These are the numbers for Pro Rank.
Nilfgaard playrate
Dryad: 14.05
Cat: 15.01
Draconid 17.42
Bear: 18.84
Elves: 20.43
Viper: 22.08
Griffin: 23.67
"Those times when you saw 8 ng out of every 10 matches" to quote Barracuda88 were never a thing. Based on the data, Nilfgaard had never a 25% playrate in Pro.
The playrate are inflated by the fact that Syndicate has a low playerbase, as it joined later. During old seasons there used to be faction challenges, which skewed the playrate towards the " supposed best performing" factions. If we had a faction challenge during the SK Patricidal Fury era (60.57% winrate, 11.56% playrate), you can bet, you would have even an higher playrate.
You cannot compare OH during the season of the Cat to past Nilfgaard performance. OH has both a very high playrate (13.12%) and a very good winrate (54.72%). For comparison "Imperial Formation", the best NG performing ability during the Griffin Season, had 8.44% playrate and 50.84% winrate. The very season in which NG had the highest playrate.
In Starcraft 2, Terran has a 42.63% play in the Bronze league. 3 factions, so it should be 33%, but we don't say that Terran is on top based on that data.
OK, so either you're bad at additions or you're deliberately lowering the numbers to help this progressively more boring and pointless argument.
Season of the Griffin PRO NG numbers (FROM YOUR OWN SCREENSHOT):
IF 8.44
LD 3.27
TD 2.29
EN 2.38
DC 4.46
SW 3.76
IM 0.92
Have a calculator? Because this adds up to 25.52, not 23.67.
Eh, easy mistake, though. Doesn't mean anything. I'm sure if we look at another one, like Bear...
IF 10.04
LD 1.53
TD 3.05
EN 3.97
DC 1.12
SW 1.37
Oh, weird... adds up to 21.08 somehow, NOT 18.84. Go figure.
Yeah, and the whole 8 out of 10 thing might seem like an impossible hyperbole, and it might not correspond to the numbers, but it LITERALLY and COMMONLY happened to me on ladder NUMEROUS times over the years, and it continuously happens in Casual and Seasonal, and from reading posts here it sounds like it happened to NUMEROUS other people, as well. Once again, it hasn't been as common lately, because NG is perceived as weak now, and BECAUSE last season it was OH that you constantly saw, and the last few seasons it would be SK and SW, but yes, it WAS a thing. And it was a thing for a long long time.