Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 263 Explosive Output, Easy First Victory!
"We can't let the next dragon go; we can launch a final attack."

Li Luo glanced at the equipment inventory and said.

Currently, as C9's three outer turrets are gradually taken down, RNG has secured a Fire Dragon, while C9 has also secured an Earth Dragon during Syndra's lane rotation.

The third dragon is still the Fire Dragon, which is a buff that RNG's lineup cannot afford to give up.

Of course, the main reason is that Syndra is about to reach her strongest point.

At 19 minutes and level 12, with Sorcerer's Shoes, Morellonomicon, Luden's Echo, and Mejai's Soulstealer, his damage output is so high that even Poppy in the mid lane can't withstand it.

"OK, I'll go home and get a ward before coming back," Xiaoming decided immediately and returned to town.

"The enemy Lissandra has Flash ready, but Xayah hasn't," Xiaohu reported after checking the Flash time recorded on the public chat and calculating it.

"I have invincibility, I can go in first and start the team fight," Xiangguo added.

The team communicated rapidly via voice chat, and C9 also noticed RNG's movements and immediately responded.

In this match, C9's lineup was very versatile. Whether it was Xin Zhao's ultimate, Xayah's ultimate, or Lissandra's ultimate, they could all effectively avoid Syndra's slow ultimate skill.

C9's early and mid-game support comes from Lissandra and Thresh; these two heroes can initiate or counter-initiate.

Poppy sits beside Xayah, using her W skill to protect her.

Zhao Xin was responsible for breaking into the back row and disrupting the formation.

RNG's lineup relies on Syndra and Irelia in the early and mid-game. If they can't push down one lane before 30 minutes, it will become increasingly difficult as the game progresses.

By this time, C9's lineup had begun to develop. Although Xayah's equipment hadn't caught up, C9 didn't need to avoid fights.

With the placement of true sight wards on both sides, securing good vision, a team fight is about to break out.

As soon as the third dragon spawned, C9 immediately engaged it without hesitation.

With Xin Zhao and Lissandra, plus Poppy and Xayah, as long as you position yourself well in advance and play a positional game, the margin for error is very high.

Conversely, in close combat, spreading out one's formation during a fight can actually tie one's hands, making it easy for the battlefield to be divided and the enemy to be defeated one by one.

With the dragon's health reduced to half, Xiangguo, who was standing on the edge of the dragon pit, finally found an opportunity to enter the fray.

Unleashing his ultimate ability and locking onto his target, Nightmare charged headlong towards Lissandra in the middle of the enemy team.

That's right, the person Xiangguo initiated the Nightmare on wasn't Xayah without Flash, but rather Lissandra who had both Flash and her ultimate ability.

Did he make the wrong choice?

PDD and Wang Duoduo nervously gripped their trouser legs, which were out of the camera's view.

Some veteran junglers, upon seeing Xiangguo's choice, pondered it carefully and finally understood the deeper meaning behind it.

Xayah does not have Flash, but because of her ultimate, Nocturne obviously cannot kill her by himself.

Moreover, as long as Xayah's feathers are aimed at the four RNG players when she flies up, RNG's four players don't dare to come up and deal damage because of Xayah's hook.

With Lissandra's reliable R skill for crowd control and her W skill for limiting entry, choosing to engage with Xayah will make this fight incredibly difficult.

Conquering Lissandra actually gave RNG the opportunity to charge into the enemy lines.

While Xiangguo's skills aren't top-notch, his choices in major competitions always seem to offer a refreshing surprise.

When Xiaolong entered the fray with half health remaining, C9's Xin Zhao chose to abandon the dragon fight and engage in team fights directly.

He used his E skill to poke Nightmare, took two steps forward, and attempted to use his R skill to disrupt RNG's formation.

Xayah kept auto-attacking, activating her W skill to unleash all her damage on Nightmare in the crowd.

Seeing Xiangguo's health rapidly decreasing, Xiaoming quickly activated his R skill, flashed and used W to enter the fray, charming the C9 members who were frantically dealing damage.

"Kill Zhao Xin! Kill Zhao Xin!"

Almost the instant Li Luo shouted, Xiao Hu, controlling Irelia, unleashed her ultimate skill without hesitation, and Shen also slid forward, taunting Zhao Xin.

Poor Zhao Xin, he tried to rush in and disrupt RNG's formation, but he didn't expect RNG to give him all their damage.
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Energy outpouring (R)
Syndra unleashed a torrent of energy, channeling the three dark orbs on her body and the two orbs on the ground to bombard Xin Zhao before he could unleash his ultimate, instantly killing him.

The damage was so overwhelming that Svenskeren died instantly without even a chance to fight back.

"More? I can take even more!"

Looking at the five balls on the ground, Xiaolongkou, without any fancy techniques, pressed the Q skill again—
The weak, retreat! (E)
Without any fancy techniques, the six dark orbs on the ground, driven by the E skill, scattered forward like a rain of pear blossoms.

The terrifying AOE control combined with the damage stunned all four C9 members at the entrance of the dragon pit, leaving none alive.

Syndra, equipped with two penetration items, was able to land a Q skill on Xayah during this timeframe, thanks to her secondary E skill, leaving Xayah with only a sliver of health remaining.

"This control, this damage!?"

PDD stared wide-eyed in disbelief.
-
This damage is just ridiculously high.

But the most shocking visual impact was yet to come. With Luden's Echo providing 20 CD and Transcendence providing 10 CD, Syndra, with a total of 30 CD, was like a merciless killing machine, relentlessly unleashing her damage.

Poppy, who was at full health, took a hit from a Q skill, and her health suddenly dropped by a third.

Lissandra, at half health, was hit by a WQ skill and was instantly killed.

The max-level Q skill deals an extra 25% damage due to its passive effect, which is simply ruthless. The explosive damage of the Q skill, which can be used every 2 seconds, has left some fans who are still using Xiaohu's Syndra with Zhonya's Hourglass, Banshee's Veil, and Ninja Tabi a bit bewildered.

Ok?
Can this hero have such a big difference in performance depending on who plays him?

Without the restrictions and burst damage, Syndra was unstoppable, showing audiences worldwide just how terrifying a fed mage bot lane can be.

Wang Duoduo exclaimed passionately, "The little tiger shark puppy has gone berserk!"
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Triple kill
When the sound effect echoed through Summoner's Rift, the audience snapped out of their daze.

They also forgot that RNG was not their home team, and at this moment, driven by the atmosphere at the scene, they spontaneously started chanting RNG's name.

The deaths of Zhao Xin, Thresh, and Lissandra seemed to be the beginning. Xiaohu's Irelia chased them all the way down the road. Even after RNG took the dragon, Xiaohu still managed to chase them all the way to the high ground and catch the low-health Xayah.

A 0-for-4 exchange triggered a deafening roar of cheers from the Busan crowd.

RNG truly deserves the title of the world's number one team, which was supposedly cursed by Riot Games. Their performance in the first match alone was enough to shock everyone!

They are the trendsetters of the times!
From the Ardent Censer meta in S7 to the AP meta in S8, RNG seems to be able to seamlessly adapt to each World Championship.

After securing the Fire Dragon, RNG didn't give C9 any time to recover. After dealing with the minion wave, they started controlling vision around the Baron Nashor pit.

In the commentary booth, the excited PDD and Teacher Duoduo finally calmed down after the replay ended and began to analyze the situation.

"RNG's lineup is clearly well-practiced. The constant Nocturne and Rakan's follow-up engages are crucial. In the early to mid-game, just those two crowd control abilities combined with Syndra's terrifying damage output allow Syndra to quickly eliminate an enemy. Then, using her ultimate's ball of damage, she can disrupt the battlefield and start cleaning up. With Shen's W and ultimate protecting her, killing Syndra is incredibly difficult," PDD said. "Yeah, especially since C9's lineup isn't the type to dive in and fight. How can you fight a mobile turret like Syndra in a positional battle? Add Irelia's ultimate and finishing ability, and RNG's lineup is practically invincible at this stage!"

Teacher Duo Duo nodded and remarked with emotion:
"It's been half a month since I last saw them, and I'm truly impressed! RNG has brought us so many surprises!"

This match was a classic in every aspect, from Shen's early game resilience and the dominance of the bot lane to the team composition's ability to capitalize on opportunities.
Of course, the main reason is that the bottom lane has the strength to exert the expected suppression effect.

"This RNG team is much more terrifying than the one from S7!"

Pdd genuinely praised it.

With the gold from the triple kill and the gold from last-hitting minions, Syndra managed to acquire an even more terrifying major item at 22 minutes.
Staff of the Void.

Aside from the magic penetration staff, Poppy, who has the highest magic resistance in C9, has become a joke.

With just over 100 points of magic resistance, under the triple penetration of magic penetration boots, ghost calligraphy, and staff, it's not much better than a squishy character.

This time, without Summoner Spells, C9 looked at the dark Baron pit with trepidation. After thinking it over, they ultimately decided to give up Baron and continue to turt.

After securing the Baron buff, the game entered a phase where RNG excels at snowballing through split pushing and tower takedowns.

Shen continues to push the bottom lane, while Nocturne pushes the mid lane, ensuring that his ultimate can be used to support the top and bottom lanes at any time.

The three heroes, Irelia, Syndra, and Rakan, went to the top lane to pressure and take the tower.

LPL excels at aggressive, bloody battles, but that doesn't mean all teams are reckless and lack strategic thinking.

In a slow, death-stricken environment, C9 chose to fight to the death.

Top lane Lissandra found an opportunity while defending the tower, using her E skill to engage and her R skill to freeze Syndra.

C9 members quickly followed up with their skills, trying to focus fire and kill Syndra instantly.

"The puppy is going to fall over!"

The barrage of comments had barely appeared at the edge of the screen when a purple shield of light suddenly appeared on Syndra, accompanied by the darkness brought by Nightmare in the Rift.

This level of protection made it impossible for C9 to kill Syndra, who was at one-third health. They could only helplessly watch as Syndra, who was already level 16 and had two maxed-out skills, went on a rampage.

Max level -- weaklings, begone.

Just like the name of Syndra's E skill, with its increased range, C9's formation was once again subjected to a devastating blow.

Four kills!

Syndra's skill damage was too high. If Poppy hadn't been quick to escape, the first pentakill of the S8 World Championship would probably have happened in the group stage.

At 26 minutes into the game, RNG destroyed C9's Nexus, securing their first victory in the World Championship.

Syndra's performance was a phenomenal 12-0-14, and her 92% teamfight participation rate was enough to demonstrate the terror of AP carries.

"Let's congratulate RNG on securing their first victory in this World Championship!" Wang Duoduo shouted happily. "This is the strength of our LPL region's number one seed, RNG truly deserves it!"

"Yes, Rw and IG also need to be careful. Mages are too overpowered in this version. Even if you want to play a top-carry strategy, you must be wary of ADC-magic carries. You can't just let the bot lane get fed in order to feed the top lane!" PDD said, while celebrating. He also gave his old team some advice.

On the first day of the LPL matches, they won both games.

The atmosphere of watching LPL matches is one of constant praise and criticism, never disappointing even the strongest teams.

A resounding victory in the World Championship gave viewers who hadn't seen a match in half a month a real treat. Even some of the more critical keyboard warriors sincerely congratulated LPL on its awesomeness.

"Syndra is too awesome. I feel like this year's World Championship is going to be just as outrageous as last year's."

"This is so much better than the incense burner version, okay? The incense burner version was truly disgusting."

"This Syndra is way too strong! I never want to see that Syndra play again, even once."

"This is hilarious! Every time there's a ball on the ground, the female AD carry is so scared he doesn't even dare to attack."

"Using ranked rewards to practice mages, Uzi, you've been hiding it well, haven't you?"

The entire live stream was abuzz with discussion, with some silly netizens even digging up Li Luo's past match history on the Korean server during the off-season, and upon closer inspection, they discovered some clues.

Often, after playing two or three games as an ADC, I'll go to the mid lane and pick a mage champion.

These games had both wins and losses, and although the record looked impressive, no one expected that this move was actually a hidden strategy for the World Championship.

The most terrifying thing is the invisible filling in of the blanks in one's mind.

Seeing Yasuo appear twice in the match history, countless "happy wind" male gamers instantly imagined Uzi picking Yasuo and dominating the field.

However, at the same time, their tactics were exposed in the very first game of the World Championship. Whether this was good or bad during the long month-long competition, some players who had little confidence in the LPL suddenly became worried.

After the match ended, the RNG players walked to the center of the stage, bowed, and then shook hands with the C9 players one by one.

Looking at the woman in the ad's burning gaze, Li Luo seemed to feel a chill coming from his lower body.

Sneaky is quite the ultimate dog lover; during training for the S9 World Championship, he asked his teammates to name him.

Doublelift, a top fan of Uzi, said in an interview that if he can maintain his current form, he will be able to reach Uzi's level at the World Championship.

This quote was later copied by many North American players, becoming a popular meme and the origin of "Uzi Mode".

Sneaky then created the ID uzimode420 for himself.

In the post-match interview, the MVP award was naturally given to Li Luo, who went to be interviewed.

Beating C9, especially in the group stage of the World Championship, isn't anything to brag about.

Li Luo is confident enough to say that he is determined to win the S8 championship, but he will not make a boast like Doublelift, saying that everyone else is trash except for himself.

There was no need for that; the official response to the host's interview was given, and the interview was abruptly ended.

The pace of the group stage is very tight, unlike the knockout stage where you play a best-of-five series and then rest for a week, so there is basically no time for you to adjust your form or practice tactics.

After the match, the coaching staff would gather everyone to review the video recordings of the other strong teams' matches that day, brainstorming and generating ideas.

This is true for almost all teams in the World Championship every year.

Just like in the S9 group stage, everyone thought that mid-lane Tristana was very strong, and even Faker used it in many games. But in the quarterfinals or semifinals, everyone would use this time to find ways to counter it and prevent Tristana from appearing.

As long as the World Championship doesn't reach its final moment, every single day, all teams are rapidly improving by absorbing the strategies of other teams.

(End of this chapter)