LEC power rankings week 3 – who is playing above their record?
By Josh Tyler
5. Misfits (4-2)
On the other side, we have Misfits, a team that has far underperformed relative to their record. Misfits had the easiest schedule of any team in the LEC through the first three weeks by a shocking margin; they have still yet to play FC Schalke, Splyce, and G2. The fact that Misfits are only 4-2 with those three teams still on the menu is troubling.
Worse still, all the players on Misfits are performing well, all members being in the top four positionally. While that might sound like a good thing to Misfits fans, these stats are inflated by inferior competition, and despite these good numbers Misfits have still lost two games. Whenever a team has a lot of talent and middling results, that’s usually a sign that they are relying on individual talent to win games (indeed every player averages a gold lead at 15 minutes) rather than coordination and macro knowledge.
4. Splyce (3-3)
Splyce may have a worse record than Misfits, but I suspect that they’ll prove their mettle in the matchup next Sunday. Splyce is, statistically, on par with a team like Vitality in terms of performance, and they will get some very winnable games against Fnatic and SK Gaming over the next two weeks.
3. Vitality (5-1)
Vitality might be 5-1, but there is actually quite a significant gap between them and the top two teams in the LEC power rankings. To begin, Vitality has also had an easy schedule – though not as easy as Misfits – and still have not yet had to play G2. While that matchup on Saturday will certainly have fireworks, at every position Vitality are massively outclassed except one.
Going into the year, most people would have assumed that Vitality would be carried on the back of the Italian Stallion in the mid lane, Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro. However, Jiizuke has not been the same dominant force he was in Summer 2018. Instead, he’s shared the carry role with ADC Atilla and, most significantly, top laner Lucas “Cabochard ” Simon-Meslet.
Cabochard has been the biggest carry threat for this team six games into the split, given his monstrous KDA, average 1k gold lead at 15 minutes, and the best kill participation of any LEC top laner. If Vitality has a chance to take down G2, it will be playing through the top of the map, where Cabochard should outclass Wunder.
2. FC Schalke (5-1)
Unlike Vitality, Schalke’s stellar performance is well-warranted, their only loss having come at the hands of our top team in the LEC power ranking – unbeaten G2. Schalke will also get to round out their diet with games against overrated Misfits, as well as Rogue and Origen, meaning it’s likely they will end the first half of the split with an 8-1 record.
Schalke’s performance over Splyce last weekend, in particular, solidified their strength in the LEC. As per usual, Upset was a monster carry on Ezreal and Abbedagge continued to make his case for rookie of the split. In terms of raw talent, Schalke is massively ahead of teams like Vitality, Misfits, and Splyce, but they’re still far behind…
1. G2 (6-0)
No surprise here, but G2 annihilated their competition again last weekend, steamrolling poor SK Gaming and Splyce. God bless Splyce, they made it interesting and kept Caps from running games over, but then Perkz came out of his slumber to run the game over. The 10/3/13 performance on Lucian catapulted Perkz from the perceived weakness of G2 to, statistically, the most impactful bot laner in the LEC by a wide margin.
Only one player on G2 is not the statistical number one at their position – Wunder, who is only the third-best top laner in the LEC. When your biggest problem in life is that your top laner isn’t getting as many solo kills, as big of lane leads, or as much gold as players who get far more early game resources to snowball them ahead, your life is fine. G2 tops the LEC power rankings after Week 3; the only question about this team is who will stop them?
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Disagree with where we put any of the LEC teams in our power rankings? Let us know who you’d have higher in the comments!