LEC Spring Split 2020: Week 1 Team Power Rankings
European League of Legends has returned, and the first batch of games has been completed. Here’s how the ten LEC teams stack up after Week 1.
Heading into the new LEC season with a whole bunch of new rosters made it difficult to predict how the standings would look during the Spring Split regular season. European fans had their hopes firmly pinned on G2 Esports continuing their strong 2019 form into the new year, but other than that EU’s strengths remained up in the air.
After two games each, things have become a bit clearer, but by no means do we know how the season will finish based on ten match-ups. G2 looked shaky but continued their winning ways, Origen and Rogue impressed as expected, while Misfits and Vitality struggled with rookie-filled rosters.
So, is it time to make large, sweeping statements based on the first week of LEC action? Of course not. However, we can adjust our preseason power rankings to be more in line with what we’ve seen from our ten European teams over the first weekend:
1) G2 Esports
Record: 2 – 0 | Change: =
Obviously, G2 Esports retain their 1st place position and will probably do so for the rest of the year. Whether the likes of Origen and Rogue have the quality and experience required to challenge G2’s star-studded line-up remains to be seen, but it’s unlikely that any team can dethrone the defending European champions at the moment.
The one question mark heading into 2020 for this roster was Caps’ role swap to AD Carry and whether he could adapt to the new position as seamlessly as PERKZ did twelve months ago.
Just two games have been played, but it’s so far so good for the Danish “marksman”, and he even picked up a Player of the Game award for his Senna performance in G2’s victory over MAD Lions.
2) Origen
Record: 2 – 0 | Change: +1
Before the Spring Split started, LEC viewers and analysts were unsure how quickly the new Origen roster would gel together and adapt to the game plan set by head coach Guilhoto. On top of that, there were concerns about the skill level of new support player Destiny who had previously only played League of Legends in the Oceanic Pro League.
After two games, those worries have been lifted slightly as Origen cleanly dispatched Fnatic and Schalke with ease in Week 1 and looked eerily similar to the 2019 Spring Split’s Origen roster.
To make things even sweeter, Destiny had a fantastic game in OG’s win against Schalke 04 and was unlucky not to be awarded Player of the Game for his intelligent roams and Dredge Lines.
Rising one place from 3rd to 2nd may be a temporary change in the power rankings, but it’s more than deserved after a near-perfect first weekend of games and corrects the arguably harsh original preseason power rankings.
3) Rogue
Record: 2 – 0 | Change: -1
It was no secret that Rogue had high expectations heading into the Spring Split. A single roster upgrade following an impressive end to 2019 meant that the team had the least work to do during the off-season and that is being displayed on the LEC stage so far.
Although they only defeated mid-low end opposition in Misfits Gaming and Excel Esports, it was the manner of these victories that had the European audience excited about the prospects of Rogue this year.
Inspired controlled both early games well, Larssen was styling on his mid lane opponents, and Finn became the most confident man in the LEC after facing off against 4 Excel members in the top lane.
The only reason Rogue have, perhaps unfairly, dropped from 2nd to 3rd in the power rankings is to make space for Origen’s more experienced roster. Though it would come as no surprise if these two teams were battling it out at the end of the split to claim a place in the playoff final alongside G2 Esports.
4) Fnatic
Record: 1 – 1 | Change: =
As mentioned in the preseason power rankings, Fnatic are likely to struggle during the Spring Split as they adjust to new jungler Selfmade and the playstyle shift that change encompasses. Not only that, but Fnatic are notoriously slow starters in Europe and are often forced to make a last-second run in the Summer Split to secure a spot at the World Championship.
The first week wasn’t awful for Fnatic, but it wasn’t good either. Origen completely wiped the floor with them on Day 1, then they made hard work of taking down the worst team in the league, Misfits Gaming, on Day 2.
No doubt, this roster has too much quality to struggle for long and they’ll certainly improve over time. Therefore, Fnatic fans must be patient and give their players time before jumping on social media and calling for Selfmade’s head or demanding Broxah be brought back.
5) Excel Esports
Record: 1 – 1 | Change: =
Excel will be disappointed not to be 2-0 right now. A tenacious performance against Schalke 04, despite falling behind early, will have had the players brimming with confidence. However, that confidence will have been shot by the biggest throw of the season so far against potential playoff rivals Rogue.
6) MAD Lions
Record: 1 – 1 | Change: +1
The best surprise from Week 1 came from MAD Lions, a roster of rookies (and Humanoid) that almost took down reigning champions G2 in their first game on the LEC stage.
There was room for improvement and plenty of mistakes, but it’s already clear how much potential the MAD players. As of right now, they’re the favorites to claim the sixth playoff place, but there’s still plenty of games to go.
7) SK Gaming
Record: 1 – 1 | Change: -1
SK Gaming’s weekend was basically identical to MAD Lions’: An impressive early game performance in defeat against G2 Esports and a sloppy display against Team Vitality that resulted in a win.
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What separates the two is the level of control they showed in their victories over Vitality. While MAD Lions had a game plan and knew how to set up plays to recover from a gold deficit, SK were forced to rely on an Elder Dragon steal from Trick to stay in the game, otherwise, they’d be heading into Week 2 with an 0-2 record.
Nonetheless, they still won the game and will undoubtedly be kicking themselves and trying to remedy their mistakes already. A lot can change in one week, so perhaps SK will return to the top six in no time whatsoever.
8) Schalke 04
Record: 0 – 2 | Change: =
The dream return for FORG1VEN and Gilius wasn’t to be as Schalke 04 fell to Excel and Origen in their first weekend. In both games, the S04 squad made a strong start and were even able to build a small gold lead in the early stages, but were unable to maintain this control and eventually forfeited objectives to their opposition as they fell further and further behind.
A ton of blame will be pinned on Abbedagge for the team’s loss to Origen after he added a few more to his astonishing isolated deaths record, but ultimately it is too early for Schalke to challenge the top three with a team lacking so much recent stage experience.
9) Team Vitality
Record: 0 – 2 | Change: =
Saken’s Cassiopeia was the main highlight of Vitality’s first set of games as the French mid laner commanded the mid game, finding pick after pick for his team. Skeanz also showed some promise with decent early game proactivity that occasionally caught opposition junglers off-guard.
Despite this, the VIT team ended Week 1 with a 0-2 record.
It doesn’t get any easier for Team Vitality either as they have clashes against G2 Esports and Rogue awaiting them in Week 2. It’s extremely likely that they’ll still be looking for their first win in seven days’ time.
10) Misfits Gaming
Record: 0 – 2 | Change: =
Misfits Gaming may have shown some fight in their loss against Rogue, but they were truly awful on Day 2 versus Fnatic.
It’s difficult to unearth any positives from a performance that lacked so many League of Legends fundamentals, and the fact that it came during Week 1 is frankly worrying for Misfits Gaming and their fans. The decision to draft Nocturne top only to lose as spectacularly as they did is baffling.
The average game time in the LEC’s first ten games was 36:36. Misfits lost in 20 minutes. Improvement needed.
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