Kennen Under 10% at Shenyang: China’s Meta Is Wide Open
The Shenyang Regional Open, a fourth-season stop on the Chinese circuit, closed its first day with 1,191 registered players and a snapshot of the field the West has not seen in months: Kennen is still the most played Legend, but it stops at 9.91%, down from the 11.5% it held at the same stage of the Singapore Regional Qualifier. Irelia follows at 6.21% and Akali at 6.05%, with Master Yi and Jayce tied at 5.46%. The number that really matters sits at the bottom of the chart: 58% of the field is playing something outside the top seven Legends.
The fieldKennen leads, but never breaks away
The infographic Riot Games China published at the end of Day 1 puts 118 players on Kennen: a big number in absolute terms, a modest one across a 1,191-player room. It is the first time this deep into the Vendetta cycle that the most represented Legend at a major event has stayed in single digits, and the community noticed immediately: the thread that carried the data to r/riftboundtcg opens with a blunt line from u/weipenghuang, “Kennen is under 10%”.
The rest of the standings are tightly packed. Less than two and a half percentage points separate second from seventh, with Irelia (74 players), Akali (72), Master Yi and Jayce (65 apiece), Fiora (59) and Ornn (46) all within a handful of lists. Below that line stretches a very long tail of Legends between 3% and 0.08%, and that tail alone accounts for more than half the room.
The comparisonWhat Singapore looked like at the same stage
The fair comparison is against day one, not day two: at Singapore, Kennen started from 11.5% on Day 1 and only climbed to 19.3% after the cut. Measured against that baseline, Shenyang shaves roughly a point and a half off Kennen and nearly as much off Irelia, which slides from 7.6% to 6.21% and remains more played than its results justify.
The most interesting move, though, belongs to Akali — the Legend Gorica rode to the Singapore Regional Qualifier title from just 3.8% of the field. At Shenyang it sits third at 6.05%. Jayce is climbing too, from 3.0% on Singapore’s Day 1 to 5.46%, consistent with the doubling it had already shown heading into day two. Ornn rounds out the top seven at 3.86%, the Legend that carried MICE TheManLand to the Barcelona title.
One caveat is worth stating plainly: the Chinese circuit runs on its own calendar, and a Regional Open is not the exact counterpart of a Western Regional Qualifier. The Legends at the top of the list, however, are the same ones shaping the Western meta, which is what makes the comparison useful to European players.
1,191 players
The total Riot reported for day one of the Shenyang Regional Open, fourth season of the Chinese circuit.
58% outside the top seven
The “other” slice of the official chart: more than half the room is on something outside the top 7.
| Legend | Players | Day 1 share |
|---|---|---|
| Kennen | 118 | 9.91% |
| Irelia | 74 | 6.21% |
| Akali | 72 | 6.05% |
| Master Yi | 65 | 5.46% |
| Jayce | 65 | 5.46% |
| Fiora | 59 | 4.95% |
| Ornn | 46 | 3.86% |
| Other Legends | — | 58% |
Why it matters for us. This weekend the Italian community is in Lucca for the Showdown Series, with the Stuttgart Regional Championship next on the calendar. Knowing that across a 1,191-player field Kennen holds first place without clearing 10% says the wall can be climbed, and that the lists built to beat it — Gorica’s Akali in Singapore, MICE TheManLand’s Ornn in Barcelona — keep finding room. For anyone preparing a tournament in the coming weeks, the takeaway is that the field to cover is wide, not narrow.
The short version
- Day 1 of the Shenyang Regional Open: 1,191 players, official Riot Games China data.
- Kennen leads with 118 players, 9.91% — below the 11.5% it held on Day 1 at RQ Singapore.
- Irelia 6.21%, Akali 6.05%, Master Yi and Jayce 5.46%, Fiora 4.95%, Ornn 3.86%.
- 58% of the field is on Legends outside the top seven: an unusually wide spread.
- Next Western stop: RQ Los Angeles, September 25–27.
Source: Riftbound Report and r/riftboundtcg. Images: Riot Games.
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