LTA North: Split 1 2025 Power Rankings

The 2025 LTA North Split 1 kicks off this Saturday, 24th January at 13:00 PST, thus completing the start of the five main domestic regions of League of Legends ecosystem. FlyQuest and Team Liquid keep the same rosters while other teams have made important changes. Here are our traditional Sheep Esports’ Power Rankings for the eight teams competing in the LTA North Split 1 in which each member of our editorial team had the opportunity to contribute and to make his own tierlist, and we've calculated the average placement for each team to provide you with a comprehensive overview.

2024 was a great year for FlyQuest, after a memorable minion backdoor in the LCS Championship Finals against Team Liquid, and an amazing performance at Worlds 2024, where the roster made a good impression with some atypical picks — Fiddlesticks, Nunu, Sett — during their BO5 against Gen.G. Fahad "Massu" Abdulmalek, who was named LCS Rookie of the Year, showed impressive skills and proved that he is the future of ADC role in North America, while Kacper "Inspired" Słoma confirmed his position in the top tier of Western junglers. Also, Song "Quad" Su-hyeong showed that the coaching staff made a good call by promoting him after a complicated MSI 2024 with Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen.

FlyQuest consolidated their superiority towards the rest of the NA teams after eliminating TL durin g the final round of the Swiss stage in the Worlds, confirming that they deserve to be considered as the main contender for the win in the LTA North 2025 Split 1, especially after retaining the same roster. The team is now clearly looking for stability and working hard to close the gap between the West and LCK/LPL teams.

Despite an end-of-year with mixed results, the LCS 2024 Spring champions also decided to retain their roster. Domestically, the results were good for Team Liquid, the team asserted its dominance in the North American league, even though they lost dramatically to FlyQuest in the Summer Split as mentioned above. The identity of TL will stay unchanged for the greatest delight of LTA and Team Liquid fans, Eain "APA" Stearns is still going to trash talk in All Chat, and at almost 30 years old, Jeong "Impact" Eon-young is still performing enough to send his team to the World Championship.

However, the Seahorse is, as always, a serious candidate for the LTA North 2025 Split 1 title, and seeing them lifting the trophy would not be a surprise. With international-class players at every role and the arrival of Simon "Swiffer" Papamarkos as an assistant coach, they will certainly aim for a spot on the First Stand.

100 Thieves was the surprise of the 2024 LCS season. Despite a relatively inexperienced roster, the team finished 3rd in the Summer Split, notably eliminating Cloud9 in the playoffs, and secured a spot at Worlds. The organization almost kept the same roster, with toplaner Rayan "Sniper" Shoura, with jungler Kim "River" Dong-woo, midlaner Lim "Quid" Hyeon-seung, and support Bill "Eyla" Nguyen remaining. The only change is the return of AD Carry Victor "FBI" Huang, who led the team to its last title in Summer 2021.

This move aims to add stability in the early game, as explained by General Manager Joseph "JungleJuice" Jang in an interview wish Sheep Esports. The arrival of Frank “Tomo” Lam, replacing Brandon “Meech” Choi—who had stepped aside to prioritize his mental health—during the Summer Split, brought this much-needed sense of stability. FBI's mission is to continue moving in this direction.

They have gone back to their roots. After a disappointing 2024 season, Cloud9 reunites Robert "Blaber" Huang, Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen, and Philippe "VULCAN" Laflamme together—players who have historically thrived with the team in 2021. Without a doubt, they are one of the top contenders this season, though they may need to fine-tune their gameplay early on. The real question mark in their roster lies in the midlane, now occupied by Lee "Loki" Sang-min, who faces the daunting challenge of filling the void left by Joseph "Jojopyun" Pyun, who has ventured off to explore new horizons in Europe.

This young talent coming from the LCK CL may just become another example of Korean talents stomping the midlane in a new league with many midlaners to dominate. Many teams will soon learn the hard way about his infamous Yone. He will be helped by Park "Thanatos" Seung-gyu and head coach Bok "Reapered" Han-gyu to accomodate.

With four changes to its roster for 2025, Shopify can look forward to better results than last year. The organization, freshly merged with Moist, has changed all its players except Ju "Bvoy" Yeong-hoon, its adc. On the toplane, we find Ibrahim "Fudge" Allami, who has just come out of a split off after having his place at C9 taken by Park "Thanatos" Seung-gyu, in the jungle the team has recruited Juan Arturo "Contractz" Garcia, on the midlane Cristian "Palafox" Palafox and Denilson "Ceos" Oliveira Gonçalves for the support role.

Will we see a real revolt? Well, we think Shopify can indeed do better than in 2024, as the roster looks more competitive with players with more bottle like Fudge, Contractz, and Palafox. The latter two played together at CLG and NRG, where they won 1 LCS title and went to Worlds. Contractz is a player who has been the subject of a lot of positive talks, particularly from his new Head Coach Seong "Reven" Sang-hyeon. On the botlane, the team retains one of its best soldiers, Bvoy. The Korean AD Carry will be accompanied by newcomer Ceos*, who was one of the best players in CBLOL last year. We think these changes will enable Shopify to improve on last year's two 7th-place finishes and move up to 5th place. We don't see this team being able to compete with the likes of FlyQuest or TL, but we don't see this team playing in the relegation places either. It's certainly a roster that will be able to scale throughout the year, perhaps to achieve better results.

*Ceos is currently facing visa issues and will be replaced by Tristan "Zeyzal" Stidam for the time being.

Wiping the slate clean and starting fresh. Dignitas has abandoned the idea of fielding a team of veterans after a 2024 season spent stuck in the middle of the standings. This time, they've gone all-in on rookies, with a top/jungle duo taking their—almost—first steps in the LTA. Jett Michael "Srtty" Joye and Jade "Sheiden" Libut both hail from the tier-2 circuits and will need to prove themselves at this higher level. They have also brought in Kim "Keine" Joon-cheol, a player the international audience may recognize from the Play-In stage of the 2024 Worlds with Movistar R7.

While Keine brings some experience, he will need to adapt to a league where he has yet to face much high-level competition—a challenge compounded by the inexperience of the topside, which justifies our low ranking for the team. On a brighter note, they’ve retained their support, Jonah "Isles" Rosario, who had a solid individual performance in 2024, and welcomed back Frank "Tomo" Lam to the roster.

*Sheiden is currently facing VISA issues due to behavior investigations, he will be replaced by Nam "Lira" Tae-yoo for the time being.

LYON, formerly Movistar R7, enters the league with a risky and unproven roster. Losing their star player from last year, they’ve replaced him with Eric "Licorice" Ritchie, a veteran coming off a disappointing season with Dignitas where he struggled in a dysfunctional lineup. They’ve retained Sebastián "Oddie" Alonso, a Latin American veteran with over a decade of experience and a key player in R7’s domestic success. However, Oddie has never performed at a high level outside his region, making his leap to the LCS a gamble.

The rest of the roster is a mix of potential and uncertainty. They have also kept Pedro Luis "Lyonz" Peralta, maintaining their jungle-support synergy, though this duo remains untested at this level. Joining them are two imports: Kang "Saint" Sung-in, a hyped prospect from the LCK CL with much to prove in a new environment, and Park "Hena" Jeung-hwan, who brings experience from the LCK but has yet to establish himself as a consistent performer. With so many question marks and unproven dynamics, LYONZ ranks seventh, needing time and improvement to climb higher.

They are the first team on the league's Guest Slot and will have to fight at the end of the year to retain their spot in LTA North. Operating on a lighter budget, they’ve decided to give Lawrence Lin "eXyu" Xu a second chance in the league. They’ve also picked up an intriguing talent, Summer NACL champion ADC Jeremiah "ScaryJerry" Leathe, whose trajectory has drawn comparisons to players like Kyle "Danny" Sakamaki or Fahad "Massu" Abdulmalek. However, the key question remains whether he can maintain consistency. While he showed significant growth in 2024, he’ll need to take another step forward to compete at this higher level.

A strong botlane will be crucial for this team, as their solo lanes, held by Felix "Abbedagge" Braun and Cho "Castle" Hyeon-seong, don’t rank among the strongest in the league on paper. Nevertheless, these veterans bring valuable experience and leadership to the roster, much like their captain Choi "huhi" Jae-hyun, who will be tasked with supporting their young ADC. This is a team with potential, but they’ll undoubtedly need time to reach their full stride.