The Demacia Cup ended last week, and with it, the development of the pre-season meta in China. They have just one week till their season starts and that development continues, but for now they've settled on a good starting position. There were 77 champs contested among the 72 games, and six of them at a presence of 85% or higher.
Many of the most contested champs make a lot of sense. For instance, Akali was first on the list and the only one to boast a 100% P/B rate. She was banned in all but seven games, and only lost once, boasting an 11 KDA throughout. All but one of her picks were in the first round of games, they quickly learned to ban her out. The Demacia Cup was played on Patch 9.23, but Akali did receive a slight nerf in 9.24. That shouldn't be enough to diminish her presence too much though, so expect to see her in a lot more LPL and other pro League matches globally.
Qiyana, Olaf, Ryze, Nautilus, and Renekton also all remained top picks, scaling down from 87.5% to 70% presence respectively. Qiyana and Renekton performed pretty well, but Olaf, Ryze, and Nautilus all had negative winrates and less than three KDAs. This indicates a few possibilities. Teams are either relying too much on comfort of past meta or just didn't adapt well enough. Otherwise, strong teams may just be giving those champs over to weaker teams, knowing they can counter and beat them.
The last explanation works out for Ryze, who has a significantly better win percent among stronger teams. Playoff teams had a 67% winrate on the champ, while non-playoff teams had a 0% winrate, going 0-6. Along with Qiyana and Renekton, Ryze will likely remain present at the beginning of the season, but Olaf and Nautilus should see significant falloff.
There are some new faces among the OP champ list, too. Miss Fortune came in at second highest presence this Demacia Cup, seeing a 96% P/B rate after not being a standard meta pick for multiple seasons. She was most often paired with Nautilus or Leona since their strong engage/peel synergizes well with the gunman's kit. Her slow field from her E, Make it Rain, help them hit their engagement skillshots, and their followup CC is perfect for her ult to get maximum damage off.
She's also just very strong in general right now, as seen in Jackson "Pabu" Pavone's clip while playing in his off-role. She's especially strong when players stack Doran's Blades on her as well, a new strat that got wildly popular this off-season. Expect to see a lot more Miss Fortune + engage support at the beginning of the season.
The next new addition to high presence champs is Senna, who obviously hasn't seen any pro play before since she was just released. Senna saw an 86% P/B rate, split evenly among picks and bans. She was most often paired with very supportive champs in the bot lane, Tahm Kench being by far the most picked with her. She was played as an ADC in all but one game as well, but Riot has already nerfed her soul drop rate on minions she kills. Expect her to remain highly contested in the early season, but also expect a good dropoff if she can't perform well after the soul nerf.
The last exciting champ with a high presence is Elise. Like Miss Fortune, Elise has been low on the list of meta champs for a few seasons. She did have a good increase at Worlds, but still sat at only 55% presence. The Demacia Cup bumped her up to nearly 75%, meaning the new jungle changes may bring the Spider Queen back to the top of pro play. She had a slightly negative win rate , but could stabilize with the meta. Expect a slight dropoff, but keep your eyes on Elise as the season begins.
Otherwise, Kai'sa, Xayah, and Syndra all saw large drops in their presence, but there weren't any other huge changes from Worlds as far as the pro meta is concerned. There have been some more big changes since 9.23, like the Diana update, Yuumi change, dragon nerf, and Aphelios release, so expect to see more nuance as the tournament begins. But for now, go play some Miss Fortune and keep banning Akali, and get ready for some 2020 pro League!
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