Just got into Diamond maining Brand, Sejuani and Quinn. To all the Zed, Lee Sin and Kalista players:
Frankly, I feel sorry for you guys. Your champions are fun to play, but people hate them, even though their winrate is pretty low. By the numbers, they're not the strongest, they're not even winning more games than they lose. All 3 of them have a winrate under 47%.
Under that magical 47% point lies a very peculiar subset of champions. Champions with 46-47% winrate are Rengar, Yasuo, Syndra, Olaf, Akali, Lucian and Kha'Zix. They form a pattern: they all got nerfed perhaps a tiny bit too much, yet they are still a force to reckon with, and their presence can be highly impactful and noticed by the enemy team. Olaf'd? Olaf got picked in the LCS! (Yeah, he's still weak. You get the point with the others though.)
Currently, Brand and Sejuani both have winrates well above 50%, and yet they are never complained about. It's something you guys are probably jealous of - to be OP, and yet fly under the radar! Quinn doesn't really fit that category, but she probably would if only her blind became more reliable. Let me tell you something: blinding Fiora just before she ults is enough of a reason to love this champion. It feels like... justice.
Kalista in particular, being the newest addition of the "OP mobile champs" bunch, is escpecially frustrating to play against - but only when you lack gapclosers, right? And in that situation, a blue Ezreal would have been just as uncatchable. This binary pattern of "do we have the counter" continues with Death Mark being removed by QSS or blocked by Zhonya's. In case of Lee Sin... well, I've got nothing. At least he doesn't deal much damage in lategame, I give you that.
You know, Brand hasn't been picked in LCS. Ever. NA LCS or EU LCS, never picked. He's one of the very few champions, let alone mages, with that status. Not even in "joke" games. Back at the beginning of season 2, the range nerf to W and the emergence of Fizz and Ahri removed him from the midlane, and if you want to understand why Yasuo getting Olaf'd is a good thing, try playing Brand against him. That's a matchup I still dread, as a good Yasuo will always be able to ruin my whole presence in the game. And, you know, lately I've been picking Brand against LeBlanc. Yes, against LeBlanc, one of the hardest counters to Brand out there... at least until they removed her silence. You see, Brand's ultimate is downright useless in 1v1 - and LB gives a helping hand with her passive. It's not an easy matchup, but definitely winnable.
Of course, sometimes I play other, more "in-meta" champions, when my usual picks are a horrible idea. But sometimes it's a rather sad experience when the game becomes "easier". One game as Lissandra, I've managed to finish off two remaining enemies with a quick QW combo, with a sliver of health, right after the effect of Zhonya's Hourglass has ended. It was a split second action, and took me such a short time that I thought while recalling "Huh. If that was Brand, he wouldn't get off even one spell in that time".
Underplayed champions are underplayed for a reason: in case of Brand, the vast room for counterplay inhibits him from entering the competitive scene. But you know what? I love playing Brand. I fancy melting through the entire frontline, leaving the joy of chasing kills to my carries. Liandrylai is just broken on him. You end up with absurdly high damage output without any heavy AP items (Deathcap? Please). Sejuani - lately both in top and jungle - is similar. Lose lane, win game. Teleport plays, four man ultis, five man ultis, FH debuff, Abyssal debuff. Rather strategic decisions than mechanics. Quinn is less versatile, but still - if you are behind, just make assassinating the enemy carry your quest. And against certain ADCs, you don't need to worry about their damage at all (Graves still hurts, though).
http://i.imgur.com/zqOBvR6.png
So, here I am, happy playing more "strategic" champions while the "flashy" ones dance around dodging all my skillshots. That's fine by me. Slowly but surely, I have made the climb. To all the Zed, Lee Sin and Kalista players: read the initials of the paragrahps.