The results from the first day of the 2021 World Championship did not bring too many surprises to the audience as most of the stronger teams won their matches. The biggest surprise of the day was perhaps the defeat of Beyond Gaming from the PCS region against the TCL representative – Galatasaray Esports.
As for the picks from the teams at the 2021 World Championship, we witnessed many intriguing playstyles. From Mid Lane Tryndamere, Jungle Talon, to Top Lane Graves, all made appearances at the biggest League of Legends tournament of 2021. In fact, the 2021 World Championship set a record for the highest number of champions selected on the first day since Season 3 with 45 unique picks. This number surpassed the previous record of 42 unique champions chosen across all 5 positions at the 2019 World Championship.
The reason for this record lies in the fact that the meta at the 2021 World Championship is very different from the summer tournaments, as Riot made a series of adjustments in patches 11.18 and 11.19. Moreover, players have gradually realized the dominance of the Bloodthirster, leading to a number of champions “abusing” this item appearing in the Top Lane, Mid Lane, and Jungle positions. Consequently, these positions had 12, 11, and 9 unique picks respectively just after the first day of the 2021 World Championship.
Specifically in the Mid Lane position, Mage choices still dominate thanks to their good lane control and high-impact potential in team fights. Furthermore, players at the 2021 World Championship seem to have found ways to partially counter Mid Lane Tryndamere with the champion Gragas. For instance, in the match between Hanwha Life Esports and LNG Esports, Icon did exceptionally well in limiting the power of Tryndamere in Chovy’s hands with this Gragas pick.
As for the picks in the Bot Lane, it seems teams prioritized safety as not many high-impact champions have emerged. As of now, only 5 AD Carry champions have been chosen, including Ezreal, Miss Fortune, Lucian, Aphelios, and Jhin. Perhaps teams are still in the phase of scouting their opponents and do not want to reveal their “trump cards” like Ziggs, Tristana, Vayne…
The most obvious benefit of having a large number of champions chosen is the extremely high excitement generated for the 2021 World Championship right from the first day of competition. According to statistics from Esports Charts, the highest viewership on the first day of the 2021 World Championship surpassed last year’s tournament with 1.3 million views. With such a strong start, it is very likely that the 2021 World Championship will continue to break records for the number of champions selected (and viewership) for the remainder of the tournament.
