LPL team power rankings – January 30
By Josh Tyler
12. Snake (1-4)
The team with the second-hardest strength of schedule through the first three weeks – having played Invictus, Suning, FunPlus Phoenix, and EDG – Snake is likely a better team than their 1-4 series record indicates. They have a solid middle-of-the-pack bot lane between Maestro and Asura, and Flandre is perhaps the most underrated LPL top laner.
This team managed to take FunPlus Phoenix to three games and managed to beat EDG in a three-game series. If not for their surprising 2:0 loss to SinoDragon, Snake could be rated much higher.
11. SinoDragon (2-2)
Speaking of SinoDrago, there may not be a more perfect example of a team outperforming its record in the LPL. Along with the above-mentioned defeat of Snake, SinoDragon’s only other victory this season came against the #15 team WE.
Their two losses? At the hands of Vici Gaming and EDG. Neither an embarrassment, but still concerning that they couldn’t manage to take either series. They’ve still yet to face any of the top-tier teams so their playoff hopes could swing on how many wins they can take off the mid-tier opponents.
10. Victory Five (1-2)
The team that – incredibly – leads the LPL in first blood percentage with a whopping 71.4% rate, Victory Five is a team that has a hard time translating their leads into the mid-game. Their 42.9% first tower rate and 32.5% dragon rate both indicate that, although Victory Five can get kills early, they’re not doing enough with those leads. It’s a shame, too because top laner Jinoo has been impressive, with an impressive 3.3 KDA that rates him ahead of standouts like Ray, Duke, and TheShy.
But their sole win of the split came against OMG, which is fairly unimpressive. They need to show more consistency in the early game and play around their top laner if they want to move up the LPL power rankings.
9. Vici Gaming (1-2)
Vici still hasn’t shown to be anything more or less than we thought they would be, taking expected losses to EDG and Suning, but beating SinoDragon. Their roster is good, not great, with all of their players hovering around the middle of the pack in terms of effectiveness in their role. The only reason that they are rated ahead of Victory Five is that they are one of only two teams that’s managed to take a game off Suning this year.