In Season 10, Shyvana was only played twice in the jungle in major regions. In Season 11, she was not picked or banned a single time. In Season 12, Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau surprised by picking Shyvana top in LCS Spring 2022.
Debuting in LPL Summer 2022 in her second appearance this year, Oh My God last picked her on red side for their top laner, Deng “shanji” Zi-Jian, to go up against Ornn.
The League of Legends Pro League’s (LPL) meta post-patch 12.10 has largely been centered around their favorite AP fighter Gwen, and scaling champions Kayle and Gangplank in the top lane. However, some teams have been taking more risks in this role, drafting major outliers like Nasus and Anivia top.
Competing on patch 12.11 in Week 4, Oh My God were one up in the best-of-three series against LGD Gaming. A total of five top lane champions, Gwen, Gangplank, Kayle, Sejuani, and Fiora, were banned by both sides, thinning out the pool, which resulted in a strategic Shyvana top pick.
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Oh My God last pick Shyvana top to go up Ornn in their match against LGD Gaming, and won
Since LGD were on blue side, they blind-picked Ornn for Chen “Fearness” Guo-Ji to be their frontline initiator. This prompted Oh My God to take a risk by counter-picking Shyvana top.
In the first three minutes, Fearness’ Ornn achieved lane priority with Bellows Breath, pushing his wave in. This allowed him to freely roam to mid, where he and his mid laner and jungler caught out Mao “Aki” An’s Viego for first blood.
However, the tables turned very quickly at level five because Fearness hadn’t recalled since the start of the game. Sitting on three-quarter HP and a measly Doran’s shield, he attempted to push the lane against Shanji’s Shyvana, who had teleported back with full health and Boots of Lucidity.
Even though her Flame Breath, Burnout, and Twin Bite combo took him down to one-quarter health, Fearness was desperate to push the wave to tower or risk a freeze. He walked up again, but paid for it with his life.
Post level six, Ornn simply could not trade 1v1 against Shyvanna top, who kept his health bar low despite only possessing boots as her first completed item. Besides pressuring his lane, Shanji proved his worth in team fights as well.
In the mid game, Fearness’ Ornn landed a three-man knock up with Call of the Forge God, creating an opening for his team. However, Shanji’s Shyvana countered by wreaking havoc in LGD’s backline. With Mythic item Frostfire Gauntlet and Warden’s Mail, he made a beeline for Zou “Assum” Wei’s Jinx, forcing his Flash.
Zoning out three LGD members, he created sufficient space for his team to eliminate Xie “Jinjiao” Jin-Shan’s Leona and Fearness’ Ornn, and even managed to snipe the low health Jinx with a long-ranged Flame Breath.
Walking up to LGD’s faces on all fours, Shanji’s Shyvana was a true terror all game as he chipped away at their HPs, tanked the tower, and used Dragon’s Descent to fly straight into their backline, helping OMG win these crucial team fights. Not even Corki, one of the strongest late-game mid lane champions in the current meta, could 1v1 her.
One last ace at the sixth dragon spawn by Oh My God sealed the deal, as they ran down bot lane to close it out 33 minutes in. Shanji’s Shyvana top finished with a positive 5/2/8 KDA and 28.4% damage share, which was on par with his mid laner’s 28.3% and AD carry’s 29.8% damage share, showing just how much tank Shyvana hurts in the current meta.
Shyvana has received a series of small buffs since Season 11. The latest one was on patch 12.10, which gave Twin Bite (Q) 25 bonus attack range, and reduced Burnout’s damage tick interval to 0.5 seconds from one. She has a low 0.7% pick rate and 49.65% win rate in top lane in high Elo solo queue, according to U.GG on current patch 12.12.
OMG will take on Royal Never Give Up on June 30. LGD Gaming’s next match is against LNG Esports on July 2. Catch the LPL matches live daily on the official LPL Twitch and YouTube channels.
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