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

Chapter 223 Opponent Flash Wolves, MSI First Match!

The other two people who were on the commentary panel with Changmao were Guan Zeyuan and Su Xiaoyan.

As soon as the two appeared on camera, the live stream was immediately flooded with comments like "[Yan Jia Guan Jiao]".

There's no way around it; whenever Guan Zeyuan and Su Xiaoyan are both around, this idiom is bound to appear.

The commentators talked about SKT for a long time.

Suddenly, a burst of cheers, seemingly from the audience, came from the background.

It is clear that the players from both sides of the opening match have already taken their seats.

"The match seems to be about to begin!" Longhair shouted.

"Let's look forward to the opening match of the 2017 Mid-Season Invitational, G2 vs SKT!"

After that, the live stream began playing pre-recorded short videos featuring each team's entrance.

First, a short film about G2 was played.

Then a short video about SKT was played.

When the live footage reappeared, the camera had switched from the commentary booth to the announcer's booth.

"Alright, everyone, welcome to the 2017 MSI! We are now in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!"

"Hello everyone, I'm commentator Wawa!"

"I'm commentator Miller!"

"Today, the two of us will be providing commentary on the first three BO1 matches of the group stage!"

The first day of MSI will feature six BO1 group stage matches.

LPL has arranged two commentary teams: one team will commentate on the first three games, and the other team will commentate on the last three games.

The first match featured SKT, and the second match featured LGD.

In addition, the first two matches were played domestically, so it wasn't quite time for the underworld to arrive yet.

This led to the first two group stage matches generating a lot of buzz in the country.

The LPL officials naturally arranged for Wawa and Miller, the most senior and still most popular commentators, to be the first commentators today.

He was responsible for commentating on the first three matches.

Adjusting her glasses, Wawa continued, "The three commentators on the panel talked for so long during today's first match; they must have worked very hard."

"So, regarding these two teams, let's start with G2. Since their debut, they've been at their peak from the very beginning, and they've been at their peak for a year and a half, winning three consecutive EU championships!"

Just as the baby said this, the live broadcast camera shifted from the commentary booth to the scene.

Coincidentally, when Wawa mentioned "debuting at the peak," the camera focused on Faker, who was flexing his wrist.

When it comes to "debuting at the peak," is there anyone in the League of Legends community who fits this description better than Faker?

After another round of nonsense from Wawa and Miller, the draft phase finally began for the opening match of this year's MSI.

G2 and SKT were playing on the field, while the other four teams were already at the venue.

At this moment, they are all watching the game in the backstage lounge.

Especially LGD.

The entire team was watching this opening match intently.

The reason is very simple.

The version used in this MSI is 7.8.

All participating teams, except for TSM, FW, and GAM, who came up from the play-in stage.

The other three teams, SKT, G2, and LGD, have not yet played any official matches in this version.

LGD's opponent in a little while, Flash Wolves, played in the play-in stage and have experience playing official matches in the new version.

LGD is at a disadvantage in this regard.

Therefore, the opening match between SKT and G2 is still quite valuable for LGD.

Soon, both sides completed their business plan (BP) negotiations.

In this opening match, SKT picked Galio, who had just been reworked not long ago.

The hero's name was changed from "The Sentinel's Tragedy" to "The Colossus of War".

At this point in time, Galio, who has just been reworked, can be played in both the top and mid lanes.

Sometimes in the draft phase, Galio is used to create some flexibility.

However, they mostly played in the top lane, and less often in the mid lane.

In this game, SKT picked Syndra on the fifth floor of the red side.

This confirms that SKT's Galio pick is indeed a top lane Galio.

After the draft phase, the match officially began.

In this opening match, Faker gave up first blood in less than a minute of the game.

But in the end, SKT played steadily and, after a grueling 40-minute battle, secured the victory.

In terms of raw strength, SKT is indeed significantly stronger than G2.

However, this match also revealed some things.

That means G2 is a really strong team, and we need to take them seriously.

At least that's what Zhou Dian thought when he watched the game from the backstage lounge.

After watching the opening match, Zhou Dian got up from his chair and stretched his body, as well as the joints in his neck and wrists.

The opening match is over, and it's LGD's turn to play soon.

The breaks between games are not very long.

Not long after, staff came to inform the LGD players that they should get ready to go on stage.

"Alright, everyone, welcome back!"

The live footage reappeared in the official LPL live stream.

The first to appear on camera were naturally the three commentators.

"I believe that for our LPL viewers, especially those who are looking forward to LGD's appearance, this is LGD's first match at the Mid-Season Invitational!"

After a pause, Guan Zeyuan continued, "I just checked the big screen and saw that the LGD players are already seated on the field."

"I believe that every team feels the same way about the first game of the first match; they all hope to win, get off to a good start, and boost morale!"

"."

After nearly six minutes of casual conversation, the players on the field had all completed their pre-competition preparations, including equipment adjustments.

The live broadcast camera shifted from the commentary booth to the commentators' booth. "Okay, thank you to the three of you for your pre-match analysis."

"Actually, we've been waiting for this match, LGD vs. Flash Wolves, for a long time!"

Pushing up her glasses, Wawa continued, "But I think everyone shouldn't put too much pressure on LGD."

The doll came on stage with a classic, emotionally charged performance.

"I think we definitely have to play well in the first game, we must win to gain confidence!" Miller added.

He did not overlook the fact that esports is all about "skill."

If you can't win the game, all your rambling is useless.

Soon, the BP interface appeared on the large screen at the scene.

"Alright, the match between LGD and Flash Wolves has started. Let's take a look at the draft!"

"LGD has the right to choose sides in this match; they chose the blue side!"

In the first game, LGD played it safe and chose the blue side.

It's just a match against Flash Wolves, and it's not a do-or-die game, so LGD doesn't need to use the "actively choosing the red side" tactic.

Furthermore, Dgc studied a lot of Flash Wolves' matches.

I've noticed that Flash Wolves and EDG are quite similar.

It seems that the rumors about the two teams frequently playing scrims together are indeed true.

Anyway, when Flash Wolves were on the red side, it was exactly the same as when EDG was on the red side.

The fifth-floor counter position is basically reserved for the mid-laner.

Top laners shouldn't expect counter picks.

In other words, even on the blue side, Zhou Dian can still pick a champion after Flash Wolves' top laner, Mimi Dan (MMD).

BP starts.

First round of BP.

LGD banned Syndra, LeBlanc, and Zyra.

Flash Wolves banned Graves, Karma, and Fiora.

"Hey, LGD banned Maple's Syndra right from the start."

“Syndra is a champion that Maple currently has a 100% win rate with, so we really have to respect that!” Miller said.

"And LeBlanc, those are also mid-lane assassin heroes that Maple is very good at!" Wawa added.

"That's right. When LGD plays against Flash Wolves, they must ban the mid-lane tempo points. This is very important because LGD doesn't actually rely on mid-jungle synergy."

"And then we'll also cut off Flash Wolves' best-kept mid-jungle synergy!"

"However, Flash Wolves' first two bans seem to indicate they've done a lot of research on LGD!"

Miller frowned slightly after seeing Flash Wolves ban Graves and Karma in succession.

These two bans were indeed targeted at LGD.

These days, if LGD gets either Graves in the jungle or Karma in the mid lane, the game will be much more comfortable for them.

If you get both, you can basically say you've won.

"In the end, LGD banned Zyra, a support champion who is very strong in the bot lane."

"Flash Wolves banned Fiora. I don't need to elaborate on Zhou Shen's skill level with Fiora, right? Normally, no team would let her through!"

After the first three bans.

LGD locked in Ashe on the first floor of the blue side.

"First pick Ashe, no problem!"

"So Flash Wolves have completely broken up the Ashe-Malzak combination!"

"The grasshopper is also a support hero that Snake really likes to use!"

"Snake" is the nickname of SwordArt, the support player for Flash Wolves.

LPL commentators and Taiwanese commentators usually refer to SwordArt as "Snake" when commentating on Flash Wolves matches.

After LGD picked Ashe as their first pick.

Flash Wolves immediately secured Malzahar on the first floor of the red team.

Then, Flash Wolves quickly locked down Lee Sin on the second floor.

Karsa was incredibly confident in his choice of Lee Sin.

"Karsa really likes playing Lee Sin, so Eimy can pick Elise, which is a counter to Lee Sin."

As soon as Miller finished speaking, LGD revealed Spider on the second floor of the blue team.

However, it hasn't been locked yet, clearly because it's still hesitant.

Ultimately, LGD chose Elise for the jungle position.

"In that case, choosing the right support role is a bit tricky!" Miller frowned again.

“I think we can choose MF, there aren’t many other support options!” Doll said immediately.

In the SKT vs. G2 match just now, SKT's bot lane duo, Bang and Wolf, chose an Ashe and Miss Fortune combination.

Miss Fortune, as a support, made her stunning debut in the incredibly classic semi-final match between SKT and ROX at last year's S6 World Championship.

After that, Miss Fortune became a semi-regular support.

Many support players practice Miss Fortune support.

Upon hearing the doll's opinion, Miller immediately said, "Does PYL use female gunners a lot? I don't recall using them that often!"

PYL not only doesn't use Miss Fortune often, he's never played Miss Fortune support in a competitive match.

Although I practice Miss Fortune a bit in ranked matches.

However, this level of proficiency was not enough for PYL to pick Miss Fortune as support in an important MSI group stage match.

Finally, after showcasing support champions such as Nami, Braum, and Tahm Kench.

LGD chose Taliyah on the third floor of the blue side.

Let's pick the mid laner first, and save the support for the second round.

Subsequently, Flash Wolves secured Varus on the third floor of the red team's map.

This concludes the first round of business proposals (BP).

(End of this chapter)