LOL: My talent is top-tier, my professional skills are unparalleled.

Chapter 443 Taking the First City! The Terrifying Dart Thrower Reappears in the Canyon!

After dealing with the mid-lane minions, Wang Yao immediately headed to the top lane.

Jayce, who is squishy and lacks self-defense capabilities, is undoubtedly the perfect target for him to stack Mejai's Soulstealer!
As it turns out, it was incredibly easy for a fed LeBlanc to kill Jayce.

All the captain needs to do is add a powerful ultimate for damage and a slowing soft crowd control effect, leaving Jayce completely helpless against LeBlanc charging towards him.

He could only watch helplessly as the demon queen unleashed her incredibly high burst damage on him.

After successfully killing Jayce, Wang Yao summoned the Rift Herald and took down the top lane turret, splitting the first turret bounty with Flandre.

He's very fed, so he doesn't need to farm the first tower's bounty to speed up his development. Instead, he can help the captain who was pressured in the early game to supplement his economy.

At this moment, IG seized the opportunity to forcefully attack the bottom lane.

However, Aatrox was forced to use his ultimate by LeBlanc in the mid lane, which meant that when they tower-dived, they couldn't perfectly deal with Braum, a man with extremely strong fighting ability under the tower.

In the end, a 1-for-2 exchange occurred, with Song Yijin's Aatrox sacrificing his life to force two kills for Jack's Kai'Sa, barely preserving a sliver of hope for the team to turn the tide.

Despite being nerfed multiple times, Kai'Sa's mechanics remain, and her powerful late-game carry potential can indeed turn the tide and save a collapsing empire.

IG fans have seen a glimmer of hope.

"It's alright, it's alright. As long as Aatrox has the resurrection mechanism of his ultimate in team fights, he can play a certain role. Being underdeveloped just means he's a little less damage."

Miller began to try to salvage the situation for IG, saying, "Now the entire burden of carrying the team rests on Jack's shoulders."

"I'm not trying to put anyone down, but I just want to say that Jack seems to have been proving himself to the world all year."

"IG fans have been demanding of him, wanting him to perform as perfectly as Kshine did when he led EDG to victory last year!"

"Now! The opportunity is right in front of us, what better way is there than to prove ourselves to Kshine herself!"

"If we can overcome this hurdle, I believe it will have an immeasurable impact on Jack's career!!"

Miller's words were not wrong, but unfortunately, no one in the chat believed them, not even the fans of the IG team.

"If it were last year's EDG, no matter how big the disadvantage, I would feel they could fight as long as the bot lane got a kill. That's how reassuring Kshine is. As for JackeyLove? Forget about it."

"No one would actually pin their hopes on Q-Spicy Dance, right? Countless competitions have proven that when you place your hopes on him, he will ultimately disappoint you."

"Friendly reminder: during the quarterfinals against KT, Tianfei's Kog'Maw almost caused the team to lose the first game. Can you guess who was playing Tianfei's Kog'Maw?"

"You can always trust Song Yijin, Gao Zhenning, and Jiang Chenglu, but IG will never trust the bot lane option. One gets killed instantly by a Q, and the other is a princess pretending to be a professional player. How can you expect anything from such a bot lane combination?"

"I really like what the water ghost said: 'I am the chosen one and the only one!' Sorry! The real chosen one and the only one is the person on the other side!"

"..."

The same is true.

IG put up a tough fight for a while, and then both sides launched another attack around the dragon at the 16-minute mark!
IG actually seized the opportunity quite well. They cleverly took advantage of EDG's unstable frontal formation and their relatively spread-out positioning to initiate a strong attack.

To be precise, it was about seizing the opportunity when Wang Yao was poking and kiting from the side and behind, then decisively initiating a team fight using the Prince's strong engage ability!

This was indeed a very effective concentrated attack.

But they are underdeveloped!

With Xin Zhao and Braum at the front, one using his ultimate to create an invincibility circle and the other lifting a security door, IG's damage output was insufficient, and Kai'Sa dared not recklessly fly to the backline.

Kai'Sa, with only one piece of gear at 17 minutes, obviously can't beat Lucian, who has Blade of the Ruined King, in a one-on-one fight.

As it turned out, the enchantress attacked from the side.

Wang Yao was very decisive.

W steps forward, and Alistar tries to use W to interrupt LeBlanc's W and knock her up in an attempt to focus fire and kill her.

But the Enchantress decisively used Flash.

It's essentially a W + Flash combo to complete two dashes, followed by R to step into the crowd and deal damage, then QE followed by Ignite to deliver Electrocute. Kai'Sa doesn't have any magic resistance items on her right now.

LeBlanc already has Sorcerer's Shoes, Luden's Echo, an 18-stack Mejai's Soulstealer, and Morellonomicon.

No need for a full skill set; a simple burst of damage was enough to instantly kill Kai'Sa!
There was an uproar at the scene!
Facing the IG team who were about to focus fire on her, LeBlanc used her W ability to fly back to her original position and escape safely!
"It seems there's really no way around it. No one can withstand the burst damage from Enchantress."

Miller was quite helpless. "They just overwhelmed us with sheer hard damage, leaving us absolutely no room to maneuver."

"It can only be said that the tide has turned. The pit they dug in the early stages was too big. Even IG, who are the best at fighting, couldn't pull off their signature comeback miracle team fight when faced with such a huge disadvantage."

Kai'Sa, who had a relatively smooth early game and was even slightly fed, was instantly killed. How can they possibly win a team fight like this?

What followed was a showcase of Wang Yao's individual damage output.

A fed LeBlanc with 25 stacks of Mejai's Soulstealer can ambush enemies in the jungle, and the only exception is when Alistar has his ultimate ability available.

In addition, any IG player targeted by LeBlanc will eventually be killed.

The match time was also frozen at 24 minutes.

IG also lived up to their fine tradition, not wasting a single moment, and their "never work overtime" characteristic was on full display at this moment.

Even with a huge deficit, IG showed no fear of battle.

At 22 minutes, they discovered that EDG was trying to rush Baron, and they decisively engaged in a team fight!
As a result, the game progressed even faster. Faced with EDG's subsequent push with the Baron buff, they were powerless to resist and were ultimately defeated!

"Well, how should I put it, it's a little different from what I imagined."

Miller expressed some regret, saying, "It didn't present the back-and-forth duel I had imagined. In my opinion, this game was completely over in about 5 or 6 minutes."

"more or less."

Wang Ji also agreed with this statement, saying, "IG's lineup cannot effectively counter LeBlanc, so once LeBlanc gets fed, IG will be helpless."

The director also showed Wang Yao's stats from the previous game.

The godlike stats of 13-0-2, 25 stacks of Mejai's Soulstealer, and what's even more terrifying is that!
Despite being an assassin hero, LeBlanc accounts for a whopping 31% of the team's overall damage!

on the stage.

Both coaches came up immediately.

Maokai was actually very happy; the victory in the first game greatly increased EDG's chances of winning the championship!
He finally has a chance to win his second world championship trophy as a coach, which can be seen as a small response to those who doubted him.

For a long time, Maokai has been working as a teaching assistant, doing things like data analysis and business plan analysis.

He has no qualifications to be a head coach, let alone a championship-winning coach.

Zhu Kai is the same. When he was with Snake Esports, he was just a coach who could order takeout. He was good at giving motivational speeches, but when it came to drafting and banning, his brain completely went blank.

But surprisingly, these two complemented each other perfectly when they worked together. Maokai was in charge of drafting and Zhu Kai was in charge of motivational speeches, and they actually performed even better than Coach Nofe last year.

And now they seem to be able to prove their abilities!

The other team members were also very happy. Among them, only Wang Yao and Meiko had tasted the joy of winning the S-series championship, and the others had not yet touched this honor.

For the team members, winning the S-series championship under the world's spotlight was the most wonderful moment of their lives.

"Although we won, we still can't let our guard down. After all, we can't benefit from the level 1 team fight every time."

As the coach, Maokai still had to step up and take the initiative to cool down the players.

What he said wasn't actually wrong.

EDG's clean and decisive victory in the first game can be attributed to 80% of their success in the level 1 team fight!
This level 1 team fight resulted in LeBlanc getting two kills right at the start of the game. Once a champion like LeBlanc gets fed, even top-tier mid laners can make her shine.

The difficulty isn't in the controls, but in the combos that can instantly kill.

The challenge lies in surviving the early game and acquiring enough equipment to instantly kill others!
"So we need to be careful in the second game! IG will definitely fight back!"

Maokai cautiously reminded him.

Wang Yao nodded in agreement, "The opponents aren't the kind of people who get tilted after losing a game. On the contrary, the more desperate the situation, the more their potential is unleashed. So everyone needs to take the second game seriously!"

Compared to EDG's calm demeanor, IG didn't seem too discouraged.

However, Ning still complained slightly, "Could you please give me a stronger jungler for the second game? I want to play one in the first round."

"In the last game, they gave me a weak jungler like Prince. It's not like I can't beat Tian in the jungle. If my champion were a little stronger, the opponent wouldn't have been able to snowball so much in the early game."

Prince Ning is a straightforward person who always expresses his thoughts directly.

After hearing what he said, Jin Jingzhu did not deny it, but nodded.

"It was definitely my fault in the first game. I should have prioritized the top half of the map. EDG obviously didn't want to target the bottom lane. In fact, they could have just picked a normal farming combination for the bottom lane."

"In the second game, we need to make changes to our draft and adjust the priority of our picks." Ultimately, it's because the bot lane doesn't have enough impact on the game in this version.

The upper half of the bracket has an advantage; the game can be ended in just over 20 minutes.

In the bottom half of the map, the ADC needs to develop slowly. If you want the ADC to have the ability to end the game, you have to wait at least 25 minutes.

They wouldn't drag it out that long at all.

We must continuously increase the priority given to selecting players from the upper half of the bracket.

This also shows that IG's mentality has not been affected at all; they are still thinking about how to defeat EDG!

After all.

The crux of the problem is that Nakano is no match for him.

It's not just about skill, but also the synergy and understanding between the mid and jungle players; IG can't match EDG in that regard.

The main problem lies with the jungler.

What may seem like a simple act of online ganking is actually quite different.

The strategies for junglers to gank top, mid, and bot lanes are different, and the required level of teamwork also varies.

Xiaotian has extensive experience in coordinating with mid-laners.

But Prince Ning was different.

Ning was a self-taught jungler who switched from ADC, so his basic jungling skills were just average. However, his playstyle was quite unique within the IG team.

In this year's S8 season, TheShy became the core of IG's offense, and the whole team played around him, while Ning started to focus on the top lane.

Ning doesn't have much experience coordinating with the mid lane, and he personally doesn't really like going to the mid lane to help.

The reason for this is not entirely his fault.

It's also related to Song Yijin. Song Yijin is best at lane fighting, and he often doesn't need the jungler's help.

He can gain an advantage in the mid lane by relying on his own strong individual skills, and can even give back his advantage to the jungle.

In other words, Ning doesn't need to help the mid laner at all; on the contrary, the mid laner can give him feedback!

Even this year!

Aside from the Spring Split patch featuring the "Command Flag" strategy, Song Yijin was dealt a blow by Xiaohu and others using a tanky mid-laner with the "Command Flag" combo, which proved quite difficult for him.

He also consistently has the advantage at other times.

Only when facing Wang Yao!

Song Yijin really has no advantage at all, and is often at a disadvantage.

This gave Prince Ning a real headache.

Unfortunately, he doesn't usually help Song Yijin much, and during the competition, he couldn't change his jungling strategy and gaming habits in a short time. He still habitually went to the top lane to help.

This leads to one result!
Because the mid-jungle advantage is in EDG's hands, having an advantage in the mid-jungle means that EDG has the initiative.

EDG can choose to attack either the bottom or top half of the map.

In the first game, IG chose their bot lane duo early on to prevent them from being too weak and being targeted by EDG.

As a result, EDG completely ignored the bottom lane and went straight to attack the top half of the map.

This caused IG's draft strategy to fail.

League of Legends has always been a game of mid and jungle, and that will never change, which is a difficult point for IG to deal with.

The halftime break passed quickly, and both teams returned to the stage.

"EDG had the right to choose sides in the second game, and they decisively chose the blue side! IG, on the other hand, chose the red side!"

"EDG still chose to block Rakan right from the start, hahaha, Baolan will most likely never get Rakan, Kshine knows Baolan's champion pool too well."

Miller couldn't help but tease him.

The core reason is obvious to everyone: Baolan's talent is limited, and he only has Rakan as a champion that can match this level of competition.

His other support heroes can only be described as awful.

For example, there's the hilarious Nautilus who often misses his Q or hooks into walls to give the audience a laugh, and there's also the humorous Braum who stands behind the ADC with his shield up.

Furthermore, Rakan is a champion with such strong initiation capabilities that he is very suitable for IG's style of play, which favors chaotic battles. Given Maokai's cautious nature, he would never allow such a champion to be given to the opponent.

IG opted to ban Taliyah, a champion that Gao Zhenning can also play, but Xiaotian clearly plays her better.

Subsequently, EDG banned Braum as well, while IG banned Swain.

In their final ban, EDG banned Jayce, while IG banned LeBlanc!
When this ban was announced, everyone was in an uproar!
"Huh? Doesn't that mean they've released Akali, Irelia, and Aatrox all at once?!"

Miller seemed quite surprised. "This has happened before, hasn't it? I remember Kshine's choice was to pick Akali!"

"But Akali's stats have been nerfed in the World Championship version, and she's very weak in the early laning phase now."

Akali's W can still block turrets, and her Q skill can still heal her when her energy is close to full.

However, the damage values ​​have all been nerfed, so it's not as terrifying as before!
Riot Games continues to adhere to their consistent design philosophy: no hero can be without any weaknesses, nor can they be strong from beginning to end!
They nerfed Akali's early-game stats to give others a way to counter her.

In addition, Akali is an assassin, so her room for maneuver in team fights is not as large as one might imagine. She is very dependent on the timing of her entry into the fray, which is why IG dared to let Akali play.

If they dare to steal Akali, then I'll just grab Aatrox and Irelia in return, a 1-for-2 trade, this time it's really a win-win situation.

soon.

EDG has provided the answer!
If you dare to release it, I dare to choose it!!

"As expected! EDG immediately picked Akali! They've taken the most powerful and overpowered assassin in the current patch!"

IG didn't hesitate and immediately locked in Aatrox and Irelia!
EDG then picked Alistar and Urgot as their counter-pick. Urgot can be used to lane against Aatrox, and also against Irelia.

As for the bull's head.

The strategy is to pick them instead of banning them. Akali, a champion who needs to engage and deal damage, is hard countered by Alistar.

The knockback from W and the knock-up from Q can effectively limit Akali, which is obviously unacceptable to EDG.

But on the third floor, IG immediately locked onto Tahm Kench!!
Tahm Kench counters Alistar in lane, and in team fights, his W can swallow the core carry hero, which is actually to protect the squishy marksman.

Aatrox and Irelia are very tanky and won't be afraid of Akali's burst damage. Tahm Kench just needs to hold onto his W to protect the marksman in team fights.

They quickly moved on to the second round of draft picks.

Both sides had their ADC and jungler not playing, and both sides tacitly chose to target the jungler position.

IG banned Gragas and Lee Sin.

EDG, on the other hand, banned Xin Zhao and Zac.

IG secured the Trundle first because it counters Olaf in the jungle.

According to Kim Jung-joo, EDG might choose Olaf as their jungler to fight alongside their teammates. The remaining junglers are mostly tank junglers, all of whom are hard countered by Trundle.

Although there are aggressive junglers like Elise, Elise is not naturally well-suited for this kind of stage.

Actually, there's one more.

That's a nightmare!!

really!

EDG chose Nocturne + Kai'Sa!

This forms an ultimate face-rush system, arguably the strongest face-rush lineup in this version!

"To be honest, EDG picking Nocturne and Kai'Sa was expected. What surprised me was why IG didn't pick one of them."

Miller was very puzzled.

Wang Ji noticed something amiss. "It's normal. Nightmare can't make any plays in the early game. The only way to play him is to quickly reach level 6."

"When IG's mid and jungle couldn't beat EDG's mid and jungle in the early game, they lured EDG to choose a jungler who didn't have ganking ability in the early game, in order to reduce their threat."

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(End of this chapter)