The pro’s answer to the current meta in League of Legends.
As with most games with a huge variety of characters, skills, and items, LoL also has a meta. It is especially important in these top divisions and tournaments. Especially as important as the 2021 World Cup.
However, there are also characters who counter those from the meta, and although they are rarely chosen and seemingly weak, they can mix things up quite a bit. It turns out that Poppy in the jungle is a great example right now.
Poppy as a great counter
Probably everyone watching the World Cup knows perfectly well what picks are often chosen. In addition to Miss Fortune as ADC, who has to appear either on Summoner’s Rift or in bans, pros are eager to reach for Lee Sin, Xin Zhao, Jarvan IV, and many other forest jumping warriors.
One of the best champions to counter mobile characters is Poppy. She can pin heroes trying to jump over the wall and does not allow dashes around her thanks to her W. As we can see, the heroes with such skills are most often chosen.
Therefore, professional players decided to reach for slightly forgotten and rarely seen Poppy, and surprisingly this one did really well. Canyon showed the class and used her against FPX with Gragas, Lee Sin, Irelia, Braum, and Jhin. If we assume that ADC will build Galeforce, in this case, we have as many as 5 characters with dashes.
So it is hardly surprising that Poppy did a great job against this composition and ultimately led to a win by defending her carry against jumpers trying to eliminate them.
Will Poppy now be the new OP pick at the World Cup? There is such a possibility, but it is very doubtful that the rest of the teams will feel comfortable with such a pic if they have not practiced this composition before. It is very possible, however, that we will see Canyon’s Poppy in the jungle more than once.