LCS Lock In - Power Rankings (Week 2)

Week 2 of the League of Legends Championship Series’ (LCS) Lock In is done and dusted. Some teams were eliminated while others moved on to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals saw Cloud9, Team Liquid, 100 Thieves, and Evil Geniuses as the four victors who moved on to the semifinals. Team Liquid and 100 Thieves showed supreme coordination, while Evil Geniuses continued to impress, and Cloud9’s players who stayed from last year’s roster proved why they didn’t get replaced.

The first day of play saw the LCS iron out its final teams, that it ultimately sent out to the quarterfinals. Once again, some teams like Counter Logic Gaming and Immortals still didn’t have their full roster, while Team Liquid finally got their starting jungler in play.

With that being said, here are our power rankings after Week 2 of the LCS Lock In. 

• Related - LCS Lock In - Power Rankings (Week 1)

#1 Team Liquid (+2)

This team prior to Week 2 was already at the top, and this was with their substitute jungler Jonathan “Armao” Armao. Formerly on our #3 spot in last week’s power rankings, Team Liquid have moved up two spots after the impressive coordination, aggression, and cohesion they displayed. Once Lucas “Santorin” Larsen was back in North America, he quickly acclimated and got used to his teammates’ habits. His coordination with Jo “CoreJJ” Young-in with the Taliyah and Leona combos were just unbeatable. 

Alongside 100 Thieves, this is one of the most coordinated teams in all of the LCS. Their top laner, Barney “Alphari” Morris, upon arriving in North America, is quickly contending to be the best in his role. And Team Liquid’s bottom lane just keeps improving — putting themselves in the conversation for top three bottom lanes in all of the LCS.

#2 100 Thieves (+0)

Even though this is one of the few teams to remain in the same spot as last week’s power rankings, they’ve kept proving why they remain in the top two. As stated previously, alongside Team Liquid, they have the best team coordination across the whole league. Add the fact that they have what is most likely the best bottom lane in the league in Victori “FBI” Huang and Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun; this is a recipe for success. To add even more fuel to the flames, Tanner “Damonte” Damonte — who has one of, if not the highest KDA in all of the league — has been on a tear on the supportive mid laners with constant bottom lane plays and four-man plays alongside Can “Closer” Celik. This is all while Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho is still Ssumday. Although not at the level of Alphari and Jeong “Impact” Eon-young, he’s quickly approaching that status.

#3 Evil Geniuses (-2)

Originally on our #1 spot in last week’s list, we see them dropping down two. It wasn’t their fault, as they maintained their composure, cleanly dominating everyone in their way — apart from the FlyQuest loss after they clinched a quarterfinals spot — but the other two teams above them performed much better. They are still a cohesive unit, just under Team Liquid and 100 Thieves for best coordination. Evil Geniuses’ solo lanes have also shown up in a major way. Impact was stellar last week, but Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro has shown to be one of the best mid laners in the league currently. No more of the coin flip that was Jiizuke; he’s landed on the right side. He’s been consistently great, and he’s made sure to not give up the random deaths he gave up in early Spring Split of last year. 

The one-two punch of Impact and Jiizuke is unstoppable in team fights as they set up different angles of attack as well as flanks.

#4 Cloud9 (+0)

As another team that didn’t move up or down compared to last week, Cloud9 took part in the only quarterfinals to go to three games after they defeated Team SoloMid. In that series, Cloud9 started out rough but had small changes as the series went on. They had a rough pick and ban — not picking champions that they usually play — in the first game, and slowly adjusted as the series moved forward. Unlike the other teams that are above them and are also in semifinals, this team still lacks coordination — something that they will build over time.

Luka “Perkz” Perkovic in his current form isn’t the dominant mid laner he’s been in the past. All while the expectations for Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami being a solid replacement for Eric “Licorice” Ritchie haven’t appeared yet. It’s all okay though, as the players who rolled over from last season have been performing really well - carrying their games. There was a clear bottom lane differential between them and Team SoloMid.

Sidenote, don’t let Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme have Alistar.

#5 Team SoloMid (+0)

As our last team to remain in the same spot as last week’s power rankings, Team SoloMid didn’t really show up much. Unfortunately, Lawrence “Lost” Hui stayed true to his name as he was constantly dead at the start of team fights while Cloud9’s Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen ran laps around his team. Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon slightly improved from his week one performance — his Gragas ultimates won Team SoloMid game 1 — but his champion pool is more like a champion puddle; a concern that can be easily targetted and has been by other teams. 

This was all accompanied by less than ideal or questionable drafting that has been a common theme since the first week of Lock In.

#6 FlyQuest (+4)

Moving up from the last place in our list, FlyQuest looked all out of sorts in the first week, and quite frankly - it was bad. It seems like Joel “Josedeodo” Villegas was their saviour though as they quickly turn around their 0-2 record into a 2-2 — one of those victories was over what was, at the time, an undefeated Evil Geniuses. 

This team can be simplified into two words - cautious optimism. Like Team SoloMid, they suffer from the same problems — the bottom lane. The duo lane was a consistent problem throughout the whole week. The aggressiveness that David “Diamond” showed over in Academy with Cloud9A has been lost. But this is a team that can be worked on, Josedeodo was solid, and Licorice can still be trusted as he built himself an early lead versus Alphari only to flatten it. The top and jungle synergy also needs a bit of work as well.

#7 Golden Guardians (-1)

Everyone had low expectations for this team and for these players. To be expected, seeing as this roster is filled with Academy players and Collegiate players. The collegiate players never had to face someone of the LCS’ calibre before, and that’s okay. It is a pleasant surprise to see this team show that they can compete if they get their drafts the way they want. But the same problems of the first week persist — acquired a lead but couldn’t close it out.

#8 Dignitas (-1)

They were knocked out prior to the elimination phase. Aaron “FakeGod” Lee still looked good, and Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett was straight up smurfing — not an unfamiliar sight. Overall, this team still needs a lot of work and didn’t miss quarterfinals by much, and most likely would’ve given a better fight than Immortals, for example.

#9 Immortals (-1)

There isn’t much to say about this team, unfortunately. This is the Academy roster for Immortals, even then they still managed to make playoffs only to be molly whopped by 100 Thieves in a swift sweep. Like the team below them — even worse if you think about it — they still aren’t a full-strength, especially since this is not the official roster. 

#10 Counter Logic Gaming (-1)

Knocking down to the bottom of our list is Counter Logic Gaming. The only team that didn’t get to play this past week was already mathematically eliminated from playoffs prior to this week’s start. Like Immortals, they suffer from the same issue of not having their starters in Finn “Finn” Wiestal and Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen. Like we said last week, we expected more from a team filled with LCS veterans and players who’ve played in the LCS in the past. 

 

Images via Riot Games