Play-In stage OP-5 missing the Main Event

With the Play-Ins completed, four teams will advance into the World Championship Main Event. Worlds 2018 says goodbye to eight other teams, who will return to their home regions, analyzing what went wrong and what went right. The clash between major region third seeds and minor region first seeds has been exciting. Playstyles, drafts and regional differences clashed on stage unlike most of the year. With such a mixture of talent going at it, some individuals have risen above others, showcasing their skill and strength for their teams. This is the OP-5 of the Play-In stage who will miss the Main Event.

Image from LoL Esports Flickr

Top – Nate

CSD10: +7.0  DPM: 419  DMG: 26.5%

Kaos Latin Gamers may have looked rough during most of the Play-In stage, but Nate honestly did well for himself. Sure, his KDA is going to be low since his team went 0-4, but considering how hard they lost, Nate averaged ahead in laning phase. Against PvPStejos and PK, Nate averaged ahead in gold, XP and CS at 10 minutes. He also brought the highest damage percentage and the third highest damage per minute of all top laners in Play-Ins.

Detonation FocusMe’s Evi was a close contender for this OP-5. However, his laning just did not hold up against Zantins, Licorice and Ray. Evi had more difficult opponents, but his team also did much better as a whole than KLG. It was a tough decision, but laning phase feels more important when judging individual performance, and Nate takes this one this time.

Image from LoL Esports Flickr

Jungle – SolidSnake

KP: 76.7%  GD10: +191  XPD10: +349

Infinity Esports performed better than most fans were probably expecting. During their time in Play-Ins, INF took games off of EDG and G2, and SolidSnake played a huge role in enabling that. He averaged ahead individually versus the Play-In Group A pool. including Jankos, Clearlove, Haro and Shernfire. SolidSnake had the third highest kill participation among junglers, and the highest XP difference at 10 by a lot.

INF’s major wins involved SolidSnake’s Nocturne. He also showed up on Gragas and had a solid performance on Olaf versus G2. INF can go home feeling successful, even if they did not make it to the Main Event. SolidSnake stood out as the best minor region jungler at the event.

Image from LoL Esports Flickr

Middle – G4

KP: 86.2%  DPM: 542  DMG: 38.2%

Ascension did not have the best go of this year’s Play-In stage, finishing 0-4 in their group, but G4 did a lot of work individually. Despite matching up against Perkz and GBM, G4 generally started ahead at 10 minutes (+135 gold, +200 XP). He also finished the Play-Ins with the highest kill participation and damage percentage of all players, and the highest damage per minute of all mid laners.

Unfortunately, G4’s top and bottom lanes finished bottom two in the Play-Ins. Looking at only the big picture, most fans probably missed G4’s performance. However, he actually showed up stronger than many other mid laners, especially the minor region representatives. Hopefully G4 brings a more talented or better prepared roster next year.

Image from LoL Esports Flickr

Bottom – Zeitnot

KP: 78.9%  DMG: 31.1%  GOLD: 28.6%

Without Zeitnot, Supermassive probably would not look nearly as strong. This guy is a teamfighting machine who always seems to survive when the rest of his team dies. The team looks best when they play around Zeitnot and take fights on his terms. He receives the second highest gold share of any player in the Play-Ins, and rewards his team with the sixth highest damage share.

Zeitnot played six different marksmen over nine games, and all but Ashe looked excellent. He prioritized Lucian much more than anyone else at the event, but did not really reap much from it. Regardless, he is one of the only minor region players at this event that looked on par with the larger pool of Worlds Main Event players.

Image from LoL Esports Flickr

Support – Snowflower

KP: 83.2%  VSPM: 2.5  AVAS: 8.1

Snowflower makes up the other half of Supermassive’s stellar bottom lane. The Korean support brings so much play-making and utility to the team. It is beautiful to watch. Snowflower finished with the third highest kill participation of all players, as well as the third highest vision score per minute. Although Snowflower’s KDA was lower, he averaged 8.1 assists per game, seventh overall.

Like his ADC, Zeitnot, Snowflower could fit in well with the remaining Worlds contenders. He seems a lot more calculated, with better execution. There were fights during Play-Ins where Snowflower solo-carried, because of his perfectly timed engage. Zeitnot and he have a great symbiotic relationship that truly shows on the Rift.

CREDITS

(KDA: Kills+Assists/Deaths, CSD10: CS difference at 10 minutes, GD10: Gold difference at 10 minutes, XPD10: XP difference at 10 minutes, DPM: Damage per minute, DTH: Death share, GOLD: Gold share, DMG: Damage share, FB: First Blood percentage, VSPM: Vision score per minute, AVAS: Average assists per game)

Statistics from Oracles Elixir and Games of Legends

Images from LoL Esports Flickr

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