League of Legends LEC power rankings week 1

5. Misfits Gaming (1/1)

This incredibly stacked “super-team” disappointed the entire LEC audience when they failed to reach the Spring playoffs following a disappointing collapse half-way through the split. With a three-month break to regroup and the addition of former Fenerbahçe jungler Thomas “Kirei” Yuen to an exciting ten-man roster, Misfits will be hoping to finish in the playoff places at the very least in the Summer Split.

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In week one, Misfits impressed while facing a renewed Rogue roster through Nubar “Maxlore” Sarafian’s jungle control that allowed the team to snowball through the bottom lane. sOAZ, Hans Sama, and Gorilla all put on a show in a comprehensive victory over the Spring Split’s 10th place team, with Steven “Hans Sama” Liv taking home the “Player of the Game” award for his terrific Lucian display.

Their second showing was slightly below par, but to their credit they were up against a difficult Fnatic team that look set to challenge in the top three again this split. Both sides struggled, especially when it came to later game decision-making, but Fnatic came out slightly ahead due to their superior teamfighting.

All in all, we do not yet know which version of Misfits Gaming will appear in the second half of the season. Their performance against Rogue suggests they have recreated their form from January and early February, but that’s just one game, and with sixteen left to go Misfits have a long road ahead of them if they want to claim Worlds qualification.

4. Splyce (1/1)

Splyce really are “the best of the rest” in Europe and that tradition continues with these power rankings.

They do have a slight advantage over the six teams below them in this regard, as their first loss of the season was to G2 Esports, who they were never expected to contend with, never mind win against. Nonetheless it was still a very flat performance, and more was expected from Splyce on day one.

But, it’s still G2 Esports. And therefore we can give Splyce the benefit of the doubt and judge them solely on their victory versus Team Vitality, in which they performed superbly. It could be argued that certain members of Vitality borderline inted to hand Splyce the win on a silver platter, however it’s important to look at it from Splyce’s perspective.

Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir had full control of the jungle from minute one and dominated the middle lane 2v2 throughout the early game. Marek “Humanoid” Brázda showed signs that he’s evolved from an uninspiring rookie in the Spring Split to a middle lane master in Summer. And Tamás “Vizicsacsi” Kiss was simply a monster on Poppy.

Overall Splyce look set to continue their hard work from Spring and have an excellent chance of challenging the top three for a Worlds qualification spot at the end of the season.

3 Fnatic (2/0)

Astonishingly, Fnatic currently have the most consecutive regular season wins in the LEC with 10. That is, of course, mostly due to their incredible run towards the back end of last split, but they’ve already maintained their excellent form with two wins in the first week of Summer.

Day one saw them take down SK Gaming for the first time in 2019, making the record 1-2 (or 1-3 depending on your view of controversial remakes). Then came a long-winded, 40 minute win over Misfits Gaming, securing a 2-0 start to the season and propelling Fnatic to joint 1st position alongside defending LEC champions G2.

While Fnatic undoubtedly deserved to win both games, they made hard work of it, with an average game time of just over 35 minutes in a fast-paced, early game focused meta. Obviously the 2019 Worlds finalists have always been known for their proficiency in the late game and will want to harness this throughout the remainder of the season, but they could have picked up their first two victories of the Summer in much more convincing fashion.

In both games Fnatic had a 2500+ gold lead at the 15 minute mark but failed to close out games before 30, often presenting opportunities for comebacks  to their opponents. Ultimately it doesn’t matter how you win games but having the result hinge on a single 5v5 in the 39th minute of the game cannot be good for the hearts of both players and fans.

That being said, the seven-time EU LCS champions will no doubt be pleased to their start to the Summer Split and will be confident of securing a place in the 2019 World Championship if this impressive form continues.