Looking at the Champion Picks from MSI

Intro

Over the course of the Mid-Season Invitational there were 41 total games and 45 champions picked. Out of those 45 champions there were six that were very highly contested. Those six champions were Maokai, Ekko, Ryze, Lucian, Azir, and Kindred.

Maokai

The first champion we will look at, and the champion with the highest pick and ban rate was Maokai. Maokai had a 97.6% pick and ban rate and was picked or banned in 40 out of the 41 games at the Mid-Season Invitational. Maokai was banned in 26 out 41 games and picked in 14 out of 41 games. In Maokai's 14 games he had a 50% win rate, winning 7 games and losing 7. The reason i think Maokai was a huge pick at the Mid-Season Invitational was because of his great teamfighting. Maokai has great point and click crowd control to help lock down carries and a damage reducing ultimate to help his team. Maokai also has a way to get farm even if he is being pushed back. HMaokai is a great champion to play in lane swaps and it can really help a marksmen snowball.

Ekko

Ekko had a pick and ban rate of 92.7% meaning he was picked or banned in 38 games out of 41 at the Mid-Season Invitational, only two games less then Maokai. However unlike Maokai, Ekko was played more than he was banned. Ekko was only banned in 5 games through the Mid-Season Invitational but he was played in 33 games. Ekko was played in 19 more games that Maokai and only had an 8% lower win rate as well. The reason i think Ekko was so contested was because of his great laning and good ability to stick to his targets. Ekko can stick to the enemy carries with his passive and an Iceborn Gauntlet and can get away from bad situations with his ultimate.

Ryze

Ryze had the same pick and ban rate as Ekko but was banned in 12 more games and picked in 11 less games. Ryze however had an insanely positive winrate at 71.4%. He won 15 out of the 21 games he was played in and only lost 6 games. I think that the reason for Ryze having one of the highest win rates at the Mid-Season Invitational was because of his great team fighting and burst. Ryze powerspikes very hard late game with 2 or 3 items. Ryze's passive gives him the ability to spam his spells and burst down squishes and his ult gives him the spellvamp needed to sustain in fights. Ryze's ultimate also gives him a lot of area damage that is really strong when the enemy is clumped up.

Lucian

Lucian had the same pick and ban rate as Ryze and Ekko but had the lowest win rate of the three of them at 36.7%. I think Lucian was a contested pick because of his ability to bully other marksmen out of lane. Lucian has a very high auto attack range and his Q, Piercing Light, makes it very easy to poke down the lower range carries like Sivir and Ezreal. Lucian is also a very strong hyper carry because of hard it can be to lock him down if he is constantly using his dash during a fight.

Azir

Azir had a 90.2% pick and ban rate and a 53.6% win rate. Azir was banned in 9 games and picked in 28. Azir won 15 of the games he was played in and lost 13. Azir is a very strong laning champion that can bully champions like Ekko or Aurelion Sol out of lane. Also with Ryalis and Nashor's Tooth his Sand Soldiers are constantly applying a 40% slow that is very hard to avoid in team fights. His ult is also a great zoning tool for fights or can be used in lane to help set up ganks. Azir however is weak to champions with strong burst like LeBlanc and Zed. If an assassin can get their burst off on Azir before he can ult them away he will almost surely die.

Kindred had the same pick and ban rate as Azir but had a 4% higher win rate at a 57.7% win rate. Kindred was banned in 11 games and picked in 26. Kindred had 15 wins and 11 losses throughout the tournament. I personally feel that Kindred is one of the best junglers currently. She has very strong early ganks and is a very snowbally champions. If Kindred can get a few successful ganks off early game she can snowball very hard especially on the patch that Mid-Season Invitational was played on. Also her ultimate is a great way to deny the enemy team kills, or completley turn a fight around. Kindred has her downsides though because if you deny her her passive and devourer stacks she can fall very behind.

Conclusion

Overall these six champions were a defining part of the Mid-Season Invitational meta. These champions were huge power picks throughout the whole tournament and were often the defining part of a composition.

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