If you have been following League of Legends this year, the you may already have a clue as to the top teams in the Worlds right now. Staking them up against each other though, is not an easy thing to do, and you are sure to upset and confuse some fans. The top three are set though, and you won’t get any arguments saying that SKT, EDG, and LGD are the best, but after that things aren’t clear cut. Over at thscoreesports.com, their writing panel took to ranking these 16 teams, and their #4 and 5 teams caught me off guard, take a look:
4. KT Rolster
In a region that is known for concrete defense, KT Rolster play differently than most teams from the South Korea. The team’s core is made up of three players: the knights, Score and Piccaboo, who travel across Summoner’s Rift to ward the map, output pressure, and speed up the tempo of the lane phase, and then Ssumday, KT’s king and ace. Ssumday is a player that, when aided with enough vision and support from his loyal teammates Score and Piccaboo, can take over games on champions like Riven, Ryze, and Yasuo with his unrelenting split pushing.
When KT can pick up First Blood in a game, they know how to turn that early bloodshed into a snowball that devours the entire map. To beat KT Rolster, you can’t let them dictate the game and let them get ahead early. Although they’re prone to mid-game dysfunction at times, no squad at Worlds can afford letting Score and Piccaboo find success in the first few minutes. It’s a domino effect — Score and Piccaboo have a good start, and that routinely means that Ssumday is going to start outpacing his opponents. After Ssumday gets rolling, Arrow and Nagne can also feel more comfortable and play better as well.
5. Fnatic
At every international event, history has necessitated that a “great western hope” must exist. This year, it’s Fnatic. After dragging SKT to five games at the Mid-Season Invitational, hopes are high for YellOwStaR and his crew. Fnatic may stand a better chance of making a statement than any western team has since Moscow 5. A nearly undefeated season in Europe, however, leaves question marks. Fnatic have their weaknesses to exploit, and with almost no one touching them so far, it’s hard to say how they’ll react.
Fnatic’s smart coordination in the mid game gets them Barons. They constantly push out the bottom side lane to snag a distraction, and their team fighting has dominated Europe. Fnatic have struggled more in standard lanes when the bullying comes in quickly and painfully. Fnatic’s comeback potential and options for control are huge, but they have to make it through those first ten minutes to truly ruffle expectations.
That is a high ranking for Fnatic, so high actually, that I have not seen them ranked like that in any list. They are a talented team that could not be stopped in the EU LCS Summer Split, but in the finals, they looked beatable. Outside of that, this is a very fair and balanced list, it is a great read and I suggest you check out the full lists here.
