Since the start / end of worlds with WBG making it to worlds / finals I have seen many posts and comments that insinuate / state that Daeny did great things for this roster. With WBG fans begging for him to stay.
This post is intended to oppose this belief that Weibo improved by any significant measure under Daeny and that his coaching is nothing out of the ordinary. I’d like to hear any differing opinions that people may have.
Relevant information:
* Daeny joined Weibo in May after spring season & playoffs, before summer season & playoffs.
* Sources for the stats I reference are at the bottom of the post.
Weibo’s 2023 Results
In both splits Weibo finished 25-14, in Spring they placed 4th, in Summer they placed 6th.
At spring playoffs Weibo performed incredibly poorly and were eliminated in round 3 by BLG in a 3-0 fashion. However, keep in mind that Spring playoffs was arguably the start of if not the best form of BLG seen over this entire year. Coming in placed 5th in Spring, BLG eliminated 3 of the top 6 LPL teams at playoffs, losing only to JDG, placing second. BLG would then 3-0 a 13-5 Gen.G and 3-1 a 17-1 T1 at MSI.
In Summer playoffs, WBG was once again eliminated in round 3 (3-2 score). Interestingly enough the circumstances of this loss seemed incredibly similar to that of Spring playoffs. Weibo lost to an LNG who looked to be playing at their peak: ending the Summer season with a 6 win streak to land them 3rd. LNG would go on to eliminate 3 of the top 6 LPL teams at summer playoffs, losing only to JDG, placing second. Sounds familiar… who’s writing these scripts?
The score of WBG vs LNG was much closer than that of Spring playoffs vs BLG so the argument can be made that they had improved since introducing Daeny. I would also admit that from watching WBG’s games, they did look more cohesive in the latter half of the year. A few points on this:
- This could be due to the coaching change, it could also merely be the additional time the team had spent playing together.
- The Weibo roster was brand new prior to Spring season, 1 month old at the time of their first match in Spring as opposed to 4 months old when Daeny became coach.
- Despite having a better performance in round 3 of summer playoffs, Weibo’s summer season performance & ranking was worse than that of spring.
- LNG would not go on to have the same international performance that BLG did after playoffs, therefore it’s hard to compare a 3-0 vs BLG and a 3-2 vs LNG.
Additional stats that likely mean nothing:
When comparing who WBG lost to in each split and how that team ranked vs how they ranked, there is very little difference.
Weibo’s loses in spring as 4th place: (BLG, EDG, LNG, RNG, TT)
These teams finished spring placed: 5th, 2nd, 3rd, 9th, 8th
Mean rank of opposing teams: 5.4
Mean rank differential: 1.4
Weibo’s loses in summer as 6th place: (BLG, FPX, IG, OMG, WE, TES)
These teams finished summer placed: 1st, 11th, 12th, 5th, 9th, 4th
Mean rank of opposing teams: 7
Mean rank differential: 1
Conclusion:
Weibo’s performance throughout the year really didn’t improve after picking up Daeny and Weibo should not try to retain him. There are of course additional variables such as Weiwei replacing Karsa. Though from what I’ve read most people would consider this an upgrade to the roster (I disagree). Factors such as meta changes & draft also come into play. However, both of those are the responsibility of the coach and therefore would be additional proof against Daeny’s coaching ability.
Sources:
https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/Weibo_Gaming
https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/LPL/2023_Season/Spring_Season
https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/LPL/2023_Season/Spring_Playoffs
https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/2023_MidSeason_Invitational
https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/LPL/2023_Season/Summer_Season
https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/LPL/2023_Season/Summer_Playoffs
https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/LCK/2023_Season/Spring_Season
TLDR: Weibo should get a new coach, no performance gain since introducing Daeny. His finals side selection & drafts contributed more to T1’s win than anything he’s done for WBG all year.
2020 Worlds winner coached by Daeny
2021 Worlds runner up was once coached by Daeny and T1 semi coached by Daeny
2022 Worlds runner up T1 once coached by Daeny
2023 Worlds winner once coached by Daeny and runner up coached by Daeny.
I think only Kkoma beats those results lol. I know he is stressing the players often brute forcing his way of play, but maybe after the players reflect those, the players and team seem to perform pretty well. Beryl even won, final, won, unqualified. Impressive too.
Even with luck, achieving runner-ups is so impressive and made the players so happy that you found a weird time to call out Daeny’s impact. They are kinda eternal as they are in Faker’s redemption arc.
I am a bit kidding here, but it made fun seeing the pattern here lol.