League of Legends character Lucian is two bans away from becoming the most-banned champion at an MSI event. Heading into the knockout stage of the Mid-Season Invitational 2022, the AD Carry has been banned 63 times.
The current record for the most bans of a single character stands at 64.
Lucian close to breaking ban record
There is no question that players at MSI don’t want to face Lucian. With the ADC marksman ranked so highly in the bot lane meta, his 63 bans at MSI 2022 make sense. However, the strategy of banning away Lucian means that the champion will likely break the all-time ban record at MSI during the first semifinal between RNG and Evil Geniuses on May 27. The current record was set in 2021, when Renekton was banned 64 times.
Lucian, alongside mid laner Ahri, is also still en route to becoming just the third and fourth champions in MSI history to have a 100% presence rate, which is to say that they were either picked or banned in every game of the tournament. Ahri sat at 23 picks and 43 bans following the Rumble Stage, with a 65% win rate in her 23 outings. Meanwhile, Lucian has been picked just three times to go along with his 63 bans. The last time viewers saw Lucian on the Rift at MSI was May 11, when Saigon Buffalo’s Nguyễn “Shogun” Hu played the champion in a Group Stage match against DetonatioN FocusMe.
With three best-of-five series left at MSI, there is a maximum of 15 games left for Lucian to be banned in. All eyes will be on the final set of games to see The Purifier becomes MSI most-banned champ.
Image credit: Riot Games