League of Legends LEC power rankings week 1

Week one of the LEC Summer Split concluded on Saturday after several exciting games, surprise results, and G2 back at the top of the table. But which teams performed best and who sits at the top of our power rankings?

Not long after G2 Esports lifted the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational trophy, European League of Legends returned to our screens. If the Spring Split was hype, then surely Summer will be twice as exciting with the prospect of teams representing the current best global region at the World Championship this autumn.

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G2 are undeniably the overwhelming favourites to reclaim their LEC title in the second half of the season, but there are a number of squads breathing down their neck and hoping to dethrone the defending champions. After one week of fixtures, we’ve received a sneak peek as to what the 10 LEC teams have to offer going into the Summer Split, but who put on the best performances last weekend?

10. Excel Esports (0/2)

Following an extremely disappointing debut split in the LEC, Excel Esports will have hoped for a much better start this time around. Schalke 04 and Rogue are, on paper, two very beatable opponents judging by their final Spring Split positions of 7th and 10th, but Excel struggled against both sides and failed to achieve a single victory in the opening week.

While problems with their flight to Berlin may have caused tilt and ruined preparation heading into Friday’s game, it was still a shock how poorly Excel played throughout the weekend. Individual mistakes from Marc “Caedrel” Lamont and Petter “Hjarnan” Freyschuss were a large factor in the team’s struggles, but as a collective it was still lacklustre, and the roster failed to show any improvements from their dismal Spring Split result.

The strange draft and difficult to execute team composition against Rogue may have contributed to Excel’s poor performance on Saturday, but ultimately the in-game decisions, macro shotcalling, and set-up for objectives needed to be better. An 0/2 weekend to kick off the Summer Split, particularly against these two opponents, will leave Excel fans bewildered and with little hope for the rest of the season, hoping their team can turn it around.

9. Team Vitality (0/2)

A winless first week may seem odd for a Team Vitality side that nearly finished in the top 2 during the Spring Split, but I can assure you that they’re the same two teams with the exact same mistakes present. When it comes to analysing Vitality, the team must be divided into two: the exciting, early game monsters in the top half of the map who can dominate games in the first 15 minutes, and the disappointing bottom lane who often cost Vitality wins single-handedly.

Week one was another case of Amadeu “Attila” Carvalho and Jakub “Jactroll” Skurzyński making mistakes and setting Vitality behind as a result, but that’s not to say they weren’t alone. On day one, Vitality fell to Origen, mostly due to Jae-ha “Mowgli” Lee and the bottom lane allowing OG Patrik to run the game as Sona. Day two saw Splyce take down YamatoCannon’s squad, once again due to the bottom lane giving up a large gold lead, as well as some questionable decisions from Vitality’s mid lane maestro, Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro.

Ultimately if Team Vitality want to finish higher than 5th this split, they need to halve the map and hope solo laners Lucas “Cabochard” Simon-Meslet and Jiizuke are capable of carrying the rest of the team. Clearly last weekend proved that, even with a lead, Vitality’s bottom lane are a liability and can lead to losses. Mowgli should focus his attention on top and mid, to then roam to the south side of the map and try to close out games before the inevitable bottom lane throw.