The LCK Spring split regular season has wrapped up, and the gauntlet-style playoffs will be kicking off soon. Did the “right” five teams qualify? Here are a couple of alternative ways to rank the teams based on their game results.
Pure win percentage leaves almost all of the teams in the same order, because it’s used as the first tiebreaker in standings. CJ Entus did benefit one spot in the official standings by winning seven of their ten Game 3s, which made them look slightly better than they may deserve.
By Gold Spent Percentage Difference, the standings are shaken up pretty significantly. Suddenly KT Rolster and the Jin Air Green Wings don’t look so good, while the Afreeca Freecs seem like legitimate contenders and Longzhu Gaming are bumped all the way up into a playoff spot.
GSPD rewards teams who win decisively and lose by narrow margins, and that definitely fits the profile of the Freecs, who are one the LCK’s better early-game teams but sometimes struggle to close things out in the mid/late-game. In Longzhu’s case, their GSPD is higher than their place in the standings in part because of their struggles in Game 3s, where they had just a 2-5 record.
The table below has the actual numbers for each of these metrics.
Based on these numbers, it could be argued that Longzhu deserved a playoff spot over the Jin Air Green Wings, but in the end the wins are what matter.
For complete LCK team statistics from the Spring regular season, hit the Team Stats page.