As we do every three months, we compiled our individual game day statistics to form a combined set of stats for the entire half-season now including our newly improved rating system. What then, were some points of interest that were revealed with EU’s mid-season stats? Let’s have a look at five of them.
1. Kantoraketti Holds Head High
Despite G2 Esports struggling this season all the way in fifth, there has been one constant on their side -- a constant that has been unchanged since the Season 7 Finals.
Of course, it is none other than Kantoraketti.
The star player in Europe has had no peer, with his 1.37 SiegeGG rating a full 0.11 magnitude greater than the next-best from karzheka on league leaders Team Empire. Only one of two players able to get more than 1.00 kills per round (the other being LeonGids on Team Secret), his +12 opening kill-death delta and two 1vXs simply reaffirm the incredible firepower of the Finn.
Naturally, his two most-played operators have been Ash and Jaeger, although he has been playing a fair bit of Doc as well, especially on Bank. He’s also slightly expanded upon his role with two plants and one defuse -- something that has become less prevalent this season with the hyper-aggresive meta.
2. Goga only Joint-Fifth-Best Goga
With G2 Esports being well-known for having one of the most prolific defuser planters, Goga, to the point where the BeNeLux League had called the “most plants” category the “Best Goga” category, it is somewhat funny that Goga himself is not the best Goga.
While he has got four plants in seven games this season, the top honour goes to Team Empire’s ShepparD with nine defuser plants. Team Empire has been enjoying incredible success after promotion from the Challenger League. G2 Esports, on the other hand, have found going a lot tougher than before.
Ahead of Goga are also sTiZze with seven plants, Hicks and Vale with six, and tied with G2 Esports' Spaniard is the Swede from Chaos, Vitoline, with four plants. Interestingly enough, aside from ShepparD and Hicks, all the other players are in teams that are below G2 in the current EU league standings.
It is perhaps due to this reason, then, that Goga is currently not the best Goga. As we approach the Six Invitational 2019, though, all bets are off and you better be certain that a team as good as G2 Esports will be a different beast on LAN.
3. Team Empire Maintain a Minimum 1.07 Rating
Even better than Team Reciprocity, Evil Geniuses, or Immortals, Team Empire’s entire roster has finished the first half of the season with a rating of at least 1.07. Surprisingly, it is the most fearsome player -- JoyStiCK -- at the bottom, although it matters little who is where given that Team Empire are at the top of the EU Pro League.
The entirety of Team Empire has been able to use the aggressive meta to full effect, and it shows. A draw against G2 Esports is a blemish on their near-perfect win record so far as they are yet to lose a game this season, including the Six Invitational 2019 EU Qualifiers.
They head into the premier Siege tournament for a second time with a far stronger squad -- last year they had played with a slightly different roster under Room Factory, but had lost to Mindfreak (now Fnatic) and Team Liquid which left them stuck in the group stages.
Very interesting to note, too, is that three of Empire’s players have been playing a hard breacher for majority of the games, with ShepparD and Shockwave actually sharing Thermite almost equally.
4. Cry1NNN a Bright Spot for Mock-it Esports
Despite Mock-it Esports being far from in the best straits, they will be happy that their newest pickup, Cry1NNN has been performing well.
While he has been unable to break the 1.00 rating barrier yet, Siege is a team game at the end of the day, and if Mock-it are able to fix whatever issues they are experiencing, it is likely we will see the best of Cry1NNN start to shine.
Described by teammate korey as “one of the most experienced German players”, it was clear his team had high hopes for him, and the former FitnaBoyZ man is repaying that faith.
5. LeonGids is Pretty Damn Great
Team Secret has come out of the Season 8 to 9 switch the worst out of any team, it can be argued, dropping straight from third last season to dead last in the first half of Season 8.
Nevertheless, they will be happy so far that LeonGids has been pretty damn great this first-half of the season. A 1.17 SiegeGG rating is not to be scoffed at, especially given their position in the league table with one win and seven losses (with that one win coming against G2 Esports, no less).
The only member on their team to have a positive Kill-Death delta, it is a very sizeable delta at 18 as well. What’s more, he has had the third-highest number of Opening Kills behind JoyStiCK and Kantoraketti who are both just one kill ahead of the Brit.
Team Secret will now be looking to LeonGids to carry them out of the rut they find themselves in this season. Lacky has already been benched, and the team will need to find a suitable fifth to pick themselves up and carry on towards finishing in a respectable position come the end of Season 9.
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The full EU Season 9 Mid-Season Statistics
So that's the mid-season statistics for Season 9 of the Pro League in EU! Keep an eye out for our complete statistical coverage over next week’s Six Invitational 2019.