It’s a phrase you’ve heard the analysts say dozens of times
before a game starts, when they predict what strategies we’re likely to see being used. For those who are new to the concept of champion power curves, a mid-game
power spike is exactly what it sounds like: a large increase in the power of a
given champion relative to the other champions in the game. Power spikes
usually happen after one or two key items are bought, or after a certain level
is reached (to unlock an ultimate or max an ability).
The Theory
It’s simple: these spikes are so important because in most
professional games, the midgame is when one team really starts to develop a
lead. It’s also when the real team fighting starts, so you can see why being
powerful at this time is so vital.
The Practice
This all makes sense in theory, but how applicable is it to
actual competitive League of Legends? Well, as it turns out, the answer is a
little bit complicated. In terms of raw statistics, in Groups C and D, the team
with more champions with mid-game power spikes won 52% of the time. That doesn't sound like it makes much of a difference, but the team with fewer
mid-game spikes actually only won 20% of the time. These numbers may not seem
to add up, but in 28% of the games, both teams had the same number of mid-game
champions.
However, some games made it very clear that these champion
picks are very important. In the game with the most mid-game champions,
Samsung Blue’s crushing victory over LMQ, four out of Blue’s five champions all
had considerable power spikes after they completed a core item or two. Sure,
Blue is a better team in general, but in the other meeting of these two teams
(where Blue didn't have four mid-game champions), the game was much closer.
You can actually also draw conclusions from the games in
which both teams had the same number of mid-game champions. The first game
between Fnatic and LMQ, for example, was decided largely because LMQ’s mid-game
champions had a much greater impact than Fnatic’s did. Ackerman on Rumble went
4/0/7 and XiaoWeiXiao on Yasuo went 4/0/8, compared to sOAZ’s 0/1/3 Lulu and
Cyanide’s 1/6/4 Jarvan. Fnatic’s victory over Samsung Blue happened in much the
same way. Most notably, Rekkles had an impressive 8/1/5 score while Dade went
2/5/1 on Zed, one of his signature champions.
The Odd Case of KaBuM
Now, it is sometimes the case in any competition that some
teams just massively outclass others. For almost the entire set of games in Group D, this was the case for KaBuM eSports. They would stand up to any
team for the first few minutes of a game but fall behind before too long. This
isn't to put down any team - it’s great that KaBuM made it to worlds and got to
play against some of the top regions, but for the sake of analysis, let’s see
what happens when we don’t include KaBuM’s losses in our sample. Not much
really changes; the team with more mid-game champions still won 55% of
their games.
But here’s the really fun part: KaBuM upset Alliance on the
final day of the group stage. Each team had two strong mid-game power spikes:
Fizz with a Lich Bane and Twitch with a Blade of the Ruined King for Fnatic,
against Ahri with a Zhonya’s Hourglass and Ryze with a stacked Rod of Ages and
stacking Tear of the Goddess for KaBuM. LEP was not inspiring on Ryze this
game—1/3/1 at the 16-minute mark—but some unconventional itemization from
Minerva’s Jinx made up for this: the second item he bought was a Hexdrinker. An
item rarely seen in professional matches at all, the Hexdrinker has been almost
exclusively purchased by top-lane bruisers. However, a 4/1/1 Fizz with a Lich
Bane is a scary proposition for any AD carry, especially an immobile one such
as Jinx. The usual response to this would be a late-game Banshee’s Veil, but
Minerva wanted safety from Fizz right then—and rightly so. Hexdrinker is a much
cheaper item, and gives very good protection against burst magic damage. In
purchasing this item, Minerva created an artificial mid-game boost in power on
a champion who traditionally has a milder version of Tristana’s U-shaped power
curve: fairly strong early laning, a dip in power mid-game while farming up for
items, and then an explosive late-game as she approaches a full build.
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