Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 238 When fortune smiles, heaven and earth lend their strength; when fortune turns, even heroes are powerless.

After that gank, the South Korean team's rhythm completely collapsed.

Not only that, the bottom lane tower has also fallen.

With a significant advantage across the board, the duo moved to the mid lane to farm, Twisted Fate went to farm with the top lane Gangplank, and Shen continued to push the bottom lane alone with the Rift Herald. The Korean team was in a terrible state defending.

This one-sided situation is reminiscent of the LPL's top seed dominating a former relegation team, a scenario many LPL fans never dreamed of, especially considering the previous game was a comeback victory. How did this game turn out like a dream come true?
Even the three commentators looked completely bewildered, and even Miller, who had a deep understanding of the game, started stammering.

This situation is too bizarre!
Only a few professional analysts, especially the analysts and coaches of various teams who are outside the game, can vaguely sense the reasons behind this.

The draft trap and the players' good form are secondary issues. Kkoma seems to have made a big mistake. In such a star-studded game, he shouldn't have entrusted the carry role to Deft!

The current Korean team's tactical focus is too vague. Since Kkoma picked a lineup centered around Xayah and Rakan in the pre-match draft, he shouldn't have given Smeb Gangplank.

Right now, if Faker and Peanut lose their way, the Xayah-Rakan duo will become a hindrance to them.

This tactical style also reminded these analysts of the LPL in the past.

Historically, S5 and S6 were the darkest two years for LPL, and also the two years when Korean-style operation and the Korean import craze were most prevalent. The whole world was learning the Korean team's playstyle, and among them, LPL was the region with the most Korean imports and the deepest degree of assimilation.

Undeniably, the Korean style of play has indeed brought a lot of help to the LPL region, helping it through its most primitive stage. However, many players who came from the early days have also lost their original flair as a result.

Many viewers, like the commentators, can perceive the transformation of LPL teams, but when asked to articulate it, they can't.

The most striking reason is that many people praise the LCK region every year. Ultimately, it's because the LCK region can drag a game out to 40 minutes, and even after 50 minutes, there are only 10 kills. In contrast, the LPL region often can't keep up with the kill count.

Naturally, some people believe that the LCK region is a battle of gods, with everyone making very few mistakes, resulting in fewer kills, while the LPL is a battle of weaklings. In their view, only teams with high mistake rates would have so many kills.

When the two sides clashed, it was discovered that LCK's style was completely outmatched by LPL.

At this moment, many analysts finally appreciated the charm of the LPL playstyle from the details of the Chinese team's lane rotations, support, and fights in the third game.

Time comes and the world has the same force, and it is not free to transport heroes.

In fact, this kind of gameplay and this kind of visual effect are exactly what the game developers want to see.

The South Korean team's playing style goes against the game developers' expectations. Whoever can best match the developers' desired playing style will win.

The way the Chinese team played in this round was simply because the players were in good form and happened to play a style that was more in line with the game's preset strategy, which led to the situation where they caught the Korean team off guard.

The bewildered Korean team deviated further from the current meta and strategy, naturally leading to their abandonment of victory and their increasing likelihood of losing the game.

After being beaten for ten minutes, the five members of the Korean team were still in a daze when the twenty-minute mark arrived. Their actions became increasingly erratic, and their last-hitting became more and more absurd.

"Good last hit, good last hit, Deft is really outrageous, has he even last hit the cannon minion this game?"

"To be honest, Smeb only has a little over 300 Silver Serpent Coins right now. How is this captain going to fight in raids?"

"Xiao Ming's wards are even placed right next to the Korean team's high ground. This is truly the third game of the finals, I'm dumbfounded."

Not only the commentators, but all the spectators who came to watch the match expecting it to be a close contest were stunned.

Despite the huge economic disparity and the team's erratic performance, even though the Chinese team made several obvious mistakes and lapses in judgment, the South Korean team failed to capitalize on these opportunities to launch an attack.

What they can do now is still the "Korean style" of play that they've been using for years: avoid fights, let the opponent develop, give up resources, build vision, wait for the opponent to make a mistake, and seize the opportunity to turn the game around.

Of course, without overwhelming equipment, the South Korean team's strenuous defense made it cost the Chinese team a lot of effort to advance and take down towers.

The situation seems to have stabilized for now. Seizing the opportunity, Faker and Peanut initiated a perfect team fight using their crowd control abilities. Rakan followed up with crowd control and killed Taliyah and Twisted Fate, who had no mobility skills.

If Xayah hadn't failed to deal damage, the Korean team would have really been able to seize the opportunity to tie the game.

Back and forth they went, and with the roar of the dragon echoing through the canyon, the battle between the two sides officially began.

20.01, Blue side South Korea, Red side China, economic gap 6400.

The Chinese team secured vision around the Baron pit almost immediately, giving the Korean team no chance to contest it.

But during this period, those who watched the game know that the economic gap of around 6,000 is actually a very subtle number.

With this economic disadvantage, if the opposing team recklessly engages in a head-on team fight, they will most likely be wiped out and lose Baron, bringing the economic gap between the two sides to 10,000. However, if the economically superior side tries to take Baron, the risk will be extremely high.

Once the losing side seizes an opportunity to wipe out the winning side and take down the Baron, the economic gap between the two sides will return to the same starting line.

Furthermore, given Galio and Rakan's combined fighting prowess at Baron Nashor, the risk of taking down the dragon is even higher.

Although the Korean team's mid laner Galio wasn't a wave-clearing monster like Xerath, Azir, Ziggs, or Orianna, the current version of Rakan, combined with Galio's Gangplank initiation, still put pressure on the Chinese team's offense.

The existence of Baron and Dragon is to help the losing side tie the game or help the winning side end the game.

If it were the factory manager, he probably wouldn't have chosen Baron in this wave, but the jungler at this moment is Xiangguo!

Almost instantly, the five members of the Chinese team assembled and began attacking Baron Nashor. With Taliyah and Kai'Sa, as well as Shen and Nautilus to tank damage, Baron Nashor was being attacked very quickly.

Of course, the South Korean team reacted quickly; almost five seconds after the Chinese team appeared online, a blue ward was deployed.

Even so, when Luo and the Blind Man charged forward, the Dragon, which had only 1 HP after 20 minutes, now had less than 4000 HP left and was about to be killed.

Peanut has to contest this dragon; he can't let it go.

If they manage to secure the dragon, there's still a chance to drag the game out. Once the captain and Xayah are strong enough, and they can't secure it, the control team with the Baron buff and such a huge economic advantage will basically have their game over.

The possibility of stealing the dragon is constantly changing, but fortunately, this player is playing Lee Sin. Even if he's behind in levels by Taliyah and his Smite damage is lower, the execution from his Q skill still makes it possible for him to secure the kill.
Snatching the dragon is possible in any situation; it's the place where miracles are most likely to happen.

Even though he knew that the opposing jungler was also good at stealing dragons, he still took the gamble!
But the Chinese team's reaction next left him dumbfounded.

The South Korean team can afford to gamble; it was a game they were destined to lose. The Chinese team has an economic advantage, and their lineup is much better than the last one, so they have every reason to drag it out.

The Baron Nashor can ruin a life. Before activating it, the group had already planned that it was just a feint; their real objective was...
Forced group!

The current Baron's health is so low that it can be easily wiped out with Smite in less than two seconds of damage output, so the Chinese team resolutely gave up on it.

The South Korean team consists of top professional players, so they naturally saw through the Chinese team's intentions at a glance.

They were anxious, extremely anxious.

But they dared not make any rash moves. Just then, Lee, who had remained calm and composed throughout the entire Korean team, took over the command.

The four members of the Korean team, except for the Lee Sin above the Dragon Pit, headed directly towards the river below the Dragon, determined to block the path from the Dragon to the mid lane.

However, this positioning became a disadvantage for the South Korean team.

Xiangguo activated his ultimate skill, blocking the path with rocks, completely cutting off the connection between the blind man and the other four members of the Korean team.

"Damn it, why are you shooting at me? There are four of them right in front of me!"

Little Peanut cursed under his breath and hurriedly scrambled and crawled away from the edge of the Big Dragon Pit.

However, how could one escape from such a place? The card player immediately activated his ultimate ability to find someone, and the moment he saw the blind man, he teleported to a very tight spot.

With a distance of two body lengths, either the Blind Monk could use W to kick away the Twisted Fate, or he could only watch as the Twisted Fate landed and pinned him down. He hesitated for a moment, and before he could react, the Blind Monk was pinned to the spot by the Twisted Fate.

The moment he was stunned, Kai'Sa used the passive effect caused by the card's control to fly over and deal high damage. Lee Sin couldn't even use his skills before being killed by Kai'Sa.

Before the Korean team could make the decision to sell their jungler, the Chinese team launched a second wave of attacks.

Taliyah, using her ultimate ability, flew with her head tilted to the side to the mid-lane tower, while Shen and Nautilus prepared to flank from the exit in front of the Korean team's tower.

How audacious!

"Shen and Nautilus, should we just flank and hold them down? Should we wait for Twisted Fate and Kai'Sa?!" Wawa roared, clearly extremely anxious.

"To be precise, the South Korean team's output wasn't enough."

"Their burst damage isn't enough!"

Miller stared intently at the screen as Shen and Titan emerged from behind, and Kai'Sa sprinted up from the flank.

Shen wasn't very fed this game, and his development was only average, even a bit behind, but this was because he let Taliyah farm his minion wave.

But that's the nature of Shen's mechanics; both his Q and W skills are incredibly versatile, capable of both offense and defense.

Especially now, Shen's E skill, "Charge Forward," taunted three people, and when he activated W, apart from Faker's Galio dealing some magic damage, everyone else's auto-attacks were blocked with a clanging sound.

Ultimate Skill! Soul Protection (W): Shen's Soul Blade creates a defensive barrier that lasts for 1.75 seconds. Attacks that would normally hit Shen or allied champions within the barrier will be blocked.

One of the best skills in League of Legends, it can not only block basic attacks, but even Gangplank's Q skill.

The Titan then hooked Xayah, and they both flew into the circle.

This self-destructive tactic has an extremely low margin for error and is very risky.

The fact that two people would dare to do something like this can only be described in one word.

Crazy!
Taliyah, who was facing the enemy, followed up and tried to use her W to lift back the person who had been taunted by Shen. Unfortunately, she was a step too slow and had to use her Q skill to throw rocks to hinder the Korean team's retreat.

Kai'Sa and Twisted Fate will need at least three more seconds to arrive. If they can survive those three seconds, the future is bright; if not, it will be the chance for the Korean team to turn the tide.

Everyone in front of the screen was on edge, gripping whatever they could hold tightly, staring intently at the rapidly changing scene on the screen.

Faker's Galio immediately targeted Xiangguo's Taliyah, and with an unexpected W-Flash, accurately taunted the fragile Taliyah behind him (Galio can still use W-Flash in this version)!
"Holy crap!" Xiangguo exclaimed, completely caught off guard.

He could play squishy mage junglers, but he didn't play them often and wasn't very skilled. Plus, it was a champion like Taliyah that he hadn't practiced for very long. When Faker suddenly controlled him, his fragile body startled him.

Kasumi, who was behind her, also realized what was happening. Completely ignoring the two burly men beside her, she threw her feather at Taliyah, who was still taunting her.

Li Ge is still Li Ge. This decisive flash counterattack against Taliyah made the Chinese team realize that they had been overconfident.

This South Korean team is not someone to be trifled with; carelessness means certain death.

Flash to create distance?

It's no use. In this situation, Taliyah, who had just woken up from the taunts, was pinned to the spot by her feathers again. This kind of basic control and connection is not a problem at all for the individual strength of the Korean team.

The next second, Taliyah was instantly killed!
The junglers on both sides swapped positions. The Chinese team ganked and killed Lee Sin, while the Korean team counter-ganked and killed Taliyah.

This exchange finally revealed the true nature of the South Korean team to everyone who was still optimistic.

"I'm here, I'm here! Kill Deft! Control him! Don't let him use his ultimate!"

Taliyah died, but that doesn't mean the two big guys who rushed in were killed. On the contrary, while Xayah was dealing damage, she had unknowingly accumulated three stacks of Kai'Sa's passive.

Shen's taunt stacks, Nautilus's Q skill stacks, and his passive stacks.

Upon hearing Li Luo's words, Xiao Ming understood immediately and, controlling Titan, unleashed his ultimate attack face-to-face.

Titan's ultimate has a long recovery time and obvious visual effects, making it extremely easy to dodge under normal circumstances. However, at this moment, the situation on the field is chaotic, and Xayah is focused on dealing damage to Taliyah, plus it's a close-range R skill.

Boom!
As the dull thud of the knockback rang out, Xayah was sent flying, and four stacks of her passive ability were applied to her.

"Puppy, puppy's coming in!"

With Ren Dong's shout, everyone's eyes were fixed on Kai'Sa, who had activated her E skill to become invisible from the side and darted into the river like an arrow.

Kai'Sa is incredibly fed this game. In just twenty minutes, she has built Infinity Edge, Guinsoo's Rageblade, Runaan's Hurricane, and Berserker's Greaves. After evolving her Q and E skills, her combat power at this stage of the game is terrifying.

Just before his stealth acceleration ended, Li Luo used his Flash, and landed a close-range shot with Xayah, who hadn't yet landed.

Flat A, Q, Flat A.

With a terrifying attack speed of 1.67, five passive stacks were triggered in an instant, and the Q skill with high AD scaling took away Xayah's last bit of health.

Even in death, Xayah never used her ultimate ability!
This is the result Li Luo wanted to see.

In such situations, the less skilled or less proficient Xayah is, the more hesitant she becomes to unleash her ultimate ability.

Deft not only had his ultimate ability available, but he also had his healer available. However, because he couldn't see the damage dealers on the field immediately, he was distracted and didn't activate his ultimate ability, leading to this situation.

"Deft is dead! Deft is dead! Kill, kill Ruler...kill the captain!!!"

(End of this chapter)