LPL History

Chapter 327 Jayce uses a clever trick to break through the formation, but is tricked and Irelia is in danger.
Both sides completed the banning, and the right to select a player fell to the blue team, IG.

After the previous mockery, Zhu Kai knew that Zhou Li was a bit of a loner, so he didn't intend to let Zhou Li go first.

However, just as he was about to speak, he saw Zhou Li lock onto Jess on the first floor in an instant.

This outrageous move made Zhu Kai's eyes widen in disbelief.

When did this kid become so selfless?
Besides, what's with you, Wusi, picking a Maokai, Poppy, and Cho'Gath on your first pick? Are you really afraid the enemy team won't target you?!

"Zhou Li, are you going to lock Jess downstairs?"

He couldn't help but ask the question aloud.

"What is the problem?"

Zhou Li stretched, completely unconcerned.

"Didn't you say last time that Jayce shouldn't be picked first? Didn't you want to pick him as your last move, using the same Jayce to counter different team compositions?"

Hearing Zhu Kai's words, Zhou Li smiled.

"Xiao Zhu, use your brain and think about it. Last time, I picked Jayce as my last pick because the enemy team didn't recognize me with that ID. But now everyone knows it's me. Do you think the enemy team will let me have my way when they see us pick Jayce?"

Zhou Li's words surprised Zhu Kai.

Indeed!
Zhou Li, who is known as the "worst Korean import" and the "most useless Korean import," has always played tank heroes in the game and has never used Jayce before. On the contrary, Rookie has used Jayce in the mid lane in the game.

Even if Zhou Li picks Jayce now, the opponent will most likely not think that Zhou Li is going to play it. Instead, he can use his flex pick to confuse the opponent.

"A clever brother!"

Kakao immediately praised Zhou Li.

Kakao has been studying Chinese a lot lately in preparation for the Zhou etiquette test.

Although Zhou Li can speak Korean, Kakao often can't understand him when he communicates with Zhu Kai or the bottom lane.

This made Kakao feel that there was some distance between him and his brother.

Through diligent study, Kakao's Chinese has also made great progress. In addition, Rookie had been studying Chinese quite seriously beforehand. Therefore, in the eyes of outsiders, this IG team, which has three Korean players, communicates in Chinese without any problems.

What is the biggest problem for South Korean teams? It is actually the communication problems caused by language barriers.

Zhu Kai didn't expect that Zhou Li, who had only been with IG for a short time, would solve the problem that had plagued them for a whole season.

Meanwhile, just as Zhou Li had predicted, the LGD players were debating IG's unexpected pick of Jayce.

"You're so confident just picking Jayce? Where did this Jayce even come from?"

Chris was still talking to himself when Wei Shen spoke up directly:

"Do you even need to think about it? It's definitely for Rookie to play, why would Zhou Li play Jayce?"

Hearing Wei Shen's confident words, Chris nodded.

"Then you go first? Which heroes are good against Jayce?"

Wei Shen thought for a moment and then said:

"Let's not pick the core this game, shall we? I'll pick Crystal Maiden. Let's give Acorn a strong, oppressive fighter."

Chris was greatly surprised by Wei Shen's words.

This was the first time he had heard Wei Shen voluntarily give up the center position.

But thinking about it, it's understandable. Wei Shen probably wanted to target Zhou Li in the top lane.

Chris knew that among the three people who had conflicts with Zhou Li, Wei Shen was probably the one who disliked Zhou Li the most.

Although the two had not had any major conflicts before, since that 1V3 incident, netizens have been joking that Wei Shen, who built six Berserker's Armor items, had no resistance at all and was just bloated. This really made Wei Shen, who is always concerned about his image, famous.

With limited team resources, if the top and bottom lanes pick hard carries, the best pairing for the mid lane is to pick a utility champion.

Chris nodded: "Okay, then Crystal Maiden can come out later, let's take Excavator and Alistar first."

The right to vote has returned to IG.

IG directly locked in the bot lane combination of Janna and Sivir.

With these two heroes picked, IG's tactical objective became quite clear. Their overall strategy for this game was to allow the bot lane to develop safely, while focusing resources on the mid and top lanes in the early game.

LGD then locked in Kog'Maw for imp and also picked Lissandra for the mid lane, leaving Acorn with the last counter pick.

With the champion selection rights back in IG's hands, after locking in Lee Sin as the jungler on the fourth floor, Miller and Wawa in the commentary booth were still discussing what kind of champion Zhou Li would pick.

"IG also reserved the last spot for the top laner. The two players who used to work together in LGD are about to face off. I wonder if they will pull out something different."

Hearing Miller's words, the doll spoke up:

"Big Tree? Oh, Big Tree has been taken down. Then I feel like it's probably either Big Bug or Mundo. These are two heroes that Zhou Li used quite often before."

Miller then spoke up:

"Is it possible for him to pick Vayne? He's played top lane Vayne before."

"That can't be right. I felt like that Vayne pick was just for entertainment purposes, right?"

Amidst their discussion, IG's final move was to lock in Cho'Gath.

"Ah! It really is a big bug!"

The baby's voice carried a hint of disappointment.

However, what no one knew was that IG's draft picks were the last thing they had to do!
This big bug move was actually meant for Rookie!

While Cho'Gath isn't considered a strong champion in this patch, he can be surprisingly effective against Crystal Maiden.

The most crucial one is Cho'Gath's W skill, Silence, which can interrupt Crystal Maiden's E skill.

Furthermore, the giant worm's regeneration ability means that even the Crystal Maiden, who lacks burst damage, cannot out-harass her opponent in the mid lane.

But once this big bug was brought out, everyone tacitly agreed that Zhou Li was still Zhou Li.

He's going to use the big bug to dominate the top lane.

LGD players' bench.

Wei Shen smiled.

"He only plays those few B-class heroes over and over again; he's just a complete freeloader."

Chris then turned his gaze to Acorn.

He knew that at this point he had no say anymore, and what he wanted to do was entirely up to Acorn.

Acorn thought for a moment and then said:

"Irelia, let's go!"

When LGD locked in Irelia as their last pick, the entire stadium erupted in cheers!

"Oh! Acorn, he's about to unleash his power! Today he's going to show everyone who the real boss is!!"

In the live stream, netizens were also discussing it extensively.

[That's it, Zhou is going to get beaten up this time.]

[Irelia is practically slicing through Cho'Gath with her eyes closed.]

Haha, looks like Acorn still harbors some resentment.

[Does anyone remember that Zhou Chu was originally acquired by LGD as Acorn's junior teammate?]

Is the older brother going to discipline the younger brother?

However, just as netizens were discussing it, IG's next adjustment stunned everyone.

The big bug has moved to the mid lane, while Zhou Li locked in Jayce on the first floor and hasn't switched positions at all!

"Wait a minute, what's going on? Wasn't Jayce supposed to be for Rookie? There's no time! This Jayce was Zhou Li's own choice from the very beginning!" Miller and Wawa in the commentary booth were clearly getting excited.

"Wow! Everyone was saying that Big Brother was going to draw his sword today, but it turns out that Zhou Li had already drawn his sword from the very beginning!"

The doll then spoke:

"I've never seen Zhou Li play Jayce before. Both sides seem to be playing with a bit of anger! Today's match will probably be mostly focused on the top lane!"

He thought about it again and analyzed:
"But if that's the case, Jayce doesn't seem to have a very good matchup against Irelia in the top lane, right?"

Miller began:

"It's a 50/50 matchup. I feel like Jayce is a 50/50 matchup no matter who he's facing. Top lane is a pure skill-based game."

At this point, the lineups for both sides were finalized.

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

Top Lane: (zhou) Jayce VS (Acorn) Irelia.

Jungler: (kakao) Lee Sin VS (tbq) Rek'Sai

Mid lane: (rookie) Cho'Gath VS (wellees) Lissandra.

ADC: (kid) War Goddess VS (imp) Kog'Maw.

Support: (Kitties) Janna VS (pyl) Alistar.

On the LGD players' bench, Taobaoquan sneered when he saw Zhou Li pick Jayce.

“He’s started playing Jayce too, Acorn, I’ll give him a good beating.”

However, Acorn shook his head upon hearing Taobao Quan's words.

"No need, I can easily beat him up myself."

It's not that Acorn is practicing martial virtue, but as one of LGD's two generations of top laners, Acorn has often been compared to Zhou Li by netizens.

What angered Acorn was that some busybodies actually thought he was inferior to Zhou Li, who had a 100% win rate.

He even bluntly stated that not only could he not beat Zhou Li in the game, but he was also brutally beaten twice in real life, which was simply utterly disastrous.

This time, he wanted to teach that kid who had followed him to China a lesson in front of everyone.

If Taobao Quan helps him, he'll inevitably face criticism again. They'll say he won only because the jungler helped him.

This is actually a difference between the two cultures.

In fact, in the eyes of most netizens, Zhou Li is naturally no match for the more famous Acorn.

However, Chinese netizens often like to play with abstract concepts and create memes.

As it turned out, Acorn took those jokes seriously.

As for whether I can defeat Zhou Li in the top lane—

Acorn never even considered this issue.

In his view, Zhou Li had fought right under his nose, so he knew his opponent's skill level all too well.

It's just a simple Zhou ritual; anyone with hands can do that.

Both sides quickly got into the game.

Zhou Li clearly knew what the audience wanted to see.

He maneuvered Jayce to the river bushes in the top lane, but instead of standing inside the bushes, he stood outside them and started dancing.

From God's perspective, Acorn's Irelia was standing in the triangular bush in the upper half of the map, which was ironically quite a sight.

Acorn was swearing, but he was helpless against the other party.

He knew he would definitely be suppressed in the first three levels.

Therefore, you must manage the laning phase before level three and maintain your health. Once you reach level three, you will have the opportunity to solo kill your opponent.

The minion waves for both sides quickly reached the lane.

Zhou Li's Jayce blocked the top bush, trying to pressure Irelia and prevent her from gaining experience.

Acorn's handling was also very skillful. He chose to come out with the minion wave, and at the same time, as Jayce peeked out and attacked him before returning to the bush, he threw a ward into the bush.

In this way, Jess can no longer use the bushes to frequently pull and wear himself down.

However, Acorn never expected that Zhou Li had clearly known his thoughts in advance.

This Jayce actually chose to pick W at level 1!

The moment the ward landed, Jayce activated his W and destroyed it with three quick hits!

"Wow! Zhou Li's move was so clever! He actually used W to directly destroy Irelia's ward! That was so flashy! Now Acorn is in a bit of an awkward position!"

Left with no other option, Acorn had to pull to the side.

But Jayce relentlessly chased after her, and even managed to hit Irelia twice.

This annoyed Acorn.

You're a Jayce who only leveled up W at level 1 and just used your skill, why are you chasing after me and attacking me?

Acorn was clearly a bit overconfident; he learned the Q skill and immediately used it on Jayce behind him.

Seeing the Irelia use her ultimate on him, Zhou Li was overjoyed. He turned around and ran away, hiding in the bushes.

Acorn, realizing he had lost vision, tried to retreat, but Jayce emerged from the bushes and attacked him again.

So far, the two sides have essentially been evenly matched in terms of personnel changes.

But Jayce's long arms meant he would have a second round of attack.

However, the distance between the two sides was not very far at this time. It was a distance where Jayce could take one step forward and Irelia could take one step back at the same time, and they could engage in close combat again.

Acorn tried to turn around and fight back several times, but coincidentally, Jayce pulled him away each time.

When Irelia tried to leave, Jayce seemed to read her mind and chased after her immediately.

Acorn was unaware that the ambiguous distance between them was entirely due to Zhou Li's deliberate control over the distance.

But from God's perspective, this scene looks somewhat comical.

In the live stream, the two moved forward and backward, back and forth, as if they were dancing the tango.

But as she kept jumping around, Irelia's health bar kept dropping rapidly!
"Hey Acorn!" even the doll couldn't help but exclaim, "What's going on? It's been pulled so hard it's numb! Acorn seems to be a bit crazy!"

After Zhou Li took four more free basic attacks, Acorn finally snapped out of it and could only control Irelia to run away.

Fortunately, he chose to start with Doran's Shield, and Irelia herself also has some sustain. Although she was pushed around a bit too much at level one, it was only a minor disadvantage.

Acorn glanced at the minimap and said calmly:

"You can catch them on the road."

Taobao Quan, who was farming in the wild, paused for a moment, his expression strange.

I wonder who was bragging just a minute ago that they didn't need my help.

In fact, Acorn is a top-tier top laner, and when skilled players clash, he naturally realizes that Zhou Li's Jayce is definitely not as bad as he imagined.

Even Zhou Lijies' proficiency is extremely high!

Although he didn't want to admit it, Acorn thought the opponent's control of distance, calculation of damage, and attention to detail in positioning on the lane were all perfect, especially considering just that one play.

However, due to his carelessness, he had already exhausted his initiative in the initial tug-of-war.

In a duel between two equally skilled players, once an advantage has been seized in the early game, there's no way to break the deadlock without calling for the jungler to come and help.

What puzzled Acorn was, when exactly did this kid become so powerful?!
(End of this chapter)