Zven, the up and comer

Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen, the AD Carry for Origen, is one of the new faces to the professional scene of League of Legends. He took the 2015 Summer Split by storm and was named the Outstanding Rookie of the split. The teammates of Zven have stated that he has a lot of potential and they saw him as a better addition to a veteran-filled team than an experienced player. During the summer split and at the 2015 World Championship, Zven has shown a great amount of skill in mechanics, decision-making, and positioning. During the World Championship he impressed many with his ability to carry his team through dire moments and his adaptability. It will be noted that there have been rumors of his lack of coachability, but it’s important to understand that no teammates have confirmed this, so it should be left only as a rumor and not fact. With all of this being said, there are a lot of questions around the current skill level of Zven.

The data analysis of Summoner’s Rift is completed, let’s take a look.

It is important to remember that Zven has only played for one split. He hasn’t completed a season. So, in traditional sports he would still be in his rookie season, since, in League of Legends, two splits equates to a full season. This makes me curious as to whether new professional players are prone to being more volatile in their gameplay, decision-making, carrying abilities, etc. Something we did notice is that Zven excelled against the majority of teams, except for Roccat, Fnatic, and UOL. When Zven is on red side he is much more prone to dying in lane, while on blue side he is likely to break even and possibly get a kill on the opposing team. He is more optimal in teamfights and has a keen ability in surviving teamfights and even turning fights to the favor of Origen. There are times that he is caught in a poor position at the initiation of teamfights, but this is quite uncommon. Jesper has done well during high pressure matches, especially as a rookie, and this is an impressive trait for an 18 year old to possess.

As the data was collected, it was noticed that Zven is very talented but suffers some inconsistency in decision-making and positioning, but it is uncommon. The many patch changes that have altered the average time of LCS matches for the 2016 season may not be for the benefit of Origen and Zven. A important trend that we noticed with Origen is that their games played slow and long, allowing for Zven to farm and get enough items that he and the other players could carry in the late game. This is not as viable with the change in pace and possibly is one of the reasons that Origen is finding difficulty winning in the EU LCS. The data presented is also conflicting because there were 4 upper tier teams, including Origen, and 6 teams that were far inferior. The games when Zven played lower tier teams he would have exceptional games with a lot of kills, but when he played teams of equal caliber he would play well, but not outstanding. The potential of Zven is very high, as he played well in the World Championship, though it is considered that Origen had the easiest and most fortuitous competition to reaching the semi-finals. Zven is definitely a player to watch this season as he is still a rookie and has shown that he is adapting well to the extreme variations that occur with the competitive League of Legends meta.