The fifth week of the North American League Championship Series (NA LCS) has come to a close, and with it comes an updated edition of GAMURS’s power rankings.
The points for these power rankings will be calculated based on the rankings submitted by any of the GAMURS staff members. These staff members were asked to rank the 10 teams in order from best to worst, with No. 1 being the best and No. 10 being the worst. Points will be rewarded to mirror a team’s ranking; for example, the first place team will receive 10 points, while the 10th place team will receive one point.
After every week of action, we will be releasing another power rankings article where the teams will either move up or down based on how they perform in their matches, so don’t forget to check back here each week for the latest power rankings.
Now, without ado, here are the power rankings for the sixth week of the NA LCS.
NA LCS Power Rankings – Week 6 (Summer Split 2016)
1. Team SoloMid (70 total points – 7 first place votes): No change
- Top – Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell
- Jungle – Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen
- Mid – Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg
- ADC – Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng
- Support – Vincent “Biofrost” Wang
- Coach – Parth “Parthenaan” Naidu
It’s another 2-0 week for TSM on their quest for perfection, and another unanimous first place vote in our rankings.
This week was even better than usual for TSM, as they defeated both Phoenix1 and Counter Logic Gaming 2-0 and did not drop a single map. We’re over halfway through the season now, so the question is, can they stay perfect?.
2. Immortals (63 total points): No change
- Top – Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon
- Jungle – Kim “Reignover” Yeu-jin
- Mid – Eugene “Pobelter” Park
- ADC – Jason “WildTurtle” Tran
- Support – Adrian “Adrian” Ma
- Coach – Dylan Falco
Immortals had a perfect week just like TSM and remain at the second spot in our rankings.
Apex Gaming and Cloud9 didn’t stand a change as Immortals look to be just as good, if not better, than they were in their near-perfect run last split. Right up there with TSM, Immortals seem untouchable in the league right now.
3. Team Liquid (54 total points): +2
- Top – Samson “Lourlo” Jackson
- Jungle – Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett
- Mid – Kim “Fenix” Jae-hoon
- ADC – Jovani “fabbbyyy” Guillen
- Support – Matthew “Matt” Elento
- Coach – Choi “Locodoco” Yoon-sub
Liquid just keeps moving up the rankings and keeps beating the best teams in North America, as their 2-0 performance last week moves them up to the No. 3 spot in our rankings.
Defeating Cloud9 2-1 is a huge, huge deal for Liquid. Sweeping Team EnVyUs 2-0 is just as big. This team looks scary right now. Fabbbyyy’s performances have been just what the team needs, as the team-oriented approach is working perfectly. Liquid seems to truly understand the current team meta, and it’s paying off.
4. Cloud9 (48 total points): -1
- Top – Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong
- Jungle – William “Meteos” Hartman
- Mid – Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen
- ADC – Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi
- Support – Michael “Bunny FuFuu” Kurylo and Andy “Smoothie” Ta
- Coach – Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu
Well that was certainly strange. Cloud9 dropped both of their series last week against Liquid and Immortals, but really it’s nothing to worry about.
So falling to Liquid to was definitely unexpected for the Cloud9 faithful out there, but it’s not a major setback. The series was relatively close, coming down to a game three, but Liquid taking it in the end should show Cloud9 that they need some improvement. Falling 2-0 to Immortals isn’t surprising at all, but it is a little disappointing for Cloud9. This week they’ll have to face TSM before they can get an easier series against NRG eSports later in the weekend.
5. Team EnVyUs (42 total points): -1
- Top – Shin “Seraph” Woo-yeong
- Jungle – Kim “Procxin” Se-young
- Mid – Noh “Ninja” Geon-woo
- ADC – Benjamin “LOD” deMunck
- Support – Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent
- Coach – Lee “Miracle” Hyeon-beom
They just keep falling. Though EnVyUs went 1-1 last week, they still dropped down another spot in our rankings.
Their win was over a heavily struggling Echo Fox squad, and it was a very unconvincing 2-1. Their loss was a convincing sweep from Liquid. A strong start to the split saw EnVyUs looking almost like title contenders, but right now they look more like a team that will fall in the first round of the playoffs.
6. Counter Logic Gaming (38 total points): No change
- Top – Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaha
- Jungle – Jake “Xmithie” Puchero
- Mid – Choi “Huhi” Jae-hyun
- ADC – Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes
- Support – Zaqueri “aphromoo” Black
- Coach – Tony “Zikzlol” Gray
Well they went 1-1 again, and it’s still pretty hard to judge just how much this team is really improving. Because of that, they remain at No. 6 in our rankings.
This squad is the biggest mystery of the split, but it does still seem like they’re improving. Last week they defeated NRG 2-0 and fell to TSM by the same score. That doesn’t really tell us much given the skill gap between those two squads. Still, CLG seem to be getting better and just may hit their stride soon enough.
7. Apex Gaming (27 total points): No change
- Top – Jeon “Ray” Ji-won
- Jungle – Lee “Shrimp” Byeong-hoon
- Mid – Jang “Keane” Lae-young
- ADC – Apollo “Apollo” Price
- Support – Alex “Xpecial” Chu
- Coach – Brandon “Saintvicious” DiMarco
An 0-2 week is the last thing any team wants, but that’s what happened to Apex in week five and boy was it ugly.
Dropping 2-0 to Immortals is practically expected for every team at this point that isn’t named TSM, so that wasn’t a big deal. What is a big deal, however, is losing to Phoenix1. Yes, Phoenix1 got their first win of the split last week by defeating Apex 2-1. No one saw it coming, but it happened. Still, Apex appear to be a somewhat decent team and did not drop in our rankings. At least not yet.
8. NRG eSports (22 total points): +1
- Top – Diego “Quas” Ruiz
- Jungle – Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer Larsen
- Mid – Lee “GBM” Chang-seok
- ADC – Oh “Ohq” Gyu-min
- Support – Alan “KiWiKiD” Nguyen
- Coach – Tadayoshi “Hermit” Littleton
A 1-1 week, including a 2-0 win over Echo Fox, means NRG move up one spot in our rankings.
For a team this far down in the rankings, losing 2-0 to CLG isn’t the worst thing in the world and it’s not crazy. It’s kind of expected. Beating Echo Fox 2-0 allowed NRG to move above them in our rankings, but this team is still full of issues and likely won’t be moving up any higher unless they can perform better than Apex.
9. Echo Fox (13 total points): -1
- Top – Park “kfo” Jeong-hun
- Jungle – Anthony “Hard” Barkhovtsev
- Mid – Henrik “Froggen” Hansen
- ADC – Yuri “KEITH” Jew
- Support – Terry “BIG” Chuong
- Coach –
Echo Fox once again went 0-2 and they now have the same record as Phoenix1, a team which was winless going into last week.
It’s really just not pretty for this team, and that’s definitely putting it lightly. Dropping to EnVyUs isn’t a bad thing, but getting swept by NRG is not something you want to tell your friends about. The squad that got better every week last split is nowhere to be found, and it has been replaced by a squad that almost seems to get worse every week.
10. Pheonix1 (8 total points): No change
- Top – Derek “zig” Shao
- Jungle – Rami “Inori” Charagh
- Mid – Choi “Pirean” Jun-sik
- ADC – Brandon “Mash” Phan
- Support – Austin “Gate” Yu
- Coach – Charlie “Charlie” Lipsie
PhoenixWon, but it still wasn’t enough to move up in our rankings.
Phoenix1 got dropped 2-0 by TSM. Not a big surprise there obviously. Their series against Apex, however, went slightly better for them. They did it. They got a win. Their first of the split. Granted, it was only 2-1 and only over Apex, but they got a win. Inori’s impact since his arrival to the squad has been potent, and they could just sneak out of this No. 10 spot within the next few weeks before the split ends.
What do you think about our Power Rankings for this week? Are there any teams that you would rank higher or lower? Let us know by commenting below or tweeting us @GAMURScom.
Spencer Hester is an editor for GAMURS can be contacted by email at Hester.esports@gmail.com or on Twitter – @SpenceGAMURS.
