Vi’s Rise in the 2021 LCS Summer Split: A Forgotten Champion Reemerges
Vi, a champion in the popular game, League of Legends, has long been overshadowed and forgotten. With a dismal pick/ban rate of just 1.2 percent according to Games of Legends, Vi has been one of the least popular champions in professional play. However, this weekend marked a surprising change as Vi made her first appearance in the 2021 LCS Summer Split.
CLG jungler Broxah took a chance on Vi and led his team to back-to-back victories, giving Vi more picks on the LCS stage in one weekend than she had seen in the past six years.
In CLG’s near-perfect game against 100 Thieves on June 18, Broxah’s Vi pick came as a shock since the champion hadn’t been seen in any professional game all season. The last time Vi was picked in a North American game was in 2019, by FlyQuest jungler Santorin.
Interestingly, before 2019, Vi hadn’t been picked since 2015 when Gravity jungler Move played the champion against Team 8. Both of those teams have since disbanded, and the players involved in that game are no longer in the league. In the following season, Vi remained one of the few champions to never receive a pick or ban through an entire professional season.
Other champions that haven’t been picked on the LCS stage since the 2015 season include Master Yi, Amumu, and Tryndamere. Garen remains the only champion to have never been picked in a North American LCS game.
Despite Vi’s obscure history, Broxah’s impressive performances on the champion have proven her viability. With a 14 KDA and 69.7 percent kill participation in CLG’s two wins, Vi is gaining momentum in the 2021 LCS Summer Split.
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