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Top – Gangplank

Gangplank rose a lot in popularity after the introduction of Runes Reforged. The addition of Kleptomancy boosted his win rate a lot. And thanges to Sterak’s Gage gave him a good option to his classic lethality and crit second items if he is in need of more durability. With the rise of tanks in the toplane, Gangplank will once again be able to survive his laning phase, and use his natural armor penetration to have priority over the tanks in a side lane later. This is one of the few picks that some pros are willing to take into Ornn in the toplane, so watch out for teams wanting to trade Ornn first pick for two of the other strong champs.

Jungle – Evelynn

Evelynn strikes fear in every carry’s heart on the Rift. After her rework last season, she has rose from being a niche pick into becoming one of the most popular junglers. And as marksmen have started building lots of sustain, Evelynn will try to punish that by killing them before they get to heal anything. Her camouflage is a great counter to all the extra wards that has come from Zombie Ward, and as a jungler she earned a lot from the changes from Thunderlord’s to Electrocute. Combining this with the new Frostfang build that has popped up, she has all the tool necessary to succeed in this meta.

Mid – Azir

Azir has been one of the most hype champions to watch since his entrance into pro play. The Shurima Shuffle is one of the most iconic combos in the game, and a good Azir player is amazing to watch. And there is a lot of great Azir’s in the LCS. Bjergsen is known for having a very good Azir, and everyone remembers FeniX’s 1v4 Quadra vs CLG for TL. Azir is another champion that went through a few changes towards the end of last season, decreasing his range, but increasing his damage. These changes have given him the option to drop building Nashor’s Tooth, and go straight for Morrellonomicon, which in some situations may be great.

Bot – Vayne

The champion almost every world class ADC has made his name on is back in the meta. With the new Korean Fleet Footwork + Relic Shield build, she has enough sustain to get through laning phase, and take over the game in a side lane in the mid game. Vayne have been around 65% pick/ban in solo queue for the last patches, and that will definitively transfer over to pro play. Will we see Doublelift smashing his old team in a stylish fashion in week one?

Support – Shen

The support pool allows for almost every type of support to be played, so this is going to be one of the most exciting roles to watch this split. The addition of Aftershock as a keystone has given life to Shen as a support. His ability to block basic attacks with his W, and having an AoE taunt, gives him a lot of 2v2 duelling potential in the lane. Also taking into consideration that he is a very good toplaner, increases his value in proplay even more by being a flex pick. Out of all the five champions, this is the one I expect is the safest to say that we will see.