This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

　　

Overview

This article assesses the early game strength and classifies the early game play style of each NA LCS team based on various statistics from the first 10 minutes of the games. The statistics include team averages for gold relative to opponents, kills, deaths, towers secured, and towers allowed. The tables also include objective rates such as first blood, first tower, and first dragon.

　　

Gold Leads

Teams that frequently earn a large gold lead over opponents at 10 minutes are strong in the early game phase. Dignitas and Counter Logic Gaming earned a gold lead in 5 out of 6 games and averaged 7.56% and 2.53% more gold than their opponents respectively. Complexity and Evil Geniuses earned a gold lead in only 1 out of 6 games and averaged a gold deficit of 4.78% and 4.80% respectively. Thus, DIG and CLG are classified as being strong in the early game, whereas COL and EG are classified as being weak in the early game. The table below shows the average gold statistics used to assess the overall early game strength of each NA LCS team.

　　

Ranking	Team	Frequency of Gold Lead (Games)	Average Gold Relative to Opponent	Assessment of Overall Early Game Strength
1	DIG	5	7.56%	Strong
2	CLG	5	2.53%	Strong
3	TSM	3	0.90%	Above Average
4	LMQ	4	0.12%	Average
5	C9	3	0.00%	Average
6	CRS	2	-1.13%	Below Average
7	COL	1	-4.78%	Weak
8	EG	1	-4.80%	Weak

Kills and Deaths

The average number of kills at 10 minutes for all NA LCS teams is 1.33. To classify early game aggression, each team’s average kills and deaths were compared to the league average. To assess killing proficiency, each team’s average K/D ratio was compared to an average of 1.00.

　　For example, Team Solo Mid averaged 1.17 kills and 0.50 deaths at 10 minutes. The 1.17 kills is below the league average and, thus, TSM is considered to have a passive early game play style (relative to the other teams). However, TSM dies the second fewest times and has the second highest K/D ratio. Thus, TSM is considered to have high early game killing proficiency. The table below shows the first blood rates, average kills, deaths, and K/D ratio for each team. CLG averages the most kills at 10 minutes (2.33), yet is tied for the most deaths (1.83).

　　

Ranking	Team	Frequency of First Blood (Games)	Kills	Deaths	Average K/D Ratio	Classification of Early Game Aggression	Assessment of Early Game Killing Proficiency
1	DIG	5	1.83	0.33	5.55	Slightly Passive	Strong
2	TSM	3	1.17	0.50	2.34	Passive	Strong
3	CLG	5	2.33	1.83	1.27	Aggressive	Above Average
4	C9	1	1.50	1.50	1.00	Slightly Aggressive	Average
5	LMQ	3	1.50	1.83	0.82	Aggressive	Below Average
6	COL	2	1.00	1.50	0.67	Slightly Passive	Below Average
7	CRS	4	0.67	1.50	0.45	Slightly Passive	Weak
8	EG	1	0.67	1.67	0.40	Slightly Passive	Weak

　　

Objective Control

The table below shows the average towers secured and allowed in the first 10 minutes for each team and the frequency in which a team secures the first objectives. The assessments were determined by looking at the average tower difference and the number of first dragons.

　　

Ranking	Team	Average Towers	Average Towers for Opponent	Average Tower Difference	Frequency of First Tower (Games)	Frequency of First Dragon (Games)	Assessment of Early Game Objective Control
1	DIG	0.33	0.00	0.33	4	5	Strong
2	CRS	0.33	0.17	0.16	5	4	Above Average
3	LMQ	0.50	0.33	0.17	3	2	Average
4	EG	0.33	0.33	0.00	2	3	Average
5	COL	0.00	0.17	-0.17	2	4	Average
6	TSM	0.17	0.33	-0.16	3	2	Below Average
7	C9	0.50	0.83	-0.33	1	3	Below Average
8	CLG	0.33	0.33	0.00	4	1	Below Average

　　

Overall Assessment

The table below summarizes the assessment of each team's strength in each area.

　　

Team	Gold Leads	Early Game Aggression	Early Game K/D Proficiency	Assessment of Early Game Objective Control
C9	Average	Slightly Aggressive	Average	Below Average
CLG	Strong	Aggressive	Above Average	Below Average
COL	Weak	Slightly Passive	Below Average	Average
CRS	Below Average	Slightly Passive	Weak	Above Average
DIG	Strong	Slightly Passive	Strong	Strong
EG	Weak	Slightly Passive	Weak	Average
LMQ	Average	Aggressive	Below Average	Average
TSM	Above Average	Passive	Strong	Below Average

　　

Conclusion

This article assesses each team's early game performance in the season thus far based on statistics from the first 10 minutes of games. While gold leads is a good way to determine a team's overall early game strength, the other statistics such as killing proficiency and objective control help show each team's focal points and strengths/weaknesses. Various factors obviously affect these statistics, such as champion picks and overall team strategy (such as sacrificing an early dragon to funnel farm onto a certain player who scales well into late game).

　　With more than a few recent roster changes and the the albeit small sample size of games, the classifications are in no way definitive - simply an early assessment. Seeing how each team improves in the early game over the course of the season will be exciting.

　　Data collected with help by the onGamers Stats team: Jesse 'JALbert' Albert, Derek 'Kathix' Adams, Steven 'whedgehead' Falgout, Kent 'Traepoint' Frasure, Jake Morales, and James 'PelkaSupaFresh' Pelkey. Design by Ben 'Sarcasmappreciated' Li.