Picks got weird in the last week of the EU LCS Summer Split, and it was incredible

Thanks to the EU LCS’s Group Stage format, most of the places for playoffs were locked in going into the final day of competition. So, in the spirit of having a little fun with games that didn’t technically matter, a few of the teams decided to get creative with Champions choices for their final matches of the Split.

This split’s weird picks started with Misfits and Roccat pulling out picks like Kayle, Master Yi, Malphite and Yasuo. The series was comical and entertaining, but most of the picks in the games were at least close to the meta. The strangest champion picks happened in the final series of the split between Vitality and Splyce, who both broke completely from conventional wisdom to draft some of the most off-the-wall compositions they could think of.

Game one included, among other things, Garen, Shaco, Bard jungle, Fiddlesticks and Blitzcrank who bought attack speed. To call it unconventional would be the understatement of the year. Game two we got to see Nocturne, Heimerdinger, Pantheon, Kog’Maw jungle, and Thresh AD Carry, and 79 kills over the course of 30 minutes, with most of the players playing off-roles during the games.

Unfortunately for Vitality, who picked some of the more outlandish champions, their picks still weren’t enough to beat out Splyce who proved to have better mechanics and teams fights, and, in the case of Wunder, a pretty sucessful Nocturne.

While the picks may have been strange, they made for some of the most exciting and comical games of the split, with both teams rushing into each other and trying to fight at every possible moment.

Certain North American pro players weren’t too thrilled with the champions, labeling it trolling, it seems that Riot didn’t mind too much as the casters had a great time talking about champions like Shaco that they don’t get to see everyday in the LCS.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t exactly new for the EU LCS with Splyce doing something very similar at the end of the Spring Split earlier this year, picking outside the box champions when the standings were already settled.