What League of Legends pros are playing: Wunder’s Top Lane Pyke

Following on from last week’s look at BeryL’s Guardian Lux in solo queue, we move into pro play and break down G2’s Wunder and his top lane Pyke pick that helped guide his team to MSI glory.

Sometimes finding niche pro player picks involves stalking their multiple solo queue accounts on an hourly basis, closely following their match history and occasionally finding one peculiar champion that brought them success. However, in this case G2’s top laner presented his creative Pyke pick to viewers on one of the biggest international stages, the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational.

While Jankos’ jungle dominance and Caps’ mid lane superiority claimed most of the headlines throughout G2’s speed-run of this year’s event, it was Wunder that shocked the world with his consistently excellent top lane performances on a number of unique champions. Gnar, Neeko, Swain, and Vayne were all brought out at one point or another by the victorious top laner, but it was Pyke that caught everyone’s attention, particularly in the vital, final two series of the tournament.

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Throughout MSI, the top lane meta hinged on flex picks. The likes of Akali, Ryze, Sylas, and Irelia all showed their face in both top and mid on multiple occasions. Initially Pyke was no different; an accomplished support champion, as well as being donned by none other than Caps in G2’s LEC playoff final against Origen. But once again G2 defied all expectations by handing the Bloodharbor Ripper to their monster in the top lane, Wunder, who stunned everyone with incredible debut Pyke performance against SK Telecom T1 in the group stage, establishing himself as THE G2 Pyke player.

Wunder closed the tournament with 3 Pyke wins from 3 games, a 4.2 KDA on the champion, and all the plaudits from viewers and analysts around the globe. But what is the thinking behind this pick and how did G2 pull it off in their first ever international success?