LCS Lock In - Power Rankings (Week 3)

The League of Legends Championship Series’ (LCS) Lock In tournament is done and Team Liquid have been crowned the winners after thwarting a near reverse sweep by a surging Cloud9, who just came off a reverse sweep against one of the tournament favourites, 100 Thieves. 

This was the final week of the tournament where only a handful of teams participated. Both 100 Thieves and Evil Geniuses were eliminated in the semifinals on Friday and Saturday respectively, while Cloud9 and Team Liquid moved on to the finals on Sunday. 

With that being said, due to the nature of the tournament and its matches towards the end of it, we’ll only be looking at those four teams while keeping the remaining six in the same spots that we slotted them in last week’s power rankings for the second week of the Lock In tournament.

#1 Team Liquid (+0)

Team Liquid were already one of the better teams in the league in the first few games of the Lock In tournament, and this was with substitute jungler, Jonathan “Armao” Armao, taking over for Lucas “Santorin” Larsen due to COVID related Visa issues. Once Santorin was finally integrated into the lineup, this team just kept getting better and better. They looked more synergised than an already synergised 100 Thieves who had four of their members already be teammates on Golden Guardians last year. Their synergy was at the top of their game but most important of all, Team Liquid were playing with newfound aggression.

After last year, Team Liquid’s staff — mainly their head coach, Joshua “Jatt” Leesman — have been very vocal about being more aggressive moving forward in this season. No more playing it safe, no more avoiding the 50/50 flip plays, none of that. Alongside the big roster changes they made, bringing in top laner Barney “Alphari” Morris from the LEC and Santorin from FlyQuest — who made it to the LCS finals back-to-back last year — Team Liquid has acclimated and entrusted this newfound aggression within themselves, and it’s paying off.

Team Liquid look like the old patient, wait and see Team Liquid but with a little extra killer instinct behind it. Their bottom lane keeps improving, Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen is still Jensen, but now they have a top and jungle duo that are nearly unstoppable — Alphari is the best top laner in the league. Alphari proved it during the round-robin, kept proving it in their quarterfinals sweep versus FlyQuest and proved it again versus, the other top laner competing against him in the top two, Jeong “Impact” Eon-young when they got their second sweep of the playoffs versus Evil Geniuses in the semifinals. Later, he completely top gapped Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami in the finals. 

Their newfound coordination, aggression and new players netted them the first-ever LCS Lock In championship, and this isn’t anywhere near their peak. Also, Jo “CoreJJ” Young-in isn’t balanced. 

#2 Cloud9 (+2)

Cloud9 played 17 total games in the Lock In tournament, from their poor performance against Evil Geniuses to start it, to the stomping that was the game five loss to Team Liquid in the finals — failing to get their second reverse sweep of the tournament. For all intents and purposes, Cloud9 played an entire split without the playoffs. Not only is this huge for players such as Fudge, who’s looked like one of the bottom, top laners in all of the league, but for the team’s potential as a whole. This wasn’t peak Luka “Perkz” Perkovic — although he did improve as Cloud9 moved forward in the tournament — either. 

Everyone had this team in the top two alongside Team Liquid; the question mark was always Fudge. Unfortunately, so far, Fudge hasn’t lived up to his Academy hype. But that’s okay for the time being as the players who rolled over from last season more than covered up for that. Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen and Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme are undoubtedly in the top three for bottom lanes alongside 100 Thieves’ and Team Liquid’s; Vulcan’s engages on the Alistar were otherworldly. While Robert “Blaber” Huang was terrific staying true to the aggressive playstyle he’s always shown. 

They underwent a journey in this tournament from nearly losing to Team SoloMid in the quarterfinals, to reverse sweeping 100 Thieves in the semifinals and finally nearly repeating the reverse sweep versus Team Liquid in the finals and just kept getting better and better. The Cloud9 mainstays already have gotten the ball rolling; this team just needs Perkz and Fudge to follow suit. The fact that this team, who had to essentially carry Fudge, or cover up for the holes he made, took Team Liquid to five games is very promising.

#3 100 Thieves (-1)

One game away from the finals, they had the chance to get there three times but those three times they choked. They were monstrous all tournament long with their own playstyle, but once the playstyle got disrupted, the final death knell was rung. Victor “FBI” Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun are still the best bottom lane in the league, but that isn’t enough when it comes to facing the likes of Cloud9. Tanner “Damonte” Damonte is great on the supportive and global mid laners like Galio and Twisted Fate, but once that’s taken away, he can’t seem to do much. 

The last bit of power they need to get over the hill is missing from this team, and it showed in their series versus Cloud9. But at the end of it all, this team will be an amazing threat to the whole league. They still have Ssumday, and they still have four members around him that are immensely synergised and can hold their own. 100 Thieves just needs to be able to close games better, as well as Damonte, has to play something other than global mid laners. 

#4 Evil Geniuses (-1)

After an amazing start to the Lock In tournament being on our #1 spot for our Week 1 Power Rankings, they’ve dropped significantly. The “honeymoon phase” ended and they went back down to earth. Although they smashed Golden Guardians in the quarterfinals, they got smashed themselves by Team Liquid in the semifinals — it wasn’t even close. Still, though, this team’s potential is high. They have a solid top three top laner in Impact who they pair up Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro for terrific two-pronged attacks and flanks. Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen will only get better, and their bottom lane is lethal. 

What they showed during Lock In surprised everyone and it’s very promising moving forward.

Images via Riot Games