Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 262 Competitive games will never be balanced!

"The enemy Xin Zhao ganked me, so I used Flash."

With Letme calling out enemy positions in the top lane, Li Luo's lane dominance instantly rose to another level.

When it comes to cross-dressing skills, he may not be as good as the opposing AD Sneaky, but when it comes to laning ability, does anyone really think that Sneaky can be on par with Uzi?
Because of the risk of Zhao Xin using Flash to forcefully gank in the early game, the minion wave in the bottom lane was actually kept firmly near the mid lane.

And now—
With Xin Zhao unable to use Flash, Syndra gained an item advantage.
"We can loosen the suppression a little now."

Li Luo's eyes narrowed.

To fool everyone in the group stage, simply relying on a mage carry bot lane is definitely not going to work. At the very least, you need to be able to make Syndra effective to convince other teams to believe in mage carry bot lanes.

The mage bot lane really took off during Season 9.

The current meta favors mage carries, who are neither particularly useful nor worth abandoning; in other words, mage carries in the bot lane lack the ability to close out games.

But that doesn't mean it's useless.

Furthermore, because few ADCs play mages, they can catch opponents off guard during the laning phase.

Swish!
With the upgrade effect activated, Rakan reached level five, the same level as Syndra.

After glancing at the experience bar, Li Luo made no unusual moves and continued to focus on finishing off enemies.

As always, Xayah wanted to steal a bit of Syndra's health.

But in that instant, Syndra suddenly canceled her basic attack animation, caught Xayah's basic attack animation in place, and grabbed the ball from the ground.

Xayah's basic attack range is very short for a marksman, only 525 yards.

Fearing being hit by Syndra's W, Xayah quickly used a serpentine movement to dodge and weave.

But in less than a second, Syndra made a distorted movement, spinning around like a script.

W's attack speed is frighteningly fast, and E skill is also used at the same time as W.

The stun was so illogical that Sneaky didn't even realize why Syndra's W skill had no aftercast delay before it was unleashed.

As Syndra landed her Q skill on the minion wave, and the upgrade effect appeared, Xayah's fate was sealed.

In the mid lane, few heroes can withstand Syndra's burst damage at level six, let alone a small, squishy ADC in the bot lane.

Including the three orbs on Syndra, the one she pulled up, and the one she smashed into the minion wave, her ultimate skill only deals damage from five orbs. With Electrocute, she effortlessly took down two-thirds of Xayah's health.

Despite Thresh's extremely quick reaction and the throwing of his W shield, he was completely unable to withstand Syndra's devastating damage.

"What's with his W? How did he just throw it out like that, and with an EW combo at that? How did he even manage that?"

Sneaky felt a chill run down his spine as he looked at Syndra, who was still at full health, and was filled with confusion.

There's no escaping it, and no way to defeat it in a fight.

Syndra in the bottom lane, is her lane dominance really that strong?
"The puppy got a solo kill!! My God, the ADC managed to get a solo kill at level six in the bot lane, this is unbelievable!!!" PDD shouted excitedly.

"This Syndra is too unreasonable! Once she reaches level six, she's instantly killed after being stunned!"

At this juncture, securing a solo kill not only damaged C9's morale but also demonstrated the strength of the mage-centric bot lane.

Looking at Syndra on the screen, who was suppressing Thresh and dared not take experience, Wang Duoduo smiled wryly.

"Speaking of which, that play by the puppy was pretty awesome. Syndra's W-E combo was even faster and more decisive than most mid-lane pros. Let's take a look at the replay."

As the director switched to the replay, after watching it carefully, some low-level players were completely dumbfounded, while only some Syndra pros could barely say a few words.

Uzi's solo kills are a common sight in the LPL, but when the scene shifts to the World Championship and the opponent becomes a top player from another region, the feeling becomes completely different.

Syndra has many hidden skills. Even disregarding the bugged EQ range of the later left hand, in terms of skill alone, they are quite common in high-level games.

Seeing the comments scrolling across the side screen, Pdd, a relatively professional commentator, organized his thoughts and said with a hint of shock:
"Just now, the puppy used two techniques. The first was the 'Thunderclap' technique, which allowed him to turn around and use his W skill without delay."

"There's a detail about W: the item is dragged behind you before being thrown, hence the term 'reverse W,' which means turning your face away from your opponent and then throwing W. This requires very fast mouse movement. While it's not very useful in team fights, it's very useful in the laning phase, often catching the opponent off guard."

"The second one is that although the double damage of QE is gone in the current version, there is an even more advanced technique that Riot has not fixed because it is difficult to execute. That is the WE combo. After the ball is thrown (flying in front of you), follow up with an E. You will find that the ball flies a distance in the air and then crashes down. This combo has a certain chance of stacking the damage of WE and stunning the enemy."

Upon hearing PDD's explanation, the chat erupted in a unified and frenzied barrage of "6" to express their excitement.

The barrage of comments flooded the entire screen, making it impossible for many players to see the live stream.

Xia exploded.

After dying twice and failing to gain experience from four waves of minions, Syndra's level has unknowingly surpassed Xayah's by two levels. Furthermore, with the increase in gold from kills and minions, the gap between the two has reached 1300 gold.

A huge difference, and you have to understand, the game time is only 7 minutes and 30 seconds!
Syndra's damage is so high that if Xayah gets hit, she'll instantly lose a quarter of her health, making the laning phase completely unplayable!
Although no one thought C9's ADC Sneaky could go toe-to-toe with Uzi in lane, the spectators didn't expect such a one-sided laning massacre.

Is Sneaky just too bad?

No.

Sneaky's performance was also the peak of his career in S8. C9's ability to reach the semifinals was inseparable from Sneaky's performance.

Even considering only the champion Omega, Sneaky's performance in S8 was far superior to Uzi's in the World Championship.

Given that the difference in individual skill levels is not significant, there can only be one reason why this situation could occur.
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The bot lane is strong in this version.
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Suddenly, the opponent in lane was changed to a hero that had never been faced in the match.
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And Uzi's understanding of Syndra is beyond that of other ADC players.
For various reasons, Sneaky appears so powerless.

Syndra is a champion who, once equipped with Electrocute, gains an advantage and establishes an economic lead, will have no shortage of damage.

Especially with the current version of mage equipment being greatly enhanced, this hero's damage is completely excessive when hitting squishy targets.

Syndra lacks opportunities to deal damage and mobility.

Going to the bottom lane will undoubtedly maximize Syndra's strengths and eliminate her weaknesses in roaming and short range.

As long as I stay here and we keep laning, it's like I'm a mobile turret with extremely high damage.

Don't worry about supporting your teammates or helping the jungler invade the enemy jungle. All Syndra, the mage carry, needs to do is dominate the lane.

Logically speaking, such a powerful hero should shine in subsequent competitions after making a name for himself at the S8 World Championship.

But the data doesn't lie; Syndra's appearances in the S9 World Championship were a mere 0.

In that meta where AP carries were dominant, no player would choose Syndra.

It's not just because Syndra's damage and skill cooldowns have been nerfed several times; the main reason is that this champion is simply too clunky in competitive play. In mid-game, S9 mages need to focus on early-game support, and Syndra seems out of place.

Let's go bot lane. Honestly, how many ADC players can play mages well?

The ability to play a carry bot lane isn't just due to Uzi's previous experience, but more so because of Li Luo's recent use of...
Location Mastery Card.

This card, which I drew in a lottery after winning the S8 Spring Split, can only push the proficiency of mid-lane AP mages to level three.

But Syndra is a champion where 1+1 equals 3, reaching four-star mastery.

Just look at Sneaky's helpless expression to see how terrifying it is for an ADC player to have four-star proficiency in other positions.

After bringing Sneaky home and paying the difference, Li Luo immediately bought Luden's small items and replaced a pair of French Shoes.

For champions like Syndra, who have high base damage and scaling due to her passive, building tier 2 boots after gaining an advantage is far more beneficial than Luden's Echo.

Tier 2 boots further enhance mobility, allowing for better mobile spellcasting to exert pressure.

Meanwhile, the 18 magic penetration provided by the magic penetration boots can further enhance Syndra's burst damage.

When jungler Svenskeren saw Syndra's items, he immediately abandoned his idea of ​​ganking Syndra in the bottom lane.

Given Nightmare's current level, if he happens to be counter-ganking in the bottom lane, Syndra's mechanics, with their extremely short cooldowns and high damage, could very well result in the death of all three.

"Hold on, play it safe, go for the late game, they don't have an ADC."

Jensen, in the mid lane, twitched at the corner of his mouth, awkwardly controlling Poppy like a fool, and could only offer this consolation to his teammates.

How can you gank bot lane with just Poppy? And RNG's top laner is Shen, who can use his ultimate to support Syndra at any time. It's too difficult to gank bot lane!

With a disadvantage in the lane and his teammates struggling to stay in lane, Syndra chipped away at the tower plates of the female AD carry layer by layer, taking advantage of her long range.

Xayah went home, and Thresh, in his delusion of protecting the best tower plates in the world, overlooked the lack of vision. Xiangguo walked directly to the tower and dove the tower.

Honestly, with three defenders and one tower diver, there's simply no room for maneuver.

With Thresh's death, RNG also took the first tower. Meanwhile, relying on their skills being in good condition, they also perfectly controlled the first dragon.

There are no weak teams in the world championships.

Since Xayah experienced Syndra's damage firsthand and abandoned all unrealistic ideas about trading blows, killing her has become truly difficult.

The first kill was achieved by taking advantage of Luo's control chain from the blind spot.

The second kill came because Xayah wasn't very familiar with laning against Syndra and got caught out.

In professional matches, it's practically impossible to defeat an opponent twice using the same tactic.

Having learned her lesson from Syndra, Xayah directly controlled the minion wave under the second tower, and it would take at least four or five more waves to push the wave back.

But
"Ugh"

Sneaky had lost count of how many times he had sighed inwardly.

Facing such a predicament in the very first match of the World Championship, it's impossible not to feel a blow to morale.

In the mid lane, Poppy and Irelia are both champions who, as long as I don't intend to kill, are difficult to kill even if you call on the jungler. Mechanically, it's hard for either of them to threaten the other; they can only farm together.

Both sides have been focusing on getting things done and have been on the road.

The rhythm can change in an instant. Even though RNG is currently focusing on mage carries and still has Shen in the top lane, it doesn't mean they should unconditionally give up on the top lane matchup.

Before the bottom lane tower was destroyed, three small-scale team fights broke out in the top lane.

Basically, in every wave, RNG suffered a slight loss due to the early-game fighting power of Lissandra and Xin Zhao.

When Syndra and Rakan switched to the top lane, Shen was already about 30 CS behind Lissandra and had a kill behind.

"Syndra's damage is outrageous! Lissandra only got hit by one Q and she lost half her health?"

Teacher Duo exclaimed in surprise, saying that she couldn't understand Syndra's insane damage at all.

Just over 14 minutes in, Syndra was wearing Luden's Echo Sorcerer's Shoes and the Obliterate Orb, a small component of Morellonomicon.

It was clear that Syndra could build two major items in about 16 minutes, and even three major items in 20 minutes.

While Lissandra in the top lane is suppressing Shen, she only has a Hextech Belt.

"My god, no one on C9 can stop the puppy's Syndra right now!"

Looking at the economic gap shown by the broadcast, it's very clear that Syndra's overwhelming dominance is evident.

As an ADC, Syndra is only one level behind Lissandra, but she has a gold advantage of over 2000.

Why?

The commentators and the audience were both a bit confused.

Finally, it was PDD, a retired professional gamer, who realized what was happening, exclaimed in surprise, and said with a start:
"I understand. In this version, mage items have been reduced in price, making them very easy to complete. The same economic advantage will have completely different results depending on whether it's given to a marksman or a mage. For example, the current economic difference might only be the difference of a B.F. Sword for a marksman, but for Syndra, the result is quite different."

"Furthermore, mages have a much stronger snowballing ability than marksmen. Basically, in the early to mid-game, every major item Syndra acquires can exponentially increase Syndra's damage."

PDD succinctly revealed the ultimate goal of the magic-carry bot lane.

The top lane being king in this meta doesn't mean that heroes who go to the bottom lane are useless.

You're arresting Zhou Shuren (Lu Xun), what does that have to do with me? You're nerfing the bottom lane marksman, what does that have to do with me?
The data for bot lane mages is inflated, just like the data for top lane champions being too high.

In this version, with the same economic advantage, giving it to the mage in the early game is undoubtedly more effective than giving it to the marksman.

Moreover, Li Luo dug a huge pit for these teams that wanted to blindly imitate him.

Putting aside whether the mage bot lane can exert dominance in every game of the best-of-five series, the sheer amount of gold that mages need in the early to mid-game will directly impact the development of the mid and top lanes.

The World Championships are not just about brains, but also about tactical ingenuity.

Everything that could be revealed was revealed before the World Championship; the key to winning the championship lies in what can be kept hidden.

(End of this chapter)