Table of Contents
The metagame in China is much more balanced compared to the western part of the world.
Sure, we still find Draven in most of the top spots, this time representing 5 of the last 8 competitors. We also have the Chaos domain sitting atop, as the top 3 legends, which represented the entire top 8, were Chaos legends.
However, if we look at how the game is played, we'll see a more midrange approach to Riftbound. Indeed, although the miracle package exists, it is not the norm for each and every Chaos legend.
Among the 9 Dravens in the top 16, only three were Miracle, while the other six played Midrange, and no Detonates, which raised a few eyebrows across the community.
Another big difference is the performance of Fiora. The Grand Duelist has an excellent track record in Chinese regional tournaments, and now a Top 16 in the national competition. On the other hand, it only managed to reach the top 64 and 128 in the two large events in the west. Among other midrange legends, Irelia and Yasuo, the only two Chaos legends not running the Miracle package, both posted their performance in Spiritforged in Shenzen. The Blade Dancer took the win in a finals against herself, while Yasuo's 71st place ties its top 128 from Bologna.
We could also note the struggles of Jinx and Teemo, the two weakest Chaos legend who managed to post good results in Bologna and Vegas on the back of simply copying whatever other legends within their domain combination were doing. In China, it seems like Teemo didn't get the memo, resulting in another Top 512 in that region. Jinx was playing miracle, but failed to pilot the build to the Top 64 like she did in Bologna and Vegas, instead ending her run in the Top 256.
Ezreal should join these two as well, since his 44th place and 4.8% conversion rate in the Shenzen National Open is catastrophic in comparison to winning Bologna and making it to the Top 8 of Vegas.
To be fair, if we remove AlanZQ from the equation, Ezreal best performances become Top 8 in Bologna and Top 128 in Vegas, so maybe it's more of a specific player in that case. Even if the Prodigal Explorer might not be as strong an argument, it is pretty obvious the Chinese community doesn't enjoy, or isn't as comfortable playing combo-oriented builds.
As a viewer, it led to an enjoyable tournament, with games being decided on the table rather than in both player's hands. Plus, Irelia finally winning a big tournament felt like a nice happy ending. For those watching to gather intel on the metagame, or ideas on how to build their favourite legends to the next tournament. Shenzen could be useless, due to the absence of Detonate Draven and the different play style, or a possible goldmine. Indeed, depending on the content of the upcoming Ban List, the metagame could very well return to a midrange, slower type of pace, which is exactly what China seems to be favouring.
Irelia
- Top Ranked Player: Winner
- Total Picks: 11.8% - 241 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128: 8.3% - 20 Decks
Draven
- Top Ranked Player: 3rd
- Total Picks: 18.8% - 386 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128: 14% - 54 Decks
Sivir
- Top Ranked Player: 8th
- Total Picks: 3% - 62 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128 : 3.2% - 2 Decks
Kai'sa
- Top Ranked Player: 9th
- Total Picks: 10.6% - 218 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128: 10.6% - 23 Decks
Fiora
- Top Ranked Player: 11th
- Total Picks: 5.8% - 119 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128 : 2.5% - 3 Decks
Master Yi
- Top Ranked Player: 21st
- Total Picks: 2.9% - 59 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128 : 6.8% - 4 Decks
Azir
- Top Ranked Player: 26th
- Total Picks: 3.3% - 68 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128 : 1.5% - 1 Decks
Annie
- Top Ranked Player: 30th
- Total Picks: 1.8% - 36 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128: 8.3% - 3 Decks
Jax
- Top Ranked Player: 32nd
- Total Picks: 2.2% - 45 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128 : 6.7% - 3 Decks
Ezreal
- Top Ranked Player: 44th
- Total Picks: 6.2% - 126 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Day 2 : 4.8% - 6 Decks
Miss Fortune
- Top Ranked Player: 64th
- Total Picks: 2.4% - 50 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128 : 6% - 3 Decks
Yasuo
- Top Ranked Player: 71st
- Total Picks: 2.2% - 4.5 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128 : 2.2% - 1 Decks
Ahri
- Top Ranked Player: 73rd
- Total Picks: 2.2% - 46 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128 : 2.2% - 1 Decks
Sett
- Top Ranked Player: 84th
- Total Picks: 1.5% - 31 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128 : 3.2% - 1 Decks
Darius
- Top Ranked Player: 91st
- Total Picks: 1% - 20 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128 : 5% - 1 Decks
Viktor
- Top Ranked Player: 93rd
- Total Picks: 6.2% - 126 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128 : 0.8% - 1 Decks
Lee Sin
- Top Ranked Player: 115th
- Total Picks: 1.6% - 32 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128 : 3.1% - 1 Decks
Volibear
- Top Ranked Player: 139th
- Total Picks: 2.1% - 42 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128 : None
Jinx
- Top Ranked Player: 151st
- Total Picks: 1.5% - 31 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128: None
Rek'Sai
- Top Ranked Player: 170th
- Total Picks: 1.8% - 36 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128: None
Rumble
- Top Ranked Player: 181st
- Total Picks: 2% - 40 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128: None
Lucian
- Top Ranked Player: 191st
- Total Picks: 2.1% - 43 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128 : None
Ornn
- Top Ranked Player: 210th
- Total Picks: 1.4% - 28 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128: None
Lux
- Top Ranked Player: 223rd
- Total Picks: 1.5% - 31 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128: None
Leona
- Top Ranked Player: 224th
- Total Picks: 1.5% - 31 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128: None
Teemo
- Top Ranked Player: 262nd
- Total Picks: 1.7% - 34 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128: None
Renata Glasc
- Top Ranked Player: 298th
- Total Picks: 0.7% - 15 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128: None
Garen
- Top Ranked Player: 750th
- Total Picks: 0.3% - 7 Decks
- Conversion Rate into Top 128: None
