There’s just one more week of play in the 2019 LEC season. From the hype videos to the rap battles to the play on Summoner’s Rift, it’s been a spectacular first year for the franchised European league.
Heading into week nine, there are interesting battles up and down the standings. Fnatic and Splyce have to figure out who will get second place and four teams’ playoff hopes are alive. To figure out where teams stand, our analysts ranked each squad from one point (worst) to 10 points (best).
| Rank | Team | Points |
| 1) | G2 Esports | 40 |
| 2) | Fnatic | 35 |
| 3) | Splyce | 32 |
| 4) | FC Schalke 04 | 28 |
| 5) | Team Vitality | 24 |
| 6) | Origen | 21 |
| 7) | Rogue | 15 |
| 8) | Excel Esports | 13 |
| 9) | SK Gaming | 8 |
| 10) | Misfits | 4 |
Here’s what is on the docket for week nine in the LEC:
Not going anywhere: SK, Misfits
The year began with such promise for both Misfits and SK. Both had strong starts to the Spring Split before crumbling to pieces. Even though SK found a playoff spot at the end of that split, they were clearly trending downwards in performance.
But perhaps fooled by their early records, both teams went into the Summer Split mostly following the status quo. That turned out to be a disaster and we’ve pegged them as the worst teams in the league. Unlike Excel and Rogue, they waited too long to realize how much work they had ahead of them. Now they’ll have to start over heading into 2020.
Still kicking: Rogue, Excel
Okay, Excel aren’t really still kicking since they’re eliminated from the playoffs. But they’ve gone 4-4 since week four and have a chance to earn a winning record in the second half. They have upcoming matches against SK and a G2 team that has nothing to play for.
Rogue are in a better spot in terms of the standings, but the road to the playoffs won’t be easy. Even if they beat Origen on Friday to tie them at seven wins apiece, they’ll likely need more magic on Saturday since Origen are favored to get a win vs. SK. The bad news is that they face a Fnatic squad that will likely need to keep winning for playoff positioning.
Not impressed: Vitality, Origen
Both of these teams are more likely to earn playoff berths by virtue of their records and the upcoming schedule. But we aren’t impressed with either. Vitality’s jungle issues seem to pop up at random, while Origen can’t find a draft that works for their players.
These teams surely went into 2019 expecting to play better. As it stands, both would be big underdogs in the first round of the playoffs even if they make it.
Slight stumbles: Splyce, Schalke
For weeks, we’d included Splyce in a tier with Fnatic and G2, but it seems like G2 and Fnatic are pulling ahead ever so slightly. Of course, Splyce can instantly end that conversation by beating Fnatic on Friday, which would give them two recent wins against the two top teams in our rankings. The meta suits their slow-paced style and there’s at least a chance they could make it tough on the two league leaders in the playoffs.
Schalke stumbled a bit last week when jungler Kim “Trick” Gang-yun had an uncharacteristic off game. It would be great to see him pull out a classic performance against his old G2 team on Friday to assure us of his control over the jungle. This team has also benefited from a boring mid lane meta, as well as improved synergy between mid and jungle.
Trolling: G2 and Fnatic
Both of these teams look like they’re fully in playoff preparation mode. That’s the most obvious explanation for the troll Garen picks, right? At least Fnatic won their gambit with the champion.
We expect Fnatic to put on their game faces against Splyce on Friday and G2 probably want to stomp the life out of Schalke, too. That could make for a fun last week of the LEC regular season.
All photos via Riot Games.
