The LCS was the first major region to begin its 2021 Summer Split over the weekend. While there were 49 different picks over the weekend, three of them had the biggest impact during the competitive matches.
Udyr, Gwen, and Varus were the top three most contested and impactful picks, according to data from League of Legends stats website gol.gg, propelling the teams who picked them to wins over the weekend. Udyr was handed multiple nerfs during the last patches, but that wasn’t enough to keep him under control. His farm-heavy playstyle combined with his ability to spam crowd control in teamfights is unrivaled from the jungle, making him one of the most contested picks over the weekend with a 100 percent presence rate and 80 percent win rate.
Gwen, The Hallowed Seamstress, is the latest addition to League of Legends. The AP bruiser champion has been making a huge name for herself in three roles in solo queue. Her skillset allows her to easily deal with most meta top laners and pro teams have been prioritizing her for the top lane role for now. However, she can easily jungle or be the mid laner of a team, allowing teams to create a huge draft advantage if picked early on. Over the weekend, she had a 100 percent presence rate and 75 percent win rate.
In the bottom lane, Varus was the outlier AD carry pick due to his strong teamfight presence from his ultimate. It’s capable of rooting entire teams who stack up, creating opportunities for a strong follow up by his teammates. The Arrow of Retribution had a 93.3 percent presence rate and a 66.7 percent win rate during his appearances.
Other notable champions who had a high presence rate over the weekend were Lee Sin, Renekton, Rumble, and Leona. However, teams weren’t able to find much success on them, with these champions finishing the first week of the 2021 LCS Spring Split with less than 50 percent winrate.
Most League fans were eager to see how does the competitive scene looks after MSI, which was played on Patch 11.9. One of the biggest impactful changes since that patch were the jungle changes in Patch 11.10, which made the role more accessible, while also diminishing its monstrous impact.
Since the start of the 2021 competitive season, junglers have had a huge impact across all regions with a couple of tanky champions completely dominating the meta. Even after multiple nerfs, their reign of terror continued. This led Riot to cut away some agency from the role by diminishing the gold and experience granted by camps, indirectly nerfing power farmers and giving more opportunities for gank-heavy junglers to be picked.
The LCS returns this Friday with a match between TSM and 100 Thieves at 5pm CT.
Make sure to follow us on YouTube for more esports news and analysis.
