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

Chapter 355 TheShy, the Prodigy Top Laner
After defeating IM, LGD has now achieved a ten-game winning streak in the Summer Split.

The official interview for this match was with LGD's jungler, Eimy.

The host started by asking two questions related to the competition, and then asked:

"From the last match against WE to today's match, Zhou has picked Troll Warlord in three consecutive games, which is completely different from his usual hero choices. As his teammate, do you feel like the style of the game has suddenly changed?"

Eimy thought for a moment and said, "Uh, no, no matter what hero Zhou plays, as a jungler, I only have one feeling, which is to be at ease."

The jungler is such an honest person!

The host then asked a few standard questions, to which Eimy gave standard answers as well.

That concludes the post-match interviews.

Back at the training base after the competition, Zhou Dian and his teammates immediately threw themselves into training.

LGD has another match this week against IG, which is the day after tomorrow.

It was past nine o'clock when everyone returned to the base.

Although they easily won the match 2-0, Dgc still organized the team members to go to the meeting room to review today's match against IM.

Continuously identify and address your shortcomings; only then can you make progress.

After the debriefing session ended, it was quite late.

Dgc didn't have any training arrangements, so they just let the team members play ranked matches on their own.

Zhou Dian has recently become addicted to playing tanks, and he's been playing tank heroes constantly in ranked matches.

The most popular characters are the giant bug and the troll.

Sure enough, as soon as he started practicing ranked matches, Zhou Dian immediately picked a big bug and started playing.

To be honest, when the giant bug's ultimate skill stacks up, it becomes incredibly large, has a lot of health, and deals massive damage, making it quite fun to play.

The following Friday, Dgc arranged practice matches with both teams.

LGD's scrimmages lasted from evening until midnight.

The two LPL matches that day were uneventful.

In both matches, WE and RNG easily defeated their respective opponents with a score of 2-0.

RNG's six-game winning streak propelled them back to second place in Group B, second only to LGD.

Of course, it's practically impossible for them to overtake LGD and take first place in Group B during the regular season.

The date is March 29th, Saturday.

After lunch, the LGD team headed to Zhengda Plaza.

The match between LGD and IG was scheduled to start at 3 PM, and was the first of three best-of-three matches in Saturday's schedule.

IG's current record is five wins and five losses, and they strictly follow the pattern of winning one game and then losing the next.

If this pattern holds true, IG, who won the last match, should lose this one.

Just before going on stage, Zhou Dian learned that Duke would be IG's starting top laner today, and he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

There's no intention to look down on this S6 World Champion top laner, although Duke's current playstyle is indeed a bit too passive.

Zhou Dian really wants to face off against TheShy, the new top laner that IG promoted in this year's LPL Summer Split.

The Summer Split has been going on for a while now, and IG still doesn't have a stable starting lineup. IG's team management is really unreliable.

TheShy and Duke are both top laners. Duke usually starts, and if they win, they continue playing. If they lose a game, TheShy comes in.

Since that's the case, then we'll beat IG so badly that they'll have to bring in TheShy.

The commentators for the first two BO3 matches today were Guan Zeyuan and Yu Tong.

After the opening remarks, all the players from both sides took to the stage.

While Zhou Dian was debugging the equipment, he was chatting with Eimy when he suddenly smiled.

This scene was captured by the director's camera, and Guan Zeyuan immediately started teasing Zhou Dian.

"When a boy meets someone he truly likes, he smiles every time he sees you."

"If Zhou Shen doesn't smile when he sees you, he probably doesn't like you!"

The audience was also surprised by Guan Zeyuan's awkward performance, and the barrage of comments in the official live broadcast room was full of question marks.

Guan Zeyuan's commentary partner, Yu Tong, twitched his lips; he really wanted to cooperate and smile.

But I just couldn't bring myself to laugh.

"Another point is that version 7.14 has been played for two days now, and everyone has seen quite a bit of this version."

Guan Zeyuan quickly changed the subject.

"First of all, tank-type junglers are shining in this version. Of course, there is also an unstable factor, namely Kayn."

"Secondly, there are some tank top laners. We can also see that, for example, Maokai's pick rate has increased significantly in this version."

"Okay, let's take a look at the draft picks for the first game. LGD banned Thresh first, while IG banned Maokai."

Yu Tong picked up where Guan Zeyuan left off, saying, "Why did you ban Maokai when playing against LGD? Did you mistake LGD for EDG?"

Hearing Yu Tong's cheeky remark, Guan Zeyuan thought to himself, "Young man, you're pretty brave. Aren't you afraid of getting attacked by EDG fans?"

At the same time, he quickly took over the conversation.

"Zhou Shen played Maokai at the beginning of the Summer Split, Yu Tong, you may not have noticed."

"Given that Maokai is quite strong in this version, IG's decision to ban Maokai is not a problem."

Zhou Dian's performance on that big tree, although he won the game, was really not memorable, and even many LGD fans may not remember it.

Guan Zeyuan, as expected of a well-known Zhou Dian fan, spoke eloquently about Zhou Dian.

"Moreover, Zhou Shen has been playing a lot of tank top laners lately. I've been watching his Korean server ranked games, and he's been using tank champions extensively, with a pretty good win rate!"

"Okay, IG's second ban was the Caitlyn champion that imp had won all six games." Guan Zeyuan promptly ended the topic of Zhou Dian playing tank champions.

"Hey, IG banned Cho'Gath as their third ban!"

When Guan Zeyuan saw that IG had taken down Cho'Gath, his tone was inexplicably excited.

He was excited that the IG coaching staff shared his views.

Hey, look, I told you Zhou Shen really likes playing tanky characters these days!
In the first game's champion selection, IG picked Rumble for top lane on the second floor, gave Galio to LGD, and picked Lucian to counter.

Then, in the second round of bans and picks, they banned two support champions, and then targeted LGD's bot lane.

Since the release of version 7.14, the carry potential of the top lane has indeed decreased significantly, and the core carry potential of the game has shifted back to the bottom lane.

Next, IG on the red side picked Jhin on the fourth floor, and it was LGD's turn to pick on the fourth and fifth floors on the blue side.

"LGD's mid laner is Galio, will we see Zhou Shen's signature champion this game?" Guan Zeyuan's voice trembled slightly. "Jarvan IV? Jarvan IV with Galio is indeed good. They've switched to Camille. Locked in! Top lane Camille!"

LGD then picked Janna support on the fifth floor of the blue side, while IG picked Brand support as their last pick.

Seeing that Baolan was going to play Brand support this game, PYL turned to look at imp with a strange expression.

Zhou Dian's long-absent Camille did not disappoint Guan Zeyuan's expectations, directly solo killing Duke's Rumble.

In the bottom lane, West and Baolan specifically chose the Jhin and Brand combination to lane against each other, but they were killed in the lane by impPYL's Kog'Maw and Janna combination.

Rookie's Lucian did suppress GodV's Galio quite well, but it was useless, as Galio was originally just a utility champion.

IG's top and bottom lanes were at a complete disadvantage, and their draft lacked crowd control, making them unable to withstand LGD's onslaught. Camille's ultimate ability caught one enemy and killed them instantly.

In 33 minutes, LGD destroyed IG's base crystal and won the first game of the BO3 series.

Zhou Dian's Camille record of 9-1-5 earned him the MVP award for a single game again after a week.

During the break, on his way back to the dressing room from the main stage, Zhou Dian didn't think about the game he had just played; he was thinking about:
IG should bring in TheShy for the second game!
"Alright everyone, welcome back. The second game between LGD and IG is about to begin. LGD is currently leading IG with a score of 1-0."

"Just received news that IG made an adjustment to the top lane position in the second game, replacing Duke with TheShy."

"Viewers who frequently watch IG's matches should be able to guess that IG will make this substitution in the second game."

Guan Zeyuan spoke at length before finally catching his breath.

At this moment, on the LGD players' bench.

Zhou Dian placed his hands on the armrests of his chair and glanced up at TheShy on the opposite side of the stage, near the IG players' seats.

It's obscured by the monitor, so it's not very clear.

TheShy, although a newcomer to the competitive scene due to his age, only officially entered the professional arena this year during the LPL Summer Split.

But he has been famous for a very long time.

From being one of the three most popular Riven players in the early days of Korean gaming, he was already known as a prodigy.

Later, with Jayce and Nidalee, TheShy, although not old enough to play professionally, made his fame comparable to many professional players simply based on his performance in solo queue.

His debut on IG was met with great anticipation, especially from IG fans.

Currently, it seems that he has not yet met the expectations of his fans.

It's not that TheShy performed poorly, but rather that fans had too high expectations of him.

Of course, TheShy still has many problems, such as a one-dimensional playstyle and being easily caught out.

However, TheShy's laning ability has been top-notch since he first entered the professional scene.

The draft phase of the second game begins.

The eight heroes in the four positions (mid, bot, jungle, and support) of both sides are different from the heroes selected in the previous game.

Ning, the first player in the LPL to use Kayn, decisively chose Kayn this game when LGD didn't ban him.

The hero selection in the bottom lane is also quite interesting, with Blitzcrank and Thresh facing off with their double hooks.

However, most viewers' attention was focused on the road ahead.

The two heroes in the top lane are unchanged from the first game.

Zhou Dian's Camille versus TheShy's Rumble.

After the BP (Ban/Pick) is complete, the game will enter the loading screen.

"I believe that not only I, but many viewers here and many viewers in front of their screens are also looking forward to this match on the road," Guan Zeyuan said loudly from the commentary booth.

"On one side is the prodigy TheShy, and on the other is Zhou Shen, the current number one top laner in the LPL!"

"Moreover, strictly speaking, Zhou Shen is actually still a professional rookie. Before February of this year, he was just a high-ranking casual player with no professional experience!"

"Therefore, this top lane match can actually be described as a duel between two prodigy young top laners!"

However, all the groundwork Guan Zeyuan laid to create the atmosphere for the showdown on the road today was for nothing.

Because the next stage of this BO3 series will not be on the top lane.

When the top lane minions clashed, Zhou Dian could immediately sense that TheShy's Rumble was more nuanced than any other top laner he had ever faced with.

The director frequently switched the camera to the top lane.

Both of them have extremely precise control over the distance of skill casting, and there is a mental struggle before each skill is released.

Often, to most viewers, these scenes simply appear as Camille and Rambo outsmarting thin air.

The feeling it gives is—

Not enough!
But that's how top-tier matchups on the top lane are.

If both top laners are evenly matched, the laning phase often involves a tedious back-and-forth battle.

If you don't understand these details, you'll naturally feel that it's not as satisfying as a real, visceral fight.

Due to the inherent characteristics of the champion, Camille gradually gained some advantage, but it seems unlikely that Zhou Dian will be able to solo kill TheShy in this game.

Zhou Dian was still fiercely battling TheShy in the top lane when he discovered his teammates had collapsed.

Eimy's Sejuani ganked the mid-lane Cassiopeia, but Ning's Kayn counter-ganked her.

Eimy originally thought he had good vision, which is why he decided to gank.

However, he still hadn't fully considered the possibility of Kayn moving around inside the walls.

After all, this is an unprecedented way to move in the game League of Legends.

Then, LGD's mid and jungle players were both killed after being caught out.

At this point, less than five minutes into the game, LGD's rhythm was already a bit off.

Then, bad news came from the bottom lane: imp's Ashe was hit by Baolan's Thresh's fatal hook and was killed in the lane by Xihuang's Caitlyn.

Two minutes later, Kayn came to the bottom lane and killed LGD's bottom lane duo.

LGD's early game rhythm was completely disrupted.

Kayn evolved early and went on a killing spree, completely unstoppable.

The game lasted only 24 minutes, and IG destroyed LGD's base, which had nothing to do with the two players in the top lane.

The score was tied 1-1, with IG winning the game.

"Congratulations to IG for winning the second game of the BO3 series, bringing the score to 1-1."

"IG's mid, bot, and jungle lanes completely overwhelmed LGD in this game, while nothing really happened in the top lane," Guan Zeyuan said with a slightly regretful tone.

"Then, let's take a short break and look forward to the decisive match!"

Actually, there was a subtext in Guan Zeyuan's words:
Looking forward to the decisive game between the two top laners!
(End of this chapter)