With some huge matches this week, the power rankings continue to solidify as teams continue to move all over the place. With a solid top five forming, the LCK Summer Split is beginning to look better and better. For now where does each team find themselves in the power rankings? Let’s find out right now! As always, if you missed last week’s power rankings, you can find them here!
10.Jin Air Green Wings (-)
Current record: 0-6
0-2 vs Kingzone DragonX
0-2 vs Hanwha Life Esports
With three weeks of action completed, Jin Air are still looking for their first victory. While the team as a whole has performed a lot better than last split, it’s simply not enough. Although they have been able to have competitive matches against the likes of Kingzone, their struggles with mid to late game decision making have been apparent for the team of rookies. While this can be slowly improved with time, it could mean risking relegation once again. A immediate solution would be to pick up a veteran player (ideally a solo laner) that can provide some leadership and shot calling much like DAMWON Gaming did with top laner Lee “Flame” Ho-jong.
While it’s unknown as to how Jin Air will fix this issue, they remain at the bottom of the power rankings. But at least they can only go up from here.
9.SK Telecom T1 (-4)
Current record: 1-5
1-2 vs DAMWON Gaming
0-2 vs Griffin
How the mighty have fallen. Following a rough start to the season, SKT’s struggles continue as they end another week 0-2 and fall all the way down to 9th in the power rankings. Despite their strength of schedule playing a large part in their early results, the team simply has not looked good through the first three weeks of action. On top of the team’s questionable drafts, their reliance on jungler Kim “Clid” Tae-min to dominate the early game has become a huge issue as he has struggled in recent matches. On top of that, top laner Kim “Khan” Dong-ha’s performance has become inconsistent, causing another issue the team must play around.
All of this has caused head coach Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun to take over the draft once again. On top of that, their disastrous week ended with a move that many fans were dreading to see once again. In an attempt to try anything to help the team win once again mid laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok was benched in favor of Kim “Gori” Tae-woo in Game 2 against Griffin along with support Cho “Mata” Se-hyeong being benched for Lee “Effort” Sang-ho. With Rift Rivals coming up, will SKT recover and dominate once again? Buckle up SKT fans, there’s a very long split ahead.
8.Hanwha Life Esports (+1)
Current record: 2-4
1-2 vs Gen.G
2-0 vs Jin Air Green Wings
Thanks to a struggling SKT, Hanwha was able to move up a spot in the power rankings. Overall the team has looked decent through the first three weeks. However as other teams have made improvements, Hanwha continues to slowly fall behind.
While the bot lane tandem of ADC Gwon “sangyoon” Sang-yun and support Kim “key” Han-gi continues to be a solid foundation for the team to play off of, they’re still struggling against the top bot lanes of the league. Such as in their match against Gen.G. In fact, this issue appears to be shared by the entire team. While they’re all solid players, they simply struggle to match up well against the top players in their role. As Hanwha lack the strong and creative team play to fix this issue, they often find themselves on the losing side of their matchups. A trip to the playoffs is not out of the question for Hanwha at this point, they’ll have a very tough road ahead of them if that’s their goal.
7.KT Rolster (-)
Current record: 2-4
0-2 vs Griffin
1-2 vs SANDBOX Gaming
With their first 0-2 week of the split, KT must quickly recover and look ahead to a tough three-week schedule. They will have two matches against SKT and Afreeca and a match against Kingzone and Griffin. While the team was crushed by Griffin this week and had a heartbreaking loss against SANDBOX to end things off, the team’s individual performance is slowly looking better.
While mid laner Gwak “Bdd” Bo-seong and ADC Kim “PraY” Jong-in continue to consistently have solid performances, top laner Song “Smeb” Kyung-ho started looking great in their series against SANDBOX. If jungler Go “Score” Dong-bin can find a consistent level of play as well, the team could make a late push into the playoffs.
6.Gen.G (+2)
Current record: 4-2
2-1 vs Hanwha Life Esports
2-0 vs Afreeca Freecs
Despite a great performance against Afreeca this week, Gen.G’s inconsistent play prevents the team from jumping any higher than 6th place in the power rankings. The bot lane tandem of ADC Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk and support Kim “Life” Jeong-min are slowly becoming one of the best tandems in the league, but other members on the team still has some issues. While mid laner Lee “Kuzan” Seong-hyeok has been a solid addition to the team, he can’t be fully relied upon to carry the game alone. Meanwhile, despite some great performances recently, top laner Lee “CuVee” Seong-jin is still fairly inconsistent. Then the biggest problem comes from jungler Han “Peanut” Wang-ho, who continues to struggle through most games.
If the team as a whole can play as they did against Afreeca on a consistent basis, it wouldn’t be out of the question for Gen.G to make yet another gauntlet run at the end of the split to qualify for Worlds yet again. But for now, they still have a long split ahead of them to worry about.
5.Afreeca Freecs (-4)
Current record: 3-3
1-2 vs SANDBOX Gaming
0-2 vs Gen.G
After a rough 0-2 week Afreeca falls from their throne and drops to 5th in the power rankings. The team as a whole didn’t perform poorly as they ran into two teams that had an amazing week in SANDBOX and Gen.G. It’s simply a case of the teams above them performing just as well if not better than Afreeca.
Luckily for Afreeca, they have a fairly easy three-week schedule ahead of them with both matches against KT and Jin Air and a match against DAMWON and Griffin. As long as they continue to play at their current level, they should climb back up to the top of the power rankings fairly soon.
4.Kingzone DragonX (-2)
Current record: 4-2
2-0 vs Jin Air Green Wings
1-2 vs DAMWON Gaming
Joining Afreeca in a small drop from the top is Kingzone DragonX. While they played great this week despite a result of 1-1, it was simply a case of the team’s above them in the power rankings playing even better.
However, praise must be given to the solo laners of the team in top laner Kim “Rascal” Kwang-hee and mid laner Yoo “Naehyun” Nae-hyun. Both players continue to step up and improve as the split goes on and as a result, Kingzone will only get better. With Rift Rivals on the horizon, Kingzone might finally be able to avenge their past international results with a strong showing against the rest of the Asian teams in attendance.
3.Griffin (+1)
Current record: 5-1
2-0 vs KT Rolster
2-0 vs SK Telecom T1
Griffin took the title of telecom slayers this week as they dominated both KT and SKT on their way to a 2-0 week and a small bump to 3rd in the power rankings. Through the week ADC Park “Viper” Do-hyeon continued to show off a diverse champion pool as he pulled out a strong performance as Pyke in Game 2 against KT. On top of that, the entire team have all looked equally unstoppable throughout the week as they also begin looking forward to Rift Rivals and some key matches against Afreeca and Kingzone in the future.
As long as the team can continue to perform at this level, they could easily defeat their demons and not only win a LCK title, but qualify for Worlds. Will they be able to accomplish their goals? Only time will tell.
2.DAMWON Gaming (+4)
Current record: 4-2
2-1 vs SK Telecom T1
2-1 vs Kingzone DragonX
Making the biggest jump up this week is DAMWON as they jump up four spots to 2nd in the power rankings. With a great 2-0 week after amazing matches against SKT and Kingzone, the team as a whole has never looked better, just in time for Rift Rivals.
While the whole team has been performing a lot better, it has been the solo laners in top laner Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon and mid laner Heo “ShowMaker” Su who have been the most impressive. In fact, it could be argued that ShowMaker has been the best mid laner this split in Korea after some huge games on the likes of Akali and Vladimir. With all the momentum in the world on their side at this point, can DAMWON keep it up and make a huge run for the title? With how things are looking, they will have a great chance to do so.
1.SANDBOX Gaming (+2)
Current record: 5-1
2-1 vs Afreeca Freecs
2-1 vs KT Rolster
Taking the throne in the power rankings this week is SANDBOX, who had an impressive 2-0 week. With DAMWON as their only opponent from the top half of the power rankings that remains in the first half of the split, SANDBOX should easily take the top spot in the standings going into the second half of the split. This great start is thanks to the great play from the whole team thus far.
While they have been great, one player that has stood out has been mid laner Kim “Dove” Jae-yeon, who has been simply amazing so far. This week was no different as he had some great performances on the likes of Lissandra and Lucian. The team is likely ending the first half of the split in first but will their luck last until the playoffs? With quite a few teams looking great, it’ll be hard, but with the talent on SANDBOX, they might just be able to do it.
To watch League of Legends tournaments, visit watch.na.lolesports.com. For more information on the Split, teams, standings, and players, visit www.lolesports.com. Recaps of former weeks and other LoL content can be found at https://thegamehaus.com/league-of-legends/.
Featured image courtesy of LCK flickr.
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