The first week of the North American League Championship Series (NA LCS) has come to a close, and with it comes an updated edition of GAMURS’s power rankings.
The points for these power rankings will be calculated based on the rankings submitted by any of the GAMURS staff members. These staff members were asked to rank the 10 teams in order from best to worst, with No. 1 being the best and No. 10 being the worst. Points will be rewarded to mirror a team’s ranking; for example, the first place team will receive 10 points, while the 10th place team will receive one point.
After every week of action, we will be releasing another power rankings article where the teams will either move up or down based on how they perform in their matches, so don’t forget to check back here each week for the latest power rankings.
Now, without ado, here are the power rankings for the second week of the NA LCS.
NA LCS Power Rankings – Week 1 (Summer Split 2016)
1. Team SoloMid (85 total points – 5 first place votes)
- Top – Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell
- Jungle – Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen
- Mid – Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg
- ADC – Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng
- Support – Vincent “Biofrost” Wang
- Coach – Parth “Parthenaan” Naidu
In our preseason rankings, TSM held the No. 3 spot, but jumped to No. 1 after defeating both Counter Logic Gaming and Team Liquid in dominating 2-0 fashion.
Rookie support, Biofrost met expectations; and then some. Even earning a player of the game award, and pulling bans in just his first week in the LCS, Biofrost has shown that he knows how to mesh with Doublelift and dominate the duo lane.
2. Immortals (81 total points – 3 first place votes)
- Top – Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon
- Jungle – Kim “Reignover” Yeu-jin
- Mid – Eugene “Pobelter” Park
- ADC – Jason “WildTurtle” Tran
- Support – Adrian “Adrian” Ma
- Coach – Dylan Falco
Last week, this Immortals squad was ranked No. 2 in our rankings and they held that spot after defeating Cloud9 2-1 and Phoenix1 2-0.
The squad showed no real signs of weakness in their victories, and look to continue their regular season dominance from last split. This week, they will have the chance to dethrone TSM from the top of our rankings, as the two teams are set to face off on Sunday.
3. Cloud9 (67 total points – 1 first place vote)
- Top – Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong
- Jungle – William “Meteos” Hartman
- Mid – Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen
- ADC – Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi
- Support – Michael “Bunny FuFuu” Kurylo and Andy “Smoothie” Ta
- Coach – Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu
Despite dropping the series against Immortals, Cloud9 jumped up our rankings from No. 4 to No. 3 after falling to Immortals 2-1 and defeating Echo Fox by the same scoreline.
This team is still trying to mesh, but early results are quite positive. Playing Immortals that close is something to be proud of for any team, though Cloud9 will want the win next time the two teams face off. Defeating Echo Fox is no small task, as the team has improved dramatically after placing seventh last split. Synergy may still be an issue for Cloud9, as the roster is new and Bunny FuFuu and Smoothie are still splitting time at support, but this is a squad to look out for.
4. Counter Logic Gaming (59 total points)
- Top – Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaha
- Jungle – Jake “Xmithie” Puchero
- Mid – Choi “Huhi” Jae-hyun
- ADC – Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes
- Support – Zaqueri “aphromoo” Black
- Coach – Tony “Zikzlol” Gray
After winning the Spring Split and dominating most of the competition at the Mid-Season Invitational, CLG faltered to start off the Summer Split. Losing 2-0 to TSM and 2-1 to Apex Gaming, CLG begins their title defense 0-2 and drops three spots in our rankings.
There is still nothing particularly wrong with this team, and many people point to the fact that CLG did not have much time to adapt to the new meta after competing at MSI as the reason for their slow start. Still, the rest of the competitors at MSI are performing well in their domestic leagues. CLG’s first week of play left us with many questions.
5. Apex Gaming (52 total points)
- Top – Jeon “Ray” Ji-won
- Jungle – Lee “Shrimp” Byeong-hoon
- Mid – Jang “Keane” Lae-young
- ADC – Apollo “Apollo” Price
- Support – Alex “Xpecial” Chu
- Coach – Brandon “Saintvicious” DiMarco
Possibly the biggest surprise of the first week of play, Apex took down CLG 2-1 and NRG eSports 2-0 to begin the split in perfect fashion and move up four spots in our rankings.
A dominant duo lane in Apollo and Xpecial immensely helped this team in their victories, as well as superior play in the top lane by Ray, but this team is not about individual superstars. Their synergy and teamwork is what makes them so good, and they know how to win as the underdog.
6. Team EnVyUs (51 total points)
- Top – Shin “Seraph” Woo-yeong
- Jungle – Kim “Procxin” Se-young
- Mid – Noh “Ninja” Geon-woo
- ADC – Benjamin “LOD” deMunck
- Support – Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent
- Coach – David “Hermes” Tu
The other surprise of the first week, EnVy defeated NRG 2-1 and Liquid 2-0 to begin the split 2-0 and move up two spots in our rankings.
The top half of the map is where this EnVy lineup shines. The synergy between Seraph, Procxin, and Ninja cannot be ignored, and their skill as individual players makes them that much harder to beat. Don’t be fooled, though, the duo lane is a huge threat as well. This team showed up week one, but their opponents were far from difficult to beat. Week two should help shine light on this team’s true strength when they take on Apex and bottom-dwellers Phoenix1.
7. Echo Fox (44 total points)
- Top – Park “kfo” Jeong-hun
- Jungle – Anthony “Hard” Barkhovtsev
- Mid – Henrik “Froggen” Hansen
- ADC – Yuri “KEITH” Jew
- Support – Terry “BIG” Chuong
- Coach – David “Cop” Roberson
Despite a decent performance in week one, taking down Phoenix1 2-0 and falling to Cloud9 2-1, Echo Fox dropped two spots in our rankings.
This seems a little unfair to an Echo Fox squad that could be very good, but their performance against Cloud9 left us wanting more. After a very successful offseason climbing the Korean solo queue ladder, KEITH has not exactly hit expectations with his team. Still, the potential is certainly there, and no one will be surprised by this team shooting up the ranks as the season goes on.
8. Team Liquid (26 total points)
- Top – Samson “Lourlo” Jackson
- Jungle – Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett
- Mid – Kim “Fenix” Jae-hoon
- ADC – Chae “Piglet” Gwang-jin
- Support – Matthew “Matt” Elento
- Coach – Choi “Locodoco” Yoon-sub
A disappointing 0-2 start for Liquid after falling 2-0 to both EnVy and TSM sees them drop two spots in our rankings.
With Dardoch suspended, Galen “Moon” Holgate played in the jungle for Liquid in three of their four game losses, and Liquid just looked off. Dardoch returned for the final game against TSM, but it wasn’t enough to get the team back on track. Dardoch’s permanent return to the starting lineup will likely boost Liquid and help them win, but for now the team is struggling.
9. NRG eSports (18 total points)
- Top – Diego “Quas” Ruiz
- Jungle – Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer Larsen
- Mid – Lee “GBM” Chang-seok
- ADC – Oh “Ohq” Gyu-min
- Support – Alan “KiWiKiD” Nguyen
- Coach – Tadayoshi “Hermit” Littleton
There’s no sugarcoating it, NRG looked bad in their losses this past week. Falling 2-1 to EnVy and 2-0 to Apex, NRG drop two spots in our rankings.
Expectations for this roster were all over the place as the split began, but right now they just don’t fit together. It’s early, and with time this roster will mesh and work better together. Whether or not they’ll get good enough fast enough to make the playoffs… Well that’s another question.
10. Phoenix1 (12 total points)
- Top – Derek “zig” Shao
- Jungle – Kevin “Zentinel” Pires
- Mid – Choi “Pirean” Jun-sik and Andrew “Slooshi” Pham
- ADC – Brandon “Mash” Phan
- Support – Austin “Gate” Yu
- Coach – Charlie “Charlie” Lipsie
Phoenix1 stays in last place in our rankings after falling 2-0 to both Echo Fox and Immortals.
There’s not much to say about this team right now. Expectations for this squad were low going in, and they faced two strong opponents in week one. This start was expected for Phoenix1, but what matters is how they build on it. Two more tough teams await them this week in Cloud9 and EnVy, but Phoenix1 needs to make a stand somewhere if they don’t want to be in relegation at the end of this split.
What do you think about our Power Rankings for this week? Are there any teams that you would rank higher or lower? Let us know by commenting below or tweeting us @GAMURScom.
Spencer Hester can be contacted by email at Hester.eSports@gmail.com or on Twitter – @SpenceGAMURS.
