LCS Power Rankings: H2k leads the way after the first week
— -- The first week of League of Legends Championship Series has concluded, and 20 teams have begun their campaigns to make it to the world championships this fall. North America kicked off with the highly anticipated homecoming of TSM's Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng against his former squad, Counter Logic Gaming. The weekend ended with the fastest LCS game of all time when the Immortals shellacked an undermanned Team Impulse in 18 minutes. Europe was equally full of surprises during Week 1, as the favorite to take home the EU title, Origen, started its season winless.
1. H2k-Gaming
Record: 2-0 | Region: EU
The reloaded H2k steamrolled through the first round of the EU LCS, capping off its strong start with a 28-minute victory over worlds semifinalist Origen. Konstantinos "FORG1VEN" Tzortziou was untouchable in Week 1, securing 12 kills, accruing no deaths, and assisting 11 times (12/0/11) in his team's first two games. Could this be the start of a new powerhouse in the EU region?
2. Immortals
Record: 2-0 | Region: NA
One of the best LCS teams on paper heading into the spring split, Immortals did not disappoint in its debut. It overwhelmed a good Cloud9 team on Saturday, and one-upped itself when it completed a perfect game (no deaths on its side) in 18 minutes versus Team Impulse.
3. NRG eSports
Record: 2-0 | Region: NA
NRG was forced to use two subs in its opening day game against Team Dignitas, but it still pulled out the hard-fought victory. Jung "Impact" Eon-yeong returned on Sunday, however, and led his squad to the perfect 2-0 start with a 5/2/9 carry performance on Fiora. NRG's import mid laner, Lee "GBM" Chang-seok, won MVP awards for Week 1 from Riot.
4. G2 Esports
Record: 2-0 | Region: EU
The surprise team of Week 1, G2 Esports didn't drop a game, with two impressive wins over the reconstructed Elements and Team ROCCAT squads. Watch out for its new Korean import jungler, Kim "Trick" Gang-yun, who dominated in Week 1 with a two-game scoreline of 6/1/21.
5. Unicorns of Love
Record: 2-0 | Region: EU
Are the Unicorns of Love back? Following a slump to end what was an incredible first year in the LCS, UoL changed up its starting five, most notably adding veteran Danil "Diamondprox" Reshetnikov. How did the legendary Russian jungler do in his first week on the job? A 7/3/11 and two victories over Splyce and Giants Gaming.
6. Cloud9
Record: 1-1 | Region: NA
Although Cloud9 dropped its first game to Immortals, it was able to come firing back on Sunday against Echo Fox to get its record back to even. It will be interesting to see how captain and shot caller Hai "Hai" Lam transitions into his new role as support in the coming weeks.
7. Fnatic
Record: 1-1 | Region: EU
The first week of the EU LCS for the worlds semifinalists Fnatic was a mixed bag. Day 1 couldn't have gone any better, with the new-look Fnatic routing rival Origen in the opening-day match. But Friday showed that it still has a lot to learn, dropping to Vitality in an equally one-sided matchup. This "neo Fnatic" surely has the talent to make it a three-peat in the EU LCS for the organization; however, it'll come down to its practice and communication if it wants to achieve that feat.
8. Team Dignitas
Record: 1-1 | Region: NA
Could Dignitas be on track for another Cinderella season? The boys in black and yellow fell in a close contest to NRG Esports on Saturday, yet looked exceedingly better the next day in its commanding win over defending champion CLG. How far can rookie LCS coach Barento "Razleplasm" Mohammed take Dignitas this split?
9. Counter Logic Gaming
Record: 1-1 | Region: NA
Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes was nearly perfect in his LCS entrance on Saturday against Team SoloMid, but the rookie AD carry and the rest of CLG were rocked in their second game of the season against Dignitas. As long as CLG can find consistency with its newer members, it should be a strong competitor in the NA LCS.
10. Vitality
Record: 1-1 | Region: EU
A preseason top-four favorite in EU LCS, Vitality almost lost its entire offseason momentum after getting blown out by ROCCAT on opening day. It found its bearings on Day 2, though, grabbing an all-important first victory of the season against the defending champions of Europe in Fnatic.
11. Team SoloMid
Record: 1-1 | Region: NA
Is Team SoloMid better than the 11th-place team in all of LCS? Most likely, yes. Does it deserve to be rated higher after its first weekend? Probably not. It got suffocated versus CLG's objective control in the NA LCS kickoff, and it was on the brink of defeat against Liquid before taking advantage of an overextension and winning in comeback fashion. TSM can make up for a slow start if it can beat the undefeated Immortals on Saturday.
12. ROCCAT
Record: 1-1 | Region: EU
It was a good week for a team that was pegged by many to have to fight to get out of a relegation spot this split. The Cats started off well with a win on opening day against the hyped-up Vitality squad, and but came back to earth a bit with a loss to the currently perfect G2 Esports. They will need former Gambit players Felix "Betsy" Edling and Edward "Edward" Abgaryan to step up if they want to make the playoffs.
13. Origen
Record: 0-2 | Region: EU
Some will argue that the 0-2 Origen should be even lower than 13th, but you have to remember who it faced in Week 1: Fnatic and H2k-Gaming. Although you would have expected the IEM San Jose champion to at least take one of its opening two games, it was given one of the toughest Round 1 matchups possible. Who's next for OG? The unbeaten UoL and a preseason favorite in Vitality.
14. Renegades
Record: 1-1 | Region: NA
It took more than an hour to finally put away Liquid on Saturday, and it wasn't able to end the weekend spotless, with a loss to NRG on the second day. Still, the Renegades should feel optimistic about their Week 1 performance as the only Challenger team from last season currently in the NA LCS. Ales "Freeze" Knezinek has been outstanding in his first two games in NA, participating in 92 percent of his team's kills and currently holding a KDA of 5.5.
15. Elements
Record: 1-1 | Region: EU
The 2016 spring Elements squad won't win any awards on paper, but it proved this past week that you can't always judge a book by its cover. Sure, it was dropped by G2 Esports in its first game of the season, but that didn't stop Elements from taking out the rookie, Splyce, in its next match. Once considered a super-team when it started in the LCS, the now-underdogs will look to prove its critics wrong in the upcoming weeks.
16. Echo Fox
Record: 1-1 | Region: NA
It was an interesting first weekend for Rick Fox's LCS expansion team. Echo Fox started off well enough, picking apart Team Impulse in its franchise debut. Unfortunately, its win over TiP looked a lot less impressive following Immortals' 18-minute perfect game over the same Impulse squad the following game. Its weekend also ended on a sour note, getting romped by Cloud9 in 28 minutes.
17. Liquid
Record: 0-2 | Region: NA
The experimental 10-man roster for Liquid has a chance to put it in good position for the playoffs if it can find the right five-man starting lineup, but that's going to take time. Liquid had the longest average game time for the first week of LCS, even breaking the hour mark against the Renegades. It was seemingly minutes away from pulling out its first win of the season against TSM, but couldn't close the door in the late-game with the lead.
18. Giants Gaming
Record: 0-2 | Region: EU
Giants was the surprise story of last split's EU LCS, going from cannon fodder to a legitimate playoff team. This season, if things don't change quickly, the Spanish organization might find itself right back to being one of the contenders for relegation. Giants managed to secure only one kill against H2k in its opener, and then lost to the Unicorns on Friday to stay winless.
19. Splyce
Record: 0-2 | Region: EU
The former Dignitas Europe squad, Splyce entered Europe this campaign with a lot of good buzz. Could it possibly get into the playoffs in its first season? Could Chres "Sencux" Laursen be the next great prodigy out of the Danish region? So far, it has been a struggle for the rookie lineup, failing to make an impact in either of its opening week games.
20. Team Impulse
Record:0-2 | Region: NA
In what will most likely be the only ranking people don't argue, Team Impulse is the worst team in the LCS. No, let me rephrase that -- Team Impulse had possibly the worst weekend of any LCS team in history. It got smashed by an Echo Fox team that got blown out the next day against Cloud9, and then it followed up that performance with an 18-minute loss to Immortals without managing a single kill, tower or dragon. The silver lining in all of this: I mean, it can't get any worse, right?
