Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 249 Ghostly Bloodthirsty Fork, Five Slashes into the Yellow Springs!
Think boldly, act cautiously.

A madman built his own rocket and went into space, Magellan traveled around the world, countless satellites were launched into space... Humanity tirelessly challenged the unknown.

While IG's tactics were undoubtedly the key to their victory in S8, it remains to be seen whether these tactics are suitable for the changed S8 meta.

With the changes in S9 and the tactics in S8 mixed together, Li Luo couldn't judge whether they were suitable. These issues require time and continuous matches to refine and improve.

Fortunately, with RNG's points from the Spring Split, and given that the LPL only has three slots available, they can secure a spot in the World Championship if they reach the semifinals in the Summer Split.

Of course, RNG did not intend to give up the Summer Split championship, but with this backup plan, everyone was more confident to use the LPL internal battles as a training ground to experiment with their new tactics.

Once this playstyle and tactics are perfected, and taken to the World Championship, RNG will show all teams, all viewers, and Riot Games around the world what it's all about.
What is the most unsolvable strategy in history?

Despite being behind economically and having a very strong opponent at every point, the IG team did not give up on the game.

The playstyle and tactical system of the IG team in S8 were somewhat different from those in S9. There was one characteristic that disappeared from the IG players after winning the championship—
toughness!
During the S8 World Championship, when everyone was optimistic about RNG and pessimistic about the match between IG and KT, IG lost the next two games after winning the first two.

Before anyone in history had ever accomplished the feat of coming back from a 0-2 deficit to win 3-2, everyone thought that this invincible KT team was about to make history.

In the final game, the top laner was relentlessly targeted, and Ning picked the veteran Kindred. When the team was at a disadvantage in the early game, JKL stepped up and made a flash that risked his entire career. With their resilience, they found an opportunity and made a comeback.

Afterwards, all foreign media outlets gave it a unique assessment that only veteran players would understand: resilience.

"As long as they can control it, this team will never give up hope of going head-to-head with you."

"Everyone has a big heart!"

These comments might sound ridiculous coming from the players of IG, but in S8, IG became the last face of LPL.

Despite RNG's significant lead, IG hasn't given up hope. JackeyLove, who is constantly being targeted, may be grumbling, but he hasn't given up any opportunity to catch up in development.

The rest of IG also gave up their resources to the ADC and set up defensive wards.

For IG, being weaker than other teams and falling into a disadvantageous position is extremely embarrassing.

But against this invincible RNG team, being at a disadvantage is not painful, and is even to be expected.

Because, as the team that is currently described by the media as playing the most chaotic game, their last victory against RNG was also described by the media as a lucky break.

Today, the IG players all came with the intention of proving themselves.

After Ezreal completed Iceborn Gauntlet and Manamune, the situation finally stabilized temporarily, despite the deteriorating situation.

To drag the game into the late game, your team composition must include a tanky frontline hero who can withstand damage, as well as a hero with very strong wave clear capabilities.

Jayce and Ezreal are barely capable of handling the job.

A Jayce equipped with armor-piercing items can wipe out a wave of backline minions with a single enhanced EQ shot.

While it can't compare to some AP mages with extremely strong wave clear, it's not bad either. After switching to hammer form, a hammer Q skill hitting a melee minion is not bad either.

In addition, Ning's Graves also has some wave clear ability, so a wave of minions is basically gone before it even reaches the tower.

With the tankiness provided by Alistar's ultimate ability, RNG was unable to tower dive at will for a while.

In the game, every team will sometimes face a problem.

How to end the game?
This problem becomes even more apparent when the opposing team's lineup enters its power spike and they choose a lineup that doesn't lean towards the late game.

"Gnar is as slippery as an eel, always sneaking around in lane. The other four simply don't leave their towers. Are they really not going to take Baron?" Xiaoming joked after setting up wards in the Baron area.

However, it cannot be denied that IG's approach is indeed the best solution at present.

We're just waiting for Jayce and Ezreal to get their items so they can poke and create opportunities for Alistar and Gnar to engage, resulting in the kind of miracle team fights that LPL teams are most familiar with.

As long as we win a team fight, even if we're behind by 10,000 gold, we can slowly catch up.

With IG's current lineup, even if RNG secures the Baron buff, they'll probably only be able to take down all the towers except for the high ground, and if they're lucky, they might be able to push one lane's high ground.

"Let's find an opportunity to gank Gnar and take Baron," Xiaohu commanded.

RNG's lineup has Swain and Galio in the front line, but both are mage tanks, which is different from traditional tanks. As for the remaining three, they are all squishy. If they don't gank and instead focus on taking Baron, it's easy for the opponent to find an opportunity.

Therefore, it would be safer to first target the point where IG has been farming outside, or to deplete Gnar's rage before taking the dragon.

Using his movement speed, Letme focused his attention on Gnar, who was split-pushing down the side lane.

His decision to pick Pyke surprised everyone.

Very few professional players can master a new hero in such a short time and bring it to the competition. In people's minds, Letme is not the kind of talented player. If it were Xiaodongbei, they could understand.

But Letme did master Pike in a short period of time.

Just like some people are good at running, some are good at reading, and some are good at playing games, is Letme's talent really low?
When it came to researching how to use the new hero, Li Luo gave the right to use Pyke to Xiao Dongbei, Letme, and Xiaohu at the same time. Whoever practiced better would play Pyke that day.

Xiao Dongbei, who was on the bench, practiced this hero like crazy, but with little success. Xiaohu's performance was only average. On the other hand, Letme, who usually seemed the most honest, played the hero very well.

Like G2's top laner Wunder, both players primarily play tank/fighter champions, but they are also skilled at playing Pyke.

However, as a player known for his tank-based strategies, he never had the confidence to bring some of his aggressive top laners to the competitive stage until his retirement.

In this game, even though Letme had a strong lane dominance against TheShy, he was able to gain an advantage at one point, proving that Letme and Pyke are indeed a good match.

Gnar's ultimate ability often leads to RNG taking down Baron Nashor, which is the biggest potential threat.

If we can kill Gnar, Baron Nashor is practically ours.

All four players from both sides were vying for vision around the Baron pit. Pyke was pushing the top lane, keeping his rage active at all times. Both sides were very cautious in their positioning. Without a strong engage, RNG had virtually no chance to initiate a team fight.

But this time was different. Pyke, with his red scanner activated, crouched in the tri-bush on the top lane, making sure he wasn't detected by the enemy's vision, and watched Gnar, whose rage was only one-third full, through the wall.

The moment Gnar used his Q skill to clear the wave and maintain his rage, Letme's Pyke immediately initiated with his E skill, dashing forward while simultaneously flashing and using his R skill on Gnar.

E Flash R!

Pyke's long-range burst combo is incredibly difficult to dodge, and being a new champion, this sudden attack is even more unexpected.

A. When Duskblade is triggered, Q resets the basic attack. A. When Dark Harvest is triggered, Tiamat resets the basic attack again.

Pike lunged forward, wildly slashing with his harpoon.

If this Gnar wasn't TheShy's Gnar, then this standard burst damage combo with Pyke might only take away at most two-thirds of Gnar's health.

But this is TheShy's Gnar, a Gnar built with Black Cleaver and Blade of the Ruined King for attack speed and on-hit effects. While the damage is high, Gnar without any armor or magic resistance is as fragile as a piece of paper.

Chasing after Gnar, he kept following up with basic attacks. With the speed boost from W, he finished Gnar off with a single Q.

A perfect solo kill, in a patch where Pyke hadn't been nerfed yet, excited every viewer. Some couldn't contain themselves, watching the match on their phones and playing a ranked game on their computers, determined to get a solo kill with Pyke.

Without Gnar, the remaining four players in the jungle had no chance to fight and could only watch helplessly as RNG rushed Baron.

RNG's lineup has no shortage of damage; with Karthus, their dragon-slaying speed is incredibly fast.

On the contrary, IG had to send players to contain Pyke, who continued to push the top lane.

"This lineup is absolutely disgusting. Next game, just ban Pyke, and Galio too. This is inhuman!"

Pyke was destroying the tower when he saw the IG players coming. He remained calm and even made a taunting gesture by pressing Ctrl+3 in front of the tower.

With Galio's half-map support and Karthus's full-screen bombardment, Pyke is fearless.

After securing Baron Nashor, the five players returned to base to replenish their equipment, waiting for Pyke's ultimate to be ready before pushing down the mid lane.

Despite not getting any kills, Sivir's development was excellent. By 21 minutes, she had acquired her three core items: Infinity Edge, Statikk Shiv, and Essence Reaver. She was 73 CS ahead of her lane opponent and 21 CS ahead of the second-place player.

"This monster," Rookie also started to feel a headache.

Although this wasn't the first time they had faced off in the competition, it was still disgusting to see the opposing team's heroes with the ID "Uzi" always managing to farm ahead of the timeline.

The only way to counter Uzi is to suppress his lead, but not his development. If you don't target him, it's one thing if your own bot lane collapses, but even if you manage to hold on, you can't stop his terrifying development ability.

Just like now.

With each wave of minions, Sivir's W bounces, and once the wheel splashes onto a champion, it generates critical hit numbers. Graves, who has no armor, lost a full 300 health just from being splashed.

"Let's try to initiate an attack, otherwise this tower will be worn down and the disadvantage will only get bigger."

"I have 11 seconds left on my Flash. I'll see if I can use Q Flash and W to come back alone."

"￥#@#！(70 points of rage)"

After reaching a consensus, the IG team quickly got to work.

Now that Jayce has the Baron buff, he can no longer hold the minion wave at all. Even Ezreal's Q skill requires four hits to clear melee minions. Sivir's range is short, and every time she comes up to steal a turret, it's very frustrating.

With their ultimate abilities, E skill's shield, and Galio's R skill, they can easily sneak in a few hits, leaving IG helpless.

However, Uzi revealed his true colors for the first time when he saw the Minotaur appear on the flank.

As the minion wave pushed towards the tower, the instant Sivir attacked the tower, Alistar suddenly unleashed a burst of power.

【Earth Shatter (Q)】--
flash.

The Alistar, who was bowing behind the tower, suddenly lunged at Sivir, about to knock up the arrogant ADC.

Unfortunately, a blue shield flashed by, dodging the Minotaur's prepared finishing move.

"My life is valuable—and the price keeps going up."

A slightly sarcastic line rang out at the right moment, accompanied by a loud scream from Wheel Mom, and the Hunt (R) was activated simultaneously.

The four RNG players in the back, with the boost from their ultimate abilities, especially Pyke, whose speed seemed to be on steroids, instantly broke through 800.

A single Q skill pulled Alistar back.

At the same time, the crow's passive ability was triggered during the pull, and two consecutive pulls brought the minotaur back.

If Alistar had his ultimate ability (R) in the crowd, it would have been the perfect opportunity for IG. Unfortunately, with his ultimate activated, Alistar could only be a sitting duck, getting ganged up on by the five players.

However, the fact that the five players are positioned together gives Nar a good opportunity.

The enlarged Gnar jumps onto his teammates, triggering a double jump, and then heads into the crowd.

But the situation took a sudden turn for the worse. The group, which had been huddled together, scattered rapidly with the speed boost from Sivir.

Such coordination in such a chaotic team fight clearly indicates that the strategy for this team fight was planned in advance.

Gnar unleashed his ultimate ability, leaving Swain pinned against the wall.

Sivir's incredible kiting and counter-attack caused Gnar's health to plummet at an alarming rate.

Conversely, the three IG members who rushed up from behind were unable to reach Sivir due to her distance, and could only unleash their damage on Swain.

The crow wasn't there to give IG a free kill; it was there to set up Galio's entry later.

Heroes Appear (R)
Galio descended from the sky, landing on a crow that had been set ablaze by the crowd.

At the same time, Karthus also unleashed his ultimate ability from a safe position.

Galio landed, knocking up four people. Karthus' ultimate skill landed, and the health of all five people dropped rapidly. Sivir activated her W skill, and her area-of-effect projectiles bounced wildly between the five members of IG.

While dealing maximum AoE damage, it created an opportunity for Pyke to enter the fray.

Boom!
Pyke's first ultimate ability landed, killing the low-health Alistar Chieftain the moment the ultimate ability ended. At the same time, Gnar was also affected by the AoE and appeared in the execution frame.

Boom!Boom!Boom!
Three consecutive sounds of "the gushing of hatred" rose and fell, and the X-shaped marks that would appear when Pyke's R skill executed formed a continuous pattern on the ground.

Calculate the damage accurately.

The fifth R skill lands, followed by a quick Q.
Penta kill!

Letme's pentakill!

As the sound effects began, all the audience members, led by Wu Wukai in the first row, stood up.

Countless cheers swept in like a tsunami, making people's scalps tingle.

"Pyke got a pentakill, and we lost?"

Seeing that the enemy had already started pushing the high ground tower, Rookie's face darkened, and he took his hands off the keyboard.

If RNG couldn't solve a single problem before, these past few days have given everyone the feeling that this single problem has become a whole, and that affecting one part affects the whole.

In the history of League of Legends, every team that has been able to execute orders flawlessly and maintain clear distinctions between offense and defense has invariably won the championship.

Today, RNG maintained their rationality amidst their frenzy and remained clear-headed amidst their madness.

"Playing against these guys in the same era is a nightmare!"

Looking at the black screen of the TV, the five members of IG could already imagine what was going on in the live stream outside!

I'm satisfied with today's title!
(Yeah, I feel good about myself! That's it.)
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(End of this chapter)