The NA LCS Finals between Counter Logic Gaming and Team SoloMid could largely be a story of early-game vs. late-game. CLG has been a much stronger early-game team than TSM, but TSM has always made up for that weakness with their late-game execution. The statistics that follow are largely focused on this narrative.
All statistics reflect the entire 2015 Summer split (regular season, tiebreakers, and playoffs to date), unless otherwise specified.
Early Game Discrepancy
- First Blood: CLG has a 68% FB rate across regular season and playoffs, miles ahead of TSM’s abysmal 35% FB rate.
- On average, CLG’s FB kills have come at 6:19 into the game, which is the earliest average FB time in the NA LCS. TSM’s FBs have come at avg 7:42.
Keeping It Close
- CLG wins by more and loses by more, while TSM is better at keeping games close. In other words, TSM does a better job of hanging around in games, while CLG does a better job at pressing home leads to take efficient victories.
- Gold Difference @ 15 Minutes: CLG has averaged +827 gold at 15 minutes, better than TSM’s 332 GD@15.
| CLG | TSM | |||
| Wins | Losses | Wins | Losses | |
| GD@10 | +823 | -237 | +76 | -188 |
| GD@15 | +1,305 | -447 | +635 | -241 |
| GD@25 | +4,418 | -1,349 | +2,708 | -1,203 |
- Gold Spent Percentage Difference (GSPD): CLG’s margins of winning and losing are usually more extreme than TSM’s.
| CLG | TSM | |||||
| Wins | Losses | Overall | Wins | Losses | Overall | |
| Avg GSPD | +14.4% | -10.6% | +7.5% | +11.7% | -6.0% | +5.6% |
For information about GSPD, read the introductory article.
Game Length
- CLG wins fast and loses fast: their wins avg 37:17, losses avg 36:05.
- TSM wins slow and loses slow: their wins avg 42:44, losses avg 41:34.
Combat Pace
- CLG fights a lot more than TSM, partly because of their shorter game lengths. CLG’s average combined kills per minute (CKPM) is 0.79. TSM’s average CKPM is 0.57.
- Note: When games go past a certain point in time, combat becomes less frequent, because a single kill could mean a Baron, an Inhibitor, or a victory. So shorter games, like CLG’s, often produce higher CKPMs.
Team Fighting
Somewhat counter to the common narrative, TSM appears to be more successful when they don’t restrict themselves to just 5v5 fights. CLG, meanwhile, is apparently more effective if they can move past skirmishing and set up a lot of 5v5 team fights.
- In CLG’s wins, they have had far more “team fight” kills (3 or 4 assists).
- In wins, 61% of their kills have had 3 or 4 assists.
- In losses, only 47% of their kills have had 3 or 4 assists.
- In TSM’s losses, they have had far fewer “skirmish” kills (0, 1, or 2 assists).
- In wins, 43% of their kills have had 0, 1, or 2 assists.
- In losses, only 33% of their kills have had 0, 1, or 2 assists.