Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 296 An Epic Game! A Legend Begins!
The screen instantly switched to the match venue, and the draft phase of the first game of the best-of-five finals of the 2018 League of Legends World Championship officially appeared.

In the first match, RNG got the first pick and chose the blue side, while SKT automatically continued in the order and was placed on the red side.

As soon as the match started, both sides banned several heroes that they had planned to ban after studying them before the game.

RNG banned Olaf, Skt's key early-game aggressor champion, and also banned Ryze, a champion Faker has been particularly fond of recently. After much deliberation, they finally gave their last pick to Bang's Ezreal.

Skt, on the red side, had to sacrifice one ban to Xayah and Rakan, and respecting Xiangguo, who first developed Taliyah jungle, they banned Taliyah. Their last pick was Syndra, the lane bully.

It's not surprising that SKT, playing on the red side, proactively banned Xayah.

Since the group stage, SKT has basically picked Xayah whenever they are on the red side. Ever since they used a clever trick to pick Xayah and Rakan and still lost badly at MSI, they seem to have stopped liking to play this bot lane duo, which is still T1's. They try to ban it whenever possible, and if they can't get it, no one else should either.

But the problem is
"Skt released RNG's Kai'Sa and Ornn?"

The three members of the Haier Brothers, including the doll Miller and the long-haired boy, exclaimed in surprise at the same time.

"Orn."

Skt's decision to release this champion was somewhat controversial. Being on the red side, banning either Xayah or Rakan was the choice of most teams in this tournament.

SKT's actions are actually harmless, it just wastes a ban slot for the red side, but it's going too far not to ban Ornn and Kai'Sa!

"SKT, what is this???"

"Are we just letting RNG play with all of them?"

"Aren't you planning to target RNG's bot lane or top lane?"

On the LPL commentary booth, Wawa looked completely bewildered: "Does Skt have some kind of strategy to counter RNG? They really didn't intend to limit them?"

“And they release two at a time,” Long Hair added.

As RNG instantly locked in Ornn, cheers and applause erupted from the audience.

In the live stream rooms of various platforms, countless viewers had question marks above their heads.

Whether you're a novice or an expert, no one really understood why Skt made this ban choice.

Ornn and Kai'Sa, these two champions, have essentially become associated with Letme and Uzi's IDs over time.

When you talk about Ornn, you naturally think of Letme; when you talk about Kai'Sa and Vayne, you naturally think of Uzi.

Globally, and in the minds of all viewers, these two heroes were clearly points that SKT had to target RNG with. Unexpectedly, they weren't banned at all during the S8 World Championship.

Are there any gods or demons in Jiangxi?
"Coach, should we choose?" Khan asked expressionlessly, sitting on the stool.

It's common knowledge that kkoma often makes some stubborn and baffling draft picks.

Especially his classic mistake in the Spring Split playoffs, where he had a player pick Renekton to counter Ornn, and then had Blank play Jarvan IV and be completely out of sorts throughout the game, became an indelible stain on his record.

Coach Kkoma can indeed improve team cohesion and synergy, but longtime SKT fans should know that Coach Kkoma's shaping period for the team is relatively long. In other words, Kkoma may need more time and more games than other coaches to refine strategies, tactics, player characteristics, and draft picks.

However, in terms of cultivating players' self-confidence, leveraging their strengths, and boosting team morale, Kkoma is arguably one of the best in the League of Legends coaching circle.

"Let's pick them. Let's release their signature heroes in the first game and break their mentality," kkoma said directly after a slight hesitation.

He, Chris, and Royal Never Give Up are old rivals, so he naturally knows how to counter RNG tactically and mentally.

However, the reason he hesitated was because Skt and Bang's champion pools were somewhat similar to those of RNG in S7 and S8.

Putting Khan aside, just considering Bang's champion pool, many people's first reaction upon hearing Bang's name is that as a two-time S-series champion ADC, how could he be limited in terms of champion pool?

But in fact, Bang, the AD carry with the most S-series championships, really doesn't know how to play the champion "Kai'Sa"!
Of course, Bang definitely knows the basic operations, or rather, how to dominate during the laning phase, the subsequent development strategy, and the positioning choices in team fights. In fact, he does these things even better than most professional players.

However, in terms of true proficiency, Kai'Sa is undoubtedly far inferior to the champions he is proficient in, such as Ezreal, Ashe, Kalista, Twitch, and Oma.

Compared to other heroes, if you search for Bang's Kai'Sa, you can only find his performance against the wildcard KSV, where he infiltrated behind enemy lines, got weakened, and still managed to get a triple kill in a 1v3 situation. Even though Braum and Karma were standing next to Caitlyn, Bang still raved about it.

Aside from this one game with Kai'Sa, Bang's professional career up to the end of S10 saw him play Kai'Sa only 7 times, with a win rate of a paltry 40%, less than half.

In contrast, other strong AD players in the LCK, such as Deft with a 55% win rate in 22 games, Ruler with a 55% win rate in 28 games, and Viper with a 56% win rate in 43 games, make Bang's Kai'Sa look really bad.

The situation with top laner Hanzi is the same as with Bang. He doesn't really have any talent for Ornn. He can even play clumsy champions like Illaoi, but he just doesn't have any understanding of Ornn.

By the end of S10, Hanzi's Ornn had appeared 13 times with a win rate of 45%. However, in just one year with FPX in S10, he played Ornn 8 times. Considering the days and number of appearances, Hanzi only played Ornn five times in the two years of S8 and S9 combined.

And whenever he takes it out, he's the kind of person who can't even figure things out, which is incredibly pathetic.

With Ornn unplayable in the current meta and Kai'Sa, a top-tier ADC, also unplayable, SKT has no choice but to take an unconventional approach to escape their predicament.

Just seconds before the champion selection countdown ended, Skt leisurely locked in two champions: Alchemist and Braum.

"Skt picked Singed top to counter Letme's Ornn. Does this guy even know how to play Singed?" Wawa asked hesitantly.

"I was just thinking that Skt might have something up their sleeve with this draft, but now, judging from Skt's reaction, it's clear that they can't limit RNG's champion pool, so they had to resort to this tactic. Could it be that Bang or Khan can't play Kai'Sa and Ornn?"

Miller speculated that he wasn't quite sure why Skt was doing this.

At this stage of the competition, the strengths and weaknesses are very clear. No one will question whether these two heroes, who are practically the key to the current version, are safe to release. Anyone who dares to do so is either confident or an idiot.

"RNG has two picks this round, they'll probably go for the bot lane duo, right?"

"Of course! The Tier 1 Kai'Sa combo is being released in the current patch, it's rare to see it being picked. There's no reason not to take it."

Without hesitation, Rng gave his answer.

"Are you the hunter or the prey?"

Kai'Sa!

It really is Kai'Sa!
Seeing that familiar icon appear in the selection box not only excited the audience at the scene, but even Riot Games officials secretly cheered.

The K/DA Kai'Sa skin has been selling like hotcakes lately, already matching the sales of ten other skins released under normal circumstances. And after picking Kai'Sa in this game, they have a feeling that sales will continue to grow at an alarming rate.

"Kasha, lock on instantly!"

"If you dare to let me win, I dare to take it. For Xiaogou, as long as he gets the match picked by Kai'Sa, he has never lost!"

"Uzi is awesome!" "Wow!!!"

"Crush SKT! Destroy SKT!!!"

Upon hearing the commentator's estimate of a 100% win rate for Kai'Sa, the audience below the stage immediately stirred. Some even took out their phones to search and were astonished to find that Uzi's Kai'Sa win rate was indeed 100%.

What's even more terrifying is that this Kai'Sa plays exceptionally well, whether it's in league matches or the MSI finals.

Countless LCK viewers cried out in despair, "Why didn't Kkoma ban Kai'Sa?"
The ocean is boundless.

There wasn't much consideration given to the third pick. With Braum on the board, the entry of the Earthshaker would be limited, so choosing Titan was a very wise decision.

The ability to instantly lock down heroes with both hands is a huge morale booster.

Xiao Hei had already mentally prepared himself, but hearing the faint cheers coming from outside through his noise-canceling headphones still made him panic.

"Coach, should I still pick that hero?"

Kkoma felt helpless about Xiao Hei's mental state, but there was nothing she could do.

Skt then locked in their third hero, Gragas the Barrel.

After the two bans ended, SKT chose to restrict the jungler position again, while RNG also banned the mid laner position.

When it came to the fourth pick, Skt picked Tristana to synergize with Braum, ensuring that Skt's bot lane wouldn't be pressured too much in the early game.

It's Rng's turn.

The final two picks were Lissandra, the Ice Witch, and Lee Sin, the jungler.

Now everything is completely complete.

The moment this lineup was announced, the entire stadium erupted in cheers.

The very familiar RNG flavor.

With mid-lane crowd control, jungler dealing damage, top laner acting as a tank, and bot lane consistently farming and taking over the game, this is a completely RNG-style lineup, featuring every hero you could want.

"RNG is in very high spirits right now. With this lineup, to be honest, if SKT's surprise tactics can't break through RNG's defenses before 20 minutes, I even have a dangerous thought that SKT will be easily defeated by RNG in the first Baron fight." Wawa couldn't help but laugh excitedly.

"RNG's transition from the early to the late game is too easy, there's no pressure at all. Lee Sin and Lissandra ensure the margin for error in the early game, and Kai'Sa and Nautilus are points that SKT can't ignore. As for the top lane, Singed can pressure Ornn, but it's too difficult for him to get a solo kill." Changmao also clicked his tongue in amazement.

"Yes, now the problem lies with SKT. They gave the red side's counter pick to Faker. Now that most mid laners are banned, it seems like there aren't many mid lane champions left. The meta champions have basically all been picked."

"What's left...??? Void Eye? This hero??"

As everyone was discussing Skt's final pick, Skt didn't play any tricks or create suspense; they simply and decisively chose their last mid-lane unit.

Vel'Koz, the Eye of the Void

"Big Mid Laner?"

"Ah, is this mid-laner confirmed?"

"It's confirmed!"

Wow!
As the ban/pick phase ended, the audience split into two camps: LCK viewers were mostly pessimistic, while LPL viewers were already celebrating.

SKT's roster looks like it has too many weaknesses!
In this version of the mid lane, Vel'Koz's pick is actually not bad, and RNG actually lacked an assassin to threaten his output environment in this game, so picking Vel'Koz can be said to be a very good choice.

The problem is that anyone at the competition, even those with only a slight experience with the game, knows that the Eye of the Void has no ability to end the game.

At best, this hero can deal tons of damage if he uses his ultimate skill well in a team fight and lands it accurately.

But everyone knows that heroes with such ridiculously high skill damage are almost powerless in terms of mobility and difficulty of operation (referring to the difficulty of performing skillful plays).

Just like Xerath is often the one featured in videos and shown off, if it weren't for Void Eye's low appearance rate, she would also be a regular in videos.

In professional matches, prediction often means risk. The lower the risk, the higher the margin for error. Even if you have an advantage, it can turn into a huge disadvantage because of a single misplay with a skill.

Keep in mind that SKT is playing against RNG right now!
To have made it this far, which of the professional players here isn't a movement monster? They're not someone you could easily defeat!
Amidst numerous controversies, the match entered the loading screen.

Rng (Blue Side) vs Skt (Red Side)

Top Lane: Ornn vs. Singed
Jungle: Lee Sin vs Gragas
Mid Lane: Crystal Maiden vs. Vel'Koz
ADC: Kai'Sa vs Tristana
Support: Nautilus vs. Braum
"Alright, neither team has raised any objections to the referee. The lineups are finalized, and both sides are now entering the loading screen."

"We saw Chris smile when he shook hands with Coach Kkoma today. Wow, Chris is really messing with Coach Kkoma's mentality!"

Following the commentator's words, the director also focused the camera on the two men shaking hands. At this moment, Chris's old face was all smiles, almost as if he was telling Kromas that he was going to win this game.

In contrast, Kouma had a stern face, looking very serious, as if he were unmoved by external things.

This marks the third time the two have shaken hands on the final stage.

Different places, same taste. It used to be Koma's laugh, but this time it's Chris's laugh.

The atmosphere on site reached its peak as the coaches on both sides displayed starkly contrasting expressions.

"RNG fielded their strongest lineup, while SKT pulled out a new lineup they hadn't used in any of the previous World Championships!"

"That's right, but similarly, we don't need to say more about the strength of RNG's lineup. I believe that anyone who has watched RNG's matches this year should know just how strong the fully-formed RNG is!"

At this point, the child chimed in with a loud shout:
"Will RNG be able to defeat Skt and take the first game, or will Skt withstand the pressure and pull off a surprise victory? Let's get into the first game of today's best-of-five series!"

"RNG is awesome!"

"Go RNG!!!"

"Oh oh oh!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the screen switched to Summoner's Rift. Without any commentary or instructions, all the RNG fans in the audience spontaneously stood up and began to cheer for RNG!

Thank you all for voting for me! Thank you again to all my readers!

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(End of this chapter)