Power Rankings 2/16/2016

For an in-depth look at every team, and context on our panel and process for ranking, take a look at our novella about every team in professional League -- the Preseason Power Rankings. Also check out last week's rankings if you missed them.

Feel free to skip ahead to your region of choice.

NA LCS | EU LCS | LMS | LPL | LCK

It's that time of Spring where the LCK, LPL, & LMS take some R&R time off for the Lunar New Year, so we have a much shorter edition of Power Rankings this week. The LCS on the other hand is getting ready for its first pause of Spring for IEM Katowice in two weekends (mark your calendars). A few teams in North America and Europe are starting to find their stride, and apart from a single outlier (hello Immortals!) we have relative parity at the top of the table.

NA LCS

Written by James "Obscurica" Chen

• S Tier: IMT (10-0)
• A Tier: (+) CLG (6-4) | C9 (6-4) | (+) TSM (7-3)
• B Tier: (-) NRG (5-5) | TL (5-5)
• C Tier: TIP (4-6)
• D Tier: (+) EF (3-7) | DIG (3-7)
• F Tier: REN (1-9)

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S Tier: Immortals (10-0)

Reignover's 100% first blood participation streak finally ended this week -- but only because WildTurtle and Adrian didn't need the help. The would-be kings of North America were once again a dominant force, finishing the first half of the split undefeated. Which is not to say it has been easy: Cloud9, at the very least, was able to force trades throughout their match, making for the single most action-packed game of the week.

But in doing so, they only served to highlight how impressive IMT is as a team. They have sharper execution than their peers, smarter objective prioritization, and that legendary clutch factor to back them up. WildTurtle ripping out a successful 1 vs. 3 team fight win will probably go into many future highlight reels.

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A Tier: Cloud9 (6-4) | (+) TSM (7-3) | (+) Counter Logic Gaming (6-4)

TSM fans have been waiting a while now for their star-studded roster to play to their potential, and their patience was duly rewarded as the team thoroughly dismantled Counter Logic Gaming. TSM's certainly won games before this week, but to paraphrase their own opinions on the matter, even their wins looked awful, and based more on mistakes of other teams rather than their own initiative. Not so this week. Yellowstar's masterful setups spoon-fed his hungry team full of kills and Hauntzer's Fiora shredded through enemy defenses. TSM looked like a changed team.

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Which is not to say that CLG was awful. Yeah, they got a drubbing from arch-rivals TSM, and letting Impact steal Baron was unfortunate, but all of that was offset by an equally exquisite map-pressure focused game against NRG. League of Legends may nominally be a PVP game, but don’t tell that to Darshan -- his team worked hard to reduce it to a PVE game for him, pulling interference at every opportunity to let him farm turrets and inhibitors in peace.

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Meanwhile, Cloud9 didn't come away with a 2-0 this week, but their loss will probably be forgiven by their fans because they gave Immortals one of the best challenges all season. Their game against Liquid was more sedate in comparison, at least up to the halfway mark. At 18 minutes, though, things took a turn for the worse for Liquid. Fate's Call with Alistar's Pulverize is normally a good idea, especially when the enemy team is under your turret, but Jensen's Corki was left entirely untouched in the exchange while TL was just as clustered up as their targets. The burst damage provided by Corki and Balls' Malphite left a smoldering crater where Liquid was previously standing, breaking the game's equilibrium in C9’s favor.

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B Tier: (-) NRG (5-5) | Liquid (5-5)

Not to put too fine a point to it, but NRG got their butts kicked all weekend. They pulled some good moves vs. CLG -- notably, a jawdropping Seismic Shard Baron steal from Impact that bought NRG some desperately needed breathing room -- but it was all offset by Darshan turning a normally competitive multi-player game into an MMO-style farm fest. To rub salt in the wound, CLG even stole their team colors, wearing NRG-pink jerseys in celebration of Valentine's Day.

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Liquid, on the other hand, at least came out with some dignity intact. Sure, they lost to Cloud9 and Jensen's ridiculous burst damage, but at least they swept through Renegades without a problem. Clutch moments are a double-edged blade. While Liquid suffered against Cloud9, they had their own showcase moment when Piglet and Fenix turned a losing teamfight (down 2 vs. 4 people) into a victorious encounter and a free turret.

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C Tier: Team Impulse (4-6)

Impulse demonstrated a bimodal style of play: weak reactive form vs. TSM, and the opposite vs. Team Dignitas. Against the latter, it was all about taking strong initiative and control over jungle objectives, quickly taking possession of the Dragon side of the map. Perhaps it's less helpful to frame it as inconsistency, and more like the team's figuring out and addressing weaknesses from game to game. Improvement takes time.

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D Tier: (+) Echo Fox (3-7) | Team Dignitas (3-7)

This was the Echo Fox we've been waiting for. It can't really be said that the team's caught a second wind after KFO and Froggen were finally released from bureaucratic visa hell -- that would imply the team had a grace period earlier. But their decisive conquest of NRG was an apt demonstration of why these particular players were scouted in the first place. It would be little surprise if KFO attracted Malphite bans from here on out. Now they just need to prove that their success wasn't a fluke and keep building momentum as the Split continues.

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To Team Dignitas's credit, their individual players aren't looking terrible. Billyboss, in particular, started the Split as one of the weakest top laners in the NA LCS, but has acclimated handily to the pressures and demands of his role. His Poppy game vs. Impulse was highly influential, including locking people out of Gate's Magical Journey by way of canny Steadfast Presence positioning. Kirei, too, was landing a consistent rain of Nidalee spears onto Pirean and others, although at a time when his team couldn't capitalize on them. That isn't enough yet to pull them out of the bottom of the NA LCS barrel, but the tools are there for them in the long run.

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F Tier: (-) Renegades (1-9) 

It's frustrating to watch Renegades at the moment, as roster changes (both forced and unforced) have left them in a dismal state. Freeze was no miracle cure to their bot lane ills, though his individual ability to play at a high level was well-demonstrated vs. Liquid. He held steady vs. Piglet, even pulling out a significant farm lead by the ten-minute mark despite Liquid capitalizing on Hakuho and Flaresz's errors early in the game. Yet his progress was entirely washed out by the 4,000 gold deficit generated simultaneously by the rest of his team.

Renegades lost three separate fights in the red side top lane tri-bush -- each time a member of the team took a Death Sentence right in the face. That either signals that Renegades is really feeling their back-to-back defeats, or that something's getting garbled in their in-game decision-making process -- or both. For new top laner Flaresz, formerly of Enemy Esports, this all likely creates a strong sense of deja vu.

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EU LCS

Written by Paul Marshall

• A Tier: H2K (8-2) | G2 (8-2) | (+) VIT (7-3) | (+) UOL (7-3)
• B Tier: OG (5-5) | FNC (6-4)
• C Tier: SPY (3-7) | EL (4-6)
• D Tier: (-) ROC (1-9) | (+) GIA (1-9)

The EU LCS is making a good case to having one of the most exciting ends of the Split, with four teams all serious contenders for the number one spot. The A Tier teams have been slugging it out at the top and if you were a gambling man you’d want to keep your cards close to your chest.

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A Tier: H2K (8-2) | G2 Esports (8-2) | (+) Team Vitality (7-3) | (+) Unicorns of Love (7-3)

After years of KaSing hovering over Zilean, you might’ve thought Vitality would at least let him be the one to lock him in. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be, but either way we still got to see Vitality’s tilting combination of Bard and Zilean in their dominating performance over Origen. KaSing’s Bard was beautiful to watch, Cabochard was phenomenal on Graves, and Nukeduck is making his case as one of the best Gangplanks in Europe. Going into this week, one of the only concerns about Vitality was their ability to close out games after building early leads -- this week they showed no problems doing just that.

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G2 had arguably the worst Champion Select of the Split in their game against Vitality, letting Fiora, Gangplank, and Corki go across to Red side. If you hand those three picks over to the enemy team on a silver platter, you’re going to have a bad time. Even though they looked strong in the early game, G2 couldn’t match Vitality’s mid-game damage. Their win on Sunday against H2K once again showcased their ability to pull out clutch plays when they need them most. Emperor’s mystic shot Baron steal was truly outrageous, Hybrid’s peel and playmaking on Braum is becoming target ban worthy, and Kikis was an absolute monster on Malphite. I’m sure H2K will be having nightmares about his HP bar for weeks now. Champion Select aside, G2 are looking like one of the strongest of the teams in Europe, and I’m looking forward to Week 8 when we get to see their second match against Vitality.

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It was a wild ride for H2K this weekend. Their game against Unicorns of Love was a great example of how you can be 1-3 and 60 CS down with Fiora at one point, and still come back to dumpster the enemy team and a fed Ryze. It was a game that really could have gone either way -- a questionable Baron call by H2K almost swung it back in UOL’s favor. Ultimately, it was Odoamne’s late game performance on Fiora that was enough to drag them over the finish line. Their loss on Sunday was another shining example of the Quinn vs. Malphite matchup and how early bullying from Quinn doesn’t make up for the late game wrecking ball that is Malphite. Ryu returns to the mid lane this weekend and we will be waiting to see just what H2K can do with the level of pressure he puts out on the enemy team, and the autonomy he’s able to do it with.

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Unicorns of Love showed that they had the potential to be a top tier team this weekend. Sure, they lost against H2K, but it was a loss that exemplified some great strengths. Vizicsacsi’s Ryze was straight up scary and could have easily carried the game if it wasn’t for the late game Fiora played by Odoamne. Fox is making a case for being one of the top tier mid laners in Europe with fantastic performances this weekend and Steeelback is entering the company of Zven and FORG1VENGRE in terms of ADC output (3rd in Damage Per Minute and 6th in Team Damage % of all EU players). Unlike last weekend, however, Rudy’s inexperience shone through. He had a poor performance on Rek’Sai and made some questionable choices like splitting from the team to chase down a blue Ezreal. If they want to remain at the top they’re going to need to give their rookie the resources to grow.

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B Tier: Origen (5-5) | Fnatic (6-4)

It was another disappointing week for the former European powerhouses. Both Fnatic and Origen are struggling to keep up with the high flying teams of the EU LCS and are now solidly mid tier teams. They had similar weekends, both losing to A Tier teams and winning against C Tier teams. Fnatic looked better against Elements than Origin did against Splyce, but the real winner of that game was a Banner of Command and Zz’Rot portal combo from Gamsu.

It’s understandable why Fnatic might be struggling. Rekkles has had to adjust to shouldering some of the shotcalling responsibilities from the ADC position (a position that usually is the most silent) and they’ve brought on a swath of new players, including a mid Split roster swap of Klaj replacing Noxiak. Considering the roster changes, it's not surprising that this Split has been an uphill battle for the team.

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Origen's struggle, on the other hand, was a complete surprise. After their success during the 2015 Summer Split and World Championship, and their minimal roster changes in the offseason, anyone would have picked them as a top contender this Split. The universe unfortunately had other plans, as the team finds themselves out of form. Zven remains the one shining beacon of hope and should serve as a reminder to all the Origen fans out there that form is temporary.

Hopefully Origen can find what led them to being a top tier team in Europe last year.

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C Tier: Splyce (3-7) | Elements (4-6)

Both Splyce and Elements proved this weekend that they are the quintessential 7th place teams. They look good against the teams below them and then struggle against the teams above them. Interestingly enough their Week 5 and Week 6 are mirrored. Elements will take on Giants and Origen, while Splyce will take on Fnatic and Roccat. It should give us a better indication as to where these two teams sit against each and which one will rise above the bottom three to avoid playing for Relegation.

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D Tier: Roccat (1-9) | Giants (1-9)

First and foremost I’d like to congratulate Giants on their first win. To actually pull themselves out of the slump they’ve been in and get a win, even if it was against an equally struggling Roccat, is commendable. Their game against Splyce was also very close. Sure, there were plenty of misplays and missed charms, but the game was pretty much even until a 30 minute teamfight and a well utilized Package from Sencux gave Splyce the Ace and the game. For Roccat it’s another 0-2 week. Both teams will have to muster something special in the second half of the Split if they want pull themselves out of Relegation.

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LMS

Written by Clement Chu

• A Tier: (-) AHQ (6-0-0) | FW (3-2-1) | TPA (3-1-2)
• B Tier: HKE (2-1-3) | (-) M17 (3-2-1) | MSE (0-4-2) | XG (2-3-1)
• D Tier: CGE (0-5-0)

Record format: (Win-Loss-Draw)

The LMS was off this past week, but have no fear! LMS will rejoin on the 18th of February.

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LPL

Written by Indiana "Froskurinn" Black

• S Tier: QG (5-0) | (+) EDG (3-1)
• A Tier: RNG (4-1)
• B Tier: SS (3-2) | WE (3-2) | iG (3-1)
• C Tier: M3 (2-3) | (-) OMG (2-3) | (-) VG (2-3) | EPA (1-4)
• D Tier: LGD (1-4) | HYG (0-5)

The LPL had a break this past week due to Lunar New Year. The action picks back up this week, and we'll break down their happenings next week Tuesday!

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LCK

Written by Alex Manisier

• S Tier: ROX (7-0) | (+) SKT (5-2)
• A Tier: KTR (4-2)
• B Tier: (-) JAG (5-2) | LZ (4-3) | SSG (4-3)
• C Tier: CJ (3-3)
• D Tier: Afreeca (1-6) | EMF (1-6) | SBENU (0-7)

It was a short week in Korea as only 8 out of the 10 teams took the stage in the wake of Lunar New Year celebrations. Next week will feature eight BO3s, so stay tuned for a whole bunch of games...including the long-awaited showdown between Afreeca and e-mFire.

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S Tier: ROX Tigers (7-0) | (+) SKTelecom T1 (5-2)

Today we welcome SKTelecom T1 back to S Tier! Their 2-0 win over KT Rolster was incredibly convincing, showing their growth as a team over the Spring Split. More importantly, they're clearly evolving as a team, showing depth of strategy and a willingness to go out of their comfort zone during Champion Select. They only have two losses this season with their core lineup, but it is a shame that their subs aren't hitting the ground running.

Meanwhile, ROX rocketed up the entertainment power rankings last week after implementing a full-engage comp with Ashe and Kennen against e-mFire that highlighted their showmanship, if not their skill as a team.

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A Tier: KT Rolster (4-2)

You're alone again, KT Rolster! We did envision a scenario where they overcame SKTelecom T1, but at the moment KT are a tough sell over any of the S Tier teams (though they are comfortably ahead of the B Tier teams). There's nothing to feel sad about if you're a KT fan, though. There's a Gragas buff due to hit the Rift once LCK switches over to Patch 6.3, which is cause for celebration if you saw "The World's Best Gragas" Score body fools last year.

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B Tier: Jin Air Green Wings (5-2) | Longzhu Gaming (4-3) | Samsung Galaxy (4-3)

While Jin Air and Samsung enjoyed their break, Longzhu found themselves in an intense match against...SBENU? Yes, Game 1 was one of our less proud moments in LCK history as Flawless was allowed to run rampant over Longzhu with his trademark Lee Sin. Chaser and CoCo look strangely inconsistent this year, but when they were subbed out for Crash and Frozen, they returned with a vengeance and played like the team they are on paper.

It's clear that Longzhu are benefiting in some way from their rotating roster, but for them to move up the rankings, they need to use their subs as icing on the cake, not the egg white that stops the cake from crumbling. I'm hungry.

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C Tier: CJ Entus (3-3) 

CJ Entus remain the sole inhabitant of C Tier, but not because the other teams suddenly performed worse. Rather, they're playing well enough that they're consistently setting themselves apart from the other bottom teams in the league. They are much better at recognising opportunities and maintaining gold leads than the other three, something that should only continue to improve as MadLife experiences a Rose Period of sorts. (Seriously, his Bard is art that would even make Jhin proud.)

They won a pretty muddy match against Afreeca, but good news is on the horizon -- former Blaze (and Keyd Stars if you're a CBLoL fan) jungler DayDream is returning to the roster! We're not actually sure how good that news is, since he hasn't played professionally since April 2015, but as long as he's better than Bubbling, it's a net positive for CJ.

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D Tier: (-) Afreeca Freecs (1-6) | (-) e-mFire (1-6) | SBENU Sonicboom (0-7)

SBENU are back with their friends as the D Tier welcomes two new teams in Afreeca and e-mFire. We're grouping them together because the gap between SBENU and Afreeca/e-mFire is smaller than the gap between CJ and Afreeca/e-mFire. That said, the teams didn't look particularly awful this week. Afreeca managed to nab a win from CJ, and SBENU stormed out of the gates against Longzhu to take a win (and invoke the wrath of Crash).

If these teams are unable to get it together for Round 2, their few future wins will come from strong individual performances from outliers like Flawless and Mickey.

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Can anyone catch Immortals and ROX Tigers? Who will emege as the best team in Europe?

Let us know in the comments or on Twitter.