League of Legends: LEC Week 7 power rankings
5 Origen (5/7)
The Spring Split runners-up, one of the most intelligent squads in Europe, and a team destined to reach the semi-finals of Worlds; Origen’s collapse from Spring to Summer has been nothing short of shocking as the former LEC patient approach specialists have found themselves in a dogfight for the final two playoff qualification places.
Alphari, Kold, Nukeduck, Patrik, Mithy. The perfect, well-rounded team throughout the first half of the season have been put under the microscope throughout the Summer Split for their inability to adapt to a changing meta and sticking to what worked in Spring. As a result, they’ve racked up only five wins from the first twelve games of the season and are in real danger of missing out on a place in the playoffs if they don’t turn this form around.
4 Schalke 04 (7/5)
Out of nowhere Schalke have sprung up the standings and are sitting comfortably in fourth. While their play throughout the Summer Split has been impressive, they’ve often gone under the radar due to the fantastic performances of Fnatic, Splyce, and of course G2. However, four of Schalke’s five losses came to teams above them this split, and they’ve showcased a playstyle that can match up to Fnatic and Splyce.
The introduction of Gang-yun “Trick” Kim in the off-season has proven to be a masterful roster change as the Korean jungler’s complete control of the early stages of the game places Schalke in the perfect position to take advantageous teamfights to snowball a lead. Combining this team’s play around objectives with their flawless teamfighting and EU have a fourth strong team that could be successful at Worlds if they keep up these strong performances.
3 Splyce (9/3)
Once again, all the plaudits must be given to Splyce for how they’ve surprised LEC viewers in the Summer Split. Renowned for being the ‘late game kings’, their game plan has gone one further this season and they look set to guarantee a spot in the playoff finals weekend in Athens if they can maintain their current form.
It would be unfair to single out an individual member of this line-up for all the praise as they’ve continued to display near-perfect performances in a patient, precise approach to games. Week 6 was another 2-0 for Splyce, taking down Team Vitality and Schalke 04, and securing 2nd place for themselves due to their head-to-head record with Fnatic.
All in all, it would be incredible to watch this current iteration of Splyce at Worlds and see how they match up against more aggressive teams like Invictus Gaming or Royal Never Give Up from the LPL. And they look destined to do so, with excellent performances and a spot in playoffs already guaranteed, all that remains to be seen is how Splyce can handle BO5s.
2 Fnatic (9/3)
To be honest, Splyce probably deserve to be second, but you can’t really count Fnatic out at any point. If you were to pick between the two for most likely to reach the LEC playoff final, it’d have to be Fnatic as their ability in a BO5 was always unmatched until G2 Esports came along to spoil the fun.
That being said, they need to sort themselves out before they miss out on a bye to the playoff finals in Athens with Splyce currently firm favourites to finish in the top two. Three wins in their last five games simply isn’t good enough for a team that wants to improve on their runners-up finish in the 2018 World Championship, particularly when you consider the calibre of teams Fnatic has been losing to.
Splyce, Rogue, Misfits Gaming. Three rosters that MUST be dispatched if Fnatic want to challenge G2 for the LEC crown, but instead the seven-time EU LCS champions have fallen and are in a real fight for the 2nd place spot. There needs to be a quick turnaround from every member of the team, especially Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen and Zdravets “Hylissang” Iliev Galabov, who have recently looked like they’ve completely forgotten how to play from behind.
1 G2 Esports (11/1)
There really isn’t much to be said about G2 Esports. This star-studded roster could have easily finished 18-0 if they wanted to, and they’ll almost definitely reclaim the LEC crown in Athens this September. The only question remains is whether they can lift the World Championship trophy and bring it back to Europe for the first time since season one.
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Do you agree with these power rankings? Think you could rank them better? Put your 1-10 in the comments!