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Week 8 NA LCS Rankings

Admiral Howe·7/31/2017, 2:03:30 AM·5 votes·664 views

Every matchup affecting the standings for playoff spots, mid tier teams stepping up and bottom tier teams looking to fix rosters before the Road to Worlds starts. Lets go.

Top Lane:

  1. DIG Ssumday: This guy has been, this week, the huge monster that DIG wanted him to be last split. Being able to take part in dismantling Flame's picks against IMT and just making me wonder why Looper wasnt back in for FOX. Every time i talk well about Ssumday i always mention, this dude was causing arguments in Korea about who really was the best Top laner in the world, Ssumday or Smeb, and he's been showing why that argument existed this entire split. If Ssumday keeps this play up, DIG is going to go deep in the playoffs.

  2. C9 Impact: Im glad to see C9's solo lanes actually come alive in time for C9 to be a legit danger in the playoffs. For so long Impact has been in limbo, making feel worried that C9 might let him go, but this week against Balls and a slowly improving Lourlo, he showed he can still have that "lean on me" factor. This tank meta is making junglers not really pay a lot of attention to top and leaving Impact alone in top lane and letting C9 play through Jensen is what Impact wants. Dont let this guy scale, focus him, FLY and TL didnt and he showed that Impact is still a damn good laner.

  3. TSM Hauntzer: Mistakes, just when this guy has a showing last week making me think he's on his way to being an elite top laner, he messes up pretty hard. The Gragas barrels from him were not good against NV, he flubs some engages but thats getting more and more rare from him. Im glad to see with time, he's getting more clean, more smart, and more oriented towards putting that Panzer aggro style of tank in his pocket to fight the hell out of anyone trying to get to his backline. Im still pretty sure that he may have fallen down some in this week's ranking but he is still the best tank playing top laner in NA.

  4. CLG Darshan: Sloppy and inconsistent is the bread and butter of CLG's play. Darshan looked like a god against NV but got pretty much beat by Zig today. He is still good with aggression, looking good on picks like Camille, Renekton and last year, picks like Poppy, Ekko and Jax. CLG needs him to aggress and put Omar and Aphro on tanks, i feel like that is the style they need to win big, but for now, Darshan doesnt look so hot on full utility picks.

  5. IMT Flame: Honestly i hate seeing him on the Cho'Gath. He does decent enough to look good against bottom teams but he's nowhere near polished on that pick to take it out against teams like TSM, CLG, DIG or C9. I feel like IMT is trying new things and its too late for that. Much like Darshan, Flame is best just going full LeRoy Jenkins into the enemy team and soaking every bit of damage and cooldowns before the rest of IMT cleans up. That's what made them so dangerous before, their ability to bait fights and turn on a dime to win a fight. With Flame on picks like Cho' that plan isnt going to end well for IMT.

Jungle:

  1. DIG Shrimp: I did not expect to see this level of play from Shrimp. I feel like every time i see Shrimp play i find myself thinking "Where the hell did this guy come from?". He can mix it up and its rare for a jungler in NA to do that. He can play for vision, he can be that level 3 non-stop gank machine, he can play tanks and provide a damn good frontline for DIG, and he does this all very well. Its scary to realize Shrimp has been able to shut down guys like Svenskeren, Xmithie, Contractz, Dardoch, Lira and Reignover.

  2. TL Reignover: Pretty sure Reignover told Dardoch to fuck right off with how he played in the loss to C9. He has a habit of looking like a monster while trying to play his heart out for his squad. He out performed Contractz and if you look at the numbers, just take a quick peek at the scores for every game, it looks even more of a dominant jungle performance. Reignover still showed he still has what it takes for TL to scare C9 and this is HIS team now, nobody is going to come in and take that from him.

  3. NV Lira: They got 2-0'd this week but thats the weird thing about Lira, he looked like a monster in a loss. Deathless on a squishy pick in Elise against TSM who is looking like they will take the 1 spot in NA before playoffs, keeping NV looking competitive and bringing this squad together more to not be laughed at as a bottom team anymore. I liked how he looked this week and NV has nothing to look down on themselves for this split.

  4. TSM Svenskeren: Svenskeren is a curious guy. He comes online in some games just smashing in what he needs to do and other times it feels like he isnt even there during the game. I felt that way in the TSM vs NV series. I kpt forgetting Sven was a part of TSM. He didnt do anything horrible, he didnt cost TSM any games but its still not a good look to have weeks where youre almost non existent.

  5. C9 Contractz: He's still showing the signs of a young player who will get outplayed by veterans. Against Dardoch and Moon, Contractz looked pretty great, like how he used to play in Spring, against Reignover, he struggled in the victory. Some good moments but being a jungler you have to worry about stifling the other jungler and making sure he isnt out-ganking you or you can invade or answer what he does with another play. Contractz just looked out-paced vs Reignover. Still though, id pit this guy higher in a heartbeat but he didnt perform as well as other junglers did in some games.

Mid Lane:

  1. C9 Jensen: He did it, the guy actually did it. He left lane pre-15 and smashed the hell out of TL and dominated FLY pretty much all game. I keep wanting to put Jensen where he belongs at 1 or 2 but sometimes it looks like he dumpsters his laning opponent, tilts off of some mistakes happening with the rest of C9 and just closes inward to focus on himself, thinking if he can get ahead, he can 1 v 5. I understand that mindset but its proven to not do well. This week though he stepped in, got some roams, made mid lane a danger area for FLY and TL, and translated his lead to the rest of C9 and sapped both teams of any hopes of winning. This is the Jensen i want to see every week.

  2. TSM Bjergsen: Bjergsen was his same old self, i keep finding myself with not much to say about the guy but this week he seriously grabbed TSM by the neck and carried them to the win vs NV, I keep shaking my head when teams let him get Syndra, its his favorite and most comfortable pick. Please dont let him have it two games in a row.

  3. DIG Keane: This dude, has been on fire this entire split. I never though id be saying Keane looks as scary as any other top mid laner in NA but he's been playing out of his mind. I feel like getting to playoffs last split and hearing and reading the disappointment surrounding Ssumday not being able to go deep in playoffs really made him step up and prove DIG as well as himself are legit and a top team.

  4. IMT Pobelter: He's been stepping up as a good carry since Rift Rivals ended. His Corki and Cassio looked amazing, that being said i still see him sometimes not being played through as much, IMT dropped the ball against DIG not really giving him the Jensen treatment, especially on a pick like Corki. Not really his fault however he still is going to fall this week in rankings.

  5. NV Nisqy: This dude has been able to keep up with guys like Bjergsen, Jensen, Pobelter, Ryu and Froggen. Ive said it before but when i watch Nisqy play, even when he was in EU something kept making me forget he is as good as he's been. He can ensure that great mid laners wont get a big lead, keep them even and still provide a danger for NV to play through.

ADC:

  1. DIG Altec: Altec has been on a mission since coming to DIG, that mission was to prove that he is still a good ADC and is worth the time DIG spent on him to have a great unit capable of having a great showing in the playoffs and hopefully make worlds. He's dominated Doublelift and Biofrost, he's dominated Sneaky and Smoothie, and he's showing there is new blood in the top of the NA LCS ladder when it comes to powerful ADCs. Against IMT i felt like Altec hasnt had a bad showing since joining DIG, Cody Sun and Olleh are a good enough bot lane to not have bad games like the ones against DIG but lo and behold, Altec smashed.

  2. C9 Sneaky: Not too impressive when you consider his picks, but still getting the job done and pilling on the wins. It was kinda funny to see Sneaky take some hyper carry picks and have a score similar to a utility carry. Poor guy is doomed to be a god on utility carries and have performances similar to such. Still though, he was extremely good and looked to be closing in to being on form like the old Sneaky we like seeing.

  3. NV Apollo: Apollo has been dominant in wins and losses, against CLG he was kept under a lid but not held down. In all honesty its the performance against CLG that drops him to number 3.

  4. TSM DoubleLift: For me, yes Doublelift falls to 4 this week. In a win, he got hammered hard until game 3 where he was still hammered until NV's draft caught up to them. If NV actually focused and made the right calls like taking mid tower and not going for red buff and leaving, or sending more down to bottom to take the tier 2 earlier, Doublelift wouldnt have the chance to get items and make a comeback. This was incredibly disappointing from Doublelift and he'd be at number 3 maybe but Apollo and Altec shot hard to the top two spots just straight up out performing him. Beating a Wildturtle who hasnt been able to show off his skill set since coming to FLY and then getting dominated by an ADC you SHOULD beat, isnt worth putting DL above 4.

  5. TL Piglet: Piglet at 5 is going to become a thing until playoffs start. He's doing well enough to show he still has juice in the tank but his refusal to ditch Mat when KonKwon provided him with the tools to really start being "Piglet" hurts him, its like Arrow not wanting to ditch Shady. Until TL and Piglet realize this, Piglet wont be seeing playoffs again.

Support:

  1. DIG Adrian: Able to beat out a bot lane i hold in high regard in Cody Sun and Olleh, and smashing Keith and Gate (who doesnt) save for the ugly Soraka game he had, i get it, its Echo Fox, you want to see if she's good but my god that Raka game was ugly. All in all though put Adrian on pretty much any Support pick that is actually decent in the meta for pro play and he will look like the best support in NA.

  2. C9 Smoothie: Smoothie on Taric and Bard is a Smoothie that gets you wins. Its scary knowing Taric is meta and strong as hell and Smoothie is probably the most practiced support in NA with Taric. He showed why people had him as the best support last split and really stepped up big for C9 when every single win matters, even going against teams that are dumpster fires in TL and FLY, they all need to be on point no matter what or their playoff dreams will go up in smoke.

  3. TSM Biofrost: Less Biodaddy from him as every week passes but more of a support that is playing for vision control and team-fighting. His showing on Lulu, Kharma and Braum this week were good but not godly. Im not knocking him, its nice to see the two most aggressive players on TSM tone it down and save the aggro for when its needed. His lane partner not stepping up as Bio changes his style however is a big bump for Bio to come down to 3.

  4. IMT Olleh: Olleh has had a rough week, looking good along with Pobelter as the only real consistent points on IMT in their loss to DIG. I feel like drafting is what really keeps IMT as a whole down, they seem to be not so fine tuned and as a result, Olleh falls to 4.

  5. NV Hakuho: He is still that support that will fly into 5 people, blow every ability and die just to save his ADC. That being said, put him on a support that can actually be built to do that, and Hakuho looks like a beast. His best showing was Braum against TSM where he absolutely went nuts and saved a lot of team fights with the unbreakable wall. He got some great engages with his ulti too but thats the problem, for this week, he was really only playing like how he has the potential to on Braum.

Team Rankings:

  1. TSM: is Doublelift kind of slacking? yes; is Svenskeren still a little inconsistent? yes. All of those problems and they still are able to beat out other top teams that arent DIG but they have that SKT effect where they look awful and wind up snatching wins when it matters. They love to fight it out and prepare an advantage for themselves before hand. They play too smart to just simply get beat and if Sven and DL actually stay in form and do well, theyre never moving from 1.

  2. DIG: they beat CLG, beat IMT, beat TSM 2-0 on the season, beat C9 and only have CLG to look forward to. This is a Dignitas team that is exploding and with IMT, CLG and C9 not looking their best at times, DIG can and will shoot to high playoff spot.

  3. IMT: Drafts hurt them a lot. They take weird picks that they obviously arent used to, they tend to have a habit of not playing through mid when Pobelter starts cutting loose and Flame on passive, protective tanks who dont have any setups is a bad idea they keep sticking to. Theyd be number one for sure without those small but painful mistakes.

  4. C9: They look better, they look like they know what has to be done to win now and they are in a meta that serves what they need. It took 6 weeks to see the Impact C9 needed, it took 7 for Contractz and they should feel damn lucky it came in time for them to make a playoff push. They have solo laners who now can get the job done and smash, their bot lane is stepping up and Contractz is showing he can also perform well on tanks. Its all up to C9 now to prove they are still the C9 we knew in spring.

  5. CLG: I put them at 5 here because the sloppiness is eventually going to cost them. They dont look clean at all when they fight, and they fight for everything. They play more like a number 1 seed Chinese team than a 1 seed NA team. I think the season 6 blowout by Mata changed what Aphromoo wanted from CLG and they are sticking to it.

  6. NV: Sometimes they make me surprised that they lose games, they get ahead so well, but drop them. Its like last split but against teams that actually have the mind and talent to be top teams. Still though with Nisqy being able to hold his own and keep in pace with any mid laner he comes against, Apollo playing like a top ADC and Lira being a genuine leader for them, NV can be a danger in the playoffs.

Thats it for the rankings for week 8, let me know what you guys think.

3 Comments

Möral Support7/31/2017, 2:06:41 AM1 votes

I disagree, I don't think that doublelift was lacking this week. He drew a lot of Pressure in all games this week.

(Some questionable tristana engages however though. Sneaky got caught many times this weekend and I would place Doublelift over him this week IMO.)

GeminiRune7/31/2017, 4:44:10 AM1 votes

A few things really caught me off this week in particular. While everyone does have their opinions I do believe that FOX Brandini does deserve a spot if not among the top 5. The grounds that FOX had went 1-1 on the week with relatively exceptional games without even their core starting roster speaks one thing, especially considering that many fans still wonder what goes through their mind when it comes to fielding their subs; most notably Froggen. Among top laners, he was quite solid on the week compared to most. I feel that dismissing him because of his stage time, potential against the rest of the opposition, or performance in tandem with the team would be rather criminal and would even make me wonder why some placements such as Lira and Darshan are even so. I found myself honestly interested in their games on the week just as much as the upper echelon of teams - it was kind of same story, same gut check for everyone aside CLG.

Ranking of the top 6, TSM only remains at the top for me due to how unpunished they seem to go on a series spectrum. It's like asking yourself how badly you would have to crush SKT's mental fortitude in order to genuinely hold a lead against them. Yay you're getting kills! You're leading! But do your items really show your lead since your gold cannot be seen? Not something that should waver over a player's mind. But definite emphasis on ONLY remains at the top. I would nearly bank DIG to be on top from just being ever so slightly more solid in comparison. Too bad that may not mean much on my own score based weekly performance given the start of the split but I'll just have to see. The rest is pretty much on point: IMT falters, C9 not as sharp, CLG gets a mercy slip for now, and NV is NV.

And with the playoffs decided, I should probably look into the madhouse that is the LPL next week; the only region still sort of not making sense at the moment. Of course I look forward to the Week 9 Rankings but yeah RIP my sleep patterns probably (again).

III BAKURYU III 7/31/2017, 5:34:34 AM1 votes

D-Lift #4 but Sneaky #2 - K, it was yet, another weak.....week for Sneaky in my opinion. He's consistent like always, I will never say Sneaky isn't especially overall in his career, but ranked far too highly in my opinion. Doublelift had so much pressure in all 3 games that went like 40+mins in each against NV and yet, he had a better performance than Sneaky did in the past 2 weeks. { Rant} I suppose I'm just hating on Sneaky because most of his career I can't tell if he's the carry or being carried for most of it. The dude had 3 games in 5 total where he had 0 kills and won 2, he died only 3 times while also having 18 total assists in those 3 games where he went 0 kills. " being on form like the old Sneaky we like seeing" - Utility carry ?

" tilts off of some mistakes happening with the rest of C9 and just closes inward to focus on himself, thinking if he can get ahead, he can 1 v 5"

  • Indeed, sometimes I can't tell if I'm watching Froggen or Jensen because of how much he tends to focus on lane/himself. While it's not 100% fair to say that about Froggen, I also can't forget those 4 years where it was 100% Froggen. I too am glad to see Jensen actually do something productive and not fall off the face of the Earth.

The support should be a fun thing to talk about as far as 1st-2nd-3rd all teams' be decided. I think Hakuho belongs on one of the 3 All-team ballots and while Smoothie/Biofrost will most likely be in front, he's going to have to beat out Adrian who's performing pretty well and Xpecial who's shown to still be just as good as he once was.

The team rankings are accurate !
NV may be the 2014 DIG in which they battled hard against TSM but eventually lost similar to DIG in the Playoffs. If I could super-glue a team together and not have anyone traded, benched etc it would be Team Envyus. While I do think they would be crushed at Worlds I do want this team to make Worlds next year, if the core players stick together. NV are becoming a real team instead of just some 0-18 freelo for teams to get free wins.

Overall, another great post dude ! +1 Keep it up ;]