Variety of Champions Picked in Competitive Play
With the discussion on champion variety in full swing at the moment I wanted to post my own views. Why is diversity in competitive play stagnating?
Three reasons.
Firstly, some champions are stronger and so players pick them because they want to win. Fairly straightforward. However, there will always be some champions stronger than others. If Lee Sin is nerfed another jungler (Jarvan by the looks of things - or Rek'Sai when she is available) will take his place.
Secondly, you can really only know a few champions well enough to play them at a competitive level. Think of Wickd on Irelia then think of Wickd on almost any other champion... He isn't bad at other champions but he isn't breathtakingly good either. It is that difference that wins or loses a game. If a few players pick up a certain champion then everyone else has to learn that champion (or a counter) or the team is giving up a significant advantage. As only a few champions can be perfect at any one time, this limits the pool.
The final reason that I believe is more important is that there ARE changes. You have the top picks, yes. The old "Renekton Bar" that no longer actually exists due to changes in the meta but still... it applies. We have a "Thresh Bar" and a "Lee Sin Bar" now. These, as mentioned will exist in some form or another.
To illustrate the change, take Jayce. He wasn't picked until Pawn played him at Worlds. Now that other people have added them to their champion pools we have some people groaning that he is being picked again.
Take Janna. At the start of Worlds, who played her competitively? Basically nobody. People cheered when she was picked, but now...
Rumble saw a resurgence at Worlds too. People are now complaining. People even started complaining after a few games of Lissandra in the Challenger series and at IEM.
We get changes. Maybe not changes from game to game but certainly from month to month.
And even if we just count the current pool... In the top lane right now we have Gnar, Irelia, Rumble, Sion, Renekton(He is coming back), Mundo, Maokai, Kassadin AND Poppy (although that is just UOL). We also have Jayce and Lissandra "Flex picks". Looper even made Singed and Akali work. In the mid lane we have Jayce and Lissandra as flex picks, Corki and Ezreal as ADC mids (we had Trist last season), Orianna, Zed, Le Blanc, Fizz (occasionally), Ahri, Xerath, Azir and the list goes on. In the jungle we have Lee Sin, Jarvan, Kha'Zix, Kayle, TF (although again, UOL), Pantheon, Elise, Rengar, Nunu, hell, even Karthus got a couple of games. We will probably add Rek'Sai to that list soon. For ADCs we see Lucian, Tristana, Sivir, Graves, Ezreal, Vayne and Jinx (although less), Caitlynn... Alright, not so much here but we will soon get Kalista. And finally, for support we have Thresh, Braum, Morgana, Nami, Janna and Alistar. Sona and Blitz saw a small amount in the expansion tournament too. Today we can add to that list Annie.
Not really a bad list when you think about it. Some are preferred but all are viable in the right composition. It is the job of the champion update team to bring the rest into play.
