In Action: The 10 Pro’s Power Picks That Should Be Perma-Banned After Worlds Week 1

The 2016 World Championship has so far lived up to expectations – the opening half of the group stages have thrown up some fascinating games and compelling narratives. The diversity of the champion picks over the first leg have made for some thrilling match-ups – in the right hands, the power picks of Worlds 2016 have the potential to overthrow any opposition. But no team wants to be steamrolled; certain players simply cannot be allowed near their signature champs again.

The unexpected return of the roaming Alistar from the bottom lane, the priority on the playmaking Lee Sin in the jungle and of course, the sheer power of Aurelion Sol – each has single handedly stolen the show at one point during the 2016 World Championship.

Success at Worlds is dependant on a team’s ability to adapt and part of that adaptation process is knowing when to appreciate an opponents strengths and straight-up ban it out of the game. Korea’s first seed and initial favourites for the tournament, ROX Tigers learnt this lesson the hard way.

Without Team SoloMid’s Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg to dig up yet another Aurelion Sol bug, Counter Logic Gaming mid laner, Choi “HuHi” Jae-hyun was finally allowed to unleash his fabled pocket-pick for the first, and surely now, last time:

Huhi is not the only pro player to demonstrate a frightful level of expertise on a power pick, many other pros are likely to feel the pain of a target ban over the remaining course of the tournament. Here are just some of the player/champion combination you’ll be unlikely to see throughout the rest of the competition – judging by these plays, perfectly warranted bans!