Can Curse upset CLG? We look at the stats

When it comes to teams with a lot to lose in this year’s League of Legends Regional Finals, it’s easy to point out Counter Logic Gaming. They started out strong and held the no. 1 spot in North America for five straight weeks, before a miserable eight-game losing streak that saw them end in fifth place. Part of that is from them skipping out on the final week of competition to start training for playoffs early. They also added on a new full-time coach, A loss here would be more than a setback, it’d be an outright embarassment. 

Facing off against Counter Logic is Curse, a talented team that spent almost the entire season in sixth place, just barely avoiding relegation. A late-season surge, however, saw them rise to a fourth-place finish. Now they look to carry that momentum into the playoffs. Will it be enough for them to overcome a rearmed Counter Logic Gaming? Here’s what the stats tell us:

In the overall team comparison, it’s easy to see that Curse have a significant lead: they have higher KDA, gold income, and objective control almost across the board. Coupled with their finish on a high note, including wins against no. 3 Team Solomid and no. 3 LMQ, Curse are going to be tough to take down. They also have a slightly better matchup in the bottom lane, where David “Cop” Roberson holds a slight lead in KDA over Counter Logic’s Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng. 

For Counter Logic Gaming to win, they’ll likely have to focus on the other areas of the map, especially the middle lane. Mid laner Austin “Link” Shin has been performing great this year—he even subbed in for #1 Cloud9‘s mid laner when theirs got injured. Shin will find a strong ally in the team’s jungler, Marcel “dexter” Feldkamp, who has been silently putting down a solid season as well. Together, they should be able to overpower the top and middle lanes, which will free up Peng to go turbo. So while Curse do have a lead, Counter Logic might just have the perfect set-up to bring them crashing down. This is gonna be a close one.