Upcomer is back with another round of global power rankings where our panel of experts decides which fanbase we have to defend ourselves against. Once again, there are no European teams because their playoffs starts on March 25th. But this time, there are also no League Championship Series teams — for the obvious reasons.
As usual, T1 continue to reign supreme on this list, as they do on top of the League of Legends Champions Korea with a record shattering 18-0 regular season. Victory Five maintain second, but with the Chinese League of Legends Pro League really heating up, who can say where they’ll land once playoffs begin?
With memes and dreams on our side, here’s a closer look at our top 10 teams globally this week.
10. LNG Esports, LPL
Record: 10-5 (23-16) | Results this week: 1-1 (2-3) | Movement: new
While not as bad as the LCS, the LPL is also seeing many of its top teams struggling to show consistency. Whether this benefits LNG or not is up for debate, but they are sixth in the LPL at the moment and managed to grab the 10th spot in this ranking.
Getting hyped for #LNG Iwandy highest Rank 1 LP in KR server?
Let's take a glimpse of his #LPL Pro Athlete Certificate, No.301! 🫢 pic.twitter.com/RezhqZ0Jox
— LNG Ninebot Esports (@LNG_Esports) March 18, 2022
While LNG did lose to Top Esports and JD Gaming recently, both are currently in really strong form. LNG managed to beat LGD with a 2-1 record this week with a nice performance from their substitute support Liao “Iwandy” Ding-Yang. Again, while those aren’t overall the best results, several other LPL teams didn’t impress anymore than them.
— Brieuc “LEC Wooloo” Seeger
9. DRX, LCK
Record: 11-7 (22-19) | Results this week: 1-1 (2-2) | Movement: -2
The middle of the LCK table can’t seem to catch a break, as T1 continue to beat everyone while the rest of the league cannibalizes each other. No other team can really remain in a solid position at third, fourth or fifth.
DRX had the chance to play spoiler this week against T1 but didn’t put up much of a fight. T1 rolled on to their undefeated record without much to-do. DRX are the last mid-table LCK team with a positive game score differential and that still dealt with opponents not named T1 and DWG KIA well this and previous weeks.
While it has seemed like a toss up between DRX and DWG KIA for a spot on this list, and who should be rated higher, both teams made it easy for us in the final week of the LCK.
— Declan McLaughlin
8. DWG KIA, LCK
Record: 11-7 (27-15) | Results this week: 1-1 (2-2) | Movement: new
DWG KIA ended the LCK regular season just behind Gen.G and T1, making them the third best team in the league. Given their off season changes heading into the 2022 season, one can say DK have done well.
Even though their split was filled with top lane issues, they quickly introduced Noh “Burdol” Tae-yoon and pulled through. Throughout the split, they were also several instances where DK showed absolute dominance and looked just like their old self. Moreover, they comfortably took down their direct rivals, DRX, in a 2-0 win.
However, their loss against Fredit BRION on the last day of the spring split leaves a lot of lingering question marks. The inconsistent performances seen there makes it hard to predict what to expect from the team in playoffs. Nonetheless, with the experience of their star mid-jungle duo, DK remain favorites in their rematch against BRION in the LCK playoffs.
— Rashidat Jimoh
7. Edward Gaming, LPL
Record: 10-6 (23-14) | Results this week: 1-1 (2-2) | Movement: +1
Edward Gaming rose one rank in this week’s power rankings despite not having the best of week. That’s simply because the teams around them had mediocre weeks as well.
EDG played two matches in Week 9. The first was against LNG Esports, a team that has been streaky, at best, in recent weeks. The match went poorly for EDG, as they dropped the series 0-2. However, they managed to save face to close out the week against Rare Atom, who have also been a streaky team in recent weeks. This series went 2-0 in EDG’s favor as the 2021 world champs closed out the week with a 1-1 record.
Want a magic trick? Scout makes the enemy team go POP! ✨ #LPL pic.twitter.com/AKfxV2XOWY
— LPL (@lplenglish) March 19, 2022
With a good win and a good loss, EDG find themselves in the middle of the LPL title race. Their mid laner, Lee “Scout” Ye-chan, leads the LPL in player of the game honors with 11. That makes at least one bright spot for EDG.
— Warren Younger
6. Top Esports, LPL
Record: 11-5 (24-17) | Results this week: 1-1 (3-2) | Movement: -1
Top Esports have been on an upward trend recently having managed to beat Weibo Gaming with a 2-0 record this week (Weibo are on a downward trend, though). At least, they were until TES lost against Invictus Gaming with a 1-2 record.
In both games TES lost during that series against Invictus Gaming, Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang played Viego and cost his team a few deaths. While IG isn’t the best team, TES and maybe other LPL teams outside of the top three of those power rankings are maybe taking more risks as preparation for playoffs. However what’s certain is that TES needs to prove more consistency, especially against weaker teams to climb back up in this ranking.
— LEC Wooloo
5. Royal Never Give Up, LPL
Record: 11-4 (23-13) | Results this week: 1-0 (2-0) | Movement: -1
My fellow believers fret not — RNG have not been moved down due to last week’s blip of a poor performance against Team WE.
RNG have yet to play their final game against Oh My God, which will determine if they remain top two going into playoffs. They did, however, play their series against Ultra Prime. And my goodness me, it was a very dominant series from them.
While the tiger emperor of mid lane himself did not disappoint, the bot lane duo of Chen “GALA” Wei and Shi “Ming” Sen-Ming shone brightest.
If they beat OMG and finish top two, fans will have to wait a bit before we see RNG again. However, assuming they continue performing like they have in some of their recent matches, we can expect them to be jousting for a spot to defend their Mid-Season Invitational crown.
Service resumes on the 25th against OMG!
— E.G. “Megalodontus” Kant
4. Gen.G, LCK
Record: 15-3 (30-12) | Results this week: 2-0 (2-1) | Movement: -3
Gen.G came into Week 9 of the LCK with nothing to lose. With a 13-3 record entering Week 9, Gen.G had already locked up the second seed heading into playoffs. However, no team wants to enter playoffs on a losing streak.
A couple of days before their first scheduled match of Week 9 against Fredit BRION, it was announced that BRO would have to forfeit due COVID-19 preventing them from fielding a complete roster. With a free win, Gen.G had an extra-long break before going up against KT Rolster.
Despite KT pushing Gen.G to Game 3, Gen.G managed to close out the series to end their regular season with a 15-3 record. Consder, though, that two of those losses came against T1, who went undefeated. Also, in both of those games, Gen.G played with substitute players. With just a lone loss while the team was at full power, Gen.G will be a force in the LCK playoffs.
— Younger
3. JD Gaming, LPL
Record: 11-5 (26-12) | Results this week: 2-0 (4-0) | Movement: +3
I’ve successfully peddled my agenda of JDG being really good to the panel and managed to push them all the way to third. Warren, bow before my analytical prowess!
Gloating aside, it has become quite obvious to regular LPL watchers that JDG have been consistently climbing up the ranks and ended their regular season on a six-game win streak. Their last two games of Week 9 were against Rare Atom and Weibo Gaming, both playoffs teams, and JDG won both series 2-0. They have seen a huge turnaround since their shaky start to the 2022 spring season.
Like last week, we still have the usual suspects leading the charge, like jungler Seo “Kanavi” Jin-hyeok, who took all four Player of the Game awards in Week 9. There’s also their currently monstrous bot lane duo of Wang “Hope” Jie and Lou “Missing” Yun-Feng to consider alongside top laner Bai “369” Jia-Hao (who has been consistently rolling 9, as the meme goes).
Boom goes the HP bars as 369 hits them from across town! #LPL pic.twitter.com/IkoHarK4Ya
— LPL (@lplenglish) March 20, 2022
If they carry this form into playoffs, we believe they could very well contest the top spot of the LPL.
— Megalodontus
2. Victory Five, LPL
Record: 13-2 (27-11) | Results this week: 2-0 (4-0) | Movement: –
Victory Five had yet another clean week in the LPL. With only two matches on their schedule in Week 9, V5 went up against FunPlus Phoenix and ThunderTalk Gaming — two matches that were cakewalks for a team of V5’s caliber. V5 speedran both of their sets and ended the week with a clean 4-0 game record.
V5 still have one more match left in the regular season, a rescheduled series against Anyone’s Legend, but they have already locked up the first seed in the LPL heading into playoffs. With an incredible turnaround from their 0-16 split last season, V5 have already done enough to call the split a success. They still can reach for much more, though, which makes them scary.
— Younger
1. T1, LCK
Record: 18-0 (36-7) | Results this week: 2-0 (4-1) | Movement: –
T1 completed the miracle run in one of the world’s top leagues, and they make it to the Mid-Season Invitational, barring a playoffs meltdown, with a target on their back. Still, this split is the culmination of years of scouting, talent development and money that T1 have sunk into their LCK team.
1⃣8⃣-0⃣
THE PERFECT REGULAR SEASON! pic.twitter.com/fnRzDop7Hy
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) March 20, 2022
We’re well into the year of T1 now, and their only challengers are competing in China. It’s just a short playoff period until we know who their LPL opponent will really be.
— McLaughlin
Regional Rankings
LCS
- Cloud9
- Team Liquid
- 100 Thieves
- FlyQuest
- Dignitas
LCK
- T1
- Gen.G
- DWG KIA
- DRX
- Fredit BRION
LPL
- Victory Five
- JD Gaming
- Royal Never Give Up
- Top Esports
- Edward Gaming
Published: Mar 21, 2022 08:37 pm