From the broad perspective addressed in the introduction, as we adjust the "average" to be the average gold distribution per role of teams attending the World Championship, we should expect the average percentage of team gold allocated to supports and junglers to be high relative to the rest of the world. Allocation of gold to top and carry is, on average, lower than the rest of the world.

The first application is in Group Stages. To think of dynamics comparatively, we'll consider group averages, global averages, regional averages, and World Championship averages to make an assessment. All judgments are only relative and are designed to tell us how teams stack up within their own groups in terms of identity.

Group A

The orange line represents the World Championship average value of percentage of team gold for each role. The blue line represents the relative value for the given team. Each scale is only consistent for each team and designed to reflect the differences in role values from the average relative to other differences in role values.

From an initial glance, Counter-Logic Gaming and Flash Wolves distribute above average allocation of gold to AD carries. KOO and paiN are both more top and mid lane focused in resource distribution.

Role Group A Avg. Worlds Avg. Difference Top 20.52 20.83 -.29 Jungle 17.05 17.30 -.25 Mid 25.14 25.39 -.25 ADC 26.58 25.83 +.75 Support 10.72 10.52 +.20

Observing the group averages, the largest difference is the percentage of team gold AD carries receive relative to the Worlds average. Group A has the highest average percentage of team gold distributed to AD carries among groups at Worlds. This is mainly down to the presence of CLG's Doublelift, who receives the highest percentage of team gold of any AD carry attending the World Championship. He receives 1% more of team gold than any other ADC in attendance.

The Flash Wolves AD Carries, on average, are top two of percentage of team gold of any AD Carries attending Worlds for the summer season. This is largely a red herring compared to how the team might distribute gold at Worlds.

KOO and paiN's AD Carries receive below average percentage of team gold but are still relatively close to average. All other roles only marginally differ from the Worlds average, making this group fairly representative overall with a wide variety of team styles.

CLG

Role %Team gold Group Avg. Worlds Avg. Region Avg. Global Avg. Top 19.89 20.52 20.83 20.62 21.04 Jungle 16.76 17.05 17.30 17.30 17.17 Mid 23.77 25.14 25.39 25.49 25.73 ADC 28.54 26.58 25.83 26.58 26.07 Support 11.02 10.72 10.52 9.98 10.00

The first thing to notice, as already mentioned, is the massive difference between Doublelift's gold allocation and the gold allocated to the average AD carry at Worlds. 28.54% of team gold is nearly 3% higher than World average and brings up the group average.

Another thing to notice is that, with the exception of increased support gold distribution, the group average is more similar to the North American regional average than any other pool on the board. paiN Gaming's dioud is another high gold support with a fair amount of agency like Aphromoo.

Another large difference is mid lane. Pobelter operates well with low gold resources, allowing ZionSpartan to take whatever doesn't go to bottom lane. He's worked as a stable point of contact for CLG and has survived in a region with a higher average gold allocation to the mid lane than the mids in the rest of the group.

It may be surprising to see ZionSpartan with below group average gold allocation in a group he shares with Flash Wolves' Steak, but both paiN's Mylon and KOO's Smeb are in the top five of the tournament for percentage of team gold among top laners. With a top lane-centric meta and the biggest question of the group being the relative strengths of the Flash Wolves and CLG, it may be worth it to execute more Zion-centric compositions in this group.

As for Huhi, it's unclear what type of jungler he is. If he requires a high amount of gold resources to be successful, Xmithie's average 16.76% could lead to problems within the dynamic to which CLG might not be able to adjust in time.

Flash Wolves

Role %Team gold Group Avg. Worlds Avg. Region Avg. Global Avg. Top 18.85 20.52 20.83 20.48 20.83 Jungle 18.01 17.05 17.30 17.66 17.17 Mid 25.20 25.14 25.39 25.89 25.73 ADC 27.54 26.58 25.83 25.76 26.07 Support 10.42 10.71 10.52 10.23 10.00

Steak has the lowest percentage of team gold of any top laner attending the World Championship. Against the likes of ZionSpartan, Smeb, and even Mylon, he may struggle, but frankly, he's used to it. At the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship, Steak fell down a disastrous amount of gold to TSM's Dyrus, and the Flash Wolves still managed a victory.

In any group at this tournament, Steak would be likely to struggle. The more surprising thing, for those familiar with NL's track record, may be the percentage of team gold allocated to the Flash Wolves' AD carry.

The AD carry role 27.54% is a weighted average of Korean AD carry KKramer's 29.2% of team gold and NL's 26.6% of team gold in regular season as well as KKramer's 31.2% of team gold in Playoffs, NL's 24.7% in the Regional Qualifier, and KKramer's 26.2% in the Regional Qualifier. It's clear both these AD carries have extremely different styles, and when KKramer was averaging the most gold, the Flash Wolves fell to Hong Kong Esports in Playoffs.

Meanwhile, in Regional Finals, when Flash Wolves barely bested HKE, in part due to Maple's Viktor performance, both AD carries were averaging less of the gold distribution for the tournament, and Maple hit a high of 27% of team gold. It's possible the decision to stay with NL over KKramer isn't just down to communication, but in refocusing the team dynamic around Karsa and Maple. As a result, we should expect lower percentage of team gold for Flash Wolves' AD carry in Group A and a higher distribution for Maple.

Karsa's average percentage of team gold is 1% greater than the group average, and reinforces the idea that his playmaking could be the difference between Flash Wolves escaping groups and falling to CLG. He's one of the top four high gold resource junglers at the tournament, just below KaKAO.

If NL receives less of his team's gold, it often follows that the support will as well. SwordArt's playmaking has been invaluable to the Flash Wolves, but Group A arguably holds the two strongest supports in Korea and North America. He may be better off abandoning NL for more roam play and sacrificing even more gold gains, as he is more likely to do without KKramer to babysit.

KOO Tigers

Role %Team gold Group Avg. Worlds Avg. Region Avg. Global Avg. Top 21.63 20.52 20.83 21.68 20.83 Jungle 17.03 17.05 17.30 17.12 17.17 Mid 25.60 25.14 25.39 26.08 25.73 ADC 25.44 26.58 25.83 25.83 26.07 Support 10.33 10.71 10.52 9.31 10.00

Smeb is among the top five top laners at the World Championship for percentage of team gold. He's often considered the primary damage carry of the team and favors champions like Riven.

GorillA is another point of focus when discussing the KOO Tigers. Though he towers the regional average in gold distribution for supports by an entire percentage point, he's below the group average and tournament average for supports. Most of his gold comes from playmaking, and he's perhaps the strongest "carry support" in attendance. The overall difference is largely negligible.

Similarly, kurO is below his regional average for mid laners in gold distribution, but above average in his group, at Worlds, and internationally. It's likely, given that Pobelter serves a similar role to kurO for CLG, his highest pressure will come from Maple and Kami, and his percentage of team gold only represents a useful buffer of wave clear that will keep them from diving him.

PraY's lower values likely only indicate that most of the free farm lanes go to Smeb over him. With low gold resources to bottom and jungle, a place to attack KOO may be through bottom lane ganks if GorillA roams.

paiN Gaming

Role %Team gold Group Avg. Worlds Avg. Region Avg. Global Avg. Top 21.70 20.52 20.83 20.87 20.83 Jungle 16.40 17.05 17.30 16.10 17.17 Mid 26.00 25.14 25.39 26.46 25.73 ADC 24.80 26.58 25.83 26.33 26.07 Support 11.10 10.71 10.52 10.24 10.00

Any conclusions drawn from paiN's data will be less complete by virtue of a lack of games to aggregate. paiN only played seven total games at the International Wildcard Desafio. It's also unfair to refer to all of the Wildcard teams as a "region," given they likely all have developed their interpretation of the meta independently and separately with few games played together outside the Wildcard invitationals. There are a few trends that can be drawn from observing less developed regions, but they are not identical in nature.

On the other hand, the limited data gives a closer look at paiN on Patch 5.15, which is closer to what might be relevant than taking data from an entire summer split.

Though most have heard the names of Kami and brTT before, Mylon received a high percentage of his team's gold relative to other top laners at the Wildcard tournaments. Prior to joining paiN he was known for his carry top lane style, but making room for paiN's star carries saw him play more tanks. At the Wildcard qulaifier, he went to a split-pushing style that got him a lot of gold on Shen, Fizz, and Gangplank. That the meta suits him can be a boon for paiN. Based on the Desafio games, Mylon is a top four top laner at Worlds in gold distribution.

Kami naturally receives a lot of gold as a mid laner, and he seemed to outclass all of his opposition at Wildcard Desafio. He got easy solo kills against KLG's Regi, but it's doubtful the safe playstyles of kurO and Pobelter and the prowess of Maple will make this easy. If paiN can't get a massive laning phase gold lead on Kami, that could spell trouble.

The name brTT makes one think of hard carry ADCs, but he took a back seat at Desafio, picking up scraps on scaling carries. With AD carries on other teams in Group A following suit, paiN might consider shifting more resources to brTT to pressure any weak point they can find.

Bottom Line

CLG is the most bottom lane-centric team attending the World Championship. In a top lane-centric meta, given the asset ZionSpartan was in the Playoffs finals, they may want to assess their priorities or find a way to use Doublelift to pressure the low gold resources ADC in his group reliably.

KOO's Smeb and Mylon are high gold resource top laners based on the data, and paiN's split-pushing from the Desafio tournament may give them a boost that will allow them to take a game. The fact that KOO is both suited to the meta and considered the strongest team overall makes them easy favorites to take the group.

Flash Wolves are expected to focus mid lane more than is represented by the data. This will make them strong against paiN who operate on Kami getting ahead, but he'll have to employ more skill against Pobelter and KurO who are used to the safer stall game.

Continued in Group B.

All non-LPL data are drawn from OraclesElixir.com. LPL gold distribution data can be found on the PLU website.

Kelsey Moser is a staff writer for theScore eSports. You can follow her on Twitter.