LEC power rankings: Week 2’s top dogs and lame ducks

6. SK Gaming (2-2)

Opening up the top six of our LEC power rankings; the old guard returns with a respectable 2-2 record. SK owe these great performances to the inbuilt synergy of the top, jungle and ADC imported from the MAD Lions roster. You take that synergy,  add former SKT mid-laner Pirean and soloQ god Dreams in the support position and you’ve got a recipe for a decent roster.

Game 1 saw SK take an unfortunate loss versus Schalke in their German derby, SK’s Juš “Crownshot” Marušič and Dreams did their best to hold their own versus the new “Best in the West” bottom lane Upset and IgNar. Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said for Werlyb up in the top lane, the poor guy found himself being constantly punished by Odoamne’s Swain finishing the game with a 0/5/2 KDA.

Game 2 was a significantly better game for SK, in an absolutely dominant fashion they found themselves steaming ahead of Excel, managing to rack up a gold lead from minute 3 onwards. SK eventually ended the 28-minute game at an enormous 13.8k gold lead. SK likely aren’t going to find themselves in the top 3 at the end of the split, but a playoffs finish in their first split back certainly isn’t something to sniff at!

5. Splyce (3-1)

In at number five for our LEC power rankings, we find Splyce, but let’s not let this 3-1 record get us too hyped up. Considering three of their first four games were against the LEC’s weaker teams, they’ve done decently well. The Vitality loss in Week 1 was pretty rough and I don’t think Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir will be living down that Vayne delivery service play for a very long time. I mean that was really something.

Week 2 was a lot better for the Splyce boys, a nice easy game on Day 1 where they absolutely eviscerated Rogue. It would have tasted even sweeter had Humanoid or Xerxe had flashed after Sencux and not allow him to walk away from an easy kill! That being said, Xerxe gets away with it since he ended that game with an impressive 11/1/7 KDA – even on Karthus, those are some spicy numbers.

Game 2 vs Origen was, plainly put, the Kobbe & Norskeren show. Kobbe put on his carry pants and put on a beautiful display on Kai’sa and ended the game with 3.7k more gold than Patrik’s Kleptomancy Ezreal.

Humanoid thoroughly deserved the MVP through his fantastic setups and picks on the Lissandra, my personal favorite of which can be found here.

4. FC Schalke 04 (3-1)

Home to Elias “Upset” Lipp – the best AD Carry of the LEC – FC Schalke 04 find themselves at number four of our LEC power rankings!

Originally I put this team really low in my rankings, 7th to be precise, which now I’ll admit was a mistake. I’m genuinely impressed with how this team has managed to make the different playstyles work. IgNar was always viewed as a ridiculously aggressive engage support and pair him with Upset, one of the safest laners of all of Europe’s AD Carries, it shouldn’t have worked but it did.

Game 1 was, despite the hype, an absolute slog at 40 minutes long. Whilst SK held Schalke off for a while, it was only a matter of time before Upset’s 8/0/8 Kai’sa kicked down their front door and demanded their lunch money! Jonas “Memento” Elmarghichi had one rough moment around Baron where he got himself executed, which wasn’t ideal at all but the boys in blue managed to close out the game.

Game 2 vs Fnatic was another long one, clocking in 38 minutes. But we saw a similar story to the game vs SK. Upset absolutely dominated Rekkles; forcing Fnatic’s franchise player into a 1/8/4 KDA – when historically Rekkles was known to die around 8 times a split. Whilst Game 1 was all about Upset, Game 2 was characterized by some absolutely sublime flanks by Odoamne on the Kennen. IgNar walked away with the MVP thanks to some god-like hooks on the Thresh, but Odo was definitely a close contender for sure!