Rebirth is fine, but I get eight hundred dollars right from the start?

"What about the LPL side—oh?" Miller's tone rose slightly. "Is WeiXiao going to lock in Vayne? That's an interesting pick. Vayne doesn't have an advantage against Ezreal in lane, but her late-game potential is much higher. However, considering the strength of the top, mid, and jungle, WeiXiao picking a late-game carry to farm resources and slowly develop does fit the design of this tactic."

In the LPL champion select box on the screen, Vayne's portrait flashed twice before finally locking in.

A cheer erupted from the crowd—Vayne holds a special place in the hearts of League of Legends players. The Night Hunter, a synonym for late-game comebacks and masterful plays, instantly raised expectations by two points the moment Vayne was locked in.

"..."

As players from both sides filled each slot, the blue team's lineup gradually took shape, while the purple team still had one slot remaining unlit.

Above the position hangs an obscured profile picture, silently awaiting the final decision.

"Finally—" the doll's voice unconsciously lowered a little, "the counter seat on the fifth floor of the purple square was unusually reserved for our Emperor."

"Generally speaking, the counter pick is usually given to the top laner, but this time LPL reserved the last pick for our Emperor, who is known as the master of esports. This means that the LPL team can flexibly adjust the mid laner's hero selection according to the opponent's lineup."

The countdown numbers in the middle of the BP interface jump down one by one.

On the North American side of the player's bench, Scarra was staring intently at the empty champion pick box opposite her, her lips slightly pursed and her palms covered in sweat.

"There are still quite a few usable mid laners on the field," Miller began to list, "Kassadin, Jayce, Fizz, Diana... Although Zed, the king of assassins, has been banned, there are other assassins to choose from. There's actually a lot of room for the Emperor position, it all depends on—"

Before he finished speaking, the character selection box on the screen lit up.

A picture of a fat man with a weathered face and a huge beer belly popped up.

"Hiccup~"

"If you pay, I'll come!"

—Gragas, the Barrel!

The entire venue was silent for about two seconds.

The live chat exploded first.

[A barrel?]

[Holy crap, Gragas mid lane?!??]

[Wait, this hero has such a short attack range and is so clumsy, can she even beat Ahri in the mid lane?]

I really didn't expect Emperor to make this pick. I thought he'd choose flashy champions like Kassadin or Fizz...

[Can anyone with a big head tell me, has E-God ever used this champion in his streams?]

I don't recall playing it; I think I played it a few times, but definitely not many.

[Hey, who cares? Just believe it. Even if E suddenly pulls out Teemo, I'd think it's perfectly reasonable.]

No problem!

Miller finally snapped out of his daze, his voice trembling with barely suppressed surprise: "Are you sure you want to pick this champion... Gragas the Barrel? In the mainstream playstyle of Season 3, Gragas was rarely played mid. He was more often used in top lane and jungle. His Q skill, Rolling Barrel, does have good AoE damage and jungle clearing efficiency, but mid lane Gragas—"

"The key is that the opponent is Ahri!" Doll scratched his head. "Gragas' QER skills all require prediction, and he's a melee champion. Against a super mobile Ahri, I feel like the mid lane will have a tough time in the early game."

The reactions of the audience and commentators were not surprising.

It's not that Gragas is a weak champion; his skill stats speak for themselves. His Q skill, Rolling Barrel, has a 0.9 AP ratio, and his ultimate, Explosive Barrel, has a 1.0 AP ratio. In any version of the game, he could blow up the enemy backline to a pulp.

Unfortunately, the mid lane in the first half of Season 3 was a monster zone. From Zed to LeBlanc to Syndra, these god-like players had amazing stats, amazing mechanics, and amazing skill ceilings.

The barrel stood in a row with them. Its stats weren't bad, but it had short range, long wind-up animation, and delayed skill projectiles. When fighting those agile monsters, it looked like a fat guy chasing butterflies with a barrel, incredibly clumsy.

Even though Ahri and Fizz can compete on the same stage, their ability to stand out in the mid lane in this version is not based on pure numerical superiority. Ahri has a three-stage ultimate with a charm control, and Fizz's E skill pole vault makes him untargetable. The core capital that allows these two to survive is their high mobility at the mechanic level.

The barrels are just as good in terms of stats as the others, but they are much less mobile, so they can only sit at the children's table.

Gragas truly became popular after July, when Riot Games nerfed several of the aforementioned top-tier champions in the new patch, which led to his dominance from the OGN Summer Split all the way to the S3 World Championship.

In today's All-Star main event, North America banned all three mid laners, effectively shutting down Zed, LeBlanc, and Syndra, and then first-picked Ahri.

Rounding down, it's like putting all the top-tier mid laners in the current patch into a blacklist and locking them up.

Therefore, choosing a hero like Gragas eliminates the pressure of hero stats.

A few minutes later, the two sides exchanged lineups.

The alignment is as follows:

Blue side LCS.NA!

Top lane: Renekton; Jungle: Hecarim; Mid lane: Ahri; Bot lane: Ezreal and Janna.

Purple side LPL!

Top lane Jayce, jungle Lee Sin, mid lane Gragas, bot lane Vayne and Nami.

……

The moment the loading screen popped up, Saintvicious, the jungler in the North American competition booth, had just unscrewed a bottle of water and taken a sip when he caught a glimpse of Scarra's legs shaking up and down at a visible frequency, making the whole chair tremble.

"Hey buddy," he put down his water bottle and nudged Scarra's arm with his elbow, "I know the Emperor is strong, but you don't need to be shaking like this, do you?"

Scarra didn't stop, she just turned her head to look at him, her lips moved, her voice a little hoarse: "You don't play mid lane, you wouldn't understand..."

Saintvicious raised an eyebrow, as if he wanted to say something, but was interrupted by his senior brother: "Don't worry, just focus on farming in the mid lane, leave the carry to me."

"If you really can't take it anymore," Saintvicious couldn't help but pat Scarra on the shoulder, "cover up the opponent's ID and fight them."

Although he didn't know why the mid-lane player reacted this way against Emperor, he expressed his respect despite his incomprehension.

"Um..." Top laner Dyrus finally chimed in, his voice muffled, "Instead of discussing this, let's think about whether we should engage in a team fight at level one."

"..."

LPL team voice chat.

Lin Shu: "The opposing team has a very typical top, mid, and jungle composition. In team fights, they rely on EZ to initiate with poke, followed by Hecarim and Renekton to disrupt the fight, and Ahri to finish off enemies with her multiple dashes."

"However, it depends heavily on the development of Centaur and Renekton. In the early game, we just need to target them a little and prevent them from getting enough equipment, then we can win easily."

"Of course, the premise is that Nami's ultimate skill isn't used in the wrong direction during team fights."

After delivering the key information, Lin Shu couldn't resist teasing his team's support player, who was known for missing his ultimate abilities.

Xiaoxiao immediately lost her composure, "Hey, as the captain, attacking your teammates before the match isn't right!"

"Statement of facts does not constitute an attack."

"I only missed my ultimate when I was with IG, okay? After joining the All-Star team, I've only missed five ultimates in the last two weeks of scrims."

"You can check the video if you don't believe me!"

Mingkai replied casually, "Five is not a small number?"

Zhang Hai quickly added insult to injury: "Five is a lot, okay!"

Smiling, he didn't say anything, but you could vaguely hear him trying to suppress a laugh through the earphones.

"I'm going to have sex!"

Just as Xiaoxiao was about to turn her attention to Ueno, the loading bar on the screen filled up, and the white light of the spring water filled the screen.

Lin Shu, suppressing a laugh, interrupted the impending verbal sparring and commanded, "Level 1 invasion, our damage is higher!"

"receive--"

The responses from the group, who were arguing just a second ago, overlapped, and all five of them simultaneously rushed out of the fountain.

While North America was still debating whether to engage in a level 1 team fight, the five LPL icons had already appeared in the shadows of the river vision.