Bait pick? Maokai’s pick and ban rate paints a confusing picture of the champion at Worlds 2022

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After yesterday’s quarterfinals between JD Gaming and Rogue at the League of Legends World Championship, Maokai has been hit with some shocking stats at the season’s biggest tournament. 

His buffs in Patch 12.18 have pushed him immediately back into the meta, especially considering he can be flexed between the top lane and the jungle. Teams seem to agree with this line of thought. According to stats site Games of Legends, Maokai has been picked 18 times and banned in 34 out of a total of 54 games so far at Worlds, totaling a presence rate of 96.3 percent.

In those 18 matches played, though, the Twisted Treant only managed to win on five occasions and achieve a 27.8 percent win rate—three times as a top laner and twice as a jungler. Rogue’s Odoamne is the player with the most games on the champion with four picks and a 50 percent win rate, according to Games of Legends. Aside from him, the only players who have been able to win with this champion are EDG’s Jiejie, Gen.G’s Doran, and Fnatic’s Razork. 

What’s even worse is that the pick seems to have poor stats, with a combined KDA of 1.9 and negative gold, experience, and CS differential at 15 minutes. 

Apart from Maokai, there are only a handful of champions that have over 90 percent presence at Worlds 2022 (not considering play-ins): Aatrox, Yuumi, and Sejuani. Both Aatrox and Sejuani are also played as top laners and despite having a high ban rate (74 percent and 59 percent respectively), their win rates (64.3 percent and 58.8 percent) are much better than Maokai’s. 

With JDG going to the semifinals, T1 will face RNG in the second quarterfinal at Worlds later today.