League of Legends global power rankings through March 19

1. Invictus Gaming

Record: 9-3 | League: LPL | +/-: +2

We'll be honest, Invictus Gaming are here partially by the grace of Topsports Gaming losing last night to a rising Team WE. However, this doesn't take away from the fact that, despite having an easier schedule than other top teams, iG have not only managed to win their matches against Victory Five, Team WE, and Vici Gaming, but they've all been 2-0 sweeps. We're approaching what should continue to be a strong meta for iG, especially on red side, where the team has thrived in previous metagames. iG have three matches left, all against middling to good teams in EDward Gaming, Royal Never Give Up, and Bilibili Gaming, but as long as they play Kang "TheShy" Seung-lok in the top lane and Yu "JackeyLove" Wen-Bo in bot, iG should come out ahead.

2. Topsports Gaming

Record: 10-3 | League: LPL | +/-: --

There's a bit of shame in losing to Team WE, but certainly not enough to drop Topsports Gaming out of the top five, especially given how other top teams (Griffin) have suddenly fallen. Now is a good time to address some of their weaknesses. Jungler Xiong "Xx" Yu-Long sometimes misjudges his strength or is exploited through more aggressive pathing by opposing junglers. Bai "369" Jia-Hao is still one of the best top laners in the league, but he is still adjusting to when he should come in for flanks or miscalculating the amount of damage he does when aggressively pushing ahead in a teamfight with his team. These are mistiming and miscommunication problems that will be fixed with time and experience, but are still things that can be exploited in a 5-on-5 teamfight by a team like Royal Never Give Up, or be pressured by Team WE and mid laner Su "xiye" Han-Wei's Corki. Topsports doesn't revolve around Zhuo "Knight" Ding in the same way that FunPlus Phoenix relies on Kim "Doinb" Tae-sang, but it certainly helps that they have the best mid laner in the LPL, and arguably the world, on their team. They only have two matches left against EDward Gaming and Bilibili Gaming. These won't be cakewalks but they should come out ahead.

3. SK Telecom T1

Record: 11-4 | League: LCK | +/-: +1

Let's be clear -- SKT isn't perfect. They still makes mistakes. They still have lapses that cost them winnable games. They'll have matches where they give away games that should be straightforward sweep victories for a team we're ranking as the third-best in the world.

But that aura is returning. If you've watched League of Legends longer than 2018, you know that aura. The SKT aura. The feeling that no matter how poorly the early game goes or how daunting the opponent, SKT, with one opening, can turn a certain loss to a beautiful, come-from-behind victory. Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok and his self-proclaimed "team of aces" have begun to string together some impressive victories, and with Griffin's recent slump, they might now be the favorites to represent South Korea at the Mid Season Invitational in May.

We're still nowhere the golden days of SKT when Faker was the undisputed best player in the world and even taking a game off SKT was considered a monumental achievement, but the current team is starting to resemble those world champions of the past. And that's frightening for the rest of the world as we're still seven months out from the world championships in Europe.

4. FunPlus Phoenix

Record: 10-2 | League: LPL | +/-: +2

FunPlus Phoenix's stock is quickly declining, but at 10-2 with recent wins against EDward Gaming and Sinodragon Gaming, things are looking good for the team's playoff seeding. Unfortunately for the Kim "Doinb" Tae-Sang led team, FunPlus no longer looks like a team vying for this split's LPL championship. Doinb's selfless-style continues to propel the team forward, but once he's shutdown, it has proved incredibly difficult for the team to remain competitive. Still, they have looked clutch outside of matchups with tip-top LPL teams, and that's commendable going forward.

5. Griffin

Record: 12-2 | League: LCK | +/-: -4

Huh, we guess that happened.

Since our power rankings began for the year, it felt like Griffin was destined to fly into MSI as the undisputed best team in the world. Teams from North America, China, and elsewhere were talking up Griffin's monstrous results during worlds in scrimmages, and the team's speed run of the preseason KeSPA Cup tournament proved the super rookies from 2018 had leveled up during the long offseason. Teams in South Korea were even joking that it would be impressive to take a single game off Griffin in the spring split, with players from opposing teams predicting they'd become the first perfect team in LCK history.

Everything seemed to be going to plan until this past week, where a stunning 2-0 defeat to Gen.G was followed up by an equally confusing loss to the struggling Afreeca Freecs. After defeating SKT two weeks ago in an instant classic, the road was clear to a perfect regular-season and a probable rematch with SKT in the league final. The 9.5 patch seems to have mystified the once flawless Griffin, with their usual lax drafting being punished in the current meta. Griffin's apparent weak link in the chain, Choi "Sword" Sung-won, has had trouble establishing himself with some of more mechanically gifted top laners in the league.

While Griffin are still heavy favorites to make the league final, their once all-but-guaranteed coronation has now turned into a heavyweight title fight that might see them enter as underdogs.

6. JD Gaming

Record: 9-3 | League: LPL | +/-: +1

While JD Gaming has typically trended downwards the last few weeks, the team stabilized with "must-win" games over Vici Gaming, Suning, and Snake. Gu "Imp" Seung-bin is at the center of the team's troubles as AD carry, but recent performances proved that he can do just enough for star solo laners Zhang "Zoom" Xing-Ran and Zeng "Yagao" Qi. Playoffs are most likely in JD's future, but matches against RNG and Team WE will certainly be difficult.

7. Royal Never Give Up

Record: 8-3 | League: LPL | +/-: -2

RNG would probably be hovering near the top of the power rankings right now if it weren't for the team's worst loss this season -- an 0-2 defeat at the hands of Rogue Warriors. When challenged in multiple teamfights, RNG showed little discipline against one of the weakest teams in the league and failed to respect Mei "ZwuJi" Hong-Hui's Vayne pick against Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao. Hung "Karsa" Hau-Hsuan struggled in that series, but came up big to secure a close 2-1 win against Bilibili Gaming, keeping a team in striking distance of a stronger playoff seeding.

8. SANDBOX

Record: 11-4 | League: LCK | +/-: +2

Is it time we start respecting Sandbox? For a majority of the season, Sandbox Gaming has been the plucky underdog of the LCK, the personification of a weakened South Korean region. They had some solid pieces and a few interesting prospects, but their macro was sloppy and their go-for-broke approach to Baron resembled teams of the past. Yet, they've continued to win, and instead of wilting, the team has grown into a legitimate finalist contender with two weeks remaining in the regular-season.

Park "Summit" Woo-tae was the backup to LCK's strongest top laner, Kim "Kiin" Gi-in, in 2018 on the Afreeca Freecs, and now he could be considered the new top dog at his position in the league. He could be the the difference maker that separates themselves from being a mere playoff participant to a possible worlds qualifier.

9. Kingzone Dragon X

Record: 10-5 | League: LCK | +/-: +2

In a LoL Champions Korea setting where few teams outside of Griffin (and perhaps now, SK Telecom T1) know how they want to play, Kingzone DragonX quickly identified that their best and most successful plan of attack would be to play through bot laner Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu. Heo "PawN" Won-seok is back as an essential distraction for the team while they feed Deft, and has performed better than we ever thought he would, given his injuries. The team has also focused on picking him champions like his signature Yasuo, or picks like Lissandra and Azir that give him control in teamfights. Kingzone's recent win over Gen.G wasn't pretty, but showcased a slight departure from how the team has played previously. With a new willingness to play around scaling picks like Vladimir and Gangplank for Kim "Rascal" Kwang-hee, Kingzone aren't ignoring the strength of the top lane on the latest patch but always have Deft as their default carry.

10. Fnatic

Record: 11-7 | League: LEC | +/-: +7

This is it! The kings of Europe are back on top and have finally knocked G2 Esports out of the Global Power Ranking's top ten teams. Despite a terribly slow start this Spring, Fnatic continually rose to the challenge and defeated G2 Esports to earn the title of "best in Europe" going into playoffs. Ending the season with an eight match winning streak including matches against top LEC teams, Fnatic once again profiles as a heavy hitter going into playoffs. Their playoff seeding might not be as strong as G2's given it's win-loss record, but there's no doubt that the team is the favorite to take it all once again.