LPL Power Rankings (Week 0.5) – Early Skirmishes Prove Predictable

INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA - NOVEMBER 03: Supporters watch the Finals match of 2018 The League of Legends World Championship at Incheon Munhak Stadium on November 3, 2018 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA - NOVEMBER 03: Supporters watch the Finals match of 2018 The League of Legends World Championship at Incheon Munhak Stadium on November 3, 2018 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images) /
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INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA – NOVEMBER 03: Team Invictus Gaming of China celebrates their winning Finals match of 2018 The League of Legends World Championship against Team Fnatic at Incheon Munhak Stadium on November 3, 2018 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA – NOVEMBER 03: Team Invictus Gaming of China celebrates their winning Finals match of 2018 The League of Legends World Championship against Team Fnatic at Incheon Munhak Stadium on November 3, 2018 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images) /

The first games of the LPL have been played and the results have been as expected. These are the power rankings for halfway through week one of the LPL.

China was the first major region to kick off this week as the LPL returned for its 2019 Spring Split. Everyone got to see a glimpse of each of the sixteen teams of the LPL in the opening ceremony as a representative of each team emerged on stage. Royal Never Give Up (RNG) representative Karsa placed the coveted LPL cup on the podium to officially start the new split.

Also accompanying the launch of the LPL was a hilariously awkward intro package that was so full to bursting with Chinese memes that you would need a professor on the subject to explain it to you. This was the perfect way to kick off the most chaotic region in professional League of Legends, well besides maybe Vietnam.

For a full understanding of the LPL’s format and its teams, check out this primer. Under this format, there are two best of three series on every day. This means that since the LPL kicked off on Monday, we have had four series so far, the results of which did not upset the apple cart.

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There were no shock upsets on Monday as Invictus Gaming (IG) handily dispatched Topsports Gaming (TOP) and FunPlus Phoenix (FPX) stomped the miserable looking Rogue Warriors (RW). Edward Gaming (EDG) was in no danger as they defeated SinoDragon Gaming (SDG) on Tuesday, a day which also saw Bilibili Gaming (BLG) defeat LGD Gaming (LGD) in Hangzhou. These games have only marginally affected the power rankings, but there still are plenty of teams left to play.

#16 – Rogue Warriors (0-1) (Last Week – #16)

Fixtures:
14th of January: Defeated by FunPlus Phoenix 2-0. (MVPs: FPX Doinb, FPX GimGoon)
19th of January: vs JD Gaming in Beijing.
21st of January: vs Invictus Gaming in Shanghai.

Rogue Warriors looked as expected in their loss against FunPlus Phoenix. It was a miserable first game from the side as they never looked like winning even for a second. Their play was lethargic and they were essentially passengers, watching as FPX, especially Doinb’s Yasuo dictated the game and rampaged over them. The second game was more positive as we got to see the skill of rookie ADC Mei “ZWuji” Hong-Hui who was a light in the dark for RW, along with his bot lane partner Liu “Killua” Dan-Yang. However, some positive plays from Rogue Warriors’ bot lane were nowhere near enough to beat FPX who coasted to victory in both games.