Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 284 Classic Restraint, Winning the First Round
In a classic RNG-style three-man gank, top laner A-Guang had no support and could only watch helplessly as Letme's Ornn pushed the lane into the tower, while Zac and Bard lost lane control behind the tower.

This underhanded method of arresting people, once it happens, can severely undermine the confidence of the person being arrested and indirectly destroy the morale of the opposing team.

What triggered this chain reaction was, of course, a brilliant 2v3 in the bottom lane.

Undeniably, there was an element of luck in this 2v3 triple kill. Whether it was the early pressure and trade of health, or the stolen consumables to restore health, these were the key factors that enabled this play.

Just as Li Luo had predicted, the two enemy players dodged his secret shot, allowing him to kill the last minion with his Q and reach level four.

Of course, even if there was an element of luck involved, it cannot overshadow the details and skill involved in this triple kill.

Even a high-ranking player from the Challenger tier wouldn't necessarily be able to execute the same smooth plays in Gold or Platinum. (Don't imagine this is about getting double-killed by a healer! Just kidding.)
And
If the two opponents don't dodge the Q skill, or don't dodge it well, they won't level up, and the subsequent chase will become a pipe dream.

Even if both sides use the same hero in three games in this 5v5 game, the pace and direction of each game will be different.

Li Luo's risky move yielded a huge advantage. Not only did it restrain the enemy's two bottom laners, allowing his three teammates to gank Shen and significantly delaying Shen's level 6 time in the top lane, but it also made his laning phase in the bottom lane extremely comfortable.

The combination of Water Drop and Sheen provides mana, mana cost, and damage, while also granting a red buff for a third of the time. He even dares to go in and attack two opponents at once after stacking five passive attack speed stacks.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the LCK director immediately showed a comparison shot of the two bottom lanes.

Xiao Ming had a mischievous grin on his face, saying something in the voice chat, while Li Luo had a slight upturn at the corners of his mouth, looking nonchalant. In contrast to Rw's bot lane, Liu Qingsong and Ma Ge were both extremely serious, their expressions filled with murderous intent and helplessness.

Before Ez's equipment is fully developed, isn't its frontal combat capability weak?

Once you use your E skill to dodge, you're just like a minion; if you get caught, you can be easily killed.

MaGe's Ezreal play in this version is not good. He doesn't quite understand how to handle the current situation and can only focus on farming and ignore everything else.

The ability to put oneself in another's shoes is a basic skill for every top player. It involves thinking about what the opponent will do next and how to respond. Unfortunately, in Sima Laozei's worldview, Ezreal should not be played like this at all, and he never thought that Ezreal would be played like this.

Simply put, his proficiency with Ezreal is no longer sufficient.

In Sima Laozei's career, Ezreal played a total of 43 games, but unfortunately, his win rate was only an embarrassing 51%.

Back in the early days, during Season 3 and Season 4, Ezreal was Old Thief's signature champion. His Ezreal skills, which made him the best in the Chinese server, were incredibly popular. However, the gameplay, rhythm, and details of Ezreal are completely different in ranked games and professional matches.

His playstyle in ranked games would be a clear message to the opponent in a match: "I am the weak point."

"Oh dear, that old thief was too hasty today. He missed a shot even when fighting two against one. It's so frustrating," Miller said, rubbing his forehead as he watched Sima Laozei miss another sports car on the screen.

"Ahem, the champions that the puppy plays, how should I put it, always have a magical ability to turn the tide. You think he's at a disadvantage in lane and has a hard time, but he can suppress you unexpectedly. You say his bot lane needs to withstand pressure, but he can still dominate the opponent. It's completely incomprehensible."

The kid doesn't understand the details of the previous game, so he just praises Uzi. He's sure he won't make a mistake by praising Uzi now.

Of course, if Uzi's performance really declines and he doesn't perform well, it won't be wrong to criticize him then.

Shen, who was ganked and killed by three ganks in the top lane, returned to the lane, but looked completely lost.

How to play?
You said you'd be fine if you killed me, but what's with Bard still being in the top half of the map with Zac?

If Shen dares to go online again, needless to say, the mid laner will probably come this time as well, and it will be another sure 4v1.

RNG's two control wards in the red side's upper jungle have completely seized vision, and even Doinb's Kled doesn't dare to enter or leave the jungle casually, let alone the squishy Taliyah.

Standing between the first and second towers, watching Letme's Ornn relentlessly pound the turret, A-Guang was dumbfounded.
What's the point of fighting like this? It's impossible to get close enough to last-hit minions. Once you enter the first tower's range, Ornn and Zac will take turns tanking the tower, and even if they don't die, they'll be badly injured.

The laning phase is completely unplayable.

Subconsciously, A-Guang switched his view to the bottom lane. He was stunned when he looked.

A level 6 Ezreal is facing two level 4 bot laners. You could say the two of them are dominating him, but now, Ezreal is actually dominating both of them all by himself.

Every now and then, Xayah and Rakan, who were hit by Ezreal's Mystic Shot Q, would lose nearly a fifth of their health each time.

With Ezreal's W skill now reworked, a WQ combo can instantly wipe out a third of your health. With this build, Ezreal has a lot of mana and a high level, so his damage will only become more and more incomprehensible.

Swallowing hard, Ah Guang could only stay behind a tower and start accumulating experience points.

"Huh, why is A-Guang AFK under the tower?" Doll asked curiously.

"It's because those two control wards in RNG's top and jungle are too powerful. As long as Zac and Bard don't appear, A-Guang should be prepared to be ganked by three again," Teacher Ma said with a smile.

"However, Doinb's level in the mid lane has already caught up quickly. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this Ezreal will definitely die within two minutes."

"???"

Upon hearing Teacher Ma's startling remarks, the two seasoned veterans quickly interrupted him, chuckling amongst themselves.

"How could the puppy's Ezreal die? There are still two minutes left. It's impossible. Ezreal's level is almost the same as the mid laner's now."

"I'd believe you if you said Xiaohu and Letme died, but after this fight, Uzi will definitely need to go back to buy items. Two minutes is too harsh!"

Their back-and-forth banter, like a stand-up comedy routine, was so funny that it made everyone in the live stream laugh and generously showered the Haier Brothers with "6".

But the Haier Brothers probably never imagined that the man sitting at the Edg base would also silently utter a remark at that moment:
"Uzi is probably doomed, but RNG truly lives up to their reputation as the team that best counters Rw before the tournament. They've found the most inconspicuous yet crucial element in Rw's tactics."

Because Rw has Edg's top and jungle players, and it's an all-Chinese semifinal, not only Edg but also other domestic clubs are watching the game.

Being so familiar with A-Guang, coupled with the factory manager's unique insight, he could naturally see through RNG's true intentions.

"Doinb used his ultimate! Haro used his ultimate too! This is a coordinated attack by Kled and Taliyah, Rw's four-man gank is here! They're going to catch Uzi, but can Uzi even make a move here? Under Kled's iron hooves, Ezreal can't make any plays, Uzi is dead!"

"This time, the puppy gave away its own kill and a 300 gold bounty, and the kill money went to Haro's Taliyah!"

Having learned from the previous 2V3 experience, the commentators were still delusional this time, hoping to see if Ezreal could pull off a 1V4 situation. The answer is yes.

No ADC can withstand Kled's impact in the early game.

"1 minute and 35 seconds, it really was within two minutes! Holy crap, was Old Ma's prediction spot on?"

"My youth is over. Is this Teacher Ma? Or is he possessed by Abu?"

"Amazing! This is Ma Lao C's commentary? I love it!" Some busybodies remembered the time that Teacher Ma mentioned earlier, and it actually came true. The comments section couldn't help but shift from the game to Teacher Ma's amazing prediction.

Even the two commentators who were explaining the Miller dolls looked incredulous and shook their heads, asking:
"Teacher Ma's prediction was spot on! The puppy really did die within two minutes!"

Did you predict that Rw would book the entire property?

Listening to the two men's flattery, the Grand Marshal chuckled, a hint of smirk on his face, and continued:
"Even though the puppy got caught and killed, let me tell you, RW suffered a huge loss in this round!"

"A Guang in the top lane was also caught and killed by three RNG players. At this point, the turret's protection mechanism had already failed. RW's decision to gank the bottom lane meant they were essentially handing over the top lane turret to RNG."

"But look at the minion wave. Ezreal in the bot lane has been pushing the lane. Even if he dies once now, it's not a big loss. He can go back to base to buy more items and then come back to farm the minions that are pushing towards the tower."

"Of course, Rw also secured a dragon this time, but similarly, Rw's top lane has completely collapsed this game. Without minion wave pressure, Rw's attempt to gank the bottom lane was a huge loss!"

……

"Let Liu Qingsong go top, let them control the bottom lane for a while. Shen should build tanky and get experience if he can, otherwise it's okay. When the minion wave comes, we'll all farm the bottom lane together," Doinb said helplessly.

His method is currently the best way to stop losses.

His teammates gave him a way out and didn't blame him. Guang quickly controlled his level 5 Shen to run to the bottom lane and stood under the tower, looking at the minions that hadn't even crossed the mid lane yet.

"He's somewhat clever, but useless."

He called Xiaoming to go to the top lane to help Letme lane against the enemy Xayah and Rakan. Li Luo was emotional and had already sentenced Rw to death in this game.

Both lanes are long, and the opponent didn't push the lane into the tower well. Given the current situation, controlling the lane for at least two or three minutes is a piece of cake.

Of course, careful observers will notice that even in S9's FPX, when they do a gank, they are always on the side with the lane line in mind. This way, even if they fail, they can ensure that they don't lose too much.

A bot lane gank by the losing side can only alleviate laning pressure, but cannot reverse the situation.

Ezreal started by only last-hitting minions. With the attack damage provided by Manamune and his superb reaction speed, he could always last-hit minions when they still had a dozen or so points of health left. The minion wave was pushed out of control very slowly, so slowly that it took three waves of minions to just cross the mid lane.

Li Luo signaled to his teammates, telling them to be aware that Shen might be farming the Gromp or the Wolves, and might be roaming to level 6 to provide support. Anyway, he was determined to control the bot lane for as long as possible, and ideally, he could stack Manamune as soon as possible.

This version of Manamune doesn't require skill hits to stack; you can stack it by simply using QWE on thin air.

But Li Luo didn't expect that A Guang under the tower would freeze, pacing back and forth anxiously. After eating a toad, his health dropped to half, but he was still a third short of reaching level 6.

When A-Guang logged back in after returning home, he saw the minion wave and found that he was still being controlled.

With no other option, Taliyah, who was preparing to go top lane, had to come down and help Shen push a wave of minions. This time, the two worked together to push the wave to the blue team's tower.

However, the price to pay for Taliyah's ability to push the lane is—
"Whoosh~ Hiss!"

Zac took advantage of the situation and stole the Rift Herald on the top lane.

Zac, whose level is not yet high, is not very efficient at ganking, but thanks to his farming and securing kills in the top lane, his jungle clearing speed has already picked up. The fact that he was able to quickly solo the Rift Herald is the best proof of this.

Akali, who was being pressured by Kled in the mid lane, started pushing the lane after Zac secured the Rift Herald.

With a thud, Doinb felt frustrated because his four-layer tower plate was suddenly reduced to only one layer, and because Bard came over, the mid-lane tower looked like it was about to fall as well.

All of this is due to the disadvantages of the top laner.

Many people say that FPX doesn't rely on its top laner; its core strength lies in its mid and jungle.

Undoubtedly, those who can stand on the professional stage of League of Legends are basically the best in the industry.

In a field teeming with talent, everyone agrees that talent equals results.

Just as in traditional sports, where the runner-up is never remembered, the cruelty of esports is also evident to all.

People's attention is always focused on the top of the pyramid, just like after a game, the live broadcast camera will never cut to the losing side, because no one cares how they leave the stage.

The commentator recalled saying something before the finals to describe Gongzi:

"This person made him believe that hard-working geniuses exist in reality."

Online, GimGoon is labeled as a "noob who can get a championship," a "noob top laner," someone TheShy can easily beat, the weakest champion, and so on.

But he was extremely important to FPX's championship. In everyone's memory, GimGoon was always the image of smashing the table in the base, swearing, and roaring incompetence.

But in reality, what professional players see is a man who frantically ranked 500 games in 40 days, and who keeps apologizing to his teammates after dying once in a match, afraid of dragging the team down.

This man, the largest in the team but also the most meticulous, burned all his strength and used 500 kills—a number unmatched by any other player—to help the team withstand the greatest pressure during the World Championship, turning FPX's isolated top lane into an indestructible fortress.

Unfortunately, Ah-Guang couldn't do it.

If FPX's tactics were to work on the now unrecognizable S8, it would certainly give other teams a headache, but for RNG right now, the opening is too obvious.

A-Guang is not an exceptionally resilient top laner. In Rw, he cannot completely control the top lane. In a sense, he is also someone who dares to make plays and needs support from the jungler and teammates.

In the match against IG, because the bot lane duo of JackeyLove and Baolan couldn't put pressure on MaGe and LiuQingsong, the team's jungler and mid laner were always able to deter AGuang and TheShy in time, which prevented RW's weakest point from being breached.

But when facing RNG, with the evolved Letme who can make everyone equal, and the current high-level GimGoon, I'm sorry, RW was completely countered.

At the 18-minute mark, their economic lead was approaching 6,000.

The top laner was so badly breached, gaining such a huge advantage. Once Ezreal got his three core items, it turned into a winning situation. The game was over before either side even started a team fight.

After securing Baron Nashor, RNG began their signature aggressive push.

The Rw players defending under the tower could only watch helplessly as Ezreal kept coming up to chip away at their health with Wa because Kled wasn't an AP mage and lacked wave clear.

After two waves of minions, the mid-lane inhibitor tower fell, and Rw initiated a desperate team fight.

A 2-for-5 exchange signaled Rw's defeat in the first game of the best-of-five series.

(End of this chapter)