NA RLCS Power Rankings #2

After the first event concluded, we published our power rankings for the North America region of RLCS. Now, with the winter split done and dusted, here are our updated power rankings heading into the home ground major and spring split:

1. NRG

In my eyes, indisputably the best team in North America, and perhaps even the best in the world. Including the Stockholm major, NRG has qualified for 6/7 finals, with an impressive lower bracket run on the weekend.

Definitely still holes in the team, namely their slow starts to events, but this roster of 3 world champions is certainly the team to beat right now in North America.

2. G2

After a slow start, with a 5th-6th regional event 1 finish, G2 has quickly improved with a 1st and 3rd finish in the next two. Atomic’s mechanical prowess has been excellent, and JKnaps and Chicago have found a return to form.

Although their consistency isn’t quite on par with NRG’s, they have the raw potential, and will be an outside contender at LAN if the dynamic duo can find their feet under the pressure of a booming crowd.

3. FaZe

What was meant to be North America’s super team hasn’t quite turned out as planned. Despite a perfect record in playoffs, and making top 4 in all three events, FaZe have really struggled against the best of the best, not winning a single series against the top 2.

They’re definitely still one of the region’s strongest, but as a team, look slightly disjointed and awkward, which will hopefully improve over time.

4. SSG

With the addition of young phenom Daniel to the team, SSG initially looked incredibly strong, with a 2nd place finish in the first regional. Their play style was aggressive and fearless, as the lineup took down some of the region’s best, including Rogue, Shopify Rebellion, Oxygen, V1 and FaZe, who all feature on this list.

Since then, they have declined and perhaps the pressure has begun to seep in, with a shaky 4th place followed by a disappointing 9th-12th, with a shock groups loss to Complexity and game 5 defeat at the hands of Oxygen in playoffs. SSG grant themselves a top 4 spot due to what we all know their potential is, but they do have some issues to fix before attending the LA major

5. V1

Now yes, this ranking is perhaps a bit harsh, as V1 are coming off a win in regional event 3. The only problem is their consistency, which puts them below the top 3, and when compared to SSG, I think they have a better level to compete with the world’s best, and are thus a fraction above V1.

However, it has been an incredibly impressive split overall for V1, with Torment returning to the top, Beastmode showing what a beast he is, even after the break, and Comm finally getting the break through, as V1 goes into the LA major as a dangerous dark horse.

6. Oxygen

The newly rising team of Winter has certainly earned their spot on this list. After only qualifying for one event in Fall, the addition of veteran world champion Gimmick not only guided Oxygen to all 3 main events, but helped them also secure top 6 in each regional.

Even though they struggled against the top 3 for the most part, they did manage to get crucial playoffs wins against V1 and SSG in back to back weeks, and will be looking to push for a major spot in Spring after their final regional heart break.

7. Complexity

The SAM phenoms had an excellent start to their time in NA, with a top 5 finish in NA in Fall and top 8 result in Stockholm, but their Winter result saw inconsistency seeping in to the performance. With a shaky 7th-8th in regional 1, and underwhelming group stage performance sending them home 13th-16th,

Complexity’s major chances were effectively ended.

Despite a good performance in regional 3, with a win over SSG, and a narrow loss to V1, sending them home in 5th-6th, Complexity still have more work to do to return to the top of North America if they want to find themselves in attendance at worlds.

8. Shopify Rebellion

With the addition of Paarth to the lineup over the trade period, Shopify Rebellion have reinvigorated themselves as a contending lineup. In regional 1, wins over former top 8 team Ghost and powerhouse G2 in groups, as well as a 3-1 victory verse RBG in playoffs, saw them secure a top 8 berth.

They continued strong performances throughout, with the only real blemishes a playoffs loss to XSET, before being incredibly unlucky to go out in groups in the final event with a loss to V1 and double losses to NRG. Definitely able to take down the best of the rest, but still a step below the top few teams in the region.

9. Rogue

After a disappointing Fall split, Rogue added young prodigy Aqua to the lineup in hopes of an improved performance. And although their split was largely filled with mediocrity, despite Aqua’s impressive offensive efforts, they still managed to make playoffs each event, including a top 6 performance in event 2 which contained a win over NRG in groups.

Rogue found a better level of consistency in taking down the lower level teams throughout the split, which granted them 9th spot, but if they want to push higher up the list, their performances against North America’s top 8 are going to need to show more life, more often.

10. Envy

Envy have kept their spot on this list, but just barely. Even with a 4 time world champion on the team, one of the biggest rising stars, and a Dreamhack champion, Envy have struggled in the absence of Atomic this split.

They’ve looked slow compared to the top teams, and despite proving they can still conquer the teams a tier below, have struggled to compete with those above, and will find themselves in a fight to the death for a worlds spot in Spring.