2022 Worlds Prep — Chiefs Esports Club (CHF -OPL Seed 1)

Analyzing one of the Play-In teams ahead of the 2022 League of Legends World Championship — by Tom Searfoss

via Leaguepedia

Top Takeaways

• Chiefs in charge— went undefeated in the Regular Season, only dropping a single game in the Finals
• King Midas — have the largest gold leads of the Play-In teams
• Win lane, win game — every lane has large CS, Gold and XP advantages
• Bloodlust — highest CK/M of Play-Ins, 2nd fastest game time and 2nd highest Team DMG/M will result in very bloody games
• Here today Dra-gone tomorrow — highest DRAKE% of the Play-In teams, but end games faster than Soul/Elder come online
• Just press R — favor Champions with impactful team fight ultimates, forcing fights

TL;DR — Team History & Summer Split

• It’s been 6 years since the last time CHF made a World Championship, and that was still when it had the International Wildcard Tournament!
• Bot Laner Raes is the only member of the current team that was on the roster last time CHF made Worlds
• Made a single roster change between Spring and Summer, adding Support Aladoric to a roster that just missed MSI in a 2–3 Finals loss
• Smashed the LCO Summer Split, going an undefeated 21–0 in games
• Only lost their first game all Summer in the Finals, going 3–1 against Pentanet.GG

LCO Summer Playoff Bracket via Leaguepedia

Overview of Team Play

Early Game Gold

CHF Gold Stats vs Play-In averages LPL data does not have gold at time stats*

As expected from a team that only lost a single game all Summer, the CHF tout the largest gold numbers in the Play-In Stage. Their gold leads are so massive that it’s almost hard to analyze how they would play without them! Where they go and how the team divides resources will be key to understanding how they can attempt to get leads at Worlds.

If the region’s strength is to be considered, then CHF will not be able to secure these types of leads against Major Region competition — although it will be interesting to see them go up against DetonatioN FocusMe — who have very similar numbers and are 2nd in most gold stats. Considering that previous LCO teams such as PGG have even made Group Stage at events like MSI, CHF might be able to garner similar leads against the other Emerging Region teams.

Early Game First Objectives

CHF First Objective Stats vs Play-In averages LPL data does not have some of these stats*

The first thing that stands out is the fact that CHF have the exact same First Blood, Dragon and Herald Rate. Although impressive, that means that despite all their high ranking gold leads, they aren’t consistently getting the first monster objectives of the game. They are however, securing large amounts of towers — translating into even more gold for the team. Although I say it’s interesting their FD% and FH% are lower, they are still the 2nd highest in all of Play-In Stage.

Their tower stats are extremely good — even if they are only ranked 2nd. This goes to show that the early game leads are being translated into advantages on the map — taking down First Tower, the First Mid Tower, and the First 3 Towers consistently. If they can use advantages to take down towers successfully against Play-In teams, CHF could have the avenue into the leads they are accustomed to — so long as the money gets on the right players.

Later Game Objectives

CHF Kill & Damage Stats vs Play-In averages ^Deaths are inversely ranked (1st = Lowest)

A lot of the advantage CHF get they turn into kills and pure damage. They have the most Kills per Game (KILL/G) of the Play-In Teams, and the 2nd least Deaths per Game (DTH/G). While they only translates to the 2nd highest Kill-Death-Ratio (K/D), it gives them the “bloodiest” games with the highest Combined Kills per Minute (CK/M) of Play-Ins teams.

Although the Chiefs may struggle against tougher competition at Worlds, expect them to go down swinging rather than be bled out through objective control and vision. Keeping games active can secure the gold they need to spark a comeback (but I wouldn’t think they get the chance against Major Region teams).

CHF Objective Stats vs Play-In averages LPL data does not have some of these stats ^GT is inversely ranked (1st = Lowest)*

Their First Objective Stats may have been a little lackluster compared to their record, but the CHF pick up the pace in the late game objectives. Stacking Dragons better than any other Play-In team, as well as having the 2nd highest Baron Rate (BARON%) and 2nd fastest game time all align for a fast paced, kill heavy play style. I anticipate them to contest most 2nd Heralds and Drakes during the Play-Ins.

Securing the most Plates per Game (PLATES/G) of any Play-In team confirms the above tower stats we saw for CHF, where they are taking First Tower, First Mid Tower and the First Three Towers over over three quarters of their games.

Deep Dive — Dragon Stats

CHF’s rank in DRAKE% compared to all other Worlds Teams

The normal Objective Stats tell us that CHF is the best team at not just Play-In — but at Worlds as a whole — in securing Dragons. But it doesn’t tell us how they win games and if they even use Dragon to do so. If we look further at the normal stats we associate with Dragon Control, factor in WIN% and look to Soul and Elder as ways to end the game, we can learn more about CHF’s play style.

Detailed Dragon Stats Breakdown — All Play-In Teams

Looking at more than just DRAKE% gives us some interesting info about CHF. While they have the highest DRAKE%, they do not rely on Dragon Soul and Elder Dragon as their main win condition. In fact, only 8 of their 28 games feature a Dragon Soul at all! It’s still above the average for Play-In teams, but it’s unexpected to see from the team with seemingly the easiest route to getting Soul. There’s only 2 games with an Elder dragon as well — which throws back to their 2nd fastest average game time stat. CHF are ending the games before Soul and Elder are even relevant with two things: Baron, and just murdering their opponents.

Overview of Players

Lane Phase Stats

CHF Lane Phase Stats by Player LPL data does not have some of these stats*

Looking at how the CHF players dominated their lanes in the LCO it’s no wonder they had such large gold leads in their games! Especially since the gold is going into the pockets of their carry players — with Raes having the highest GD@10 and GD@15 for any starting player in Play-Ins. The biggest stand out as far as gold goes though is probably Arthur — Junglers in the early game will sometimes have small gold advantages from getting their lanes ahead, but he has the largest GD@10 and GD@15 of any Jungler at Play-In Stage.

These advantages don’t stop at just CSD and GD though — Arthur and Aladoric — who combine for 26 First Blood Take-downs (FB K+A) are starting CHF’s high paced kill game early on. Despite their impressive stats though, CHF are 5th in FB% at Play-In Stage, so they aren’t getting the first kill all the time.

Topoon is another player to keep your eyes on. Although his stint in NA Academy wasn’t the greatest, it looks like Topoon can still crush a lane if he’s given the room to do so. An active Jungler like Arthur can help Topoon play the lane in a way he can dominate his opponent, securing himself the 2nd largest XPD@15 amongst Play-In teams.

Late Game Stats

CHF Late Game Stats by Player

Insanely high KDAs, 2nd or 3rd in their role Damage per Minute (DMG/M) numbers, and lots of gold to spend however they want sums up CHF late game stats. Most impressive to me is how Aladoric continues to be the most involved in the team’s kills, having the highest Kill Participation (KP) on not just the team, but of all Play-In players.

The damage spread from CHF is much more balanced compared to some other teams, where the Bot Laner is dealing close to 30.00% or more of the team’s damage. It’s also interesting to note that Topoon is the second highest Damage Share (DMG%) player on the team, where as most other teams would usually have their Mid Laner in that spot. Topoon is also still 3rd in Earned Gold Share (EGOLD%), which means on average he’s dealing more damage with less resources than Tally. Depending on what kinds of Champions CHF tend to play, that could influence Tally and Topoon’s roles on the team. They are still close in DMG% and DMG/M — so we need to look closer and Champion Pools to see if some games they trade off who outputs damage.

I don’t foresee CHF maintaining their large KDAs against the Worlds competition — but I am interested to see how their high CK/M translates into KP and DMG/M stats. Although they may not win games, I expect them to put up really good looking stats in these categories.

Overview of Champions

Pick/Ban Stats

Courtesy of gol.gg

Sylas seems to be something CHF do not want to let through their pick and ban phase. Although Tally has a 16.0 KDA and 100.0% WIN% in the 2 games he’s played it himself, CHF are more than fine to leave it sidelined in their games. Perhaps it has to do with the fact they enjoy picking large, team fight turning ultimates like Gnar, Sejuani, Rakan, Wukong, Swain, Lissandra and Seraphine. Senna is also a large ban target for CHF, which may just be a preference to how they play. CHF dominate their lanes and snowball those leads into map advantage, plates, towers, and eventually a win. Senna and Tahm Kench are a very safe, annoying lane to play against. Even if Tahm Kench gets bullied, Senna doesn’t need to farm to scale up — and Tahm will always be a way to save her. They have played the pairing once themselves and won though.

Courtesy of gol.gg

Teams fear Raes more than anyone else on CHF it looks like — throwing out a Draven ban in addition to the Zeri that many other teams don’t wish to play against. Besides that, Tally takes two hits with Taliyah and Lissandra being banned just as often as Zeri against CHF — characters that do well to move from Mid Lane and influence other lanes with impactful ultimates. Kennen is rising in popularity, but also a pick that can both bully certain Top Lane match ups and have a heavy impact in teamfights — things that Topoon wants to do.

Picks to Watch

Because CHF only lost a single game all Summer, a lot of Champions have impressive, 100.00% WIN%. However, I’m going to instead focus on the ones the pick the most often.

Topoon as Gnar & Sejuani

Courtesy of gol.gg

These are two different types of Champions to play Top Lane, but they both have large, impactful ultimate abilities that can completely turn around a team fight. Both of them have lanes in which they can completely dominate the opponent as well — so it’s not surprising to see Topoon play them the most. His highest DMG/M game of the year was on Gnar — hitting 1148 DMG/M against MAMMOTH.

Arthur as Wukong and Viego

Courtesy of gol.gg

It’s not hard to cite 2 of the most picked Champions in professional play as “picks to watch” for any team — but Arthur seems to just…do more damage on them than anyone else. Viego touts his highest DMG/M game of the Split with 712 DMG/M, while Wukong has his best scoreline (K/D/A) of the Summer with a deathless 3/0/13 game.

Tally as Lissandra and Seraphine

Courtesy of gol.gg

We saw how much teams respect Tally’s Lissandra when looking at the bans against CHF — and it looks like there’s good reason for it. 24.0 KDA across 4 games is matched only by his Seraphine, with the same KDA in 3 games. Both Champions have impactful ultimate abilities that can turn around fights — but one is much more supportive than the other. The Seraphine games also point to why Tally’s DMG% might be lower than Topoon’s, but are all the more death-ball-composition that CHF seem like they would wholeheartedly embrace playing.

Raes as Kai’Sa and Sivir

Courtesy of gol.gg

While not his most played Champion, Raes’s Kai’Sa has his highest KDA by +18.0 points over the next highest — 13.5 on his often-banned Draven. Kai’Sa has been rumored to be popping up again in time for Worlds, so it will be exciting to see Raes play if he gets his hands on it.

You may also be thinking I left something out but nope! I am calling attention to the fact that Raes has not played a single Sivir game this Summer. While other Regions are constant Zeri vs Sivir mirrors in Bot Lane, Raes is either playing Zeri, Aphelios, or 8 other Champions with 2 or less games.

Aladoric as Rakan

Courtesy of gol.gg

Aladoric’s high KP makes a lot of sense when you see he’s played 11 games of Rakan in the Summer. Although he sadly has his one loss playing the Champion as well, it still has his 2nd highest KDA (just under the 33.0 KDA Yuumi). Rakan’s style of both catching people and starting fights plays right into CHF’s main game plan — and Rakan is also apt to roam and make use of Ghost Poro/Zombie Ward to contest vision while moving up to secure other lanes kills.

Conclusion

After looking at CHF stats, I still am having a hard time actually rating the power level of the team compared to the other Play-In teams. CHF struggle from the same thing a lot of Emerging Region teams face in that when they completely stomp their Region, they aren’t able to do the same types of plays and garner the same advantages against harder, International competition. The one thing that CHF has in their corner though has been the rising perception of how strong the LCO actually is as a Region. This view has been fueled by a 2021 MSI Main Stage Groups appearance by PGG — complete with a dream crushing upset over Cloud9 — and the strength of LCO import players in the LCS. Topoon, Tally and Raes were all in the LCS ecosystem (LCS or Academy) in recent Splits, returning to LCO and well, crushing it like we haven’t seen in a long time.

Working against CHF though is the fact they lost in a full 5 game series during Spring and missed an MSI where LCO went an uninspiring 0–4 against LCS and LEC and bowed out as soon as they got there. A single roster change turned them from a 2 loss Regular Season, 2nd place team to a single loss all Split Worlds qualifier. I am curious as to how different they could be than what Order showed us just a few months ago.

That being said, I do think CHF stand somewhat of a chance in their Play-In Group. What I mean by that isn’t that I think they can make the Main Group Stage — but that they could probably sneak out of groups in 4th place. I’m uninspired by the one-dimensional game plan from Beyond Gaming (BYG), and LOUD (LLL) at a glance looks like a slower version of CHF during their domestic Split (with much more focus on Top Lane). As I mentioned earlier, I think watching CHF play against DFM as the two teams that utterly crushed their Regions is going to be an extremely interesting and exciting game — and I believe the team that can beat the other here will be the one that ends up 4th place.

I think CHF idea of snowballing lane advantages is hard to do against teams that are as good, if not better than them. I do not anticipate them getting leads in CS like they do in LCO, and I don’t expect them to get nearly as many plates. If their lanes do not exert the same amount of pressure, I don’t think they’ll be taking as many Drakes and Heralds as they would like to and will instead be forced to fight over them. If their opponents are from a Major Region, I anticipate the fights going against CHF. If their opponents are from another Minor Region, I can see the fights being more scrappy and them going in CHF’s favor — especially with the right Champion picks. CHF comfort play style is easy to execute on (“find a good fight, fight the good fight, press ultimates”) and they have picks such as Seraphine they can sneak through with Lissandra and Draven being banned away to really capitalize on their strengths.

I like how Raes matches up into most bot lanes, and I think Topoon/Arthur will have a field day against some of the Top Lanes in the group. It might be a little too much hope for LCO, but I think their main focus can just be “are we better than DFM?”

To which I will answer — I’m not sure.

As I mentioned earlier on my Twitter, I’m still in the hunt for a job and looking for a little extra push while doing so. Each article, I’ll be showcasing something I truly believe to be great — whether related to analysis or my PC set up.

My current PC/Gaming Headset

This time, I’m pointing out my Sennheiser PC37X Headset. Aside from helping me complain about losing games to friends, it’s been great for pumping tunes into my head as I perform my analysis and write my articles!

If you are interested, please ***follow my associate link to help support me!***

If you enjoyed this analysis, consider following me here on Medium to be updated on my latest posts! You can also tune in to my **Twitter account or my [Ko-Fi account](https://ko-fi.com/optimustom) for the most up-to-date on what I’m doing, and check out my [Tableau Public Profile](https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/thomas.searfoss)** to enjoy consistently updated LoL Esports visualizations for free!