The LCS 2024 Spring Split is about to start and with it comes power rankings! Normally we could just go off of player strength and overall personality composition to get a good gauge on how good a team is, but this season is a bit different. Voidgrubs, increased damage everywhere, terrain changes, and item reworks mean that it’s almost anyone’s guess as to how the meta will shape out, but there are some classic tendencies we can point towards to rank these teams. Here we’ll be going into predictions of end-of-split (not playoffs) rankings and overall team power level.

1. Cloud9

Lineup: Fudge, Blaber, Jojopyun, Berserker, Vulcan Cloud9 have done it again. Jack secured the signing of Jojopyun and brought back Vulcan. Some have dubbed this a quasi-superteam, but I don’t think I’d put it that far. Jojopyun is clearly the best mid in the LCS, even winning 2023 Summer Split MVP, so we can expect no weaknesses there from C9. Blaber is usually fantastic in Spring Split, rocketing his team to the top and figuring out the best pathing and keeping up the aggression. Vulcan will obviously slot into this lineup quite easily, but I do have some trepidations about how he’ll work with Berserker, as Vulcan still doesn’t have the greatest track record with Korean ADCs (looking at you Prince and Piglet). Along with this, Fudge, while he’s good enough to win a domestic title, he’s left much to be desired for international play. With all of that said, C9 should easily have this split locked down. The bigger reaction would be that if they get 2nd, this roster construction is considered a failure. High expectations for high caliber players.

2. NRG

Lineup: Dhokla, Contractz, Palafox, FBI, Huhi Some say you can still hear the doubters outside the LCS venue. NRG come back for 2024 with almost all of the same pieces, but with an upgrade in the support position. Huhi was by far the best support in the league for 2023 and he’s teamed up with his old buddy FBI to dominate the bottom half of the map. This is where I do think NRG have a chance to upset C9 and challenge for first place. The meta is shaping up to be bot-centric once again, as solo queue already has seen frequent dives bot lane and in the starting leagues of professional play, junglers and supports hover around bot to maintain solid lines of vision. Not only that, but the new tri bush on red side means more gank angles and tower dives, along with gromp bush leading to some nasty setups. NRG are well equipped to handle all of this. NRG are expected to start the first half of the Spring split strong since they have previous synergy, and I couldn’t agree more.

3. FlyQuest

Lineup: Bwipo, Inspired, Jensen, Massu, Busio FlyQuest has assembled a lineup that has both massive potential and good stability. With the likes of Jensen and Inspired, we can expect a high level from the middle of the map, and Bwipo can finally run wild in the top side. The bot lane is the only potential weakness for FLY, as it’s comprised of rookies, which means they’ll likely take time to get acclimated both to the ridiculous amount of changes to Summoner’s Rift as well as integrating into a system of veteran players. The large caveats for FLY will be that Bwipo is coming back from a year of streaming, Inspired was teamless in 2023, and while Jensen’s results weren’t great on Dignitas, he actually performed well individually. This entire roster might actually have a long ramp-up time, which is why I do not believe they will perform well at the beginning, but should pick up speed in the middle to later parts of the split.

4. Team Liquid

Lineup: Impact, UmTi, APA, Yeon, Corejj If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Team Liquid are 4th in this power ranking and while it’s a long time meme, they slot right in here. On paper, this team isn’t impressive at all, as they don’t have any standout firepower. Impact is the best weakside player in the league (in history?)--along with one of the best teachers in the LCS–and both APA and Yeon still need to find their footing in the LCS. The positives of TL are that APA joined the 2023 Summer Split halfway, and he still performed far above expectation. If that was only half his power level (under 9000) then maybe we could actually see him come into his own this year. The extension on Corejj’s contract is also a respectable move, as TL think he can bounce back after a below average year for the superstar support. With a more concentrated meta bot lane, even more than the one before, it’s do-or-die for Corejj to prove he’s still got it. This also means that I can’t rank this team highly quite yet, but it does have the potential to even eclipse the likes of FLY.

5. Shopify Rebellion

Lineup: FakeGod, Bugi, Insanity, Bvoy, Zeyzal Shopify Rebellion are new to the league, replacing TSM and inheriting parts of their old roster. The unfortunate thing is that it looks like they’re going budget this year. I guess even esports winter can’t be thawed by dropship money. If you’ve never heard of Bvoy, he’s one of the best ADCs out of CBLOL, having played on the famous Pain Gaming team, coming 2nd in Summer Split and he’s also had experience playing in the LEC in 2020. Some of the plays I’ve seen from this player look absolutely cracked, and guided by the veteran hand of Zeyzal, I do think this could turn out to be a strong combo. Add to all of this, Bugi looked above average in 2023, and seemed to be one of the few bright spots in TSM. If he can carry that energy into 2024, along with previous synergy with Insanity, SR could look to play dark horse and take important wins off of the top teams which could then disrupt a lot of the standings. SR should be praised for constructing such a budget roster while at the same time keeping it competitive.

6. Immortals

Lineup: Castle, Armao, Mask, Tactical, Olleh As if they tried to copy Team Liquid’s homework, Immortals enter the league with a mostly Korean lineup. Castle and Mask come from KT Rolsters Challenger team, but don’t get too excited. Castle looks to be a weakside player and one of the poorer players from Korea as he could be often seen dying or getting solo killed. Mask on the other hand is a little more unknown and I’m not sure how he’ll fare, but it says a lot that he’s been in the academy system for three years and hasn’t been picked up by an LCK team. The big ticket item for this team is definitely their bot lane. With Tactical being a serviceable bot laner (despite what others may say) and the solo queue god Olleh coming back to NA, this should be a respectable place for IMT to get some wins. This roster largely will hinge on how well their imports are integrated into the team and if Olleh can take the reigns as captain. That’s a lot to ask for a player that had previous confidence issues.

7. Dignitas

Lineup: Rich, eXyu, Dove, Tomo, Isles Dignitas have gone budget this year, like many other teams, but sadly it doesn’t look like there was any cohesive plan for this roster. They kept their top laner Rich, which is a fine choice as he’s a good but volatile player, but he should have been surrounded by more consistent pieces rather than rookies. We don’t really know who the leader of this team is, and that means eXyu and Isles are kind of on their own to learn the ropes. The saving grace is that Dove is the big question mark as I haven’t really watched this player, but he was previously a top laner in the LCK, which means that he should have a large champion pool as well as the map awareness of a top laner. The flexibility this presents could be a factor later on in the year. Overall DIG is one of the least exciting rosters in the LCS and to make matters worse, Tomo appeared to be a weakness for DIG in 2023, so it’ll have to take some massive effort on his part to bring up his gameplay. The great bonus of DIG this year is Isles, who briefly played on C9’s main roster for 2022 and also had three solo queue accounts in the top 10 of Challenger. If he can translate that solo queue success, DIG might stand a chance.

8. 100 Thieves

Lineup: Sniper, River, Quid, Meech, Eyla 100 Thieves have also gone budget for 2024, but with a purpose. They’ve decided to try and build a team full of rookies, but without the guidance of a NA veteran. Sniper is finally eligible to be in the LCS this year and we’ve all been excited for his arrival. He hit Challenger at 13 and is the little brother of V1per, who also played in the LCS. The only problem is that Sniper was also a one-trick Riven player, but he’s shored that up through the likes of Irelia and Jayce, but these are all strongside champions. Sniper might have the same tragic ending as his brother, not able to play weakside and struggling to tone down his aggression during skirmishes and teamfighting. River looks to be the leader of this team, which is great if in-game skill could talk. If you’ve ever watched any of his interviews, his mastery of the English language is not really there, which means that even for things like VOD review and team building, it’s going to be very lacking, and with having a rookie top, ADC, and support, that’s not a good recipe. Hopefully he’ll be able to coordinate with Quid, who also did not look good for 2023 and looked like the glaring weak point of 100T. The LCS for 2024 has most certainly reduced roster spending and it’s clearly showing. There isn’t much potential for teams to beat the top 3 teams in the league, so I think we can expect a pretty dominant split from the top-half of the league.

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For a more detailed rundown of each team, check out Izento’s Youtube for more info Izento has been a writer for the LoL scene since Season 7, and has been playing the game since Season 1. Follow him on Twitter at @ggIzento for more League content. For more LoL content, check out our LoL section