EG pulled a classic 2-1 record beating Dignitas and TSM while losing to Team Liquid. This week though was interesting for a few reasons. EG swapped their JG for a game and also played against a swapped TL and Dignitas. There is a lot to unpack here.
Here are the facts. Svenskeren does not have impressive stats. His GD@10, XPD@10 and CSD@10 are all lower half stats for the Summer Split. He has given up first blood numerous times, such as in the TL game. His KP is the lowest of any Jungler in the LCS. CSPM and KDA are also both incredibly low in regards to other JG player. The simple fact is that Svenskeren has not been performing well.
So EG put in Contractz versus TSM for “strategic purposes” according to Coach Dun. He goes 6/0/12 while having a 94.7% percent KP and missed the 100% due to EG chasing someone while killing the nexus. Now sure, the sample size is literally only one game. Fair enough. That said, here is a comparison of his Academy stats to other starting LCS Junglers like Armao and Akaadian.
Courtesy of Riot Games
In 16 games, Contractz is leading the league with a GD@10 of 335, an XPD@10 of 72 and a CSD@10 of -0.1. Armao, respectively, is 51, 258 and 5.3. Up in two, but lower in GD. Akaadian is -146, -118 and -2.3.
What about KP? Contractz is also leading the league in that at 75.6%. Armao is 70.4% while Akaadian is 72.2%. Contractz is second in the league in terms of kills with a KDA of 3.5 while Armao has less kills, but a slightly higher KDA of 3.8. For DPM, Contractz is second at 581 and his DMG% is the highest in Academy.
What these stats show is that Armao and Contractz are clearly two of the best, if not the best, Junglers in Academy. They are both smurfing along with Shernfire who is worth mentioning. Contractz did not just pop off in a single game. He has straight up dominated the League and helped turn around EGA from a 10th place squad to a roster that can win it all.
Contractz deserves to start over Svenskeren. The TSM game was the cleanest game EG have played all year.
Many will dismiss these points cause Danny has bad laning stats. And on paper, yes, they look bad. But what people forget is that Danny has played three Senna games. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to remove these games from the stats. Even before, Danny had some laning issues. But what people are forgetting is that the reason Danny was promoted was not to win lane. It was to win team fights. Deftly could lane great. That wasn’t the issue with EG. An example of this is the TSM game where Danny fell behind early. At 15 minutes he was down 43 CS against Lost, one of the worst laners in the League. This was mostly due to a strong level 1, specifically Karma, out of the TSM Bot Lane.
Did this affect EG though? No. Not at all. Danny still showed up in team fights with a 63% KP and most importantly, did not die and cause the lead to be worse than it was. And clearly, Danny was carried this game, no doubt, but the point remains. If he isn’t dying in lane and still performing well in team fights, then he is doing what he was promoted for.
Danny is also the first to admit this week was far from his best performance-wise.
https://twitter.com/EG_Danny/status/1409269017135620096
At the end of the day for a fresh-faced ADC, bad games like this will happen. The most important thing is that he is learning from it and admitting he can do better. That is what fans should want to see in a regular-season game. Danny has some rough points, but he also shines so bright when he performs well. If you are still on the fence about him, fine, but there is a reason he has gained the respect of many players already.
EG did an important thing this weekend, they finally passed Dignitas and secured the solo fifth-place spot. This is good, but they should do better. TL are currently dealing with the Santorin situation and Alphari coming back next week. C9, despite going 2-1, looked awful this week and are clearly slumping. EG also just beat TSM. TSM are showing that Lost is a liability. Really, the only team that looks solid is 100T. The rest have weaknesses.
Courtesy of Riot Games
EG are only three games behind C9 and TL. It is very feasible that they are able to catch up, especially if these teams keep performing as badly as they did. Alphari might be able to bring some stability to TL, but who knows? Another important thing is that EG have a very easy week coming up. They play FLY, CLG and GGs. Meanwhile, C9 plays IMT, TL and TSM. TL plays 100T, C9 and FLY. It is very possible that one of these teams goes 1-2 and EG goes 3-0.
The point of this is that third place is very feasible and EG need to keep their eyes on the prize. The higher the seeding, the easier the playoffs are, the easier the Worlds run is.
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