Reflecting on the Worlds' Meta so far

After 5 days of consecutive games where teams couldn't practice much between rounds, we can draw a sketch of what the Worlds' meta looks like. While some of the top picks from regional playoffs like Xayah, Maokai or K'Sante retained consistency going into Worlds, several new picks emerged due to natural meta shifts and balance patches: Orianna, Kalista or Rakan have rose up massively in draft priority when compared to the rest of the 2023 competitive year.

Through the transition from playoffs to Worlds the mid/jungle roles have clearly been the ones to undergo the most changes. Most notably, control mages have completely taken over priority in mid lane, with Orianna standing at 100% draft presence, alongside with Azir at 70% and Neeko at 63%.

It is expected to see an evolution throughout the tournament around this balance. So far, Syndra and Taliyah have been seen as decent answers to Orianna but the results don't follow this idea: Despite expectations, both champions currently hold respectively 16% and 14% winrate. Despite this, it is important to remember that winrates can be deceiving as a champion's results highly depends on the teams playing them - for instance, Taliyah is mostly seen as a Western pick while the stronger Eastern picks do not seem to prioritize her as much as others.

Currently, we are seeing teams explore other more "exotic" options such as Akali and Sylas but, they still show low presence numbers compared to control mages despite working quite well when picked.

In the jungle, two picks familiar to most readers are standing out: Maokai and Jarvan IV. Control mage function around out-ranging their opponents and controlling their surroundings which leads to a lack of mobility and large weakness against divers and strong engaging champions, explaining the rise in priority behind picks like Jarvan IV. While Maokai's engaging tools are good, the champion remains over-tuned on 13.19 and survives due to his high disengaging potential. Following this logic of punishing low mobility carries, Vi is currently reaching 63% of presence, which is significantly higher than what she had during playoffs.

Across the Rift, the meta has generally accelerated in terms of item spikes. In bot lane, the old Aphelios/Jinx/Zeri meta that we saw at MSI is long gone, which is why Kalista is so strong overall and almost at 100% presence and why Kai'Sa has been struggling. The Daughter of the Void has seen both her attack speed and lethality builds struggle and require too much time to build-up, leading to Kai'Sa also struggling more than ever to shred through front-lines. A similar comment can be made about Jayce, whose Murama-Eclipse build is too slow compared to Orianna, Neeko or even Azir.

With a meta centered around spiking at two items, other early game champions who spike closer to a single item have also risen up. Deft has shown that Caitlyn could be very efficient, we can expect other historic Caitlyn enjoyers to pick up the champion (like Gumayusi or Aiming).

Top lane has also been affected by this "new" item spike meta. Slow set ups such as Ornn or Sion have been almost absent from the meta. Renekton is reaching new heights - and despite everything that has been said about him - his 60% WR proves that he is not a bait, he just needs to be used well. Lastly, it is impossible to mention the top lane meta without talking about K'Sante: the highest presence for any top laner (70%, same as Jax but more picks). The Lil Nas X doppelganger is not particularly fitted for the meta but remains overall strong due to the nature of his kit and high outplay potential. But the Renekton-K'sante match-up seems to be very advantageous for Renekton's team if its early lead is exploited.

While it is hard to predict the future evolution of the current meta, it is important to remember that teams will have several days off to study the recent matches and potentially re-evaluate their priorities. Kai'Sa is the first adc coming to mind when thinking of potential changes. One could think that some teams will try to bring back her AP build (which is still totally viable) but, teams are mostly held back by Xayah priority, not being able to handshake a Kai'Sa/Xayah trade. Teams will need to find ways to respond to Xayah via hard counters (Caitlyn?) or she will slowly become a perma-ban for red side.

Mid lane meta seems established, Orianna is the queen of the middle lane while Azir remains closely behind. Syndra hasn't worked at all so far due to her slow scaling which doesn't match the pace of games. Taliyah is also not an option, she has always suffered to classic control mages. As mentioned earlier, high-burst melee champs like Sylas or Akali may receive a spotlight in the following days.

It is also important to note that as some teams will face elimination matches, they will use their pocket picks as much as possible. BDS has paved the way with the infamous GODS of Adam (Garen, Olaf, Darius, Sett), what is yet to arrive still remains in the mist.