You may recognize this champion from your solo queue games.
While most professional League of Legends players opt to keep a hold on the meta in order to be successful in their respective competitive regions, sometimes an unconventional pocket pick is enough to completely throw the opposing team offespecially when that pocket pick has a very low pick rate.
During Immortals week seven 2023 LCS Spring Split match against TSM, mid laner Bolulu opted for his patented VelKoz after Zoe had been taken away from him, aiming to surprise the players of the opposing side with a pick almost never chosen by any pro player.
While Immortals didnt end up winning this game, Bolulu walked away with the most damage done between either team and a few memorable plays.
VelKoz has been a staple pick for Bolulu throughout his time in both the TCL and the NACL, though this is the first time the champion has been seen in the LCS since 2020 when Froggen opted for the champion and ultimately lost to TSM.
The Eye of the Void is Bolulus third most-played champion in his entire League career, sporting a 77-percent win rate across 26 games internationally, according to Oracles Elixir.
TSM had to quickly adapt to Immortals focus on keeping Bolulus VelKoz out of reach, which was made increasingly difficult thanks to the front line of Viego and Nautilus keeping the mid lane carry safely out of reach. On multiple occasions, members of TSM were disintegrated nearly instantly from an opponent they couldnt even get close towith even WildTurtle being 100-0d by a VelKoz ultimate.
Bolulu acted as the biggest thorn in TSMs side for most of the game, but was a particular nuisance for TSMs top laner Solo, who struggled to act as a true tank with how much true damage the Eye of the Void was dealing per second.
It wasnt until the later stages of the game that Solo finally gained enough stats that he could tank significant damage from Immortals, yet Bolulu remained a key threat.
Its likely this isnt the last weve seen of Bolulus VelKoz in North America, though with Immortals on the verge of not qualifying for the Spring Playoffs, we may not see it again until the Summer Split begins.