination. They'll have a well-earned bye week for some more experimentation and will be watching the Quarterfinals eagerly to adapt to the ever-shifting professional metagame.

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A Tier: Counter Logic Gaming (13-5) | (-) Cloud9 (12-6)

CLG returned to form this weekend with two dominating wins over the struggling Echo Fox and Team Dignitas. Stixxay in particular had a nice bounce back weekend after struggling since Week 7. Overall, Xmithie had a wonderful split, showing signs of the dominant form he displayed during his time with Vulcan in 2013. CLG’s Spring Split is a testament to strategy and teamwork, and the embodiment of the old adage "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." After an impressive split and earning a bye, have Da Gatez opened for a CLG Spring Split championship?

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Saturday certainly was a FeelsBirthdayMan kind of day for Sneaky and the rest of Cloud9 after his 11 KDA and a shutout of Echo Fox -- they looked unstoppable. Yet they were on the receiving end of a Liquid shellacking thanks largely to a dominating performance by Week 9 MVP Dardoch. Cloud9’s all-or-nothing early-game style might be an issue in the future. Yes, they came back vs. Team Dignitas last week, but when they faced a better team like Liquid, they were severely punished for their mistakes. As Cloud9 looks to the Spring Playoffs and beyond, Hai will also need to expand his champion pool. We still think it’s ok to keep a small champ pool for now while still getting acclimated to the support role, but it’s getting close to time to show some diversity.

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B Tier: (+) Liquid (10-8)

Liquid are the hottest team in the NA LCS, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Dardoch, a clear front-runner for Rookie of the Split,  is truly coming into his own and dominating some notable opposition. Piglet has quietly had his best split in the NA LCS so far, and the transition of Lourlo to playing tank champions has paid off. Things are looking bright for Liquid, and although they ended the season in 4th place (...again), their sights are set much higher. Given the overwhelming confidence the team has shown, I’m betting they've already updated their passports for a trip to China.

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C Tier: (+) Renegades (5-13) | (-) TSM (9-9) | NRG (9-9) | 

The second hottest team in the LCS at the end of the split is undoubtedly Renegades. After taking a chance and making some roster changes, the team is finally starting to click and fulfill the potential so many fans thought they had. Ninja and Seraph have provided carry potential and stability in the solo lanes, which has given Freeze a chance to shine and showcase his individual greatness. Let this be a lesson to teams -- don’t be afraid to make a change during the season!

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NRG were able to momentarily stop their freefall in the standings with an improbable comeback vs. TSM on Sunday. Still, the victory over TSM probably was bittersweet, as the team was down 9.6k at 24 minutes. Their solid form early in the split helped the team secure a playoff seed -- it turns out they needed that cushion, as they slide into Playoffs in 5th place. Even if their fortune came at the expense of TSM, there are worse positions to be in.

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Oh, boy. TSM had one of those “you just hate to see that happen” kind of weekends. After getting steamrolled by Immortals on Saturday, the team managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on Sunday. Despite occasional early-game domination, the team just appears to be in complete disarray after laning phase. If there is any bright spot from the weekend, it’s Doublelift, who continues to play at a high level while trying to carry his team. It’s hard to diagnose the problem at this point -- is it shotcalling, the meta, following calls, or lack of leadership on the Rift? Only TSM truly knows, but with this much talent on the team, they can always get hot and do well in the Playoffs.

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D Tier: Echo Fox (6-12)

Echo Fox has had an up and down split, and will probably be thankful to finish in 7th place. After stumbling out of the blocks with their visa issues, the team got hot and were flirting with playoffs once Froggen and company came back. However, they struggled the last three weeks of this split, going 1-5 combined. With a position in Summer Split secured, Echo Fox need a strong showing if they want to make Worlds this year. With Froggen leading the way, anything is possible.

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F Tier: Team Impulse (5-13) | Team Dignitas (4-14)

What’s worse than going 0-2 for an LCS week? Going 0-3, of course. The rails seem to have fallen off the Team Impulse express, and they have a couple of weeks to get things together. In order to get out of the Promotion Tournament and find a place in LCS this Summer, they need to sort out a few things. First, establish an identity -- are they going to be a skirmishing team, objective team, or siege team? Second, work on synergy issues -- Proxcin has struggled to find synergy with his laners, and now is the time to fix that. Finally, find some champions that are working for each player, and build comps around it.

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Team Dignitas’ second half of the split was painful. With only one victory (vs. TSM), Team Dignitas haven’t really shown any improvement beyond Shiphtur. Apollo has had the occasional solid game, but the rest of the team has really struggled. Things looked bright early in the split, and even late they were able to grab huge leads against good competition, but they struggled to close out games repeatedly. Considering Team Dignitas have to make the longest journey through the Promotion Tournament, they'll need to find the consistency that evaded them all split.

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EU LCS

Written by James "Obscurica" Chen

• S Tier: G2 (15-3) | VIT (13-5) | H2K (14-4)
• A Tier: (+) OG (11-7)
• B Tier: UOL (10-8) | FNC (9-9)
• C Tier: EL (6-12) | ROC (4-14) | SPY (5-13) | GIA (3-15)

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S Tier: G2 Esports (15-3) | Vitality (13-5) | H2K (14-4)

The three kings of Europe... are looking kinda pale. The last week brought unexpected upsets to the door of all three teams, be it H2K's defeat by the hands of Steeelback's Sivir or Vitality's fall to bottom-tier ROCCAT. G2 was the only one of the pack that wasn't usurped by the low-tier rebellion -- but with major caveats.

Until a half hour in, the last game of the regular season was increasingly in UOL's favor. The team slowly built a lead from their early ambush of Kikis and Trick -- then force-fed Steeelback like a french goose until his item advantage was too much to ignore. It was ultimately Baron Nashor that saved G2 -- one fight in front of the big purple monster, and the respawn timers were just enough for G2 to snatch victory out of the maws of defeat.

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A Tier: (+) Origen (11-7)

This is where it gets weird: there are basically two versions of Origen now, and where they belong respective to the rest of Europe is entirely dependent on which mid laner is playing. PowerofEvil at the helm? The team is anemic and without direction -- their wins dependent on punishing opponents' mistakes.

With xPeke on the Rift, it's another story entirely. The team plays with the rogue-like bravado we were conditioned to expect in 2015, attacking with a confidence we haven't seen for most of this Spring. But that just raises more questions -- questions like "who are they fielding come Playoffs?"

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B Tier: Unicorns of Love (10-8) | Fnatic (9-9)

We may or may not be underestimating UOL here, and it depends on how reliant Steeelback is on Sivir. With Sivir on their side, the Unicorns are able to reverse games against the very best teams in the EU LCS -- much to H2K's chagrin. Without the champion? Well, nothing else about the team has changed since their struggles began a few weeks ago, and being a one-trick-unicorn is dangerous come playoffs.

Speaking of slumping: Fnatic ended the regular season on a bit of a flat note. Losing to a resurgent Origen might not be entirely surprising, but their lackluster performance against Elements is more than enough reason for alarm.

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C Tier: Elements (6-12) | Roccat (4-14) | Splyce (5-13) | Giants Gaming (3-15)

As for the bottom four teams, each made one last defiant play in the final weeks, but the weight of their preceding performances remain unbudged. Most notably, ROCCAT of all teams found it in them to give Vitality a parting shot, wrestling two Barons out of their hands to knock out an entirely unexpected comeback. Meanwhile, GIANTS gave a tantalizing glimpse of what the circuit could've been like if they had made roster changes much earlier, closing out the season with impressive performances from both SONSTAR and Wisdom.

With luck, they'll survive the Promotion Tournament unscathed.

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LMS

Written by Clement Chu

• S Tier: AHQ (11-0-1) | FW (9-2-1)
• A Tier: TPA (6-3-3)
• B Tier: (-) HKE (3-2-7) | (+) M17 (5-4-3) | (-) MSE (1-7-4)
• C Tier: XG (2-7-3)
• D Tier: CGE (0-12-0)

Record format: (Win-Loss-Draw)

Week 8 yielded some of the best games of the season as Machi pushed Flash Wolves to the brink, and an awakened FoFo nearly led TPA to victory over ahq. The tension is building for a showdown between these teams as they move into the Playoffs. The LMS Spring Playoffs will start on April 15, where the top four teams will compete in a gauntlet-style format.

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S Tier: ahq e-Sports Club (11-0-1) | Flash Wolves (9-2-1)

Ahq decided to run some champion stress tests vs. MSE this week, bringing out Westdoor’s Azir and AN’s Jhin. While nobody will claim it was the best Azir they’ve ever seen, Westdoor did break a record this season at 71,000 damage dealt to champions. The second match was really what packed the stadium, as ahq took on TPA. In a very close game, Ziv’s Poppy secured the 5th Dragon while dealing a triple kill to end the game. Given that ahq would have to lose all games and Flash Wolves to win all games for a tiebreaker to even occur, it's safe to say that ahq has managed a repeat as our first seed into Playoffs.

Flash Wolves continued their win streak this week, brushing aside HKE and dodging a bullet vs. Machi in a close game. The key to the Flash Wolves's success, other than finding the right champions (MMD’s Poppy, SwordArT’s Thresh), is their unmatched tempo game in tower trading. They’re coming out ahead with global ults from champions like Maple’s Gangplank, and NL’s Ezreal, giving them more farm and more tower damage early. The Wolves are showcasing very intricate timings that they’ve learned through playing these comps frequently, and it’s really punishing opponents who are committed to trading. TPA is mathematically unable to close the gap in points, so Flash Wolves will likely be our second seed come Playoffs.

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A Tier: Taipei Assassins (6-3-3)

This week for Taipei Assassins was about answering the question: Who is FoFo? After playing nothing but Zilean and Lulu for the past six games, FoFo finally got the go-ahead to pick his self-proclaimed best champions: assassins. Both his Zed and LeBlanc were stellar; especially memorable was his sniping of Chawy over two jungle walls. As TPA has consistently gained massive gold leads through objective trades and farming, I’ve become tempted to give them the S tier. The difference for me is the above mentioned teams can run their assassin comps (Maple, Westdoor) with high efficiency, while the Assassins (isn’t it ironic?) still play too passively to transfer their leads into blowouts. TPA are widely regarded as the third best team right now, but they’re not out of the woods yet. A slip-up in the final week could see them out of the Playoffs. They absolutely need victories against Machi to widen the three-point gap between them.

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B Tier: (-) Hong Kong eSports (3-2-7) | (+) Machi (5-4-3) | (-) Midnight Sun (1-7-4) 

The theme for HKE this season has been inconsistency, and this week showed the worst side of things. They had messy games against CGE, and MapleSnow was obviously tilting after cancelling his own teleports against Flash Wolves. He might have tilted so hard his coaches slid out of the booth, because their Champion Select didn’t make much sense afterwards. HKE have been given the luxury of controlling their own destiny, as they face the lower half of the standings in the final week, while Machi competes with the top. Judging from the past, they’re predicted to win three of their four games against XG and MSE, which would place them over Machi (who would win 0 using the same method) and into the Playoffs. I’m loathe to put a wager though, as they could show up in any form.

Machi returned in better shape this week, pushing Flash Wolves to the brink before finally losing out in a teamfight. They’re taking better care of their macro game now that their bot lane isn’t giving them early leads anymore -- largely due to Dreamer’s Alistar being permabanned. While they hold a slim two-point lead over HKE (guarding the gates at 4th place), TPA and ahq are some tough match-ups. The best they can hope for are changing mentalities in their competition: ahq might take an early vacation and XG and MSE might give HKE a hard match with their professional livelihoods on the line. Historically speaking, this is Machi’s best shot to make Playoffs, as that window closes when Raison makes his return to HKE in Summer. They should make the best out of their opportunities.

Midnight Sun had a shining opportunity to avoid relegations this week by going 2:0 against XGamers, but unfortunately they missed it by going 1:1 -- the games were messy. MSE won the first game off a Baron throw, and lost the second off CorGi standing on an Azir soldier while channelling Xerath's Arcane Barrage. MSE have the talent to go further, but they need to realize that winning takes far more than individual plays. Being able to control the game via tempo, vision control, and wave control are things that may still be foreign to this relatively new squad. As MSE and XG have the same schedules next week (CGE & HKE), it may be difficult for them to avoid relegations, but I’m very confident in seeing them back in the LMS come Summer.

C Tier: XGamers (2-7-3) 

XGamers took a beating against TPA at the start of the week and then finally broke their losing streak by winning a game against MSE -- it might have saved them from relegations as well. They were rightfully hyped at the start of the season for sitting in 2nd place in the opening weeks, but they were quickly figured out by other teams. XG's weak skirmish mechanics and their inability to avoid unfavorable fights have been a deadly combination. Try to think of a situation where XGamers rotated to a better map position after a Dragon or Baron attempt. I’ll wait. They need to  plan a couple more steps ahead to progress as a team. The final verdict is that they’re in a similar situation with MSE, talented but lacking in finesse.

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D Tier: Cougar eSports (0-12-0)

CGE has now officially surpassed Dream or Reality for the longest losing streak in the LMS at 24 games. They will end up dead last this season, no question about it. However, CGE does have a chance to upset either XG or MSE to send them to the relegation tournament, which means these teams should still keep their guard up when facing a hungry SpeaR looking for wins.

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LPL

Written by Nelson Sng

• S Tier: QG (10-1)
• A Tier: RNG (9-2) |  EDG (7-4) | WE (7-4)
• B Tier: (+) VG (6-5) | OMG (6-5) | SS (6-5) | iG (6-5)
• C Tier: LGD (3-8) | M3 (3-8)
• D Tier: EPA (2-9) | HYG (1-10)

Week 7 of the LPL brought games that showed some LPL teams are in a state of flux -- unable to consistently win games to cement themselves in the top tier.

Vici Gaming are the only movers for this week as they managed to prove themselves against Snake, who have lost three straight series themselves. LGD have also found their way into playoff contention despite struggling in a weaker group, while four out of the six teams in Group B might be finding themselves in the Summer Promotions if the results do not go their way in the final two weeks.

The split might be ending, but the excitement has just begun.

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S Tier: QG Reapers (10-1)

QG are far from an embodiment of most LPL teams. They have been performing well enough to beat everything thrown into their path, which is reflected in their current 10-1 record.

But now, they have also embraced the Uzi-train, putting him in the starting lineup for many important matches. Recently they utilized him against iG after starting down 0-1. The rampaging Uzi dragged QG across the finish line with a 18-3-22 scoreline over the two games played.

So far, the Uzi experiment seems to be working out well. The rest of the LPL better watch out.

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A Tier: Royal Never Gives Up (9-2) | Edward Gaming (7-4)  | Team WE (7-4)

EDG had a relatively easy Week 7, as they played against bottom dwellers EPA & HYG, resulting in a routine 2-0 week. Nothing much changed within the team, but they will definitely need to refine their strategy before they can contend to be the Kings of China yet again.

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Team WE have been an anomaly this season. With a subpar roster on paper, nobody expected them to make the Playoffs or even come close to topping the group. Lo and behold, WE are currently sitting comfortably in 2nd place, with a playoff spot almost secured. They had a relatively challenging matchup against OMG in Week 7 where they emerged victorious in a bloodbath of a series that went the full three games. Let’s wait and see if this miracle story will continue in the Playoffs.

Lastly, there is RNG. Despite a record nearly as dominant as QG's, they have been looking unconvincing in their wins; definitely not a trait of a championship winning team. Struggling to a 2-1 victory over a lacklustre M3 squad will definitely worry the most ardent RNG fan. All we can hope is that they are able to fix their weaknesses that have been exposed during their failed title bid at the recent IEM Katowice tournament

 

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B Tier: (+) Vici Gaming (6-5) | OMG (6-5) | Snake eSports (6-5) | Invictus Gaming (6-5)

Vici Gaming isthe only team to have moved tiers this week, and deservedly so. Ending the week with a good win over a slumping Snake, it looks like VG have figured out how to fully utilize their Korean imports. Dandy in particular has been impressive recently, as he looked to return to his World Championship winning form. Easyhoon has also started to perform again and with Azir coming back into the meta, the only way is up for the promising VG lineup.

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On the other hand, OMG, SS, and iG have been mediocre, losing to teams which are perceived to be as good or stronger than them. They are rightly placed into the B tier as middle of the pack teams as they haven't displayed anything special to indicate that they will have an ability to make a deep playoff run. They're just good enough to get in.

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C Tier: LGD Gaming (3-8) | Masters 3 (3-8)

LGD and M3 will remain in the C Tier this week as they have remained unconvincing in their games. However, due to the structure of the league standings, one of them will be making an appearance in the LPL playoffs. Life isn’t always fair.

With LGD having a slightly easier match schedule in the final two weeks, LGD will be singing praises to the gods as they will most likely make another playoff appearance, albeit just a cameo this time around.

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D Tier: Energy Pacemaker.All (2-9) |  Hyper Youth Gaming (1-10)

EPA and HYG have been struggling throughout the entirety of the split and will have a few more weeks to absorb as much knowledge as possible from their games in the LPL before fighting for their professional lives. Hopefully, they are able to make use of the experience gained from competing with the elites in the promotional tournament, getting to have another shot at the adrenaline filled roller coaster ride known as the LPL.

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LCK

Written by Alex Manisier

• S Tier: ROX (12-1)
• A Tier: JAG (10-4) | (+) KTR (9-4) | (+) SKT (7-5)
• B Tier: CJ (8-6) | LZ (6-7) | SSG (7-6)
• C Tier: Afrecca (5-7)
• D Tier: KDM (1-13) | SBENU (1-13)

There are just three weeks left in the regular season of Champions Spring 2016, and from here on out, each match is more important than ever. ROX have locked down their 2016 Spring Split Playoffs spot, and Kongdoo and SBENU are facing Relegation, but the future is uncertain for the other seven teams competing in the LCK. In the midst of all the Spring Split Playoffs action in North America and Europe, try to make time to check in on Korea -- the race to the top five couldn’t be closer.

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S Tier: ROX Tigers (12-1)

We’re nearly at the point where we’re running out of things to say about the ROX Tigers. Their much-hyped match against SKTelecom T1 ended up being a one-sided slaughter -- you know, like almost all of the other matches they’ve played this year. Peanut’s Kindred made an appearance, answering Blank’s aggressive jungling blow for blow. We still believe he needs to learn how to ward, but it seems like it’ll take a big loss for ROX to change their playstyle. And that won’t happen any time soon.

Incidentally, Devourer Kindred first made its appearance in Challengers Korea (check out MVP, their jungler Beyond is pretty sick), so it’s nice to see the inspiration travel upwards for once.

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A Tier: Jin Air Green Wings (10-4) | (+) KT Rolster (9-4) | (+) SKTelecom T1 (7-5)

Although it might look like a big deal for KT and SKT T1 to move up a tier, for the purpose of this power ranking, it’s not actually a significant change. We’ve said a few times now that A Tier teams demonstrate a willingness (and ability) to succeed outside of their comfort zones. It’s becoming pretty clear that KT and SKT T1 have the edge over their old B Tier compatriots in that regard, even if it’s just a product of the raw strength of their rosters.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to mention something about Faker’s Lulu -- as much as we want to see him style on fools with Zed and LeBlanc, take a moment to appreciate just how good he is on the little yordle. Faker is a player who seems to evolve every year. If 2015 was the year of the low-economy, jungler magnet Faker, then 2016 might be the year of the Swiss army knife Faker.

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B Tier: CJ Entus (8-6) | Longzhu Gaming (6-7) | Samsung Galaxy (7-6)

CJ Entus was the only team in B Tier to have won a match this week, and it happened to be against another B Tier team in Longzhu. It was a pretty ugly match, but if anything, it showed us that CJ are pretty confident in their current style. We talk a lot about how teams in the rebuilding phase need to focus on finding an identity, and CJ have done just that.

But Playoffs isn’t a lock just yet, and while it would be great for all three of these new teams to run through the gauntlet in their first season, being competitive is a different story. Time’s running out -- which team will thrive on the pressure, and which teams will crumble?

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C Tier: Afreeca Freecs (5-7)

When all's said and done, Afreeca actually had a pretty good week. Fresh off the back of their near-win against SKT T1, they took out Kongdoo and Samsung with some standout performances from the bot lane of Sangyoon and SnowFlower. We even got to see some creative picks in top Gragas and mid Quinn!

Afreeca are growing as a team, even if that growth is glacial in pace. Mickey played well on Lulu in all three games against Samsung -- if this is a sign that the Freecs are moving away from their League of Mickey strategy, then we’ll definitely keep an eye out for them.

D Tier: Kongdoo Monster (1-13) | SBENU Sonicboom (1-13)

SBENU managed to save face this season by taking out Kongdoo 2-0, and as much as we want to celebrate their win, the real question is what is happening in the Kongdoo house. They’ve grown as individual players, but their teamplay has reverted recently. To borrow a phrase used by Korean fans, they seem to have adopted the ‘Gandhi meta’ -- give everything up.

SBENU found their win because they played with confidence. As hollow as it sounds, Kongdoo need to emulate that and believe in themselves a little more.

Images courtesy of ESL and Inven

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Who will win their regions and clash at MSI? 

Let us know in the comments or on Twitter who will be regional champions.