League of Legends LCS power rankings – Week 4

5. Cloud9 (4-3)

Another team that fell hard down the rankings was Cloud9, who were the victims of that massive upset at the hands of 100 Thieves. While C9 is the second-best LCS team in terms of overall statistical strength behind Liquid, losing to the worst statistical team in the league caused their loss quality to crater.

4. CLG (4-3)

CLG is the anti-Clutch Gaming. Their overall team statistics aren’t incredibly impressive (in fact, they’re a bottom-five team overall) yet their play and results are just solid. Their loss quality is the best in the LCS, with their three losses thus-far coming against top tier teams in TSM, OpTic, and last week’s loss to Cloud9.

Simply put, CLG takes care of the teams they’re supposed to beat and only loses to teams that really outclass them (aside from the occasional upset over Liquid). Going 1-1 in Week 4 is certainly not ideal for a team looking to separate themselves from the pack, but losing to a statistical juggernaut like Cloud9 doesn’t hurt them too badly.

3. OpTic Gaming (4-3)

OpTic started the weekend strong with a come-from-behind win over TSM, which would have put them into the driver’s seat for a sure second place spot after C9’s stumble on Saturday. Unfortunately, on Sunday it was OpTic’s turn to falter, losing to Echo Fox and dropping their loss quality just like Cloud9.

Previously, OpTic had one of the best loss qualities of any LCS team, having only lost to Liquid and Cloud9, both of whom would be considered superior to them. Now, however, they’ve dropped a game to inferior competition, outweighing their previously steady performance.

2. TSM (4-3)

From the bottom half of the standings to number two, TSM rocketed up by way of beating Golden Guardians on Sunday. Their loss to OpTic was tough, given that TSM was ahead for most of the game and should have been able to close them out before faltering a throwing, but OpTic has proven themselves to be a good enough team that the loss doesn’t hurt them too badly.

TSM is the perfect example of why statistics don’t always tell the whole story; their underlying metrics as a team are among the worst in the LCS, and they’re the only team with a record of .500 or better that averages a gold deficit at 15 and takes longer than 35 minutes, on average, to win games. This is because TSM’s late-game shot calling is horrifically poor, as was on display in both games last weekend. As Zven said, bad teams take longer to close out games than good teams (for the record, Golden Guardians and Liquid are the two quickest teams to close out games).

Yet TSM is rated the second best team because they have the highest win quality of any team in the LCS other than Liquid. Despite being so weak statistically, TSM is able to pull out wins over teams they shouldn’t, like Cloud9, Golden Guardians, and even CLG. The gap between teams five through two is quite tight, but for now, TSM has eeked into that top spot.

1. Team Liquid (6-2)

They survived a scare from Clutch on Sunday after taking care of their closest competition, Golden Guardians, on Saturday. Liquid is, far-and-away, the best team in NA from both a statistical and performance standard. This team’s only issues were those early-season struggles to drop games uncharacteristically, but NA’s best team heads into Rift Rivals on a clear upswing.

Which LCS teams do you think we have too high or too low? Let us know in the comments!