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Power Rankings - Week 21

Riot··0 votes·2,806 views
Welcome to Week 21 of Lolesports Power Rankings. We use a system similar to the Associated Press power rankings for College Football or Basketball - a panel of writers vote on who they think should be listed, and an aggregate is produced from combining their rankings. Our panel votes on these criteria, in this order:
  • Recent results
  • Predicted future performance
  • Historical trends (as they pertain to future results and present form)
  • The "eye" test (How good does a team look, relative to the rest of the world)
Our panel is available at the footer of this article, with each of their credentials and specialties. It is important to note that all our voters follow all five major professional leagues (LPL, OGN, GPL, NA/EU LCS) on a weekly basis. Make sure to tweet @Lolesports with your Power Rankings or let us know in the comments below.
    1. Samsung Galaxy Blue ( - )
    2. Samsung Galaxy White ( - )
    3. Najin White Shield ( - )
    4. CJ Entus Blaze ( - )
    5. SK Telecom T1 K ( - )
    6. KT Rolster Arrows (+1)
    7. CJ Entus Frost (-1)
    8. Najin Black Sword (+2)
    9. Edward Gaming (-1)
    10. OMG (-1)
    11. SK Telecom T1 S(-1)
    12. Alliance (-1)
    13. LMQ (+4)
    14. KT Rolster Bullets ( - )
    15. Invictus Gaming (+3)
    16. Dignitas (+1)
    17. SK Gaming (+1)
    18. Counter Logic Gaming (+2)
    19. Cloud9 (-4)
    20. Team WE ( - )
Current league record in parenthesis.
    1. ( - ) Samsung Galaxy Blue - OGN Reigning Champions The Samsung Galaxy Blue boys did exactly what a highly ranked team should do: soundly demolish a lesser team on their schedule. Blue opened OGN Champions Summer 2014 with a sweep of Incredible Miracle #1. Game 2 was a particularly brutal 21 minute evisceration during which Samsung Blue racked up 29 kills versus only 2 deaths. The team that won Champions Spring and was half of the SK Telecom LTE-A LoL Masters Tournament winning organization has shown no signs of slowing down. There won't be any rest for the team as they are scheduled for a battle with Season Three World Champion SK Telecom T1 K next week in more Group A action during OGN Champions Summer. Written by Thomas Watts
    2. ( - ) Samsung Galaxy White - OGN
    3. ( - ) Najin White Shield - OGN
    4. ( - ) CJ Entus Blaze - OGN
    5. ( - ) SK Telecom T1 K - OGN
    6. (+1) KT Rolster Arrows - OGN
    7. (-1) CJ Entus Frost - OGN
    8. (+2) Najin Black Sword - OGN It's been a chaotic few months for the NaJin organization, but head coach Park "Reach" Jung-suk may have finally hit gold with this summer's iteration of NaJin Black Sword. With a convincing 2:0 victory over the KT Rolster Bullets, Sword demonstrated the same impeccable teamwork and strategic play that spectators have come to expect of sister team NaJin White Shield. AD carry Ohq took home two MVP awards, a vast difference from his performance last season with Xenics Storm. Meanwhile, rookie jungler Lee played beautifully off veteran mid laner kurO, and the synergy of this pair should continue to improve as they grapple with the pressure of playing in Champions. Written by Alex Mansier
    9. (-1) Edward Gaming - LPL - (0-1) Edward Gaming split even with OMG for the first time in LPL, showing that their improvements aren't just a fluke. They have also announced plans to bootcamp in Korea to expand their versatility. Though they were expected to close out 2-0 with OMG still adapting to their recent role swaps and roster changes, one cannot deny the power NaMei's positioning brings to the table. The team still needs to spread themselves better across the map, but EDG is still working together like the components of a well-crafted holiday train set. Written by Kelsey Moser
    10. (-1) OMG - LPL - (0-1) Though we can't say Drug (Allen) and Cool are back to form from Summer of last year, they split even with Edward Gaming and showed improved map movements. We can't be sure how the split will go for OMG, but once again things are looking strong for the team, and this could be their third regular season first place in a row in LPL. Written by Kelsey Moser
    11. (-1) SK Telecom T1 S - OGN
    12. (-1) Alliance - EU LCS - (8-2)
      13. Alliance stuttered a bit, falling to Gambit Gaming, and almost losing to Fnatic but for a poorly handled base race. Thanks to that mistake, they went 1-1 last week, but a near 0-2 is not good form for the top team in EU LCS. Written by Mattias “Gentleman Gustaf” Lehman
    13. (+4) LMQ - NA LCS - (7-3) Despite breaking even at 1-1 last week, LMQ's early game continues to falter. In what should have been considered a light week for LMQ, they struggled immensely against a renewed Evil Geniuses and were completely taken by surprise in a Curse upset. LMQ's road to maintain their ranking will only continue to get more difficult as they face CLG and C9 next week. Written by Jack "Neoillusions" Ho
    14. ( - ) KT Rolster Bullets The KT Rolster Bullets unveiled their new roster against NaJin Black Sword, and early returns are tepid at best. They were consistently a step behind Black Sword, and new jungler Ryu "Ryu" Sang-wook was thoroughly outclassed by his counterpart Lee "Lee" Ho-jin in both of their games. The roster has to come together quickly if they're going to get out of the group stage of the tournament. They do have some time to fix their issues since the KT Rolster Bullets do not compete in the tournament again until July 2nd. Unfortunately, that series is against NaJin White Shield, the runner up from OGN Champions Spring. Written by Thomas Watts
    15. (+3) Invictus Gaming Poor vision control is a phrase you'll hear bandied about a lot when discussing the LPL scene, but iG showed up in this past weekend's matches. Even with off-the-wall picks that scaled poorly, they managed to close out their first game, and they lit up the map with glowing pinks and greens. Though ward placement wasn't perfect, it's a step in the right direction for not just iG but the entirety of Chinese LoL, and we're excited to see more from them. Written by Kelsey Moser
    16. (+1) Team Dignitas - NA LCS (7-3) In a three way tie for No. 1, Dignitas defeated Curse handily but were denied a 2-0 finish last week by Cloud9. Crumbzz brought out Nocturne in both matches with varying success. While Shiphtur locked in Ahri for the first time this split, Dignitas had difficulty dealing with Hai's Javelin Tosses and ultimately fell too far behind. DIG approaches next week with matches against TSM and coL, two teams DIG has beaten this split. Written by Jack “NeoIllusions” Ho
    17. (+5) SK Gaming - EU LCS - (7-3) Fun fact: SK Gaming has given up first blood in 7 of their 10 games. Despite this, they have won 4 of those 7 games, and have won all 3 games in which they have gotten first blood. They are starting to look more and more like a European Cloud9 -- just at a time when the NA one looks out of sorts -- with an increasingly talented jungler and top laner and extremely objective focused gameplay. Written by Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman
    18. (+2) Counter Logic Gaming - NA LCS - (7-3) With a lighter schedule for Week 4, CLG presses forward after another strong performance. As one of two teams to finish 2-0, CLG has finally reached the top of the standings, albeit sharing their spot currently with LMQ and Dignitas. Next week CLG will have an opportunity to knock LMQ out of contention for the top spot in the NA LCS. Already down 0-1 against LMQ in head-to-head, this is an opportunity for CLG to rise above and make a statement. Written by Jack "NeoIllusions" Ho
    19. (-4) Cloud9 - NA LCS - (6-4) Taking down Dignitas but falling to TSM, Cloud9 are still not quite back to their former level. Even though using two new champions enabled in the last patch, C9 had difficulties gaining momentum with their Rengar and Braum picks against TSM. Unable to keep Bjergsen's Twisted Fate in check in mid lane, Cloud9 had problems with WildTurtle who snowballed out of control after racking up numerous kills. If C9 wants to remain in contention, they will certainly need to clean up their early game. Written by Jack "NeoIllusions" Ho
    20. ( - ) Team WE - LPL - (1-0) The Panel: Alex Manisier - Team Liquid staff writer, OGN expert and President of UTS LoLSoc in Sydney, Australia. Regularly watches all five major leagues. Andrew "Glyceroll" Whitmore - Covers NA and EU LCS as well as Challenger for lolesports.com and surrenderat20.net. Regularly watches the five major leagues. Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles - OGN Analyst and Commentator. Season 3 World Championship Analyst, esports veteran. Frank "Mirhi" Fields - Web Content Editor for lolesports.com. Esports veteran, follows all five major leagues. Jack "NeoIllusions" Ho - TeamLiquid staff writer. Has covered OGN, NA and EU LCS for TL and lolesports.com. Regularly watches most of the five major leagues. James "Obscurica" Chen - GPL and SEA expert. Covers GPL for lolesports.com and watches all five major leagues regularly. Jason "Jayway" Wai - Web Content Coordinator and stats aficionado for lolesports.com. Watches OGN religiously and regularly watches all five major leagues. Kelsey Moser - GosuGamers senior editor and LPL expert. Covers LPL for lolesports.com. Regularly watches all five major leagues. Joshua "Jatt" Leesman - Riot Games LCS Analyst and Commentator. Veteran commentator of both Season 2 and Season 3 World Championships. Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman - League of Legends theorycrafter and statistics nerd turned esports journalist, watches NA/EU religiously and all five major leagues regularly. Michael "Chexx" Kiefer - German born, Korean resident. TeamLiquid staff writer and Esports veteran. Expert on all things Korea. Regularly watches all five major leagues. Michael Mooridian - Freelance esports journalist. Specializes in NA & EU LCS and Challenger leagues and follows all five major leagues. Taylor Cocke - Web Content Coordinator for lolesports.com Watches EU/NA with a passion, follows all other leagues. Team Inven - Esports veterans and OGN experts. Regularly watch every game of all five major leagues. Thomas Watts - OGN expert and freelancer for lolesports.com. Veteran college football reporter. Regularly watches most of the five major leagues. Tyler "Fionn" Erzberger - TeamLiquid staff writer and OGN expert. Esports veteran and Freelancer for lolesports.com. Regularly watches all five major leagues.

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48 Comments

Jathiel36 votes

Ok, I really am coming not to trust these rankings, especially the person who is writing the brief descriptions on the teams and why the rose/dropped. LMQ goes 1-1 against 2 of the bottom three teams and rises 4 rankings, the logic in this is non-existent. Also the person who wrote about Alliance is saying that almost going 0-2 is not good, they beat Fnatic at like 23 minutes by committing and taking advantage of a mistake, what about that suggests almost losing? I also do not get them saying SK is looking like a EU C9, they are doing good, but are not in first, and not dominating everyone like C9 has done in past seasons.... On the whole I do not find these rankings to be accurate the higher they go.

DIG CCMatt6 votes

Everything you said is absolutely correct. LMQ goes up 4 because of a bad showing? Even their win wasn't convincing at all.

CrowTheory4 votes

LMQ performed blatantly bad last week, whoever's writing these articles have bad english, and have a damn hard time being logical. You guys should check the fantasy lcs love/hate article where they talk about why to hate Hai (even less logic).

January 21 20193 votes

[deleted]

CounterPositive1 votes

The english is indeed not good enough by the standard that the writer is writing an article of this "size" to the community, that's probably what the guy meant.

+4 is illogical but ya the rest seems good, do check out what they wrote about Hai in the fantasy love-hate though, that's some next level illogical shit, Some of these riot writers are really hyping up LMQ more than they should either by what they write and this random +4 for doing bad.

Circuit Bear3 votes

I mad a long post about this sort of thing last week, and got downvoted to hell. I rest my case.

NeoIllusions10 votes

FWIW, I ranked the NA teams DIG > CLG > C9 > LMQ this week but in the end, the Power Rankings is an aggregate of all the panelist votes. I do think some of my colleagues ranked LMQ too highly, especially after their Week 4 performance.

Gileann11 votes

Per my own rankings, I believe I ranked LMQ too high. Here's how it should break down:

1) Recent results: TSM, LMQ, and CLG went 3-1 in last two weeks. C9 & Dig went 2-2. 1.5) LMQ & CLG are 7-3 in last four weeks, and TSM are 6-4.
**2) **Predicted future results: CLG > LMQ.

By that logic, **CLG > LMQ > TSM > Dig > C9. **

The problem I didn't take into account is that Dig lost to CLG and C9, while LMQ lost to Curse. That one loss arguably trumps the other two. LMQ should beat Curse on paper, whereas CLG and Dig are comparable in terms of expectations. Recent results, in truth, include who those results were against.

I should have ranked NA: CLG > Dig > TSM > LMQ > C9 if placing more emphasis on whom those wins and losses were against. Rest assured, LMQ will drop in the placings next week after this little hiccup.

Unless, of course, they beat CLG and Cloud9 this week.

Derpus the Fifth3 votes

Yea, it never seems to baffle me how much love the writers of the power rankings give to LMQ. LMQ looked terrible this past week, no way would I say their performances should have them 5 places above CLG. Curse beat them pretty decisively, and they didn't look good at all in their win against EG. Those two teams are the in 6&7th place. How could you possibly think that C9 looks out of contention, but LMQ looks deserving of a +4? LMQ has been up and down all season rotating from good week to bad week. If anything the NA team that should be above all the others is CLG. CLG is the only team in NA at the moment that's been consistently winning, while also putting up good fights in all of their losses. Yes they've had a couple shaky wins, but so far they and TSM are the only teams in the top that haven't thrown a game to one of the bottom 3 teams, and TSM still isn't looking that great against the other top teams despite their win over C9.

Ssataniko3 votes

I couldn't agree more with most of your points. The Rankings are becoming utterly ludicrous (as perhaps expected given that most of these teams don't ever play one another). But the fact that LMQ goes 1-1 barely beating EG in a game that EG legitimately threw, and getting crushed by Curse and still rose 4 places is absurd enough. But the fact that Cloud9, facing much tougher competition, also went 1-1 and yet dropped 4 spots, shows how ridiculously biased these "experts" truly are. And the bias towards Asian teams (even ones in NA) is absurd as well.

aegiscruiser1172 votes

I don't see how no one has commented on your alliance point. Alliance was losing pretty badly in that game, which they won, really only due to a BAD fnatic mistake. The articles description of the Alliance-Fnatic is 100% fair.

Venoxis10 votes

"LMQ's early game continues to falter" "they struggled immensely" Ranking +4 What?

The Green 8 Ball5 votes

Usually at the bottom of the list there are other teams that received votes but are not necessarily in the top 20.........is this just a typo or is this list of 20 unanimous and no other teams received votes? Also, I don't think LMQ being so high on the list is accurate....considering how NA is much closer this split, it really is more of a toss up on who is top 4 in NA, its not like LMQ is completely dominant (even some of their wins looked sketchy/close) to warrant such a gap between other teams in their region.

TianzhuLi4 votes

C9 goes 1-1= -4 LMQ goes 1-1= +4 Seems Legit

zRelentless3 votes

I don't understand why TSM is not in the power rankings because they defeated C9 and having Locodoco as a coach would have put them somewhere in the rankings under "Predicted future performance."

E1fo1hZ7Av1 votes

I so agree. I mean EG should definitely be top 15 because they got helios. lol

Adobe Wån Kenobi3 votes

Yeah there "power rankings" may be fairly true for the top 5 teams or so, but the fact that Fnatic are not even on this and they can easily beat any NA team at least really is making me question the validity of these so called "rankings". The fact that they are discounted based on their mistakes they made on few games and actually performing well, at least better than SK in every other aspect of the game? I find this list really really baffling and illogical.

Circuit Bear11 votes

I hate to come off as a jerk. But this comes of a bit.. um... pompous. "Any NA team." Just going to say All stars with the shotcaller of C9 out sick and leave that here.

Kylenh2 votes

I don't think Fnatic could beat "Any NA team" in their current state. Individually they are all strong players but they haven't been as decisive in their games recently to warrant a place on the power rankings. However they are certainly looking better then the start of the split.

hoangbody2 votes

Hello friends, I recently created a LCs esports blog (http://hoangbody.wordpress.com/). Each week I plan on updating it with current standings, recaps of each week, my fantasy start em and sit ems, fantasy sleepers and my match predictions for each week! I would appreciate it if you all would look at it and give any feedback including suggestions and criticisms. Thank you, Hoangbody

C9 Toph2 votes

In the end, C9 will win :3

Cunnilinguist1 votes

and the asian teams are still miles ahead:(summoner 6

Humble2Him1 votes

A lot is being questioned about LMQ's increase in rankings and I think a point has to be made that team don't just move up, but also down. I don't know why the teams below LMQ dropped, but this a comparison power rankings so without research into all the leagues it is hard to say why LMQ went up except the other teams in comparison went down

That being said, LMQ is a good team, they have been strong, and despite losing to EG and almost losing to Curse they are tied for 1st in NA beating the top teams. Remember, they hadn't been challenged yet, so they didn't need to adapt their style. Let's see where they go with this and hold the judging of their continued strength until the next power ranking.

Lionhawk1 votes

No, they are not tied for 1st by beating the top teams. Their wins are against complexity, eg, 1 vs curse, 1 vs clg, and one against tsm. The only top team I see there is clg. (when they faced tsm they were not top tier, and its hard to say whether their 2-0 success will continue.) Their losses are against only the top teams, dig and c9. And one to a bottom tier team, curse.

And yes, this is a comparison ranking. So let's compare lmq and c9. C9 went 1-1. LMQ went 1-1. C9 lost to TSM, who were one rank below them. LMQ lost to crs, the weaker of those two teams. C9 then went and beat dignitas the next day, the other team tied for FIRST. LMQ, the day before their upset against crs, were handily beat in the early game by EG, and won simply from eg throwing most of the game away. Now, who had the better week? Obviously cloud 9. C9 moved down 4 places. LMQ moved up 4 places. That is why people are mad.

Cowboy Chris1 votes

Alright. I have been reading these power rankings for a very long time now. Every week I dare myself to look at the comments section just to see the NA vs EU debates and how much everyone hates these rankings.

I just got to say this. If you hate these rankings so much why do you keep looking at them? Why not just assume they are all completely wrong and just move on with your day?

digdoug0061 votes

um...the order should be:

  1. Korea (then give rankings for the korean teams within this)

  2. OMG

3-20) whoever else you wanna put on here (does it matter though at this point).

Their list is probably to make it seem like there are other teams who can compete with Korea, but putting KT Bullets and SKT1 S allll the way down there? gimme a fuckin break. When Korea sends whatever team to an outside (of Korea) tournament and they just bulldoze their way to the Championship (i'm talking about not even losing one game), what else is there to say.

IthrowA11 votes

SKT1 S looked super weak in the masters finals against ozone (now white) and the bullets arent that amazing of a team. I think everyone can agree that Korea is the strongest region atm, but if youre suggesting that any Korean team, say IM #2, could beat any team in the world, OMG or DIG come to mind, i doubt you watch much ogn

Victoria Kern1 votes

K i've been watch the lcs HERE is the real na top 5 power rankings in term of skill. C9>dig>clg>tsm>team curse. LMQ is Chinese their-for they don't deserve a spot on NORTH AMERICA'S rooster. Until they get citizen ship in Na They can fuck right off same with eg and same with bjerg.

DoYouEvenDublift6 votes

What... the... fuck...

IthrowA14 votes

You're ignorant as shit homie

Victoria Kern1 votes

Yah, Ignorant? Wait until more foreign teams want to be in na lcs. prediction 5 years from now all chinese or korean. you sir don't think hard enough

EzrealandTARDIS2 votes

Stop upvoting your own comments. There's no way C9 is doing the best, especially after the losses they've suffered the first 3 weeks. LMQ certainly shouldn't be #1, but they're definitely better than C9, tsm, and curse. To quote DoYouEvenDublift, WTF.

Survivorman1011 votes

I mean no offense, but that's kinda racist and shortsighted. Reminds me of crap people would say when they were talking about people of color entering sports like baseball, basketball, and football.

M3di1 votes

Another week of biased power rankings....yawn......I'm just waiting for C9 to turn it on and quit trying new stuff midway through the split....then watch them sweep their way through the playoffs....bye bye DIG...bye bye...CLG.....bye bye 1 trick ponies...TSM & LMQ....you're both way too heavily dependent on your mid-laners to win the game...even if you make it to worlds...you'll lose in group stage....

E1fo1hZ7Av1 votes

LMQ will be top 10 next rankings since they just lost to CLG can you imagine how high they will be ranked if they lose to c9 also..

Twistedtoo1 votes

Team Dig is always wearing the funkiest colored pants....lol

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