League of Legends LCS semifinal preview Cloud9 vs. CLG – perfectly balanced
By Josh Tyler
AD Carry
Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes vs. Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi
One of the most inconsistent ADCs of the Summer Split, Stixxay was once among the top three or four in his position in the league. But he ended the season far below where he was at his peak with several glaring errors that C9 can easily exploit.
First of all, Stixxay does not contribute as much to his team in fights as others. This is evidenced by his LCS-worst 86.5% aKP due to the lowest raw kill participation and kill share among ADCs. He also does the second-lowest damage per minute of all starting ADCs (only FlyQuest’s WildTurtle lags behind him). He’s also a terrible laner, averaging a gold and XP deficits of 50 gold at 10 minutes.
On the other side, Sneaky has steadily improved his position over the course of the split after a rough start. His 3.89 aKDA is third in the league behind Doublelift and Cody Sun and above-average gold and damage contributions. Yes, his laning numbers are worse than Stixxay (he averages -50 XPD and -97 gold deficits at the 10-minute mark), but I think he provides significantly more to his team. Certainly, the laning phase can swing this match-up, but I’ll give the edge to the reliable player who can enable his team.
Advantage: CLG