Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 261 No Traitor! Mage, I'm Charging!
Chris thought Li Luo's words were quite polite.

Looking back from a later perspective, SKT in Season 8 was, in terms of player composition, tactical choices, and version compatibility, quite poor.

At that time, the top laner was Thal.

As STK's top laner, T-King has a shallow champion pool and can't play champions like Camille, Fiora, Jax, and Renekton, which require auto-attacks.

The only two champions he can play that require auto-attacks are the rather unusual Darius and Trundle. Yes, you read that right. As a top professional player, he has a very high win rate with Darius in ranked games, and Trundle is also a signature champion in the Korean server.

Of course, the only reason SKT would choose him is that T's only shining point is that his style is very similar to Marin's.

The top laner is neither good nor bad; he can't create any opportunities, but he won't keep feeding either. This refers to U-King; T-King is a different story.
The jungler, Xiaohai, was just feeding. He took the buff and then fed it. There was no vision in the jungle. My jungle was your home.

Mid laner Faker tried his best to carry, but he couldn't beat his teammates.

ADC, performs consistently and occasionally carries (see Bang's Kai'Sa 1v3 triple kill).

Support player, average awareness and average mechanics (referring to effort; Wolf didn't play much due to hand injury).

Compared to the S8 era, SKT's current playstyle is also outdated.

When SKT played against Samsung in the gauntlet, they picked Lulu in the second game and knew they were doomed. They won the first two games by having Faker carry the team. In the best-of-five series, Black King completely turned on his own and started feeding. Even a god couldn't stop him. The invasion of their jungle in the early game directly led to their collapse in the last game of the best-of-five series.

The only carry for the entire team is Faker.

To be honest, at that time, among all the leagues in the world, apart from SKT, it was really hard to find any other team that could achieve this level of performance and be expected to shine in the world championships.

From the perspective of those in the LPL who have already revamped their tactics, if SKT doesn't undergo any significant changes during the World Championship, it will be very difficult for them to win if they are assigned to an LPL team.

After Rw finished their match, it was RNG's turn to play against C9.

This team, which was hailed as a top contender for the championship before the tournament and even considered the world's best by Riot Games, with all its members in the top 10 in the world, will surely perform well in the first game of the tournament.
In the original history, although C9 lost the first game to RNG, they quickly learned a fast attack strategy due to their strong learning ability.

With their unique fast-paced attacking style, C9 advanced as the second-place team in their group. In the quarterfinals, they faced Afs, the last remaining Korean team, and their clean 3-0 victory demonstrated the strength of this team to everyone.

It's worth noting that RNG made it to the semifinals that year, so it was already a miracle for C9 to make it to the semifinals.

"Don't be careless, the first match of the group stage is very important, don't lose!"

While quickly adjusting the equipment, he reminded the few people around him who were chatting and laughing.

Since the release of TapPy and various version changes, the trajectory of the entire world has undergone earth-shattering changes. No one knows whether the opponent in the World Championship is still as strong as before, so it is natural to be cautious.

"Rng!! Rng!! Rng!!"

"C9C9!"

Neither of the two teams in the group stage were their home teams, and the audience generously cheered them on.

The sides were decided before the opening ceremony, but Chris had bad luck and didn't get the slip with the writing on it.

C9 prioritizes picking the red side, since anyone who has studied RNG even slightly knows that RNG is almost invincible in this version when the red side has a counter pick.

The blue team's first ban was Taliyah.

This is Li Luo's suggestion: when the opposing team has a highly aggressive and skillful jungler, targeting the jungler is a very cost-effective option.

The last two bans continued to target junglers, with Kindred and Hecarim being banned outright.

C9's ban picks are very straightforward.

Kai'Sa, Aatrox, Ornn.

Currently, no team dares to let RNG's Kai'Sa and Ornn play. These two champions are too overpowered when played by certain players. Both in terms of mechanics and data, they were highly popular ban picks in the S8 group stage.

As for Sword Demon
"It seems C9 has done their research on Letme, knowing he's been practicing Aatrox a lot in ranked games lately, and now they've banned it."

"However, Xayah and Rakan are still a top-tier duo in this version. If RNG picks Rakan, C9 will be in a very difficult position. You know, in the LPL league, a big reason why many teams have a hard time playing against RNG on the red side is that they have to give one of their blue side ban slots to Xayah and Rakan. And even a single Rakan is very strong in this version, while a single Xayah is much stronger."

As Wang Duoduo was speaking, the blue team's first selection box suddenly lit up and then dimmed, indicating that it had been locked instantly.

"locked!"

"As expected, it's Rakan! The fact that the blue side picked Rakan first naturally puts pressure on C9's subsequent picks!"

A brilliant draft trap. C9's coach originally intended for RNG to use a ban on the Xayah and Rakan combination on the blue side, but RNG immediately countered by picking Rakan first, giving them no chance at all.

Left with no other option, C9 on the red side had to pick Xayah and immediately drafted their bot lane duo.

Soullock Warden, Thresh.

The two sides traded blows, and in the blink of an eye, the top, mid, and jungle positions were all determined. RNG successively picked Rakan, Nocturne, Shen, and Irelia.

On the other side, C9 also picked Xayah, Thresh, Xin Zhao, and Lissandra. With Lissandra as a flex pick, C9 cleverly reserved the red side's counter pick for the mid lane to counter Xiaohu's Irelia.

With only RNG's final move remaining, Wang Duoduo was analyzing the situation when he saw PDD's pupils shrink and he shouted:
"It's locked, RNG's last resort!"

"My God, is this the hero?"

A cheer erupted from the crowd, and then RNG's blue team player on the fifth floor instantly locked an icon that shouldn't be there.

"My energy is inexhaustible!"

Syndra is one of the heroes who benefited the most from the strong mid-lane dominance during S8.

"Wow, so it seems like Uzi is going to pick Irelia bot lane? I remember Uzi's Irelia and Alistar bot lane used to completely dominate Samsung's Deft and Mata duo in ranked games. Is this his first time playing in a competitive match?"

Wang Duoduo said excitedly that he had been itching to commentate on RNG for more than half a month.

“Huh, that doesn’t seem right,” PDD stared at the screen, his face twitching. “My god, this Syndra seems to be really meant for Uzi to counter. That’s unwise. C9 picked Poppy to counter Irelia, so picking Syndra would have been more appropriate, wouldn’t it?”

"In this game, RNG gave up on a marksman and picked a mage for the bot lane?"

"???"

The ban/pick phase for both sides is complete, the position swap is finished, and the loading screen begins.

RNG (blue side) vs C9 (red side)

Top Lane: Shen vs Lissandra

Jungle: Nightmare vs. Xin Zhao
Mid Lane: Irelia vs Poppy
ADC: Syndra vs Xayah

Support: Rakan vs Thresh
A bizarre Syndra pick shocked everyone. Giving up an ADC is understandable, but for a traditional marksman player to choose Syndra? Are you sure you know how to play her? "Sigh, RNG's lineup is very strong in the early and mid-game, but in the late game, without a marksman, they're very weak!"

The ability of a non-marksman hero to play in the bottom lane is judged by their early-game fighting strength. The current version is one of intense early-game fighting, and ADCs are relatively weak in the early game, while mages usually have a lot of damage in the early game and can take over the early and mid-game.

However, few people dare to do this in the World Championship. The reason is not only that ADC players are not good at playing mages, but also that it is impossible to effectively suppress the opponent's development when choosing a mage-centric bot lane.

Uzi's choices and decisions are never conventional. Wang Duoduo and PDD both chose to remain silent about the late-game weakness of AP carries and started discussing RNG's early-game situation.

"Charge! Charge! Charge! Level 1 team fight! Level 1 team fight!"

"Just go for the blue buff, no explanation needed."

The other four members showed significantly more enthusiasm for the first-tier team than Li Luo.

In the World Championship, to a certain extent, he is not opposed to playing a stable early-game development strategy.

After quickly buying equipment and supplies, the five RNG players grouped up and headed straight for the enemy's lower jungle.

"The director provided me with some data here. In Uzi's career statistics, Syndra has appeared a total of six times with a win rate of 50%. But behind this win rate, Uzi's Syndra has almost always achieved a solo kill in every game."

Wang Duoduo looked surprised as he read the data sent by the director.

PDD then picked up the conversation and began to speak:
"Duoduo, you don't know this, but Xiaogou actually played mid lane before?"

"Oh?"

"Was it during S4? Back then, Uzi had just won a World Championship runner-up title, but as you know, Godfrey left for North America, and Lucky, White, and Tabe retired one after another. The core team collapsed, and rebuilding was inevitable. At that time, Faker was at the peak of his career, and the world witnessed the dominance of a top-tier AP champion."

"So the royal family naturally came up with some unconventional ideas that others wouldn't have thought of. Since UZI can also play AP and Tabe is no longer around, why not let the little dog from back then give it a try?"

"That was the idea. Royal Club brought in Kimi, a jungler who only knew how to execute the 'mid lane is the daddy' strategy at the time. They played the '4 protect 1 AD' strategy and then the '4 protect 1 AP' strategy, trying to have UZI lead Royal Club to a revival under the name of 'China's Faker'."

As he spoke, PDD seemed to recall his early days as a professional gamer, and reminisced with a touch of nostalgia:
"Back then, I hadn't retired yet, and we even got a runner-up finish in the Spring Split. I remember Uzi's AP, especially Syndra, was pretty good. It's just a pity that everyone was so strong back then. Hey? Don't look at me like that, it's true. Royal Club let Uzi play mid lane 11 times in total, and only won 3 of them. They almost got relegated."

As PDD reminisced about his glorious achievements over the years, many veteran players also stepped forward, sparking heated discussions in the live chat.

Especially after RNG secured three buffs at the start of the game thanks to their early dominance, there was even more discussion.

Ever since Syndra was picked for the bot lane, the director's camera has basically never left her.

Taking advantage of her long range, Syndra used her AQ combo to steal points while Xayah was last-hitting minions.

"This guy has such attention to detail," C9's ADC, Sneaky, thought to himself in surprise.

An expert will know if there is one as soon as he takes action.

In League of Legends, a player's skill level can often be determined within just one or two waves of minions.

Syndra's basic attacks, positioning, last-hitting, skill placement, and the rhythm of her pressure were all executed flawlessly.

This level of skill doesn't seem like something you'd expect from an ADC player, even though he is Uzi.
Choosing a mage-centric bot lane makes it easier to see a person's strengths and weaknesses. A strong player is strong, and a weak player is weak. Intentionally creating openings that the opponent can exploit and exploit, resulting in a loss of health, could lead to a solo kill.

In ranked games, especially late at night when there are few players, Diamond V players are often placed in Diamond I or Diamond II games just to fill a spot.

Although rank doesn't mean much, there's a high chance that Diamond V will become the opponent's weak point.

This is why hero players often say things like "the goalkeeper is trash."

The more Sneaky plays against his opponent, the more pronounced this feeling of being used as a weak point becomes.

In terms of hero mechanics, in the early game, before Syndra reaches level six, Xayah will definitely dominate Syndra. This difference in hero attributes means that even the strongest players cannot defy it.

But Uzi's attention to detail was excellent, especially his sudden shift in offensive rhythm while last-hitting minions, which started to whittle down the opponent's health. In a subtle way, even though the two players had similar health, the difference of eight last hits at level 3 spoke volumes.

"This guy's Syndra is amazing!"

Fortunately, he picked Xayah this game, so he could use his ultimate (R) to dodge Syndra's ultimate. Otherwise, Sneaky couldn't imagine how difficult it would be to play an ADC without any mobility skills.
"I'm here!" Xiangguo quickly swiped the screen and saw the bottom lane minions starting to push into the tower, and said directly.

The usual Nightmare start involves rushing to level 6 and using the first ultimate to gank, but if you do the opposite and try to gank in the first six levels, you can often achieve surprising results.

As long as Rakan can initiate and control Xayah, Syndra's Nocturne can follow up with subsequent control and damage. Even if Xin Zhao is counter-ganking, he won't be able to finish her off, and might even get a free kill.

With the speed boost from his Q skill, Nightmare cleared all three buffs, went straight back to base, and headed straight for the bottom lane.

"When the wave pushes back, I'll pressure his vision and engage him directly!"

Many people attribute RNG's bot lane's ability to frequently create openings for the opponent to their advantage to Xiaoming's playmaking.

But actually, a large part of the reason is that the opposing ADC was under too much pressure laning against Uzi.

The greater the pressure, the more attention needs to be focused on Uzi, and naturally, less attention will be focused on Xiaoming.

This is also why you often see Xiaoming going up to engage the enemy ADC in matches, and nine times out of ten the enemy ADC is particularly clueless, not using Flash even though they have it.

"Sneaky's a bit cocky here, going straight in to trade hits with Syndra without holding back at all!"

"But he didn't expect that Nightmare and Rakan were already in position in the bushes. Will Rakan be able to lift Xayah up in this wave?"

"It's lifted up!!!"

As expected, the audience stared in disbelief as Xayah was knocked away without any resistance, just like she hadn't seen Rakan's W.

The next second, Syndra, who had retreated, unleashed a QE combo to follow up with crowd control.

Nightmare also appeared from the bushes, applying his E skill. Poor Xayah was surrounded and attacked by three people in the early game, and couldn't withstand the damage from Electrocuted Syndra and Nightmare. She died instantly.

"Damn, this output and control chain is disgusting."

Sneaky, who had been completely bewildered, really wanted to curse out loud.

Little did they know, this was also the thought of the other teams watching the game from the audience.

How many ADC players can play mages? RNG is really cunning, dragging it out until Worlds to show their new mage-centric bot lane strategy. If they had saved it for the quarterfinals or semifinals, it might have been a game-changing, game-changing weapon.

Having made up their minds, almost all the ADCs from all the teams received the message from the coaching staff at the same time;

"Without an internal traitor, the mage should practice! He'll be very useful!"

(End of this chapter)