Power Rankings - Week 15

Riot··1 votes·5,612 views
Welcome to Week 15 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 #LCSRANKINGS if you have feedback or let us know in the comments below. Here are our Week 15 Power Rankings. Current league record in parenthesis. Number of first place votes in brackets
  1. ( - ) Samsung Galaxy Ozone - [10] - OGN Champions - (9-1)
  2. ( - ) OMG - [1] - LPL - (24-2) If there was a doubt in anyone's mind that OMG deserved their spot at the top of LPL, it was dispelled this week when they played against LGD. LGD played Riven, which usually spells success for them, but Star was nearly decimated. In addition, OMG played strategies a patch ahead of their time, pulling out Twisted Fate and Graves before their 4.5 changes. If this is how they will play at All-Stars, they have a good chance of defending their second place slot on the list against any lingering nay-sayers. Written by Kelsey Moser
  3. ( - ) Najin White Shield - OGN Champions - (5-1)
  4. ( - ) CJ Entus Blaze - OGN Champions - (8-2) Ambition might be best-known for overreaching and giving up first blood, but he was lethally on-point against the KT Arrows. Even as enemy mid laner Rookie carved out a reputation as "Faker Jr.," his team was beaten down by Blaze's abundant experience and precisely timed rotations. CJ Entus Blaze has yet again pushed through to the OGN Champions semifinals, affirming their position as an incredibly consistent top-tier team. The question is now whether they can topple the Samsung organization to take back their crowns. Written by James "Obscurica" Chen
  5. (+2) Samsung Galaxy Blue - OGN Champions - (8-2) A 3:1 victory over CJ Entus Frost has stamped Samsung Blue's ticket to a semi-final teamkill against sister team Samsung Ozone, but there are some storm clouds ahead for Blue as they enter their first semi-final in history. Their Game 1 loss to Frost was by all accounts a great upset, and indicative of Blue's inexperience in high-pressure situations. All things being said, however, Blue is a rapidly improving team that should not be counted out, especially with Dade in the mid lane. Written by Alex Manisier
  6. (-1) SK Telecom T1 K - OGN Champions - (5-6) In their first game in NLB, SKT T1 K had some small starting problems but secured a 2-0 victory over Prime Optimus. SKT T1 K are still one of the favorites to win the whole tournament. Today in T-LoL Masters, they get the chance to take some small revenge against Ozone who knocked them down to NLB in the first place, and it will be their chance to show the fans that the one win from Ozone was just luck. Written by Michael "Chexx" Kiefer
  7. (-1) KT Rolster Arrows - OGN Champions - (5-5) The laughing is over - at least in OGN Champions for the KT Arrows. They lost against CJ Blaze in the quarterfinals of OGN 3-1 and it showed that while they are skilled players, they lack the experience to handle pressure situations in late game scenarios. Now they have the chance to gather more experience in NLB where they may meet their old foe SKT T1 K yet again. As a KT Arrows fan, don't be too sad that they dropped out - the future for the team looks bright and with more experience under their belt, they can aim for the top. Written by Michael "Chexx" Kiefer
  8. (+1) Cloud 9 - NA LCS - (29-4) The assumption has been that there were two top teams in North America: TSM, and Cloud 9. Cloud 9 has fully established their dominance over the NA scene with a 5-0 playoffs run, pushing them to 29-4 on the season. What's more, this patch seems especially strong for them, with rotations and clutch decision-making even more important due to the prevalence of 4v0 lanes. Every member of Cloud 9 has showed champion variety in the past 3 weeks, and they look more versatile and dominant every week. Going into All Stars, they face another international test, and have the chance to prove themselves. They have already beaten TPA in the past, but will face strong competition from OMG, their European rivals Fnatic, and the 2013 season World Champions SKT T1 K. They may be the dominant team in North America, but a strong showing here is what they need to finally break into the scene, as far as Korea and China are concerned. Written by Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman
  9. (-1) KT Rolster Bullets - OGN Champions - (4-2)
  10. ( - ) Najin Black Sword - OGN Champions - (3-3)
  11. ( - ) Edward Gaming - LPL - (18-6)
  12. (+1) Taipei Assassins - GPL Champions - (19-4)
  13. (+3) Fnatic - EU LCS - (24-14) Fnatic finally justified everybody's faith in them as a team that performs when it matters, with a commanding showing in the playoffs. Fnatic being No. 1 in Europe is starting to rank up there with death and taxes, and in the future, everybody should think thrice before doubting them on account of a mid-season stutter. Written by Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman
  14. (-2) SK Telecom T1 S - OGN Champions - (3-4)
  15. ( - ) Team SoloMid - NA LCS - (24-10) TSM has faltered on the last two patches, lending credence to criticisms of a weak mid-game due to sloppy rotations. CLG punished them in the mid-game of Games 1 and 2 of the semi-finals, winning Game 1 and seemingly throwing Game 2 due to overconfidence and carelessness. They may be the No. 2 team in NA by record, but their reliance on superior laning and team fighting will only take them so far. If they can't acknowledge that, the potential for other NA teams to surpass them is growing as the scene rises to meet them. Written by Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman
  16. (-2) SK Gaming - EU LCS - (20-11)
  17. ( - ) CJ Entus Frost - OGN Champions - (5-5)
  18. ( - ) AHQ Esports Club - GPL - (17-4)
  19. (+1) ROCCAT - EU LCS - (24-16) ROCCAT came out of nowhere this split. They may not be the No. 1 team in Europe, but their weaknesses are all fixable by experience. With a bit more versatility and experience in the late game, they can only improve. They can't be unhappy with their performance this split, and they are a team to watch closely next split. Written by Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman
  20. (NEW) Team WE - LPL - (17-9) World Elite appeared a bit prematurely on lolesports rankings several weeks back. They hit the ground hard after an initial bout of success. They've managed to claw their way back up to third place in LPL, and members of their team that looked considerably weaker have made impressive strides. Recent performances suggest that WE simply had to find their sea legs in the new season, but since they have, they've made strange new picks and strategies work. Conan's Vel'Koz makes a definite case for the new champion finding a place in competitive play, and while they might not be debuting Gangplank top in high pressure situations, they've proved their players are talented enough to make even GP look good. WE's rematch against Edward Gaming is this week, and they have a chance to climb the ranks if they can pull out a win. Written by Kelsey Moser
Others Receiving Votes: Alliance, Gambit Gaming, Taipei Snipers, IM#2 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, watches every game of 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. Michael "Chexx" Kiefer - German born, Korean resident. TeamLiquid staff writer and Esports veteran. Expert on all things Korea. Regularly watches all five major leagues. Taylor Cocke - Web Content Coordinator for lolesports.com Watches EU/NA with a passion, follows all other leagues. Tyler "Fionn" Erzberger - TeamLiquid staff writer and OGN expert. Esports veteran and Freelancer for lolesports.com. Regularly watches 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. Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman - League of Legends theorycrafter and statistics nerd turned esports journalist, watches NA/EU religiously and all five major leagues regularly. Team Inven - Esports veterans and OGN experts. Regularly watch every game of all five major leagues.

Related Articles

93 Comments

Sinko10520 votes

again cloud 9 ahead of europes top teams without beating a team like fnatic in any international tournaments this ranking is so fair and unbiased

AwoI19 votes

they have an even overall map count with Fnatic at 4-4...

Fabke23 votes

Fnatic have won more series, no one care about the 4-4, Fnatic won at worlds and at IEM, C9 only won at BOTA which is not even as important as IEM/worlds.

Hodarion24 votes

B/c a win only matters if it's IMPORTANT, right? A win is a win, get over it.

Tαρζαν4 votes

Fnatic showed superiority in the world finals and the iem katowice tournament. it is obvious that they are a better team and no one can explain why they are placed 5 after c9

Kho5 votes

Fnatic beat Cloud 9 sure. But they are not nearly as consistent as Cloud 9 is. If they are so dominant one day, why the hell would they suddenly drop 8 games in a row? Fnatic's and Cloud 9's record is 4-4 and Fnatic pulls out the win sure, but even their record against Cloud 9 isn't consistent.

College Debts11 votes

[deleted]

Rodulv5 votes

TPA still being rated that high, when getting pretty much crushed in IEM. There are 3 teams in SEA that always stand out: TPA TPS and AHQ. In general, TPS has done better against harder competition than TPA. The SEA teams also never won anything outside of season 2 worlds (internationally).

Edit: I mean, TPS isn't even on the list, and they are better than AHQ, and almost exactly as good as TPA.

xiverkemi1 votes
  1. They were not "crushed". They won their first game by more domination then they lost their next 2 games.

  2. You clearly do not follow GPL closely if you are saying TPS>AHQ. TPS did not even qualify for GPL Summer, they are in a world of turmoil.

I watch a lot of NA/EU LCS/OGN/LPL/GPL. For the most part I agree with these rankings, and I would probably rank TPA 14 instead of 12, but they just got a new (better) jungler so it's hard to say yet.

6eoff13 votes

It's not all about head to head man. If that were the case then SKT K shouldn't be above KT Arrows since the Arrows 2-0'd them a few weeks ago. Fnatic and C9 are pretty even imo, but C9 has proven to be more consistent and dominated the NA scene while Fnatic had some hiccups along the way. Head to head, I'd still put my money on Fnatic at this point, but Cloud 9 is looking really strong right now. While Fnatic is spectacular a times, they can also just not show up on any given day. Consistency matters in rankings like this. Samsung Ozone hasn't won a tournament in almost a year and yet they're ranked #1 based on their consistency.

Luros12 votes

True but cloud9 completly DOMINATED NA LCS while fnatic strugled hard in EU LCS. I'm a huge fnatic fan but i think the fact that cloud9 is over fnatic is completly justified FOR NOW. Now let's see the All-Stars Draven ...

kon137 votes

Are you kidding me??No offense (i'm european and i prefere Fnatic to be over c9 and win them) but let's be honest. Did you guys even see the playoff games??Everything was about patch 4.5 rotations! Fnatic did a lot better with them than any other EU LCS team and did a good job honestly. But C9's adaptation of the patch was out of this world. Maybe Fnatic can beat them cause of straight higher skill level (although all of c9 has stepped up a lot) but still on paper c9 seems to be miles ahead of Fnatic..If they don't get dominated in lanes they have the upper hand (and lanes aren't really happening..4v0 patch) This is EVERYTHING C9 could hope for..their best patch! You can't jsut say "Fnatic won them more times in the past in important matches". I believe that at least 4-5 EU LCS teams would compete and even get higher than the rest of NA LCS but not C9 in this patch. Deffinitelly not

Corphish4 votes

Even as an NA player I think that C9s rating is a little too high and should be somewhere between TPA and Fnatic

Vero Your Hero2 votes

i think if at worlds fnatic beats cloud 9 this arguement will be settled, but until then i think the rankings are fine with respect to c9 being above fnatic, they have yet to see real trouble; dominating since they exploded onto the scene, only fanatic gives them a hard time, a sort of gatekeeper, if you will. both teams will have opportunity to shed their current rankings come may 8th! gunna fun! go team ice! xD

Fabke11 votes

This ranking is a big joke since 3 or 4 weeks. Can someone tell me how winning against LGD make OMG the 2nd best team in the world? LGD is not even top 4 in the LPL, WE and IG are stronger than LGD, and WE/IG lost in groupstage at IEM. Same for C9 they lost to Fnatic, and KTB destroyed Fnatic BUT C9 are above KTB and Fnatic? This a fucking joke.

C9 overrated, they aren't better than Fnatic and not even close to KTB, same for OMG, the teams in LP¨L are weak, we saw C9 stomping WE easily, and WE is top 3, winning in a weak league doesn't make you top 2 in the world.

NeverEverKills12 votes

LPL is a weak league lol... dude teams in LPL are (mostly) above the level of TSM. OGN is the only league that is stronger (perhaps a little, perhaps a lot, we'll see) than the LPL.

Fabke3 votes

Rofl i'm sure you don't watch LPL, please Royal Club sucks, PE sucks, EP.HK sucks, LGD sucks and IG/WE (ranked 4th and 3rd) lost to Fnatic/C9. OGN is WAY stronger than LPL, take the team ranked 8th in OGN and put them against the weakest team of the LPL it's gonna be funny, 20 minutes stomp

NeverEverKills6 votes

While I have to admit your last sentence is true, you may notice that a mediocre team in LPL can be a top team is the LCS. We will see how LMQ, a bottom team in LPL, performs in the promotional tournament and if they succeed, the NA LCS.

CrOPhoenix11 votes

OMG was the only team (beside KT B maybe) that was able to beat SKT T1 at worlds, having a 1:1 record, and since then they only improved and their new mid player is playing as good as Cool, if not even better. OMG surely deserve the second place, if not even the first imho. But I do agree on the fact that C9 shouldn't be above some teams listed here. NA fanboys are always crying that C9 has a 4:4 record against Fnatic and that they didn't prepare for Fnatic at Worlds and IEM, but they forget that Fnatic had only 1 week practice prior to BOTA, cause they were on vacation and C9 was practicing hard for 1 month before BOTA, but that's the only time they beat Fnatic. When Fnatic did prepare and had enough practice they kicked C9 out of both tournaments.

And 1 more thing, people flaming KT B and saying that they are a medicore team in Korea tend not to see that KT B is playing really well in OGN, they only had bad results in SKT Masters, in the Winter OGN they only lost to a Godlike SKT T1 K and so far they didn't lost a single matchup in OGN. And I do think that they will win against Shield again just like in Winters 3th place matchup, I would still consider them a top3 Korean team and I think they will get to the Finals together with Ozone in the Spring OGN, but time will tell.

Limakoko8088 votes

Just like to point out that when C9 didnt prepare for fnatic, they still put up 2 close games against the well prepared fnatic both times, but when the tables were turned c9 decimated them. And its not like its an excuse, cloud 9 and a bunch of analysts said that at both iem and worlds they didnt prepare for fnatic, the same as fnatic didnt prepare for them at BOTA.

It sounds to me like you are as much a fnatic fanboy as so many players over here in na are c9 fanboys.

Im not denying that fnatic is a great team, but the fact of the matter is c9 is much more consistent and c9's playstyle is much more suited to this patch than fnatic's, which is why people are saying cloud 9 should pick up the win against them.

They both have the capability to beat each other and potentially put up a good fight vs skt/omg. I highly doubt they will actually win against our asian overlords but it will definetly show that the gap between regions is slowly shrinking. Time will tell though and whether they win a bunch or lose every single game, having c9 gain even more international experience can only be good for them.

warpedmind3 votes

only the last part is actually constructive comment. just watch those awesome matches (hopefully) and all diffrent opinion should be pleased

Limakoko8085 votes

So youre denying that C9 didnt prepare for fnatic at worlds despite literally all analysts and pros saying they got complacent and therefore didnt even study for fnatic(they left kass open twice). True its there fault they lost, but they werent playing as well as they could have.

Also at IEM C9 stated they didnt expect to get out of groups, which is why they were less prepared for fnatic.

These are facts, the same as fnatic wasnt able to prepare for BOTA a FACT.

Another fact, fnatic dropped a bunch of games mid split because their rotations just werent good enough in this rotation heavy meta we have right now. Fnatic is know for always going for the kill, and that objectives were secondary to them. They changed this playstyle later in the split but Cloud 9 has always had great rotations and objective control, things this meta favors heavily.

Montecristo and a quite a few other pros(like dexter in his ama, and froggen in summoners insight) stated that the better na teams are stronger than the eu teams in this meta.

CrOPhoenix5 votes

The big difference C9 was practicing before all 3 matchups, where Fnatic didn't even played before BOTA cause Peke was 3 months in Murica after Worlds. Fnatic has really nice results since DreamHack Winter 2012. The only tournament where they really sucked was IEM Sao Paulo, they got 3th/4th in the Worlds, 2nd at IEM Worlds, 2nd at IEM Cologne, won 3 LCS splits, but still people underestimate them, even the writers of this articles. C9 doesn't have any international tournament to back their ranking up.

Tarkamacska10 votes

C9 was repetatively beaten by EU in international tournaments, they werent even faced agains Koreans /who are simply a different level/ so even if they will be the worst on the Allstar matches, they still will be in the first 10 in this power rankings. The hype is simply too big. Maybe it isnt a hype, its overrating. I dont say C9 is a bad team, hell no, they are good, but they arent better than a lot of teams behind them on this list. /srsly C9>KTB??? SRSLY????/

PS: why is AHQ still on the list?

Limakoko8084 votes

They rank it based on performance in their own respective regions. These rankings dont necessarily reflect a higher ranked team being able to automatically beat anyone below them. Also they take into account more things then just who got the win in the past and who didnt.

College Debts5 votes

[deleted]

Limakoko8083 votes

If people are going to complain about how they rank the teams they shouldnt even read these articles. But if you actually read how they rank the teams then it makes more sense, especially since a lot other sports use the same system for power rankings

DeltaRaven9 votes

Can't wait to see what happens at all stars, that should be the deciding factor on which team is the best.

llayclout6 votes

It will indeed be exciting, but I just wish OGN spring would end before allstars so the team with the most circuit points (probably ozone) could go. I would love to see Ozone have another chance on the world stage, but with their new mid laner. Oh well... SKT vs OMG is going to be interesting, but C9 and Fnatic seem to be able to beat each other on any given day, so I wouldn't say one is better than the other. Also TPA is as usual, a huge wildcard. It'll be interesting to see if Winds will make a better a impact in the jungle than Dinter has. SO MANY QUESTIONS!

xiverkemi1 votes

Agree with TPA being wildcard. It's amazing how even after IEM the conclusion is still they are a wildcard. I've watched every single one of their game, and they can only be summed up as inconsistent. It's probably due to a big mechanical gap between members, with players like bebe being top 5 in the world and Dinter being bench material in OGN (I am a fan of his though, the way he endures all the flaming) and inconsistent play-calling.

Wish it were Ozone vs. OMG..

Coku8 votes

EU fans need to realize that C9 has absolutely dominated this patch as is well stated. The ratings are based on recent events, not on events that happened a year ago. After Katowice, Fnatic started showing they could beat top tier teams on any given day, but still haven't shown the kind of dominance C9 has. However the hop over KTB might just be a stretch....

RudBoy7 votes

OMG: 4-0 C9: 3-1 SKT T1 K: 2-2 Fnatic: 1-3 TPA: 0-4

LionT0913 votes

What??
You think that SKT T1 is not better than C9 and OMG are you stupid??
Do you know that KT Bullet rolled over all teams with no single lose at all in IEM and they were considered top 8 team in Korea at that time. Why does people forget that Fnatic won last time vs C9 (the table says that they compare with recent results).

Use the brain {{summoner:2}}

Leonhart X6 votes

Again the ranking is so perfect, it makes so much sense. I love it ! (sarcastic)
Can only say that All-Star will prove you (bronze table) wrong as hell.

A real question
Where did you get those people??

platypusswag76 votes

where is clg? If that semifinal bo3 series (clg vs. tsm) taught us anything its that clg and tsm are neck in neck in skill level. In fact I would say clg is a better team then tsm. They were just so on tilt for the final half of the best of three. But clg wasnt even on the power rankings nor were they in the "Others receiving votes"

Redemptionist1 votes

If you'll notice, one of the ways they rank is based on "Predicted Future Performance." The fact that CLG recently had a huge roster change that, in the eyes of many, was a bad thing. Even if it ends up positive, the fact that CLG couldn't beat TSM on a patch that fit CLG perfectly and was the worst in history for TSM AND they are going to have to adapt to yet another roster change.

Imperio Eboy5 votes

SK lose 1/3 and -2, TSM lose 0/3 and dont get down....

youngmonei4 votes

c9 really why do they get the 8th place na scene dont even belong in the power ranking when they face the korean team, chinese team, and their most favorite rival fanatic they are going to get the ass handed to them. i think the only na team that belongs to power ranking is clg because of their great map pressure and understanding of the meta because of montecristo but na is the weakest scene right now

Maximum Jarvan12 votes

Considering you didn't even remember that SEA is a major region your argument collapses on itself. Not to mention the fact that C9 has beaten TPA and Team WE of China. Also factor in that C9 and FNC have an even 4-4 map record and all of a sudden the only legitimate thing you said was that SKT should take them down. The part about CLG is hilarious as they have been getting dumpstered by C9 for most of the split and their existence.

23drag1 votes

and so did gambit but hey everyone cares about c9 fnc has beaten them twice when c9 has only won twice so finatic is a better team and theres many teams in the eu scene better then most/all of na teams o and gambit has beaten korean teams but has any na team beaten any korean teams

Maximum Jarvan5 votes

Map record shows that overall they are even. There is more to being good than just the wins though. Fnc games that they have lost have usually felt like them just being lost. I made it a point to at least keep up with Eu and NA LCS and when FNC drops games they drop them hard and you have no idea what the hell was in their heads usually. THe analyst have noticed this as well and that is wy they are lower.

Venoxis4 votes

Oh boy, can't wait for all stars so that the complaining and whining about fairness in the comment section would stop, for a while at least... Then again someone will still come up with some excuse why their region's team should be higher in the ranking.

0mega Prime3 votes

Hodor

Kemy3 votes

I'm from NA and this is very NA biased. Fnatic at least deserves their spot over C9 after beating them in Worlds and IEM. Also, I think they over dropped SKT T1K. They versed Ozone the best team in Korea at the moment and lost. Also, they need to give more credit to KT Roster B, they went undefeated in IEM and yet they are placed below C9? Also, I think OMG is overrated but we don't know until SKT T1K vs Ozone at All Stars. And this All Stars is a joke there is no advantage to the winner of it besides money and It just sounds like an excuse to give LCS more spots and the other regions less spots. It doesn't make sense to give LCS 3 spots to World when they are the top 3 weakest regions while China and Korea only gets 2. Riot I'm disappointed. I hope you really consider giving all regions 2 or 3 spots equally.

Islossk2 votes

im waiting for the surprise roaming teemo support

BedBathInBronze2 votes

i wish ozone was going to all star instead of sktt1 i think they would show the might korea a lot better right now

Kemy3 votes

Yeah Montecristo said the same thing that Riot really timed All Stars very poorly. They could have pushed it a couple of weeks back until OGN Finals was finished. This would have made Ozone qualify for All Stars unless they lose. Honestly, Riot hates regions besides NA/EU in that they give the weak teams more spots in Worlds and the best regions gets less spots.

MVP Vision2 votes

Okay, there is no way CJ Entus Frost should be behind TSM and C9. There is absolutely no way. The same goes for SKT S who just beat Ozone today.

More from Esports