You actually want me to...

For a time, even Aphelios's popularity was overshadowed by him, and Sett players began to use how to build items and combos to kill AD carries more quickly as the standard, forming an activity that was active on various traffic platforms.

Upon seeing this news, Roland immediately started playing dead on Weibo, also announcing that he would be taking a break from live streaming for a few days, and then promptly changed his name to something that wasn't his real name.

Without a doubt, once this event is released, his Weibo will be flooded with comments from AD players. Playing dead early on is definitely the right thing to do.

"Tsk tsk tsk, look at the rhythm you've set up." Kasa glanced at P-Emperor, who was being forcibly dragged into a state of depression by a random Sett, and then turned back to tease Roland with a smile.

"What does this have to do with me? This hero is just naturally popular, it has absolutely nothing to do with me, okay? Don't spread rumors."

"Come on, if you dare to show your face outside and get caught by those AD players, I swear I'll be eating your feast at the village entrance tomorrow. Wait, I think gatherings are prohibited now, so it'll probably be a while before that happens."

"A banquet? What banquet? I'll sit at the kids' table." Always eager to join in the fun, 369 grinned and joined in. Although this trend had been somewhat strangely influenced by Roland's match, it was undeniable that Sett was a really popular champion when he first came out; even he had become addicted to playing him.

There's nothing a well-intentioned punch can't solve; if there is, then two punches will do the trick.

Of course, they said it was none of their business.

In reality, in the following matches, Roland continued to use the champion to aggressively roam and climb the ranks.

Since it's the beginning of the season and points aren't that important, plus the new hero has just been released, this is a good opportunity to study how to counter them. So most teams' strategy when facing TES is to let them play one game and ban the other, then simulate various lineups to counter them.

That's what competition is all about.

No strategy can be used indefinitely (except for the four-protect-one strategy). It only took a few more games because Sett is a new champion. If it were an old champion, other teams would have figured out this strategy by the next day.

It doesn't matter, Sett's strength can't be hidden. Rather than letting other teams figure it out slowly, it's better for him to use it now and make a name for himself.

Roland has now been dubbed the "Professional Set-Up Master," a title that sounds like the embodiment of male boxing. Roland often laughs in his sleep. At least until the "Muscle Golden Wheel" emerges in a year or so, as long as he doesn't deliberately court disaster or have an extreme blunder on the field, he should be able to hold onto this title for a while.

Thinking of this, he took out his phone again.

【exist? 】

【what?】

[When are you coming? If you don't come soon, you'll lose your place in the team. If you're late, you'll just be my lackey, serving me tea and water. Or you can get used to calling me Brother Lan beforehand. It's the same pronunciation as your former support, so it'll save you the trouble of changing and getting used to it again.]

Get lost!

After teasing Ah Shui as usual, Roland started counting the time on his fingers. According to the original world's timeline, Ah Shui announced his joining TES around April, and the current time is the end of January, which means there are less than two months left.

Indeed, Roland genuinely hoped he would come soon.

Although I had a lot of complaints about P-Emperor's past life, we got along quite well in this life. The only problem is that P-Emperor can't raise the floor or ceiling of the bot lane.

It's the beginning of the season, and most of the key players haven't returned yet, plus they're all training new players. They can still play well when they come off the field. If they encounter a fully-equipped veteran team, their bot lane will be feeding kills. Unless the entire team suddenly goes into overdrive, they're guaranteed to get crushed.

There was no other way; compared to this tiny bit of camaraderie, he still hoped Ah Shui would come.

After all, who would want to play center (C) if they could ride on someone else's coattails?

The Spring Split in this life is slightly different from the one in the previous life. In the previous life, the Spring Split was suspended for a whole month in February. In this life, the LPL matches did not stop, but they were played one game a day.

Although the schedule has been extended, the ample time allowed for a huge amount of room for adjustment throughout the Spring Split, ensuring that viewers staying at home could watch matches every day.

In mid-February, after being tested by several relatively weak teams, TES finally faced their first formidable opponent: IG.

Upon seeing this team, 369 immediately frowned.

"Hey, Ka-bro."

"what?"

"Next game, can we stay on the road?"

"???"

There was nothing 369 could do; looking at the top laner advertised in IG's promotional materials, he admitted he simply couldn't beat him. At that time, IG's lineup consisted of: TheShy (top), Soraka (jungle), Rookie (mid), and the Nanfu duo (bot). Could this be considered IG's strongest lineup in S10? (Probably).

Let's not even talk about the rookie; before Season 11, he was the eternal carry.

Let's take a look at TheShy. His top lane laning is ridiculously bad, his solo lane dominance is ridiculously brainless, and anyone can gank him and kill him. That's TheShy. You can say that he played very poorly in S10 overall, but you can't say that he was bad at the game.

369 is in a bind because at this point in IG's game, they've started playing ranged champions against melee champions. If their jungler doesn't come to help, 369 will definitely be crushed and might even get completely dominated in lane.

"What's there to be cowardly about? It's just a long-range top laner. You can switch lanes with Knight." Roland, always eager for a good show, was quite amused, especially since this monster wasn't in the bottom lane.

"Just enjoy it. I've heard the Ren Nanfu team is pretty strong too."

"So what if they're strong? In the bot lane, everyone has a ranged AD carry paired with an initiator support. They won't be like you, getting outmatched by a ranged carry. It's not a big problem."

"Ah this"

Despite the formidable presence of IG's two carries and the strong start of the season for the new Nanfu duo, Roland believes that the one who truly dictates IG's rhythm is actually the heavily criticized Shoe King.

Yes, although we often joke that IG could win even if their jungler had a dog on a leash if they had advantages in all three lanes, IG's problem is that when Ning is ahead, the whole team is ahead; but when Ning is not doing well, IG's rhythm is bound to fall apart.

Judging from the rhythm alone, Ning is basically the key figure who determines the outcome of IG's game.

However, in reality, due to IG's overly chaotic playstyle and the buff that makes them even stronger when there are fewer players, IG can often break out of an economic disadvantage and force an advantageous team fight, thus masking this major problem.

Therefore, everyone who saw this team, TES, was in a bind.

If you study him, he doesn't play by the rules; he might suddenly pull off a 3v5 team fight and turn the tide. But if you don't study him, he can really be a force to be reckoned with when he gets ahead, especially since TES is currently having some issues with their mid-to-late game.

There was no other way but to bite the bullet and go for it.

First Encounter: Chapter 47: Our approach to last-hitting minions is all about fate.

The following day, as the match time approached again, the TES team began to tense up. 369, in particular, was now wearing a forced smile.

The name of a person, the shadow of a tree, plus the fact that he was once beaten and became withdrawn, means that 369 is now, in a sense, truly traumatized by Shy Man, even though Shy Man is always "acting up" on a daily basis.

"Don't be nervous, bro. I'll teach you a way to definitely beat him in lane."

"What? Forget about long-range top laners and head-to-head matchups, I'm not as good at the details as him."

"Idiot, if you can't beat a ranged top laner, you can pick a ranged AD or mid laner. I have Syndra, who can defeat Lucian. Why don't you consider it?"

"If he dares to choose that, I'll kill you first." White Crescent stood behind the contestants with a pained expression, feeling a chill run down his spine as he listened to their conversation.

This is fucking ridiculous.

If you really think this is ranked play, why pick Syndra? You might as well let him pick Teemo top, at least that's easier to learn than Syndra.

【Here it comes! Here it comes!】

【ignb!】

[Go Cat!]

[A senior colonel is awesome! He commands respect wherever he sits in management class—that's the charm of a senior colonel!]

Before the match even started, the online chat was already buzzing with excitement thanks to the commentators. The commentators for this match were Da Xiao and Mao Huang, two of the "Three Musketeers of Onmyoji"—one known for his ability to heal anyone to die, and the other for his sarcastic and unpredictable remarks. Just the fact that these two were commentating together at this particular time was enough to generate massive viewership for the match.

"Hey, Cat Emperor, what do you think of TES's new support player?" Guan Ge knew what everyone wanted to see, so he immediately launched an attack on Cat Emperor.

"Of course I support it! I still have high hopes for A-Ban."

"As everyone knows, TES has only played a few games at the beginning of the season, and A-Ban already has two MVPs. I'm sure Cat Emperor has a lot to say to such a junior, right?"

"No...you're messing with me again...In my version, it was hard for supports to get MVP, okay? Look at this version, supports are all about initiating team fights and grabbing exposure, it's the same thing, okay?" Hearing Guan Ge talk about this, Cat Emperor could only quickly change the subject to shift the focus. After all, talking about other things was fine, but when it came to the season MVP, Cat Emperor was really at a loss.

Of course, these are all just for the sake of creating entertainment. S10 was the year with the most sarcastic remarks and tearing each other apart, and even the commentators were not immune.

Fortunately, their rambling didn't last long, and soon the competition officially began.

First round of bans:

IG: Elise, Irelia, Sett

TES: Kalista, Lucian, Rumble

The bans in the first round were mostly based on respect for the bans and the version bans. The only ban was Irelia, which made White Crescent think that the opponent might be going to build some kind of AP mid laner. After thinking it over, he symbolically banned Rumble.

One round of PICK:

IG: Aphelios, Syndra, Thresh

TES: Titan, Senna, Jayce

There's not much to say; TES was determined to help 369 overcome his fear in this game. The fact that Senna and Nautilus were picked meant that the bot lane had essentially surrendered, a move that left IG's coach completely dumbfounded.

God knows how many options he made before the game to counter the opposing support's various choices, but once the game started, you're telling me that your job this time is to be a slacker and a teamfight initiator?

That's too much trouble.

Second round bans: Zoe, Sejuani, Jarvan IV, Olaf

Equivalent exchange.

If you get Thresh and Aphelios, which have the highest margin for error, then you have to suffer in other positions. TES simply banned all the junglers in the current meta except Gragas, forcing Ning to pick Zac.

In their fourth and fifth picks, IG chose Zac and Gnar, while TES opted for Gragas and LeBlanc.

Both teams' lineups

IG: Top lane Gnar, Jungle Zac, Mid lane Syndra, Bot lane Aphelios + Thresh

TES: Top lane Jayce, Jungle Gragas, Mid lane LeBlanc, Bot lane Nautilus + Senna

At the start of the game, both junglers started normally, showing no intention of causing any trouble. Since the bot lane consisted of two mediocre players, Karsa would focus more on the top lane, leaving the bot lane to fend for themselves.

Unfortunately, it's not that Roland doesn't want to fight the other side, but the coach feels that their bottom lane is a bit unstable. They might get crushed in lane against the recently popular Nanfu duo.

At this point, you really have to admire the IG team.

This team seems to really like nurturing and buying new players. And every time a new player comes in, they always perform exceptionally well in the first month or two, and are often seen as players who could become geniuses with just a little more effort.

However, in reality, they are only useful when they are first purchased.

In the original world's Spring Split, the Nanfu duo were undoubtedly IG's saviors.

But the further we went, the more outrageous it became.

At his most outrageous moment, Puff was even brutally beaten by P-Emperor in ranked matches. Nanfeng fared similarly, ultimately losing his spot back to Baolan.

All I can say is that fate is playing tricks on us.

In this game, Roland didn't have much to do in the early game. The combination of Titan and Senna was a tanky, pressure-resistant combination that was neither able to kill the opponent nor be killed by them, making it a very sneaky one.

The Nanfu duo never expected that the opposing player, nicknamed "Husky" for his support role, would choose such a combination. In their eyes, TES had essentially cut off their own arm.

However...

In just the first few minutes of the game, IG's disadvantage in the top, mid, and jungle positions became apparent.