I think Azir is the champion whose playrate is the most affected by pro play, the same thing happened last year in Worlds 2022 where his pickrate kept rising as Worlds was being played, this worlds is no different as Azir’s presence was gradually increasing until it exploded after the JDG vs T1 series, this ultimately caused a big WR drop to Azir as hes kinda a hard champ

Heres Azir’s playrate by Region:

Worldwide: [Yellow line is all ranks combined]

https://preview.redd.it/pj59e7mhb50c1.png?width=1071&format=png&auto=webp&s=a5a2ffd0331d20d5bc009d1974d8f7b65d9b8c48

Azir’s game count went to the moon

Korea

https://preview.redd.it/ln2yc929d50c1.png?width=1036&format=png&auto=webp&s=454a686e9823b857ca36c41da19de2e1717a18b4

https://preview.redd.it/eo6vr2had50c1.png?width=272&format=png&auto=webp&s=b293112d85e0d6b80eec658d8160f47d53a5281d

Vietnam

https://preview.redd.it/67kjkhs3e50c1.png?width=1090&format=png&auto=webp&s=9a6a0e161b7a9bbbd98a56dfc86db06daadd7f10

https://preview.redd.it/ighywa1he50c1.png?width=255&format=png&auto=webp&s=fac6aca3b6b706196a1b9ee405ff5b3e089a06c4

EUW:

https://preview.redd.it/r9k7x8k1d50c1.png?width=1053&format=png&auto=webp&s=4876f7ba74896d73ae1bbf734473eea66bc21178

https://preview.redd.it/o97dfx85d50c1.png?width=256&format=png&auto=webp&s=68de848a17df0fea4742b6efcacd8ffca0490415

NA

https://preview.redd.it/5fjwvj3md50c1.png?width=1031&format=png&auto=webp&s=a149ead1b4943302948b8e11ed72e35a5ae3896f

https://preview.redd.it/rfffey4od50c1.png?width=261&format=png&auto=webp&s=6f289095ee87b9f1ca74e9537adab47854610e94

-so who started picking up Azir?

Emerald players no matter their regions are all picking up Azir and playing him en masse followed by Diamond, Plat, Gold, Silver players

-Will Azir keep this staggering amount of playrate? most likely no, within a day or two, Azir’s pickrate should fall down a bit after this crazy spike. The Hype won’t be able to sustain the lp losses

-To make a comparison, Azir’s game count in the day of JDG vs T1 series was similar to busted K’Sante’s game count right after his buffs [before he got hotfix nerfed]:

Azir [12 November]: 55k games vs KSante [25 October] : 59k games , KSante got hotfixed on 26 October

-One last fun fact: While HoB Azir hasn’t won much in pro play [Faker alone has the only HoB Azir win in Worlds], HoB Azir is winning much more than Conqueror or Lethal Tempo Azir in SoloQ

https://preview.redd.it/4we37wszf50c1.png?width=737&format=png&auto=webp&s=494a81fa74304ed8b859da146a06b52b2ef8bab0

source: https://lolalytics.com/lol/azir