T1 start MSI 2022 with a bang with ‘Arcane’s’ Vi

T1 are the main attractions of the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational, especially with the tournament taking place in their home country. They certainly kicked off the tournament by giving fans a show in Game 1 by locking in an extremely popular champion — but not because of pro-play. With the final pick in the first game of MSI 2022, T1 locked in Vi, star of the hit show “Arcane,” as the game’s jungle champion against Saigon Buffalo.

Despite the popularity gained from her role in Riot Games’ Netflix show, Vi has not seen relevant play in the professional scene in nearly seven years. In fact, according to Gol.GG, she has not been a meta pick since before Season 5.

The last time a player picked her more than 10 times across all regions of play was back in Season 9. So far, in season 12, Vi has only been picked five times before this game and only four of those times were in the jungle.

Back in March of 2022, she was picked twice by major region teams. Hung “Karsa” Hau-Hsuan picked her in the League of Legends Pro League and Kim “OnFleek” Jang-gyeom picked her in the League of Legends Champions Korea. Those two games were a mixed bag, as Vi went 1-1.

In Moon “Oner” Hyeon-joon’s game on Vi at MSI 2022, the pick looked good. Oner matched up with another off-meta jungle pick, Wukong, picked by SGB’s jungler Trần “Bean J” Văn Chính.

Oner ultimately got the upper hand with a 3/1/9 kill/death/assist ratio on Vi as T1 shook off a rough start to steamroll SGB in less than 30 minutes. By comparison, BeanJ had a poor game on Wukong, only managing a mediocre 1/4/ stat line. Oner also out damaged Wukong, too.

This was Oner’s first-ever professional Vi game as a member of T1. The pick marks Oner’s 10th unique champion pick so far in the 2022 League of Legends season.