LCK power rankings: 2022 Spring Split week 2

After two weeks of play in the 2022 regular season, the LCK is beginning to separate its title favorites from the would-be contenders. With seven weeks left to go until the Spring Split wraps up, though, it’s unfair to say that every team is locked into their relative position in our rankings—especially considering many of the teams in the league have yet to play each other in 2022. 

By no means is the LCK a definitively solid league. In fact, with half of the region locked in a quasi-tie for sixth with match records of 1-3—separated only by individual game records—there’s plenty of room for squads in the bottom half of the LCK to jump up the standings.

With early-season results in mind, these are our LCK power rankings after week two of the 2022 Spring Split. 

Shifting beneath the sand: Kwangdong Freecs, Liiv Sandbox, Hanwha Life Esports

Although five of the 10 League of Legends teams in the LCK currently sport losing records, these three look to be in the worst positions to start off the year. Hanwha Life and Liiv Sandbox, in particular, are both on three-match losing streaks, with Kwangdong Freecs finding their only win against the slumping Sandbox. 

Still, just one match technically separates these teams from a top-five playoff seed (if the split were to end today), while Hanwha Life are the sixth-best team in the league standings-wise. So while it’s possible that one of these three squads could go on a lukewarm run to propel them higher in the standings (and our rankings), early-season results are suggesting otherwise. 

Unanswered questions: DRX, Fredit Brion

Both Fredit Brion and DRX sit with records of 1-3 after two weeks of play—just one match out of a would-be playoff spot. But even despite the fact that one good week could catapult either of these squads into the upper echelon of the league, it’s hard to defend the claim that either DRX or Brion look like playoff-caliber teams in their current states. 

Although DRX won their most recent match against Kwangdong Freecs, the team is only so high in our rankings this week because their relative ceiling remains higher than most other teams’ thanks to the talent present on their starting lineup. We’re inclined to believe that a team sporting proven names like Deft, BeryL, and Pyosik—each of whom have qualified for Worlds at some point in the last two years—is worth more than their league-worst -252 gold differential per minute. Should they continue to play below their paygrade, though, DRX could slide down our rankings. 

Fredit BRION, on the other hand, couldn’t have had a tougher run to open the season. Matches against DWG KIA, T1, and Gen.G put the team behind the curve early. Still, Brion won the one match they were supposed to win (on paper, of course) against Hanwha Life. Furthermore, they held their own against T1, even coming relatively close to victory. Now that the toughest part of Brion’s schedule is behind them, we could see last year’s perennial cellar-dwellers begin to climb up the playoff table as the Spring Split reaches its midpoint two weeks from now. 

Locked out—for now: Nongshim RedForce, DWG KIA, KT Rolster

The top two teams in the LCK—Gen.G and T1—seem relatively hellbent on holding down our rankings’ upper bracket with an iron grip. As a result, teams like Nongshim RedForce, DWG KIA, and KT Rolster have been relegated to the second-best section of our table for the third week in a row. And unless Gen.G and T1 cool off, these three teams could get very acquainted with each other. With quite literally half the league below the 0.500 mark, these three squads are serving as the metaphorical buffer zone between the world title hopefuls and the practically hopeless teams in Korea as it stands. 

If there’s any team to keep an eye on among these three, it’s Nongshim. The team’s standout statistic—gold difference at 15 minutes—could propel them to more victories throughout the season. Right now, Nongshim rank second among LCK teams in gold difference at 15 minutes with a mark of 1,393, according to League stats site Games of Legends. Early leads were the main ingredient in Nongshim’s wins over DWG KIA and KT this past week and they’re certainly going to be their biggest weapon against T1 on Thursday, Jan. 27. 

Race to perfection: Gen.G, T1

It’s arguable that Gen.G and T1 look like more than just the best two teams in Korea—they look like the best two teams in the world just a few weeks into the young 2022 season. Of the major region teams who have played at least nine individual games this year, only two apart from Gen.G and T1 have lost two or less (EDward Gaming and LNG Esports). Both of these rosters are living up to every ounce of preseason hype and they have the spotless match records to prove it. Plus, seven of the 10 highest KDA marks in the LCK belong to players on either Gen.G or T1, according to League stats site Oracle’s Elixir.

If either of these two teams are going to see their perfect record tested this week, it’s T1. Should they lose one of their upcoming early-season contests against Nongshim or DWG KIA—two teams that are right on their heels in both the standings and our power rankings—T1 could be potentially leap-frogged by one of the currently-mid-level playoff contenders. 

If both Gen.G and T1 remain perfect through week three of the 2022 LCK Spring Split, though, their subsequent head-to-head match in week four could finally settle who’s having the stronger start to the season. Right now, the differences in quality are far too minimal to pick a frontrunner.