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Week 4 NA LCS Rankings

Admiral Howe·6/26/2017, 1:24:40 AM·4 votes·799 views

Teams showing their actual spots in the LCS as we get closer to the middle of the split, top teams fall, mid tier teams return to form and bottom teams provide some looks for next season to watch. Lets get to ranking these players and teams for week 4.

Top Lane:

  1. IMT Flame: This dude has been at number 1 two weeks in a row and he isnt stopping the pain train he was famous for in season 2. Against DIG, he dominated the previous number 1 top laner for two weeks in a row in Ssumday, against CLG, he smashed Darshan and made CLG really regret the Fiora pick, and made his Camille pick look useless. Lastly i want to mention the sweet moves he showed against DIG diving him in game 2 in their series, this guy is so damn good without help, its scary.

  2. C9 Impact: By god they did it, C9 actually played through top and Impact got to dominate the game while Jensen was left to win lane like he always does. Impact showed this week why he was a top tier laner and helped C9 win, he also showed he can pretty much slap around great top laners as both he and Flame took turns beating up Ssumday this week.

  3. TSM Hauntzer: He's been showing that he's getting better, granted it was against teams like FlyQuest and Echo Fox, but its still one step in the right direction and given how well Balls and Looper have been playing, Hauntzer deserves the 3 spot.

  4. CLG Darshan: In the loss to IMT, he looked good, not good enough to beat out Flame, but good enough to not feed and make plays, one thing that did make him fall was CLG opting to have him split push, which was a great idea but Darshan abandoning his strong push to help the team when they already lost. He does this every time, and its bad on his part.

  5. FOX Looper: Despite the losses and despite the blowouts, Looper has taken Balls' spot of that top laner who does well while his team drowns.

MID:

  1. C9 Jensen: Finally this guy doesnt call for 5000 ganks and constant pressure, and it showed that C9 can leave him be in mid and play through side lanes knowing Jensen will 9/10 win lane anyway and collect a lead. In game 2 against DIG, he even forwent the cs lead everyone has been hype for and helped the team with some roams and vision, the one thing ive been calling for Jensen to finally do and he does it. This is the Jensen C9 needs and this is the Jensen that can bring C9 back to Worlds and a win in the Summer playoffs.

  2. IMT Pobelter: Stomping Huhi and Keane back to back, against two completely different styles and showing he is one of the best mids in NA and turning that "Only two horse race for best mid" between Jensen and Bjergsen into a 3 way dance between Bjerg, Jensen and Pobelter. The outplaying, the pressure, the roaming, the farm leads and the vision game from Pobelter was spot on and he is always a frightening team fighter.

  3. TSM Bjergsen: Ahead, dominating and clean, but falls to 3 given this was against two struggling teams while Pobelter and Jensen were doing the same against better teams.

  4. CLG Huhi: He showed he can step up still and when he gets roaming with Dardoch, he can be dangerous as hell. Put Huhi on Aurelion Sol, Taliyah or Leblanc and he will dominate the map, put Huhi on Orianna, Lucian, or Corki and he can dominate lane. He just is a bit inconsistent in his play.

  5. TL Slooshi: I expected him to get blown up against Jensen, what i didnt expect was for him to show up and clap Ryu while helping TL win in a battle of two teams looking to improve out of the bottom of the ladder.

Jungle:

  1. IMT Xmithie: His god like Gragas game vs DIG, his cerebral approach with his aggression and his Olaf game spoke loudly for his spot at number 1. He is the only jungler so far who is being 100% consistent. Cool composed and a great player to help open up leads for his lanes.

  2. CLG Dardoch: Finally this guy goes above 4th place by showing, even in the loss against IMT, that he is a dangerous playmaker. He isnt quite yet that piece that CLG needs to break out and start looking less sloppy but he can improve if he plays like this more and more.

  3. TSM Svenskeren: Improving over time, getting back to being a top tier jungler, i'll remain silent until he shows this kind of play vs people like Reignover, Shrimp, Dardoch or Xmithie.

  4. TL Reignover: I think maybe bringing in Inori may have lit an extra fire under Reignover to stay consistent. It showed anyway that Reignover can get the ball rolling for TL again, and with Slooshi providing what GoldenGlue was struggling to do with Reignover, he has the power and ability to open games up and help TL win.

  5. C9 Contractz: He's looking better, his play was reaching critical mass of trash but against DIG and against TL, he showed he is slowly improving. It'll be nice to see him get better later in the season.

ADC: im ranking ADC separate from supports this time, because i realized it hurts a lot of appreciation a support or ADC should get by combining them.

  1. IMT Cody Sun: With every ADC on a top team getting back to form, it will be interesting to see where Cody stands at the end of the split, but for now and since the split began, he's been the only consistent play at this role, pulling off utility picks and hyper carry picks both excellently. Its nice to see some new blood in the top this year.

  2. TSM DoubleLift: I dont know why he stays on Ashe when he's shown his play on her isnt the best, and he keeps out of the number 1 spot (which is where i wanted to put him after seeing him on Tristanna) by playing Ashe again and again and again. This is him on Lucian all over again but this time, hes not so good on Ashe, wild Ulti Arrows flying all over the map just made me feel like he's trying too hard to do something that the rest of TSM can do fairly easily.

  3. NV Apollo: This man is a beast and a half, i can see the "Im a young ADC who looked up to DoubleLift" all over this guy when he survives a 5 on 1 fiesta or breaks some jungler's wrists with the out play. Cody Sun and Apollo are two young ADCs that are fantastic and ones i love watching improve and dominate.

  4. TL Piglet: with Mat, he isnt on this list, with Konkwon, he is showing that he still has juice in the tank and is not going for the stupid flash in to 1 v 2 plays in bot lane that he was before. Its nice to see TL's bot lane on the up and up

  5. C9 Sneaky: Poor Sneaky has been having a bad split, i know he can do better, you know he can, C9 knows he can but something is just making me feel like he's regressing from Spring. The Kennen pick is okay but he never really pops off and with almost every other ADC in the league (that isnt Keith) being able to pop off, i dont know what bringing him down. He has some shining moments but they are few and far in between.

Support:

  1. IMT Olleh: Again, ban this guy out, try to take away his picks and he will throw another at you. Consistent, calm the ability to open up opportunity after opportunity for IMT. His vision game, his playmaking and his teamfighting have been second to none so far this split.

  2. TL Konkwon: This man showed he is a great support, will he be be able to hold this spot for the weeks to come? Maybe not but this week he showed why TL and Piglet put the faith in him on a long road to improvement. His Jesus-like saves until the bitter end against C9 on Tahm Kench, his taking part in dismantling P1's bot lane, this guy is a pivotal piece in giving Piglet the confidence to help TL get out of 10th and maybe even be considered for 7th but thats a stretch.

  3. TSM Biofrost: Not as consistent as he can be, a bit sloppy here and there but had those moments i think every TSM fan was waiting for, those Biodaddy moments that showed TSM is serious, theyre hungry and they want IMT and first place badly. He simply got upstaged this week, no real bad plays from him and im hype to see this guy do well again.

  4. Smoothie: He looks like he's been struggling with the playmaking supports besides that incredible Blitzcrank game, there was a time i was wondering why not bring in BunnyFuufuu who is known for playmaking. Steadily getting back to form, steadily returning to that state of play where he was the defacto support in NA but for now, he is 4th this week.

  5. CLG Aphromoo: What do you get when you put the best playmaking support in the world only behind Mata, on Tahm Kench and Morganna? Some pretty awful play. He looked nothing like himself save for maybe one game against NV this week on Tahm Kench. His Morg didnt impress and thank god he got to play Thresh. This was not his week at all.

Taking time before i end this, i want to talk about DIG, TL and P1. About DIG, they have been showing that they hit the panic button when being kept down in games. IMT and C9 took advantage of this as they are teams who can remain calm for the most part and find ways to win. DIG needs to realize they should leave Ssumday alone when he has a lead on Fiora and play to rest of the map. Too many times this week, DIG fell back to "Play around Ssumday" as they fell off the face of the earth in both Game 3s.

I want to give TL the virtual high 5 for finally looking past Mat for a support pick. Konkwon stepped up hard this week and Slooshi is a decent enough mid laner to hold them as a good mid tier team.

P1 makes me sad, Mike Yeung's great play took the attention off the true problems for P1, Zig regressing and Arrow going through more sidekicks than Batman. This year Arrow is on his 4th support. Im thinking this "We need synergy" excuse is something wrong with either his attitude or something going on behind the scenes making P1 implode. It will be really sad to see if they only scrounge up one win again during a split with the players they have now.

Let me know what you guys think, do you agree? Do you not? What might be your picks if you do? Thats it for Week 4 rankings for the NA LCS.

7 Comments

ChompyWulf6/26/2017, 2:55:38 AM2 votes

Small error, saying Dardoch showed his play making even while losing to CLG. Of course you mean loss to IMT. The only thing I would say is that individually Pobelter and Xmithie aren't necessarily the best at their position. What has made them shine is ability to move and flow with their team. Rather than either of them being the tip of the spear, they are the explosive that detonates when the missile impacts on target.

III BAKURYU III 6/26/2017, 3:12:25 AM2 votes

Another GREAT post dude, keep it up !

Team Envy I don't think Apollo is a "young" adc knowing he's been in the League since 2013 the same split that D-Lift and the LCS was created but I understand what you mean or I think you do with the young part being in the "spotlight". I was shocked at seeing him play actually aggressive but it's been going back to his passive self as of late and knowing his previous years in the LCS it's safe to say we've seen the best of Apollo this split and may most likely will only get worse as the splits continue on from now.
I really hope Hakuho is on an All NA- Pro team this split as he's really producing with his engages and effort in helping the team win or stay in games because of him. I was hard on him for most of his career with REN/NV because it seemed for the most part his lane phase was garbage and his warding for the most part of his career in the early weeks were like #10 among supports with warding but he's been getting better and better over the splits/weeks. If this team can work on their teamfighting synergy + with their already improving lane phase they could make the Playoffs but with the rising Immortals and Dignitas it's a safe spot to place them 7th instead, but you never know.

Team Liquid The players can get CS with every player on the team having a good sense of lane phase but the passive kills per game and objectives while improving is still really low, TL are known for the past year/half now to be in the worst tier of objective focus among all teams. Subbing out GG for Slooshi in my opinion is the best option for TL as GG just wasn't giving TL the boost that they needed. The thing that will be interesting is seeing Slooshi play Ori in which is one of his go 2 champions like Syndra is to Bjergsen and seeing if teams start to ban it away from him.

Cloud 9 It seems C9 are back on track but it's still the meta that I fear for C9, knowing C9's struggles whenever the meta becomes more of a fight or flight type of style C9 seems to fall just a bit whenever it does become more of a fight, melee supports and less about long range poke cc supports in which helps Sneaky knowing his ok lane phase.
While the different meta shift may hurt C9, they're still a class A team and org so the early struggles shouldn't be something that I would get too caught up with knowing half of the top tier teams from Split are either really bad or are struggling themselves. Really expecting Sneaky to pull out the Ashe against TSM/CLG this upcoming weekend considering it's his best champion to pull out wins as well as his most picked against both TSM and CLG Sneaky picked Ashe 17 times out of his 53 picks against TSM/CLG as well as Varius with 7 picked out of 16 times he played the champion.

Again, good post and can't wait for your next post

xJLx MCHammer6/26/2017, 4:07:00 AM2 votes

Both C9 and IMT made DIG look like a second rate team. I'm a bit surprised considering how strong DIG started. Although, I think next week will make all the standings solidify. CLG vs C9, IMT vs TSM, C9 vs TSM. After that, it will be hard to argue who is better

With that said, IMT, TSM, CLG, and C9 all looked good. TSM. Each team however, has shown some obvious trend that internationally would not work. Sven seems to be only good on Lee. Bjerg loves to play 2 champions only. Jensen mostly plays Ori. Xmithie on Gragas.

Also, Sneaky is having a bad split? As the caster have said it last week, his stats, and consistency makes him top 2, if not the best ADC in NA.