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

Chapter 72 The Samsung team is completely dumbfounded!
"If Leona is picked, then Karma will have to be rotated to mid lane... but I think Karma is a bit better than Lucian."

PDD immediately realized EDG's lineup choice; their lineup was somewhat similar to their previous match against TSM.

They also picked Karma and flexed her to other lanes, but this time Scout was playing Karma.

PDD, as a former professional player, could still see the power of EDG's strategy, but the online chat was a bit agitated.

"Holy crap, is this really the EDG I know? I told you to give your bot lane lane priority, not to go all out against the enemy right from the start!"

"This 'black technology' combination is just like our chaotic Silver-ranked matches! EDG hasn't been studying anything else these past few days, they've only been studying our Silver-ranked matches, haven't they?!"

"This is a bad feeling... Could it be that we're going to trust K-God after just three minutes? Does Meiko even know how to play Leona?"

"Let's congratulate ED!"

"..."

When the director switched the camera to the players' benches, the EDG players were very calm, as if they were using the same strategy they usually employed in scrims.

On the other hand, the Samsung team was completely dumbfounded.

Where's the promised mid-lane champion? Damn it, the cunning EDG actually wasted two of our precious ban slots! How could they pick such an outrageous support like Leona?!

Edgar, the coach standing behind the SSG players, was also a little stunned.

He was prepared for his junior to pick Lucian to lane and suppress Lissandra, but the other side showed no sportsmanship and instead picked Karma to flex mid!
Moreover, Meiko's Leona pick really caught them off guard, since hard supports have a significant advantage against soft supports.

When Tristana and Leona jump in and unleash their combo, before Xayah reaches level six, the bot lane is basically in jail.

Considering that Karma in the mid lane can build Ardent Censer, and that EDG's Tristana can still enjoy the benefits of the Ardent Censer patch, Edgar's thoughts became confused.

Time is running out for SSG; they simply cannot break EDG's lineup using counter-picks in such a short period.

I have no choice but to bite the bullet and stick to my original plan for now!

Finally, Samsung picked Kennen as their last counter pick, a top lane champion that Kuwei excels at.

"Should we pick Kennen? Kennen is hard to play this patch, right? Is CuVee going for an AD build this game?"

Miller was quite surprised by SSG's choice.

After his disastrous performance at last year's S6 World Championship, AP Kennen was cruelly relegated to the bottom tier by Riot Games.

Although later on, someone else played an AD Kennen build, thanks to the perfect combination of Kennen's W Statikk Shiv passive and Hurricane passive, it was easy to trigger the triple stun mechanism.

But the designers made another nerf, directly reducing the AD scaling of Kennen's W skill, and even removing the synergy between the W passive and Hurricane.

After all this, Kennen, who was once a dominant force in professional matches, has become a completely useless hero.

It was quite unexpected that Withered would bring out Kennen at this time.

Seeing that SSG had actually picked Kennen, Coach Nofe couldn't help but look at Wang Yao, who was not far away.

"That kid really predicted it!" Wang Yao had discussed with Nofe the issue of Withered taking Kennen a while ago.

In the current version, the top lane is basically a 1v1 AFK state. Only heroes who can split push and carry can better help the team create space to play and make plays.

As the game progresses, split-push top laners like Fiora, Yasuo, and Kennen are likely to shine in the top lane!

At this point, the lineups for both sides have been finalized.

EDG (blue side) fielded a team with Gnar in the top lane, Jarvan IV in the jungle, Karma in the mid lane, and Tristana and Leona in the bot lane.

The red team, SSG, has Kennen in the top lane, Sejuani in the jungle, Lissandra in the mid lane, and Xayah and Lulu in the bot lane. "Although I'm not very optimistic about EDG's bot lane duo, I'm sure Ruler will have a tough time in the early laning phase."

On the official commentary desk, PDD confidently stated, "Moreover, EDG's initiation point is more stable than Samsung's, and Leona and Jarvan IV are stronger than the opposing Lissandra and Kennen."

"However, the outcome of this match will depend on the performance of both players on the day."

Both teams had made some rather unusual lineup choices, so the commentators on stage didn't dare to make any definitive statements.

Even PDD, who is usually outspoken, became a little cautious at this moment.

Meanwhile, in an esports hotel far outside the stadium, the players of RNG and WE were watching this round of the quarterfinals.

"We've played against this lineup before, and to be honest, the bot lane is indeed difficult to play against," said WE's support player, Ben.

The counter-relationship between bottom lane supports can form a perfect closed loop.

Tahm Kench, Braum, Alistar, and Leona are all tanky, engage-heavy supports.

Lulu and Nami, being soft supports, counter Tahm Kench and Braum, who lack initiation capabilities.

But Alistar and Leona can easily crush squishy supports like Lulu and Nami.

At least in the early stages of the bot lane matchup, this counter-strategy is effective.

WE coach Hongmi seemed to be deep in thought. He suddenly realized that EDG's lineup might really be the answer to the meta in the later stages of the World Championship!

The Rabbit team lost to WE only because their mid and jungle were a bit weak, but their bot lane was completely outmatched by the opponent.

If it weren't for Xiye and Condi providing a safety net, it's hard to say whether WE would have qualified.

"EDG really kept this a secret. We didn't get to play a single trick against them in our private scrims!"

Condi scratched his head, but he could understand why EDG was hiding their tactics. After all, it was a system that they had developed themselves, and even if you copied it, you might not be able to do it well.

Take female tank supports as an example. Since the Summer Split of S6 last year, the supports in various regions have basically been popular poke-type supports like Zyra and Karma.

This year, Ardent Censer-type soft supports or Braum-type supports have become popular again, while hard supports like Nautilus and Leona have been rarely played for a long time.

WE's bot lane usually trains with the current Ardent Censer meta, but even if they copy this system, it doesn't necessarily mean they'll be able to achieve much.

While the WE players were exchanging ideas, the match on the esports stage had already begun.

After the two coaches shook hands and left the field, the quarterfinals slowly began amidst deafening cheers from the audience.

Summoner's Rift.

"Let's not go into the enemy jungle this time, let's defend for now," Wang Yao said to his teammates after buying their starting items.

A level 1 Leona isn't very effective in a level 1 team fight; she's only slightly better than the enemy Lulu. A reckless invasion could easily backfire.

Both teams tacitly positioned themselves at the entrance to their own jungle to prevent the opposing team from invading their jungle.

Just as PDD was watching the two players wary of each other, he suddenly noticed something unusual about Meiko's Leona.

"Hey! Why is Meiko using Fervor of Battle this time? He's playing Leona in singles!"

Upon hearing PDD's surprised exclamation, the online viewers all turned their attention to Meiko's Leona talent points.

(End of this chapter)