The 2023 LCK Spring Playoffs are coming to an end, with the semifinals and finals coming up later this weekend. It has been a rather explosive playoff so far, with some unexpected upsets, thrilling games, and record-breaking series. With two series still left, the hype cannot be any higher. LCK is known for having exceptional talents and incredible team performances, so drafting and champion select have played a crucial role in all playoff games.
While each team has come up with its own identity and strategies, there is one champion that all teams seem to judge way too powerful, to the point where the champion has been banned across all 25 games played so far.
Annie received a small rework earlier this season, turning her immediately into a top-tier pick for both solo queue and professional play. Despite receiving a hotfix shortly after her update, she continued to be a strong pick that pros could rely on.
The mage’s main strength comes from her value as a flex pick across two roles: mid and support. She can be blind picked and moved across the two roles based on the matchups or the role within her team. Regardless of which position she ends up in, though, Annie is a powerful pick. On top of that, she synergizes well with most of the meta ADCs like Zeri and Aphelios.
Contrary to the other eastern region, the LPL (which only has three Annie bans out of 20 games, according to stats site Games of Legends), the Korean region considers the Dark Child far too powerful, to the point where all the 25 bans came from teams on the red side.
It didn’t matter whether it was Gen.G, KT Rolster, or T1: they all banned Annie because they didn’t want to hand such a flex pick to their blue-side opponents and let them get a major draft edge.
For these reasons, we’re likely going to see Annie getting banned in the upcoming semifinals and finals, making her one of the few rare cases where the champion is never played across a playoff tournament.
Riot Games seems to have realized Annie’s power within pro play and the devs are looking to nerf her in the upcoming Patch 13.7. That being said, unless the meta shifts heavily in the next patches, Annie will still have a strong presence at the Mid-Season Invitational.
