Before any World Championship the LoL balance team tries to diversify the meta in some way or shape so that viewers can see multiple picks. Unfortunately, most feel that this didn't happen in 2023 for the World Championship.
As of writing this article, we have had 77 unique champions at the League of Legends World Championship. With a cast of over 160 champions that doesn't sound too bad, right? Well, it seems that the priority picks have been pretty much the same throughout the main event of Worlds 2023.
While there have been quite a few unique picks, it's clear to see which champions are being favored by the professional LoL players these days, with many of the same picks and bans coming through every single game. The only thing saving the tournament seems to be the new format.
LoL Worlds 2023 Fans Are Tired Of The Same Picks
Xayah and Kai'Sa have become the go-to picks in the bot lane. Add in K'Sante, Jax and Renekton in the top lane, with a bit of Jarvan IV in the jungle and Orianna with Azir mid lane and you've got the meta of the 2023 League of Legends World Championship. Top it off with Rakan and Alistar in the support position as well. Can't forget those supports, eh?
Seriously, the World Championship has seen quite a lot of the same champions, with Kalista, Maokai and Orianna dominating the ban charts throughout the main stage so far.
League of Legends viewers have pointed to this and expressed their frustration with how small the World Championship champion pool seems at this year's tournament. Sure, there have been some surprise picks like T1's support player Ryu "Keria" Min-seok picking Bard in their best of one against Cloud9 in the second round of the Swiss Stage.
World's Champ Pool has been disappointingly small so far by u/bgg-uglywalrus in leagueoflegends
Many fans believe that the tournament has been saved though by the new format stages. Had these repetitive picks been a part of the group stage of previous World Championship iterations it would have been a bore to watch, at least that is how the Reddit community feels.
In 2022 we got a total of 94 unique picks, while the number in 2021 was far lower at 80 according to stats website gol.gg. With there still being more best of three and best of five series on the horizon though, players are hopeful that the World Championship champion pool could expand further. Maybe there is one more pocket pick we are yet to see from some players.
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