The 2019 League of Legends World Championship Group Stage has moved into phase two, and teams are making adaptations. They are still figuring out the meta, and which champions should have presence in draft. Picking and banning the proper champions in the proper order greatly influence a team’s odds of making it out of their groups.

Pantheon, Qiyana, Syndra, Akali–some champions are obviously preferred by all groups. However, each group showed certain preferences in Group Stage phase one that are distinct from each other. These may change once entering the final games of the group stage. But after the first six games for each group, here are the most divergent champion presence rates when compared to the overall group average.

Group A – Gragas, Tristana, Jarvan IV, Ryze, Quinn

Champion preferences in Group A cover several roles and positions. Tristana, Irelia and Quinn skew most positively for this group, with 83.3, 66.7 and 50 percent intra-group presence compared to 45.8, 33.3 and 12.5 percent presence across all groups. Tristana and Quinn were picked or banned 37.5 percent more often in Group A than across all groups. Irelia was 33.3 percent more common.

Gragas, Jarvan and Ryze were Group A’s more negatively skewed champions, all with 33.3 percent less priority than all groups. The Junglers in Group A have a significant preference for Elise (29.2 percent higher than average), which lowered the rates for Gragas and Jarvan. Ryze and Jarvan were not picked or banned in any of Group A’s six games, which is odd compared to their 33 percent presence overall.

Group B – Nautilus, Rakan, Twisted Fate, Nocturne

Group B has one of the strongest aversions compared to other groups, which is Rakan. He went without a pick or ban in any of their games of the first half of Group Stage. Meanwhile, Rakan is the 15th highest priority champion overall. Twisted Fate was in a similar boat, with no picks or bans; but, because he has a lower presence overall, the divergence is less drastic.

On the other hand, Nautilus accounted for five picks and one ban, giving him 100 percent presence in Group B. That is 41 percent higher than the average for groups. Nocturne is Group B’s other divergent pick, skewing 33 percent higher presence than average. Nocturne popped up in four drafts across all groups; three of those were in Group B.

Group C – Kai’Sa, Nautilus, Ryze, Irelia, Morgana, Blitzcrank

Group C has the most divergence of all, with six champions skewed highly preferable or averted. If Group B loves Nautilus, Group C hates him, with 41.7 percent less priority. Surprisingly, Kai’Sa only had two bans, no picks within Group C, giving her 33.3 percent presence versus her 70.8 percent presence overall. Irelia is their third divergent champion, with zero picks or bans.

Instead, Morgana, Ryze and Blitzcrank are Group C’s positively skewed picks. Ryze and Morgana appeared in four of their six games. Blitzcrank was picked in three of the six, each of Royal Never Give Up’s matches. These three champions had 33.3 to 37.5 percent higher presence within Group C.

Group D – Leblanc, Elise, Tristana, Jarvan IV

Finally, Group D’s divergent champions are Leblanc, Elise, Tristana and Jarvan IV. The jungler preferences in Group D are the highest skewed of any group. Elise, the 14th overall highest presence champion, went unpicked and unbanned in Group D’s games. Instead, they opted for Jarvan IV in 83.3 percent of games, 50 percent higher than average.

Group D did not pick or ban Tristana, despite her 45.8 percent presence overall. Leblanc rose in priority to pick-or-ban–100 percent presence. Group D preferred her 37.5 percent more than the group-wide average. The teams in this group definitely have the most divergence from the others. They strongly prefer a smaller champion pool.

It will be interesting to see how these trends evolve over the remainder of the event.

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