Nirvana Top Laner, Reborn Tokyo Girl

Chapter 178, Section 175: The Tyranny of Dolan!

For Yuna Shimamura, the battle with Doran was a long time ago.

This can be traced back to the time before she became a professional player.

At the time, she was just a small-time live streamer on the street, a dog in a suit.

A person who doesn't attract much attention in terms of popularity or other aspects.

At that time, one of her main activities was playing ranked games on the Korean server.

Although it was a TV show, she was already thinking about how to become a professional player at that time.

Playing ranked games on the Korean server is more of a way to gain exposure.

It was during that period that Shimamura Yuna encountered a large number of professional players in ranked matches.

Among them, Doran was the player she encountered the most and was beaten the worst.

In order to increase Shimamura's popularity and exposure during that period, Shimamura's fans naturally chose to engage in a lot of match-fixing with Doran, the top laner of T1. They edited together the live streams where Shimamura and Doran clashed, and produced a lot of recordings such as "Ghost King beats up T1 top laner Doran".

That period was also the time when the Zeus and T1 incident was at its most intense.

Then, the fact that Doran was Shimamura's son became inexplicably common knowledge during that period.

At the time, Shimamura Yuna didn't think Doran was really that bad.

At least, she doesn't think she's as bad as the public opinion makes her out to be.

As the saying goes, in games, it's normal to win and lose.

However, she didn't think Doran was really that amazing.

In her opinion, he was a rather mediocre player.

From the perspective of individual ability, this player has almost no outstanding characteristics.

He's just an ordinary expert.

Compared to other skilled opponents he had encountered, he couldn't even exert any pressure on Shimamura Yuna, who hadn't yet reached her full potential.

It's said that there are wins and losses, but when Shimamura Yuna is matched with him in the rankings, the probability of winning is far greater than the probability of losing.

At that time, Shimamura was in the role of a rescuer, and Doran was only better than him in that he was better at playing the game.

However, after a period of reflection, Shimamura Yuna now feels that she has a deeper understanding of the game.

Logically speaking, compared to Doran, I should be a complete and utterly superior opponent in every aspect.

But after seeing Doran's best-of-five series against Zeus, Shimamura's opinion wavered.

She wondered, "Is Doran really that amazing?"

"Could he really be playing dumb to fool others?"

Seeing that Doran also performed very well in the play-in stage made her even more skeptical.

If it weren't for seeing Doran get crushed by BIN in two games during the play-in stage (although T1 won those two games), and still looking somewhat like he used to be, Shimamura Yuna might even think that Doran was about to become the world's best top laner.

Even though Doran was crushed by BIN in two games, people could explain it away by saying that Doran wasn't in good form in those two matches, or that BIN had a counter to Doran.

Doran still seems to be just as effective against other champions?
What if?
Even before the match started, many people shared this view.

Many people even think, "Shimamura Yuna isn't necessarily better than Dolan, so why is everyone saying Shimamura Yuna should go to T1?"

This is also what Yuna Shimamura herself thought.

However, after actually playing two rounds and testing the waters, Shimamura Yuna realized that she was wrong.

Nothing terrible.

Dolan is still the same Dolan.

The innocent, adorable, and somewhat clumsy Dolan hasn't changed at all.

Not long after the two went online, Shimamura Yuna sensed that Doran's laning phase lacked any finesse.

His laning phase seems mindless, and he plays the game as if he's relying on instinct.

This means that when he's in particularly good form, he might indeed appear very impressive.

For example, the best-of-five series against Zeus.

However, this state is not permanent, and it can even be said that it is not sustainable at all.

He's still just an average top laner who's essentially just average.

Shimamura Yuna prefers to play this so-called "normal top lane" style.

Not long after she went live, she managed to suppress Doran by simply piling on the details of her gameplay.

There were no fancy or extreme maneuvers.

It means more harpoons hitting the target.

It means getting less of the sword from the Demon Slayer's blade.

It has better positioning than Doran's Blade, a higher skill hit rate, more detailed operational control, and stronger minion wave control.

These items, when combined, might not be enough for her to completely dominate Doran in lane, but they do establish a significant laning advantage.

This is what longtime fans of Yuna Shimamura saw when she switched to the top lane.

See the difference in health bars and last hits on both sides.

All people can say is
"I feel so relieved, so very relieved."

That’s right, peace of mind.

Before the match, Dolan seemed quite formidable, even dominating Zeus, which made Shimamura Yuna's fans a little nervous.

If Dolan really awakens, then Shimamura Yuna is doomed.

But after seeing this performance in practice, everyone felt relieved.

[This is ridiculous! Are people still saying Shimamura can't beat Doran?]

To be honest, I didn't feel that Doran was particularly overpowered; it felt no different from when I encountered him on the ladder before.

It's been over half a year since Shimamura started streaming on the Korean server. Reuniting with her again, Doran is still as filial as ever.

[Is this a $20 bet, or is it real or fake?]

It seems it's not that Dolan is awesome, it's that Zeus is too trash.

[Zeus leaving T1 is definitely a lose-lose situation for both sides, there's no doubt about that.]

Almost all of these comments came from Longshen's live stream.

As the BO5 match that is likely to have the highest viewership in this tournament, Longshen, the "hound of viewership," certainly won't let it pass.

From the very beginning of the match, he saw the live chat discussing whether Shimamura was stronger or Dolan was stronger.

Then, seeing this scene before him, seeing Doran being brutally beaten by Shimamura, coupled with the comments on the screen, even Ryujin couldn't hold back anymore.

"No, I feel like Shimamura-san probably saw the online comments saying Dorando is awesome, and that's why her hands were shaking a little at first?"

"I tried it a little, and I felt like, damn it, it's exactly the same as before."

"Hahaha, no problem, it's just that Zeus is no good."

At present, although no kills have occurred yet, Shimamura Yuna has the advantage on the board, so the atmosphere in the live broadcast room and the venue can be described as very comfortable.

At least for Shimamura Yuna's fans, their worries can be put down a little at this moment.

What was somewhat unexpected, yet not entirely unexpected, was...
Not just Shimamura Yuna, but in fact, throughout the entire game, the CFO was almost always on par with T1 in every position.

By the tenth minute of the game, CFO's team had already gained a 1K lead solely based on their advantage in the online arena.

This was unbelievable to the audience, who found it utterly incomprehensible.

Many people are saying, "Are all these people, including the CFO, on drugs?"

[I can understand Shimamura beating Zeus, but how come CFO and the others can also win their lanes?] [Is T1 really that bad now?]

The stereotype is that CFO is a team that relies entirely on the supermodel-like Yuna Shimamura to lead the way, while the other players are essentially novices.

But this is wrong.

In a parallel world that Shimamura Yuna is unaware of, and that the other viewers in this world are also unaware of, the CFO team is actually a dark horse team.

However, the CFO of that world didn't have a top laner like Yuna Shimamura, so naturally there was no way to make a story around the top laner.

At the time, they opted for a dual top laner rotation of Driver and Rest.

Driver is good at playing tank top lane, but not so good at other champions.

Rest can play any top laner, which seems like he's all-around, but judging from his performance at MSI, he actually plays like a maggot no matter what he plays.

In short, judging from the performance in that world, the biggest weakness of the CFO was getting on the road.

Either the previous hero pool had flaws, but the skill level was still passable, and the player was a one-trick pony.

Either you get an old guy with a decent hero pool but a serious skill problem.

Being too single-minded leads to being blocked at both ends, making things uncomfortable no matter what.

However, even a CFO like this can still deliver outstanding performance. What is the reason for this?

Of course, everyone except the top laner played quite well.

Especially HongQ in the middle lane.

His performance was at the level of a prodigy mid-laner.

He's the kind of person whose potential you can see at a glance, and who makes you absolutely certain that his future is bright.

In this world, it can be said that to a large extent, Shimamura Yuna's existence overshadowed HongQ's brilliance, and even suppressed HongQ's growth.

After all, HongQ doesn't feel as much pressure when there's another older member in the team.

Without pressure, one cannot grow.

HongQ from another world has already performed very well at this point in time, and can be considered an 85-point mid laner.

But right now, he's probably only around 80 points at best.

Even so, his talent and skill were still evident.

To put it simply...
He was completely unfazed by Faker in lane.

Or to put it another way, Faker is almost 30 years old now, and his physical functions have seriously deteriorated compared to when he was younger. His reaction ability and micro-operations have also declined a lot compared to the past.

Being able to beat him in the laning phase is something a young player should naturally expect.

However, this very thing that is taken for granted is incredibly difficult for the vast majority of professional League of Legends players.

However, HongQ today has achieved this.

Being able to dominate Faker in lane is a source of great inspiration for all League of Legends players.

Even though Faker himself is old, his skill level has declined, and his mental state is not as good as before.

Even objectively speaking, Faker is not as good as he was in his prime.

But he is Faker.

Even if it's ten or fifty years from now, he will still be Faker.

Even until League of Legends shuts down, he will still be Faker.

For those who played League of Legends back in the day, especially those who played mid lane, Faker was a guiding light.

A symbol.

For HongQ, a mid-laner, suppressing this symbol felt like crossing a crucial threshold.

He felt that at this moment, he was invincible.

While Shimamura was slowly and steadily pressuring Doran in the top lane, gradually widening the gap between them in the laning phase.

HongQ in the mid lane has already accomplished a great deal in coordination with Pantheon.

Pantheon paired with Taliyah is undoubtedly one of the strongest mid-jungle duos in the current version, and if we only consider the early game tempo, it may be the only combination without exception.

A good combination of heroes, coupled with the CFO's generally good performance.

The result is obvious.

After Taliyah reached level six, he immediately used the lane priority he gained in the laning phase to support the bottom lane.

At this point, the bottom lane already had an advantage in the laning phase, having already pushed the minion wave into the tower.

So, with Taliyah and Pantheon arriving, it's obvious what will happen in the bot lane.

In a word, it's a pinpoint kill.

Moreover, it's a point-and-click kill with almost no room for maneuver.

T1 actually knew what was going to happen. Faker had already gone to the bottom lane, and jungler Oner was also waiting in the bottom lane to act as his bodyguard.

However, the combination of Pantheon and Taliyah leaves players with virtually no room to maneuver.

Once the game situation has naturally developed into its current state, it's no longer up to T1 to decide what they want to do.

It can only be said that when they released Taliyah in order to ban Shimamura Yuna's top lane, this result was inevitable and something they could have expected.

Naturally, the bottom lane pulled off a 4-man gank against the 2-man bot lane.

They even killed the jungler who came to their rescue.

In essence, it was a 0-for-3 exchange.

At this moment, Shimamura Yuna was laning against Doran in the top lane when she saw her teammate get a triple kill.

She glanced at the screen briefly and was somewhat surprised.

"Is it so fierce?"

After she asked that question, HongQ immediately replied, "Wow, of course it has to be fierce! How could it not be fierce? Just kidding!"

"We've been practicing this mid-jungle hero combination for who knows how long, it's so overpowered, almost invincible."

"No problem, we have dual support! We have dual support for LCP!"

It's clear that gaining an advantage in the match against T1 is something that everyone is quite excited about.

Everyone spoke in a very enthusiastic tone.

They even started getting excited and talking nonsense, using tired old jokes, and there was less communication about the game content.

Yuna Shimamura is the only exception.

She is a cautious person and dislikes opening champagne halfway through a party.

So he quickly said, "Calm down, the competition isn't over yet."

So the others quickly shut up.

After this battle, both the viewers and the commentators seemed a bit incredulous.

It's not that I find it unbelievable that the CFO could suppress T1 and even lead T1.

It's unbelievable how this suppression and lead could be so natural, so taken for granted.

It feels like CFO was inherently the stronger team, and T1 was the challenger.

It's not just supermodel Yuna Shimamura.

The entire team appears to be above T1 level, at least based on the content of this game, that's definitely the case.

In another timeline, the CFO, whose progress was hampered by a breach in the upper path, is now able to complete the last piece of the puzzle thanks to the appearance of Shimamura Yuna in the current timeline.

(End of this chapter)