Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 303 Luring the Enemy into a Trap, Suppressing Intelligence

"Pantheon and Taliyah going bot lane? Xiangguo brought Taliyah to the jungle position, and now Uzi is going to bring Taliyah to the ADC position?" Wawa said with a shocked expression, his tone full of disbelief.

"Excuse my bluntness, but this is the first time I've ever seen Taliyah and Pantheon in the bot lane. I've never seen such an extreme bot lane combination, even in ranked games."

"But it's hard to say. If Pantheon can land a knockout first and Taliyah can bring them back, the damage output will definitely be impressive." Miller thought for a moment and instantly understood the intricacies of this combination.

Since its creation by the League of Legends team, Pantheon has been an extremely early-game champion. Putting aside his strength in the mid-to-late game in casual games, Pantheon is pitifully weak in the late game based on his overall appearance statistics in competitive matches.

It's no exaggeration to say that if SKT can drag the game to 30 minutes, Pantheon in the mid lane is practically a super minion. By the time everyone has four or five items, this champion's only useful skill is his W's crowd control; the rest of his abilities are like scratching an itch through a boot.

Of course, before the minion aggro mechanism was changed in S8, players would often use this hero to annoy others. After all, who would bother with fancy maneuvers when they could just spam QQQ?
Therefore, during the major rework in Season 8, the designers targeted Pantheon's strength, causing this champion, who had remained in the top ten of the win rate rankings for three years, to drop out of the top 20 after his Q skill attracted minion aggro. His pick rate in ranked games also dropped from 15% to 0.89%.

However, Pantheon's mechanics are what they are. Before the S9 World Championship, in order to make the game more exciting, the designers completely reworked Pantheon, a "niche" hero in S8, and he became a must-ban or must-pick hero in S9, S10 and even S11.

Even after the addition of ultimate penetration in Season 11, Pantheon's win rate remained the highest in the mid lane and second in the top lane, making him incredibly popular.

However, while Pantheon support is frequently seen in ranked games, he is rarely seen in competitive matches.

The bot lane is meant to face long-range AD carries, so you can't exactly go and trade Qs with the ADC, that's not very realistic.

"The puppy's Taliyah. I didn't expect them to actually bring it out in the finals. To be honest, RNG really has a lot of courage!" Changmao didn't finish his sentence.

But everyone who heard it understood that in important and crucial matches like the S-series finals or series finals, the starting point for both coaches and players is the margin for error, because theoretically, the lower the margin for error, the more crucial it is to win the game.

However, if you bring out some weird heroes or weird strategies in the finals, you'll either win big with some unconventional tactics or lose and get criticized for years.

Pantheon, the Taliyah, is one such champion.

Now, in this crucial game of the World Championship, to bring it out like this, aside from anything else, just shows how incredibly daring they are!
"RNG is a team that fills everyone with hope. When other teams are becoming more cautious, they tend to be bolder. Now SKT has picked an extremely aggressive lineup in the early and mid-game, but RNG is not to be outdone and wants to go head-to-head with you. The commentators didn't expect this lineup, and SKT didn't expect this lineup! RNG dares to pick!" Wawa shouted.

"Let's dedicate all our enthusiasm to Uzi's Taliyah, and hope that Uzi can deliver a perfect moment for Taliyah!"

"The match is about to begin. This is the second game of the best-of-five series at the 2018 World Championship. Will RNG pull off a surprise victory and take the match point, or will SKT overcome the pressure and win a game? Let's head into Summoner's Rift!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the final adjustment time for BP ended, and the loading screen appeared.

A deafening roar of applause and cheers erupted from the stadium!

"Rng!!! Rng!!!"

"Skt will win!! Skt will win!"

"Go RNG! Go, little dog!"

In the second crucial game that determined the match point, the atmosphere reached its peak, with fans on both sides excited and eager to see their favorite team dominate.

The cheers of tens of thousands of people echoed throughout the stadium, and the glass of the soundproof booths was visibly trembling slightly.

The game officially begins!
RNG clearly had a plan and strategy in mind for this match.

As soon as they entered the game, all five RNG players gathered together and headed towards Skt's upper jungle.

"Is RngRng still planning to engage in a level 1 team fight this game?"

Seeing the same actions as the previous game at the start, Wawa perked up and began to commentate intently.

"You can see that Wolf is being very cautious this game, standing directly behind the wall. However, RNG doesn't seem to be trying to gank Wolf. Instead, they want to invade the blue side's upper jungle. What kind of strategy is that?" Miller looked at the map and the positioning, slightly puzzled.

"Go, go, go!"

As he ran out, Xiangguo shouted excitedly.

Xiangguo can be considered a top-tier player in major tournaments. Those who frequently watch Xiangguo's live streams know that he is often taciturn during his streams. Sometimes he won't say a word during a game, but will be focused on his gameplay.

But during the competition, Xiangguo transformed into the atmosphere-maker, boosting the team's morale.

Xiaoming's Pantheon took the lead, guiding the entire RNG team in an attack. Their route was very clear: they were hiding in the bushes near the top lane in the upper half of the map.

On SKT's side, having learned their lesson from the first game, they cautiously lined up in a long, single-file formation. The bot lane duo guarded the lower half of the jungle, while Blank's Lee Sin stood in the bush above the blue buff, watching the river.

In SKT's lineup, both Alistar and Crystal Maiden are heroes that are very good at keeping enemies in place.

However, RNG's lineup is also excellent in level 1 team fights, with Pantheon's reliable point control and Swain's pull-back, or Taliyah's very strong sustained fighting ability at level 1.

"Little dog, it's up to you this time," Xiao Hu said worriedly, then followed closely out of the bushes.

It was something that anyone outside the company could guess; how could Skt possibly have been unprepared for this?

At level one, aside from Kennen needing to keep his wards in place to prevent ganks, and Lee Sin needing to use his W to ward up, the other three players used their wards.

As one of the world's top players, their ward placements were extremely tricky, mostly placed in blind spots, preventing RNG from launching a direct attack.

As soon as Xiaohu headed towards the mid lane, he was immediately spotted by Skt's vision.

"Wow, what a pity! Skt's defense was very solid. There's a ward in the bush where Xiaohu is hiding. The level 1 team fight between the two sides shouldn't be possible!"

"But it's alright, right?"

The baby suddenly widened its eyes.

"Skt has sent a signal that it's on its way. Is it about to launch an attack?"

"Want to fight?"

At this moment, the crow was standing in the bushes near the Baron Nashor in the upper jungle, while the Lee Sin was standing in the bushes in front of the Blue Buff wall.

In Skt's field of vision, the crow seemed completely unaware of the presence of a blind man less than 100 yards away.

As soon as the signal that a Minotaur was on his way was sent, Skt's previously scattered lineup instantly regrouped, with the bot lane and top lane moving towards the bush in the mid lane.

"Hey, Skt's trying to catch Little Tiger!"

In the previous game, when SKT was reviewing the match in the rest room, they attributed their biggest mistake to Wolf getting caught and killed at level one, and even having to use Flash. In this game, the SKT members, who initially had no plans for the level one team fight, inexplicably had a wicked thought creeping into their minds.

Since you had a huge advantage in the last game by killing Braum, wouldn't it be great if we could also gain a huge advantage at level one by killing Swain this game?
This inappropriate criminal thought led SKT down a path of no return.

In fact, this is indeed the case.

As the crow headed towards the mid lane, the four of them didn't stop either, and all of them hid in the bush near the blue buff in the upper half of the map.

"This is..." Everyone was stunned.

"Could RNG be trying to use Swain as bait to lure Kennen who's defending up here?" Miller realized, but his mouth dropped open in astonishment.

"Isn't that incredibly audacious? They're betting that Skt has a ward and that they'd actually bother trying to catch that crow?"

I've heard of first-tier teams catching and camping, but this guy using bait to hunt people here? Dude, are you in the wrong movie?

Even a cunning and calculating team, even if they were playing the game with the entire map open, wouldn't go to such lengths to manipulate military strategy, right?
This is no longer a question of whether it's radical or not; it's a psychological crushing defeat.

But Li Luo is such an illogical and unconventional person. How could he win championships continuously if he used ordinary logic or the mindset of an e-sports geek when playing games?

In fact, in the field of esports, 99% of players rely on their talent to play the game.

If you were to actually take them out and test their IQ, they would probably be just like ordinary people, with nothing special about them.

The paradox is that by the time someone who has received a high-level elite education has mastered most of that knowledge, it is already too late for them to get involved in esports.

In esports, where 17-year-olds can participate in competitions and 22-year-olds are considered old, many players only gradually realize after retiring that they were not using their brains when playing games during their professional careers.

However, once a novel tactic or idea emerges, it will immediately stand out from the crowd.

Rockbird + Pantheon.

This combination needs to gain an advantage in the early game, otherwise it will be completely useless even if Lucian gets strong in the mid-game, not even in the late game.

This combination was originally developed in Season 9 and was intended to counter the then extremely annoying Taric-Sona combo. However, the person who developed this combo obviously did not expect how terrifying the early-game damage of this combination would be before it was nerfed.

The top Thresh player and streamer Qingwa in the Chinese server even used this strategy to dominate in high-elo games, which shows how powerful this strategy is.

However, this combination first appeared on the field in the competition, and it was against SKT in S9. At that time, SKT picked the super sneaky combination of Ezreal and Braum, which made Taliyah and Pantheon lose their role in the early game and become super minions in the mid-game.

SKT definitely knew this, so the core and battleground of this game was in the top lane!

Both sides are cunning and scheming, so if RNG wants to force Skt to focus their fights on the bottom lane, the only thing they can do is to limit Kennen at level one and at least force him to use Flash.

"Wow! RNG really has something! Kennen is really going to get caught this time!" Everyone's attention was drawn to the two shots shown by the director.

On the left, four RNG players are crouching in the bushes, preparing to ambush Kennen; on the right, four Skt players are already in position, ready to ambush Swain.

"Is there a chance? This wave seems to depend on the players' skills. Both sides are level one and have both summoner spells. Let's see if Swain dies first or Kennen dies first!" Wawa was excited at first, but then a little worried.

Because RNG is currently in the enemy jungle, if they fail to catch or kill the enemy, the jungler and bot lane will be a step slower in reaching their lanes. For the jungler, it's not a big deal, as it just wastes some time. But for the bot lane's development and rhythm, wasting experience is tantamount to throwing away their advantageous lane matchup.

"Kennan is coming! Kennan really came from here!"

As the commentator finished speaking, the four RNG players were like tigers released from their cages, as if they had been given a starting pistol!

As Kennen approached the bush, Pantheon didn't hesitate to use his W to ambush him. Taliyah also activated her Q skill, unleashing a barrage of rock spikes at Kennen.

By the time Kennen realized what was happening, he was knocked away again by Ornn, who was close to the wall, using his E skill!
Having taken so much crowd control at level one, it goes without saying that Kennen instantly used Flash the moment he landed, but he was still chased down and killed on the spot by Taliyah's Rock Slash.

Rng.Uzi killed Skt.Khan
First blood!

The instant the sound of first blood rang out, on the other side of the battlefield, the four members of Skt also killed Crow.

Skt.Bang killed Rng.xiaohu.
Both ADCs got a kill, but because it was first blood, RNG still gained an extra 100 gold and Kennen's Flash.

Just then, the minion wave reached the front of the high ground tower. Logically, both sides should have retreated back to their lanes, but Skt's actions made all the LCK fans cheer.

"My god, is Skt still going to fight? Kennen has already teleported, are they going to leave all four RNG members in the jungle?"

The moment Kennen revived after his death, he teleported to the ward he had placed at the blue buff before his death, the meaning of which was self-evident: to leave four RNG members alive.

"Wow, Raven's teleported too! My god, are the two teams going to engage in a 5v5 team fight right from the start?"

Upon seeing this, the audience erupted in a frenzy of cheers.

After exchanging kills on both sides at level one, they still had to engage in a 5v5 battle. When have we ever seen such an impulsive matchup in the finals?
"Skt hesitated after seeing Swain's teleport. In that case, Kennen used both his teleport and flash at level one. After the two sides traded kills, they probably didn't plan to fight anymore!"

Skt's avoidance allowed RNG to easily occupy the blue side's upper jungle.

"Just as I expected. In such an impulsive and dangerous team fight, they still chose the safer approach," Xiangguo laughed.

"That's satisfying. Skt got themselves into trouble again. They placed wards here, here, and here."

While marking the ward locations on the map, Xiaoming helped Xiangguo get the blue buff.

"Watch me do this, I've completely outmaneuvered Brother Han, okay?"

The nickname "Brother Hanzi" that Xiangguo used was learned from Li Luo.

Although it's unclear why they directly transliterated Khan's ID, it rhymed, so everyone in RNG called him that.

In fact, RNG's real goal was not the outcome of the level 1 team fight, but how to counter Kennen.

With lane-swap tactics now extinct, picking Kennen against a melee champion means pressure and lane control. So, to counter Kennen, you have to make a big impact in the level 1 team fight.

"Letme went straight to the bottom lane after returning home, while Taliyah and Pantheon went top. Facing a Kennen without Flash or Teleport, they waited until Taliyah and Pantheon reached level two."

In the commentary booth, Miller smiled and revealed RNG's ultimate goal.

(End of this chapter)