Meaningful Power Ranking: Round 3

One month has passed since the last power ranking post I had made. And from that we've gathered a week, Rift Rivals, and two weeks after the event in order to me to play judge, jury, and hopefully unbiased executioner to really nail down who are the best performing teams currently. But first, I'll rewind back to the last round I made and list out my personal top 15 and bottom 5.

Top 10 (Post Week 4):

1. SK Telecom T1 - Definitive #1
2. KT Rolster - Contested #2
3. Samsung Galaxy - Contested #2
4. Fnatic - Questionable; weren't challenged
5. Longzhu - Needed more trust to be higher
6. OMG - Hot Streak in LPL
7. Unicorns of Love - Consistent
8. Raise - Mostly unchallenged
9. Team WE - Faltering slightly
10. Immortals - Relatively consistent

11 through 15: FW, DAN, TSM, JT, AHQ (No order) Bottom 5: FLY, HKA, JDG, FB, IM (No Order)

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Now a bunch of stuff has happened since that last time. Shifts in the meta, parity among competition the closer Worlds seems to get, teams falling apart, etc. One of the biggest factors that has plagued me since the last time is...how much impact is Rift Rivals going to have on the power ranking I am making? I suppose I'll go through that when I run down each of the regions:

• Europe - RR Impact: Moderate/Severe Negative- Now on one end, this doesn't mean Europe and North America completely flip flop their places in my power rankings at all. What it does mean and what everyone has already said: Europe as a region of representatives all dropped the ball and really showed they're exploitable. Returning to competition, you'd think it'd be a dumpster fire of epic proportions and a region not worth watching. In actuality, the race for playoffs has become more heated than expected...except for NIP who's already out of the running. Nonetheless, I'm only looking at one team in the running chance for a top 10. Considered Team: Fnatic

• North America - RR Impact: Moderate Positive- We all know how NA performed at RR so let's just get right past that part of heroism and get too the best region for now when it comes to parity. I can't make heads or tails with a playoff picture here; the top 6 teams look great but they can also take a loss or two against the bottom 4 at any given time. Someone has to represent Worlds though and if it's not Playoff TSM, then who takes the Summer title? Rewinding back, I had 4 considered teams for this top 10 discussion, but I trimmed it to 3 because 4 felt like overkill on my mind. Considered Teams: CLG, TSM, Immortals

• China - RR Impact: None- I'm just on the verge of calling China the ultimate wildcard of the major regions. They can look like a war zone with no clear winner before an event, blow an event out the water, then come back to the same war zone with still no clear winner! It's nothing but fire, aggression, and lofty macro game. Of the 5 major regions, Rift Rivals least affects them in my opinion even though they won. Why? Because returning to the domestic competition, it's almost the exact same story only with a few twists: bottom teams are looking better is one of them. Considered Teams: OMG, WE, EDward Gaming

• Korea - RR Impact: Slightly Negative- Feast your eyes on this one; Korea at RR: not the most expected outcome to me. It's what happens afterwards that really has me more aware that ranking among a 50 team metric is harder than it looks. First of all, my Considered Teams this time around: KT, Samsung, Longzhu, Afreeca No SKT. Not this time. That alone tells you I did not put them in even my top 15. If I was willing to punish the likes of AFS for inconsistency or G2 for slumping, you're damn right I'll do the same for SKT! Lets not have this take away from the possibilities of the remaining weeks in the LCK. Honestly, I have no idea what to expect. It just makes me want to see more and if MVP can somehow avoid relegation.

• Taiwan - RR Impact: Slightly Positive- Pretty much the 500 (ish) team at RR; every team was able to go 1-1 but unfortunately fell out vs Team LPL. Going back to the LMS however, it looks like more of a fun time than I've had to imagine - it has me watching more matches to see how things turn out. The race for Dark Horse of the LMS is really close, the top of the table is still competitive as hell, and then there's Fireball. Considered Teams: Raise, Flash Wolves, AHQ

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14 Teams! How to allocate that one out. Gives me a bit of a rough spot to put them all in place but here we go.

1. Longzhu Gaming (LZ) - Of every Korean team right now, LZ has fought through the waters and has at least remained the most consistent in my eyes. And given that it's a power ranking based on the performance at the current point in time and without looking into the future or at ABC metrics, I feel that they hold top spot...for now. It's not definitive though.

2. KT Rolster (KT) - Settling in for 2 because of a couple of risky factors and worrying trends that may or may not rise. KT is still super unpredictable but to a degree they aren't crumbling like their Spring Split status.

3. Samsung Galaxy (SSG) - To even my own surprise, they do not hold this 3rd spot with the finest of results. It's just that my number 4 - between the two of them - I favor SSG's recovery process more than I would...

4. Team WE - They may have taken a few losses here and there in China but they keep proving that their synergy and game plan trumps out most of China. It's a shame that it's never easy to gauge true strength until playoffs.

5. Flash Wolves (FW) - Ever since their start of the split woes, this team has left a storm to be somewhat reckoned with on their climb back to the top of the standings. The next test however is the team I'm placing at #6

6. Raise Gaming (RG) - Once again shy of the top 5 but continuing to prove me that they're a good enough team to be in the contest for Worlds. Honestly, their recent 2-1 victory over Wayi Spider is probably the only reason they missed out over FW. But yeah, it's that close and that's the way I like it.

7. Immortals (IMT) - From 10, to questioning 10, to proving that they're better than I was giving them credit for, I have no regrets placing them somewhere in the top 10 after their recent victories. To me this is a safe place to put them. Not entirely sure if this would be underrating them as a collective team however.

8. OMG - While they may not have looked the best at Rift Rivals and definitely got outclassed in the clash of the best in LPL, OMG still has much to be proud of and improve upon. I do however think their play style is traceable which does peg them down a few spots compared to their rivaling Chinese team.

9. Afreeca Freecs (AFS) - Inking out with a couple of convincing wins, AFS finally makes a personal top 10 in months. Pre season I called them a top team, but given that there have always been better than what they were pulling, I had refused to give them much credit until they really proved me for something. So they have. Or did other things just have to happen?

10. Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) - While taking a heavy loss on Sunday, CLG does close out the top 10 dynamic over close consideration over that of TSM and FNC. They're in an extremely volatile spot however given their off the wall playstyle. 10 is like a bubble: if it pops, someone's coming faster than you can ff@15. And that takes 15 mins. You don't need 15 mins to pop a bubble!

11 thru 15 (No Order): TSM, AHQ, Dignitas, Fnatic, EDward Gaming

Looking in: H2K, Jin Air Greenwings, G2 eSports, Newbee

Bottom 5: Snake, Fireball, Phoenix 1, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Ever 8 Winners (That's like...the worst team in every region now that I think of it....)

Third Round down. Potentially a final round to come at the conclusion of the regular seasons With Worlds looming though, it may not matter. I'll just do it for fun nonetheless. Any teams I'm probably overrating? Underrating? WTF no SKT?