Worlds 2022 PickEm Crystal Ball: Sejuani stampedes in Quarterfinals

With the conclusion of the 2022 League of Legends World Championship’s Quarterfinals stage, it’s time to check in on how those Worlds 2022 Pick’Em Crystal Ball champion picks are getting on.

Since the Group Stage, a further 16 games have been played, taking us up to 114 all-told. While we’re unlikely to see many major shifts in terms of new champions taking to the leaderboards due to the low number of additional games, we noted in our last post that there could be movement between the top players.

As you’ll see below, there is a little bit of both going on, though most of the categories have remained identical. As always, stats will be taken from Games of Legends, Oracle’s Elixir, and Leaguepedia.

Most picked champion – Sejuani

With 45 games to her name, Sejuani has become the most popular pick as we head towards the LoL Worlds Semifinals. And considering her success rate during the Main Event, we’re not surprised. Between groups and quarterfinals, Sejuani has a whopping 64.7% win rate in the jungle, and a respectable 55.6% win rate when flexed into the top lane.

Sejuani is the perfect facilitator in the jungle to support the melee-centric lanes we’ve been seeing throughout the tournament. Thanks to how quickly picks like Akali, Fiora, Jax, and Sylas can proc her passive, Sejuani’s ganking potential is unlocked in the current meta. Additionally, The Winter’s Wrath provides the much-needed lockdown and frontline that many of these comps innately lack.

Currently sitting behind Sejuani are Sylas (43 games), and the duo of Aatrox and Maokai (both 42 games). Only Azir and Aphelios (both 40 games) have managed to join the big four in the 40+ club.

Most banned champion – Caitlyn

Once again, Caitlyn tops the chart for most banned champion, with the Sheriff of Piltover being locked up 75 times.

As we discussed in the last update, Caitlyn’s mixture of oppressive laning, relatively smooth scaling, and blind-pickability make her the perfect pick for teams expecting their botlaner to play weak side.

Behind Caitlyn you’ll find Yuumi (72) and Aatrox (70) – no surprises there. To illustrate just how major these bans are, the fourth-most-banned champion in Sejuani has only been given the chop in the drafting phase 50 times.

Highest win rate (minimum five games played) – Sivir

Boasting a monstrous 91.7% win rate across 12 games, it will take some rather unfortunate gameplay to knock Sivir off of her perch. The Battle Mistress has traditionally been run alongside Yuumi – the second-place pick in this category with an 85.7% win rate – though Park ‘Viper’ Do-hyeon managed to pick up the win in game one of EDward Gaming’s Quarterfinals tie against DRX by playing her with a Soraka supporting.

As she has a low presence in the draft, with teams opting to ban out Yuumi instead, there could yet be scope for more Sivir games at Worlds, and with it opportunities for the scales to tip in this category. After all, with an 83.3% win rate over six games played, Yone isn’t too far behind the troublesome bot lane duo.

Champion(s) played in the most different roles – Maokai and Seraphine

Seraphine and Maokai remain the only two champions played across three roles. In the last update, we posited that Sejuani or Sett would be the most likely picks to find a third home in the support and top lane roles respectively, though it remains incredibly unlikely.

Champion with the most deaths – Maokai

In identical fashion to our last update, Maokai still leads the way when it comes to dying. Having been chopped down 127 times so far, it’s looking incredibly unlikely that either Sejuani (114) or Aatrox (110) will get close.

With regards to who has contributed the most to Maokai’s unfortunate ends, DWG KIA’s Kim ‘Canyon’ Geon-bu maintains the top spot with 12 deaths.

With Sejuani establishing herself as a greater priority than Maokai in a lot of these Quarterfinals drafts, it looks like it’s going to be a photo finish as to who will come out on top as we inch closer towards the Worlds 2022 finale. We’ll be back again with more champion stats after the Semifinals this weekend.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEpaaanJ%2BqwW%2BvzqZmpZ2RnMKmec6fZKWdl5q7pb%2BOsKarpJSoenN8kWtkqaGToLKuecKrsKyskaF6o63LpWSqrZGnwaa%2BxaKlmqSjYsC1rdOs