We've passed the halfway point and there has been an awakening. Have you felt it?
Having passed one full rotation in the double round robin format of the European League of Legends Championship Series, time has bestowed a few teams a bright looking future as the playoffs hurdles towards us faster and faster. On the other hand, time is running out for others to rise from their humble standings and make a case for themselves as a top team in Europe. Let's rank the teams as they stand now and compare the gods and the mortals.
S Tier
G2 Esports (8-2)
G2 Esports has really only lost due to really questionable pick and ban phases. This past week, they gave Team Vitality literally all of their comfort picks and got flat out stomped as a result. But, when they give themselves a reasonable chance, G2 showed they were still a force to be reckoned with, powering their way to victory in their rematch with H2K Gaming. If they shore up picks and bans, G2 has to be a bit of a scary sight for Team Vitality when they match up again.
H2K Gaming (8-2)
In hindsight, the past couple of weeks has not been a bad run for a team running with a pretty major sub. With news that starting Mid Laner Ryu "Ryu" Sang-uk will finally be making his return to the EU LCS this coming week, H2K Gaming looks to finally get back to top form and reclaim the title of "team to beat" moving towards the playoffs. And, assuming there isn't any rust on the hinges, that really should be the expectation of all of their competition.
A Tier
Team Vitality (7-3)
The Force is strong with this one. Team Vitality looks to have miraculously shed all the mistakes that cost them games and finally become the "superteam" that they were prophesied to be. They straight out bullied both of their opponents who really aren't weak teams. If they manage to keep up the momentum they created this week, they should find themselves knocking on the door for the top team in Europe.
Unicorns of Love (7-3)
This past week was a bit of a coming back down to Earth for Unicorns of Love's new Jungler Rudy "Rudy" Beltran. He looked more like the coming straight out of Solo Queue form that we expected. That being said, the rest of the Unicorns of Love definitely rose to make up the difference. The team's reliance on their understanding of map rotations and wave pressure has proven to be a much more reliable rock than the chaos style gameplay they had been so famous for.
B Tier
Fnatic (6-4)
Even with the changes at Support and a completely new face in the form of Johan "Klaj" Olsson, Fnatic still couldn't find a win over a strong team. However, they did look much better against the struggling Elements. A win is a win, I suppose, and the former kings of Europe still look to land a decent spot in the upcoming playoffs. But, if Fnatic hope to actually compete for their crown, they really need to find themselves in their top form again. And quickly, if at all possible.
Origen (5-5)
Origen is also a team struggling to rediscover their identity. At the start of the season, you could point to their inability to grasp the new meta as part of the problem. Now players are simply underperforming as the roster as a whole continue to look like shades of themselves (with the exception of maybe Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen). And now, they have to look for yet another new coach as Nicolai "Hazel" Larsen stepped down, with team owner and sub Mid Laner Enrique "xPeke" Cedeño-Martinez having been forced to step in. Reminding anyone of a certain team across the pond?
C Tier
Elements (4-6)
Elements has proven that they can beat the weaker teams. They remain the warden to getting out of the relegation tournament for now, but they cannot seem to move beyond and grow further as a team. If a team below them in the standings manages to do what they seemingly cannot before they can, Elements' chances to last outside the relegation zone in the standings is definitively at risk.
Splyce (3-7)
At least, Splyce can take some solace out of this past week. They were able to come out of it with an additional victory under their belt, at the expense of the forsaken GIANTS Gaming. However, it is clear that the talent of the roster is holding them back from taking games off anything other than the bottom of the table. Unless the team is able to come together and actually show some innovation and effective strategies beyond putting Chres "Sencux" Laursen in a situation where he can 1v9, it is difficult to see them rising any higher.
D Tier
ROCCAT (1-9)
There are no real smiles on the faces of ROCCAT. The sole high points of the roster were actually pointedly some of the problems this week. To be fair, there are only so many times that Karim "Airwaks" Benghalia and Felix "Betsy" Edling can put on amazing performance after amazing performance until they go a little too far in trying to carry this team out of the hole they put themselves into. The fact that they gave GIANTS their first victory of the year speaks to the hardship and misfortune this team continues to suffer through.
GIANTS Gaming (1-9)
Just when it looked like GIANTS Gaming might be able build some momentum off their first win, they get smacked back to the grim reality by Splyce. RIP 0-18.
