Even as the meta shifts around, there is a Marksman who just refuses to leave competitive matches. Let’s check out the Most Played ADC during the LEC Superweek.
The first weekend of the 2022 LEC Summer Split has concluded, and there was more than one surprise!
G2 was the only team that finished with a perfect score of 3-0, beating Astralis, Excel Esports and Rogue alike. While MAD Lions almost did the same, a lucky Elder Dragon fight flipped the last match in Rogue’s favor, who managed to get one win – but the Spring Regular Season Champs lost their other two matches. Astralis stepped their game up, only losing one game in three days, so now they are tied with MAD, Excel, Fnatic and Team Vitality. SK got one win against Team BDS, who were not as lucky as Eric “Treatz” Wessén and co., as they lost all their games. Same as Misfits Gaming, as Vincent “Vetheo” Berrié couldn’t trailblaze for his squad.
The Summer meta still seems to be shaping up, and there are some new faces, such as Twitch and Draven. We have only seen one Kayle, one Lillia and no Olaf’s at all, so it’s safe to say that teams are still figuring out what works. But there has been one Champion that was a staple for the first weekend: Lucian, who had a 100% pick-ban rate in the superweek. He only got picked twice but got banned in 13 matches, every time by the team on Red Side. On the few occasions, he wasn’t out of the game, he got picked first, which shows the power of the character.
He got through pick-ban in the first match of the season, Team Vitality vs MAD Lions. Matyás “Carzzy” Orság got his hands on the Purifier supported by signature pick Nami, but Lions’ duo William “UNF0RGIVEN” Nieminen and Norman “Kaiser” Kaiser played the lane safe. So Carzzy and Labros “Labrov” Papoutsakis couldn’t get ahead in the early game, which is pivotal point for the Marksman. Next, he was picked in the G2 – XL showdown, but Nami was picked by Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle, which suggested that it was Excel’s plan all along. But Victor “Flakked” Lirola and Raphael “Targamas” Crabbé didn’t falter, they played Lucian – Lulu, and showed why the Sentinel was in such high demand. While they didn’t get early kills, they put pressure on Patrik “Patrik “Jiru and Mikyx, scaling into the lategame where Flakked got a few multikills.
The game plan for Lucian is the same since last year’s Worlds, where the pick first surfaced. He tries to lock out the enemy bot lane of the game by killing them repeatedly or at least making it very hard to farm, get priority for objectives and generally have a presence on the lane. This strategy works even better with an Electrocute Nami, as Lucian can rapidly apply three Tidecaller’s Blessing basic attacks, which procs Nami’s Electrocute, dealing massive damage in the early game.
But Lucian’s uprising is not only the result of the fact that he’s very oppressive, it’s also thanks to staple picks getting heavy nerfs over the course of the offseason. Jinx and Aphelios are nearly nonexistent, only being picked once each. While Zeri has resurfaced again with a crit build, Senna is being played again, with Kalista and Ezreal still being favored by pros. None of them pack a punch like Lucian – so it seems that the Gunslinger is here to stay for this Split.
