Emma Frost and Pheonix were the most played Marvel Rivals Mid Season Finals heroes

NetEase Games has revealed the most-played Marvel Rivals characters selected by professional esports athletes during the Ignite Mid Season Finals.

Some of these characters include the most powerful picks in the meta, while others have historically been less popular in past esports events, but the results shed light on the comps and strategies used by the top teams around the world.

Marvel Rivals has listed the total time played in minutes for ten characters in Marvel Rivals Ignite Mid Season Season Finals in Guangzhou, China.

These are the results revealed by NetEase Games:

Some of the top choices make a lot of sense. For example, both Cloak & Dagger and Luna Snow often top the hero hot lists as the most popular Strategists in the competitive playlist. During the Season 3 update, when the Mid Season Finals took place, Emma Frost was regarded as one of the best Vanguards in the game due to her high damage output.

However, it is surprising to see staple picks at high levels of play like Magneto and Loki rank fairly low. Magneto has been a consistently strong tank hero since Season 0 due to his ability to shield allies frequently, while Loki boasts an incredibly high healing output and a versatile ultimate.

This may potentially be a result of bans removing them from play more often, as teams attempt to force each other into less viable comps.

There are also a few surprises in this list. Characters like Venom, Captain America, and Wolverine show that the dive comp is an effective strategy. Captain America, in particular, was a staple choice for EMEA Stage 1 Champions, Citadel Gaming, as it regularly protected him during the ban phase.

Some characters are not as popular as viewers would expect. For instance, Human Torch was regularly used in the Grand Finals between Rad EU and ENVY, because of his high damage output and area control – yet he didn’t have enough playtime to reach the top ten.

More niche picks, like Jeff the Landshark, also appeared several times, and was often used by the Mid Season Final champions on more than one occasion.

Only time will tell if these characters will see as much play in light of the Season 3.5 update and the various balance changes that came with it, and how this will affect future events such as the Season 3 Championships and Ignite Stage 2.