The sixth 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 seventh week of the NA LCS.
NA LCS Power Rankings – Week 6 (Summer Split 2016)
1. Team SoloMid (70 total points – 7 first place votes): No change
- Top – Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell
- Jungle – Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen
- Mid – Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg
- ADC – Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng
- Support – Vincent “Biofrost” Wang
- Coach – Parth “Parthenaan” Naidu
The undefeated are not getting weaker. Honestly, they may still be getting stronger.
Cloud9 looked to challenge TSM last week and give them their first loss, but it was not to be as TSM rolled through to a strong 2-0 victory. Apex put up even less of a fight, resulting in a perfect 4-0 map week for TSM. With only six games left to play, and really only two worth noting for TSM (Team Liquid and Immortals), this squad is on a path to perfection.
2. Immortals (63 total points): No change
- 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
Another 2-0 week for Immortals once again sees them unanimously placed in our No. 2 spot in the rankings.
Team EnVyUs looked to get back on track by putting Immortals to the test, but last split’s near-perfect squad hardly broke a sweat and took EnVy down 2-0. Next up, the rising underdogs of Team Liquid. The best series of the weekend by far, Immortals cemented their No. 2 spot by taking Liquid down 2-1 in three close maps.
3. Team Liquid (54 total points): No change
- Top – Samson “Lourlo” Jackson
- Jungle – Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett
- Mid – Kim “Fenix” Jae-hoon
- ADC – Jovani “fabbbyyy” Guillen
- Support – Matthew “Matt” Elento
- Coach – Choi “Locodoco” Yoon-sub
Team Liquid looked to continue their rise through the rankings by defeating Immortals and claiming the No. 2 spot, but a 1-1 week sees them stay at No. 3.
It was close. It was real close. It was fun. It was good League of Legends. The series against Immortals was, as stated in Immortals’s ranking, the best of the weekend. Liquid fell just short and dropped the series 2-1, but they proved that they can fight with the big dogs and make the games look good. Their win over a heavily struggling Echo Fox squad was a little too close for comfort, but 2-1 is still a win and that is all that matters.
4. Cloud9 (51 total points): No change
- 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
Cloud9’s 1-1 week was entirely expected, and really nothing major happened that would shift them up or down in our rankings.
Opening the week against TSM is always rough, especially when you’re on a cold streak. Cloud9 looked decent enough, but playing decent against TSM gets you swept 2-0. The cold streak was broken by sweeping NRG eSports, but next week should show us if Cloud9 is really back on their game when they take on Apex Gaming and Counter Logic Gaming, two teams smelling blood in the water.
5. Counter Logic Gaming (42 total points): +1
- 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
The first movement of the rankings, CLG’s 2-0 week sees them move up one spot and their slow improvement… well it’s still slow, but it’s also still improvement.
Beating Team EnVyUs was a big step for CLG to continue moving up the ladder, and they pulled it off with flying colors in a sweep. The match against Phoenix1 was a bit closer than anyone would have predicted, but a win is a win. Next week is likely the most important week of the split so far for CLG, as they will truly show us if they’re back in form when they take on Immortals and Cloud9.
6. Team EnVyUs (34 total points): -1
- Top – Shin “Seraph” Woo-yeong
- Jungle – Kim “Procxin” Se-young
- Mid – Noh “Ninja” Geon-woo
- ADC – Benjamin “LOD” deMunck
- Support – Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent
- Coach – Lee “Miracle” Hyeon-beom
It gets uglier and uglier for this team. After starting the split a perfect 6-0, EnVyUs is now 6-6 and plummeting down all rankings.
This week was tough, as EnVyUs was swept 2-0 by both Immortals and CLG. The loss to Immortals isn’t a big deal, but getting swept by CLG and being on a six game losing streak should really start make EnVyUs fans worried. They’ll have a solid chance to go 2-0 this week as they take on two struggling squads in Apex and NRG.
7. Pheonix1 (26 total points): +3
- Top – Derek “zig” Shao
- Jungle – Rami “Inori” Charagh
- Mid – Choi “Pirean” Jun-sik
- ADC – Brandon “Mash” Phan
- Support – Austin “Gate” Yu
- Coach – Charlie “Charlie” Lipsie
No. 7? Phoenix1? What has happened to this squad the past two weeks is impressive, even if their wins have come against weak opponents. Another 1-1 week sees Phoenix1 rocket up our rankings, with help from severely struggling teams underneath them.
Phoenix1 managed their second win of the split by defeating Echo Fox 2-1. Was it pretty? Not really, but a win is a win. Taking a game off of CLG makes this squad look even better, as they seem to be improving after every game inside of a series. Inori’s arrival has been huge for this squad and Jung “Fixer” Jae-woo’s arrival to split time with Gate at support should light the fire even more. Is this squad in a position to make a late push to avoid the relegation tournament? It would be highly unlikely, but anything can happen in the NA LCS.
8. Apex Gaming (25 total points): -1
- 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
Apex may have gone 1-1, but they fall to No. 8 in our power rankings.
Defeating NRG, even 2-0, is nothing to brag about in the slightest, and falling 2-0 to TSM is practically the league standard at this point. Why did Apex fall then? Phoenix1’s rise in performance came out of nowhere (along with their victory over Apex just two weeks ago) and Apex looks stagnant. Improvement has come to a standstill. Though, if they can get their act together, this squad can still content for the final playoff spot.
9. NRG eSports (13 total points): -1
- 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
An 0-2 week for NRG is not helping them at all, and they really do not look like they’re getting better as a team. As such, they fall to No. 9 in our rankings.
More than just an 0-2 series week, NRG had a 0-4 map week, getting swept by both Apex and Cloud9. This team is not improving, and it honestly almost seems like they’re getting worse as the split progresses.
10. Echo Fox (9 total points): -1
- Top – Park “kfo” Jeong-hun
- Jungle – Anthony “Hard” Barkhovtsev
- Mid – Henrik “Froggen” Hansen
- ADC – Yuri “KEITH” Jew
- Support – Terry “BIG” Chuong
- Coach – Simon “heavenTime” Jeon
A sad day for the Foxes, as after another 0-2 week they are now in last place in the league standings and in our rankings.
Last split, after the visa issues were resolved, this team seemingly got better every day and looked poised to be a real threat once this split started. That did not happen. Not at all. Team synergy is just awful right now. Firing their coach hasn’t had much of an impact, so it’s hard to tell if benching Anthony “Hard” Barkhovtsev for an unproven Kevin “Kez” Jeon will help the team at all. It’s clear that changes need to be made, but Echo Fox will stay at the bottom until they improve as a team.
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 is an editor for GAMURS can be contacted by email at Hester.esports@gmail.com or on Twitter – @SpenceGAMURS.
