Week 3 NA LCS Rankings

Rising teams show their weakness, Falling teams continue to fall, surprises, upsets and thoughts on bottom tier teams. Here we go with the Week 3 NA LCS Rankings.

Top lane:

1. Flame: The more i see from Flame so far this split, the more he impressed, but the way he handled Impact in every matchup vs C9, the way they dominated TL, He is showing his original reason for coming into the NA LCS was a serious statement, and we are getting a Flame, although different, that is on par with his days on CJ Entus. He's reminding everyone why before there was Ssumday, before there was MaRin, before there was Huni, people were talking about this man being a god in the top lane.

2. Ssumday: DIG looked a little sloppy in their wins, the one member that did not look sloppy however was Ssumday. Whether he is on tanks, or carries, this guy is a force all around. If DIG can tighten up the ship in time for CLG, C9 and a rematch against TSM, we may be seeing Flame vs Ssumday in the finals and that is scary for any international top laner not named Smeb or Huni to think about.

3. Looper: Ive been waiting so long for this guy to finally show up, he has and seemingly just in time to help FOX, maybe not win and go to playoffs, but at least be seen as a legit mid tier team that people want to get behind and sign on to win. He is the weakest of the 3 new Koreans coming in to NA, but he is showing why he was backed by so much hype coming in to spring.

4. Darshan: Sloppiest ive seen Darshan play in a while, I feel like after the IMT/CLG trade, IMT got the better. He shows he still isnt 100% confident about late game fights and is making more mistakes, if he doesnt fix that, he may fall off this list entirely with the way other top laners are playing as the split goes on.

5. Impact: Impact over Hauntzer, yes im doing it. Hauntzer still looks like a weak point for TSM, while Impact is actually a boost for his team, even in a loss, i was on my seat watching him come back from behind and giving IMT scare after scare and this is the play C9 needs to climb back to their top spot they had last split.

Mid Lane:

1. Pobelter: The Notorious P.O.B. finally hits number 1 this week. his play made me have flashbacks to the Koo/Rox Tigers of 2015/16. A damn good mid laner who almost seems to be better without resources and attention. He is reminding me of Kuro this split and im happy to think maybe an American mid laner can finally be considered on the echelon of Bjerg and Jensen. For this week especially, he got to play his style and he did it well.

2. Bjergsen: Why oh dear god why is this guy being stuck on Galio almost once every series it seems? He isnt good on it at all and when he is, the rest of the team has to give up a lot to ensure they can pull off the comp. I dont like it. Then again, It says a lot when Bjerg is the only guy who looks like he can even win with the Galio pick so that goes far enough on its own about how good he is.

3. Jensen: Still showing that Incarnation is still in him, and until he exercises that demon of being too aggressive and selfish while not really being team oriented at times, C9 and Jensen will never overtake TSM and Bjerg.

4. Keane: My boy Keane showing he can step up for DIG more and more, He's no longer that variable which provides panic for DIG fans when he goes up against guys like Bjerg, Jensen or Pobelter, he will ensure that though he may not win, he ill not hard lose and throw. Which is all you can ask for from a mid laner who had the world to improve upon last split.

5. Ryu: sad to see Ryu showing up and playing akin to his time on H2K and KT when his team is drowing in roster changes and mediocrity. They are worse than TL and that stings but Ryu has been a constant good for P1. Their only constant good in fact.

Jungle:

1. Xmithie: Notice the trend here? This guy... my god. On the Gragas, on the Lee, on the Elise, he shows he has the capability to put a team on his back and command them to be calm, and take a seriously high pressure game off of a damn hungry C9 that was savagely fighting for a win. Also, that Baron steal, such a god. Going from lambasted in the start of his career, to being underrated on CLG, to being a frikin Terminator on IMT. Im proud of his work ethic and ability to not let past mistakes in play hinder him or his team, a fine general to have out of the jungle.

2. Reignover: Im feeling so bad for him, he deserves better, all that gushing i did for Xmithie coudlve been said verbatim about Reignover this split i feel, if TL just got their act together. Still, dominating performances especially on his Olaf vs TSM. Light a candle for this guy, for his team is another victim of the NA LCS boostation.

3. Svenskeren: Slowly, slooooowlyyy improving from that garbage performance at MSI, it really looked like it was a huge hit to him and im glad a once clear cut top jungler is acknowledging his short comings and is working to improve them. I just hope he does it in time to make it to the top and convince TSM fans that he is still a danger for enemy teams.

4. Dardoch: Sloppy, every time i see a game or series where i want to move him higher, he just spills out all over the map like a drunk sorority girl flopping out of her friend's car after a wild night out. His Gragas vs FlyQuest was great though, i did like it. Showing slow improvements to being that team player that he needs to be.

5. Lira: Lira at 5? Lira at 5. Team's play and bad comps just left him vulnerable and not able to do Lira things. All that needs to be said.

Bot Lane Duos:

1. Cody Sun and Olleh: DoubleLift and Biofrost, Sneaky and Smoothie, Arrow and Shady, Wildturtle and LemonNation, Piglet and Mat, thats an impressive hit-list considering people were calling for their heads last split. S tier bot lane with the best synergy it seems. We just keeps seeing them improve and its scary that they do while being at the level they are now. They even managed to beat C9's bot lane at their own game. Cody on Trist and Olleh on Bard, byotiful. Brody Gun and Trolleh are a damn hard lock for number one.

2. Piglet and Mat: Yeah im shocked too, who wouldve guessed piglet shot calling for a weak version of a Chinese Uzi comp would help him climb to #2 on here? Im being sarcastic but he has been showing he can do well enough to not get the heat of TL's losses on him so far.

3. DoubleLift and Biofrost: These guys are always hovering in the top 3 just for sheer mechanics alone but this week they really saved the day on some occasions.

4. LoD and Big: Sloppy but reliable, the sloppy coming from a request i wanted to see where i wished they would be more aggro in lane. They tried it but ultimately were not practiced enough in that aggression and just made DIG's wins harder.

5. Sneaky and Smoothie: the IMT series made me forget they have been doing poorly and even in that series, they had their own strat turned on them and IMT's bot lane did it better. They seriously need help and i think Coach Cain leaving screwed them a little, they werent ready for him to leave it seems.

Team Rankings:

1. IMT: They have straight up rocketed past any other team so far in both performance, game plane and composure in a high stress situation. Flame is amazing on both tanks and carries, making it so hard to ban him out, Pobelter has found his groove and like i said before, reminds me a lot of Kuro in his heyday right now. Just leave him alone and let him jebait the jungler or mid laner to a bad fight where Xmithie can set up the pressure or kills. Cody Sun and Olleh are just magic right now as well, it was so damn satisfying to see IMT be able to play around their bot lane and its scary to see they have no obvious weak points or blatant win conditions right now, and Xmithie, my god Xmithie, never have i seen a player go straight up Marry Poppins for a team like i did with Xmithie this split for IMT.

2. TSM: With other teams kinda showing some weakness, and TSM already on the road to realizing their own and fixing them, i expect to see a battle for first place in the TSM vs IMT rematch later in the split.

3. CLG: a good pick for here but with the increasing sloppiness from them, how long until they fall and a team like C9, DIG, or NV overtake them?

4. DIG: They looked less sloppy than C9 this week, its the only reason i have them at 4 and....

5. C9: And C9 at 5. The constant steals, the bad fights, the terrible positioning and the weird routing, and im just talking about Contractz. Sneaky and Smoothie look like they are regressing without the help of Coach Cain, they need Impact but want Ray, and Jensen being kind of a selfish player at times is hurting C9 hard this split. They are a far cry from the team that was one fight away from winning spring.

I want to talk about P1 for a bit here. I have no idea what they are doing, why they havent been practicing with Meteos when the meta calls for his strengths, why Inori was kept as long as he was when they had a better young jungler like Mike Yeung, why they cant seem to find a support for Arrow or why Zig is seriously underperforming. So many questions and nobody has the answer at all. I hope they improve before its too late into the split.

Those were the picks, do you agree? Do you wish to Email me a flesh eating virus because my picks were so trash? Let me know what you guys think.