With another week of League of Legends in the books, the standings in each of the professional leagues around the globe are finally starting to take shape.
Three weeks into the League Championship Series means we’re now one third of the way through the new shortened 18-game season. The League of Legends Pro League in China is now also at a similar spot, four weeks through their eleven week affair. After one more week, the Korean league LCK will reach its halfway point.
We’re finally able to see which teams are rising from the flock, and we’re here with the stats to show who.
In the LCS, Counter Logic Gaming and Team SoloMid proved they’re ahead of the pack by securing a stranglehold at the top of the standings. Mid laner Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg continued his transcendent play with a decimation of third place Team Impulse, posting a 30 KDA on the week with an 83.3 percent kill participation. For Counter Logic Gaming, jungler Jake “Xmithie” Puchero is starting to find the form that had him ranked as possibly the best jungler in America two years ago. Also rising this week were Cloud9, who finally put two wins on the board, and Dignitas, who played well with their new jungler. Dignitas marksman Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in finally showed some of his vaunted mechanical skill, posting a 12/2/8 KDA line as Dignitas picked up an upset win over Team Liquid.
Europe continues to be the SK Gaming show, as the team bested Elements to secure sole possession of first place as the only undefeated team left in either LCS league. This time, Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen powered their wins from the jungle with a whopping 96.6 percent kill participation.
Over in Korea, cinderella squad GE Tigers continued their reign by sweeping NaJin em-Fire, in large part thanks to a 15 KDA out of their jungler Lee Ho-Jin. But the real match of the week featured Jin Air Green Wings and CJ Entus. The Jin Air team swept the day, placing the two teams and SK Telecom T1 into a three-way tie for second place in the LCK. Breakout mid laner Lee “GBM” Chang-seok decimated CJ Entus with a 13/1/21 KDA line in their two games.
But the real MVP this week, across all regions?
Chinese jungler Ming “Clearlove” Kai. Edward Gaming’s veteran jungler posted a ridiculous 20/1/61 KDA line, or an 81 KDA, in six winning games this week, boosting the team to the top of the LPL standings. Granted, the competition Edward Gaming faced wasn’t the best—Master3, World Elite, and Gamtee are three bottom half teams. But it’s hard to argue with a number like 81. Plus, the games were important: they secured Edward Gaming’s position as the top team in the league, ahead of OMG and Snake. OMG posted a 2-2 record in two 1-1 series against Invictus Gaming and Gamtee despite getting 40 kills in those four maps from mid laner Yu “Cool” Jia-jun. Snake traded games with Vici Gaming. But Edward Gaming took care of business.
This week, we’re in for a couple huge games. Team SoloMid and Counter Logic Gaming will square off for the top spot in the LCS in North America, while GE Tigers and SK Telecom T1 will do the same in Korea. In China, middling LGD Gaming and Star Horn Royal Club get shots at jumping in the standings against OMG and Snake, respectively. And in Europe, the middle of the standings, featuring teams like Unicorns of Love, H2k, and ROCCAT, might finally find some clarity.
