The conclusion of the third week of the LMS has most of the league's teams nestling themselves into where they belong standings wise -- ahq and Flash Wolves on top, Midnight Sun and COUGAR E-Sport at the bottom, and everyone else fighting to get into the playoffs. The week didn’t consist of any premier matchups, with the likes of ahq and Flash Wolves playing bottom teams. However, several matches took place between the middle-of-the-pack teams that will shape the landscape of the league for weeks to come.  

1. ahq e- Sports Club 4-0-0 (8-0)

There isn’t much to say about ahq e-Sports club, as they continue to remain undefeated after handily defeating punch-dummy of the league, COUGAR E-Sport. ahq played the games fairly carelessly, as most teams have, against the likes of COUGAR E-Sport. However, they did field their jungle sub, RD, at the AD position during the best of two.  As an AD carry main turned jungler, his performance was quite good, albeit the weight of it isn’t so great considering their opponent. Nevertheless, it is nice to be reminded that ahq has a solid AD carry sub in the event that AN is lured to play in another region in the future.

2. Flash Wolves 3-2-0 (6-4)

Flash Wolves are still getting used to certain roster combinations centered around playing Breeze or NL, along with rookie top laner, Rins. While they have generally struggled with trying to acclimate themselves to new players, this week gave them a breather and a chance for some more lighthearted stage experience. Matching up against the two worst teams in the league, Midnight Sun and COUGAR, had them easily dismantling both squads, while favoring NL over Breeze in both series. This comes as no surprise as they seemingly have performed better with him, as he likely brings important intangibles that Steak once brought.

3. Hong Kong Esports 2-1-2 (6-4)

Hong Kong Esports continued their run of general mediocrity, being just good enough to compete with the best in some capacity. Despite only having one truly decisive game during the week, they were competitive in all their games against both Machi 17 and Taipei Assassins, splitting with both teams. Olleh and Dinter remain as standouts for the team, as they lead their sheep to the pastures of victory. Rokenia, at the very least, proved to be a more effective carry than Chillyz, and Maplesnow actually had an excellent performance on top-lane Quinn. It could be said that HKE is looking to have some upside, but their future in the split will largely be decided by their next mid-lane player, MarS, and whether he will be the defined carry force they need.

4. Taipei Assassins 2-1-1 (5-3)

Solo lanes on TPA continue to succeed while the bot lane has struggled to keep up. Despite this, TPA has been able to solidify strong early game leads with REFRA1N at the helm, stopping aggressive moves from the opposing jungler and allowing Morning to consistently pressure the opposing laner safely. This proved to work very well against the likes of HKE, sanctioning significant advantages in both games, but lacking any real coordination come late game. Lapses in communication for both teleports and teamfight initiations had them drag out a victory against HKE, but worse, had them lose their second game against HKE, where they held a gold lead until their nexus exploded. REFRA1N was dynamite this week, participating in 29 out of 41 kills and really getting his team rolling, but FoFo showed his greenhorn qualities in making both games difficult via poor teamfight initiation.

4. XGamers 2-1-1 (5-3)

XGamers came into week three with a lot of hype, having taken out Flash Wolves in a 2-0 series the prior week. While it wasn’t very pretty and the wolves were clearly off their game, it is quite the feat for newcomers to take a single game off the likes of ahq or Flash Wolves and they managed to take two. However, they were very quickly put in their place by Machi 17, where they were comprehensively outpaced in the early game, in much part due to picking scaling champions such as Ezreal and GP, with Varus not being much of a heel in the midlane. They still showed cool heads and kept their first game competitive enough, but were nearly shut out in their second game, only acquiring 1 kill to match Machi’s 17, and destroying no structures. XG Jungler, Yo, was unable to impact the series and largely was a walking ward, finally being punished for over aggressive jungle pathing.

4. Machi 17 2-2-1 (5-5)

Machi have rubber banded back in the standings after completing another 2-0 series win, against XGamers. Rookie jungler, Taizan, seemingly shook of some nerves last week, corralling the over aggressive Yo, punishing him accordingly. He was more confident in predicting his opponents pathing and better played around the mid lane during their series this week. Machi had their typical sloppy mid game in the first game, but the second game was a thorough stomp over XG, with Dreamer and Taizan being clear MVPs on their premier Nautilus and Elise combo. Their talent also shone through against XG, hinting that perhaps this Machi lineup might just get it together.

7. Midnight Sun 0-3-1 (1-6)

MSE had the pleasure of dodging a truly strong team for the first two weeks, but the time of reckoning came and they played the Flash Wolves. Most notably, CorGi made his return to the starting lineup, their starting AD prior to last year’s Korean import, Stitch. MSE began to show semblances of an organized early game, making specific rotations to objectives. They were untimely, but it was definitely a step up from their “Lane for 30 minutes and feed M1ssion” plan. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, and MSE struggled to keep up, only mustering 6 kills in their two games combined, as they now seem destined for relegation.

8. COUGAR E-Sport 0-5-0 (0-10)

COUGAR E-Sport may very well carry on the legacy of Dream or Reality, a team that went 0-21 in the 2015 LMS Spring Split. The team has some decent talent, but largely has found no direction -- It doesn’t help that they had to play Flash Wolves and ahq this last week. SpeaR showcased the best play for his team once again, keeping a game from going completely haywire on jungle Graves. The other player of note, and not for a good reason, is mid laner. Kuku, as he was solo killed seven times by Maple in their second game against the Flash Wolves. That just doesn’t happen in professional play and makes it very clear just where this team is at.

Goomiho specializes in LMS content. If you'd like to see more, connect with the author on Twitter at @xGoomiho.

Photo credits to lms.garena.tw