During a recent livestream, MAD Lions KOI midlaner Jojo “Jojopyun” Pyun revealed that his unconventional practice routine played a key role in his team’s League of Legends European Championship (LEC) victory. Instead of grinding Solo Queue like most professionals, Jojopyun chose to “spam ARAMs” as his main individual practice method leading up to the championship.
“For pro players, ARAM is actually better practice than Solo Queue,” Jojopyun said on his stream. He explained that the All Random All Mid game mode, which forces players into constant 5v5 teamfights with random champions, gave him more useful experience than the usual ranked ladder.
According to the North American import, ARAM’s never-ending teamfight environment is a better way to recreate the high-pressure moments pros deal with in competitive matches. The mode lets players work on their mechanics, teamwork, and quick decisions in chaotic group fights, skills that proved crucial in MKOI’s championship run.
This way of doing things is pretty different from what most pros are told. Usually, Solo Queue is seen as absolutely necessary for keeping lane skills sharp, learning matchup details, and improving one-on-one play.
Jojopyun isn’t the first big name to try something new. Chinese top laner TheShy has also talked about using ARAM to sharpen his skills, and other pros have built their own unique training routines instead of sticking only to Solo Queue.
How to get the most out of practice is always a hot topic in Europe and North America, where Solo Queue quality often gets knocked compared to Korean and Chinese servers. Lots of Western pros complain about teammates not syncing up, tilt problems, and old-school strats that don’t work well on the big stage.
Of course, ARAM has its downsides. The mode skips the laning phase, jungle pathing, vision control, and bigger map decisions that make up a normal competitive League of Legends game. Some pro players, including former G2 bot laner Rekkles, aren’t fans of ARAM practice, saying that champion and item tweaks in the mode can mess with how you understand a champion’s true potential in standard play.
Despite these criticisms, Jojopyun’s success with MKOI gives people something to think about when it comes to different ways to practice. With the current LEC style, where games are often won or lost in teamfights around key objectives, focusing on ARAM’s back-to-back 5v5 fights might have given him the upper hand in those clutch moments during their championship run.
