For a long time, the League of Legends community has often mocked Riot Games’ “200 years of champion balancing experience,” as many champions become either too weak or too strong after adjustments in the meta. Therefore, the balanced figure of a 50% win rate for champions is rarely successfully achieved by Riot Games.
But putting champion issues aside, there is an unbelievable fact at MSI 2021 that the win rate of the blue team is a staggering 79% compared to the red team’s 21%. This somewhat illustrates the invisible advantages that the blue team has over the red team.
The clearest example is the final match between DWG KIA (DK) and Royal Never Give Up (RNG). In this match, the blue team won 100% of the time regardless of whether it was DK or RNG. Many believe that RNG was “lucky to win” as they played on the blue side for 3 matches, while DK had only 2.
According to the person who discovered this incredible win rate at MSI 2021, the imbalance between the blue and red teams may stem from several factors. Historically, the red team has always faced disadvantages in skirmishes around Baron. They have fewer tools for engagement against the “natural barriers” of Summoner’s Rift, and can only choose to take the long route or expend resources (Flash, dashes…) to overcome this.
Evidence of this is when DK was on the red team; there was a situation where they had a numbers advantage over RNG at Baron but were shattered in the skirmish due to terrain disadvantage, while RNG simply surged straight from the blue side jungle and trapped all DK members into a “dead end” at Baron.
Additionally, the meta is believed to have a significant impact, due to new items entering League of Legends at the beginning of the season. Next, it is due to the jungle champions in the meta (the influence from the jungle path). Then there is the impact of major objectives like Dragons and Rift Heralds in the early game. Perhaps after MSI 2021 concludes, Riot Games will make appropriate adjustments to intervene in this unreasonable win rate.