Week five was one of the most chaotic weeks so far in the LEC this year. Last Friday, nearly everyone had their picks blow up in their faces as upset after upset occurred.
But then a funny thing happened. Despite the virtual armageddon that happened in the picks on Saturday, our voters didn’t change their opinion of the 10 LEC teams all that much. When we asked them to rank each team from 1one point (worst) to 10 points (best), only two teams, Fnatic and SK, changed in rank from last week.
Here’s how the final rankings turned out.
Rank | Team | Points |
1) | G2 Esports | 40 |
2) | Team Vitality | 35 |
3) | FC Schalke 04 | 31 |
4) | Origen | 30 |
5) | Splyce | 22 |
6) | Misfits | 20 |
7) | SK Gaming | 17 |
8) | Fnatic | 13 |
9) | Excel Esports | 8 |
10) | Rogue | 4 |
A detailed breakdown of each tier is as follows.
Reboot: Excel, Rogue
Both of these teams took steps to rebooting last week. Excel brought in a new mid laner, Joran “Special” Scheffer, while Rogue subbed in top laner Finn “Finn” WiestĂĄl and support Oskar “Vander” Bogdan.
Rogue did finally pick up a win with the new players, but these changes probably don’t go far enough. The natural next move is for Excel to make a sub at jungle and for Rogue to pair Vander with a new bot laner. Konstantinos “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou will be discharged from Greek military service in just over a month.
Fifty-fifty: Splyce, Misfits, SK Gaming, Fnatic
The most likely scenario for playoffs is that only two teams of this group make it. For some reasons, our voters are still down on SK’s chances despite a clean 2-0 that was the best week of any of these four teams. Based on the first five weeks, SK jungler Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek is contending with Splyce mid Marek “Humanoid” Brázda for rookie of the split honors.
Both Misfits and Fnatic stumbled badly in key situations last week. Both continue to play with their brains turned off, giving no thought to where they should position their players or where they have vision on the map. That’s a great formula for an early vacation.
Up or down: Schalke, Origen
Schalke started the year hot, but the Saturday loss to Vitality set them back a bit. That game was a fun duel between two strong junglers, but unfortunately for Schalke, Vitality picked up the win.
Origen on the other hand look like they’re waking up. The win over G2 was big, and the crit ADC meta should be good for them. Schalke has remained in the third spot in these rankings since the start of the season. But if Origen keep performing well, they could send Schalke down to fourth and take third for themselves.
Not perfect: G2, Vitality
Week five wasn’t perfect for either of the LEC’s frontrunners. Both have yet to show complete affinity for the crit ADC meta. Whichever one figures it out first will likely win it all come playoff time.
Published: Feb 21, 2019 03:38 pm