Yeah it was dramatic and entertaining.
But some of the "facts" presented in the video are just straight up wrong. I don't even know why Riot did that, the video could have been cool regardless.There was no need for Phreak to act like Malzahar was a completely new pick at that time, and the claim that SKT "looked unstoppable" might have been true for the years before... but SKT had very clear weaknesses in 2017 and many people were ranking the likes of LZ higher than them.
Except Malz was absolutely a sleeper pick. This is a champion who had a ~40% presence across the entire year of 2017. And yet at Worlds, it was really only there because of Crown. Of the 10 Malzahar picks at Worlds, 6 of them were Crown. Everyone else had ditched it.
Xiaohu didn't play it until after Crown did. Caps is the only other player who played the champion at Worlds that year In fact, in the entire playoff bo5 between the only other two Malzahar players, it was picked once and never banned. The only other two players to play the champion didn't even care. This is a champion that disappeared from pro play and Crown is the one who brought it back. It was not in consideration for basically any other mid laner and yet was a championship-winning pick.
Malzahar even went on to remain a relative pro staple with 20% presence across the entire next year.
Malzahar was a completely under the radar OP mid laner at Worlds 2017.
And there was no way to know whether SSG had simply risen to the occasion on that one day vs. LZ, if LZ simply choked (most people's take), or if they magically went super saiyan out of nowhere. SKT had just beaten the team that SSG lost 0-2 to in the group stage. There was really no reason to think SSG was suddenly the best team in the world.
Or tell me, did you also think that Team Liquid was obviously going to beat G2 at the MSI finals? Because that road is basically identical. "Wow, this team barely limped into their current position. Wow that was an incredible upset win against the pre-tournament favorites. OK, well they're definitely the #1 team now." Or you know, the rational mind says, "Yeah that was a sick upset, GJ getting to finals."
40% presence across an entire year is actually not that bad, don't you think?
And like you said, Crown has player Malzahar before the finals already. It's not like nobody knew that Malz was in his champion pool, he already picked it and won with it before.
So that's my issue with you calling this pick sleeper/under the radar. It's true that only SSG put a priority onto him, but the pick was not hidden at all. It was there in plain sight, but the other teams missed it.
Or tell me, did you also think that Team Liquid was obviously going to beat G2 at the MSI finals? Because that road is basically identical.
I honestly had no idea what was gonna happen.
I did think that G2 was gonna win because I'm a biased EU fan, and because G2 just beat SKT who (in terms of playstyle) looked a lot like a stronger version of TL. But TL beating IG was definitely scary as f**k IMO.
Yes, I agree 40% presence is quite high. Malzahar was a meta pick (mostly as Support, but still) up until Worlds. But he wasn't in meta for Worlds itself. That's the distinction I'm making: Players clearly knew Malzahar existed, they all picked and banned around him all year long. But when Worlds came along, despite being familiar with him, most teams decided he wasn't worth picking.
One thing to point out is that these videos are the result of ~30-60 minute sit-down interviews, and they cut down to the pithy parts and make a 5-minute video. In talking about SSG at Worlds that year, Crown was the only person I'd call a "Malzahar player." Both Caps picks were last-pick mid lane after several bans and picks pinched his pool. Crown is the only player who said, "Yes, Malzahar is a good pick." And I completely stand by that. SSG was the only team that actually valued Malzahar. That's undeniably true.
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