There are some incredible mid lane players in the quarterfinals of Worlds, such as Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and Rasmus “Caps” Borregaard Winther, and it will be interesting to see how well they perform. Faker in particular has had an impressive performance throughout Worlds this year, and SKT T1 are poised to dominate the top eight. The mid lane metagame has been constantly shifting, and teams have been picking up unconventional champions. The following are some of the priority mid lane picks for Worlds.
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Twisted Fate is an incredibly powerful pick in competitive play due to the constant global pressure he provides once he has his ultimate, Destiny. Teams will look to make a play almost immediately after he reaches level six. He has strong waveclear, a point-and-click stun, and can be built either AD or AP to adapt to a team composition’s needs.
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Kayle has been notorious throughout Worlds for having an incredibly weak and exploitable early game. However, if a team is unable to effectively punish this weakness, she will scale into a late game hyper-carry. She is particularly strong in AOE team compositions, providing damage and invulnerability on her ultimate, Divine Judgment.
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Tristana is traditionally played in the bottom lane, but mid-laners have been picking her up recently. Her strong waveclear, long range, and escape abilities make her a safe pick for the mid lane. A strength of Tristana in the mid lane is that the bottom lane can pick a mage like Syndra or Heimerdinger, and still have a consistent source of physical damage.
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Leblanc has strong early-game skirmish potential due to her high base damage and mobility. Teams picking up Leblanc will look to play around her early game strength to snowball an early lead. A weakness of Leblanc is that she tends to fall off in the later stages of the game, unless there is still a target she can effectively one-shot.
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Orianna recently received some buffs that threw her right back into the spotlight. She is considered one of the strongest teamfighting mid lane champions in the game due to the amount of utility she provides. The shields and movement speed bonuses are perfect for engaging and disengaging. Orianna can almost single-handedly carry a teamfight through the use of her powerful AOE ultimate, Command: Shockwave.
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Although Akali has had a fairly low win-rate throughout Worlds, she is still one of the strongest mid lane assassins. If she is able to roam and find picks, she can quickly spiral out of control. With proper use of her invisibility and multiple dashes, she can swiftly execute high priority targets and escape to safety.
As new and unorthodox champions become part of the mid lane metagame, players are forced to adapt to these styles of play. The metagame currently favors champions with strong waveclear and the ability to roam and impact other parts of the map. These are only a few of the priority mid lane picks for Worlds, so expect champions like Qiyana, Ryze and Cassiopeia to see more play.
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