With the first trimester of the NA LCS behind us, it’s time to look at a power rankings as the teams prepare to dive into the middle of the split.
CLG has had a great season and looks eager to return to it’s former glory. CLG chants echo throughout the stadium after great plays, and the bottom lane is looking better than ever especially Aphromoo. Since ZionSpartan has come back from his one week suspension, the team is 4-0. Things are looking good for CLG who have their full time coach Scarra back for the first time in week 4, looking at the biggest match of the season so far versus TSM.
Hot on the tail of CLG, TSM looks to take over the crown this week in the head to head matchup. Thus far TSM has proven to have maintained their position near the top of the NA competitive scene and Bjergson has played extremely well as is expected. Their only dropped game to a strongly performing Team 8 in week one. In order to be the best they’ll have to beat the best and a widely anticipated week 4 will show us who belongs as top dog in North America.
Cloud 9 started off with a tough run having faced both TSM and CLG in the first two weeks. They bounced back with a 2-0 week 3 and look to continue that streak going forward. Some coordination issues are being resolved and look to see both Hai and Balls perform better as we transition more to the mid season. Cloud 9 is finding their stride, keeping their confidence and looking to remain at the top of the class this split.
The consistency of Team 8 has been impressive as they haven’t dropped a game to any teams with losing records. They’ve also handed TSM their only loss and have managed to go 1-1 in every week to this point. CaliTrlolz has been an excellent leader and the team synergy and strategies have looked good to this point. Week four they look forward to playing Liquid and Dignitas, hoping to pull of their first 2-0 week to set themselves apart from the rest of the 3-3 teams.
Having had the most difficult lineup through the first three weeks, XiaoWeiXiao and Impulse look forward to some of the teams struggling in NA in week 4. They face off against Coast and Winterfox who both have losing records. Worth noting that Impulse has taken games off of Team 8 and Gravity, but were unable to take a game off of either CLG or TSM, losing in convincing fashion to both. They still have yet to play a Cloud 9 team which is also picking up steam.
The CLG slayers, Liquid has managed to take down the top team in the LCS and also Impulse. Despite their performance against CLG, they still managed to lose to a beaten up Dignitas after Crumbzz stepped down. In order for Liquid to really get over the Forever Fourth Curse, they’ll need to find some consistency and take down teams they should beat. As team synergy builds between Piglet and the rest of the team, Liquid has a serious chance to start competing and winning games against great teams, until then they will continue to look for their stride.
Of all the 3-3 teams, Gravity is thez team with the least impressive quality of wins. Having one of the easiest schedules to this point it’s difficult to gauge if the team is really playing to the level that their record shows. Week 4 will start to define them when they face TSM and Liquid, pulling two wins this week could propel them near the top of the standings and earn them respect. Some of the plays from Bunny Fufuu and Saintvicious this year have been questionable and in order to beat great teams they’ll need to get on the same page as a team. Their biggest win was against a struggling Cloud 9 in week 1.
Finding their wins only against Dignitas and Gravity, Winterfox is looking for more quality wins and consistency. While they’ve played against some good teams, they still have given Coast their only win this split and lost to them in convincing fashion. The momentum doesn’t seem to be in Winterfox’s favor going into week 4 where they look forward to playing against Impulse and Cloud 9. If there was ever a week for them to play up to their potential, it will need to be this week.
While Team Coast has certainly had an abysmal start to the season, they seem to mesh as a team and don’t tend to have a lot of outside issues. They haven’t won a game since week 1 however and will need to find their stride if they want to have any serious shot at competing at this level. CLG and Impulse wait for them in Week 4 and Coast would definitely like to prove some people wrong and pull out at least one win. I expect they may get it this week.
While Coast is having a lot of issues on the Rift, Dignitas seems to be having issues throughout the entire organization. Drama around ODEE, drama around Crumbzz, leftover drama around Scarra and the poaching scandal, something needs to change to get Dignitas back on it’s feet. This bilingual team is going to have a seriously rough time getting back to the level of it’s former glory especially after losing it’s shotcaller and team captain in Crumbzz. With no real coach either, the team lacks leadership and things won’t get any easier in week 4 against Cloud 9 and Team 8.
