Chapter 251 - First Playoff Game, Rock Climbing Team

April 2016, 8, sunny.

Hongqiao Tiandi Performing Arts Center.

For many people, today is Saturday, a weekend away, a rare opportunity for leisure.

But for League of Legends players who are focused on the game, there is a semi-final match today that cannot be missed.

IG vs. WE.

There is no need to say much about the relationship between these two teams. They have been rivals as early as S2.

For a long time, WE's mid and jungle helped the bottom lane expand its advantage, and the ADC stepped up to dominate the battle in the mid-term.

The top laner is the position that can withstand pressure.

But IG is just the opposite.

Their top, mid and jungle are the core.

WE has always suppressed IG in major competitions, which has led to the LPL's tradition of focusing on the lower half.

The special guests for today's game are Smile, who was once recognized as the world's No. 2 ADC in S, and...

PDD.

"Welcome to the 2016 LPL Summer Season semi-finals, I am the commentator Ze Yuan.

"Hey guys, I'm PDD!"

"Hello everyone, I'm Smile!"

Smiling, dressed in a suit and tie, stood in the commentary booth looking a little stiff.

"Is this your first time as a guest commentator? Unlike PDD, who has commented on many games, the two of you are the core players of the old WE and old IG. Now seeing ten completely different players representing IG and WE on the court, you must have a lot of emotions in your heart."

Ze Yuan, as the controller, took the initiative to ease the atmosphere and make Wei Xiao less nervous. After asking this question and getting Wei Xiao's nod of "yes", Ze Yuan continued: "As a former professional player, what do you think of this game?"

"It depends on their performance." Wei Xiao said: "IG's recent strength and status, not to mention me, many active players can't understand it, while WE's recent status is getting better and better, especially Mystic, his current performance is completely different from the beginning of the season."

Mystic, a Korean player, also joined LPL during the Korean player craze last year.

However, unlike Pwan and Deft, who became famous before coming to LPL, Mystic was unknown in the LCK local league. When he first joined WE, his performance and strength could only be regarded as a second-rate ADC player in the league. With WE's training and resource allocation, he gradually grew up.

This spring, Mystic gradually became one of the top ADC players in the LPL and won recognition from many viewers and commentators.

In the summer, his performance and strength reached a new level.

What is missing is only the accumulation of honor.

In addition to the growth of brother-in-law, WE's domestic top, mid and jungle players have also performed well recently. Top laner 957 is the stable backbone of the team, known as "Brother Legs". Jungle Dragon's Son, his unique skill of stealing dragons is well-known in the LPL. Mid laner Xiye and RNG's Xiaohu are regarded as the twin stars of domestic mid laners.

But after participating in the Olympics, Xiye has surpassed Xiaohu and become the new generation leader of domestic midfielders.

Especially after LGD failed to make the playoffs and rumors spread that Wei Shen would retire and switch to H1Z1, Xiye has become the light of hope for the domestic mid laner.

The strength of the entire WE team has been significantly improved in S6.

This is inseparable from the guidance of Coach Homme who joined WE this year.

In the early days of domestic e-sports, the team coaches were just takeout orderers and knew nothing about League of Legends.

But the dominance of LCK has slapped all of this in the face. Their mature coaching system makes the team's playing style clear and organized, just like an army.

A team without a coaching staff is like a rootless team with no foundation at all.

Homme is really good at coaching.

His achievements in history are as follows:
2014年三星S4冠军、2015年LGD的LPL夏季赛冠军、2016年带领保级队VG打入世界赛的预选赛、2017年WE战队的LPL春季赛冠军，2018年带领JDG跻身LPL前三，19年的春天更是让JDG差点上演黑八奇迹。

Without him, LGD's expansion in the World Championship exploded.

Without him, the players' performance in WE plummeted.

With him, JDG is heading from a relegation team to the LPL champion.

It can be seen from the control variable method that champion coaches are really good.

A similar example is IG’s champion coach Kim Jeong-soo during the S8 period.

"In other words, King, are you more optimistic about WE?" PDD asked with a smile.

No, no, no." Xiaoxiao shook his head and said, "I am still more optimistic about IG."

"Oh? Why?" Guan Zeyuan asked with interest.

"Because they have won many championships, it would not be surprising to win another one."

"Wow, you, you support IG, but who should I support?"

PDD said in surprise, and the audience burst into laughter.

The statement of smiling coincides with that of many contestants.

Only professional players know how much psychological pressure they have to bear when playing games, especially when facing a championship trophy that they have never won. The pressure will be infinitely magnified. On the contrary, after winning a championship, the mentality will be completely different.

The players’ enemies on the field are sometimes not just their opponents, but more often themselves.

besides……

"Moreover, Yuan Shen has never lost a BO5 since joining IG." Wei Xiao said seriously: "He is the kind of player who is very envious of professional players. The bigger the stage, the better his condition is."

"So what do you think the score will be today?" Guan Zeyuan continued to ask.

"Three to two, WE is still very strong now." He said with a smile.

"I think it's three to zero," said PDD.

"Then I'll bet 3 to !"

As soon as Guan Zeyuan finished speaking, the BanPick of this semi-final officially began.

The exciting BP music sounded. In the first game, WE drew the right to choose the side and chose the red side.

The three-hand ban was quickly finalized.

IG on the blue side banned Tam, Morgana, and Olaf.

WE on the red side banned Ryze, Jhin, and Alistar.

"Oh my god, the vampire is released!!"

Ze Yuan and PDD said in unison.

"In the last version, the effect of Vampire's enhanced Q was weakened. This hit hurts a lot, which may be why WE felt it was okay to release it."

"Will IG choose this side?"

The three of them stared expectantly at the blue side's first floor.

But unfortunately, IG finally grabbed the T1-level mid-lane hero of this version.

Taliyah.

WE locked in Lee Sin and Ashe, who have recently become popular again.

IG followed closely behind and took down the bottom lane duo of Lucian and Thresh.

“Hmm…” In the WE player booth, Homme looked at IG’s casting and fell into deep thought.

It is understandable to ban Olaf, as he is a strong choice in this version.

But banning Tam and Morgana is a bit weird.

In recent games, everything revolves around the bottom lane, so the mainstream players are carnivorous junglers and strong supports in the early stages of the game.

Zyra, Malzahar, Nami...these heroes have become the new supports in the arena.

Tam and Morgana are at best T2 level supports, why should they be banned?
The common feature of these two auxiliary heroes is that they are immune to control and have strong protective capabilities.

Homme analyzed this.

But this is useless. Nowadays, all professional games are focusing on the bottom lane. At most, we can analyze that IG may want to use a stable control combo lineup to train their bottom lane, so the support that can be immune to control is banned.

"Take Braum and LeBlanc." Hoome finally made the decision

Leblanc is the counter to Taliyah.

In the Olympic finals, the development of Mala Xiangguo's jungle Taliyah made this hero have the possibility of swing.

But it doesn’t matter. Even if she is not facing Taliyah, with her strength in the mid lane, she will not be afraid of any mainstream mid laner.

Homme thought his analysis was comprehensive and showed a confident smile on his face.

But the next moment, he was dumbfounded.

Not only him, but also the commentary booth and the audience seats, all of them burst into uproar.

It’s all because IG’s last two hero choices were too unexpected and too... shaky.

The Rage Knight, Kled. The Lord of War, Pantheon.

Lucian and Thresh will definitely go down.

But the question is, among the three heroes Pantheon, Taliyah, and Kled, who plays mid, who plays top, and who plays jungle?

IG's top, mid and jungle made everyone dizzy.

Originally, the two swings of Taliyah being able to switch to jungle and Kled being able to switch to mid lane were already eye-catching. Now with the addition of Pantheon, the degree of swing has suddenly risen from a swing in the park to a pirate ship in an amusement park.

Homme didn't know what the audience thought, but he felt like vomiting after being shaken.

Taliyah and Kled are not new.

The focus is on Pantheon.

This prototype is a Spartan tough guy, who is an unpopular hero in the arena and a popular hero with a high win rate for Rabk.

In terms of positioning, he can be used in the top or mid lane. In last year's regular season, EDG's Pwan played a mid lane Pantheon and won.

The jungle Pantheon became the mainstream version for a period of time in the S4 period. The famous scenes of level Pantheon and level Mantis appeared during this period.

The third generation pot king who takes the blame was born.

Royal Club's jungler insec once used jungler Pantheon as his secret weapon in the S4 World Championship.

Of course, if we consider the casual games as well, Pantheon seems to be able to play as a support.

An auxiliary with shield and control, nothing wrong with it.

This understanding is many years ahead of the previous version.

Homme has a headache.

IG's choice of mid and jungle is really flexible.

Originally, the red team's BP advantage lies in flexibility and counter-attack.

As a result, the opponent's lineup was more flexible than theirs and could not be targeted.

Considering IG's development capabilities, he couldn't help but think of several more possibilities. He felt that the possibility of Taliyah being the top laner and Kled being the jungler should also be taken into consideration.

"Ah, this damn swing!!"

"Coach, which hero should I choose?" asked top laner 957, looking a little confused.

After Khan returned to China, he became the only top laner of WE and secured the starting position.

He also performed very well in the regular season, and when Xiye left, he became a stable carry for WE.

I have to say that Homme’s ability to coach the top laner is quite good.

But this time, he couldn't do it.

Which hero should I play?

"...Take Gnar." Homme said.

Since its launch, the hero Gnar has immediately become a panacea for the top lane position in professional competitions.

The hero that the top laner is good at is banned?

Don't know what to play when you first choose a hero?
Then choose Gnar.

Like Kennen, not only does he have no natural enemies in laning phase, he also has control and tankiness.

Like Clockwork, it has become a universal choice that can be used in any situation.

No matter how the opponent shakes his hands, whether facing Taliyah, Kled or Pantheon, Gnar will not suffer any loss.

According to the rules of professional competitions, after the players are selected and the countdown reaches 20 seconds, the routes must be determined.

However, before the 20-second countdown, you can change positions as many times as you want without breaking the rules.

I saw that Yuan Shen got Pantheon one after another, Kled Taliyah the next, and even Lucian and Thresh were moved to the jungle position, which was very frustrating.

Kled as jungler, this choice has been speculated before, but Yuan Shen has never played it.

But the remaining jungles of Pantheon, Taliyah, and Lucian have precedents!!

WE-Xiye: "Stop it, Yuan Shen!"

IG-Rookie: "Get used to his flirtation."

WE-957: "TheShy, I guess you don't dare to pick Thresh against me."

IG-TheShy: “Shoutu, come on.”

In the customized chat box of the game server, WE players joked one after another, saying that since it was a text exchange without malicious sarcasm, it did not violate any rules and the referee would not stop it.

But after TheShy finished speaking, everyone in WE fell silent.

“They seem angry…”

Xiao Ming guessed cautiously.

"Why? Didn't Shoutu praise the other team for playing well?"

TheShy tilted his head with a puzzled look on his face.

This is how Yuan Shen and Rookie explained it before. Zzitai wanted this evaluation, but he was reluctant to give it to him.

Because the fighting posture is really not Shoutu.

……

After IG's final playful swing and substitution, the lineups of both teams were finalized.

And IG's lineup has also been completely finalized.

“IG Blue Side:
Top laner TheShy: Rage Knight - Kled
Jungler Yuanshen: Rock Bird - Taliyah

Mid laner Rookie: Lord of War - Pantheon
Bottom lane JackeyLove: Holy Lance Ranger - Lucian

Support Ming: Soul Chain Warden - Thresh
WE Red Side:
Top 957: Lost Fang - Gnar
Jungler Condi: Lee Sin
Mid laner Xiye: Leblanc

Bottom lane Mystic: Ice Archer - Ashe
Support Ben: Braum, the Heart of the Freljord."

There was enthusiastic cheering at the scene.

Unexpectedly, IG came up with new tricks in the first game of the semi-finals.

This immediately raised everyone's expectations for the semi-final.

Today's LPL games have attracted a lot of attention, not only in China, but also in major regions around the world, people are paying attention to this game.

People are curious, can IG still maintain its former dominance after its ups and downs in the regular season and being repeatedly targeted by Riot designers?
If IG wins this game and advances to the LPL Summer Finals, they will get the first ticket to the S League.

In other words, the guaranteed number two seed is also there.

On the contrary, if IG loses this semi-final, they will have to go to the bubble match to compete with others for the third seed.

In any case, everything will be revealed in this BO5.

"Go, go, go!"

As soon as the game entered Summoner's Rift, Yuan Shen took command.

"Duck rush!"

Jack and Xiao Ming are also very impressive, and they always have a lot of fun when they are together.

Whether in a company or in a class, there can never be a lack of members who can create such an active atmosphere, otherwise the team atmosphere will be dull and lack of motivation.

Rookie's Pantheon took the lead, leading the entire IG army to attack and rush towards the opponent's lower jungle area.

On the WE side, they formed a long snake formation. When Ben, who was guarding the bottom, saw the IG army coming in, he quickly placed a ward on the spot and turned around and left.

WE's lineup includes Braum, the king of level one team fights.

But IG's lineup's ability to fight in the first level is also excellent, with Pantheon and Thresh's stable control, and Taliyah's strong combat ability at level 1...

The main problem was that WE did not intend to take advantage of Braum's strength to actively invade, nor did they expect the opponent to actively invade, so the personnel were scattered and they lost the initiative. They could not take on this level one team fight and could only avoid it temporarily.

This is not WE’s fault.

The first-level group fight is too unstable. Even if you choose a strong hero, there is no guarantee that you can win the first-level group fight. No matter how strong the players are individually, they cannot make any waves in the first-level group fight.

The most taboo thing about Korean-style operations is uncontrollability.

Therefore, the stronger the operational capabilities of a team, the less likely they are to actively engage in level one group fights.

The two Samsung giants of S4 told the world what "operation" is.

Under the guidance of Homme, the three-star champion coach, WE has also become a team proficient in operations.

WE's avoidance allowed IG to easily occupy the red side's lower jungle area.

(End of this chapter)