Power Rankings - 7/14/2015

The minute hand is getting closer to midnight, and the door of opportunity is closing on teams trying to make a run.

With some leagues entering their Playoffs, I'm starting to get that feeling again. Every moment we get closer to October, every new region that ends its regular season, everytime a team locks in a Playoff spot makes my body prepare for the inevitable.

Worlds is coming.

These are the last few weeks that teams have to make 2015 count. The time is now.

Find out who is primed for Regional upsets in this edition of Power Rankings...

KOREA

1. ( - ) SKTelecom T1 (12-0) [24-2]
2. ( - ) KOO Tigers (9-3) [20-8]
3. (+2) KT Rolster (7-4) [15-10]
4. (-1) CJ Entus (7-5) [16-13]
5. (-1) Jin Air Green Wings (7-5) [15-12]
6. ( - ) Najin e-mFire (7-5) [16-13]
7. ( - ) Samsung (4-8) [11-17]
8. (+1) Incredible Miracle (3-9) [7-20]
9. (-1) Anarchy (3-9) [11-20]
10. ( - ) SBENU Sonicboom (0-11) [3-22]

(Match Score) [Game Score]

Korea should come with a warning sign that every ranking we make will soon be flipped on its head. I don't know if that's a sign of depth, a sign of weakness, or just a sign of inconsistency. 

Nevertheless it seems that every time a team in Korea gets a grasp on 3rd place, it quickly loses it the next week. Now it's KT Rolster's turn to enjoy it after their surprising win over CJ Entus last week. Earlier this split we bemoaned the lack of help for Chan-ho "ssumday" Kim, but it seems that Jong-Beom "Piccaboo" Lee arrived just in time.

After being a liability in professional play, Dong-hyong "Arrow" No is slowly transforming from a Solo Queue star to a legitimate carry for a top team. Piccaboo seemed to be just the catalyst necessary for his transformation and the team looks more complete with them in the bot lane.

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On the other end of the spectrum we have the Jin Air Green Wings, who have lost three of their last four matches. This doesn't mean that all hope is lost. Of those matches, two were to SKT and the other to CJ Entus -- great teams in their own right. Jin Air will need to play mistake free to beat KT next week, then continue to use that momentum to roll over the bottom half of teams if they hope to make the Playoffs.

The LCK is still an open race, but the clock is ticking...

Panel: Alex Manisier, Erik "DoA" Lonnquist, Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles, Chris "PapaSmithy" Smith and Mike "Noctt" Huh

CHINA

1. ( - ) Edward Gaming (6-2-6)
2. ( - ) Qiao Gu (5-0-9)
3. ( - ) LGD Gaming (3-3-8)
4. (+1) Snake (4-3-7)
5. (+1) OMG (4-2-8)
6. (+3) Masters 3 (4-3-8)
7. (-3) Invictus Gaming (5-4-3)
8. (-1) Vici Gaming (2-3-10)
9. (-1) Unlimited Potential (2-4-8)
10. ( - ) Royal Never Give Up (2-5-7)
11. ( - ) Team WE (1-5-8)
12. ( - ) Team King (1-5-8)

Record format is (W-L-T)

It's sometimes hard to rationalize rankings in China for reasons we've discussed many times -- experimentation with rosters, inconsistencies due to injuries, the length of the season. However now we have a new reason to add on top of that: Demacia Cup.

For those unfamiliar, the Demacia Cup is a regional tournament in China that pits Challenger teams with Professional teams. Sometimes this means a lot of upsets, but not this time. The problem was that some teams clearly did not give a damn about the tournament. And even more, some teams played like their LPL lives depended on it.

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I'll go over the highlights: OMG benched Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hai and had their best performance all year with Zhang "North" Yuze, finishing 2nd place in the tournament. Snake made an impressive run to 3rd place after defeating IG. LGD defeated QG 3-1 before losing to the aforementioned OMG. But the most notable performance came from EDG, who destroyed OMG mercilessly in the final. That's not the only reason it was notable: EDG finally decided to play their starters.

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EDG has been experimenting with rosters all split long, and still managed to stay tied for 1st place in China. It could be argued that turning on the kill switch this late in the split may be too late, but if EDG is once again going for blood, the rest of the world should watch out.

Panel: Barento "Raz" Mohammed, Michale "Drexxin" Lalor, Ryanne "Froskurrin" Mohr and Carlos "H0tsawce" Bravo.

NORTH AMERICA

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1. ( - ) Gravity (11-3)
2. (+1) Team Liquid (10-4)
3. (+2) Team Impulse (9-5)
4. (-2) Team SoloMid (9-5)
5. (+1) Counter Logic Gaming (9-5)
6. (-2) Team Dignitas (8-6)
7. (+2) Team8 (5-9)
8. (+2) Cloud9 (4-10)
9. (-2)  Enemy Esports (4-10)
10. (-2) Team Dragon Knights (1-13)

North America has a powerhouse again in Gravity. After having one of the most impressive 2-0 weeks of the Spring Split, they followed it up with another 2-0. But it seems that Gravity's story is accompanied by the comeback story of 2015 in Team Liquid.

Wind the clock back to 2015 Spring: Gwang-Jin "Piglet" Chae was getting benched for Yuri "Keith" Jew, the team looked in shambles, and had to play a tiebreaker just to get into Playoffs. Now the TL looks to be top class in the region, is improving rapidly, and can even overcome horrific mistakes and still win games (sorry Xpecial).

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CLG recovered after feeding on the bottom teams, but TSM is doing its best CLG impression with a late season collapse of its own. Losing to Team8 is inexcusable for a team that wants to be a World Championship contender. The team looks lost and without an identity right now.

Teams to watch are Team Impulse and Team Dignitas. Impulse has been on a hotstreak lately, but it's come largely to the detriment of teams in collapse (DIG and CLG) and not as much because of their own prowess. They will need to step it up to beat top teams down the stretch. Contrarily, Team Dignitas is in freefall without their coach Sami "Rico" Harbi. They need a mechanic to fix the cogs in the machine before the whole season falls apart before them.

Panel: Cameron Gilbert, Taylor "Riot RoboTayCo" Cocke, Jason "Riot Jayway" Wai, Joshua "Riot Jatt" Leesman, and Frank "Riot Mirhi" Fields.

EUROPE

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1. ( - ) Fnatic (14-0)
2. ( - ) Origen (10-4)
3. ( - ) H2K (9-5)
4. ( - ) Giants Gaming (7-7)
5. ( - ) Unicorns of Love (7-7)
6. ( - ) Gambit Gaming (6-8)
7. ( - ) ROCCAT (6-8)
8. ( - ) Elements (5-9)
9. ( - ) SK Gaming (4-10)
10. ( - ) Copenhagen Wolves (2-12)

I can't remember the last time Europe didn't have a paradigm shift between weeks, but this is what consistency brings.

Consistency exemplified by teams like... Unicorns of Love? It seems that 9-9 isn't that far off for the team everyone loves to root for. If they can find a way to sneak into the Playoffs, they'll be a rough matchup for anyone, even without Mateusz "Kikis" Szkudlarek.

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Finally, it looks like Fnatic's undefeated season may finally come true. After coming from behind (twice!) to defeat H2K and Origen, Fnatic is now 14-0 and looking superb. Their last challenge of the season will come from a familiar nemesis: Unicorns of Love. And wouldn't it be a great irony if UOL kept Fnatic from making LCS history.

Panel: Taylor "Riot RoboTayCo" Cocke, Jason "Riot Jayway" Wai, and Frank "Riot Mirhi" Fields.

TAIWAN

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1. ( - ) ahq e-Sports Club (11-0-3)
2. ( - ) Flash Wolves (9-2-3)
3. ( - ) Hong Kong Esports (5-1-8)
4. ( - ) Taipei Assassins (3-6-5)
5. (+1) Midnight Sun (3-4-6)
6. (-1) Machi 17 (2-5-7)
7. ( - ) Assassin Sniper (2-9-3)
8. ( - ) Logitech Snipers (1-9-4)

Record format is (W-L-T)

It is really quite a shame that the season didn't go on for one more week in Taiwan. Wong "Chawy" Xing Lei has been putting on heroics for TPA all season long -- keeping them in games they should have lost numerous times.

All they needed was one more match win, and they would have made the Playoffs. Alas, they came up just short, and Midnight Sun made it in instead.

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Now in the Playoffs, with an inferior roster in MSE and a shaken roster in HKE, it looks like we're heading to another Flash Wolves vs ahq e-Sports Club final. Luckily, if they do well, we'll see both of them come Worlds.

Panel: James "Obscurica" Chen and Chia "Reazony" Yu.

BRAZIL

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1. ( - ) INTZ e-Sports (6-1-0)
2. ( - ) Keyd Stars (5-1-1)
3. ( - ) paIN Gaming (3-1-3)
4. (+2) g3nerationX (2-4-1)
5. (-1) CNB e-Sports Club (2-3-2)
6. (-1) INTZ e-Sports Red (1-2-4)
7. ( - ) KaBuM! Orange (1-4-2)
8. ( - ) KaBuM! Black (0-4-3)

Record format is (W-L-T)

The 2015 Winter CBLoL postseason kicked off this week, with a few surprises. 

G3nerationX proved their naysayers wrong by upsetting CNB e-Sports 2-1. in their wins, G3X showed a grit and determination that was unmatched by any other team in the Quarterfinals. While they still struggle with transitioning early advantages into the mid game, their coordination throughout the set was impressive. Much-maligned jungler Lucas "Krow" Rabaça had his best games all season, and star support Matheus "Professor" Leiriao controlled G3X's team fights handily.  

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Another pleasant surprise from this past Quarterfinals weekend was paiN Gaming. In the regular season, paiN were caught off-guard more than a few times, and dropped unexpected matches. Determined to learn from their previous mistakes, paiN came out swinging against INTZ Red -- a team that had given them trouble in the regular season -- taking them down with a clean 2-0 sweep.

Written by Emily Rand

Panel: Emily Rand | Bruno "RiotButcher" Pereira

LATIN AMERICA

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1. ( - ) KLG (10-1)
2. ( - ) Lyon Gaming (10-1)
3. ( - ) Gaming Gaming (9-2)
4. ( - ) Furious Gaming (8-3)
5. ( - ) Last Kings (5-6)
6. ( - ) Havoks Gaming (5-6)
7. (+1) Rebirth eSports (4-7)
8. (-1) Dash9 Gaming (4-7)

It’s Finals week in Latin America where current champions KLG will meet Furious Gaming for the second consecutive time in the LAS finals. Even though KLG was undefeated up until a couple of weeks ago, their defeat against Rebirth eSports was no fluke as Rebirth took Game 1 of their BO5 series once again before being defeated in a decisive 3-1 by the champions.

Furious Gaming had a rough BO5 against Last Kings, the series going all the way to an exhausting five games before Furious could claim their spot in the finals. This Thursday, the LAS will decide who is playing for the Latin American cup in August.

Meanwhile in the North, Lyon Gaming are set to become the five-time LAN Regional Champions. That is, unless their newfound rivals Gaming Gaming can put their backs against the wall once more as the two top teams in the North collide in one of the most anticipated games in the history of the region. Their last encounter was a victory for GG that was witnessed by a record amount of viewers for a regular season game.

To give you an idea of how important this game is, if Gaming Gaming beats Lyon this Wednesday, it’ll be the first time ever in Latin America that Lyon Gaming does not play for the Latin American Cup in the Grand Finals. Tune in this Wednesday and Thursday to see the results of these amazing games.

Written by Erick "Skyshock" Gonzalez

Panel: Erick "Skyshock" Gonzalez

JAPAN

1. ( - ) Ozone Rampage (9-1)
2. ( - ) DetonatioN FocusMe (7-3)
3. ( - ) 7th Heaven (7-3)
4. ( - ) RabbitFive (5-5)
5. ( - ) Rascal Jester (2-8)
6. ( - ) ApeX R Gaming (0-10)

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There's no denying it. Ozone Rampage is the best team in Japan, a title they haven't held since World Cyber Games 2013. In control of the game from right out of the gate, Rampage exploited every weakness in FocusMe's game and finished them off 22-8. The sloppy engages and occasional critical errors that characterized Rampage's otherwise strong gameplay earlier in the season are all but gone, and they've developed into a team worthy of their reclaimed title. Now dethroned, FocusMe will have no choice but to fill in the holes in their game and fast. They're facing 7th heaven in the Semifinal this weekend, and the latter will be hungry to do what they couldn't last season and punch through to the Finals.

For the other three teams, the story is much more somber. Rabbit Five, hampered by the loss of their AD Carry for the majority of the season, fall two wins short of playoffs and lose their chance at the Championship. CROOZ Rascal Jester is still a shadow of their former selves: good enough to remain in the LJL, but unlikely to challenge the top squads. And though they showed a few good games, ApeX R Gaming ultimately went the way of Salvage Javelin with an 0-10 finish. For these three, the season is over. It's Playoffs time now.

Written by Cameron Gilbert

Panel: Cameron Gilbert

TURKEY

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1. ( - ) Dark Passage (10-4)
2. ( - ) HWA.Gamesatış (9-5)
3. ( - ) Beşiktaş (12-2)
4. ( - ) Oyun Hizmetleri (7-7)
5. ( - ) Team Turquality (7-7)
6. ( - ) Atlas (4-10)
7. ( - ) NumberOne eSports Club (5-9)
8. ( - ) CREW (2-12)

The reguilar season completed in TCL last Sunday and everyone is looking forward to the Turkish Grand Finals, where six teams will duke it out for the 2015 Championship title, as well as a chance to participate in Wild Card Qualifiers and subsequently in Worlds.

Former champions and the first and only Turkish team to compete at worlds, Dark Passage, finished the split very strongly with a seven-game win streak. Even though, they are the 2nd place in the standings, they have looked the strongest in the TCL lately. HWA.Gamesatış also is a strong contender for the title with their team synergy getting better and better each week. But they will have to fight their way through Quarterfinals, since they finished the league in 3rd place.

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Winter Split champions Beşiktaş aren't unfamiliar with finals and the big stage. They were under the spotlights during WSF, IWCI and MSI. However, they’ll need to make sure that Berke "Thaldrin" Demir and Tomáš "Nardeus" Maršálek, who have been performing under the weather lately, steer clear of distractions.

Team Turquality stepped up their performance significantly since the arrival of Swedish jungler Robin "Rawbin" Eggenberger, managing to win 7 of their last 10 matches. But they will need to improve on their late game decisions if they want repeat their success and get to the Finals, just like they did in 2013 and 2014. Oyun Hizmetleri on the other hand, had a significant performance slump. Last week, they parted ways with their ADC Mustafa Berk "Ruvelius" Baraklı, who had spectacular mechanics, but with very questionable decision making. They lost three games straight and will have to work hard against TT to advance to the Semifinals.

Turkish Grand Finals will start with quarter final games on 25-26 June 1:00 PM CET/4:00 AM PDT. Don’t forget to tune in to lolespor.com for everything about the TCL.  

Written by Kursad Demirer

Panel: Kursad Demirer, Christopher Willekens

SOUTHEAST ASIA

1. ( - ) Bangkok Titans (2-0-0)
2. (+3) Boba Marines (1-1-0)
3. ( - ) Saigon Jokers (3-0-0)
4. (-2) GIGABYTE Full Louis (2-0-0)
5. (-1) ASUS ImbaFate (1-0-1)
6. ( - ) Saigon Fantastic Five (0-0-2)
7. (+5) ZOTAC United (1-1-1)
8. (+7) Imperium Pro Team (0-1-1)
9. (-2) Go to Sleep (0-1-1)
10. (-1) Thirsty Chinchillas (1-1-1)
11. (-1) Team Proioxis (1-1-0)
12. (-1) Kuala Lumpur Hunters (1-1-0)
13. (-5) Mineski.GLOBE (0-1-1)
14. (-1) Impunity Legends (0-2-0)
15. (-1) GAMEX.Wargods (0-1-1)
16. ( - ) Jakarta Juggernauts (0-3-0)

Record format is (W-L-T)

Coming into the last week of round robin matches, three teams have cemented their spot into the second phase of the Garena Premier League. They are Bangkok Titans, Saigon Jokers and lastly, ZOTAC United after their thrilling tiebreaker win over Thirsty Chinchillas. There are still five more spots up for grabs and the last round of matches will definitely be a fiery affair.

Currently, both GIGABYTE Full Louis and ASUS ImbaFate are the favourites to qualify, as they would only require one point to proceed to the next phase. Meanwhile, the fight for qualification in Group B intensifies as Saigon Fantastic Five, GAMEX.Wargods and Imperium Pro Team are only separated by a single point. Any slip up now will be costly for the trio.

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Group D is pretty straight forward as Boba Marines are in control of their own destiny, and are expected to steamroll their last match against Go To Sleep. On the other hand, Mineski will be facing a David vs Goliath-esque task as they look to topple the infallible Bangkok Titans. It might not be impossible as BKT have already secured their qualification, and will be looking to experiment.

Last but not least, all eyes will be on Group C, as fan favorites and last season’s 3rd runner up, Impunity Legends look to accomplish a reverse sweep in the group stage. They have performed horrendously for a team who were one of the favourites to lift this season’s championship title. They will face a tough test against Team Proioxis and will be banking on GIGABYTE Full Louis beating Kuala Lumpur Hunters to have a chance at playing the tiebreakers. On the contrary, KLH will be looking to reach the knockout stages for the first time in two years. Captain and marksman, Jason “Jaeyoong” Yoong would need a repeat MVP performance in order for KLH to snatch a draw from the Vietnamese giants.

For more information about the Garena Premier League and to catch the games live, do check out the official tournament website at gpl.garena.com.

Written by Nelson Sng

Panel : Nelson "Nelson" Sng

CIS

1. (+1) Dolphins (5-4)
2. (-1) Hard Random (6-3)
3. ( - ) Carpe Diem (6-4)
4. ( - ) Tornado RoX (7-2)
5. ( - ) Just.MSI (5-3)
6. ( - ) Solar Wind (3-5)
7. ( - ) Dragon (1-8)
8. ( - ) Your Exit (2-6)

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The final week of StarSeries gave the fans lots of exciting games from the top of the table -- tiebreaks between DWS, RoX and Carpe Diem, Challenger Tournament's finals and StarSeries playoffs.

Considering unconvincing results of HR in the Challenger Tournament, they drop to the 2nd place of our Power Rankings. Meanwhilewhile Dolphins, having dominated the tiebrakers, become the leader of the pack. RoX shows a very slow and patient playstyle, which doesn't really punish enemy's mistakes, but it sufficed to get them a spot in the LAN Finals. JustMSI on the contrary disappointed their fans -- for the first time in their history we won't see them on LAN this split. 

Written by Michael "Olsior" Zverev

Panel: Michael "Olsior" Zverev

OCEANIA

1. ( - ) Chiefs eSports Club (14-0)
2. ( - ) Legacy eSports (10-4)
3. ( - ) Dire Wolves (9-5)
4. ( - ) Avant Garde (8-6)
5. ( - ) Absolute (5-10)
6. (+2) Sin Gaming (6-9)
7. (-1) Sudden Fear (1-13)
8. (-1) Team Immunity (4-10)

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Split 2 of the Oceanic Pro League has wrapped up, and Chiefs eSports Club have managed to nail the perfect season, looking like the uncontested best team in Oceania over their 14 wins. The last eight games of the season saw a few roster experiments from various teams, particularly Legacy eSports, who subbed in the jungle/mid duo of Elliot "Impaired" Capell and Brandon "Claire" Nguyen.

It's still unclear which roster Legacy intend to field in Playoffs, but regardless, they will run into some trouble against Dire Wolves, who are coming in hot. The panel agonized over whether the strong form of the Wolves would justify a bump in rank, considering Calvin "K1ng" Truong's return to form. In the end, we gave Legacy the nod thanks to their 2-0 head-to-head record, but there isn't a shred of doubt that the Legacy vs Dire Wolves match will be a tight one.

Meanwhile, Sin Gaming's tiebreaker victory over Absolute wasn't enough to pull them above their rookie rivals. Absolute's relative consistency and more decisive game plans make us confident that they will escape relegation, while Sin are still struggling to remain in form. They have a while to figure it out, but there are plenty of hungry Challenger teams at their heels.

Written by Alex Manisier

Panel: Alex Manisier, Ben "RiotBenji" de Ridder, Jake "Riot Spawn" Tiberi, Max "Riot Atlus" Anderson and Zack "Rusty" Pye

INTERNATIONAL

1. ( - ) SKTelecom T1 (12-0)
2. ( - ) Edward Gaming (6-2-6)
3. ( - ) Qiao Gu (5-0-9)
4. ( - ) KOO Tigers (9-3)
5. ( - ) Fnatic (14-0)
6. ( - ) LGD (3-3-8)
7. ( - ) ahq e-Sports Club (10-0-3)
8. (+9) KT Rolster (7-4)
9. (+1) Snake (4-3-7)
10. (+1) Origen (10-4)
11. (+4) OMG (4-2-8)
12. (-3) CJ Entus (7-5)
13. (+5) Gravity (11-3)
14. (-1) Flash Wolves (9-2-3)
15. (-3) H2K (9-5)
16. (-2) Jin Air Green Wings (7-5)
17. (NEW) Team Liquid (10-4)
18. (NEW) Masters3 (4-3-8)
19. (-11) Invictus Gaming (5-4-3)
20. (-4) Vici Gaming (2-3-10)

There's been little movement in the Top 5 for a long time, but now it seems we've settled on about seven elite teams in the world. Fnatic and SKT look nearly untouchable, EDG and LGD look to be on the mend, KOO is fiery hot, and ahq is a puzzle that no one can solve.

And then we have the rest. 

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KT and OMG's rise were explained in Korea and China's respective sections, and it is hardly debate worthy that they don't have competitive rosters, so I'll address the elephant in the room: North America. For a long time, the NA LCS looked to be the weakest of the five major regions, and maybe this is true still. However, at the top, teams in NA are starting to look like international contenders again. They are winning with their macro-oriented play, and not their mechanics -- brains over braun. This is perhaps the biggest key to seeing if a team can compete internationally. When a team is outmatched in lanes, can it still win the game?

I think Gravity and Team Liquid have answered definitively yes. The biggest takeway from this past weekend, is that Fenix is an elite player, and if any coach decides to give him Azir, Nick Allen's ghost should perform an investigation.

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Finally, I'd like to point out that just because Origen is not Fnatic, does not mean they are not world class. Fnatic is almost undoubtedly the best Western team we've ever seen -- and there's no shame in losing to that kind of powerhouse. If they keep improving, xPeke and company will still be fine come Worlds.

Let us know your thoughts on the Power Rankings on Twitter or in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Inven, Garena, SANKO, and paiN Gaming

Frank Fields is a Senior Editor for Riot Games' Esports Web Content team. You'll find him rewinding time in Diamond or on Twitter where he'd love to talk to you about esports.

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