You actually want me to...

[I haven't watched any matches in a few years. Can anyone tell me who TES is?]

It's hard to describe, but you can think of it as the nemesis of LCK teams.

Bro, check out TES, the undisputed god of international competition.

Whether in the past or present, TES ranks first in the LPL in terms of win rate against foreign teams. Of course, this first place does not mean the highest number of games won or lost in foreign competitions, because some teams have played many foreign competitions and thus accumulated their wins gradually. However, if we divide the total number of games won into the total number of games, TES is definitely the one with the highest percentage.

It's no exaggeration to call them international champions, especially JKL from his previous life, who almost always lost to his own team.

They lost to FPX in the semifinals of the S9 World Championship, lost to SN in the semifinals of the S10 World Championship, and indeed flopped in S11 by losing to LNG. As for S12... all I can say is to look forward to it. Even if you don't look at their record or don't like this team, you will definitely enjoy watching them play. This team is truly amazing, and their ability to dominate weaker opponents is unparalleled in the LPL. In short, it's entertaining.

"I reckon there are a lot of people out there hoping we'll win this round, guys, what do you think?"

Back in his familiar seat, Roland glanced at his brother to the side, and more importantly, at Ueno on the far side, before laughing and teasing, "Still praying to your damn God, huh? That thing is useless here. In these sensitive times, even God can't get a visa. Why don't you try the Gatling gun I recommended to you before?"

"Go away, it's just for psychological comfort. What kind of nonsense is this Gatling Bodhisattva?"

Hearing Roland's teasing, Harold withdrew his hands from his prayer position, returned to normal mode, and asked, "I'm curious, how did you overcome this psychological barrier when it was your turn last year? Don't tell me you didn't have any reaction at all."

"Well... actually, there is."

To prevent Roland from causing trouble, JKL took the initiative to speak up this time.

Last year, because he had already won the championship, he didn't feel much. Knight, it seems, was provoked by Roland. Honestly, Knight, with his idiotic brain that can be easily fooled by internet celebrities, really couldn't withstand Roland's smooth talk. On the contrary, Roland himself, if he remembers correctly...

"Didn't you bring your mousepad today?"

“Yes, because I feel something’s different today, maybe I don’t need that anymore.” Roland wasn’t surprised that JKL noticed his mousepad, and answered him quite calmly. “Not only did I not bring it, I even brought an extra one, thinking I’d find a chance to give it to him if I won.”

"Fan benefits?"

"No... if there really is such a thing as destiny, perhaps I would prefer to call it: passing on the flame."

The conversation between the two left the other three completely bewildered. Just as they were about to ask, the fourth game of the BO5 semifinals of the S-series started with great fanfare. Helpless, they had no choice but to temporarily abandon this topic and refocus their attention on the game itself.

First round of bans:

DK: Lee Sin, Nami, Gragas

TES: Cat, Cards, Aphelios

Although DK really wanted to give their third ban to a meta hero, the current situation just feels too familiar.

I still remember the first two BO5s, which were also do-or-die matches and match point games. The opposing support player, Roland, used this Gragas to forcefully break through their absolute defense. This kind of thing, which can cause psychological panic in players at crucial moments, is something that Li Hong will never give the opponent any chance to use.

Okay, now the things left outside are quite interesting.

The top lane carries Graves, Kennen, and Jayce; the jungle carries Jarvan IV, Xin Zhao, and Poppy; the mid lane carries LeBlanc and Lissandra; the bot lane carries include Ziggs, Senna and Tahm Kench, and even Jhin + Rakan and Varus + engage comps. And that's not all; there's also the flex pick Lucian to choose from.

It's time to test your hero pool!

One round of PICK:

DK: Graves (one-shot) + Ziggs and Leona

TES: Crystal Maiden + Rakan (first and second picks) + Xayah

Although the red side won the first three games, they did have a disadvantage in the draft phase. With Graves, a versatile hero, being picked first by the opponent, the opponent could counter almost all of TES's choices. This meant that every choice TES made had to be based on the meta and anticipate the opponent's picks.

Luo forced the opposing Ghost King to not dare to pick Jhin, and also predicted in advance that the opponent would settle for Ziggs, and then dismantled the most ruthless Ziggs-Luo system played by DK. As for why LeBlanc was not picked in the mid lane, it was because there were too many restrictions.

If you give it to Malzahar, Crystal Maiden, or even Death Knight, it's easy to also counter Rakan.

The options available in Season 11 were so limited that Roland was not given any choice at all in the support role. Faced with a vast array of meta heroes, even he had to give way to the meta.

Second round of bans: Kennen, Jayce, Qiyana, and Talon were all banned.

DK helped Khan create space for development in the top lane, while TES continued to target Canyon's heroes throughout the patch. At this time, the junglers who were out of the game were Jarvan IV, Poppy, and Xin Zhao. Picking Jarvan IV and Xin Zhao would be like feeding Conter, and picking Poppy would be something Haro didn't really know how to play. After struggling for a while, Haro finally decided to follow his heart.

TES's fourth pick: Jungler - Fryego!

DK was a little stunned, but quickly locked in the Prince + Syndra combination. In the match point game, Xu Xiu did not dare to pick Zoe, and LeBlanc was clearly being defended by the enemy Lissandra. So he simply went for Prince and Syndra and forced a mid-jungle synergy.

finally:

DK lineup: Top - Graves, Jungle - Jarvan IV, Mid - Syndra, Bot - Ziggs + Leona

This is a lineup that DK is quite satisfied with. Whether it's initiating team fights, kiting, lane switching, or split pushing, it has its strengths.

And so... all eyes turned to TES's final pick.

Actually.

Those familiar with TES had already guessed who it would be, when even the jungler started searching for heroes to trust.

The same applies to top laners.

This place truly awakened the fighting spirit within everyone, so it would have been a shame if I hadn't given it my all.

TES was the last choice.

Gwen the Spirit Doll, successfully locked on!

Final Chapter: Chapter Sixty-Seven: He Was in Charge of Stirring Up the Fire

"Gwen, it really is Gwen?"

"TES' lineup this game, although very TES-like, doesn't it feel a bit too late-game oriented?"

In the commentary booth, the commentators looked at TES's lineup and fell into deep thought. Unlike usual, at a glance, TES's lineup in this game had almost no one who could carry the team in the early game.

Top lane Gwent, jungle Blade of the Ruined King, mid lane Lissandra, bot lane Xayah and Rakan

All of them are heroes who need at least one Mythic item to get going, while DK's side looks a bit more comfortable. At least the Prince is more inclined to gank in the early game, and the Leona and Ziggs in the bottom lane can also get into a rhythm more easily.

But... these are also the heroes that TES's top and jungle players are most proficient with.

"Trust TES, okay? Since they dared to take it like that, they must have been mentally prepared."

"Yes, let's turn our attention back to the match point game. Whether the rumors of the blue side's winning percentage can be completely put to rest depends on today's game!"

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the camera finally switched to the game.

In this game, DK's jungler adopted a defensive strategy, while TES's jungler adopted an offensive strategy.

Very simple.

Fryego is not a hero who is more inclined to gank in the early game. You can even think of him as a farming jungler. As long as you can defend your jungle in the early game and prevent him from stealing your jungle camps, you will have an advantage in the early game.

Considering that the prince himself has a need to set the pace, it's almost a non-issue for Canyon to do both of these things well at the same time.

But at the very least, you still need to prioritize defensive positioning and warding with trinket items in the early game.

TES doesn't have many ideas here. The main problem is that they have little level 1 crowd control and low damage. They're not as mobile as LeBlanc. You can't expect Knight and Lissandra to learn E, go in, place a ward, and then E out, right? The lane will be ruined.

"In the early game, it's all up to fate. As long as you don't get caught and killed, that's a success, okay?"

Roland was at his wit's end.

With a combination like Ziggs and Leona, if they picked Draven and any support, Roland was confident he could completely crush the enemy bot lane. But this time, Rakan couldn't be given to them. Unlike the first game where the bot lane was completely dominated, the enemy didn't pick Graves in the first game and mainly focused on the top side of the map. Now, they've picked Graves and can completely ignore the top lane. If they give Rakan to the enemy, Roland can't even imagine how many times the bot lane will get ganked.

"I think as long as you don't get worked up, there shouldn't be any major problems."

"No... what does this have to do with me? Everything I, Roland, do is for the sake of the team, don't slander me."

"Yes, yes, I almost believed it."

If we compare the rhythm of a team to running, and everyone likes to listen to music while running to maintain the rhythm, then most teams play the kind of upbeat music suitable for fitness. But this guy is different. Given his personality, he might add something like "Chu Ren Mei" to the team's music library and tell you that this music is very good, not only for running, but also for playing games, it's very exciting, and it even helps with sleep.

Then...as everyone listened, they started running faster and faster.

Yes, that's what this thing is used for—providing fire.

However, in order to create some entertainment value, Roland did bring some rather special items, such as predators.

Unfortunately, there are no shoes for him right now, and he can't possibly start the game with bare shoes, so this thing is just for show. It's undeniable that Leona is indeed strong in early-game fighting and her damage output is higher than the AD carry's in the early game, but your AD carry is a Ziggs.

Two heroes with burst damage can threaten the opponent; if they activate their abilities, the opponent is instantly killed.

When a hero with explosive power and an inconsistent output are combined, the threat level is greatly reduced.

Roland didn't think it was a big problem. He even took advantage of his 300 attack range to bully the level 1 Leona with a 125 attack range, hitting her with two big punches without any politeness.

"Speed ​​2, Speed ​​2, this little advantage is useless."

JKL glanced at the guy's actions and quickly stopped his fancy waste of energy. Luo's level 1 attack power is only 62. He can take four or five hits and it will only take one potion. There is really no need to put effort into it.

"No rush, the minion waves haven't gathered together yet."

Only after all the minions were in position did he use his W skill to lift both minions and enemies, then landed, retreated, drew aggro, and emerged from the bushes.

Why not learn Q?

Because it's unnecessary. In this game, both sides will likely level up to level two at the same time. Against a champion like Leona who can initiate team fights, the WQ skill build is far less effective than the WE skill build in the early game. As for why...

Because WE is not good on the field, it must be good in other areas, such as adding skill points.

This is the legendary law of conservation of usefulness (just kidding).

Okay, the reality is that for a champion like Ziggs with such unreliable damage output, if the enemy Leona dares to engage, Rakan can use his E to return to Xayah's side and trigger Xayah's W skill to leave feathers. This is far more useful than his own Q, which only deals 70 damage. Again, the strength of Xayah lies in the fact that when she is your lane opponent, it is really difficult for you to predict the opponent's burst damage based on the feathers.

Ironically, this uncertainty is most fatal when facing a bottom lane duo known for their aggressive playstyle.

This is precisely why the Ghost King's advantages are evident.

That is, when he was extremely clear that he was definitely no match for his opponent, all his threatening actions were to help him develop better. As for fighting? That was impossible.

Ghost King's strategy in this game was to farm, farm, and farm some more, waiting until he became strong enough to settle scores with his teammates.

Think about it too.

For a country like South Korea, which has almost no self-armed forces, the fear of insufficient firepower is probably not much less than ours. The only difference is that we can build our own firepower if we lack it, while they can only desperately build it up in movies.

In reality, mold rules kimchi; in movies, kimchi rules mold. Everyone does their own thing.

In the jungle, the two junglers were scheming against each other, but they didn't actually make many moves.

After all, with the top lane being pushed back, the mid laner able to escape using E, and the bottom lane losing tempo, Canyon had almost no ganking opportunities in the early game and could only farm and prepare for counter-invasion. As for the bottom lane, Roland, during this rare period of peace, did nothing but occasionally exchange a few aggressive exchanges with the opposing Genshin Impact player, and the two sides would exchange friendly communication and throw out a potion or two.

Oh, there are some.

For example, how to successfully steal minions from the lane unintentionally. Even professional players will always make mistakes when last-hitting, and naturally, they will be the ones to fill in those gaps to avoid wasting resources.

JKL also had some reservations about this.

"You kid, I've never seen you last hit this well before. How come you're so skilled at last hitting under the tower and missing these last hits? You're like a veteran esports financier."