Photo: Riot Games
You have to be brave to watch all the matches of the Play-In. While this preliminary phase of Worlds generally holds few surprises, it should also be pointed out that the schedules are horrible for French fans. Fortunately, there are all the same, from time to time, small quirks which make it possible to give more relief to the event.
Last night we could see Evi (DFM) play a top Lilia. The latter was very effective and knew how to dance with death during the teamfights to totally drive her opponents. But ADD (Isurus) has also been talked about by playing teemo top… This champion, so hated, is very rarely played in competition. On the world stage, has it been observed twice, twice too many?
Teemo at the Worlds, in 2022 and in 2013
Before ADD and Isurus Gaming, Reginald and TSM had dared to release the little Yordle during the Worlds of season 3. In both cases, it was not very fruitful with a defeat and statistics that leave something to be desired: 3/6/8 for the American who had played him in ADC and 1/9/3 for the Korean in toplane. Even if the public is always very happy when a professional player plays the champion, we still want to say that it’s a bit of a troll pick that is very rarely effective… It’s true in soloQ, but even more in official competition.
Yesterday’s pick was all the more surprising, as Isurus Gaming was not yet eliminated at the time of the match. Obviously, the team was not the favorite against RNG and the coach may have wanted to surprise the Chinese. But in a game at stake, playing Teemo is suicide especially against quality players. It took less than 3 minutes so that Breathe and Wei punish the Yordle (First Blood) and the latter is then repeatedly killed.
Why is this champion so weak?
Teemo is a champion who is particularly “boring”, between his stealth, his mushrooms and his blindness, there is enough to tear your hair out. But, it should be stressed all the same that the character is very weak… In the lane phase, even if in appearance he can have the advantage thanks to his range, he can quickly be camped and die in a loop. A smart team will know punish a Teemo, who doesn’t really have a weapon to escape a gank. Let’s add that Teemo was facing an Aatrox yesterday… The Darkin has enough mobility to approach the Yordle and exterminate it, as we could see at minute 11 of the match. The pick was really weird…
Finally, if we talk about teamfights, Teemo has trouble making himself useful. His meager reach forces him to take risks and the champion is very fragile. Let’s also add that he is not very good in split push… To sum up, he is a champion to be avoided.