Team Liquid's CoreJJ after victory over Cloud9.

CoreJJ after his victory over Cloud9. | Provided by Riot Games

LoL global and regional power rankings for Feb. 22

What is the LCS doing in a place like this?

Upcomer Staff

Published: Feb 22, 2022 06:34 pm

If this past week in the League of Legends community didn’t provide enough drama and controversy to satisfy your appetites, we’ve got a fresh set of Upcomer’s weekly global power rankings to top you off.

10. Team Liquid, LCS

Record: 5-1 | Results this week: 2-0 | Movement this week: New

Before you grab your pitchforks and torches, let’s talk this out for a moment. This is the best roster the LCS has ever had, by far. In the solo lanes they have the best-ever LCS mid laner in Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and one of the best-ever western top laners and former League of Legends World Championships finalist, Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau, who literally changed the entire top meta with his builds during their Lock In victory.

Then they have one of the best-ever western bot laners, Steven “Hans sama” Liv, paired with perhaps the best player to ever play in NA and former World Champion Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in. All of that is facilitated by one of the best-ever western support style junglers, Lucas “Santorin” Larsen.

We're also so happy you're back @TLCoreJJ
Awesome job today guys 🤝 #TLWIN pic.twitter.com/IoDHHHdWgQ

— Team Liquid Honda LoL (@TeamLiquidLoL) February 20, 2022

Also, taking a look at the last six years of World Championships show that western teams have a place in these rankings. In 2018 and 2019, the finals had a European representative. In 2018, three of the four semifinalists were western. In 2019, the MSI finals was between NA and EU after they beat Invictus Gaming and SK Telecom T1 in the semis.

So yeah, a western team being in the global top ten makes perfect sense. And with Team Liquid finally getting CoreJJ on their starting roster, they’re well within the realm of being a top team in the world.

— Parkes “parqueso” Ousley

9. DWG KIA, LCK

Record: 6-4 (16-9) | Results this week: 1-1 (3-3) | Movement this week: -2

After an inconsistent week in the LCK, DWG KIA drop to ninth place in our rankings. The 2022 split has not gone entirely well for DK and it looks to continue that way. They began Week 5 with a loss to DRX then managed to edge out KT Rolster in the following game. These two series were DK’s toughest since Week 3 and they found it hard to close out the games.

Furthermore, they looked set to take down DRX in Game 3 but started losing control after a bad teleport from Noh “Burdol” Tae-yoon. While they managed to regain control for a while, their poor positioning in the baron fight cost them the game. DK’s overall team coordination in the late game is something that needs to change in the weeks come. Even though they currently sit in third place in the LCK standings, their position is not guaranteed as they face T1 and Kwangdong Freecs in Week 6.

— Rashidat Jimoh

8. Bilibili Gaming, LPL

Record: 5-3 (13-8) | Results this week: 1-1 (3-2) | Movement this week: —

“Where is Uzi???” cry the fans every week as BLG takes to the Rift. Well, he did play recently against Invictus Gaming! Sadly, victory was not on the cards, but hey, at least everyone got a glimpse of what he was still capable of.

You can't just leave Uzi alone and expect to win the fight! #LPL #CrazyIsOurGame pic.twitter.com/lBrjAPeC8N

— LPL (@lplenglish) February 18, 2022

BLG so far have been doing alright for themselves but it’s not enough to contest the current “big five” teams of the LPL. The new players still needs some time to gel as seen in some of their games but when they’re on point, they can be pretty scary to face. Other than Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao, his “understudy” of sorts in Chiu “Doggo” Tzu-Chuan has had some good games, while solo laners Chen “Breathe” Chen and Chu “FoFo” Chun-Lan continue to impress. FoFo even went deathless in both games against Anyone’s Legend recently!

They face Team WE and JD Gaming this week and with some of the top teams facing off against each other, maybe this is the opportunity BLG needs to climb?

(Author’s note: If BLG let Uzi play both series I will convince Upcomer to rank them higher next week! It’ll be fine, no one will read this…)

— E.G. “Megalodontus” Kant

7. Gen.G, LCK

Record: 8-2 (16-7) | Results this week: 2-0 (4-0) | Movement this week: -1

After an unfortunate situation in regards to player health and safety last week, things are slowly returning to normal for the second place Gen.G squad. The team’s week started with Kim “Zest” Dong-min subbing for Choi “Doran” Hyeon-joon in the top lane against NongShim RedForce, but Gen.G finally got to play a game with their full starting five on Feb. 18 against Liiv. SANDBOX. Both games were 2-0’s.

Gen.G Chovy — Chovy is as good as ever on Gen.G. | Provided by Inven Global

While not the strongest strength of schedule, this was a statement 2-0 week for Gen.G, especially after the team had to navigate complications from COVID-19 internally. Lots can be said about the sustainability of Gen.G’s playstyle, but the team has managed to pick up wins even through individual carry performances when necessary.

For now, fans on the “Gen.G superteam” hype train can be glad they finally got their Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon hypercarry match with his 11/1/8 game on Vex against LSB.

— Nick Ray

6. LNG Esports, LPL

Record: 7-1 (15-6) | Results this week: 1-1 (3-3) | Movement this week: -5

Ah LNG, LNG…a team that often stumps the power rankings team on how to rate them. When they are on the same page, they often look terrifying. But that’s the caveat, isn’t it?

LNG dropping to sixth doesn’t mean they’ve suddenly become terrible, however. They’ve just not been very consistent, dropping an odd Game 1 to Anyone’s Legend and losing to Royal Never Give Up recently, though that series against Royal Never Give Up was pretty close. In a team of veteran names, bot laner Wang “Light” Guang-Yu lives up to his gamertag as one of the bright spots of LNG with his many carry performances, while jungler Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong does what he does best when he’s unleashed.

This week is very grueling for LNG, admittedly. They face Weibo Gaming on Thursday and Victory Five on Sunday. A true test to see if LNG will live up to the high expectations just about everyone has for them.

— Kant

5. Royal Never Give Up, LPL

Record: 7-3 (15-10) | Results this week: 1-2 (2-5) | Movement this week: -2

Needless to say, RNG have had a rough week. The good news is that they beat LNG Esports, and one of their losses was to V5, both of which are on this global top 10 ranking. The bad news is, they still only went 2-5 on the week and lost 0-2 to Rare Atom, a pretty lackluster team in the LPL this split.

RNG Xiaohu for Lunar New Year — Xiaohu’s return to the mid lane has been bright, but his top lane replacement needs more coordination. | Provided by the LPL

They clearly have the roster to contend for the Summoner’s Cup, but they also have work to do before they can. Chen “Bin” Ze-Bin often seems like he’s on a different page as the rest of his team. They need to communicate their plans better and figure out how to tie him in, because if they don’t teams are going to start exploiting it and RNG is gonna fall off this list fast.

— Ousley

4. Victory Five, LPL

Record: 7-1 (15-8) | Results this week: 2-0 (4-1) | Movement this week: +5

Wait, why are Victory Five here? Shouldn’t they be, you know, fifth place since namesake and all? Never mind.

Bad jokes aside, Victory Five have been slowly scaling their way into the top five of the LPL on the back of their mid/jungle duo: veterans Song “Rookie” Eui-jin and Hung “Karsa” Hao-Hsuan. Rookie especially has looked revitalized and has had some incredible showings. The new additions to top and bot lane in Lee “Rich” Jae-won and Ying “Photic” Qi-Shen have looked much more comfortable as well, as V5 seem to be finding their groove. That being said, their trend of taking almost every series, except the one against RNG, to Game 3 and almost always losing Game 1 could be cause for concern. Maybe they need one game to get the ‘int’ out of their system, who knows…

I think the V5 players are paid per hour.

8 series played, 7 of them went to 3 games. It's actually hilarious. #LPL pic.twitter.com/bkJwEV1rx1

— Joe Fenny (@HeyMunchables) February 21, 2022

This week they’ve taken LGD Gaming to three games (don’t watch Game 1), and they face LNG Esports next. Rookie vs. Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang should be a treat for fans worldwide!

— Kant

3. Weibo Gaming, LPL

Record: 7-1 (15-5) | Results this week: 1-0 (2-0) | Movement this week: +1

Weibo continues on the road to victory, week adding one more win to their record last week.

They currently have a total of seven wins and one loss playing with the great top laner Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok in top form. Weibo Gaming destroyed Ulta Prime in two quick games that were decided from the beginning. In addition to playing against Edward Gaming, which they also won 2-0.

This week they face their rival LNG on Thursday, and the match should widen their distance in the standings one way or another.

— Alejandro “anonimotum” Gomis

2. T1, LCK

Record: 10-0 (20-5) | Results this week: 2-0 (4-1) | Movement this week: +3

At a certain point, wins outweigh our analytical assessment of individual teams and T1 have continued to oppress one of the top leagues in the world, defeating both KT Rolster and Nongshim RedForce last week. While how they will stack up internationally is still up in the air, along with the rest of the teams on this list, with the LPL’s obvious split in its top cluster, T1 can slot in nicely in this top two spot.

Right? @Upcomer

— T1 LoL (@T1LoL) February 20, 2022

Gameplay-wise, the team is a step above the rest of the league especially in the bot lane. Ryu “Keria” Min-seok continues to be one of the top players in his position, and has the highest KDA out of all supports in the LCK according to Oracle’s Elixir, and Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong continues to thrive under his tutelage.

— Declan McLaughlin

1. Edward Gaming, LPL

Record: 7-1 (14-3) | Results this week: 2-0 (4-0) | Movement this week: +1

Edward Gaming received their 2022 wake-up call against Weibo Gaming to start out the fifth week of the LPL 2022 spring split. However, EDG bounced back with a 2-0 rest of the week sweeping all four games they played against FunPlus Phoenix and Invictus Gaming.

Worlds 2021 Finals MVP Lee “Scout” Ye-chan was an absolute monster this week and put EDG on his back as he took home all four player of the game awards for the reigning world champions by posting an absurd 20/5/35 KDA on the week. His performance put him right in the thick of the MVP race in the LPL and reminded people once again that he is in the discussion of best mid laner in the world on arguably the best team in the world. EDG will have another chance to further prove their lone loss was a fluke as they take on a red-hot Victory Five squad in Week 6.

— Warren Younger