LCS 2021 Season Power Rankings
The League of Legends Championship Series’ (LCS) offseason is done. Players have found new homes and new players have joined the league. The historic offseason saw half of its players — from the 2020 season — not get re-signed while it simultaneously jumbled players in between teams. A new LCS format has also been implemented, bringing in multiple tournaments during the season, more games, and a much-needed importance towards the earlier half of the season.
With all of that in mind, here are our power rankings for the 2021 season based solely on the rosters going into the new season.
1. Team Liquid
Like last year, this team somehow managed to upgrade the position(s) they needed to improve the most. Although this year they didn’t win the LCS — not even making it to the finals — they were able to perform better than their NA counterparts at the League of Legends Worlds Championship. The fact that this team held their own against eventual semifinalists in G2 Esports and eventual finalists in Suning is impressive. Team Liquid replaced Jeong “Impact” Eon-yeong with Barney “Alphari” Morris and were able to grab away the best performing jungler in North America from FlyQuest, Lucas “Santorin” Larsen, during free agency to replace Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen. Both Alphari and Santorin are beasts in their roles, and will most likely be in the contention for the top two/top three in NA.
The chemistry from the mid to the bottom half of the map is there, add a solid top laner from Europe in Alphari and a jungler who engages but never dies in Santorin; this is a recipe for success. Team Liquid has a solid foundation and a stable coaching staff around them; this is the team to beat, alongside the number two in our power rankings.
2. Cloud9
This team had a historically dominant Spring Split but came just short of making it to Worlds. After stating in a post-season interview with former LCS pro, Christian “IWDominate” Rivera that they’d run it back with their original roster, a ceasing of the Oceanic Pro League (OPL) changed their plans. Cloud9 surprisingly released Eric “Licorice” Ritchie and promoted Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami from Academy, as he no longer counts as an import slot. With one import slot remaining, Cloud9 did the unexpected and signed superstar player Luka “Perkz” Perkovic as their mid laner.
Much like Team Liquid, they upgraded in the positions they needed to. Fans, pundits, and analysts alike thought Licorice didn’t need to be replaced, but Cloud9 had other plans. Fudge was, in many people’s eyes, the unofficial MVP of the Academy League and has a high ceiling.
With Perkz - there is just so much to say about him. He’s won eight EU LCS/LEC titles with his former team, G2 Esports, he’s been to the World Finals, and he’s won the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI). He is one of the best, if not the best western player in LoL’s history and Cloud9 now has him. Cloud9 also retained two of the best North American players right now in their respective roles in Robert “Blaber” Huang and Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme to remain, paired with Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen in the bottom lane. This roster on paper is stacked from top to bottom and will have exciting battles with Team Liquid for weeks to come.
3. 100 Thieves
The Thieves had a lacklustre 2019 season, compared to when they first joined the LCS back in 2018 and were supposed to turn it all around in 2020 — this didn’t happen. But the faithful finally have been rewarded, the process has been trusted, and General Manager Christopher “PapaSmithy” Smith, alongside others at 100 Thieves, have delivered a team 100 Thieves fans can be proud of. They concocted or snatched away from Golden Guardians a solid lineup.
They, of course, kept their stellar top laner in Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho, and acquired in what was the consensus, the best bottom lane towards the latter half of the Summer Split — mainly the playoffs — in Victor “FBI” Huang and Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun. To accompany that, they also brought in the mid and jungle duo of Tanner “Damonte” Damonte and Can “Closer” Celik. These four players exceeded expectations over at Golden Guardians during the 2020 season. They had a solid showing during the regular season as a middle of the pack team and later swept eventual LCS Summer playoffs winners in Team SoloMid in round one of the playoffs. This is perhaps the most exciting roster 100 Thieves has fielded yet.
4. Team SoloMid
With Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng’s retirement, there were big shoes to fill. Team SoloMid did a solid job recovering from these retirements bringing in solid tenured mid-laner Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage and promoting AD Carry Lawrence “Lost” Sze Yuy Hui from their Academy roster. But two surprising pickups helped filled those vacant shoes as Team SoloMid picked up Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon from Dignitas and Hu “SwordArt” Shuo-Chieh fresh off of a World finals run with Suning. They also, of course, kept their jungler, Mingyi “Spica” Lu — the best performer for them at this year’s Worlds.
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Overall, this roster is solid on paper; it has potential with a SwordArt’s playmaking and shot-calling. Add Spica’s seemingly evergrowing ceiling, Huni’s seen potential, PowerOfEvil’s solid mid lane play, and a promising AD in Lost, and this team could go far. Alongside 100 Thieves and our number five spot on the list, this team is a good middle of the pack team.
5. Evil Geniuses
This team is the definition of a solid roster, the players aren’t superstar level, nor are they players that are underperformers. Evil Geniuses has brought in players that are tried and true, they have been tested, and have been in the game for a long period of time — with the exception of Matthew “Deftly” Chen. Like the two teams above them, they are a solid middle of the pack team, consisting of players that have had their fair share of success in the past on other teams such as Impact, with what is now T1 and Team Liquid, as well as Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen with Team SoloMid, Cloud9, and others.
Although a middle of the pack team, they don’t have that one player that will put them over the edge. Unlike a 100 Thieves, they don’t have an established synergy from a previous team, and their ceiling isn’t high like Team SoloMid’s.
6. FlyQuest
After losing every single player from that roster that made it to the LCS finals twice in a row, and made it to Worlds this year — making it a first for the organisation — this team still managed to bounce back with strong pickups all around. They got jungler Brandon Joel “Josedeodo” Villegas from the Liga Latinoamérica’s (LLA) Rainbow7, who made waves at this year’s Worlds. And obtained Licorice from Cloud9, making it an impressive top and jungle duo. To round out the rest of the roster, FlyQuest also obtained mid-laner Cristian “Palafox” Palafox and support David “Diamond” Bérubéfrom Cloud9’s Academy team, finishing it up with a Johnson “Johnsun” Nguyen pickup from Dignitas.
This is for all intents and purposes Evil Geniuses without the LCS experience - apart from Licorice. A strong team who will battle it out in the middle of the pack but won’t get into the top half of the standings, much less the upper echelon that is Team Liquid and Cloud9.
7. Counter Logic Gaming
In true Counter Logic Gaming form, they are fielding a roster that isn’t too impressive, it doesn’t speak volumes, nor does it catch anyone’s attention. If you want to be even harsher about it, it’s a roster that’s there; it fills the void as the gatekeeper or the bridge between the bottom and the middle of the pack teams. The players in this squad are, in a sense, leftover players from other teams, or teams that your average organisation that is shooting for the top half of the standings wouldn’t go for.
Although they signed Finn “Finn” Wiestal from Rogue, who was a surprising pickup, this team still has much more to go to push them up higher in the standings.
8. Dignitas
At the top of our bottom three on this list, we have Dignitas, solely based on the experience that both Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett and Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black possess. Although not comparable by any means, the rest of this roster has their fair share of Academy and LCS experience as well. Younger in the scene compared to most, both top laner Aaron “FakeGod” Lee and mid laner Max “Soligo” Soong, have had their fair share of play in the Academy and the LCS. One also can’t forget about Toàn "Neo" Trần, also formerly known as Asta. Neo was part of that original OpTic Gaming roster back in 2019 and has been bouncing around in between teams.
The veteran leadership from both Dardoch and Aphromoo, accompanied by the brief experience by the other three players on this team, puts them above the bottom three of this list.
9. Immortals
The only thing surprising about this roster is their Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir pickup from Astralis. Apart from that, it seems like Immortals once again are aiming to survive a league that no longer has relegation — do the bare minimum, so to speak. With the first full OCE bottom lane in AD Carry Quin “Raes” Korebrits and support Mitchell “Destiny” Shaw, this is a team — like previous years — that doesn’t show much promise.
10. Golden Guardians
One can’t help but feel bad for Golden Guardians, as after an impressive split — nearly having their best split in the organisation’s history — they got four of their players taken by another team and had to recoup their losses with the dropping of top laner Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell. A team that showed much promise this past season as a middle of the table team is now relegated to doing their best with not much to play with.
This team could very well trade spots with Immortals, but as it stands now, their players have much to prove, as they are relatively unknown apart from Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes.
Images via Riot Games
