Only 2 LoL champions in Worlds 2023 play-ins still have 100 percent pick-ban rate

The 2023 League of Legends World Championship is now in full swing, with players from all around the world starting their journey toward the Summoner’s Cup. The pro meta at the tournament has also started to take shape, with two champions taking over as the only picks with a 100 percent draft presence through the play-in stage so far.

Across the first eight best-of-threes at Worlds, Xayah and Maokai reign supreme as the priority picks for teams across the entire tournament, having been picked or banned in each game played so far. Runeterra’s resident Bladecaller, for example, has been chosen in 72.2 percent of all games played, while also boasting an impressive 69 percent win rate, according to League stats aggregate Oracle’s Elixir.

Xayah has been a huge win condition and X-factor in most of her matches, while already racking up two pentakills in the tournament in the first week for Team BDS’ AD carry Juš “Crownie” Marušič and GAM Esports’ marksman Nguyễn “Slayder” Linh Vương. She leads all champions with the most kills so far and has the most damage dealt out of the four champions who have been played at least 10 times.

Maokai, on the other hand, has been hit with consistent bans throughout Worlds, having only seen action on Summoner’s Rift four times across the whole event. He has usually been played as a jungler, although DetonatioN FocusMe did use the champion as a support in a losing effort against CTBC Flying Oyster. He is constantly banned by pro teams because of how impactful he can be in the mid-to-late game stages of a match without much of a counter.

The Twisted Treant has plenty of durability to frontline for his squishier teammates but can also set up a well-timed teamfight with a single press of his ultimate ability, Nature’s Grasp. This tool alone can be used to create space, force a team to fall back, or engage from range, making it too strong to be available in the drafting phase.

These two champions should also remain top picks as the tournament rages on since most talented ADCs are proficient on Xayah, while Maokai remains one of the easiest junglers to play into almost any team composition. Look for these two champs to be a priority in drafts for the rest of the month while Worlds continues forward into the Swiss stage next week on Thursday, Oct. 19.