With the second week of the LEC’s Spring Split in the books, we now have an idea of who will be leading the way for Europe. The LEC is a league stacked with talent, and the top of the ladder shows it. Even teams in the bottom half of the standings can surprise, so no one’s place is set in stone just yet. We still have multiple teams looking to get ahead of the pack, while others are trying to prove they don’t equal the sum of their play so far. Only one thing is certain: the LEC is more exciting than ever before. Let’s dive into our Power Rankings for Week Two.

1. G2 Esports (4-0) [↔️]

With two more victories this past week, G2 Esports has solidified themselves as the front-runners for the LEC crown. Again, the European superteam would show off their compositional flexibility and pure talent versus Rogue and EXCEL Esports. Their game against Rogue was quick to no one’s surprise. However, EXCEL Esports would put up a pretty good fight against G2 Esports, forcing their game to 45 minutes. Rasmus “Caps” Winther would shine in week two, especially in their game against EXCEL. His play on Irelia was essential to their victory, as he would keep them in the game and prevent an epic upset.

The only enemy G2 Esports has right now is complacency and underestimating their opponents. Their team fighting became a bit sloppy during their match against EXCEL, and if Caps wasn’t there to bail them out, they might have lost. There are small things to clean up for next week, but G2 still has some of the best macro skills and some of the best individual talents in Europe. Now, the question remains: who will be the one to take down this juggernaut of a team? And will they ever leave the number-one spot in our power rankings?

2. Team Vitality (3-1) [⬆ 4]

This week, we finally got to see some of the Vitality that stole our hearts back at Worlds 2018. With great team play and outstanding individual performances, they were able to secure a 2-0 weekend. Vitality would roll over a struggling Fnatic squad with strong team play and macro. Their map pressure was amazing and helped snowball themselves to victory.

In their match against the Misfits superteam, it would be the Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro Show. The explosive Italian mid laner would go 6/0/5, dealing out 39.9% of his team’s damage. Additionally, Jakub “Jactroll” Skurzyński would help shut down Steven “Hans Sama” Liv in the bottom lane. As a result, Misfits could not find another player to fall back on and after several won team fights, Vitality would take the game. It was an impressive display that has sent them flying up the power rankings for now.

3. Misfits Gaming (3-1) [⬇ 1]

The other European superteam has suffered a bit of a setback this past weekend, and so their stock in our power rankings has fallen. However, we still think that Misfits will remain a top-three team in the league. Against Origen, they would not mess around, putting their superstar ADC Hans Sama on Vayne. Through some good skirmishing in the early game, Misfits would get Hans Sama an early lead that would snowball quite easily. They would even secure three dragons and Baron only 22 minutes in, and would eventually pick up the win eight minutes later.

The big problem that Misfits need to address is how the team plays when Hans Sama doesn’t have a big lead. In their second game against Vitality, they would play more on the top side of the map. Although they would secure an early gold lead, the team would make some costly mistakes that would throw away that advantage. From then on, Misfits would constantly get outperformed in team fights. They need to focus on what made them successful in week one and keep the experimental playstyles in scrims.

4. Schalke 04 (3-1)[↔️]

Schalke 04 really stepped their game up this past week, with some standout performances from the bottom lane. Elias “Upset” Lipp and Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun were a huge factor in their wins against Fnatic and SK Gaming. Their synergy as a duo has been impeccable, and the two are slowly becoming a budding star combo in a talent-laden LEC. In week two, Upset made up for 31.3% of his team’s damage, while IgNar had an impressive 11.7 KDA to boot. His engages on Thresh were godlike, and helped push Schalke 04 to a 2-0 week.

All we need to see now is how they do against the upper echelon of the league. SK Gaming is a young up-and-comer with much to learn. Fnatic is still struggling to find any sort of coordination as a team. Next week, Schalke 04 is facing off against Splyce and EXCEL Esports, two teams looking to make a jump up the standings. They will need stellar play from Upset, IgNar, and Felix “Abbedagge” Braun to climb over some of the teams higher in our power rankings.

5. Splyce (3-1) [⬆ 2]

Splyce showed some great strides of improvement from their first week of play to now. As a result, they hop up two spots in our power rankings. The entire team was playing at a much more proactive rate, which helped them garner nice early-game leads. Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir and Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup were monsters this past weekend, with Xerxe collecting half of his team’s 22 kills against Rogue. Meanwhile, Kobbe would have a standout performance against Origen on Kai’sa.

What Splyce needs to do now is maintain consistency with their play. They cannot falter against stronger opponents, some of which they are facing next week in Schalke 04 and G2 Esports. Xerxe must keep up his good play in the jungle and Kobbe needs to stay strong against two of the best bottom lane duos in the LEC.

6. SK Gaming (2-2) [⬇ 1]

The fiery core of SK Gaming continues to show why they belong in the LEC. Unfortunately, after dropping a game against Schalke 04, they also drop a spot in the power rankings this week. In their game against Schalke, they were up against a veteran team with plenty of firepower. Juš “Crownshot” Marušič and Han “Dreams” Min-kook could not find a way to shut down Upset, who fed off them and their team through their match.

However, in their game against EXCEL Esports, SK Gaming would play a much cleaner match overall. Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek is making a statement with his play thus far, and it seems like he will be taking the LEC Rookie of the Split award for himself. He is truly the shining star on this young roster, but they need more time to grow as a team. With practice, SK Gaming could become a powerful team for others to fear.

7. Origen (1-3) [⬇ 4]

Simply put, Origen looks bad. For a team as hyped up as they were, they did not look good in any aspect of their game. It’s just hard to find any positives to their play this week. For example, Jonas “Kold” Andersen is one of, if not the worst jungler in the LEC. He has the third-worst Gold Difference at ten minutes of all junglers, the fourth-worst experience difference at ten minutes, and deals a measly 11.5% of his team’s damage.

Origen only took down three turrets through the whole weekend, and their bottom lane has been looking horrible so far. Alfonso “Mithy” Aguirre Rodríguez hasn’t been experiencing the triumphant return he had hoped for, sporting the worst KDA of any support in the league. This veteran roster doesn’t seem to have made any improvements to their coordination, and their passive style of play just won’t cut it anymore in a league now known for its proactivity. Until they show signs of change, they’ll continue nosediving in our power rankings.

8. EXCEL Esports (1-3) [↔️]

EXCEL had tough week-two matchups in SK Gaming and G2 Esports, both of which were hungry for success. In their match against G2 Esports, it would be relatively close but it would be the sheer amount of firepower of the superteam’s lineup that would make the difference. Marc “Caedrel” Robert Lamont would play pretty well into this match and has been playing decently ever since his week-one disaster game against Splyce.

Unfortunately, their next game against SK Gaming was a wash. It was like they rolled over and gave up right from the opening minute. They would only take down one turret in their 28-minute match and would be down almost 5,000 gold at fifteen minutes. They need to put Caedrel on a champion that can get ahead early, so he can get his rookie ADC ahead as well. However, they have another tough set of games next week against Schalke 04 and Misfits.

9. Fnatic (0-4) [↔️]

The 2018 Worlds finalists are struggling mightily, with no signs saying that they will improve anytime soon. Of course, losing the best player in the LEC will be harsh. However, as one of the best teams in Europe, they need to adapt to this new style of play. No longer is Caps here to pull jungle pressure while the other lanes get leads. They have to understand that without his presence, the enemy jungler will now be in their lane more and more. Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek will not be able to apply the same pressure, so Fnatic cannot get away with the same game style anymore.

(2/2) Sorry to all our fans, we're as frustrated and unhappy about this as you are. Please know we'll do everything we can to solve this. It might sound silly, but right now we have to stick together more than ever – organisation, players and fans. #AlwaysFnatic — Broxah (@BroxahLoL) January 26, 2019

As a result, many of the other players on the team have been looking lost. Fnatic’s bottom lane hasn’t played like this for some time. Martin “Rekkles” Larsson has the worst KDA of any ADC, while Zdravets “Hylissang” Iliev Galabov has the second-worst KDA amongst supports. Also, Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen has been relatively invisible during the laning phase, and they’ve suffered as a result. Until they are able to adjust themselves to this new world without Caps, expect them to lag behind in our power rankings.

10. Rogue (0-4) [↔️]

What can be said about Rogue? They had some of the worst stats in the LEC, being in the bottom three for team KDA, gold difference at fifteen minutes, and more. There is no one on this team that can become their carry and the lack of talent across the roster shows. Next week, they face off against Fnatic in a match of two teams looking for their first win. From what they’ve shown us so far, it’s hard to see them taking any games anytime soon.

What are your thoughts on our power rankings for week two of the LEC? Let us know what you think in the comments below! If you missed last week’s review of the LEC, check them out here! If you want more LEC coverage, check us out here!