PP(Performance Point) is one of the key features at BEST.GG, our ambitious attempt to measure a player’s value/contribution to the game. We boiled down 70+ metrics into one metric which usually ranges from 80 to 200, and it was a heck of a process. I will not go over how we calculated this holy metric today, as you are probably here for an interesting article, not MATH 202.

If you haven’t heard of this site yet, you’re welcome.

There are some important aspects in BEST.GG’s PP, in case you haven’t noticed yet; it is universal, absolute, and consistent through regions. For example, if both jungler and support has 140 PP in one game, we believe that they have contributed equal amount of value to their team. If Bjergsen got 170 PP in his game against TL, we assume that his contribution to the game was higher than Faker’s, 160 PP against Samsung Galaxy. (Don’t look for actual records, the example was hypothetical!)

Then here come a few questions— how does PP by regions change when they meet on an international stage? Sure, we know LCK is probably better than the others, but by how much will Western teams’ PP deflate? Or will they? Will Koreans’ PP inflate as much as Zimbabwe’s currency in the 2000s?

Or we may look into some changes over time in PP by positions. We’ve watched tons of death compilation of ADCs in 2017 (may them rest in peace), but can PP support that “ADC in 2017 LUL” is real?

RIP ADCs (Source : plays.tv).

I’m here to give you some answers.

(*For now, BEST.GG is unable to gather in-depth statistics from LPL; Chinese region is not included in this analysis. Only data from 2016 and 2017 seasons are used.)

PP Change by Region

“Average.PP” in this graph, by definition, is an average of the region’s team PP, the sum of starting 5 members’ PP in the event. For example, in 2016 MSI, you may assume each SKT(816 PP) player had 163.2 PP on average; 3 members of SKT would’ve surpassed the cumulative PP of entire G2(412).

For international events, it should be obvious that I averaged teams who participated in the events. For the sake of consistency, I’ve only averaged those teams in regular seasons prior to the international events. Take LCK for example, While SKT is the only team representing Spring seasons and MSIs statistics, Samsung and ROX Tigers’ PP data in 2016 Summer Season and Worlds are added in LCK. (Sorry Liquid fans, maybe next time.)

Few interesting takeaways :

As we probably expected, there is a considerable inflation for LCK teams, up about 15% on average. However, SKT’s Average PP in this year’s MSI was lowest at international tournaments in the last 2 years. Is the gap really closing!? We’ll get to that next time.

Flash Wolves, LMS’s powerhouse, may be the most dominant team in any domestic events. They were consistently at top average PP when it comes to the regular season. Unfortunately, they have not brought such dominance to the international events yet.

A Similar case in EU, but their deflation last year was severe. Even in 2016 Worlds, H2K’s lone effort to become the only Western semi-finalists didn’t help them enough to beat NA or LMS in PP. May the redemption begin.

North America — such a bizarre pattern. They are the only region besides LCK that has ever experienced boost in PP at international tournaments, thanks to the glorious performance by CLG at MSI 2016. Even dismissing the case, their trend is fairly linear. This is not because they have been good consistently, however, as NA’s top tier is known to be very competitive. Therefore it has been difficult to achieve high PP in regular seasons. The record says TSM, C9, or CLG, but you can’t count out teams like IMT, P1 and TL who fought hard to seize the throne.

PP Change by Position

Another perspective on PP’s change over time can be used to evaluate the impact of different positions.

Few takeaways here —

Remember Nidalee, Kindred, and Graves in 2016 Spring? Junglers used to be as dominant and carrying as ADs and Mid Laners a year ago, but now they are back to focus on supporting carries and become less impactful. The only exception? Peanut from SKT, scoring highest PP in MSI 2017 and 2017 Playoff, among not just junglers, but all players combined.

Even in declining roles in Jungle, Peanut stands out to be one of the best players today.

Did I say as dominant as ADCs? I take it back. “ADC in 2017” meme is real! their contribution in 2017 has significantly decreased by 17% (from 16 Worlds to 17 MSI).

In many statistics, there are outliers who stands to be distant from other normal observations. Among 300 player records in 6 seasons, there are only 10 cases where their seasonal PP is 30% higher than the average PP in their positions. The only player who has done it 3 times? Wolf, the Most Valuable Player at MSI 2017.

Sick and tired of hearing about Korean players? There have been three Western players who stood out at international events, scoring 20% higher PP than the average at their positions. Stixxay at 2016 MSI, Bjergsen at 2016 Worlds, and Jankos at 2016 Worlds.

Disclaimer : The opinions expressed in the post or this blog are author’s own, and do not reflect the views of OP.GG.