Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 298 The Tide Rises! The Dark Night Before the Coronation
"The audience at the scene got excited too. Yeah, nobody expected that a team as strong as SKT could have their rhythm completely collapsed by RNG in just five minutes. Miller, before the match, could you have imagined that RNG would be this strong today?"

Hearing cheers for RNG everywhere, Wawa couldn't help but raise her chest and say triumphantly.

"To be honest, I really didn't expect RNG to bring so many surprises to everyone today. I even feel that RNG has figured out Skt's every move now."

"Skt themselves may not realize that vision control in this version is no longer like it was in S7, S6, or even before, where you could take control even when you were behind."

"In this version, if you don't fight and avoid battles, the consequence is that your jungle vision will be completely lost. It can be said that in the next few minutes, Blank's Gragas will have to be on tenterhooks whenever he enters the jungle. It can be said that Skt's early game plan has completely collapsed within the five-minute timeframe."

Even viewers who didn't understand the analysis felt a surge of joy upon hearing Miller's logical and insightful explanation.

"Yes, Skt wanted to use their best macro-management strategy to seize map resources, but they forgot one thing: in this version, kills are the most important map resource!"

At the start, Kai'Sa had two kills and Lee Sin had one kill. The difference of three kills may not seem like much, but the economic value behind it is far more than the 1000 gold on the surface.

Just looking at the 1900 gold difference between the two sides in just 5 minutes shows how important kills are in this version.

If Skt's bot lane makes a mistake and dies once, the bot lane tower will be destroyed immediately, and the top lane Alchemist will also face pressure from the duo. Moreover, due to Ornn's mechanics, he will not be at a disadvantage even in a one-on-two situation.

As expected, after placing the control ward, RNG secured the first dragon.

With the help of the jungler, and after calculating the time, just over seven minutes later, the bot lane duo, together with Xiangguo, invaded the red side's lower jungle again. They found that Gragas' second blue buff had spawned and immediately stole it, causing Faker's Vel'Koz to suddenly drop a level in wave clear ability.

SKT decisively ignored the fights for the dragon and blue buff, which is why LCK spring and summer splits often see games ended with just a few kills.

In battles with low margin for error or low odds of winning, LCK teams instinctively calculate the risks. If they judge the risk to be high, they will absolutely not choose to engage in the team fight, even if it means losing the game due to fear of battle.

However, for Gragas, the most sacrificed aspect of Skt's current playstyle is undoubtedly him.

For example, right now, because of the loss of the dragon and the lower jungle, it is very difficult for Gragas to catch up with Xiangguo's Lee Sin's development. As a result, if he doesn't go to Xiangguo's top jungle, the gap between the two will become wider and wider.

Half a minute later, when Skt returned to lane after recalling, Xiangguo didn't go around the vision this time, but directly and decisively came over from the lane.
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Tianyin wave (Q)

The blind man starts with his Q skill, then chases after them and immediately uses his E skill to slow down both of them.

"Hard grab?"

As the champion bot laners, seeing Lee Sin's mindless ganking, Bang and Wolf immediately made a textbook retreat.

Instead of retreating, Braum advanced, and after Braum applied his passive, he activated his Q skill to trigger Frost Stun.

At this moment, Braum activated his shield and stood in front to avoid damage. Tristana used her W skill to retreat, and Braum also used his skills to follow up with Tristana.

A series of fluid skills were unleashed, the perfect coordination was full of beauty.

However, a gasp came from the fans in the audience, and before Bang could even speak, his expression changed instantly.

"Damn it, how did Ornn end up behind us???"

Ornn, who flanked from behind, immediately activated his ultimate, using his ultimate to slow down the two opponents. Braum, without his shield, couldn't block the ram's head and could only watch helplessly as he and Tristana were knocked up by Ornn.

Ornn vs. Alchemist: Since both have difficulty solo killing each other, both players bring Teleport.

However, because RNG had created a TP advantage in the early game, and with Alchemist's TP still having about 20 seconds left, Ornn charged down at the right moment.

But the problem is clearly more than that.

The fact that Ornn has Tp is known to everyone in Skt.

The problem is, Ornn had already silently slid down and sneaked up behind the enemy lines, and the Skt team still didn't know!

Bang and Wolf watched as if they were watching a horror movie, not even daring to think about how many wards RNG had placed in their jungle, allowing Ornn to so easily sneak up behind them without them noticing.

If the last gank only put Skt's bot lane at a significant disadvantage, then this time, Skt's bot lane can be described as completely destroyed!
Just like FPX in S9, everyone in the world, including the fans, knew that FPX was going to take the game, and that they would take it in about 8 minutes, but they had no chance to fight back.

Countless teams tried to crack FPX's tactics, but even RNG in S9 lost more often than they won against FPX. However, if you look closely at the two teams' matches, you can see that when FPX faced RNG, they rarely used the same mindless four-man gank strategy as other teams. Instead, they often let Lwx farm the lane alone under the tower.

Of course, if you are weaker than your opponent in lane, a four-man gank is almost impossible to counter. If you are stronger than your opponent, then a four-man gank will fall apart on its own.

The "four-man gank" here can be understood in a narrow sense, that is, four-man ganks under the tower. The reason why RNG's four-man gank seems unsolvable at present is mainly due to the strong individual strength of the three lanes. Only those who have lane priority are qualified to perform a four-man gank.

For example, if you're not in an advantageous position in the bottom lane and are being pressured under your tower, and the mid and jungle come to help, is that considered a four-man gank? This can only be considered a four-man gank in a broader sense.

Roaming and supporting is crucial because your bot lane has no advantage, is being pressured under the enemy tower, and is losing turret plates. If your mid and jungle don't come to help, your lane is completely doomed. Moreover, this kind of four-man gank is very difficult to succeed. If the enemy mid laner disappears, your side will definitely send a message.

With the addition of ward placement, the safe laner only needs to retreat two steps, making a successful gank actually quite difficult.

Even if a gank is successful, the team with the advantage has a higher probability of escaping or even counter-attacking, while the team with the disadvantage has a much harder time because the minion wave is under the tower, making it difficult to chase down enemies over long distances.

If you manage to catch up and kill them, that's acceptable, but if you don't, you'll definitely lose a lot of minions under your tower. Even if you manage to kill them, all you'll gain is two kills and 600 gold, while using your skills to kill will mean less minions under your tower. Your net worth might even be less than 600 gold.

However, a four-man gank on the bottom lane, where the minion wave is pushed under the enemy tower, is completely different. At this point, the prerequisites for a four-man gank on the bottom lane are met. If successful, the enemy will lose 600 gold in kills, plus the gold and experience from 1-2 waves of minions under the tower. Since the minion wave is already under the tower and the enemy has 4 players in the bottom lane, they can take at least 2-4 layers of your tower plating, or even destroy the tower directly.

It's fair to say that if the four-man gank on the bot lane succeeds, it will be very difficult for your bot lane to have any impact on the game.

Besides having an advantage in the bottom lane, at the very least, the mid lane minion wave must also have an advantage, or at the very least, it must be even.

Because if you're in the mid lane under your tower, you can't help the bottom lane. You have to farm the minions under the tower. If you don't farm them, forcibly ganking the bottom lane will likely result in a trade between mid and bottom lanes. Meanwhile, the enemy bottom lane can avoid fighting. When you have lane priority in both mid and bottom lanes, you can pull off an unstoppable four-man gank on the two lanes.

The mid laner pushes the minion wave to the enemy tower, then coordinates with the jungler to plant the bot. Even if the enemy has a warning, they often don't dare to retreat, as lanes with lane priority can retreat at any time without losing anything.

However, without lane priority, it's very difficult to retreat once the minion wave reaches the tower, because the minion wave is right under the tower. Even if you're safer by leaving that area, the tower will keep consuming minions, and the enemy will keep taking plating, resulting in a huge loss for you.

Sometimes even professional players understand that if two lanes are at a disadvantage and the enemy mid laner disappears, they might come and gank the other two lanes with four players.

However, they are reluctant to give up the plating and those two waves of minions. Often, the result is even worse. A slightly better approach is to call for the jungler to move down to the bottom lane when the enemy mid laner pushes the lane into the tower and disappears. Then, the mid laner should quickly farm some minions under the tower and move to the bottom lane, or use teleport to arrive before the enemy 4-man gank 2.

If the jungler completes their gank, a 3v4 situation under the tower usually won't be too disadvantageous, and the mid laner might even be able to clean up the mess once they arrive.

This tests the game's decision-making and execution capabilities.

Another key point is the top lane teleport. Unlike the mid lane, the top laner cannot reach the bottom lane directly; they can only do so via teleport.

Sometimes, if a 4v2 gank in the bottom lane is met with resistance, and the top lane has a teleport, it is possible to use the teleport to launch a 5v3 gank before the enemy mid lane can arrive to provide support. If the losing side has a good ward for flanking, they can also use the teleport to counter-gank. However, all of this is based on the top lane having priority.

However, in general, in a 5v5 team fight, even with two waves of minions under the tower, you'd have to teleport. If losing two waves of minions can secure a team fight victory, it's still worthwhile.

To put it bluntly, players without lane priority are inherently at a disadvantage in terms of teleport support, losing 1-2 waves of minions compared to the enemy. Even worse is when they can't win a fight and are forced to teleport back to their lane, creating a teleport disadvantage that could potentially cost them the entire game in a 4v2 gank where the bot lane can't provide support.

Even SKT hasn't realized how significant the impact of being weak in the early game and lacking lane priority is, let alone the audience. In the huge arena, LCK fans were completely silent. Kai'Sa secured First Blood in the level 1 team fight, and in the first four-man gank, she got Braum's kill. After securing another kill, and just over eight minutes in, they still had a luxurious 3-0 score.

After returning home, Li Luo immediately crafted a Stormrazor and a Pickaxe.

Too fat.

At this point in time, an ADC who has taken a whole layer of plating and the gold from the first turret is practically dominating in gold, and his individual lead over his lane opponent is over 2000 gold.

It sounds like a very fantastical number, but it actually happened during this period.

Skt's top laner Alchemist and mid laner Vel'Koz are both champions that rely heavily on levels in the early game. Falling behind in experience is even more painful than falling behind in gold. The only lane that was decent in the early game was completely overwhelmed by two unstoppable four-man ganks.

Once Kai'Sa gets fed, her aggression in all three lanes and the jungle is incredibly strong. Especially after she gets a significant equipment advantage, among all ADCs, only Vayne can go toe-to-toe with Kai'Sa. Other ADCs, even Draven, can only be slaughtered when facing Kai'Sa.

After returning home to replenish her health and equipment, Kai'Sa emerged with a completely upgraded arsenal.

They raced forward, carrying Xiaoming's Titan, completely ignoring their own jungle and heading straight for the top lane.

Faced with this situation, Hanzi could only watch the minion wave from afar.

When Kai'Sa and Nautilus came online, he could only watch. Even though he could see the other three people in Skt's vision, he didn't dare to go forward.

Call your teammates?
Given Kai'Sa's development in less than 10 minutes, an evolved Q skill would probably take away half of his health.

Besides, the rest of RNG aren't pushovers either. Even though Ornn's teleport is gone, Lissandra's is still there. To kill the current Kai'Sa, it would probably take all five members of SKT ganging up on her.

Skt really wanted to do that, but reality didn't allow it.

In just five minutes, even though RNG didn't gain an advantage, the turrets in the top, mid, and bottom lanes were pushed down.

At 13 minutes and 55 seconds, right in the final moments, RNG managed to take all the tower plates in the top, mid, and bottom lanes, giving them an incredible 5000 gold advantage.

"That's incredible! Uzi's dominance is too strong!"

"His Kai'Sa made me feel what violent aesthetics are all about. At this moment, I felt like I could empathize with the SKT players. In a game with a superstar like this, if you're not dazzling enough, your brilliance will only be overshadowed by him!"

"Uzi's CS has surpassed Tristana's by 60!"

"Their jungler gave up his entire jungle to the ADC to farm, and the mid laner gave his blue buff to Kai'Sa. Is this still a 5v5 game if this continues?"

On the European commentary panel, watching Skt, who had eliminated their own team, get so badly beaten by RNG, the three commentators were so excited that they almost had a brain orgasm while talking.

But they forgot that this RNG team also personally sent another European team, G2, out of the World Championship.

"Skt needs to find an opportunity to turn the tide. If they continue to avoid fights, the game might be over once Uzi gets his third item!"

"This development speed is simply terrifying. When have we ever seen a player with a 3000+ gold lead in lane at the end of 15 minutes in the World Championship Finals?"

"3000! This is 3000! Not 300! We're about to take the lead with an endless amount of money!"

Miller and Changmao, both data enthusiasts, were facepalming as they commented. Seeing such a huge gap in skill levels, they didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Besides RNG, which other team would dare to give all their experience and money to one person on the World Championship stage?
Without considering other factors, once SKT focuses fire and eliminates Kai'Sa, the remaining four RNG players are completely equal in terms of combat strength.

While other regions watched the spectacle, the LPL region, as the party involved, was extremely nervous, fearing that a single misstep would squander their advantage.

Looking at the situation on the field, Wawa couldn't help but recite his mantra again: "The little dog is almost one Infinity Edge ahead of the opponent now, the damage is incomprehensible, this economic gap and last hit gap is basically the limit that can be achieved at this point in the game."

At 16 minutes and 38 seconds, he had 224 last hits. Keep in mind that there are a total of 228 creeps spawned on a single lane in 20 minutes. If you calculate it this way, even if you don't miss a single creep, it would only be a little over 180 last hits. If you also include going back to base and getting kills, you can imagine how many jungle monsters have been eaten.

On the other hand, Bang only had a pitiful 135 CS at this point. This number of CS would be passable in ranked games, but it would be completely insufficient in competitive games.

"SKT is completely focused on defense now, especially the top lane Kai'Sa and Nautilus. The two of them are practically pushing through SKT's high ground. Aren't they going to defend?"

In the video, Kai'Sa and Nautilus ignore Alchemist. Nautilus blocks the path between the high ground and the second tower, allowing Kai'Sa to push the tower. Alchemist doesn't even have the resources to get close.

The other three RNG members moved closer to the dragon, preparing to use Kai'Sa's advantage to initiate a dragon team fight.

"SKT doesn't seem to have much of a chance against this dragon. SKT is playing extremely steadily right now, this dragon..."

"Yeah, it seems like SKT is avoiding fights right now and focusing on farming, but judging from Faker's positioning, they still want to try and see if they can win."

Before Miller could finish speaking, Skt's teleport suddenly lit up in RNG's jungle!
"When was this eye placed here? Oh no! My Alchemy TP is completely blind to what's right in front of me. When was this eye placed?"

Because it was a winning game, RNG placed most of their wards in the enemy jungle, leaving none for their own defense. This led to Skt's wards, which were placed there at some unknown time, having a surprising effect.

In the tri-bush of the bottom lane, Singed landed his Teleport. Faker's Vel'Koz was carrying Gragas in the river, while Tristana and Braum emerged from the blue buff area.

Upon seeing Tristana and Braum appear, Xiaohu's Crystal Maiden decisively attacked, attempting to capture the two.

When I used my E skill to close the distance, I suddenly noticed that the E skill button had turned black. At the same time, Lee Sin's W and Ornn's E had also turned black.

Upon closer inspection, the three immediately noticed the gleaming glue beneath their feet—the alchemist's ultimate attack unleashed from the bushes.

If we disregard RNG's significant early-game advantage in lane, then under certain conditions, Skt's lineup is actually a strong counter to RNG's lineup.

This is also a strategy that kkoma, in collaboration with analysts from SKT, developed to counter RNG's lineup.

Both Braum's shield and Singed's W can prevent Ornn's sheep from breaking out, while Tristana can coordinate with Faker's Vel'Koz, using her R skill to protect Faker from assassins.

In team fights, especially now, after Braum uses Flash + R, three people are knocked up, and several purple lights flash by, followed by Vel'Koz's laser shot.

The drawbacks of concentrating the advantage on one person became apparent. At this point, apart from Kai'Sa, the development of the others was just average. Under such perfect counter control, in just three to five seconds, when all of SKT's skills came at him, the semi-tank Lee Sin was instantly killed.

Lissandra, relying on her ultimate (R), forcefully dodged Vel'Koz's ultimate. Ornn, who was already low on health, was also blasted into Tristana's face by Gragas' ultimate and focused down. After Lissandra's ultimate ended, Skt rushed in, killed the last enemy, and also secured the dragon.

"Wow, SKT's counterattack was amazing! That ward placement gave them an opening, resulting in a 3-for-0 exchange and they even secured the dragon!"

"RNG's advantage is too concentrated. The 7000 gold advantage is entirely focused on Lee Sin and Kai'Sa. The others aren't even that much ahead!"

"SKT is heading home! Kai'Sa and Nautilus are still pushing bot lane! Aren't they going to leave?"

"Should we risk our lives to take down the top lane inhibitor or fight back? Skt may have lost their abilities this time, but they still have five players!"

Compared to the passionate shouts of the LCK commentators, the LPL commentators looked anxious, as if they wanted to rush into the soundproof room and tell RNG's bot lane duo to retreat.

but.
Will Kai'Sa, who uses the ID Uzi, really retreat?
(End of this chapter)