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

　　

Introduction

Most NA LCS teams play 35 to 50 unique champions over the course of a regular season, and they tend to pick the champions they perceive to be the strongest at any give time. The champions deemed the "strongest picks" can change over the course of a split due to patches which buff or nerf certain champions. The regular season of the recent NA LCS summer split was played on 6 different patches (4.7 to 4.12), and only 67 of the 119 champions were picked compared with 74 champions being picked in the spring split. Given the increased competitiveness in the league, the increased importance on the summer split results (entry into the world championship), and perhaps a more narrowed champion meta overall, teams were more inclined to play the typical "league meta" picks (picks deemed strong and played by other teams) and were less inclined to experiment with off-the-wall picks.

　　That being said, teams did play certain champions more often than other teams played them, and some teams played unique comfort picks not played by other teams. This article looks at which teams deviated away from the league meta picks the most and shows every team's most unique and most avoided champions.

　　

The Process

Assessing every team's level of adherence to the league meta picks involved comparing the pick rates of every champion to the league averages. For example, the champion Irelia was picked 13 times throughout the split, but not every team played Irelia the same number of times. The following table shows every team’s Irelia pick rate. In averaging the eight pick rates, Irelia’s “league average” was 5.80%.

　　The last column shows the difference between each team’s Irelia pick rate and the league average. In looking at the results, you can see that TSM picked Irelia the most out of the eight teams, as the comparison to the league average was the highest (14.29% - 5.80% = 8.48%). Repeating this process for every champion yielded some interesting results.

　　

The Results

The sum of the values in the Compared to the League Average (%) column in the above table is 0.00%. This is the case for every champion due to the nature of the process. In order to better assess the spread of the comparisons, the standard deviation of every team’s results was calculated. A team with a high standard deviation means that its pick rates are more away from the league averages (more outside the league meta) than a team with a low standard deviation. The following table shows the results for every team.

　　The results show that CRS and DIG venture most outside the league meta as their standard deviations are the highest. Conversely, C9’s and EG’s picks most align with the league averages.

　　

Most Unique Picks

The process for determining every team’s most unique picks was to look at the largest differences between a team’s pick rate on a certain champion and the league average pick rate for that same champion. In the Irelia example, TSM’s comparison value was equal to 8.48%. As you can see in the table below, Irelia had the 4th highest difference for TSM. Thus Irelia is labeled as being one of the TSM’s most unique picks, which makes sense given that TSM accounted for 4 of Irelia's 13 total picks. The 5 largest differences (the most unique picks) are shown for every team in the tables below.

　　Some of the standout results include increased pick frequency for COL with Elise, CRS with Evelynn, DIG with Lucian, and TSM with Nami.

　　These results help show how patches throughout a season can affect teams differently based on the unique champions they play. For example, Lucian received nerfs in the second half of the season and was even disabled for a brief period of time. Given that DIG was extremely reliant on Lucian, more so than other teams, seeing Team Dignitas' Second Half Struggles is less surprising when you have a bit more context.

　　

Most Avoided Picks

A team obviously cannot pick a champion fewer than 0 times. Given that most teams play only 35-50 unique champions per split, each team has a 0.00% pick rate for over 60 champions. Yet not all 0.00% pick rates are "equal" in a sense. A team having a 0.00% pick rate on a champion that was played a combined 20 times by other teams throughout the split is more notable than a team having a 0.00% pick rate on a champion that was not played at all. The tables below show every team’s most avoided picks compared with the league averages.

　　Some of the notable results include teams lacking games on some highly contested champions, such as C9 with Elise, CRS with Lee Sin, DIG with Morgana, and TSM with Braum. A team lacking play on a certain high-priority champion may mean that the team does not prioritize the champion as highly as the rest of the league prioritizes it, or it could mean that the champion is often banned against or picked away from that team.

　　Opposite to the above example with DIG and Lucian, one example of a team that is less likely to be negatively affected by a champion nerf is CRS with Lee Sin. The Lee Sin nerfs in patch 4.13 are perhaps least likely to negatively (at least directly) affect CRS, as they were the team that was least reliant on the champion (-23.21%).

　　As an aside, one of the champions with a high pick rate coupled with a low pick disparity among the teams is Thresh, who was picked between 6 and 9 times by every team in the league.

　　

Conclusion

The standard deviation results show that CRS and DIG ventured away from the “league meta” the most whereas C9 and EG aligned closest with the league averages. Seeing CRS at the top of the list should not be surprising to many LCS followers given mid laner Voyboy’s reputation for picking unique champions at times, evidenced by his recent play on Talon and Fizz. While bans obviously affect the pick rates, the results show, in some sense, every team’s unique comfort picks and champions they haven’t played often compared with the rest of the league.

　　Data collected with help by the onGamers Stats team: Derek 'Kathix' Adams, Jesse 'JALbert' Albert, Steven 'whedgehead' Falgout, Kent 'Traepoint' Frasure, Christoph "geilerHarry" Lansmann, Jake Morales, James 'PelkaSupaFresh' Pelkey, and José "Vodkita" Ribeiro.