The LTA North has just concluded its second week of Split 2, teams are just starting to find their footing, understanding which picks are strong and which are not in the seeding phase for this split. There is one champion, however, that has struggled to find many wins this split despite being one of the more popular champions in the league thus far.

That champions name is Ryze, the mage has made a surprising return to pro play after being absent for quite some time. Ryze is part of the new bruiser/ tankier build crew that is popping up in the mid lane, with Ahri also getting a fair run out in the league this split. Ryze, however, has been a pretty underwhelming champion thus far, and far from his dominant days. Let's take a look at the stats:

A poor start for Ryze fans
According to the League of Legends stats site gol.gg, Ryze currently has a 2-5 record in the LTA North Split 2. Ryze is amongst the most picked in the LTA, sharing second place with an array of champions, but being one of the worst performers out there by comparison. The idea of the current Ryze build is that you'll be able to scale well into all stages of the game, whereas before Ryze was more of a late-game demon.

One of the strategies that has seemed to have gone missing in the LTA thus far is the sidelane control. The best Ryze players in the world have controlled games simply by applying the necessary pressure in the sidelane, and then having TP or his ultimate to escape, making him essentially unkillable in the side lane. From the eye test thus far, the players in North America haven't really used the easy pressure they could be getting with the champion. Ryze is meant to be an Azir counter, but if you're asking me which champion I would rather have so far, it would be Azir.

The LTA North players simply do not look comfortable on the champion, missing the timings on their ultimate, caging a minion by mistake, or, as alluded to, not applying any pressure in the sidelane, which is a must if you are picking Ryze. More than half the league's mid laners have given it a crack, but only two have looked respectable on the champion. It will be interesting to see, moving into the best-of-three stage, whether Ryze stays a prominent feature in the pick and ban.