The first week of the League of Legends World championship is finally over. The matches were more fierce than the matches in play-in stages, and the last 4 days were more intense than ever before. All teams gave everything they had to win the matches.



The comps used by the teams were not that different from each other. They picked the usual champions, and banned the usual bans. Surprise picks came out once in a while, but they were just one-time surprises and not regular picks.



Below are some of the interesting instances in the drafts that took place in the four-day Group Stages. Although there were only 24 matches, the Group Stages were full of fun picks and bans, including a Champion that was banned in all matches and a Champion with a 100% win rate

Kalista, the one who does not exist and Janna, the goddess of Censer

Kalista, who had a 100% Pick/Ban rate and an 80% win rate in 5 matches within the Play-in Stages, became a complete ghost in the Group Stages. Kalista was banned 24 times out of 24 matches. It was almost like the team who did not have Kalista and has priority in drafting started with an extra ban card.



There are many reasons why Kalista was banned so many times. The first reason is Kalista’s insanely good synergy with Ardent Censer,which is not only the core item for Supports but also the core item in League currently. Kalista is not weak in early laning phase, can assist friendly Junglers when they are trying to gank, and also can escape from enemy ganks. Kalista is a good champion to pick first, so the red team has to ban Kalista.

Kalista was not the only Champion that could thoroughly make use of Ardent Censer. ADC champions who go well with Ardent Censer simply dominated the Group Stages. Xayah, a Champion with decent damage and survivability, was picked 11 times and banned 12 times, making an appearance in 23 drafts out of 24. Tristana and Kog’Maw were also either picked or banned 17 times. Support champions who can use Ardent Censer also entered the current meta game.



Janna, who became even more popular than she was in the Play-in Stages, was picked 16 times and banned 4 times. Janna claimed 12 wins, giving her a win rate of 75%. Ardent Censer also works really well with Lulu and Rakan, which made the two more popular. In contrast, offensive Supports who could not take advantage of Ardent Censer did not appear in the Group Stages.

Jarvan IV and Sejuani: the ones who can stop ADCs



The current meta with Ardent Censer and ADCs did not only affect the bottom lane. Along with Kalista, two more champions were either picked or banned in every match: Jarvan IV and Sejuani.

Jarvan IV is a champion who can smoothly approach ADCs. In the current meta where ADCs deal a big portion of the overall damage of a team, simply distracting the ADCs can have a decent effect on the game. Jarvan IV can also deal high damage, and is capable of killing ADC champions. Jarvan IV can work as both a top laner and Jungler, so he can be used to confuse the opponent team during the drafting phase.

Sejuani, although she doesn’t normally kill ADCs by herself, can harass enemy ADCs with powerful CC skills in the laning phase. Sejuani can incapacitate an enemy ADC in teamfights by focusing on him/her or by using her ultimate ability. Sejuani is definitely a Jungler that can fit into the current meta.

Gragas and Galio, the best win rate brothers



Gragas and Galio appeared in drafting 19 and 20 times, respectively, and have the highest win rate. Although Jarvan and Sejuani may fit the meta, their win rates were actually fairly low, with Jarvan at 6 wins and 4 losses, and Sejuani at 3 wins/9 losses.

Gragas’ win rate is pretty impressive. Gragas was picked 13 times and won 11 matches. In the current meta where ADCs carry most of the time, positioning has taken on greater influence. But Gragas’ ultimate can destroy his enemies’ positions.

Galio was only picked 4 times, but was banned 16 times. Most importantly, Galio’s win rate is 100%. Galio won all 4 matches that he played in. Galio played in the top lane twice, and in the mid lane twice. Galio is a powerful champion who, just like Jarvan IV, is capable of being used to play mind games during drafting phase.

The Hidden Cards of Week 1

Nocturne: GAM’s Levi carried as Nocturne in the match against FNC. Nocturne switched back and forth between the top lane and the bottom lane, leveled up extremely fast, and smoothly killed sOAZ’s Level 2 Champion.



Graves: C9’s Contractz played Graves and had a KDA of 1/1/7, which is not bad at all. Although Graves is not a champion favored in the current meta, Graves is still a powerful champion when put in the hands of a skilled player.



Fizz: SKT’s Faker played Fizz in the match against aHq. Faker’s Fizz is always the best and he once again proved his skills.



Nasus: LZ’s top laner Khan played Nasus in the match against FNC. sOAZ’s Maokai, who faced Khan’s Nasus in laning, was unable to stop Nasus and Nasus smoothly collected a number of kills from FNC.