LCS 2021 Preseason Power Rankings

Tim reveals his 2021 LCS preseason power rankings and offseason grades.

This video was originally streamed live at   / timsevenhuysen   and contains interactions with Twitch chat (including a completed level 5 Hype Train!?!).

Read the written rankings to get more structured points and additional context: https://oracleselixir.com/blog/post/1...

POWER RANKINGS AND +/- DEFINITION
Each team has been assigned a power ranking number that predicts where they will finish in the LCS standings by the end of 2021.

Teams also have a +/- modifier that gives an idea of how much higher or lower they might be able to finish depending on how things "click." In other words, the +/- is both an indicator of my confidence in my prediction, and also an estimate of the roster's volatility: how good could they be if everything comes together perfectly, and/or how bad might they be if everything falls apart?

OFFSEASON GRADE DEFINITION
I judge the quality of a team's offseason on several criteria, including:

Existing resources (players under contract, estimation of available budget)
Spend vs. value gained
Opportunity cost (by making a certain transaction, what other potential transactions were they not able to make?)
Clarity of purpose (is the team trying to win this year, or build up for the future, for example)
Organizational depth

The team's grade is a summary of these factors, based on how they entered the 2020/21 offseason and what they had secured as of December 8, 2020 (with some teams' Academy rosters not yet being finalized). The grades can range from A+ to F, with anything in the A range being great to excellent, B range meaning average to good, C range being below average, D basically meaning I'm actively disappointed, and F meaning a complete failure.

0:00 Introduction
3:00 10. Golden Guardians
14:05 9. Dignitas
20:45 8. Immortals
29:45 7. CLG
36:45 6. FlyQuest
45:25 5. Evil Geniuses
51:40 4. 100 Thieves
1:01:55 3. TSM
1:14:25 2. Team Liquid
1:25:30 1. Cloud9