On September 5th (Vietnam time), the final match of the domestic leagues officially concluded with a victory for LNG Esports. This match also determined all the teams (except for the VCS region which is still undecided) that will participate in the upcoming 2021 World Championship in Europe.
The League of Legends community made a surprising discovery regarding the win rates when teams choose sides before matches. Specifically, according to statistics from the gaming community, on average in all matches of the World Championship qualifiers, the team that chooses the Blue side has a higher win rate compared to the team that chooses the Red side. Specifically, the win rate for the team choosing the Blue side is 53.96% compared to 46.04% for the Red side.
Earlier in 2021, a player noted that on the same stretch, players could be attacked by the Blue side’s turret while the Red side’s turret remained unharmed. According to a comment on the aforementioned post, one person calculated that the difference in range between the two turrets is that the Blue side’s turret has 35.3 units more range than the Red side’s turret. While this number may not seem significant, in reality, if you start from the Blue side, you’ll find it easier to push lanes and apply pressure while being able to retreat for defense, making the laning phase significantly easier.
Additionally, according to some statistics, being on the Blue side allows players to better control major objectives, especially Dragon buffs. After reaching around level 3 or 4, or at the latest level 5, a jungler who has cleared their jungle path and has the Red buff can easily solo kill or team up with Support to secure the first Dragon. Regarding the Red team’s tendency to secure Baron, it is a fact that the Dragon buff lasts throughout the match, while the Baron buff mostly helps players recover some finances and enhance tower pushing power, especially for lanes that are already strong. However, typically, Baron spawns in the mid-game, while Dragons appear more frequently until the teams take down the Elder Dragon. Many matches in major regions currently see teams prioritize Dragon control over Baron significantly.
However, when looking at each region, in the three largest regions of League of Legends, namely LPL, LCK, and LEC, the win rate actually favors the Red team with rates of 52.73%, 56.57%, and 55.88% respectively. The regions where the Blue team wins more are mostly LCS and some smaller and mid-tier regions (LCS, CBLOL, LCL, LLA, LCO, PCS). Notably, Team SoloMid (which will not attend the 2021 World Championship) has never won a match while on the Red side. All 6 of their victories in the World Championship qualifiers came when they were on the Blue side. In contrast, LNG – a team that has played a total of 27 games including playoffs and regional qualifiers, holds the highest win rate for the Red side at 62.5% (10/16 wins for the team).
Some commentators have admitted that the choice of side can also impact the outcome of the match. And the reality has shown that the Blue side has a slight advantage over the Red side. However, with major regions having high win rates on the Red side, this may be the factor that makes matches at the World Championship more balanced and intense as the home advantage also contributes to the winning factors of the teams.