With South Korea’s League of Legends Champions Korea and China’s League of Legends Pro League back in action, Upcomer’s weekly LoL global power rankings are officially making a return after a brief hiatus.
This past week, the LPL’s best continued to surge, with LNG Esports, Edward Gaming and Royal Never Give Up looking about as strong as ever at the top of our list. Meanwhile, in the LCK, multiple teams fielded subs this week for various reasons, and the battle for third place is heating up. Unfortunately for North American and European fans, the League of Legends European Championship and League Championship Series didn’t manage to sneak onto this week’s list.
Here are the top 10 teams that impressed us the most this past week.
10. DRX, LCK
Record: 5-3 (10-8) | Results this week: 2-0 (4-2) | Movement this week: new
DRX are the new, hot LCK team to slot in at the bottom of our rankings, thanks to Western teams (Rogue Esports) falling off in the past week. DRX ended last week with statement series wins against KT Rolster and Hanwha Life Esports. While they dropped a game in both matches, DRX, and their Academy players that slotted in during the KT series, look strong and have separated themselves from the LCK middle pack.
The highlight of the team continues to be Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu who has yet to have a truly bad game this split. While it may be easy to look good, or serviceable, as a bot laner in most game outcomes, Deft himself has remained a rock even in losses for DRX, regardless of who his laning partner is. Next week, DRX have a chance to prove if they are a real contender in the rankings as they play DWG KIA and HLE again.
– Declan McLaughlin
9. Victory Five, LPL
Record: 5-1 (11-7) | Results this week: 2-0 (4-2) | Movement this week: new
Victory Five came into Week 4 of the LPL 2022 spring split with their first loss of the season against Weibo Gaming. Before the 2-1 loss to WBG, V5 were actually undefeated. With a lack of quality wins, however, many were skeptical of their fluke-ish start. But in Week 4, they started to change opinions.
Both of V5’s Week 4 matches went to Game 3, but the No. 9 team in the world picked up wins against Invictus Gaming and OMG. The duo of Song “Rookie” Eui-jin and Hung “Karsa” Hau-Hsuan are proving too much to handle for the mid-to-lower tier teams in the league.
V5 are now 5-1 in the LPL. But, with an 11-7 game record, they will need to continue to beat up the lower teams while hanging against the top teams to stay on this list. Their first real test is coming up soon, as they square off against Royal Never Give Up in their first match of Week 5.
– Warren Younger
8. Bilibili Gaming, LPL
Record: 4-2 (10-6) | Results this week: 1-1 (3-2) | Movement this week: -2
Bilibili Gaming faced LNG Esports as their last opponent, a team comfortably sitting at the first place of the LPL right now. While this best-of-three resulted in a loss for BLG, they still managed to put up a decent fight by winning a game. They did the same previously against RNG Esports.
While the team is still playing their bot laner Chiu “Doggo” Tzu-Chuan (with the legend Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao waiting on the bench), they don’t fail to impress. Last week they also proved their strength against teams at the bottom of the standings by beating ThunderTalk Gaming with a record of 2-0.
For Bilibili Gaming to climb up in this ranking, they’ll probably have to finally win a series against the few teams above them in the standings.
– Brieuc “LEC Wooloo” Seeger
7. DWG KIA, LCK
Record: 5-3 (13-6) | Results this week: 2-0 (4-0) | | Movement this week: +2
DWG KIA ended Week 4 of the LCK with flawless wins and an incredible performance from mid laner Heo “ShowMaker” Su. His tank build on Ryze helped DK secure the Baron in Game 1 against Kwangdong Freecs, even after losing both their Jungler and AD Carry.
However, we cannot rank DK any higher given that those wins came against Freecs and Liiv SANDBOX, the bottom teams in the LCK standings.
While there are still uncertainties around the team, DK are gradually finding stability in the top lane with Noh “Burdol” Tae-yoon starting. The young top laner ended Game 2 against SANDBOX with a 6/0/3 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) on Camille.
Even though DK still look like a team finding their rhythm, their constant individual out plays sees them in third position, only behind Gen.G Esports and T1.
– Rashidat Jimoh
6. Gen.G, LCK
Record: 6-2 (12-7) | Results this week: 1-1 (3-2) | | Movement this week: -1
This past week was a very hectic one for the Gen.G camp.
For the uninformed, certain members of Gen.G’s starting lineup tested positive for COVID-19, and others were required to self-isolate in quarantine as a result. Against Liiv SANDBOX, Gen.G subbed in jungler Ko “YoungJae” Yeong-jae to fill in for Han “Peanut” Wang-ho and Park “Lospa” Joon-hyeong to replace Son “Lehends” Si-woo. In their match against T1, the team swapped Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon to top lane to replace a sick Choi “Doran” Hyeon-joon while Lim “Quid” Hyeon-seung stepped up to play mid lane.
Despite the roster musical chairs, a 1-1 week is still impressive from Gen.G, especially since they were able to give the undefeated T1 a run for their money. The biggest takeaway from this week for Gen.G are probably the strength and potential YoungJae was able to showcase. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery for Gen.G’s sick players.
– Nick Ray
5. T1, LCK
Record: 8-0 (16-4) | Results this week: 2-0 (4-1) | Movement this week: -2
Sorry-not-sorry in advance to all the T1 fans: I think T1’s fifth-place spot in this list should be met with skepticism despite their record. Their series with Gen.G was very sloppy despite their fielding three substitutes.
T1 made silly mistakes such as bot laner Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong and support Ryu “Keria” Min-seok engaging in a fight at mid when one of their side lanes were shoved in. There was also another instance where jungler Moon “Oner” Hyeon-joon charged recklessly into a bot-side river that was entirely in Gen.G’s control, and the only reason he wasn’t immediately punished was a mechanical error by Gen.G.
The top LPL teams don’t make these elementary mistakes. T1 will have to continue to grow and shore up those errors if they want to face down China’s titans on an international stage.
– Michael “miko” Ahn
4. Weibo Gaming, LPL
Record: 6-1 (12-5) | Results this week: 2-0 (4-1) | Movement this week: +3
Weibo Gaming are one of the strongest teams in the strongest region of League of Legends. Despite their stumble against Bilibili Gaming, the Chinese team won their next four series against strong opponents like Victory Five and FunPlus Phoenix.
Their roster is very competitive, with some of the best mechanical players in the world, headlined by former world champion top laner Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok. TheShy, alongside jungler Lê “SofM” Quang Duy and bot lane star Tang “huanfeng” Huan-Feng, will likely keep this team in the top 10 barring a remarkable internal collapse from the squad.
Their most recent highlight, however, comes from an impressive 2-0 win over Edward Gaming. Off the back of their performance, this Weibo Gaming team looks like a force to be reckoned with in the LPL.
– Alejandro Gomis
3. Royal Never Give Up, LPL
Record: 6-1 (12-5) | Results this week: 1-0 (2-0) | Movement this week: +1
OK — Parkes usually does blurbs for the Royal squad, but I’m stepping in for him today. No jeers and thrown bottles, please.
RNG are a staple in the top-three, and it looks like the trend will continue in the Year of the Tiger, a worldwide celebration of how incredible of a player mid laner Li “Xiaohu” Yuan-Hao is.
Didn’t see that one coming, did ya?
Xiaohu has been the crux of RNG’s six-game, with his latest performance on Corki and Ryze in which RNG defeated Top Esports. RNG looked shaky at the beginning, even in their wins, but the team seems to be coming together.
Top laner Chen “Bin” Ze-Bin looked more comfortable in the TES series, and this bodes well, because RNG take on the undefeated LNG Esports this week. Other than being a guaranteed banger of a match, this series might also give eager LPL fans more insight as to whether either team can challenge the current kings, Edward Gaming, for the spring throne.
– E.G. Kant
2. Edward Gaming, LPL
Record: 5-1 (10-3) Results this week: 1-1 (2-2) | | Movement this week: -1
Edward Gaming are no longer on top of the world in this week’s power rankings.
After taking the last two weeks off for the Chinese New Year, EDG came into Week 4 of the LPL 2022 spring split refreshed, and it showed. Li “Flandre” Xuan-Jun was back in the starting roster, and although he didn’t have the best return, it was business as usual for EDG in their lone match against Team WE. They cleaned house with a quick 2-0 sweep. The revolving door of talent for EDG turned once again as their superstar bot laner Park “Viper” Do-hyeon picked up both player of the game honors.
Then Week 5 rolled around and the tables turned on EDG. Despite being on track to make a run for the number one spot, their recent run-in with Weibo Gaming brought them their first 0-2 defeat of the split. The one-sided match could’ve been a sign of an off week, but we’ll have to see if the defending world champs bounce back when they face FPX and Invictus Gaming next.
– Younger
1. LNG Esports, LPL
Record: 6-0 (12-3) | Results this week: 2-0 (4-1) | Movement this week: +1
LNG continue to impress me with the powerful map manipulation that Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang takes to every team he is in. With Doinb in the mid lane, LNG are the most comfortable team with applying a side-lane centric tactic that revolves around blitz side-lane pushes and flanks onto the mid lane. This goes against the mid-centric macro that has been predominant throughout League of Legends esports this spring.
Doinb’s competition has significantly intensified, with Xiaohu and Song “Rookie” Eui-jin surging with their respective teams. However, Doinb was never a mechanical genius. He is the commander of the Rift, and his army is ready to win.
– miko
Regional Rankings
LCS
1. Team Liquid (TL)
2. 100 Thieves (100T)
3. Cloud9 (C9)
4. Evil Geniuses (EG)
5. Dignitas QNTMPAY (DIG)
LEC
1. Fnatic (FNC)
2. G2 Esports (G2)
3. Rogue (RGE)
4. Excel (XL)
5. Misfits (MSF)
LCK
1. T1 (T1)
2. Gen.G (GEN)
3. DWG KIA (DK)
4. DRX (DRX)
5. KT Rolster (KT)
LPL
1. LNG Esports (LNG)
2. Edward Gaming (EDG)
3. Royal Never Give Up (RNG)
4. Weibo Gaming (WBG)
5. Bilibili Gaming (BLG)
Published: Feb 15, 2022 02:03 pm