LCK rankings W2

This is my new weekly LCK rankings, I’ll go in depth into the team rankings as well as putting my top 3 of each position forward. I also say who is the MVP in each position for me.

Team rankings

1. SKT: Still undefeated and defending champions. We’ll see if any team can take them down any time soon. The team just can’t lose a P/B phase with Faker’s champion pool and the comfort the whole team has in this cinderhulk meta.
2. CJ: I really have problems putting them here but they managed to beat KT so they deserve it for now. I’m not sure if Coco can keep them here for much longer. They don’t seem to improve and space is really lacking in the botlane. He picks champions he enjoys but don’t work great against his opponents comp. And he can’t even consistently dominate on those champions.
3. KT: Convincingly beating Jin Air and almost beating CJ gives them this spot deservingly. They stomped CJ in game one and only godlike plays from Coco stopped them from sweeping the series. Their early game pressure is great with Score in the jungle and Fixer making sure Arrow gets through the laning phase. They seem to improve every week and I’m always excited to see them play.
4. JAG: They get this spot because they haven’t lost to a bottom team yet. The team has looked good once more. Pilot seems to take up a role as a top level ADC while GBM is finally converting his champion pool. Chaser looks like himself again but now on Cinderhulk champions and Sweet’s Bard is still permabanned so that means something. They don’t deserve top 3 but they look to keep this spot for a long time.
5. KOO: The Tigers barely survived a 2-0 stomp from Samsung. Their rotational and strategical play is still great but they need to fix their early game. They’re getting punched hard by all bottom teams and need to step up their game or they’ll fall even lower.
6. Samsung: Bringing out a brilliant global strategy and just being so aggressive in the early game puts Samsung a step above the other bottom teams. Some miscommunication and objective control in the midgame is preventing them from going much higher. Their overall skill seems to have improved to a level comparable to other teams. I have high hopes for them in the future.
7. Najin: The amount of talent on this line-up and the fact that they beat KOO is keeping them from dropping even lower. Both Duke and Ohq show again and again how skilled they are individually but their teamplay and especially Ggoong is dragging Najin down. They need to beat IM convincingly next week to prove they aren’t a bottom team.
8. IM: Barely beating Anarchy puts you above them but all of the hype after the promotion tournament is pretty much gone. IM still remains at the bottom of the barrel until they show otherwise.
9. Anarchy: They thrive in aggression and chaos with mickey on his good assassins. Anarchy can throw punches but has a hard time knocking someone out completely.
10. Sbenu: If you can’t beat a team with a 7K gold lead and a better comp you just deserve this position. Sbenu has a lot of players and a big organisation behind them but the team synergy and skill is at a very low point.

Player rankings

Top

1. Duke: He was the best last split and keeps being great. Tough time against SKT this week but he managed to get another solokill against Marin’s Nunu.
2. Marin: Sometimes a bit too cocky in his limits but he has a great champion pool and can dominate when he puts his mind to it.
3. Shy: In purely individual strength, I think he is still above the others in the league. I want to see if he can move away from the smite toplane meta and be dominating on all the rest. (not being good at Gnar is still a major problem)

Runner ups for third: Smeb and Ssumday

Jungle

1. Score: He was the only reason KT got any wins last split and with his team finally backing him up, he only looks better.
2. Eve: Being a very aggressive jungler that isn’t afraid to experiment, he has never looked better with his team’s solo laners finally stepping up.
3. Bengi: They let Tom out of his cage for practice against the easy teams but when SKT really needs to win Bengi comes to the rescue, most of the time. He is a solid jungler that still can’t be underestimated. Korea’s jungle position is exceptionally weak for the region but he brings some consistency at least.

Mid

1. Faker: If Faker has critics, then they’re very quiet at the moment. He makes winning look easy and picks up champions in a moments notice. I doubt I’ll ever remove him from this position until he retires.
2. Coco: I’m in love with the Coco. Then again,who isn’t after another great week for the CJ mid laner? He has been great since he joined CJ Frost and continues to impress on a mechanical lvl. As long as he keeps adapting to the meta and pick up new champions, he remains a top level player.
3. Nagne: With GBM still slightly struggling with his champion pool, Nagne stepped up and overtook the Jin Air midlaner. Not only can he go back on his old comfort champs like LB, he is also putting up stellar performances on new meta picks like Cassiopeia.

ADC: I will delay my choice on this for a week and just put these 3 as my top 3 but in no order. I can’t say yet. They all have good and bad moments.

-Pilot: Solid adc that is transitioning from safe long range ability ADCs to high-mechanic ones. He is growing towards the perfect package, but still has a way to go.
-Ohq: Brilliant mechanics, but as long as he has those OH-Q moments, he won’t be the best of the best.
-Bang: He’s good in lane, can play whatever you want but he plays with Faker and hasn’t had any real competition lately. He rarely shows to be head and shoulders above the rest but he never shows the opposite either.

Support

1. Fixer: Making sure Arrow gets CS in lane isn’t an easy task. Other than that, Fixer has been a great playmaker on many different champs. Since he joined KT, the team revitalised and everyone just seems to play better. Hard to find a more impactful support in Korea at the moment.
2. Wolf: Rounding out the solid duo lane of SKT, Wolf brings a variety of different champions to the lane. Although not always successful, he picks what the team needs and is an excellent roamer.
3. Madlife: Looking mostly back to his old form, mainly hook champions are bringing Madlife success. We have to see how if he can still be as impactful on strong peel champions like Janna or Morgana.

MVP of the week

• Top: Ssumday
  Having a great performance against both Shy and Tracer it’s hard to argue who outperformed Ssumday this week. Using a variety of champions like Yasuo, he was almost unstoppable this week. Only the combined power of Coco and Madlife Could hold Ssumday back of running all over them.
• Jungle: Score
  Score is an unstoppable beast in the jungle. He managed to get his team ahead in almost every game this week.
• Mid: Coco
  Cj almost dropped the ball against SBenu but even then Coco looked great and he looked amazing vs KT. Outlaning Nagne in game 2 and almost single-handedly winning every teamfight in game 3. Coco went deep but kept his team at the top of the standings.
• ADC: Pilot
  Pulling out more than just Ezreal and Corki this week. Pilot couldn’t keep his team from losing to KT but he is performed excellent and is looking to become a great ADC if he keeps it up.
• Support: Madlife: The only CJ member other than Coco that looked decent against KT. Managing to keep space alive together with Coco in the most crucial fights secured them the win and he deserves some recognition for that.

Next weeks I will focus more on why teams and players switched positions and put even more focus on all the roles

If you have your own top 10 or ideas, you can tell me in the comments or on twitter @antdrioite.