You promised a top lane tutorial, but you're just using Worlds as material for your videos?

Chapter 170 Damn it, give him Yasuo, let's see if he picks it!
When Zhou Dian and the others returned to the lounge.

I saw Imp, who had returned to the lounge earlier, sitting on the sofa, enjoying himself by himself.

The upturned corners of his mouth are harder to suppress than an AK.

No matter how hard I try, I can't push it down.

Seeing imp's state, Zhou Dian and PYL exchanged a glance, already understanding each other's intentions.

The LCK finals next door will definitely end with SKT sweeping the competition.

When they went on stage to play the first game against EDG, SKT was already leading KT 2-0, and the third game was about to begin.

The game must be over by now.

And since imp is so happy, there's no doubt about it.

KT ultimately suffered a crushing 0-3 defeat, losing the LCK Spring Split finals.

For Imp, nothing was more satisfying than seeing Mata suffer a crushing defeat.

Especially since Mata's AD carry partner is Deft.

This is double the happiness!

PYL sat down next to imp and chatted with him about the LCK finals next door.

imp naturally mocked mata and deft mercilessly.

Complaining to teammates isn't enough to satisfy me.

Imp took out his phone from his backpack and sent messages to Mata and Deft directly on a chat app commonly used by Koreans.

The content of the message...
Of course, we should just go for the kill!

If you don't deal damage when you're winning, are you supposed to deal damage when you're losing?

After sending the message, Imp put away his phone and said in a very regretful tone, "What a pity, I was actually hoping KT could win the Spring Split!"

"You're still so happy that KT lost?" PYL said, puzzled.

Hearing this, Zhou Dian interjected, "Imp definitely wants to personally crush KT!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Imp nodded repeatedly. "Little Zhou really understands me!"

"If KT wins the Spring Split, I can personally crush them at MSI!"

Upon hearing this, PYL rolled his eyes. "Tch, PYL, you're really getting cocky. We're still in the playoffs semifinals, and you're already thinking about MSI, huh?"

"You could say everyone's a factory manager!" Wei Shen said with a smile.

"I'm already studying our MSI opponents, right? Clearlove's words truly deserve to be called one of the bibles of esports!" Dgc also joined in the team's chat with a smile.

After chatting for a few minutes, Eimy returned from the restroom.

They didn't stay long.

It seems that after spending a lot of time with imp, Eimy has also learned the essence of imp's "three puffs and a cigarette".

The speed at which he smokes is getting faster and faster.

Once Eimy returned and everyone was present, they stopped chatting and began discussing the drafting and banning strategies for the second game.

There's not much to discuss.

Before the match, the LGD coaching staff and players did a lot of homework on their opponent, EDG.

The first game went relatively smoothly, so there wasn't much to adjust.

Just follow the pre-match plan.

Only consider changes when plans are thwarted.

During the discussion, Zhou Dian mentioned once again that he wanted to play Yasuo in the second game.

Dgc said, "Okay, okay, as long as EDG doesn't ban Yasuo, you can just pick him!"

But what I was thinking was:

Why are you always thinking about your Yasuo?

At the same time, in the EDG lounge.

Head coach Nofe led the team in a brief review of the first game.

They started discussing the upcoming second game.

In a best-of-five series, losing the first game is not a big deal.

There is still a lot of room for adjustment.

Many teams even treat the first game of a best-of-five series as a trial run, not necessarily something they have to win.

but.

After you lose the first game of a best-of-five series.

In the second game, we absolutely had to win.

If we lose two games in a row, the situation will be too passive.

Of course, it's possible to come back from a 0-2 deficit to win 3-2.

However, the probability of a comeback from 0-2 to 3-2 is extremely small.

To put it bluntly, unless there are some special reasons...

If you lose the first two games in a row, then your skill level is inferior to your opponent's.

After discussing for a while, everyone in EDG reached a consensus—

The first thing EDG needs to solve now is the top lane issue.

And it is something that urgently needs to be resolved.

If the situation in the top lane continues like this, then EDG will have a very difficult time today.

But what can be done?

Nofe glanced at Mouse, thinking to himself, "This top lane is just unbeatable, the skill gap is obvious! How come that LGD top laner is so damn strong!"

Just now, the EDG team also discussed how to limit Zhou Dian through the draft phase.

However, Meiko directly said, "Zhou Shen's hero pool is too deep, we can't limit him!"

This sentence immediately silenced everyone in EDG.

Yeah, how do we restrict it?

In the first game, EDG banned several top laners and deliberately set traps in their lineup selection.

We're just waiting for Zhou Dian to jump in.

But Zhou Dian suddenly pulled out a small cannon, which completely broke the entire unfavorable situation.

This is the advantage of having a deep hero pool.

No matter what kind of situation we face, we always have a backup plan!
"A backup plan? Yes, the key is the backup plan!" Nofe suddenly had a clue.

Zhou Dian's advantage is his deep hero pool, which allows him to always counter opponents!
If I counter you later.

How should you respond?
There's no way to deal with it!
You've already chosen your hero, so you can only play to your advantage with the heroes you already have.

Thinking of this, Nofe turned to Scout and asked, "Rui Can (Scout's real name), how about you make an exception for the second game and give the counter position to Mouse?"

In the second game, EDG had the right to choose sides.

Nofe is already prepared to choose the red side.

In the past, when EDG was on the red side...

The counter slots on the fifth floor for the red team are basically reserved for Scout.

Scout is EDG's most important player in this year's Spring Split.

After he gets the counter pick, he's usually effective and leads EDG to victory.

This is what Nofe thinks:
Playing a game is essentially about the "weakest link" principle.

If your weaknesses are too weak, it's easy for others to exploit them. Mouse, as the relatively weak link in the EDG team, isn't actually that weak in normal circumstances.

However, if it coincides with a peak, it becomes too short and too easy to be broken through by a single point.

In situations like this, the only option is for the stronger players on the team to sacrifice a bit and improve Mouse's weaknesses.

For a team to go further, those with strong abilities often have to make more sacrifices, while those with weaker abilities enjoy more benefits.

With great power comes great responsibility.

Only in this way can the overall strength of a team be maximized.

This is true not only in esports.

This is also true for any team-based competitive sport.

Upon hearing Nofe's question, Scout understood the head coach's thoughts and motivations.

Although Scout has never really trusted his teammates and only wants to carry the game himself.

But he also understands the principle that with great power comes great responsibility.

He is not someone who shirks responsibility.

Making sacrifices for teammates is no problem.

But this doesn't mean Scout suddenly trusts his teammates.

He is simply confident in his own abilities.

Even if his mid-lane champion pick is countered, he can still carry the game.

“No problem, Mouse will be the counter pick next game!” Scout nodded.

Then he added, "But I'm definitely not going to play Karma mid in the next game!"

“OK, OK! I also think Karma mid is really not good!” Nofe said immediately.

At this moment, Nofe's tense expression relaxed considerably.

He felt that he had at least found a way to break the deadlock in today's BO5.

Whether it will work out is another matter.

But if you don't even have a direction, that would be really frustrating.

However, Nofe's joy was short-lived, as Meiko quickly poured cold water on his enthusiasm.

"Coach, giving the counter pick to Mouse doesn't change anything; it just sacrifices Scout's advantage for nothing!"

As she spoke, Meiko turned to Mouse and asked, "Mouse, do you have a champion to play against Tristana in the top lane?"

"I"

While Mouse was still stammering, Nofe said directly, "If you can't beat Tristana, you can ban her!"

"Besides, Tristana is only effective as a top laner against the scaling composition we played in the last game; she's not someone you can play all the time!"

"If LGD's top laner dares to build Tristana first again in the next game, I have a way to counter it!"

Fortunately, it was an in-house translator for EDG, and their skills were quite good.

Nofe spoke a long string of Korean in one breath, and the translator flawlessly relayed it into Chinese.

After hearing the translator's message, Meiko immediately said, "Zhou Shen doesn't just play Tristana, he can play so many weird top laners!"

"Next game, he'll pick another weird hero. Even if there's a hero that can counter it, Mouse doesn't know how to play it!"

"I still think Mouse shouldn't be picked as the counter, otherwise it'll be a waste of Scout's strength!"

Meiko's words were somewhat "hurtful".

But right now, all he cares about is winning the game, and he doesn't care whether Mouse got hurt or not.

However, Mouse himself did not feel that Meiko's words hurt him.

He felt that Meiko had hit the nail on the head.

Coach, if you give me a counter position, can I counter?
I don't have that ability!

In League of Legends, you can't just counter it whenever you want.

You need to have that hero pool and that level of proficiency.

If you force yourself to pick a hero you don't know how to play, you might get countered and crushed.

The coach originally gave him a counter position, but he wasn't really keen on taking it.

Just like Meiko said, what if Zhou Dian picks another weird hero in the next game?

Even if he goes second, it's very likely he won't be able to counter it!
You can't force yourself to pick a hero you're not proficient with just to counter a champion.

Moreover, even if they do get a skilled champion, it will still counter LGD's top laner.

Mouse was also feeling uneasy.

I got the counter position, but I need to get C.

To put it bluntly, he felt he couldn't shoulder the responsibility of carrying the team.

I don't want to take on this responsibility either.

Therefore, in Mouse's view, Meiko's words actually helped him out of a tight spot.

Mouse then readily agreed, saying, "Let Scout take the counter pick. I can hold my own in the top lane. I made too many mistakes in the first game!"

Upon hearing this, Scout frowned but remained silent.

But Nofe didn't believe Mouse.

You think you can withstand anything on the road?!

If you get countered by LGD's top laner again in the next game, you'll run into trouble.

But what Meiko said also makes a lot of sense.

This put Nofe in a dilemma.

Is it a matter of sacrificing Scout to gamble on Mouse being able to counter the weekly champion in the next game?
Or should we pass the ball to Scout and just wait for Scout to come to center?

Nofe was a little undecided.

At this moment, Abu, the former head coach and current manager of EDG who hadn't participated much in the game content discussion, suddenly asked, "Mouse, do you have any champions that can counter Yasuo?"

"Huh? Yasuo?"

After a moment's thought, Mouse said, "I can use a crocodile!"

“You mean…” Meiko felt like she understood Abu’s thoughts.

"Then you should build the crocodile first, and leave the counter pick for Scout!"

Abu continued, "Didn't Zhou say he wanted to play Yasuo? Let's not ban Yasuo next game, what's the point of banning a weak Yasuo!"

"Damn it, give him Yasuo, let's see if he picks it!"

Upon hearing this, everyone understood what Abu meant.

Didn't you want to play Yasuo?

Then I'll start by picking a champion that counters Yasuo.

If you choose Yasuo, you're just asking for trouble.

This is a calculated, open strategy.

One can strike first and be a hero, yet still manage to counter the opponent's open schemes.

Abu felt that his arrangement was quite skillful.

However, just as Abu was feeling smug, Meiko poured cold water on him again.

"No, what if he picks Renekton first and then doesn't pick Yasuo? Who said he has to play Yasuo just because it's available today?"

(End of this chapter)