If you remember, in the MSI 2022 Finals, RNG defeated T1 with a dramatic score of 3-2. After this match, many opinions suggested that RNG had a significant advantage by playing on the blue side (the side that always won in that Finals) three times. In fact, the story of RNG being favored to play on the blue side continued in the LPL Summer 2022, where this team had a superior win rate when on this side.
However, yesterday – July 20th, RNG silenced all criticisms directed at them by decisively defeating BLG with a score of 2-0. What’s noteworthy is that in both winning games, RNG was on the red side, affirming their strength. Even after the match, RNG’s coach KenZhu responded in an interview: “Once you’re stronger, you win regardless of the side, we (RNG) are still playing extremely well.”
Fairly speaking, the blue side does indeed have a slight advantage over the red side in League of Legends. According to statistics, the win rate for the blue side in ranked mode is 50.8%, slightly higher than the 49.2% for the red side.
However, this difference is extremely small, so we cannot assert that simply playing on the blue side guarantees victory. Especially in a professional competitive environment, players and coaches have many strategies to turn the red side into the advantageous side during the match. For example, during the ban-pick phase, the red side has the advantage of picking last, which can open up one or more counter-pick matchups favorable for the entire team.
Therefore, just as Coach KenZhu shared, regardless of which side you play on, as long as you are stronger, you will win. With the recent 2-0 victory over BLG, RNG has entered the group of the top 4 teams, so securing a spot in the upcoming playoffs seems to be just a matter of time.