Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 186 Resilience! The Battle for the Throne!

The Fiora, who had just respawned at home, had only been in lane for less than a minute when Xiaohu and Xiangguo found an opportunity and immediately organized a tower dive to kill her in the top lane.

TheShy's desperate maneuver under the tower bought time, but he couldn't fight against overwhelming odds and had no room for further maneuvering. The kill went to Lucian, who further increased his lane dominance.

On the other side, Rookie and Ning immediately roamed to the bottom lane and ganked and killed the Irelia who had used Flash in the previous wave. Without Irelia, Xiaoming had no choice but to retreat.

With three people taking down the tower on one side and four on the other, IG also took down RNG's bottom tower in less than ten seconds after RNG destroyed the top lane tower.

It seems like there was an exchange between the two sides, and IG didn't lose much, but the one IG caught and killed was a well-farmed Irelia, so this death was insignificant.

On the other hand, IG's core hero, Fiora, was completely neutralized by the ganks. Even with TheShy's amazing plays, he couldn't make much of a difference under these circumstances.

After pushing down the first tower, Xiangguo immediately secured the first Rift Herald, putting immense pressure on Rookie and Ning.

In the next battle for the Fire Dragon, IG is clearly at a disadvantage!

Of course, they couldn't let the dragon go. Both Fiora and Malzahar had teleport, and Malzahar teleported directly to the dragon pit in the bottom lane, getting ahead of RNG and controlling the vision first.

The newly resurrected Fiora, though eyeing the minion wave that was almost at the second tower in the top lane, had no choice but to follow the team's instructions and head to the dragon pit.

This is not ranked play; in this kind of match, you must unconditionally obey the team's tactics.

This fire dragon has already pushed IG to the brink of defeat. Ten people, ten top professional players, have all gathered in the small bottom lane river battlefield as the dragon spawns.

"IG is in a tough spot this time. Malzahar's ultimate is still on cooldown, with over 20 seconds left. IG doesn't have anyone to initiate the fight, so they're forced to wait for RNG to engage. Wow! Ning's pillar managed to pull out Ming's Alistar from the small bush near the blue buff. Ning really made a contribution!"

Seeing that the situation on both sides was becoming increasingly tense, the commentator also got into the zone, speaking very quickly.

Just then, Xiaoming's Minotaur tried to establish a vantage point in the riverbed's grass, but the moment Ningwang saw the Minotaur peek out, he immediately blocked its path with a pillar.

Sapphire Karma immediately stepped forward, and a chain appeared on Minotaur's body.

IG's five players swarmed in, leaving Alistar with no choice but to activate his ultimate to avoid the damage.

"Xiao Ming, charge straight at them!"

Li Luo shouted.

Although RNG's players haven't positioned themselves yet, I've already teleported to the bottom lane. Alistar is an important member in this fight, so he can't die in vain.

Upon hearing Li Luo's words, Xiao Ming immediately used WQ to engage, knocking up three players, breaking Malzahar's passive shield, and also knocking up IG's two bottom laners.

"good chance!"

Li Luo's eyes lit up when he saw the grasshopper's shield end. He pressed WER simultaneously, and a large amount of damage was poured directly onto the grasshopper. In a short while, the grasshopper's health was already at zero.

Lucian's visual effects, combined with the chaos caused by Rookie's low health, finally brought the RNG team to the scene.

Graves threw his ultimate from a distance, but Rookie dodged it with a flash after it was ready.

Meanwhile, the Fiora was like a mad dog, constantly rubbing against Xiaoming's Alistar's head, trying to kill one of them first.

The lineup was too loose, which prevented both sides from concentrating their firepower on one person effectively. Two players from each side were quickly eliminated, and they started frantically talking in the voice chat in a panic.

They were all top-tier players, so their skills and maneuvering were naturally excellent. They grappled together in twos and threes, using various skill combinations and dodging abilities with movement and dodges.

The screen was filled with dazzling skill effects, and the back-and-forth exchanges were incredibly lively.

"Here's a smoke bomb for hot pot."

"Oops, Prince Ning gave his skill to the wrong person."

"Ah Shui, Ah Shui suddenly died!"

The three commentators each took charge of a section of the fighting area, and their bickering kept the viewers in front of the screen wide-eyed.

chaos!
too messy!
If a player with a low skill level, or even one below the Master rank, were to participate in this team battle, they would definitely feel like, "Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?"

Or, in a moment of nervousness, they might make a truly cringe-worthy move.

In a team fight that could be described as a chaotic brawl, IG managed to achieve a 5-for-3 exchange, but unfortunately, the dragon was still secured by the surviving Lucian and Graves.

"What a pity, Lucian was just one hit away from death. If only we could have gotten his kill."

Prince Ning said regretfully.

In this chaotic team fight, TheShy indeed demonstrated his sharp skills, moving in and out like a butterfly, dodging several skills.

Most importantly, Fiora almost killed Lucian.

Unfortunately, even the most skilled cook can't make a meal without ingredients. Fiora's equipment was simply too lacking. Without high AD, Fiora's passive true damage was pitifully low.
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"The biggest weakness of this hero is that there are no critical strike items in this version, so there is no burst damage and the margin for error is too low."

Li Luo frowned as he returned to the city after defeating the fire dragon.

The reason Lucian could appear in the top lane in S9 and S10 was due to the changes to critical strike items, which made Lucian's damage completely incomprehensible once he had his items completed in the mid to late game.

Moreover, the top lane meta at that time would be more suitable for Lucian's survival.

Unfortunately, bringing Lucian to the field prematurely during this period, without Stormrazor, is quite different from later versions.

Although this trade resulted in a 3-for-5 exchange, it was still a profitable outcome overall.

Xiaohu, Letme, and Xiaoming died, but two of their heads were given to Ning Wang.

Trolls are not very useful in RNG's lineup.

After respawning, both the top and bottom lane towers were destroyed, so the two sides had to switch lanes. Fiora went to the bottom lane where the tower was, while JackeyLove and Baolan went to the top lane to withstand the pressure, giving TheShy more room to farm.

In the last team fight, both sides used almost all the skills they could. Now, as soon as they leave the base, all their ultimate skills, including summoner spells, are on cooldown. Both sides are full of "weak points"!
"Rng.Uzi destroyed a turret!"

Lucian solo-laned against Fiora and took down the bottom lane's first turret, causing the fans in the arena to scream.

"Now both of IG's top and bottom towers have been taken down by RNG. After this wave, with one mid tower down, IG's vision control on the map will be further compressed. At the very least, the blue side will lose vision of the F6 camp and the river. RNG has successfully found another breakthrough against IG in this game."

In 15 minutes, there was a 6000 gold difference between the two sides. Just as Wawa said, once TheShy underperformed in this game, Rookie in the mid lane couldn't step up, causing IG to completely lose the initiative and fighting power in the mid-game.

After both sides gathered in the mid lane, they found another opportunity to probe each other and start fighting again.

Like the previous two games, this was another all-out brawl. Just as many of the fans had predicted, both teams displayed their fighting spirit.

Although IG lost two games, their momentum in the third game earned the respect of RNG fans.

Losing isn't shameful; giving up is. Nobody thinks about protecting their KDA, nobody's afraid of taking the blame. When they find an opportunity, they don't hesitate; they just go for it, using skill and reckless energy to disrupt the opponent's rhythm.

In the next ten minutes, IG struggled to make ends meet, as RNG took advantage of their strong top and jungle to relentlessly invade IG's jungle and seize resources.

Just twenty minutes into the game, RNG decisively took advantage of their early vision control to secure Baron Nashor, immediately highlighting the limitations of IG's lineup.

Fiora can't split push effectively, Malzahar has a hard time defending towers, Kai'Sa has short range, and Trundle is clumsy.

Seeing the four players standing in front of the mid-lane inhibitor tower, RNG did not plan to attack directly. Instead, they pushed down the second towers in the top and bottom lanes one by one, forcing Fiora to return to base and stand in front of the inhibitor tower as well.

By the time Baron Nashor ended, the economic difference between the two sides had reached a full 10,000 gold. Lucian in the top lane alone had directly suppressed Fiora by one and a half major items, and had even built Infinity Edge.

Seeing that IG had lost the ability to fight back, all RNG fans went crazy!
"10,000 gold, no, 11,000 gold! RNG has a huge advantage now. IG can't even get out of there. The tide has turned!"

As RNG continued to erode IG's economy and harass IG's perimeter, the commentators' hearts were on edge, and they began to silently recite the lines they would say if RNG won the championship.

"Xiaogou has gone seven years without a championship in the LPL. Could it be that after today, he will finally achieve his honor in the LPL?"

Before the doll could finish speaking, cheers erupted from the fans of the dog and the royal fans. Some of the more excited spectators in the front row stood up and waved their light sticks around the venue.

"If IG wants to win now, they can only rely on Malzahar's ultimate skill to capitalize on RNG's mistakes and launch a counterattack. If they can kill Uzi's Lucian, they can still defend this wave. Otherwise, once RNG pushes up all three lanes, it will be difficult for IG!"

As the IG players were constantly being pulled and drained of health, the commentators anxiously offered them advice.

The director also took the opportunity to focus the camera on some pretty female RNG fans in the audience, which elicited cheers from the audience.

"Wow, RNG's fans are really going wild right now! Their cheers are even reaching us through the soundproof booth!"

Hearing the cheers outside growing louder and louder, the three commentators looked at each other in bewilderment.

This kind of historic dominance is truly astonishing.

"However, IG's players currently have both summoner spells available, so RNG can only rely on slowly grinding them down. But if even one inhibitor turret falls, the chain reaction will put IG in a difficult position."

Guan Zeyuan spoke very politely, but anyone with eyes could tell that IG was already at its wit's end.

"Malzak is about to make a move. Rookie's Malzak might be IG's last hope. With their lineup, by this point in the game, they no longer have a strong late-game phase. Kai'Sa's range is too short now. If she goes up to clear minions, she will face the double threat of Taliyah and Alistar."

The scene then shifts to the game.

IG's tenacious defense prevented RNG from reaching their high ground, but the top and mid lane minions had already pushed forward simultaneously. Once they entered the tower, Fiora in the top lane would be absolutely unable to defend against Lucian taking down the top lane inhibitor tower.

Rookie got impatient.

But if you're too hasty, something terrible will happen.

Now all of IG's defenses have been pushed in by RNG. The wards on the outside have been completely scanned and cleared. Once they leave the high ground tower, it's pitch black outside.

In a normal situation, there might still be some hope.

But by the time it came to the final game, this situation meant a slow death.

Lucian dominated the top lane and the upper half of the jungle, and the visible economic growth and the economic gap between him and his opponent made Fiora feel very pressured.

In the eyes of all the viewers, this game was already a foregone conclusion, but IG's tenacity exceeded everyone's expectations.

Rookie's grasshopper seized a good opportunity and hit someone no one would expect: Xiaoming's Minotaur.

Alistar's ultimate (R) can remove crowd control effects; no one with a brain would give their skill to the support at such a crucial moment.

This R is a chance to turn the tide, and IG's last hope.

During the battle for vision, Alistar was accidentally hit by Troll Warlord's pillar. Just like the previous wave, Karma went up to chain him, and Malzahar followed up with crowd control.

Letme wanted to go up and protect her, but unexpectedly, even the Fiora from the top lane circled around and immediately used her Q skill to silence Irelia, interrupting Irelia's combo.

The bottom lane duo is dead.

IG abandoned their high ground and rushed Baron Nashor in a desperate attempt.

IG's performance left everyone speechless.

"IG has truly been forced to unleash 120% of their potential by RNG. Everyone is playing at their absolute best. JackeyLove has become IG's most fed player. Everyone saw the damage he dealt just now. The rookie ADC has become IG's only hope for a comeback, their only glimmer of hope."

A plot twist!

TheShy didn't step up; instead, it was JackeyLove, who had been quietly developing his character, who stepped up.

When Rookie first went to the World Championship, he was defeated by FNC and surrendered immediately.

During Season 4, KTA was the LCK Summer Split champion. The tournament format hadn't changed yet, and Rookie and Kakao were KTA's key players at the time.

KTA was the only team to win the Summer Split championship but fail to qualify for the World Championship, which burdened Rookie with a bittersweet label ever since.

However, IG's roster had a significant weakness in the early stages of S8.

This is a huge loophole that Rookie missed out on learning in LCK, despite arriving in LPL early on.

As we all know, before S8, LCK teams would mysteriously give away advantages at certain times when facing LPL teams, giving all LPL viewers hope.

A closer look reveals that the LCK teams' lineups had previously shown very low reliance on Flash.

In the Korean server, it's rare to see someone use Flash to outplay their opponents, but in the Chinese server, almost every highlight reel involves Flash.

This is one of the ultimate tactics of LCK teams: using Flash to bait out skills.

As it develops to S5, S6 will evolve into an even more terrifying skill for deceiving people by stealing their heads.

Is it really that clunky without Flash?
Actually, that's not the case. The mid lane LeBlanc, the top lane Gnar, the bot lane Ezreal, the jungle Nidalee, and other LCK favorites are also SKT's familiar lineups. If you observe carefully, you can see that these heroes don't benefit from Flash.

On the other hand, LPL champions like Sejuani, Rumble, Syndra, Twitch, and Ashe are basically useless in team fights without their ultimate abilities.

Especially before a crucial team fight, LCK players will often create openings and use a kill to trick you into using your skills.

But if they counterattack with a dragon fight, will you be able to get through then?
This is why, in many situations, everyone can see that LPL players tend to play defensively and avoid engaging in dragon fights until their summoner spells are ready, while LCK players will immediately engage in dragon fights even without Flash.

"Neither the grasshopper nor the troll has their ultimate, we can attack!"

I was packing my things today, and I'm going to school tomorrow, so I'm posting this a little late.
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(End of this chapter)