An updated look at our power rankings after the surprise-filled Week 1 of the 2023 LCS Summer.
LCS made a delayed return to action in Summer as the scheduled June 1 start for the league was postponed for two weeks due to the LCSPA walkout and the negotiations between players and Riot. But both parties eventually came to an agreement, so LCS kicked off on June 14 with six consecutive superweeks.
10. Immortals
- Top lane: Colin “Solo” Earnest
- Jungle: Shane Kenneth “Kenvi” Espinoza
- Mid lane: Onur Can “Bolulu” Demirol
- AD Carry: Edward “Tactical” Ra
- Support: Erik “Treatz” Wessén
Preseason prediction: 9th
The first half of the Summer Split is nearing another disaster for Immortals as they now lost seven straight games after their 2-0 start. Tactical continues to be the only consistent performer on this team, which is not a good sign considering his recent history. Immortals are really hurt by Kenvi not reaching the promised land. In his third split now, the once highly promising Academy star is looking less and less ready for the LCS.
9. TSM
- Top lane: Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell
- Jungle: Lee “Bugi” Seong-yeop
- Mid lane: Lee “Ruby” Sol-min/David “Insanity” Challe
- AD Carry: Jason “WildTurtle” Tran
- Support: Jonathan “Chime” Pomponio
Preseason prediction: 10th
It is official, after testing out Ruby for a week, TSM will return to Insanity starting in the mid lane for Week 4. The question now is whether is it too late or not. TSM lost all three of their games last week, losing any resemblance of momentum they had along with them. Maybe they can get some wins on the board since their schedule isn’t the hardest, but their long-term success is in trouble. The mid lane isn’t the only trouble they have, the rest of the top side also lacks in comparison to the LCS competition, and the bot lane duo might not be enough to carry the load.
8. NRG
- Top lane: Niship “Dhokla” Doshi
- Jungle: Juan Arturo “Contractz” Garcia
- Mid lane: Cristian “Palafox” Palafox
- AD Carry: Victor “FBI” Huang
- Support: Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun
Preseason prediction: 4th
Things aren’t getting better for NRG. They are picking up some wins here and there, but none of their games with the exception of their traditional Cloud9 win gave anyone confidence regarding this team’s future. While the top lane trio is having a dip in their performance, the main issue is the bot lane which was supposed to be an upgrade. IgNar so far is not having a good split, and FBI hasn’t delivered either. Maybe the patch 13.13 changes can help NRG if the meta goes away from the bot lane, but it’s getting harder to keep the faith.
7. 100 Thieves
- Top lane: Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho
- Jungle: Can “Closer” Çelik
- Mid lane: Lim “Quid” Hyeon-seung
- AD Carry: Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng
- Support: Alan “Busio” Cwalina
Preseason prediction: 5th
100 Thieves are on the mend with Quid finally stringing together a couple of good games, but they aren’t out of the woods yet. The 100T top side is having a lot of trouble finding early advantages for themselves and despite the decent performances from the bot duo, Closer hasn’t been the best jungler when it comes to playing for his bot lane this split.
6. Dignitas
- Top lane: Lee “Rich” Jae-won
- Jungle: Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer Larsen
- Mid lane: Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen
- AD Carry: Frank “Tomo” Lam
- Support: David “Diamond” Bérubé
Preseason prediction: 8th
Dignitas is definitely one of the best surprises of the Summer so far, especially Rich. He is putting together a hell of a campaign for the MVP award while entertaining fans with unique picks like Quinn. Tomo is also finally unleashed, showing that he can go toe to toe with anyone in the LCS stage. Of course, while they are riding the high right now, Dignitas has a lot of problems still that can bring them down to earth. The mid-jungle synergy and the unforced errors from Diamond can cause them problems in the upcoming weeks.
5. FlyQuest
- Top lane: Jeong “Impact” Eon-young
- Jungle: Mingyi “Spica” Lu
- Mid lane: Lee “VicLa” Dae-kwang
- AD Carry: Lee “Prince” Chae-hwan
- Support: Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme
Preseason prediction: 2nd
I’ve been hesitant to drop FlyQuest from the top five in the first two weeks, and they rewarded my confidence in them with a 3-0 week in the end. Sure, their schedule wasn’t the hardest, nor the games were especially clean, but three wins in a row is a much-needed boost for this team. Prince finally looked like the stable carry he was last split, and maybe there is a chance he can keep his team in the top half of the table despite the resistance from VicLa.
4. Team Liquid
- Top lane: Park “Summit” Woo-tae
- Jungle: Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon
- Mid lane: Harry “Haeri” Kang
- AD Carry: Sean “Yeon” Sung
- Support: Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in
Preseason prediction: 6th
Sticking with the same five-man group seems like it is going to pay off for TL. They are still a monster early game team as we saw them demolish 100T and Immortals. They had shaky moments in some teamfights, but at least they didn’t lose control like they tend to do in Spring. Plus the top/jungle performances are day and night from last split. Pyosik was on a warpath this week, seemingly everywhere on the map at once, and Summit reminded people why he was the MVP once again.
3. Golden Guardians
- Top lane: Eric “Licorice” Ritchie
- Jungle: Kim “River” Dong-woo
- Mid lane: Kim “Gori” Tae-woo
- AD Carry: Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes
- Support: Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun
Preseason prediction: 3rd
This is a very weird split for GG. For some reason, they are really having trouble closing out games and found themselves as the team with the longest average game time in the league. It’s mainly because they haven’t been getting as many early game leads as they are used to, as some of the other mid-jungle duos starting to catch up to Gori and River. But as always, GG is a tenacious team and they are winning most of their games, which is the only thing that counts in the regular season.
2. Evil Geniuses
- Top lane: Mo “Revenge” Kaddoura
- Jungle: Jonathan “Armao” Armao
- Mid lane: Joseph Joon “jojopyun” Pyun
- AD Carry: William “UNF0RGIVEN” Nieminen
- Support: Bill “Eyla” Nguyen
Preseason prediction: 7th
If the All-Pro voting ended before the C9-EG game last week, there would’ve been a very high chance of seeing the EG mid-jungle duo in the 1st team together, which is crazy to think about as jojo was massively underperforming in Spring and Armao was coaching. But they’ve been a delight to watch so far in Summer, and they are the engine that lets this team dominate teams. Will EG continue their run till the playoffs and keep going after that, I’m not sure. But they are once again the most fun team to watch in the LCS.
1. Cloud9
- Top lane: Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami
- Jungle: Robert “Blaber” Huang
- Mid lane: Jang “EMENES” Min-soo
- AD Carry: Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol
- Support: Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen
Preseason prediction: 1st
Cloud9 seems to be back to being Blaber’s team this split, with Berserker taking a step back and Fudge starting out shaky. It is a great plan for C9, as long as Blaber isn’t on Vi as they keep losing with the pick, as for some reason LCS teams are insistent on not banning Kindred against C9 in a patch where Milio exists. And considering Cloud9 almost always steps up to a higher level going into playoffs, this might be their best chance at a three-peat.
How to watch the 2023 LCS Summer Split
Fans can catch the LCS action on the official LoL Esports website with a chance to earn exclusive drops from Riot. Or you can follow the official LCS Twitch and Youtube channels.
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