How many League of Legends champions can you name?
After ten years of LCS competition, the LCS has finally seen every single champion picked at least one time in North America's regional league. To all the Teemo mains, this time you are not last in a category - that accolade goes to Garen. Garen was the final champion to round out the League of Legends champion roster.
The interesting LCS record was mentioned during the LCS recap by caster and analyst Mark "MarkZ" Zimmerman. Garen making his first-ever LCS appearance in 2023 is astonishing. The top lane juggernaut had already been in the game for three years since the North American LCS was first formed in 2013.
Ssumday locks in the LCS's first-ever Garen
The Garen pick came about during Evil Geniuses' LCS week six day two game against top-of-the-standings FlyQuest. FLY had locked in K'Sante - a champion that has been very popular in North America this year since his release. EG's response to this was Garen, K'Sante' biggest counter match up according to Riot Games partnered data website U.gg. Globally, K'Sante has a 39% win rate against Garen in solo queue on patch 13.4.
Ssumday made Garen's first LCS impression count, putting in a very strong performance against fellow veteran Impact. Ssumday finished the game 6/0/4 in a much-needed win for Evil Geniuses. Garen has always been historically a champion that performs well into tanks, however, the Might of Demacia has never been able to find his way into competitive play.
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Has Garen ever been popular in competitive?
Season 13 has been Garen's most popular year since 2019. According to Gol.gg, the juggernaut has been played a total of 21 times across all regions this year - which is significantly high for a champion like Garen. The Might of Demacia has been picked most against tanks that he can bully in lane such as Ornn and K'Sante. If tanks remain in the meta, fans should expect Garent to be picked more.
Garen was very popular during the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. When Yuumi was at the height of their power, teams would often deploy 'Garen + Yuumi'. With the healing power, Garen was simply unkillable. Garen was played seven times during Worlds 2019 with all of his appearances being in the bottom lane.
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