NA LCS Week 5 Power Rankings

I’m not going to talk about Rift Rivals in this edition of the Completely Subjective and Only Occasionally Named This Way Power Rankings, mostly because these are NA LCS Power Rankings and while it’s fun to see North America test itself against quality international competition, their play abroad doesn’t affect the domestic league that much.

Still…is NA up? Sweet!

Week 5 of the NA LCS threw a wrench into my beautiful predictions, with upsets from FlyQuest and Phoenix 1 breathing new life into what looked to be a predictable, stagnant league going into July. FlyQuest benefited from improved shot calling and playing two of the most throw-prone teams—Team Dignitas and Echo Fox, though did I really need to clarify this—in North America. Mikeyeung’s legend continues to grow, as the youngster’s electric play shocked P1’s dead carcass back to life. Phoenix 1 are 3-1 since Mike took the stage, and have yet to embarrass themselves at Rift Rivals (fingers crossed).

I still fail to understand why people think Rek’Sai is good. Last week, she went 5-9 in NA LCS, 2-4 in LPL, 4-5 in LPL, 2-2 in LMS, and 8-7 in LCK. The jury is still out, but pros do seem to like that unstoppable ultimate and creative gank paths. Whatever.

Anyway, put on your yellow-tinted computer glasses and let’s get into the rankings. New graphics!

Team SoloMid is the best team in NA LCS, and none of us should be surprised. They are who we thought they were, a team of enormous pedigree and skill that, after weeks of beating up cupcakes, finally ate the whole meal. A close loss to rival Cloud 9 was a wake-up call, with Hauntzer losing top lane to Ray’s Fervor Rumble and Contractz’s unkillable Nunu wreaking havoc during a deciding Game 3. It was TSM’s first non-2-0 series—and first loss—since Week 2, but don’t hold it against them. These two squads always seem to go back and forth. It’s true, Cloud 9 evened the season series with TSM, but where’s your money going when they square off come playoffs?

Fresh off a defeat to a rival and angry after a Week 1 loss, TSM approached the Immortals series focused and ready to make a statement, and, well, message received. Bjergsen drafted Syndra in Game 1 and promptly went 11-2-3 against Pobelter’s Orianna, proving yet again that this Dane/dame combo should always be banned. Game 2 was all Doublelift, popping off on Tristana with the help of some excellent Thresh hooks from Biofrost. Every time Immortals would take an objective or find a pick, TSM would answer, stonewalling any comeback as their efficient macro took its toll.

It’s clear that TSM will go as far as Bjergsen and Doublelift carry them, and if that’s the case, strap in for a long ride. After they return from Berlin, TSM will face Team Liquid and their Rift Rival Compatriots Phoenix 1. What looks like a 2-0 week on paper means little when Mikeyeung continues to re-write what’s possible for a rookie. Watching NA’s strongest side try to contain NA’s hottest jungler is absolutely appointment viewing. 

Aurelion Sol is an incredibly difficult champion to play, let alone play well. The dragon and his stars form a wonky kit with a finesse disable, a seemingly underwhelming ultimate and flying speed that easily places the novice out of position. But put Aurelion Sol in the hands of a master like Huhi, and he quickly becomes the most oppressive champion in League of Legends.

Cloud 9 decided to do just that in Game 1 against Counter Logic Gaming, and Huhi showed them—again—exactly why this champion had been banned against CLG in 20 out 27 Summer Split games. Of the seven games Aurelion Sol has been left open, Huhi’s drafted the dragon three times, winning all three games with a combined score of 19-2-27. That Cloud 9 had already watched Huhi decide their previous series with a 7-0-10 performance on Aurelion Sol made it even more maddening that they let him have it again, but here we are. Huhi finished Game 1 of the rematch 7-1-9 and CLG beat Cloud 9 2-1 in an otherwise closely contested series.

The Liquid series was much more one-sided. Dardoch looked awful while bullying Reignover on an arrogant invade that ended up feeding Liquid his First Blood, but luckily the rest of CLG played solidly enough to overcome their early disadvantage. Darshan improved his split-pushing this week, correctly breaking down turrets and patiently holding his Teleport instead of rushing toward every fight.

When CLG can successfully execute the 4-1, few teams in NA have the macro to punish them. They’ll have more chances to do so in Week 6 against Team Dignitas and FlyQuest, teams whose desperation will catch CLG off-guard if they’re not prepared.

Everyone was focused on the titanic Bjergsen-Jensen matchup in the mid lane when TSM met Cloud 9 for Round 2, but it was Contractz who secured top billing with his best series of the Summer.

Contractz was everywhere as Elise in Game 1, landing cocoons that would have snowballed C9 to victory against a lessor team. Jensen hard-carried C9 to a Game 2 win on his first-pick Orianna, but Contractz finished deathless with 12 assists, and it was his masterstroke on Nunu in Game 3 that keyed a C9 upset. The Stoneborn Pact keystone mastery plus Warmog’s Armor and Gargoyle Stoneplate meant major heals during team fights, and Nunu’s ability to consume objectives secured an early game advantage C9 never let falter. Hats off to the Spring Rookie of the Split, whose work often goes overlooked. Jensen’s massive CS leads in the mid lane come from somewhere, as does top lane stability amidst the swapping between Impact and Ray.

C9 dug their own grave in the CLG series, believing they had an answer to Huhi’s Aurelion Sol when they did not, conceding a game they otherwise could have won judging by how close Games 2 and 3 were. As good as Jensen played over the back-end of the TSM series, he was uneven on Syndra against CLG after Huhi pulverized him with stardust. That defeat kept C9 out of the #2 spot; despite looking stronger than CLG on the whole, they’ve now lost the season series 0-2, 2-4.

Returning to American shores in Week 6 means dates with Immortals and Team EnVyUs, which should provide plenty of opportunities for Contractz to prove his worth again. Faced with two excellent junglers looking to escape personal slumps, I don’t imagine it’ll be easy.

Week 5 was a steep fall for Immortals, losing their throne after an understandable beatdown by TSM and a less-forgivable reverse-sweep to Phoenix 1. Xmithie will be seeing highlights from Games 2 and 3 for years to come, and for all the wrong reasons.

Credit to TSM, they had a point to prove and did so by running over Immortals through the mid lane. Pobelter was little more than a mobile ward against Bjergsen’s Syndra and Cassiopeia, finishing 1-8-13 and dealing half the damage of his counterpart’s carry mids. Few teams can beat TSM when Bjergsen stomps mid lane, and Immortals are no exception.

I expect more out of the veteran Xmithie, who did well to pressure Hauntzer but otherwise couldn’t stop Bjergsen or Doublelift from getting anything they wanted. Against Phoenix 1, Xmithie’s combination of surprise and disrespect allowed Rookie of the Split Mikeyeung to out-jungle a player who should have known better. All this to say that Week 5 exposed Immortals as being incredibly reliant on Xmithie to set up winning lanes and influence the late game. When he does neither, Immortals lose the luster they’ve built in Summer and look more like the middling team of Spring. Case in point: Immortals are 4-9 when Xmithie dies 4 or more times.

Immortals face another tough test in Cloud 9 this coming weekend paired with an Echo Fox side searching for something positive. The meeting with C9 (and CLG later in the season) will determine if Immortals has a chance at a Top-2 seed in playoffs.

Team EnVyUs somehow moves up the rankings despite a god-awful series with Phoenix 1 last Friday and the patience to wait out Dignitas until they self-combusted.

Re-reading my P1-NV series notes, phrases jump out at me:

·       “We’ve been in the river for, like, 2 minutes”

·       “My guess: Lira’s tilited”

·       “Mid lane outer from P1 dies at @42:45, I wanna die”

·       “Equivalent of monkeys throwing feces at each other”

·        “…abominations of cowardice and tilt”

Long story short—and I mean long, Games 2 and 3 lasted 106:56—the series was so bad no one deserved to win, but Envy deserved it least. Zero decisive shots were called in the late game, with strategy devolving into farming until six-slotted and praying for a pick. In other words, they played like EU teams, and it hurt my head to watch. Barons were poorly contested or not contested at all. Players roamed over the map with the vague notion of pushing lanes, but inevitably found themselves outnumbered and killed. There was no confidence to anything Envy did, and so I hoped this space would be used to put them on blast for 500 words.

Alas, Envy denied me my rage and pulled together a half-decent series against Dignitas. Sure, Dignitas presented that series on a platter for Envy multiple times over multiple games, but it takes a certain quality to punish those mistakes and on that day, Envy had it. Pirean was reliable in the mid lane, looking especially effective when he gets Taliyah—his most-played champ that also has his highest win rate at 71.4%—as he did in Game 3. Nisqy will continue to warm the bench if Envy can get games like that out of Pirean.

But for Envy to contend for a playoff spot, they need to fix their late game deficiencies. Lira has the highest GD@15 (+415) and XPD@15 (+544) of all starting NA junglers, helping Envy achieve the highest GD@15 (+998) in NA LCS. Yet they do nothing with those advantages; Envy are tied for lowest First Dragon Rate (37%) and second-lowest Baron control rate (44%) in the league. At some point, any early advantage Envy gains will cease to matter; teams will stall out the game until gold equalizes and push fights and objectives Envy can’t win.

Cloud 9 and Echo Fox aim to punish Envy’s late game in Week 6. Well…maybe only C9.

Magic Mikeyeung has lit the fire and Phoenix 1 are reborn, achieving their first 2-0 of Summer Split just in time to challenge the Kings of Europe. The rookie’s undressing of Immortals in Games 2-3 cemented his folk-hero status—I’ve personally watched his Game 3 1v5 Baron denial half a dozen times already—and his post-game interview with Phreak, paused initially due to the roar of the crowd, was genuinely moving.

Who would have thought such a talent could emerge from troll-filled cesspool that is NA solo queue? Mike’s confidence has been off the charts since being told by his teammates to stop respecting his opponents too much, and his ability to bury opposing solo laners (see: Flame in Game 2) is among the best in the league. Put him on a carry jungler and watch the sparks fly. It’s too bad he’ll never be allowed to play Nidalee again.

Phoenix 1 shouldn’t be as good as they are, and despite their recent form, playoffs remain a long shot. The signing and starting of Xspecial has stabilized bot lane, but Arrow continues to underperform, his Spring Split MVP award an increasingly distant memory. Ryu has found new life on Corki, and Zig’s Renekton looks strong, but outside those picks they cannot consistently get ahead even with Mikeyeung’s undivided early game attention.

Mike raised the bar for Phoenix 1, but will his teammates meet him up there? Week 6 showdowns with TSM and Team Dignitas will dictate how close to playoffs this team can get.

Now reeling from four straight 1-2 series defeats, Team Dignitas have lost much of the momentum gained by their strong 5-1 start to Summer Split.

I wrote last week that Dignitas need to find ways to win that don’t involve Ssumday carrying, and this week was more proof. LOD was pulled midway through the FlyQuest series for Altec and immediately the bot lane looked more dangerous. Is the former FlyQuest man the answer? He looked great on Tristana, even securing the second pentakill of the split in Game 2 vs. Team EnVyUs. Still, ADCs are only as good as their team allows them to be, reliant on strong macro to select advantageous fights.

This is a problem for Dignitas, as it’s hard to take advantageous fights when your best player is too easily tracked via his Teleport cooldown. The 4-1 split pushing strategy that Dignitas favor separates Ssumday from his team, and when the opposition is confident in 4v4s or commits heavily to gank Ssumday without fear, what does this strategy accomplish?

You need a legitimate threat in the group of four to make the 4-1 work. TSM have Bjergsen and Doublelift. CLG has Stixxay. Even Echo Fox have Froggen. Who do Dignitas have? Altec is an improvement, but Keane hasn’t been pulling his weight for weeks now, and Shrimp looks a step slower than the jungler who confidently replaced Chaser in Week 2.

Dignitas will need to find answers quickly or their slide will lengthen. Maybe they’ll learn a thing or two from CLG and Phoenix 1 in Week 6.

I left this team for dead last week, so of course they finished Week 5 2-0. Sure, the competition (Dignitas and Echo Fox) was on the weaker side, but wins are wins, especially when last in the standings. Still, it’s fair to say FlyQuest were the beneficiaries of several throws, and were soundly beaten once in each of the three-game series.

To trigger a turnaround, Hai needed to step up and did so, finally giving WildTurtle the help he’s needed all split. Hai’s performances in two closeout Game 3s were fantastic, finishing 8-1-10 on Lucian vs. Dignitas and 4-1-5 on Orianna vs. Echo Fox. FlyQuest looked decisive in their shot calls during wins, often out-maneuvering their opponents late after sloppy early games.

For his part, Turtle has been putting up solid ADC stats, averaging 9.1 CSM and 561 DPM, the latter a league best. With Tristana and Jhin back in the meta, Turtle has more comfort to work with, but at 1-7 his Jhin might not be the best for FlyQuest in the long run (he’s undefeated in three Trist games). When Moon and Balls can contribute this team looks primed to compete, but those instances are few and far between.

Still, an overall positive week from FlyQuest. CLG and Team Liquid are up next in Week 6; at minimum a split weekend would be enough to keep their momentum going.

It’s the same old story from Echo Fox this week, yet again throwing away a winnable series vs. FlyQuest due to poor Baron control and a general inability to snowball early game leads.

Froggen can put up all the gaudy laning stats he wants; what’s the point if they can’t translate into wins? Individual performances aren’t the problem, as Fox proved they can win games when their ADC goes 0-0-0 (Game 1 win vs. Liquid). What is problematic is the disconnect between gaining mid-priority and securing Baron, something Froggen needs to be more vocal about seeing as it’s his lane they need to control. Fox were up 3k gold over FlyQuest in Games 2 and 3, losing both to a combination of picks, sketchy macro and a week bot lane supplying Turtle all the farm he desired.

The Liquid series should have been a clean 2-0 considering the gulf in talent, but three early deaths during a greedy river fight cost Echo Fox Game 2. Credit to Fox for eventually closing out the series, but letting the worst team in the league take you to three games isn’t something to build on. Akaadian and Keith had three kills combined over three games vs. Liquid. How many teams will Fox beat with stats like that from two of their primary damage dealers?

Immortals and Team EnVyUs are next, with Envy suffering from their own late game issues. If Fox can keep their heads in the mid game, we could have a pair of decent series. I’m not holding my breath.

The search for a serviceable starting five continues for Team Liquid, who showed some fight during their third 0-2 week of Summer but little else. The early triple kill by Goldenglue in Game 2 vs. Echo Fox and the victory that followed was the lone highlight of the week. That, and Lourlo debuting Irelia as an old-school counter to Darshan’s Gnar, back in the meta after buffs in Patch 7.13.

I’m not sure what to say about Liquid that hasn’t already been said. Their team fighting is scattered, objectives are lost without contest, and no magical combination of players seems to dramatically change results. Slooshi and Goldenglue are on par with each other, KonKwon hasn’t synergized with Piglet noticeably better than Matt, and Inori isn’t an upgrade over Reignover. Folks, Doublelift isn’t walking through that door.

Liquid have TSM and Flyquest next, two series they shouldn’t be able to win no matter the lineup.