Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 347: Seizing the Laning Phase, Creating a Classic

"It seems our teacher is paying close attention to the factory manager's recent performance."

Upon hearing this, the doll gave an awkward laugh.

As a commentator, his words just now undoubtedly revealed his true colors. He might be fine against other teams, but against the currently dominant FPX, he seemed a bit clueless.

In previous years, it was politically correct to boast about the world champions after the World Championship.

Unfortunately, after FPX won the S9 championship this year, their momentum was clearly not as exciting as other S-series champions, resulting in a rapid decline in popularity.

Not only did everyone at FPX not expect their team to falter so quickly, but even the commentators don't believe that FPX can maintain the same dominance as other World Championship teams next season.

After all, FPX's tactical style is so obvious that even the designers don't need to think to know how to weaken the team's dominance.

"Well, anyway, ever since Uzi, Xiye, and Flandre transferred to Edg, I've been a fan of theirs this season, okay? It's like a dream come true for this old commentator."

Miller smiled and smoothed things over:
"And I've heard that Edg's recent performance in scrims has been particularly strong, often dominating the opponent across all three lanes and completely crushing them. I'm already looking forward to the upcoming matches."

"We can look forward to it, but speaking of aggressive play, FPX is no slouch either. Xiaocai just won the FMVP, and everyone should know his style well. Simply being aggressive won't get you any advantage."

Upon hearing this, Xiaotian's fans at the scene immediately cheered.

Just then, both teams were ready, and as the director's camera panned, the ban/pick page appeared on the big screen.

"In this game, FPX is on the blue side because they have a higher ranking, while EDG is on the red side."

"During the ban phase, both sides seemed very casual. FPX chose to ban Akali, Qiyana, and Syndra, who are currently very popular in the meta, to help Doinb not have too much of a hard time in the early and mid-game."

"Edg didn't focus too much on other lanes, banning Ryze, Gangplank, and Olaf to limit FPX's roster depth."

"With both sides banning champions like this, it looks like the first game will be a head-to-head battle. Right now, strong champions like Senna, Elise, Gragas, and Kai'Sa are all out in the meta. FPX could easily pick Senna first to ensure their laning phase isn't too difficult."

"Yes, if you don't pick Senna, just pick a jungler. Whether it's Ekko or Jarvan IV, which we've been seeing a lot lately, they're both suitable for the first pick."

On the playing field.

FPX did not pick the jungler first.

Instead, they chose Senna.

Clearly, they prioritize the latter over the early game tempo and laning comfort.

Since that's the case, Li Luo stopped being polite with FPX, and after some deliberation, directly arranged to take down a classic LPL training duo.

Crocodile!

spider!

The commentators were getting excited after those two wins.

"With these two heroes taken down, it looks like Clearlove is going to teach Hanzi a lesson, hahaha, it's an old tradition in the LPL."

"Yes, I don't know if Brother Han can handle the factory manager's targeting."

Upon seeing the choice Edg made, Warhorse immediately felt a bit uneasy.

If Abu had been the one doing the draft today, he wouldn't have felt this way. This unconventional playstyle, picking champions straight from ranked games, makes it a bit difficult for him to counter.

Both sides had their own ideas during the draft phase and then made targeted adjustments.

After much deliberation, Warhorse decided to wait and see what Edg's next move would be.

Given FPX's fighting style, if Clearlove really wants to mindlessly gank the top lane, he could just tell Doinb to pick a lane bully to provide support at any time.

soon.

In the first three choices.

FPX's team picks are: Senna, Alistar, and Gragas.

Edg team chose: Renekton, Elise, and Nautilus.

Seeing the first three moves of the game between the two sides, many viewers who supported FPX felt a pang of anxiety.

broken!

If FPX doesn't have an advantage in the draft phase, their chances of winning will basically depend on Doinb's performance.

In the second round of bans, FPX banned Lucian and Miss Fortune to ensure Senna wouldn't have too much trouble in lane, while Edg banned Mordekaiser and Cassiopeia.

Both sides' second round of bans was quite interesting.

In the past, teams would consider their own style and ban heroes that countered their own tactics to ensure the feasibility of their strategies.

As it turns out, in this draft, both sides are surprisingly considering the same points.

To avoid excessive pressure in lane, FPX banned some strong champions to ensure a smoother laning phase.

Edg, on the other hand, wanted to ban heroes who could play defensively in lane and drag the game into the mid-to-late game team fights, in order to force FPX to come and fight in lane.

Compared to the World Championship, the draft picks were practically random.

Actually, it's also related to this version.

In the previous version, FPX's various unconventional mid-lane champions dictated the pace of the game, such as Nautilus, Renekton, and Malphite, which were not typical mid-lane heroes.

Therefore, Riot's designers immediately devised a plan to adjust the version.

They made many changes in the preseason patch, further increasing the influence of laners and junglers, making FPX's roaming less straightforward.

The rapid respawn of jungle camps ensures that junglers always have something to do and can't just wander around with the mid laner.

The nerfs to mid-lane utility champions also ensure a certain level of competitiveness and entertainment value.

In the second round of champion selection, Edg once again stepped up their game, helping Scout secure Pantheon, a champion he had been enjoying playing a lot these past few days.

The pressure suddenly fell on FPX.

Crocodile, Spider, Titan, Pantheon.

The moment they picked those four offensive heroes, they made it clear that they weren't going to engage in any tactics, just pure skill.

This is the situation FPX least wants to see.

Their team style means that they will find it difficult to execute their core tactics when facing immense laning pressure.

To break this deadlock, their only hope lies with the newly transferred Hanzi!

If Hanzi can suppress Flandre in the top lane, then FPX can instantly turn the tide of the game. If not, it's impossible for them to rely on their mid and bot lane carries in this game.

With this thought in mind, Zhanma felt much more at ease and immediately turned his hopeful gaze to Hanzi.

Hanzi, who had just joined FPX, hadn't yet inherited the monkey show culture. When he saw the coach looking over, he gave what he thought was a very friendly smile.

"Are you confident in getting me a strong top laner?"

After Zhanma finished speaking, Doinb relayed the message.

After seeing Hanzi nod, Zhanma immediately instructed Lin Weixiang on the fourth floor to lock down Jian Ji.

With Liu Qingsong selecting players on the fifth floor, FPX's roster was finalized.

Top lane Fiora, jungle Gragas, mid lane Nocturne, bot lane Senna and Alistar. Edg is still missing an ADC pick.

At this moment, everyone is speculating about which hero Edgg will pick for Uzi in the bottom lane.

The commentators also took the opportunity to analyze the situation. Since the S-series tournament, Uzi hadn't played an AD champion and met everyone for a long time. As this was his first game after the transfer, they were all extremely curious.

Sena the Minotaur.

There are quite a few heroes who can counter this combination and are placed outside.

As the ban/pick phase ended, Edg did not disappoint, securing their signature Kai'Sa.

From this point on, both teams' lineups were fully formed.
FPX (Blue Side) vs EDG (Red Side)

Top Lane: Fiora vs. Renekton
Jungle: Gragas vs. Elise
Mid Lane: Nightmare vs Pantheon
ADC: Senna vs Kai'Sa
Support: Alistar vs. Nautilus
Commentary seat.

The Haier Brothers stared in astonishment at Edg's choice, each one utterly surprised.

I couldn't help but exclaim in surprise:
"Edg's style is completely different from last season. With this lineup today, if you covered up the team name, I'd only believe it was IG."

"All three lanes are highly competitive; whichever jungler can create momentum in this game will gain the advantage."

As the lineups for both sides were confirmed, the crowd erupted in cheers.

Viewers love to watch exciting action, especially LPL viewers, who prefer intense, bloody battles.

As long as both sides choose heroes that are good at direct confrontation, even if you lose, the losing side won't receive much criticism.

But if both sides choose a team composition that's good for a long, drawn-out game, and drag it out for tens of minutes, even if you win a team fight, you won't get much praise.

Once the loading page appears, the difference in popularity between the two teams becomes immediately apparent.

Almost the entire stadium was filled with shouts of "Clearlove" and "Uzi".

Meanwhile, in the live streaming rooms of various platforms.

As this highly anticipated match began, the number of viewers in the live stream skyrocketed.

Even some people who don't usually watch games clicked in out of curiosity today, wanting to see how the two teams would fare.

Both sides used the standard Summoner Spell setup, with no one taking any unconventional approaches. The top laner used Flash and Teleport, the jungler used Smite, and the bot lane used Heal, Ignite, and Flash.

Pantheon and Nocturne in the mid lane both coincidentally took Ignite.

Both sides lined up in a long, straight formation at the entrance, guarding the path to invade the enemy jungle. From an omniscient perspective, neither side seemed inclined to engage in a level 1 team fight.

The red team had Nightmare and Alistar, while the blue team had Nautilus and Pantheon. Neither side could gain an advantage in a fight, so they naturally gave up on the idea of ​​a level 1 team fight.

In this game, the director's camera quickly focused on the jungler and mid laner after the laning phase began.

As two mid-lane warriors, they can basically start cooperating with the jungler once they reach level three.

In the top lane, without jungle intervention, the matchup between Renekton and Fiora is basically even in the early game.

As for the bottom lane, it goes without saying that Lin Weixiang, being a Senna, was pushed out of the experience zone by Kai'Sa at level one and could only watch the minion wave from afar.

"Huh, after clearing the red buff, why isn't the factory manager going to clear the blue buff, but instead choosing to go straight to the bottom lane?"

In the game, after Flandre helped clear the red buff, Spider chose to immediately transform and head to the bottom lane.

There is a ward placed by Alistar in the bushes near the red team's side of the river. Although Zaozi and Meiko are currently pushing the lane, this ward is not very useful, but it can perfectly detect ganks coming from the direction of the river.

"Liu Qingsong's awareness was excellent this time. The factory manager is probably going to suffer a defeat," Wawa said regretfully.

"But the spider didn't leave. In this situation, does the spider still have plans for the bot lane? FPX's map has already marked it."

Neither of the commentators were optimistic about this risky level 2 gank on the bottom lane.

However, the next second, the familiar classic reappeared!
"My god, Clearlove is slowly grinding in from the edge of the river! Director, quickly switch to FPX's perspective to see if Clearlove has been exposed."

As Miller finished speaking, the director, being quite sensible, quickly switched the camera angle, only showing the map tiles that FPX could see.

With a change in perspective, all viewers were horrified to discover that the spider, completely obscured by the fog of war, had made its way into the triangular patch of grass without leaving a trace.

Thanks to the spider model, this is a detail that many people who don't play with spiders don't know.

When transforming into a giant spider, as long as you are close enough to the wall, and click on the wall while transforming, you can get a small part of your body model stuck into the wall.

At this point, repeatedly clicking on the wall to move forward will allow you to stay at the maximum distance and avoid some enemy sights.

The prerequisite is that you know where the limit of eye position is.

Just like now, the eyes in the river grass can't see the spot that's really close to the wall, allowing the spider to successfully sneak across.

Meanwhile, Kai'Sa and Nautilus in the bot lane also leveled up to level two.

In an instant, Meiko flashed and used her Q skill to hook Alistar.

"Fuck!"

"spider!"

Both players in the bot lane are still level 1. Alistar has leveled up Q at level 1, so he can't push away Nautilus immediately and can only take another passive root.

Seeing that Titan had taken the initiative, Zaozi decisively flashed forward, creating an opening for his W skill, and then unleashed his AWQ combo in an instant.

Just as the bull was about to recover from its dizziness, Li Luo delivered the most lethal control.

Cocoon!

The bull's head was once again covered in cocoons, and it died with no choice but to suffer a bitter end.

Li Luo didn't try to steal the kill; he let Zaozi win it. After all, both of them in the bottom lane had used Flash, and not getting the kill would be a huge loss for the next wave.

"This gank was a battle of gods!"

Everyone gasped in surprise as they watched the spider strut away.

"My god, this gank... I absolutely wouldn't believe it if it were any other jungler in the LPL. Only Clearlove, only he would dare to do something like this."

"The factory manager's awareness is too sharp. Not only did he block vision, but he also calculated the timing perfectly. However, if Liu Qingsong had reacted to the Titan's Flash Q immediately, they could have still fought. What a pity," Miller said in shock.

"It must be that Liu Qingsong's perspective wasn't on the bottom lane. After all, other junglers probably wouldn't gank such a position where the lane is pushed up. But as expected of Clearlove," Wawa praised him enthusiastically.

The commentators were generous with their praise for this amazing gank, and the audience cheered loudly.

They had waited several years for this cheer.

Ever since Edg was overturned by SKT with a mere 10,000 gold deficit in S7, all Edg fans have lost count of how many days and nights they have watched Edg's current state with regret.

But now, seeing this familiar gank, they were moved to tears.

A single gank on the bot lane opened up the laning phase. Given Senna's weakness in the early game, it was only a matter of time before FPX's bot lane collapsed, provided that Xiaotian and Doinb didn't intervene.

The longer something is suppressed, the more violently it will erupt.

"Previously, the factory director at the second level was in charge of targeting Uzbekistan; now, the factory director at the second level is in charge of helping Uzbekistan!"

The doll uttered a classic line that is destined to be passed down through generations.

(End of this chapter)