Just before the 2021 World Championship, South Korea’s FMKOREA site shared some interesting statistics with fans of League of Legends. Recently, the site compiled a list of the top 10 mid-laners with the largest champion pools in LCK history. Notably, two names stand out: Faker and Chovy. Both are in the top 5 of the list, but each has made their mark in different ways.
Talking about Faker, it’s no surprise that the “King of Champion Nerfs” holds the record for the largest champion pool in the history of the highest level of League of Legends in Korea with 68 champions across 676 professional games as a mid-laner for SKT T1/T1. Additionally, FMKOREA pointed out that Faker has had three special picks for the mid-lane position, namely Kog’Maw (Summer 2015), Jax (Summer 2018), and Poppy (Summer 2018). Notably, as Faker revealed after using Poppy mid-lane and defeating BBQ Olivers, it was either the first or second time he had played Poppy.
In the recently concluded Summer 2021 season, Chovy was also one of the standout names with his continuous impressive team-carrying performances, and fans jokingly referred to him as the “golden spine” of Hanwha Life Esports and the LCK. Chovy has also posted impressive stats, having only played 334 games in the mid-lane but standing alongside veterans like Fly (429 games) and Kuro (471 games) with 50 champions. Notably, Chovy has also had some unique matchups stemming from his top-lane experience, such as Volibear (Summer 2021) or Lillia (Spring 2021).
With both Faker and Chovy set to compete in the upcoming 2021 World Championship, and with FMKOREA’s statistics being released, many of their opponents will have to find ways to counter them as Faker and Chovy are seen as holding 50% of the power of T1 and HLE. With their vast champion pools, these two mid-laners are expected to bring more surprising creativity to their upcoming matches in the highest level arena of League of Legends.