LPL History

Chapter 308 Zhou Yu single-handedly conquers the Heluo region, while Xiao Long abandons his armor and flees to Maicheng.

With the right to choose now in VG's hands, VG decisively locked up the tree on the first floor.

Like most LPL teams, the top lane position, unless you are an established star player, can only be a tool.

Subsequently, champion jungler Dandy confidently locked in Lee Sin.

Seeing the opposing team's hero selection, Chris quickly spoke up:

"Sion! Or Cho'Gath!"

Zhou Li nodded.

"I can consider it, but I want to release it last."

Upon hearing Zhou Li's words, Taobao Quan's eyes widened.

"What are you doing? The enemy top laner has already built his item, why are you building yours last?"

"The enemy mid laner and ADC haven't even built their items yet, why should I build mine first? What if they counter with a Vayne, Kassadin, or Azir? How am I supposed to have fun then?"

Taobao Quan stared at Zhou Li in shock.

"Was it...was it fun?!"

He found it hard to imagine how shameless a person must be to say such a thing.

He wasn't even talking about how difficult it was to play, but how fun it was!

Taobao users found Sion by moving their mouse.

"I'll get you Sion."

"If you want to use yourself to jungle, then see if I'll trade with you or not."

"you!"

"Garlic bird, garlic bird!"

Chris quickly interrupted the two of them.

"You can have the Taobao rights, Prince!"

"Damn it, even the princes have been overthrown!"

Taobao Quan immediately started swearing.

"Alright, enough about Taobao rights," Wei Shen finally couldn't hold back and said, "What's the point of you arguing with him?"

Wei Shen's words were clearly more effective than Chris's. He mumbled something under his breath and finally locked in Sejuani for himself.

"Just play Sejuani, it's your main champion, it suits you perfectly."

Zhou Li's voice rang out again, causing Taobao Quan's forehead veins to throb violently.

He suddenly turned his head, intending to stop tolerating it.

He saw Zhou Li standing to the side, holding a hand grip strengthener and looking at him with a smile.

Taobao Quan's face turned pale and then red, while the giant soldier, whose Chinese wasn't very good, didn't forget to add insult to injury.

"Oh! Sejuani is your main champion? I had no idea!"

Seeing that Taobao Quan had completely shut down, Zhou Li finally put down the hand gripper.

In fact, he could have easily coasted along in the LGD team.

Although VG has a strong roster on paper, according to Zhou Li, the team did not achieve any real synergy by the end of the Spring Split, and Mata eventually left the team in anger after the Spring Split ended.

So he's just coasting along; with LGD's strength, defeating VG shouldn't be too much of a problem.

But while you can slack off in some competitions, you can't in others.

In today's match, Zhou Li needs to perform well.

It is very difficult to gain control of the team within LGD.

Zhou Li's current ability to have a certain voice is not only due to his mental illness persona, but also because he has a very good relationship with the Giant God Soldier team's main force.

So in today's match, facing Mata, who is determined to get revenge, he can't afford to play passively.

Chris sighed.

Taobao Quan just insulted him, and he's very angry.

But it seems he can't do anything except get angry.

Zhou Li glanced at Chris. This guy's biggest problem was that he could never figure out his place.

"Airplane, is that okay?"

Chris asked the giant soldier.

Seeing Imp nod, Chris became sunny and confident again.

The draft picks returned to VG. VG then locked in Alistar for the support role.

Clearly, even in the current meta where enchanter supports are stronger, Mata still has absolute confidence in himself, likes to pick hard supports, and wants to mess things up with Dandy.

As the MVP support player in the finals, Mata has that kind of confidence.

VG then locked in Kalista for the ADC position.

Zhou Li looked at the opposing team's lineup before finally speaking:

"A big bug, I guess."

The opposing team has Alistar, Lee Sin, and Maokai, making it a very strong dive composition that's also incredibly tanky.

Against this wall-like lineup, the giant worm's ultimate ability can often be surprisingly effective.

However, Zhou Li had no choice but to accept that the heroes unlocked in this historical record were all tank heroes like Cho'Gath and Sion.

He also wanted to play a flying Riven, an elegant and sharp Fiora, or an Irelia who could use her Q skill repeatedly.

However, Zhou Li wasn't in a hurry. Based on his experience, unlocking mainstream heroes like this was only a matter of time.

When everyone thinks you're a blue-collar top laner, a utility player, and you suddenly pull out Riven's Broken Sword from your crotch and shout, "The day the Broken Sword is reforged, the knight returns," that's what you call exhilarating!
After capturing the giant worm, Zhou Li spoke:

"We have to get the Clockwerk, otherwise the enemy will definitely take it!"

Is it a must-have for the opposing team?

Chris's tone was full of doubt.

"Of course we have to take it! With their aggressive formation and Orianna being a Tier 1 mid laner in the current meta, why wouldn't we pick it?"

"Oh, oh, oh!" Chris exclaimed in sudden realization, and quickly said, "Wind up, wind up."

Wei Shen naturally wouldn't have any objections to picking Orianna, since it's considered one of his signature heroes.

On the VG player bench, Redmi seemed somewhat surprised to see Orianna being picked.

He hadn't expected that Coach Chris would have such a level of understanding.

However, after thinking it over, he felt that the possibility of it being a coincidence was more likely.

Ultimately, VG's mid laner picked Syndra.

The lineups for both sides were thus finalized.

Blue side: LGD Esports Club VS Red side: VG Esports Club.

Top Lane: (Li) Void Terror vs. (loong) Twisted Treant.

Jungle: (tbq) Sejuani VS (Dandy) Lee Sin.

Mid Lane: (welless) Orianna VS (hetong) Syndra.

ADC: (imp) Airplane VS (Vasilii) Vengeful Spear.

Support: (pyl) Yin Feng Po VS (mata) Tauren Chieftain.

Zhou Li was somewhat excited as he entered the game.

This top lane Cho'Gath versus Maokai matchup is a classic laning scenario.

It's less like a big bug hitting a big tree and more like RNG hitting EDG.

He originally wanted to lead the LGD team to engage in a level 1 team fight with VG, but VG clearly didn't have that intention.

Why isn't VG accepting team requests?

It's not that I'm afraid.

It was Mata and Dandy who were causing trouble.

As soon as the two logged in, they rushed straight towards LGD's upper jungle.

Mata then left a vision in LGD's upper jungle.

Seeing Mata lose his eye, Death's Declaration felt a surge of inexplicable anger.

In fact, Mata does this in almost every game now. On the surface, this ward is indeed Mata's style, since he really likes to roam with Dandy's jungler and support to cause trouble, and knowing the enemy jungler's movements is very important.

But Death's Declaration knew that Mata wouldn't have done that in the first place.

Because you used your ward right away as support, it means you'll have one less ward during the early laning phase in the bot lane!

This will have a certain impact on whether it's contesting bushes, getting to level 2 first, or preventing ganks.

Mata now always chooses to place wards directly in the enemy jungle, clearly telling Death's Declaration, "I've given up on laning against you in the bottom lane."

How can this make the declaration of death feel good?

In fact, just before the start of today's match, Death's Declaration made a point of communicating with Mata about this matter in a humble manner.

Hopefully, Mata can focus on laning against him, even if it's just for one game.

You need to work things out first to know if you're compatible.

But Mata's current attitude is, "You're such a terrible ADC, you're not good enough for me, and I'm too lazy to work with you."

Death's Declaration thought this communication would have some effect, but unexpectedly, Mata immediately placed a ward in the top half of the map.

If it weren't for the fact that Mata was the champion last year, Death's Declaration would have already shoved the monitor over Mata's head.

Meanwhile, on the other side, top laner Xiaolong was leisurely walking towards the top lane.

In this version, at least in the LPL, the top lane position is really boring.

All you need to do is farm minions online, save your Teleport, and go support your teammates as soon as they start fighting. Then, use your body to tank the enemy's damage, apply crowd control, and let your teammates finish them off.

This has almost become a consensus among LPL top laners.

Especially when both sides have acquired tanks.

Often, even when there's a clear opportunity to trade blows, both sides will tacitly choose to finish off the enemy instead of trading blows.

After all, everyone knows that a one-on-one kill is almost impossible.

Blindly swapping out units can actually attract ganks from the jungler.

It's a high-risk, low-return endeavor.

In Xiaolong's opinion, this game will be no different.

He naturally knew about Zhou Li, after all, this man had been at the center of public opinion for almost a week.

However, Xiaolong's understanding of Zhou Li was mostly limited to what he heard from others.

As for how well Zhou Li played, he only watched a recap video, which made him doze off.

Although coach Hongmi reminded him that Zhou Li's fundamentals and laning ability were very solid, Xiaolong didn't take it seriously.

They're already playing Sion and Maokai, what's the point of talking about laning?

Caught off guard, the little dragon manipulated the tree to head towards the top path.

He saw the big bug briefly slip through his vision in the bottom lane, so he simply crouched down in the river bushes.

To Xiaolong's surprise, Zhou Li's consciousness was so weak that he actually swaggered over from the river to the upper road.

He glanced at the skills he hadn't yet learned.

When a big tree fights a big worm, what you learn at level one usually depends on what the opponent has learned.

If the opponent learns Q at level 1, he can learn Asian Bondage.

If the opponent learns E at level 1, then he doesn't even need to learn anything else.

Learning E is the stupidest thing to do, as it will push the minion wave forward, giving you a very comfortable farming environment.

But the situation is a little different now.

He occupied the bushes, so he had the first opportunity to attack.

So Xiaolong simply learned the Q skill.

He planned to crouch in the bushes, poke at the enemy, and then run away.

Even if the big bug learns Q in response, he can still escape, since his own Q also has a slowing effect.

Moreover, Cho'Gath's Q is relatively easy to dodge. If you manage to dodge it yourself, then you've gained an advantage in this trade.

Although Xiaolong's initial idea was to just coast along, when the opportunity presented itself, he still chose to seize it decisively.

After all, Zhou Li is now universally hated, and it's almost impossible for Xiao Long to stand out in VG, a team full of big names. But if he has Zhou Li as a stepping stone, at least he can increase his exposure.

In the commentary booth, Miller, watching the top lane movements, began to speak:

"Hey! Is the big bug just heading straight for the top lane like that? The big tree is waiting in the bushes. I guess we shouldn't try to freeload."

"The big tree is still waiting, wanting to play a trick on it."

The two commentators were well aware that this kind of tank duel on the top lane was not very interesting; it was just a matter of playfully bumping into each other, and nothing major would happen.

The director understood this, so he didn't bother watching the two who were about to meet and turned the camera to the bottom lane, where the more talked-about matchup was between Mata and Imp.

"Teammates who once stood shoulder to shoulder are now facing off on the field!"

Meanwhile, in a secluded corner, Xiaolong had already pressed the Q skill button on his keyboard.

But to his surprise, the big bug seemed to have the whole map open. The moment his Maokai's Q skill was about to hit, the big bug turned around and dodged the Maokai's Q!

Everyone treated Zhou Li as a newcomer.

In fact, Zhou Li had already fought for three seasons, and his experience was richer than anyone else's.

Zhou Li doesn't have a full map cheat, but experience tells him to make a tentative move when facing bushes where people might be hiding.

Xiao Long, who missed his target with a single Q, was even stunned for a moment before remembering to retreat quickly.

But the instant he appeared, Cho'Gath's Q skill was already at his feet!

How perfectly positioned was that Q skill? It was almost perfectly centered on the tree.

This means that the big tree cannot use its movement to deflect the big bug's attack.

Xiao Long even subconsciously turned around and moved aside.

This made it even easier for Zhou Li's large insect to directly stick to the tree's face.

A!

A!

A!

Zhou Li immediately demonstrated his 5A-level combo to Xiao Long.

At this point, Xiaolong hadn't even realized the seriousness of the problem. His ingrained mindset of stopping short of engaging in a tank fight led him to even turn around and attack the big bug while walking to trade blows.

Even when they reached the lane, Xiaolong was still thinking of going up to finish off the enemy.

He assumed the big bug would finish off his own attack.

But the big bug had no intention of finishing off the enemy; instead, it relentlessly chased after the tree and attacked it relentlessly.

"Damn, this guy is super strong!"

Xiao Long complained, saying that in his opinion, the giant bug had no chance of killing him in a one-on-one fight.

Moreover, the big bug's actions, which initially brought some profit from the blood transfusion, have now essentially given back its advantage.

Because at this time, your own minions are constantly attacking the big bug, so the minion wave will inevitably push towards your side.

So even when his health dropped to half, Xiaolong wasn't worried at all; he just slowly retreated.

He just needs to wait for his second Q skill to be off cooldown before he can knock the giant bug away.

However, Xiaolong clearly hadn't considered one thing.

The cooldown of Maokai's level 1 Q is eight seconds, while the cooldown of Cho'Gath's level 1 Q is six seconds!
When his Q skill is ready, Cho'Gath's Q skill is also ready!

Furthermore, Cho'Gath's Q skill actually deals very high damage, with a full 100% AP scaling! Zhou Li, on the other hand, starts with a Doran's Ring!

In the commentary booth, Miller and Wawa were still enjoying the bot lane matchup.

"It seems that VG's bot lane synergy isn't quite there yet; they're being pressured by LGD's bot lane right from the start!"

Miller was still talking when he suddenly caught a glimpse of the marker on the minimap in the lower right corner of his eye.

He paused for a moment, then said incredulously:

"What's going on? How did the top laner get forced to use Teleport at level one?"

He glanced at the Summoner Spells again, and was even more surprised.

"Even the Great Tree's Flash was forced out?!"

(End of this chapter)