With Sylas quickly rising in popularity among LCS teams, it seems like a counterpick for League of Legends’ newest champion has been found—Riven.
“I actually didn’t expect to pick Riven, it just looked too good to [not] to pick,” said FlyQuest top laner Omran “V1per” Shoura after FlyQuest’s victory over 100 Thieves earlier today. “I was planning to pick something like Jayce, but Riven looked too good, so I went for it.”
V1per wasn’t the only player in the game to play their beloved pocket pick. 100 Thieves mid laner Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun busted out his renowned Aurelion Sol today for the first time in 2019. But while huhi’s Aurelion Sol fell flat, V1per’s Riven became the most impactful champion on Summoner’s Rift.
Unlike the other LCS players who played Sylas as a glass tank, Ssumday decided to build the champion more tanky. But even with items like Spirit Visage, Iceborn Gauntlet, and Rylai’s Crystal Scepter, Ssumday’s was still paper against FlyQuest’s Zoe and Ezreal poke combo. In just one spell rotation from Zoe or Ezreal, Ssumday was near death and had to retreat from teamfights.
V1per, on the other hand, rampaged through 100 Thieves’ backline, outdueling 100 Thieves’ bot lane duo in FlyQuest’s game-winning teamfight. “We found the perfect engage, I told them I could two-vs-one the backline, and we closed out the game after that,” V1per said when describing the game-winning teamfight.
FlyQuest will jump to third place after their victory over 100 Thieves. Their next match will be against Clutch Gaming, where V1per will face off against Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon—but V1per isn’t too concerned.
“I have a lot of respect for [Huni], but I’m not worried at all,” V1per said. FlyQuest will take on Clutch Gaming on Feb. 17.