North America’s League of Legends tournament is really starting to heat up, and four teams are tied for first place. But perhaps one of the biggest stories is the rise of team Curse, who, after a roster change in the offseason heading into the summer and a disappointing first half of the season, are starting to take charge and big up some big games. Ex-Team SoloMid support player Alex “Xpecial” Chu had one of his best weeks ever last week, and the team is in a perfect position to catch up with the big dogs.
Opposing them this week, however, will be CompLexity, another up-and-coming team with potential in spades. They may be two games behind Curse, but they’re almost all newcomers to the LCS. What’s more, in the last two weeks, they managed massive upsets against former champs Cloud9 and favorites Dignitas. Which team has the edge in this matchup?Â
Infographics by LoLStats
On the surface, Curse appear to have an edge. Not only have they almost doubled CompLexity’s KDA for the season, but they also have significantly better Baron control. However, a closer look at the gold income rates of both teams reveals that maybe this fight will be a lot closer. In fact, CompLexity’s win rate on the Blue side, 40 percent, trumps Curse’s 30 percent on the Red side. Does CompLexity actually have an advantage here?
The player comparison’s beg to say no. And while CompLexity have held on bravely to this season, the truth is that Curse far overshadows their individual performances. Both CompLexity mid laner Neil “PR0LLY” Hammad and teammate marksman Robert “ROBERTxLEE” Lee have just half of their lane opponents’ KDA, giving Curse’s Joedat “Voyboy” Esfahani and David “Cop” Roberson substantial edges. Coupled with Curse’s support and jungle players, Chu and Christian “IWillDominate” Rivera respectively, who have tendencies to pull ahead of their enemy counterparts, and Curse have a formula for victory. As these two teams head onto the field, it’s clear who has the advantage.
