Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 281 A calculated move! An FPX-style "Rw"

The stage, which was somewhat dim due to the rain, suddenly lit up as soon as the two o'clock time arrived!
Boom boom boom!
Immediately following, several muffled drumbeats were heard, followed by a timely burst of exciting background music!

The atmosphere exploded the moment a South Korean host appeared!
"Hello everyone, this is Gwangju! The semi-final match venue!"

The Roaring Emperor, dressed in a white suit and moving to the rhythm of a tango, walked out from the left entrance, his unique tenor voice resounding throughout every corner of the stadium.

"After a month-long battle between sixteen teams from various regions around the world, only four teams remain. We believe that the eliminated teams will come back stronger next year, and we also believe that the four teams currently on the stage are the strongest in everyone's hearts. Who will be the S champion? Who can do it? Opening ceremony!"

As the Roaring Emperor finished speaking, three cannon salutes boomed in the sky, and countless extras poured in from all sides of the stage to begin a traditional Korean dance.

After the dance ended, as the team logos lit up on the large screen in the center of the venue, the two teams entered the waiting area.

"First of all, let's welcome the two teams participating today!"

"Let's give a warm round of applause to the rising star Rw team, who have made a name for themselves at this year's World Championship. As the third seed, they defeated the second seed to enter the semifinals. Now facing the first seed, it remains to be seen whether they can pull off a dark horse comeback. Let's give them a big cheer!"

Welcome, Rw!

After he finished speaking, the Rw members who were waiting in the right-hand waiting area filed out, went up on the stage, and stood on the right side of the stage.

In the Rw team, only A Guang, who had been with Edg, made it to the World Championship. Among the other four, Ma Ge, who has been in the LPL for seven years since S10, has only reached the LPL semifinals once and has never been to the World Championship. Doinb is the same.

Now that they've reached the final four, watching the cheers and applause from the audience, they are filled with overwhelming excitement.

Because Rw's victory over IG was a clear indication of the difference in strength, some IG fans were relieved that IG would miss the semifinals.

Seeing his fans so happy, Doinb excitedly waved to the audience, eliciting laughter from the front row.

The other Rw members were pretty much the same. Except for the bot lane duo, Ma Ge and Liu Qingsong, who had cold expressions, the other three were all goofballs. Before the Roaring Emperor could even open his mouth to explain their identities one by one, they spontaneously started waving their hands and laughing like goofballs.

After the routine introductions were completed, and the RNG team logo on the left lit up, the cheers gradually subsided, replaced by an overwhelming, tsunami-like surge of encouragement:
"RNG is awesome! Go RNG! Go RNG!"

The fans at the scene went wild, waving their support items and chanting RNG's name in unison.

Later, only one ID remained:

"Uzi!!! Uzi!!!"

"UUUUU!!!ZZZZZ!!!III!!!!!"

Seeing that the audience's emotions were completely stirred up, the Roaring Emperor didn't keep them in suspense and shouted directly:

"Let's give a warm round of applause to the strongest team in this year's World Championship, RNG!!! They've advanced to the semifinals with an undefeated record of eight wins. Will they be able to continue their winning streak today? Let's welcome them!"

Welcome RNG!

As the introductions began, the RNG members appeared. Looking down, one could see endless rows of gold and red banners, on which fans could be seen sending their blessings to RNG.

First, Letme was introduced, waving his hands, which caused a cheer from below.

When Uzi's ID was revealed, the crowd erupted in celebration, as if they had already won.

Countless fans and spectators were filled with excitement, their eyes fixed on the figure in the center of the stage. Just like Faker's treatment in China, even though he didn't have a favorite team, LCK viewers were willing to give applause to the strongest AD in everyone's hearts.

"Now that both teams and ten of the world's best Summoners have taken their places, the long-awaited semi-finals are about to begin! Let's give them a final round of applause! I hereby declare the 2018 League of Legends World Championship Semi-finals open!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the team members on both sides began to walk orderly into their soundproof rooms to adjust their equipment and enter the officially designated competition rooms.

A melodious background music intro then began to play at the scene.

The pre-recorded promotional video for the match began playing, and as the cheers and shouts from the audience grew louder, viewers in live streams from major regions around the world also flooded in, waiting for the match to begin.
"Hello everyone, welcome to the 2018 League of Legends World Championship semifinals. Today, it's an all-LPL match between RNG and RW. Yes, new viewers, don't be surprised, this semifinal is an all-LPL battle. I'm Miller."

"I am a doll"

"I am the Grand Marshal!"

"The focus of today's match is on the bottom lane. You all know that, right?"

“Of course,” Wawa laughed. “You mean everyone’s saying that Rw has the best early-game tempo of the four teams in the World Championship right now, right?”

"Tsk tsk tsk, putting everything else aside, just the early game tempo that Doinb and Haro brought together was, at least in my opinion, completely on par with RNG. If you analyze the videos of RW and IG carefully, you can see the terrifying extent of this kind of tempo."

Before the start of the World Championship, whether it was an official hype or praise from Rw fans, the argument that Rw had the best early-game tempo in the world had been recognized by many strong teams.

A strong team in the general sense, to give a specific standard, might be a team that makes it to the quarterfinals of the World Championship. Such a team is unlikely to lack advantageous operation, that is, the layout when the early game is good.

Push outer towers, establish vision, move minion waves, control resources, manage cooldowns, set up ambushes, play steadily, and never compromise.

Even a team as reckless as IG can execute well when they don't get carried away, but how do they gain an advantage?

The simplest yet most difficult strategy is lane dominance, where the player gains an advantage in the laning phase, can chip away at the tower's armor, and can naturally create opportunities for invasions.

To put it bluntly, the representative players in the long run are TheShy in the top lane and the Uzi+Ming combination in the bottom lane. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, both of these lanes can gain an advantage in their laning phase.

These lanes are generally considered pressure lanes because of their very high push rate and dominance. Teams often assign junglers to their half of the map to protect their lane push.

Having a lane that can apply pressure gives the jungler a very reasonable rhythm pivot. By focusing on the lane that applies pressure, the jungler can farm tower plates, get assists, and quickly farm themselves.

Therefore, from the outside perspective, Xiangguo is the third best player in RNG's bot lane, and Ning is TheShy's bodyguard.

Most teams that win championships worldwide have a line of attack that can apply pressure.

Correspondingly, to ensure the pressure lane is easy to play and the sacrificed lane doesn't collapse, the draft will be adjusted accordingly. A good draft is the best protection for the dominant player, similar to applying oil to a blade. Rw's problem is actually quite simple: none of their three lanes can apply continuous pressure to the opponent and influence their decision-making like a traditional dominant player.

Although they might occasionally win their lane, most of the time they end up in a tie or even lose a lane in a high-stakes matchup. In these situations, calling for a jungler often leads to a risky situation.

Once the opponent provides support, the player who initiated the move will lose all initiative and fall into an economic disadvantage.

Apart from teams with star players, other teams that dare to gamble on player performance when at a disadvantage must have an economic advantage.

Therefore, Rw did something very bold, and it's something only they can do right now: a collaboration, a complete collaboration!

Doinb completely abandoned the laning phase, and Liu Qingsong wouldn't focus on protecting Ma Ge's development. To ensure that "the team's strategy of initiating attacks to help relieve pressure on the laners or take the initiative" would succeed, the mid, jungle, and support (the support would join later to prevent too many tower plates from being stolen) formed a highly mobile roaming squad.

The mobile squad can create numerical advantages at any point on the map, and if necessary, the two carries who are farming can abandon their lanes to provide support.

Coincidentally, IG and RNG have something in common in some ways. Since IG's top lane can be targeted and destroyed by RW, RW's fans believe that under RW's relentless pressure, RNG's bottom lane will also be unable to withstand this mindless encirclement and attack.

"But this system also has a drawback, which is that once you have a really big gap in the online game, you won't be able to get lane priority and roam around. Haha, what do you think, Mr. Sima?"

Miller laughed and handed the conversation over to Teacher Ma.

"If I were RNG's coach, I wouldn't dare say about the other points, but at least in the mid lane, I would definitely make Xiaohu pick a champion that can push against Doinb!"

"Even if we can't gain an advantage, we must ensure that we can maintain the pressure on Doinb's lane push for a long time. Of course, this hero must have a certain escape ability, and be able to escape calmly when facing 1v2."

"Lissandra, Sion, and even Galio are all excellent choices."

In the past, people believed that a world championship team must have a top-tier, all-around top laner, while the mid laner's mission was to dominate the lane and then radiate influence to the side lanes when they had lane priority.

But just as Da Sima said, since the version change, the responsibilities of lane assignments are no longer as ambiguous as they were in Season 5 and Season 6.

The conclusion that a championship team must have an all-around top-tier top laner like Ma Datou and Du Buchuan is no longer appropriate!

To win the championship, you need an all-around top laner. Here, "all-around" means that the top laner must be top-notch in laning, supporting, and team fighting.

But it's obvious that Letme isn't really top-tier. His support is top-notch, his team fights are first-rate, but his laning phase is really not top-notch!

It's not that he'll definitely be under a lot of pressure, but rather that nobody thinks Letme can become a top laner who uses pressure as one of his core tactics.

Before FPX won the championship, there was a long-standing rumor that the LPL couldn't win championships in the past because it didn't have good top laners. This idea gained even more momentum after IG's crushing victory last year.

Under this kind of argument, it seems that without someone like TheShy who can dominate the lane and enter team fights unstoppably, it's impossible to win a championship.

However, to this day, among the four teams still active in the World Championship, apart from SKT's top laner who still dominates, the other teams have not built their systems around their top laner.

"Holy crap, this is Teacher Ma? No way, he seems to be something special."

"I'm already full before the match even starts."

"I suggest RNG quickly acquire Da Sima to serve as a coach next year!"

Although Ma Laoshi hadn't yet broken the S10 record for being the "King of Food" in S8, by now, there are already quite a few moments in his videos that are good for watching while eating. His insightful analysis surprised all the viewers, including those who didn't understand it very well.

"Okay, thank you for your understanding, Coach Ma. That's true. Both RNG and RW have their own core tactics. We look forward to both teams bringing out their full potential and giving us a thrilling match. We've received a message from the director, let's move on to the draft phase!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the ban/pick screen for the first game appeared on the large screen in the venue.

Unlike the group stage and quarterfinals, the semifinals are different. In the semifinals, there is no longer any ranking advantage such as being the number one seed or the first in the group.

The right to choose sides is entirely determined by drawing lots from the very first round.

Of course, in the current version where the blue side dominates, being able to draw the blue side is also a matter of luck. After all, in competitive sports, sometimes luck is also a part of strength.

Steak and Chris are old acquaintances. Perhaps it was the luck of their winning streak, but Chris, who usually has bad luck, actually got the first draw and won the best one.

In the first game, RNG chose the blue side first, while Rw automatically chose the red side.

In the first three picks and bans, RNG on the blue side chose to ban Pyke, Tahm Kench, and Nautilus.

The red team, Rw, banned Kai'Sa, Aatrox, and Lee Sin.

With the S8 season reaching the semifinals, all the teams have basically revealed their trump cards. Of course, targeting RNG's bot lane is not very effective, since this guy is a monster who can dominate even with Yasuo!

Therefore, Rw targeted Kai'Sa's strong laning phase by banning her. Rather than focusing too much on the bot lane, it was better to block popular picks and suppress RNG's early game tempo.

For example, Sword Demon and Blind Man.

The red team has one counter position, which will likely be reserved for either Haro or A-Guang.

"RNG didn't ban Xayah and Rakan, and Rw didn't ban them either. They probably won't let the Xayah and Rakan duo go, right? After all, although this version isn't as strong as the Xayah and Rakan in S7, overall, they are still undoubtedly a top-tier duo in the bot lane!"

The bans on both sides seemed very casual; even Xayah and Rakan weren't intentionally banned. As Wawa was talking, RNG's first pick instantly locked in a champion.

Akali, the Assassin Who Stands Alone.

"Wow, RNG really let Rw take the Xayah and Rakan combo. Is Rw going to take it? My god, isn't this like putting a knife to Rw's throat and asking them a question?"

"This is a blatant conspiracy. Everyone knows that Rw is a team that relies on mid-jungle-support synergy, but now RNG is assigning Xayah and Rakan to Rw. Isn't that forcing Rw to focus on laning? After all, once Rakan leaves, Xayah, who has no mobility, will easily become a target."

Will Rw choose to pick Xayah and Rakan here?

(End of this chapter)