All posts by Tim Sevenhuysen

Tim Sevenhuysen is the founder and sole developer of Oracle's Elixir and provides a variety of consulting and contracting services throughout the esports industry. He is the former Director of Esports Analytics for 100 Thieves, served as Head of Data Science for Esports One, led Shadow.gg from 2017 to 2019, and was Statistical Consultant for Fnatic in 2015. Follow Tim on Twitter at @TimSevenhuysen.
Analysis and Opinion

Academy Standouts: 2020 Spring Week 1

The NA Academy league is a place for players to show their potential and earn an opportunity to make it into–or back into–the LCS. Check back each week throughout 2020 as I highlight the Academy players who put up the best performances.

If you want to track your favourite team’s Academy performance throughout each split, you can also check out the Academy stats pages, starting with 2020 Spring regular season player stats and team stats.

Damonte, Mid, Dignitas

Right from the start, Damonte is shouting out loud and clear that he deserves to be in LCS, not Academy. He was assertive, using his laning advantages (+500 GD10 and +307 XPD10!) to control the river, getting himself fed through skirmishes, and working hard (sometimes a little too hard?) to make plays for his team.

Damonte Stats, 2020 Spring Week 1

KDA KP GXD10 DPM/DMG% CSPM
7.0 71.4% +807 720/32.4% 8.1

Together, Damonte and Akaadian look like the strongest mid/jungle duel in Academy by a wide margin, and Damonte seems ready to stomp all over this league, especially if he can overcome the little bit of cockiness that showed up when he started to build his leads.

JayJ, Support, FlyQuest

There’s  no doubt that JayJ wants to see himself back in the LCS, after being replaced in FlyQuest’s main roster by IgNar. Continue reading Academy Standouts: 2020 Spring Week 1 →

Analysis and Opinion

Three Points of Interest for 2020 LCS Academy

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Academy has been slowly but consistently rising in priority for the LCS over time, with the goal of creating a more productive pipeline for domestic North American talent. According to information first reported by Parkes Ousley of Inven Global and officially confirmed this week, that trend is continuing in 2020, with five on-stage Academy games every week. In addition to giving Academy players more experience in LCS-like competitive environments, the league is clearly hoping to draw more fan eyeballs onto Academy.

One of my personal goals for 2020 is to watch Academy more closely and provide some level of content and coverage around it. To kick off that coverage, I’m presenting three points of interest for the 2020 season.

Oceanic Influx

The LCS implemented a rule change during the offseason that allows Academy teams to field one “extra” import, if that player comes from Turkey, Brazil, Latin America, Oceania, or the Commonwealth of Independent States. That change, paired with a dramatic scaling-back of the OPL, created a flood of Oceanic talent into North America.

The most visible highlight of that movement is ry0ma, who landed a starting role in the 100 Thieves mid lane. Continue reading Three Points of Interest for 2020 LCS Academy →

Analysis and Opinion

LCS 2020 Post-Free Agency Power Rankings – 5 to 1

Tim Sevenhuysen is the founder of OraclesElixir.com and Head of Esports Data Science for Esports One. He led Shadow.gg from 2017-19 and was Statistical Consultant for Fnatic in 2015.

RECAP: Read part 1 of my 2020 LCS preseason power rankings.

The rankings so far:

10. Golden Guardians
9. Immortals
8. Dignitas
7. 100 Thieves
6. FlyQuest

We continue the 2020 LCS preseason power rankings with spot 5, a selection that I’m sure will generate no controversy whatsoever… Continue reading LCS 2020 Post-Free Agency Power Rankings – 5 to 1 →