Early NA LCS power rankings projected Cloud9, Team SoloMid, Team Liquid, and potentially Counter Logic Gaming as favorites to war over top spots. The season so far certainly hasn’t shaken out as planned for the league’s most classic and respected organizations, and under the radar, Echo Fox and Clutch Gaming finished Week Five — just over the halfway mark — in the Top Four.
While Echo Fox’s aggression is well documented, as this team crushed its start to the season, more questions linger around Clutch Gaming’s recent rise. Clutch spent Week Four locking onto enemy mistakes with late game scaling compositions, but they opened Week Five first-picking a fast-clear jungle champion and selecting in one of the most oppressive early game duo lanes in Xayah and Rakan.