LPL History

Chapter 189 The Crouching Dragon's Wisdom Traps the Wilderness Formation, the Governor's Soul-Searching Grass and Wood Soldiers

As the Spring Split champions, EDG actually possesses considerable strength.

EDG was the first LPL team to start learning from the operational strategies of Korean teams.

EDG is also a team that really enjoys studying its opponents.

This established their position in the domestic League of Legends scene.

However, facing WE.A, led by Zhou Li, undoubtedly gave EDG a lot of headaches.

Especially the point about Zhou rituals.

As WE.A's strongest star player at present, EDG naturally began studying Zhou Li early on.

However, the results of the research were—

I can't understand it at all.

Abu, Mingkai, and others reviewed Zhou Li's previous matches.

It was discovered that Zhou Li seemed like a completely different person before and after the LSPL Spring Finals, both in terms of playing habits and style, making him completely unpredictable.

The only sources that could provide EDG with sufficient information were the two spring finals matches of the LPL and the two matches against Royal Club at the start of the LPL season.

In total, there are only four matches for reference.

In these four matches, Zhou Li used four different heroes: Pantheon, Lee Sin, Hecarim, and Shaco.

Moreover, the style displayed in each game was completely different.

Without sufficient match data to support his pick, Clearlove, the "intelligence-based jungler," loses his advantage.

In fact, although the outside world calls Clearlove a jungler with high intelligence, he is not actually the kind of player who can make flashes of inspiration and has extremely strong adaptability.

Why is EDG called the "domestic war god"?
Why is Clearlove's jungler always so dominant in the LPL, but often gets suppressed and even overwhelmed by the opponent in the World Championship?

The reason is that the factory manager relies more on pre-match intelligence and understanding of the opponent to formulate match tactics.

To put it bluntly, the factory manager is a master at taking advantage of people he knows.

Zhou Li clearly and precisely stepped into the factory director's blind spot.

When he ganked the bottom lane and was counter-ganked by Lee Sin again, Clearlove was starting to lose his mind.

Because he couldn't predict where the Blind Monk would appear next.

For a jungler, losing track of the enemy jungler's movements can easily lead to trouble.

This is especially true when your team is playing a weak jungler like Widowmaker, while the enemy team is playing a carnivorous, aggressive jungler.

The moment the factory manager stepped into the jungle, he felt like he was surrounded by a tense atmosphere, with the wind howling and the grass and trees seeming like enemies, as he never knew when the Lee Sin would suddenly appear from somewhere.

At this moment, WE.A's red and blue buffs are about to refresh.

The factory manager decided to take one last gamble.

After all, if they don't look for opportunities soon, they might not be able to defend their own jungle.

He stole Lee Sin's red buff at the start of the game, and both buffs will respawn around the same time.

Since the bot lane duo helped Lee Sin open his blue buff, it should refresh faster than if he had destroyed the red buff himself.

So the factory manager decided to do the opposite and steal Lee Sin's blue buff.

From the factory manager's perspective, if it were a normal person's thinking, after their red buff was stolen at the start of the game, their first thought when the second round of buffs refreshed would be to defend their red buff.

Furthermore, the Golems and F4 in the upper half of the map haven't spawned yet.

It can only be said that the factory manager was still relatively young at that time.

Nuokai has not yet evolved into the mid-to-late stage.

In addition, this is LPL.

Otherwise, even if he had a hundred times the courage, he wouldn't dare to go into the enemy's jungle.

But it was precisely for this reason that the factory manager met a tragic end.

As the team's carry, even when playing in the jungle, Zhou Li always adheres to the strategy of sacrificing his allies to save himself.

Teammates can suffer losses, but he absolutely cannot suffer losses.

Under Zhou Li's command, Xi Ye sacrificed the experience of three minions to provide vision in the bushes near the red buff.

In order to arrest the factory manager, the first piece of equipment Zhou Li acquired upon returning home was not anything else, but a pair of five-speed boots.

In this situation, he could have easily taken his own blue buff first.

Even if the factory manager went to steal his own red [item], there would still be plenty of time to rush over.

And so, the factory manager bumped into Zhou Li's arms in the wilderness.

This time, even if the factory manager has excellent escape skills, a Widowmaker without Flash is doomed to die when she encounters a Lee Sin.

Seeing the factory manager look like a stray dog ​​kicked to death by a blind monk, Miller couldn't help but exclaim:

"Wow! The factory manager seems to be a bit out of control today! How dare he go into the enemy jungle!"

The doll also spoke up:

"Factory manager, wake up! You're playing with widows!"

As for Zhou Li, he also felt deeply offended.

What's the meaning of you playing Widowmaker and constantly sneaking into my jungle to steal things?
Isn't this just blatant disregard for my dignity?!
After taking the blue item, Zhou Li ran straight towards the top lane.

Based on the jungler's jungle route, EDG's blue buff should be respawning by now.

However, the factory manager, who had been sending out head after head, finally regained his senses.

He glanced at his jungle area; now he didn't dare to enter it at all.

So he ran straight to the bottom lane.

If he were to engage in a direct confrontation in the jungle, he would be completely crippled. Therefore, the only way out now is to help his teammates in lane find an advantage, thereby providing support and assistance to his jungle again.

Even after taking the blue buff, they still hadn't seen Clearlove's Zhou Li, so they sent a retreat signal to the bottom lane.

But it seems that Sima Laozei and Xiaoming are clearly getting carried away by their huge advantage and are pressing in front of EDG's tower.

Even though they retreated immediately, Braum still found an opportunity and, together with Widowmaker, took down Nami.

Fortunately, Lucian didn't die, so it's still somewhat acceptable.

"The factory manager's gank was incredibly clever! That means the bot lane can now protect him and let him take the red buff in the bottom half of the map!"

Bella nodded and said:

"It feels like this is the only way out that the factory manager has found. If he continues to waste time in the jungle, he might not be able to defend even the last jungle area. In this way, although he has lost the top half of the jungle, at least he still has a jungle area to farm."

Meanwhile, in the WE.A player's seat, Khan was making strange noises.

"Wow! Oh! Ah! Brother Zhou! Can you give me a little help?"

Zhou Li glanced at the Khan who was being held captive under the tower.

When playing Riven against Jax, it's crucial to establish early-game pressure.

If you don't exert any dominance, even if you develop peacefully, you will eventually become no match for weapons over time.

What's more, Khan made a mistake while tower diving, giving the weapon a free kill.

However, he didn't rush to deal with the Khan, but instead walked towards his own red buff.

"Shut up, I have my own jungle strategy."

Upon hearing Zhou Li's words, the Khan spoke with a pitiful expression:

"Please, Zhou Ge! He's already level 6, and I feel like he's going to overtake me!"

Upon hearing the Khan's words, Zhou Li was furious.

"You son of a bitch, then go and tower dive and kill him! He can outplay you under the tower, so why can't you outplay him under the tower! You piece of trash!"

Sima the Old Thief suddenly spoke up:

"Exactly, you're trash."

Although Sima Laozei doesn't talk much normally, how good can the bad breath of someone who came from the Anti-Fighting Forum be?

Although he doesn't talk much, as an ADC, he is extremely good at last-hitting minions.

The Khan was scolded until his eyes were blurry with tears.

He thought that coming to China would free him from the senior-junior culture of South Korea and the insults and bullying from those old Dengs.

Unexpectedly, the devil is in China.

However, after pushing the lane to the tower, Koro1's weapon did not choose to engage, but instead chose to recall to base.

This gave the Khan a sense of relief, as if he had escaped a calamity.

He patted his chest and even mocked the braised pork belly.

"Wow, even Zhe doesn't overtake me? If it were me, I would have overtaken him. He's not confident enough to put up a fight. He was scared by me after all."

Zhou Li simply couldn't stand the Khan's wisdom.

"Are you fucking stupid? He didn't gank you because he noticed your jungler was in the upper jungle. How could he gank you? He has a lane advantage. Does he know the jungler is there and come over to trade kills with a noob like you?"

Sima the Old Thief chimed in:

"Brother Zhou, stop cursing. Let's pack him up and send him back to South Korea via international express tomorrow."

The Khan, already quite red-faced from the scolding, shouted:

"Sima the Old Thief! The Reverse Tonic Speaks!"

Sima the Old Thief sneered.

"Oh, so you've already broken through."

The Khan's hand trembled, and he missed three tower strikes in a row.

"You can't even last-hit a tanky minion? Are you even human?"

Upon hearing Zhou Li's words, the Khan's pride was utterly shattered. This man was terrifying.

No wonder everyone outside calls him General; there are no wrong nicknames, only wrong names.

He couldn't help but turn his head to glance at Zhou Li.

They discovered that the other person's hairstyle had become distorted, turning into a shiny, meticulously styled slicked-back look as if it had been flattened by a bulldozer.

This instilled in him a deep-seated fear, and he dared not utter another word.

After clearing the upper jungle, Zhou Li went to the mid lane and found an opportunity, forcing the Ziggs to use Flash.

He then shifted his focus to the bottom lane.

The disadvantage of his own top lane is inevitable, and now he needs to speed up the game and help the bottom lane push down EDG's bottom outer turret as soon as possible, so as to start the lane swap.

Otherwise, if the weapon continues to develop in the top lane, it will put a lot of pressure on the player when it gets to split push in the late game.

Riven failed to gain an advantage in the early game, making it difficult for her to make any impact in this match.

The factory manager chose to avoid direct confrontation and began to focus his efforts on training Khan on the front lines.

He can only pin his hopes on Kou Rou, hoping that Kou Rou can gain enough advantages.

Ten minutes into the game, WE.A destroyed EDG's outer bottom lane turret, and at the same time, under Lee Sin's gank, Curly's Braum was killed again.

Meanwhile, Widowmaker and Jax also tower-dived Riven in the top lane.

Although Khan failed to secure a kill under the tower, he still managed to pull off a play, forcing the weapon to use Flash.

WE.A's bot lane duo started pushing the top tower.

The weapon was moved to the bottom lane.

At this point, both sides had essentially settled into their own rhythm.

WE.A should continue to help the duo expand their advantage and push down the top lane turret as soon as possible.

EDG should focus on developing their weapons, relying on the long-range support of Ziggs' ultimate, and taking advantage of this time to secure the second dragon to make up for their economic deficit.

But in the dictionary of Zhou Li, there is never the idea of ​​knowing when to stop or when to stop; it's all about wanting it all.

He immediately called out to Xiye in the mid lane.

Under Zhou Li's command, Xi Ye first made a feint in the mid lane, pretending to walk towards the top lane.

They then drove directly from their own jungle and arrived at the bottom lane with Lee Sin.

The EDG players' bench at this moment.

The factory manager is receiving guidance from his senior colleagues on how to make braised pork.

"Kou Rou, this game depends on you. You can't die from now on. We need you to split push and hold the game."

Hearing the factory manager's words, Kou Rou nodded confidently.

Due to the dominance of the Korean region, Korean players are generally perceived as stronger than their LPL homegrown players.

In today's match, he achieved a solo kill and dominated his opponent, clearly demonstrating his confidence.

Seeing that Riven, who was at half health, still dared to come out and finish off enemies, Koro felt a surge of murderous intent.

But at that very moment, EDG spotted Lee Sin's movements from their vision range in the jungle.

Kou Rou realized WE.A's actions at this point, but it was too late.

The Blind Monk had cut off his retreat, and Khan was also quickly pushing the minion wave into the tower.

WE.A decisively initiated a tower dive against the weapon.

Lee Sin used his Sonic Blast to push forward, forcing out Jax's Counter Strike, and then quickly used Ward Hoop to retreat.

Kou Rou's muscles were tense, his mind filled with the factory manager's words that expressed his high hopes for him.

"It's up to you this time."

As the Bomber's ultimate ability arrived to provide support, Koro1 stared intently at the computer screen.

With this three-man protection strategy, he's doomed.

However, he felt there was still room for maneuver!
As long as he can exchange one of them, he'll have made a profit this time!

The adrenaline in the braised pork belly was surging, making his fingers type so fast on the keyboard that they left afterimages!
The next moment, a blue light appeared on the bottom lane turret!
"It's a TP! Whose TP?!"

In the commentary booth, Miller shouted excitedly!
Bella was taken aback for a moment, but then she realized what was happening.

"Only Jax from EDG brought Teleport!!"

The doll couldn't help but exclaim:

"Hey! Koro! What's with that teleporting under the tower?!" (*)

Khan's Riven had already activated her ultimate, interrupting Koro's teleport with the third Q, and then unleashing Wind Slash to secure the kill on Jax!
"Ooh ooh ooh ooh oh ah ah ah eh eh!"

He instantly felt smug and shouted excitedly.

"Hahaha, this TP!"

"Sabi!"

Miller, sitting in the commentary booth, couldn't help but smile wryly and said:

"It feels like the braised pork belly is under a lot of pressure; you pressed the wrong button."

Zhou Li also lost his composure.

He never expected that the famous scene of Tong Chuanta would unfold so vividly right before his eyes.

He couldn't help but type a question mark in the public chat.

This question mark, though concise and to the point, is extremely damaging.

Tong Yang's face instantly turned as red as a lantern.

"it's okay no problem."

Curly-haired man offered words of comfort.

"Can Mingkai come and arrest him?"

Mingkai glanced at the top lane and was about to move when Lucian and Nami had already retreated out of sight, displaying maximum discipline.

He sighed, then could only watch helplessly as WE.A secured their second dragon.

While Zhou Li was securing the dragon, he had already called over his duo to move towards the mid lane.

After securing the dragon, Zhou Li headed straight for the mid lane, where Nami had already joined Lulu.

Although U sensed the approaching danger, he clearly did not expect Zhou Li to be so decisive!
Q followed by ward flash WR!
"boom!"

The scene erupted in complete excitement!
"I'm coming!!"

In the commentary booth, Miller's excited shouts were almost off-key.

"The Zhou family's triangular attack, though late, has arrived!!"

Bella was so excited she trembled.

"Although this isn't the first time Zhou Li has pulled off this play in a professional match, it's still incredibly impressive every time I see it!! And as far as I know, no one has been able to replicate or imitate Zhou Li's play so far! I'm not just referring to professional matches! I'm talking about all of his solo queue ranked games!"

The doll touched its head.

"To be honest, every time I see Zhou's triangle kill, I get goosebumps! It's really hard to believe that a human could pull off such a move!"

Faced with Zhou Li's Zhou-style triangle attack, U's Bomber had no chance to fight back.

After being kicked off the tower, it was immediately turned into a sheep by Lulu.

Lucian arrived shortly after and easily secured the kill on the Bomber.

This sudden gank caught EDG completely off guard.

As a result, at this point, there was no one else able to provide timely support and defense for EDG's outer mid-lane tower.

Koro could have teleported to the mid lane to defend the tower, but unfortunately he had already teleported past the bottom lane tower.

WE.A's sudden change of tactics left EDG with no time to react, directly leading to the destruction of the outer mid-lane tower.

Although EDG took this opportunity to destroy WE.A's top outer turret, the top turret and the mid turret are completely different in strategic significance.

Once the mid tower is destroyed, WE.A can freely place vision in EDG's jungle.

While WE.A's true vision control strategy cleared out EDG's jungle vision, Zhou Li's Lee Sin completely transformed into a cunning and unpredictable monk.

Nowadays, the factory manager is completely afraid to go into his own jungle alone.

WE.A began to display their aggressive style, sweeping EDG's jungle clean.

Faced with WE.A's advance, EDG could only passively defend.

Even when pushing lanes with the weapon "Krou" (a character in the game), the pressure is always immense due to the suppression of vision.

Twenty-one minutes later, Khan finally proved himself for the first time.

Riven used her vision control to flash and then used her three-part Q to engage EDG's key backline.

Lee Sin repositioned himself and used his ultimate ability to kick Braum into the crowd, simultaneously knocking away Corki and Ziggs.

After Khan successfully sacrificed himself, WE.A surged ahead, achieving a 1-for-4 exchange.

This team fight broke out so quickly that Koro1's weapon had barely teleported in when the main battlefield was already cleared out by WE.A!
Even the braised pork belly that landed on the ground could not escape its fate.

After being wiped out in a team fight, WE.A pushed down EDG's top and bottom lane inhibitors.

At 29 minutes, WE.A started forcing a team fight at Baron Nashor.

Lee Sin landed a Q on Ziggs from the shadows, then used his R-flash to kick Ziggs back, simultaneously knocking up Evelynn and Braum, creating another perfect team fight initiation!
EDG's formation was thrown into chaos, and Khan successfully secured two kills in this team fight!
"WE.A has achieved a team wipe!"

"In that case, they've decided to skip Baron and go for a one-shot kill! They have plenty of time!"

"Wow, Zhou Li! He completely dominated Clearlove in the jungle this game!!"

"Congratulations to WE.A! They've won the first game!!"

(End of this chapter)