After yet another amazing week of action, the LCK Summer Split power rankings has matched all the action with teams moving all over the place. Which team is now 9th? Which team is 1st? Let’s find out right now with another power ranking! As always, if you missed last week’s power rankings, you can find them here!
Courtesy of: LCK Flickr
In the eternal struggle of positives versus negatives, Jin Air comes out of this week in a pretty neutral position. Let’s start with the positives, the team continues to look better with their star players like ADC Moon “Route” Geom-su continuing to impress throughout each game. If they continue to improve at this rate, they could get that first win a lot earlier than last split. But then comes the negatives: in this case, it’s the fact that despite signs of improvement, Jin Air ends the week with another 0-2. With the slim hope of playoffs fading away once again, it may already be time for Jin Air to look towards yet another relegation.
Will Jin Air be able to improve fast enough to avoid relegations? Or will they finally have a winless season? While it may still be too early to tell, the next few weeks may decide it all.
Courtesy of: LCK Flickr
Hanwha falls down the power rankings to 9th after an unfortunate 0-2 week. While the 0-2 week was due to playing Afreeca and Griffin, the team still looked rough throughout the week. This was most notable in Game 1 against Afreeca where Hanwha looked uncoordinated in any plays they attempted to make.
Despite the rough schedule to start off the Summer Split, Hanwha should be able to jump back up the power rankings as their strength of schedule drops. This will be put to the test in Week 3 as Hanwha is set to face Jin Air and Gen.G. If they can come out with a convincing 2-0 week, then they could still have a shot at playoffs. If not, then Hanwha might have a long vacation once again.
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Despite a fairly easy Week 2, Gen.G ends the week 1-1 as they drop two spots in the power rankings. After a fairly solid start to the season, their loss to KT has erased some of the optimism surrounding the team. While it’s still fairly early into the split, Gen.G needs to begin finding some consistency to their play. If not, they could be fighting to avoid relegations once again.
With that being said, Gen.G should have an easy time fixing these issues. With solid players to play off of as a win condition in mid laner Lee “Kuzan” Seong-hyeok and ADC Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk. As long as those two are playing well, Gen.G will always have a chance to make a comeback and win.
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With another 1-1 week out of the way, KT Rolster moves up a spot to 7th in the power rankings. While the team’s individual performances have been inconsistent, the team has enough star power to still lead them to victory in many situations. That said, if KT wants to make their way into the playoffs, the players need to find a consistent level of play, especially if they want to beat the top teams.
The talent is there on the roster with a starting lineup of some of the best players in the history of Korea. Now it’s a question of whether they’ll be able to make one last run, if not for themselves then for jungler Go “Score” Dong-bin, who could be playing his final season.
Courtesy of: LCK Flickr
After a rocky start to the season, DAMWON jumps up three spots to 6th in the power rankings. While the team had a rough time last week, any issues coming in from the break seems to be disappearing now.
Most notably, top laner Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon popped off this week as he dominated the top lane. With mid laner Heo “ShowMaker” Su also improving a lot as time goes on, the team continues to look better and better. Will DAMWON be able to replicate their success last split and potentially go even further? Or will they falter once again and fall short? Only time will tell.
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With an uncharacteristic 0-2 week, SKT was unable to make any movements in the power rankings and remain at 5th. While this could have been a case of post-MSI fatigue still playing a factor for the team, it’s more likely that it’s an issue with the team in general. For starters, the team continues to have some questionable drafts such as picking Kennen and Zoe into Tahm Kench, a champion which traditionally can negate the pick potential of the two champions. On top of that, the team has reverted back to the old meta of playing slow and allowing ADC Park “Teddy” Jin-seong carry the team.
Their current playstyle is even more disappointing when the talent of the roster is considered. The likes of mid laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and top laner Kim “Khan” Dong-ha should be capable of playing aggressively early and taking over the game. Instead, they play a safe style and seemingly refuse to change. If this continues, it could become a huge issue come playoffs and Worlds.
Courtesy of: LCK Flickr
While Griffin has been looking great so far this split, they drop two spots to 4th in the power rankings. Their week started off with a tough 1-2 loss at the hands of SANDBOX highlighted by the team’s struggles with piloting a Sona bot lane. However, that issue may have been solved in time for their match against Hanwha as Griffin dominated in Game 1 with a Sona Bot lane.
Despite the 1-1 week, Griffin has looked great as a team and on an individual level. If they’re able to keep it up this Split instead of falling short near the end, Griffin could find themselves back in the finals and maybe on their way to Worlds. While they still have a long road ahead, the beginning of the split has been reassuring.
Courtesy of: LCK Flickr
With an amazing 2-0 week after taking down the two finalists of the Spring Split, SANDBOX head into a new week at 3rd in the power rankings. With their victory, the team continues to look better and better. While their mid to late game decision making can still be questionable at times, it has improved greatly since the Spring Split.
Throughout their impressive 2-0 week, the standout players were their top lane duo of top laner Park “Summit” Woo-tae and jungler Kim “OnFleek” Jang-gyeom. Overall, the entire team played great as expected as they continued to dominate early games. As SANDBOX continues to fix up any mistakes they’re making, don’t be surprised if they become the team to beat near the end of the split.
Courtesy of: LCK Flickr
Kingzone continues to impress despite falling to 2nd in the power rankings as the team as able to avenge their semifinals loss to SKT with a convincing 2-0 and lost a very competitive series to Afreeca. The most surprising aspect of Kingzone’s amazing start to the split has been that it hasn’t been simply due to ADC Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu, who hasn’t even picked up a single MVP award for the split yet.
Instead of the team relying solely on Deft, players like jungler Moon “Cuzz” Woo-chan continues to step up. On top of that mid laner Yoo “Naehyun” Nae-hyun continues to have his best split yet as he plays a huge role in Kingzone’s victories and has held his own against some of the best mid laners in the region. With the entire team continuing to step up their game, the stop of the Kingzone hype train is nowhere in sight. Will they be able to make it to worlds though? That will be decided soon enough.
Courtesy of: LCK Flickr
If fans were told during the Spring Split that Afreeca would be this good in the Summer Split, there’s a good chance that no one would’ve believed it. But crazier things have happened as Afreeca continues to dominate with a 2-0 week as they climb to the top of the power rankings.
With mid laner Son “Ucal” Woo-hyeon continuing to dominate, Afreeca’s solo lanes with top laner Kim “Kiin” Gi-in have finally lived up to expectations as one of the best mid and top duo in the league. Along with that, jungler Lee “Dread” Jin-hyeok and ADC Kim “Aiming” Ha-ram continue to improve as the team keeps on winning. If the team can continue to play at their current level, they may be the team to beat.
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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