Power Rankings - 2/10/2015

Riot·Feb 11, 2015·0 votes·33,778 views

Will a team ever run the table again? SK Telecom T1 K remains the only team to complete a season undefeated in professional League of Legends after they won Champions Winter 2013-2014. Currently, SK Gaming and GE Tigers are technically undefeated (though the GE Tigers have dropped one game to Jin Air). Dominant teams continued to impress for the most part this past week, so there hasn't been a lot of movement. But a few teams such as Fnatic and OMG had weaknesses exposed by losses to otherwise weaker teams. We also have to announce an addition to Power Rankings this week. We are going to include Brazil in our weekly rankings going forward. While we don't expect to see Brazilian teams in the Top 20, we aren't completely ruling it out. With that, let's see who impressed us this time around...

Korea

GE Tigers (6-0) [12-1]
Jin Air Green Wings (4-2) [10-5]
SKTelecom T1 (4-2) [8-5]
CJ Entus (4-2) [8-6]
Najin e-mFire (2-4) [6-6]
Incredible Miracle (3-3) [6-7]
KT Rolster (1-5) [3-10]
Samsung Galaxy (0-6) [1-12]

(Match Score) [Game Score] The GE Tigers continued their roll this week and stand firmly at first place in Korea. Even with a loss they would remain in first and at this point it'll be hard for any team to catch them. Jin Air has continued to be on form, and SKT bounced back against Samsung, fixing some of their champion select issues. CJ Entus meanwhile were unable to pull off a win against Jin Air and drop slightly as a result. Panel: Alex Manisier, Erik "DoA" Lonnquist, Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles, and Mike "Noctt" Huh

China

Edward Gaming (8-1)
OMG (5-0-3)
LGD Gaming (4-3-1)
Snake (5-0-4)
Invictus Gaming (4-3-1)
Team King (2-4-1)
Star Horn Royal Club (3-3-2)
Vici Gaming (2-2-4)
Gamtee (0-4-4)
Master3 (2-4-1)
Team WE (0-6-3)
Energy Pacemaker (0-5-2)

Record format is (W-L-T)

OMG struggled a bit this week. Their weaknesses in team play and macro level thinking was exposed, but because of struggles by LGD against King, they maintain their spot. King looks to be on the rebound (finally) after defeating LGD, and will try to justify the hype placed behind them at the beginning of the season when they take on OMG and IG this week. Meanwhile, despite several ties, Snake still has yet to suffer a match loss. With EDG going 6-0 this week in games, we don't think they'll be truly challenged again until they take on OMG in Week 6 -- look forward to that one! Panel: Barento "Raz" Mohammed, Michale "Drexxin" Lalor, and Ryanne "Froskurinn" Mohr.

North America

Team SoloMid (5-1)
Counter Logic Gaming (5-1)
Cloud9 (3-3)
Team Impulse (3-3)
Team8 (3-3)
Gravity (3-3)
Team Liquid (3-3)
Winterfox (2-4)
Team Dignitas (2-4)
Team Coast (1-5)

The more things change, the more they stay the same; TSM and CLG are once again the best teams in North America. Cloud9 continues its slow climb back towards the top of the rankings with solid play, but the league in general is a mess of 3-3 records. We've stack ranked them based on how they've looked in their games, and the quality of their opposition, but any of these teams could take a turn for better or worse. We worry for Team Liquid though. Communication problems have become apparent, and issues with macro level thinking and champion select are holding them back from being a truly great team. Panel: Cameron Gilbert, Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman, Taylor "Riot RoboTayCo" Cocke, Jason "Riot Jayway" Wai, Joshua "Riot Jatt" Leesman, and Frank "Riot Mirhi" Fields.

Europe

SK Gaming (6-0)
Fnatic (5-1)
Elements (4-2)
Team ROCCAT (3-3)
Unicorns of Love (3-3)
Copenhagen Wolves (3-3)
H2K (2-4)
Giants Gaming (2-4)
Gambit Gaming (1-5)
MeetYourMakers (1-5)

No one can stop SK. Through 15 minutes of the Elements vs SK Gaming match, it looked like Elements might finally take down the thus far undisputed kings of Europe. But a few well executed fights by SK Gaming turned the game on it's head and FORG1VENGRE and company ran away with another one. Meanwhile, Fnatic was finally exposed for some of their issues against Unicorns of Love (who themselves have issues). ROCCAT also have rebounded from their rough early season schedule to enter into the top four in Europe. The biggest climbers have to be Copenhagen Wolves, who were able to upset Unicorns of Love to get to a 50% record. Panel: Devin "PiraTechnics" Young, Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman, Taylor "Riot RoboTayCo" Cocke, Jason "Riot Jayway" Wai, and Frank "Riot Mirhi" Fields.

Taiwan

Yoe Flash Wolves (6-1)
Taipei Assassins (8-0)
Hong Kong Esports (6-2)
AHQ e-Sports Club (6-4)
Never Give Up (3-6)
Logitech Snipers (4-5)
Midnight Sun Esports (1-7)
Dream or Reality (0-9)

Week 4 was basically an off-week in Taiwan because of IEM Taipei, but a few matches were played without any real upsets. It still looks like TPA and Flash Wolves will run away with LMS unless the roster changes that Hong Kong Esports made last week have a dramatic effect. Panel: James "Obscurica" Chen and Chia "Reazony" Yu.

Brazil

INTZ e-Sports (2-0-2)
Keyd Stars (2-0-2)
paiN Gaming (1-0-3)
CNB e-Sports Club (2-2)
KaBuM! Black (1-0-3)
KaBuM! Orange (1-2-1)
Dexterity Team (1-3)
JAYOB e-Sports (0-3-1)

Record format is (W-L-T)

With half of the 2015 Summer CBLoL season completed, many Brazilian teams find themselves in dire straits as the playoffs loom ever closer. INTZ e-Sports has been the standout team of the season, showing coordinated map pressure and good vision control in most of their matches, although inexplicably forgetting it in others. Still, when INTZ is on, they shine, and look far better than their closest competition in Keyd Stars and paiN Gaming. Keyd Stars should continue to grow as their communication between their two Koreans and the rest of the team improves. This puts them ahead of paiN Gaming, a team that has yet to look comfortable outside of a specific team composition. Written by Emily Rand Panel: Emily Rand

International

GE Tigers (6-0)
Edward Gaming (8-1)
Jin Air Green Wings (4-2)
SKTelecom T1 (4-2)
OMG (5-0-3)
CJ Entus (4-2)
LGD Gaming (4-3-1)
Najin e-mFire (2-4)
Snake (5-0-4)
SK Gaming (6-0)
Invictus Gaming (4-3-1)
Team King (2-4-1)
Star Horn Royal Club (3-3-2)
Vici Gaming (2-2-4)
Team SoloMid (5-1)
Fnatic (5-1)
Yoe Flash Wolves (6-1)
Elements (4-2)
Taipei Assassins (8-0)
Counter Logic Gaming (5-1)

This week the Korean panel came out in full force. Given the struggles of many teams in China, except for EDG who look phenomenal, Korea has looked much better. Most panelists are not willing to move SK Gaming higher until Korean and Chinese teams falter in their team play or Europe proves itself internationally. Though we imagine if SK Gaming continues their undefeated run they will climb higher, especially if they beat premier competition on the way.

In both North America and China a lot of the top teams have yet to face one another, so it'll be interesting to see which teams rise to the level of their opponents and which ones are simply outclassed. Next week will help determine a lot of things both regionally and internationally: SKT plays against GE Tigers, King runs through a gauntlet of top teams, OMG is truly tested against LGD, and CLG plays against TSM for claim to the best in North America.

Let us know what you think of the rankings, write your own, and give us feedback on things to improve either on Twitter or in the comments below. Images courtesy of Inven, CGA, Garena, ESL and INTZ e-Sports

58 Comments

Im The Best AdcFeb 11, 201522 votes

CLG > TSM

College DebtsFeb 11, 201512 votes

Too bad that's unproven, TSM is ahead of CLG every split, every season

KerthardFeb 11, 20154 votes

although, CLG beat TSM in WCG 2010

MrAAAgentFeb 11, 20155 votes

That was 5 years ago. Now the sole purpose of CLG is to lost to TSM and give them FREELO.

Smallboss98Feb 11, 20158 votes

last season their record was 2-2

AudunFeb 13, 20151 votes

and 4-0'd them the split before that.

VarijakeFeb 11, 201513 votes

CLG=TSM right now. There is definitely no way to determine which team is stronger at the moment. That game could go either way, and I look forward to watching a VERY good game of League of Legends come match time.

"Every split" in the past doesn't mean anything in the great fantastical land of present day. Stop dwelling on the past and look at the facts sitting right in front of you: both teams are damn good. There is no clear winner.

If TSM destroys CLG then I will eat my words, but I highly HIGHLY doubt that game will be one sided.

And to be completely honest, in the form that Cloud 9 has been in recently this past week, I wouldn't count them out come week 7,8, or 9 when they have had time to improve their record. The next 3 weeks are definitely winnable for C9. They could easily go 6-0 these next few weeks. As long as they keep in the direction they are headed, they'll be contesting for the top spot. That or they will be at east top 3 or 4.

MFG ColourFeb 11, 20151 votes

except previos seasons and splits weren't on patch 5.x so that doesn't matter

Fe 4Feb 12, 20156 votes

C9>TSM

KrypticSoul666Feb 13, 20152 votes

That's cute. It gave me a good chuckle.

TopMuffinFeb 15, 20151 votes

c9 lost to both top teams help pls we have a hype moron

NeoDeimosFeb 11, 201514 votes

Few things:

How does Invictus deserve to jump from unranked all the up to 11th? Sure they beat LGD 2-0, but you can't forget that they also got 2-0'd by both Vici and Snake in the 2 previous weeks.
How does King deserve to be ranked, period, much less anywhere near the top 12? Here's what they've done against half-decent competition (i.e. anyone not named Energy Pacemaker) prior to defeating LGD (seems to be a common theme, more on this below): 0-2 vs EDG, 0-2 against Master3!!, 1-1 against Snake, 0-2 vs SHRC, 0-2 vs Vici. Yes, you counted correctly. Outside of LGD and EP, King is 1-9!!! It's time to stop ranking teams based on alleged potential.
Speaking of LGD... They 2-0'd SHRC in week 1, congrats. Since then, they've gone a combined 1-7 against EDG, Snake, Invictus, and King. Sure sounds like they're a bit over-rated.

Basically what I'm getting at, is China's a very top-heavy region; clearly EDG and OMG, then a big mess of teams in the middle that struggle to defeat equal and lesser competition; much like NA at the moment (TSM, CLG, and everyone else).

"Currently, SK Gaming and GE Tigers are technically undefeated (though the GE Tigers have dropped one game to Jin Air)." - So a team is "undefeated" if they lose a game, but don't lose the set? Well, by THAT definition, there are quite a few teams in China and Brazil that haven't technically "lost" yet either...

Angus McFifeFeb 11, 20154 votes

I agree with this dude. The Power Rankings Panel is really dropping the balls with this week's Top 20. It's just highly unrealistic and unjustified.

NeoDeimosFeb 14, 20151 votes

It's now a few hours after the Week 5 Day 2 matches. King has now been swept by OMG (the expected result), and Gamtee... GAMTEE!! If this is not a wake-up call to the panel members to get King off these rankings, it's pretty much proof of blind favoritism towards a Chinese team.

Think about it, would you EVER see an NA or EU team that's currently 5-13 be in these rankings? No, the only reason they'd still be on the list next week would be because of the region they play in, not their actual performance.

SeagroveFeb 11, 20158 votes

SK deserves to move higher internationally, even if it is just to 7th. Last time, it was said that they would not be moved up unless they improved their vision control. I am not saying it was phenomenal, but they did improve their vision control in week 3.

College DebtsFeb 11, 20153 votes

Wait until EU proves themselves then we can talk, SK is at the right position. Today's list is the most solid list so far, the previous ones are way worse.

im CrisFeb 11, 20156 votes

Dude, they have Yoe Flash wolves ahead of Elements and CLG... This list is just all kinds of bad

crocoroarFeb 11, 20152 votes

Gamma Bears have apparently gotten a crap ton better by just re-branding to Yoe Flash Wolves and beating Toyz.

College DebtsFeb 11, 20152 votes

Every list has flaws, but this one is better. The previous ones are terrible, there was at one point they put 3 LMS teams over NA LCS teams, I was like... da fuq?

YFW was known as Gama Bears, but they lost their star jungler - Winds.

SeagroveFeb 11, 20157 votes

What you are implying is that they shouldn't go up until the international event between splits. Do you know who else hasn't proved themselves internationally? GE Tigers, EDG, and Jin Air. Najin is not better than SK.

TrollFan01Feb 11, 20156 votes

El Clasico once again this Sunday!

ShadowFiend812Feb 11, 20155 votes

I'm so confused with some of the rankings here. 1st why is king so high along with Vici and najin 2nd why has SK moved up I do realize that you guys said that Korean teams and Chinese teams would need to move down but why would that mean the 2-4 is better than a 6-0 team? Sure Korea is a tough scene but I don't expect a 2-4 team to be top 10 in the world

No More OreoFeb 11, 20151 votes

Not sure too much about King and Vici, but Najin is pretty strong compared to the Western teams. Season 4 Group stage had C9 and Alliance (now Elements). They left the Group in first place. Their current roster has an upgraded bottom lane and about the same top lane (although some might say its an upgrade from Save), Mid and the jungle is the same.

pfandryFeb 11, 20154 votes

well, they finished first but not easily, they lost a perfect game against Alliance and almost lost the first one and got outrotated by C9. If Alliance didn't go full yolo agains Kabum, it would have been a three-way tie, and I really don't know if Najin could have still been first. They have a better botlane now but they don't put it in often (subbing). SK still looks very dominant. we'll see at the mid-year international invitational

No More OreoFeb 12, 20151 votes

Mid-year international will definitely give better context. Sadly, its always the Koreans and Chinese dumpstering all the Western team year after year. People need to remember in S4 mid-year (aka All Stars Paris), slumping SKT T1 (who didn't even make it out of the group stage in OGN) went undefeated (if I remember correctly) and dumpstered all the other teams. Second place OMG from China also defeated every other team besides SKT T1 K.

Smart KittyFeb 11, 20151 votes

TBH, at worlds, Alliance looked at least equal with Najin, if not better. They had the lead in the first game against them, but lost mainly by giving picks to Zefa's Tristana. Then Alliance got a perfect game against them in game 2. They even were defeated by C9, then 0-3'd by OMG. I honestly don't think Najin is significantly better than the strongest western teams at this point.

AnbuItachiFeb 13, 20151 votes

On the Najin thing, the games they lost, were close series wich showed great strenghts of the team, there is also the matter of the bottom lane, ohq x cain, is way better then zefa x pure, maybe they let zefa play alot for the first part of the season, cause these gamess aren't as important, as long as they don't lose all, wich they don't, and later in the season they'll hopefully play ohq x cain for the most part, but even with thing being as they are now, they are still one of the best teams in korea, if the series would've been best of 5's, the scoreboard would've probably looked a little diffrent, and don't go comparing najin with shield at worlds, they have diffrent players, there are alot of changes in game as well, it would be the same as comparing sk from worlds with now,

Bramble BerryFeb 11, 20153 votes

What's the justification for Fnatic being that ahead of CLG? Makes little sense

JathielFeb 12, 20151 votes

Everyone just decided to get on the Fnatic hype-train. Almost completely new roster that can play a single style well, nothing special to that team.

Wrath of KonFeb 11, 20152 votes

Reminder to these analyst... EU and SEA had 0 teams make the top 8. Why there are multiple teams ahead of CLG from each region is quite unbelievable

ShadowFiend812Feb 11, 20151 votes

Clg is the team of giving false hope just look at last season they were tied for first for a while then ended up 6th and needing to go against curse academy to stay in the lcs

JohahFeb 11, 20152 votes

Snake deserves to be higher..

JinembaFeb 11, 20152 votes

The "Panel" is heavily biased. On one hand its a list based on current performance and not the past yet at the same time even when ignoring the past a Korean team going undefeated will always be regarded as several steps above a Western team going undefeated. Though honestly the top 5 teams in the world right now are probably Korean and Chinese teams but after seeing enough of these lists its obvious that performance doesnt mean as much in certain Leagues. If Dignitas were to beat CLG right now they will move up 1-3 spots from wheverer they are ranked. But if Samsung beats GE Tigers right now, they will fly up the list like they've dominating.

Also Korea is considered Meta apparently. These Panel guys have the nerve to tell top tier dominating teams "They will get placed higher if they improve their warding". But they must have forgotten, these teams are better than the analysts and panel. Just cause a dominating Chinese,European or NA team doesnt ward exactly like GE Tigers does doesn't mean GE Tigers is meta and everyone else if playing wrong.

MFG ColourFeb 11, 20151 votes

warding is rather universal and look at China before they started warding they had to stand as groups of 5 to avoid being caught out, if you have a ward that sees that group of 5 you can just avoid them

5G is for LosersFeb 12, 20151 votes

No, warding is to complement your playstyle. If you playstyle does no require much warding, then there is no need to ward excessively.

5G is for LosersFeb 12, 20151 votes

Your post hit the problems right on the head.

Lord BoobingtonFeb 12, 20152 votes

"But a few well executed fights by SK Gaming turned the game on it's head..."

The correct word is "its." "It's" is a contraction of "it is" and is not possessive.

TeamcalvoFeb 11, 20151 votes

Why is cloud 9 #3? they haven't beat anyone "top tier team" where have TL have.

ganofFeb 11, 201512 votes

TL is 1-3 with their starting roster. That's pretty worrying.

NeoDeimosFeb 11, 20158 votes

C9 defeated Liquid, simple as that.

NeoDeimosFeb 11, 20154 votes

If you need more...

Liquid has lost to Dignitas, none of C9's losses have been that bad.

Also, 2 of Liquid's wins were against teams that were missing their starting top laner (coincidentally, Liquid was missing their AD for both of those games). C9's wins were all against full rosters.

ShadowFiend812Feb 12, 20151 votes

Pretty sure they lost to gravity pretty hard due to them not knowing how to stop the full dive if I recall correctly hai was like 0-8-7

NeoDeimosFeb 14, 20151 votes

I was more referring to the records of the team that they lost to (Gravity was in the midst of their 3-0 start when they beat C9, while Dig was 1-4 prior to defeating Liquid); rather than how bad the loss itself was, sorry for any confusion.

TopMuffinFeb 15, 20151 votes

Liquid is garbage gtfo

ShadowFiend812Feb 12, 20151 votes

I've noticed something with these rankings the Korean teams are all in the top 10 with najin being the lowest at 8th but I'm wondering where incredible miracle is since there 3-3 clearly these analysts think China and Korea are vastly superior to all others but how far away is incredible miracle from najin? Surely they should be close if incredible miracle is 3-3 and najin is 2-4

MagicKnightofEaFeb 12, 20151 votes

How come North America LCS and Europe LCS is different from Asia and Brasil? I believe it would be better if everyone went to play each team twice in one day rather than two different teams.

GlørÿFeb 12, 20151 votes

Do you guys really still believe in Team King that much?? They've made a lot of mistakes and not sure if they're able to keep up with the LPL as a top team.

TopMuffinFeb 15, 20151 votes

Quit fisting TSM in the rankings. TSM is just as good as the intermediate chinese teams. So is CLG and you have them ranked lower than the shit tier Taiwan teams and a shaky elements team. That is a disgrace to NA.