LOL: I just turned 18, let me fight back and be reborn

Chapter 326 "Natural Enemy?" Foreshadowing! Netcom Level 1 Regiment!

"Both sides seem incredibly confident; the tension is already palpable even before the fighting begins!"

The live stream camera switched back to the commentary booth, where Guan Zeyuan casually started a conversation with the two people next to him: "So, who do you two favor more today? Kid God, you go first?"

The kid who was called upon thought for a moment, and his answer was quite unexpected: "Actually, I still prefer V5!"

"After all, everyone knows that V5's record this year is quite frightening. Although WBG won once by sheer luck, on paper, they are still somewhat inferior in all areas except for the top lane."

Some unsuspecting viewers were full of questions, wondering if this guy had changed his personality.

Not really!

Kid Youshen, who lives deep within the largest online barbecue restaurant, knows very well that "pre-match predictions" have absolutely no effect on public opinion, and no matter who you favor, you may be proven wrong later.

On the contrary, the more people favor a particular team, the more public opinion tends to lean towards that team.

This will only lead to a lose-lose situation where "winning is something you were entitled to win, so what's there to brag about? → losing is just being a complete idiot!"

Unfortunately, Angel, who was watching closely, saw through the child's plan.

“Well, I’m different from KidGod. I’m very optimistic about WBG!” Angel seemed to be giving a reasonable analysis.

"On one hand, this is my former team, so it's definitely my main team. On the other hand, as Kid just said, WBG actually has a strong advantage in certain lanes, especially the top lane!"

The child's face turned green instantly.

This is hitting his "soft spot"!
The same logic applies: the more the pre-match public opinion leans to one side, the greater the loss for the team with the advantage—if that's the case, doesn't it mean TheShy has to take the blame for not carrying the game?
He immediately argued back, "You can't say that, Teacher An! Flandre is our first domestic champion top laner, and even the first domestic double champion top laner! Besides, I heard TheShy's hand injury has flared up again recently and he's not in good form."

"Kid, now that you mention it, it reminds me of something. It seems like Flandre's hand injury has flared up again recently, like the time he got completely dominated by TheShy in lane."

Guan Zeyuan tried his best to suppress his laughter as he watched the two of them frantically flatter him.

Fortunately, a crisp sound broke the deadlock.

"The first draft phase of the finals has begun!"

"V5 had the upper hand in the coin toss, and in the first game on the blue side, they banned the Renekton!"

Both sides' first-round bans:

V5: Renekton, Varus, Xayah

WBG: Akali, Blade of the Ruined King, Poppy

"The blue team first secured Quesanti, while the red team traded Aphelios for NIO!"

"V5 picked Jinx and Neeko, while WBG chose Candle as a counter to strong engages. The first round of bans went extremely quickly!"

Thanks to Qiyana's previous tactics against Neeko, everyone quickly discovered that Dingzhen's Q also has a similar effect!
Not to mention that even if they fail to knock back or interrupt, since the new version of Neeko's ultimate is mainly a {immobilize} effect, Ding Zhen can counter with his ultimate [Group Cleanse] to directly break it.

Coach Danny is absolutely indispensable to WBG's success in reaching this point. Naturally, he has avoided common mistakes in the draft phase, and his first three picks are all relatively common version choices.

Clearly, the real battleground in this BO5 final will lie in the preparation of both sides.

Second round of ban —

WBG: Sylas, Monkey

V5: Weapon, Gwen
"WBG still has top and mid laners yet to be released, I wonder who they'll give the counter-pick position to, Red Glasses!?"

"It's locked! Then it must be top lane Vayne! It can't possibly be Xiaohu's Vayne!"

"That confidence comes from TheShy!!"

Screams erupted from all sides of the scene, and the live chat exploded.

However, to be fair, Quesanti was already revealed on the first floor, and in the current version, the possibility of him going to the mid lane is not high, and the top laner really doesn't need to take the counter pick.

Danny's main consideration might be to secure a stable mid-lane position.

After all, the opponent's mid laner hasn't come out yet.

Quesanti dominated Season 13 for almost a year, remaining a top-tier character despite multiple nerfs, known for having "almost no natural enemies".

But if I had to name a "natural enemy"...
Vayne.

Absolutely!
Quesant's tankiness is no match for Vayne's, and his relatively cumbersome tank mechanics are exactly what Vayne wants, making him destined to be kited around until he's completely disoriented, and he'll have no chance to play on the side lanes in the mid-game!
However, although everyone knows the restraint of this position.

But everyone is well aware of just how high the risk factor is for this thing in the top lane!

TheShy's ability to pick all sorts of "unusual heroes" to execute tactics is also a trump card in Danny's hands, and one of the key factors that has enabled WBG to get this far.

TheShy's Vayne is undoubtedly trustworthy!

Ye Bo was quite aware of this point—because not long ago, he had personally faced off against the opponent's Vayne in a ranked match using Varus as the top laner, and had truly experienced the opponent's laning phase.

That same night, after his stream ended, he even had a special conversation with Flandre.
The excitement at the scene had not yet subsided when V5 made its selection on the fourth or fifth floor, and an even higher wave of cheers erupted instantly!

"Is that Talon?! The second brand-new assassin that Master Ye brought out in the playoffs!"

"V5 ultimately chose Talon and Nocturne for their mid and jungle, and they came up with a very unusual counter-strategy!"

"Both sides are clearly very well prepared for this final!"

Danny also looked surprised, and a clear lip movement of the word "two" could be seen in the live stream.

He could understand playing Vi as a jungler; it was a comfortable choice for Vi in the jungle and a good matchup for engaging in team fights.

But Talon was indeed unexpected.

He considered the champions V5's mid laner might pick: such as the previously outstanding Qiyana, or core mages like Orianna and Azir, or even LeBlanc and Tristana, which are no longer as strong in the current version.
Danny originally wanted the mid laner to pick a counter, but this move really disrupted his plans.

"Can you close the gap? Galio will have a tough time in lane, are you okay?" Danny asked his Tiger Vanguard, explaining.

"We need a front-line tank who can provide support and defend against aggressive engages, otherwise Talon and Nocturne will pose too great a threat to our dual marksman backline."

Galio may not have a comfortable, even very uncomfortable, laning phase against AD champions.

However, it is clearly extremely effective against champions like Talon and Nocturne who require physical presence to engage!

“No problem at all.” Little Tiger once again gave the same determined look he had in the promotional video.

Danny didn't dare look directly into that gaze, afraid of breaking the serious atmosphere, so he quickly made up his mind, put away his notebook, and prepared to shake hands.

Before leaving, he kept giving instructions.
The lineups of both sides are determined:

Blue Team: V5 vs Red Team: WBG

Top Lane: Nazrumão Glory vs. Night Hunter

[Jungle: Nightmare vs. Piltover Enforcer]

Mid Lane: Talon vs. Colossus

[Archer: Rampage Lolita vs. Crescent Moon's Majesty]

[Support: Wan Hua, Tong Ling vs. Ming Zhu]

As the game entered the loading phase, the commentators were still discussing the unusual picks made by both sides.

In fact, Talon mid lane was quite common in matches before the Mythic patch, but it disappeared overnight with the arrival of the Mythic patch.

A large part of the reason is that the Tiamat rework resulted in insufficient early-game lane pushing ability, which greatly affected her roaming ability, which she relied on for survival.

It wasn't until Season 12, with the introduction of the {Attack First Strike} rune, that Talon experienced a resurgence. However, this was primarily in the jungle role.

Ye Bo, through his research on WBG and his personal experience with TheShy's style and habits, believed that this hero would be surprisingly effective against WBG.

even.

It will also be WBG's "natural enemy"!
Data analyst Guan Zeyuan explained the changes: "It's worth mentioning that both Talon and Vayne received buffs in the first half of the year, and both were significant buffs across the board!"

"Talon has had his base mana increased, his core passive damage improved, and his W's mana cost increased, greatly enhancing his early-game transition ability."

"It's just that the mid-lane meta in the first half of the year was mainly focused on utility, but in the current playoff patch, assassin items have been buffed, which is why Talon has had a chance to appear, right?"

"As for Vayne, her passive movement speed has been significantly increased, her W's percentage damage has been improved, and most importantly, the duration of her Q skill has been reduced from 7 seconds to 3 seconds."

Compared to Talon, Vayne's buffs are much more significant.

Aside from the core stats, the most crucial buff is the reduction in the "duration" of the Q skill.

Because Vayne's Q skill has a cooldown that only starts after an auto-attack, previously, if there was no target to auto-attack after using Q to dash and kite, Vayne would be forced to wait for 7 seconds, which greatly limited her operation and kiting space.

The enhancement undoubtedly represents a huge boost to the operational limits!

The comments section was buzzing with discussion.

[They've got Talon? Then my favorite Zed can't be far behind!]

[Humorous Darts Man is really wrong. After the new Youmuu's Ghostblade rework, wasn't Talon already a Tier 0 champion in ranked?]

[Ranked games versus professional matches, huh? Then you're invincible. This YE doesn't actually think he can catch my TheShy in three games, does he?!]

[Stop making baseless accusations; ranked players are harder to catch than those who provoke the sun.]

[The dog has spoken! The horse head will be given away at this event!]

"After all this analysis, let's jump right into the first match of the finals, shall we?"

"Both sides seemed to have made some moves as soon as they came in!"

The OB system experiences a delay for the first fifteen minutes.

By the time the live stream started, both sides had already left for 30 seconds.

And then, all five members of WBG were seen gathered together—heading towards the top lane!

Because V5's lineup included Jinx and Neeko, a strong Tier 1 combination.

So before stepping down, Danny gave instructions and made arrangements for the first-level team.

They completely abandoned the jungle skirmish and went to the top lane to execute their "Level 1 Bush Stealing Strategy"!
Since WBG dared to pick Vayne, they must have "rehearsed" it beforehand, especially after seeing the effectiveness Vayne could achieve in the matchup.

Therefore, they had a strategy centered around Vayne from the start of the game.

It's all about stealing the "eyes in the bushes"!
Don't underestimate this move.

I still remember that game when Ye Bo and TheShy were laning together in ranked, Ye Bo almost died because of a ward in the bush!
If Ye Bo hadn't reacted quickly, they would have almost lost the lane before reaching level three—and Ye Bo was playing Varus, the king of ranged laning.

This is Quesanti!
Imagine the scene.

Quesanti tried to use the second bush to draw minion aggro and gain experience at the start of the game, but Vayne walked up and fired directly at the transparent vision in the bush.

Quesanti thought the opponent had placed a ward first, so he immediately pulled to a bush below, only to find that Vayne still had vision of the bush!
Quesanti then chose to retreat into the toilet. Then another ward appeared in the bushes, and Vayne was still holding her own ward and chasing after A!

If not handled properly, a solo kill might occur at level one!

In the best-case scenario, Quesanti will lose half his health and be pushed out of the experience zone, with a bush as the boundary. He will establish an unimaginable huge advantage from the start, so be prepared to be spun around by the top for the rest of the game.

This design itself was not WBG's original creation.

Usually, only the support will come to help place wards, aiming to allow Vayne to exert maximum pressure while keeping their own wards to prevent ganks.

But WBG consisted of five people!
This is because Danny is worried that the opposing team will also think of this and choose to have the support or jungler come up to help "clear the wards".

He wanted to use this as a starting point to abandon the jungle battle and have all five of them set off together, determined to steal the bush!
However, as long as the opponent is not a group of five, anyone who dares to scan the area is likely to be ambushed by WBG.

You might just get First Blood!

Even if you don't manage to ambush them, losing some initiative in the jungle in exchange for extremely stable, suffocating pressure in the top lane won't be a loss.

Danny believes that given V5's emphasis on level 1 team fight design, it's impossible for them to mobilize all their resources and send all five players to engage. It's just to "scan the wards," causing them to fall behind in jungle information and thus affecting the jungler's start.

After all, everyone knows that V5's core strategy revolves around the mid and jungle, with the top lane often being a sacrifice role.
Previously, Ye Bo and Beryl didn't understand the laning dynamics of the top lane as well, and they didn't realize the serious consequences of losing bushes. Flandre was also the type of player who wouldn't actively ask his team for help.

It's safe to say that V5 will almost certainly fall for it and actually step into Danny's trap!

But Danny overlooked a foreshadowing.

Having experienced it firsthand, Ye Bo now has a better understanding of the "long-range vs. short-range" laning phase, especially in the top lane.

so.
At this moment, V5 entered the top lane tri-bush: and there were five of them!

"Let Gunner go first, there are probably a lot of people on the other side camping in the second bush!"

Ye Bo was giving instructions.

As they circled around the red team's jungle, they arrived unimpeded behind the tri-bush without encountering any enemy activity.

Ye Bo had already basically determined the other party's movements.

The kid's voice was incredibly urgent: "How could they dare to do that if it wasn't V5! Aren't they afraid of being ambushed and having their jungle invaded if the enemy isn't there? This isn't like them!"

Angel, standing nearby, chuckled and teased, "It's open! It's definitely open!"

Guan Zeyuan shouted in a loud voice: "Weibo's level 1 team fight is not easy to fight head-on. Once Jinx starts running, she may lose several skills!"

When the WBG members saw five people emerge from behind them, their hearts sank.

Especially when they saw that the opponent's formation was extremely conservative, and they had no chance to focus fire on Jinx first, and could only attack Quesanti in front, they felt that something was wrong.

“Retreat, retreat, retreat!”

"I'll sell! I'll sell! Don't let them keep me!"

The group standing in the bushes immediately turned around and ran back.

V5's Neeko threw her E skill at Galio's face, who was trying to keep her in place but couldn't dodge in time!
Fortunately, Vayne reacted quickly with her Q skill to roll away, and Vi also used her Q dash to dodge the fatal control, leaving only Galio behind.

V5 wasn't greedy, and all five of them focused their fire on Galio.

Despite Ding Zhen's attempt to slow the pursuit with a Rek'Sai Kick, Galio was already low on health by the time he reached the tower and ultimately gave up on using Flash, allowing Jinx to finish him off with a long-range rocket launcher!
【WBG Gongwohu, is it?! You run away as soon as you see someone, without even looking back?】

[Just kidding, how can Jinx turn around after taking off? Turning around just gives her more free skills, right?]

Remember this: as long as I, Danny, am here, no one in this family will be able to bully Little Tiger!

[Danny: Damn it, old man, don't hurt my tiger!]

[This is the first time I've ever seen ten people come to the top lane at the start of a match! Are we playing a level 1 team fight in the Netcom server?]

[It doesn't matter, with Xiaohu, Kasa, and Red Glasses, everyone knows who's the boss this game, right?]

(End of this chapter)