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

3. Team Vitality (3-1)

In at third place in our LEC power rankings, we have the team that defined the very meta we find ourselves in – Team Vitality. Under the guiding hand of coach YamatoCannon, Vitality only made 1 change to their roster from 2018 – I guess if it ain’t broke you don’t fix it.

That being said Mowgli is a significant upgrade over Kikis. We still see the familiar faces of Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro in the mid lane, flanked by Atilla & Jactroll in bot and Lucas “Cabochard” Simon-Meslet in the top lane!

Game 1 vs Fnatic was pretty much expected to be a Vitality win since Fnatic still looked utterly dejected from their Week 1 defeats. Jiizuke got a little ahead of himself and handed Nemesis first blood, but after that, the whole team pulled themselves together and stormed the Fnatic base in a 32-minute victory.

Game 2 was where the pressure got piled on, where everyone was holding their breath. Misfits had been wiping the floor with their opponents and Vitality certainly not the favorite in this matchup. But lo and behold, in a stunning 26-minute stomp, Vitality dismantled Misfits by abusing Maxlore’s Karthus and eventually walked it into Misfits’ base for the win.

2. Misfits Gaming (3-1)

Misfits find themselves in at number 2 of our LEC power rankings, after an absolutely dominant Week 1. Week 2 started how Week 1 ended and Misfits found themselves laying the beat down on Origen, Febiven and Hans Sama especially with a combined KDA of 11/1/16.

Game 1’s win was largely down to Misfits countering Origen’s “protect the Kog’Maw” composition with solid engage & re-engage with the Sion, Alistar & Nunu combo along with a pair of mobility-heavy carries in Vayne and Akali. Misfits remained firmly in the drivers’ seat until the end, eventually taking Origen’s nexus with a respectable 10.9k gold lead.

Game 2 vs Vitality was where Misfits’ record took a turn for the worst, whether it was Vitality that played like absolute gods or Misfits’ past victories getting to their head and leading them to make mistakes? It’s hard to say, but I would argue it was a mixture of the two.

Nubar “Maxlore” Sarafian just didn’t look comfortable on the Karthus pick and I don’t think he belongs on late game scaling junglers. Stick him on team-fighting tanks or solid early game duelists and you can have him utilise his extremely intelligent pathing. That lets him snowball his laners into a win, rather than having him sit permanently in his jungle until he has 2 or 3 items.

1. G2 Esports (4-0)

Well here’s number one for our LEC power rankings, nobody’s surprised and there’s no drumroll necessary.

G2 faced some decently tough competition in Week 1 going up against the likes of Schalke, but boy oh boy anyone looking at Riot’s script for Week 2 probably thought that they fancied giving G2 the week off.

Game 1 saw Luka “Perkz” Perković & company almost lose the game to Excel, who despite their relative skill-gap managed to hold G2 at bay for a long time. This game was truly where Rasmus “Caps” Winther got to shine. The Danish prodigy locked in Akali and put his entire team on his back – that 1v4 double kill was a particular standout for me.

Game 2 versus Rogue was, unfortunately for Rogue, nowhere near as close. Perkz and Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle absolutely dunked on HeaQ and Wadid with their Xayah & Rakan bot lane – eventually ending the game with a combined KDA of 8/4/20. Wunder and Jankos were on shield duty playing Karma & Ivern respectively, this was likely to keep Caps’ Irelia alive as he made his disgusting backline dives.

All in all, after Week 2 I’m quietly confident we haven’t seen everything that G2 can flex across the map and I’m excited to see our 2 last place teams in Rogue & Fnatic clash… If only to get the popcorn out if the black and gold lose it.

Let us know who you’re hyped to see play next week in the comments below, and if you fancy it; come join our friendly neighborhood discord by click here.