Please let me see some major Naafiri action!
Worlds 2023: Are Naafiri And Briar Going To Be Played?
Naafiri and Briar are the two newest League of Legends champions, but are they going to take the stage at the 2023 League of Legends World Championship in South Korea?
Milio and Yuumi were both disabled for the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational, due to them not having been played during any of the major region playoffs after their release and rework. With both Naafiri and Briar coming out after the playoffs of most of the LoL regions, could they follow the same fate?
Riot has some strict rules when it comes to champions and allowing them into the meta of an event as big as the World Championship, but do these rules also mean we won't be getting to see either Naafiri or Briar in South Korea?
Worlds 2023 Naafiri & Briar: Are The Newest LoL Champions Playable?
Naafiri was released with the big summer event in 2023. She's been playable for a while, but she did not see a single minute of play during any of the playoffs. No LCK playoffs, no LCS playoffs, none. The same can be said for Briar who is only going to release in LoL Patch 13.18.
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So, what does this mean for the two champions at Worlds 2023? Well, according to an older dev blog, it would mean that both are going to be removed from the champion pool for Worlds 2023. But it seems that Riot is going to bend the rules on this one.
Riot Meddler did reveal on Twitter that Naafiri will be playable at Worlds, while Briar is going to be disabled, just like Milio was at MSI 2023. This is a bit weird, since originally Riot did state that champions, "must be enabled for playoffs in all four of the top regions in order to be playable at the next international tournament" which neither Briar nor Naafiri were.
Akshan, who was released in July as well, was also disabled for Worlds, but it seems that Riot have become a bit more lenient with their rules... or maybe because Naafiri is a very simple champion with no game-breaking mechanics – like Akshan's revive – she is allowed at the World Championship.
Who knows, but it seems that Briar is a no-go, while Naafiri could be picked at Worlds 2023. Will she be though? If you're going full-dive maybe... otherwise we don't see her making too much of an impact on the tournament this year.