Where do the teams stand now after two weeks of professional play out of the way? Find out as we rank the EU LCS rosters.
A total of 20 games have now been officially put in the books for the European League Championship Series and we can safely say that all expectations coming in have been thrown out the window. Organizations Origen and Fnatic do not look like the monster teams that trampled their way all over the EU LCS last year. But where do they land in the current landscape of teams? Here's how they look after two weeks:
S Tier
H2K Gaming (3-1)
There's no two ways about it. H2K is the new team to beat.
Despite giving a game up to Fnatic in Week 2 simply due to a pair of questionable team fights, the team has excelled in consistently getting leads off the back of their 11.7 KDA "First Blood King" Jungler Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski and then snowballing those leads with the sheer skill of their lanes, especially their 36.0 KDA AD Carry Konstantinos "FORG1VEN" Tzortziou.
H2K has also shown the ability to outmacro opponents in lane-swaps and split-pushes and decisively win games even with low kill scores. As other teams fully adapt to the new faster-paced competitive meta, H2K has shown all the qualities needed as a unit to stay on top of the pack. At least for now.
A Tier
Team Vitality (3-1)
While H2K looks great, close on their heels is Team Vitality.
Since their sole loss coming off a messy performance against the cheese of Team ROCCAT in Week 1, the new European "superteam" has powered their way through both of the previous European powerhouse squads Fnatic and Origen. And the team has found success through their sheer coordination as a team.
According to Vitality, winning clutch team fights is a good way to push your way forward and past your early game macro mistakes. And so far, it's worked for them. We shall have to see whether teams can take advantage of Vitality missteps in the future.
Fnatic (3-1)
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Since losing core pieces of their roster during the offseason in Seung-Hun "Huni" Heo, Eui-Jin "Reignover" Kim, and Bora "Yellowstar" Kim, Fnatic has had to build a new team practically from scratch...again. And, in shades of last year when Huni and Reignover first joined Fnatic, the team has shown flashes of brilliance as they build synergy as a new team.
Let's get one thing straight, there are definite cracks in Fnatic's armor. They did not look entirely convincing against Unicorns of Love. But, the classic EU org is definitely looking scary as they reforge their dominance.
B Tier
Unicorns of Love (3-1)
In the words of Quickshot, "the magic is still real".
Despite winning both of their games in Week 1, Unicorns of Love were still seen by many to be a middle-tier team. Week 2 showed that, in spite of their loss to Origen, that Unicorns of Love is still a team that can magically pull out games against the top teams, coming back against Fnatic off the back of their resurgent AD Carry Pierre "Steelback" Medjaldi.
The team has also shown a proficiency in macro play and strategies much more sophisticated than they have in the past, no longer dependent on their chaotic playstyle to randomly feed them wins. Whether the team can find the same success without their stalwart Jungler Daniel "Diamondprox" Reshetnikov is a question to ask in future weeks as the team deals with his visa issues.
G2 Esports (3-1)
Meet the new warden of the peak of the mountain.
G2 Esports, having their first ever LCS split after qualifying from the Challenger scene, has demonstrated through the power of their roster the ability to absolutely bulldoze their opponents, even after giving up First Blood in all of their games. At least if they aren't a top tier team like H2K.
The team's rookie Mid Laner Luka "Perkz" Perkovic and import Jungler Gang-Yun "Trick" Kim have straight out bullied teams with their coordinated aggression. But, getting totally demolished by H2K leaves questions as to whether G2 can compete against the other top tier teams.
C Tier
Origen (1-3)
Oh, Origen.
The winners of this year's IEM San Jose and everyone's perrenial favorite coming into the season made some steps back in the right direction after a disasterous Week 1 start with a clean win over Unicorns of Love. But, some communication and synergy problems still remain for the team that only made one roster change in the offseason. New acquisition Mid Laner Tristan "PowerOfEvil" Schrage still looks not quite in-sync with his new teammates as his getting caught and killed out in the open was a key factor in the team's loss to Team Vitality.
All that being said, it is way too early to count out Origen and everyone is expecting the team to rediscover its winning ways as it enters the relatively easier part of its schedule. But, until that happens, doubt will remain.
Elements (3-1)
If there was an LCS team that anyone would be shocked to find tied for first place after two weeks of play, you really can't look any farther than Elements.
It's hard to point at any real particular reason for the team's winning record other than sheer luck unfortunately. The bungling of a match between Elements and GIANTS Gaming this week shows the team's inability to execute a cohesive strategy and achieve wins in a convincing fashion. In fact, the only games Elements has won has been against teams struggling with bigger issues like ROCCAT and Splyce.
It will take much more than that to prove that Elements belongs alongside its peers at first place.
D Tier
Splyce (1-3)
After two weeks, the brand new organization Splyce has finally gotten their first win.
There were many questions coming in as to the abilities of the all-Danish squad. And, up to this point, they have struggled mightily to find their footing on the big stage. Granted, their win was against the medicore ROCCAT, but we shall have to see if the Danes can pull themselves together after this long-waited victory.
Team ROCCAT (1-3)
It could be worse for the team known as ROCCAT. Not much worse though.
After their upset win over Team Vitality in Week 1 with the cheese Taric pick by Support player Edward "Edward" Abgarian, the team has struggled to build any sort of success on the back of that performance. And, after the recent news of Edward having been replaced by Vytautas "Extinkt" Melinauskas in the coming week due to visa issues, we shall have to see if ROCCAT can be unleashed at all for the reason of the season.
F Tier
GIANTS Gaming (0-4)
There's really nothing to be said about this one.
GIANTS look about as physically and mentally defeated as a winless LCS team can be for only two weeks of competitive play so far. In their soul-crushing defeat this past week against Elements, the team and Mid Laner Issac "xPePii" Flores in particular looked incredibly distraught. It will take some sort of otherworldly miracle to pull the team back from the brink of facing relegation, even this early in the game.
Do you agree with this ranking? Let us know in the comments below!
