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

Chapter 360 Intentionally Placing Skateboard Shoes? I, Dgc, threw the difficult question back at you!

With the Summer Split reaching the semifinals of the playoffs, it's become very difficult to schedule scrimmages.

There are still matches to be played, and there are only a few teams left.

Other teams that missed the playoffs or were eliminated in the playoffs went on vacation early.

The remaining four teams are either opponents in tomorrow's semifinals or potential opponents in the finals.

The opponents in tomorrow's semifinals definitely can't play practice matches against each other.

If we're talking to the other two teams, we can't really show off much in scrims.

After all, it's possible that they'll meet in the finals.

After all, they've made it to the semifinals, so it's impossible to have a "wait and see" mentality anymore. The finals are naturally something that each team is considering.

Under these circumstances, WE, who were just eliminated yesterday, became the most sought-after team.

WE was indeed eliminated in the Summer Split playoffs.

But regardless of the results of the subsequent two semi-finals and the final.

Team WE has secured a spot in the LPL regional qualifying round for the S7 World Championship.

Therefore, it's highly unlikely that WE would take a day off to fish.

The entire team is still at the base preparing for the gauntlet.

LGD wanted to arrange a practice match with WE, but of course, they couldn't get one.

WE is currently in high demand and has already been signed by other teams.

So they had no choice but to approach EDG, who were in a different half of the bracket from LGD.

EDG is one of the teams that LGD has played a lot of scrims with this year.

Both teams are very familiar with each other's style.

In today's scrim, LGD continued to use the strategy of focusing on the bottom lane, which they employed in the second half of the Summer Split, and EDG adapted quickly.

EDG is arguably the LPL team that best knows how to play around the bot lane.

Whether attacking or defending.

In addition, EDG's performance today was exceptionally good.

As a result, after several scrimmages, LGD only won one game, while EDG won the rest.

However, Dgc didn't seem to care much about the results of today's training match.

If our opponent in the finals is EDG, we can simply change our strategy and tactics.

LGD doesn't only know one way of playing.

The idea that one trick can guarantee success in League of Legends can only exist in a specific version and cannot last indefinitely.

Only by constantly adapting and changing to different versions can one thrive in any market.

Of course, this doesn't preclude the possibility that sometimes surprise tactics can lead to victory.

The intervals between each round of the Summer Playoffs are too short, so it's unrealistic to expect to develop anything entirely new in such a short time.

In the scrims against EDG, LGD focused on the bottom lane, which solidified their recent playstyle and tactics.

As for things that one already knows, they won't easily forget them.

After the training match ended, Dgc didn't arrange anything else.

Zhou Dian and his teammates played ranked matches to adjust their pre-match condition.

That night, Zhou Dian was the first to leave the training room on time.

The other LGD members also went to bed earlier than usual.

The playoff semi-final against IG will officially begin at 2 PM on the second day, so I need to go to bed early to ensure I get enough sleep.

Whether or not you get enough sleep has a significant impact on your mental state and your performance on the day.

Friday, July 8th.

After having an early lunch, all LGD team members, along with the team leader and coaching staff, boarded the bus to head to the competition venue.

Until the finals, the competition was still held at the Hongqiao Tiandi Performing Arts Center, the venue for the regular season games.

Today, we're playing two playoff games in a row again.

First, there was the BO5 semifinal match between LGD and IG, followed by another BO5 semifinal match between EDG and RNG.

It was exactly 2 PM.

The footage from the official match broadcast room switched to the commentary booth on time.

"Okay, good afternoon, everyone!"

"Welcome to the LPL playoffs semifinals. Today, we'll be featuring the match between LGD and IG."

"I'm commentator Guan Zeyuan."

"I am a hallucinogen."

"I'm Rita."

The audience felt a bit of a headache when they saw the "hypnotist" hallucinating.

Fortunately, the hallucinogen didn't have another hypnotist, Longhair, as a partner.

Guan Zeyuan is quite witty, so his commentary today shouldn't be too boring.

As soon as Rita opened her mouth, the chat in the official tournament live stream was filled with the old joke, "Drink War Horse, play Rita".

"In the second round of the playoffs the day before yesterday, IG fought a hard-fought five games against WE, ultimately defeating the Spring Split runner-up," Guan Zeyuan began.
"I wonder what kind of performance they will deliver today against LGD, the Spring Split champions?"

Upon hearing this, Zhihuan said, "I'm definitely optimistic about LGD winning this match, but this IG team might bring us more surprises in today's game!"

"Now top laners generally play tank champions, so the influence of the top lane is not as great as it used to be."

"To be honest, this version of the game isn't very favorable for LGD. LGD's strength has been somewhat reduced in the last few versions!"

"Yes!" Guan Zeyuan nodded. "It feels like Zhou Shen's carry ability has been weakened!"

"However, I feel that Zhou Shen's tank top lane play is no worse than his warrior top lane play. The main problem is that tank top laners are inherently weaker in carrying ability, which is something that can't be helped!"

"And then there's one more thing!" Guan Zeyuan continued, "In the match where IG defeated WE the day before yesterday, the performance of IG's top laner, TheShy, was absolutely crucial!"

"Facing Zhou Shen in today's BO5 is undoubtedly a bigger test for TheShy. I wonder if he can perform like he did the day before yesterday!"

"Without further ado, let's take a look at the starting lineups for both sides today."

At this moment, the starting players for both sides appeared on the big screen, and Guan Zeyuan quickly changed the subject.

After Rita read out the player IDs, Guan Zeyuan continued:

"Both sides started with their usual lineups today. For IG, just like in the first two rounds of the playoffs, TheShy is still starting in the top lane, while Duke is temporarily on the bench."

After the commentators introduced the starting lineups for both sides, the players on stage had finished setting up their equipment.

At this point, the referee came over to make a final check on the preparations of both players.

Once everything is confirmed, the first game of the BO5 series is about to begin.

In the commentary box.

"Okay, enough chit-chat. I just received a message from the backstage that both teams are ready."

Guan Zeyuan continued, "The first semifinal match of the LPL Summer Playoffs, the BO5 series between LGD and IG, is about to begin. The draft phase is about to start."

As soon as he finished speaking, the large screen on site switched to the BP interface.

"The right to choose sides in the playoffs is determined by the regular season record. The side with the better regular season record will have one more game to choose sides in a best-of-five series."

"In other words, in this BO5, LGD has the right to choose sides for the first, third, and fifth games, while IG has the right to choose sides for the second and fourth games."

"LGD chose the blue side in the first game, which is quite normal. In recent versions, almost no team will actively choose the red side." "Okay, let's look at the draft picks for both sides."

First round of BP.

LGD banned LeBlanc, Jarvan IV, and Elise.

IG banned Kog'Maw, Jayce, and Taliyah.

In the LGD team voice chat, imp asked, "So, should I just go for Kalista?"

In a time when the red side almost always bans Kalista in the first round, IG surprisingly let LGD have Kalista.

This made Imp somewhat suspicious, wondering if something was amiss.

Could it be that IG has prepared some secret weapon against Kalista and deliberately let LGD pick Kalista?
So, Imp first asked the coach for his opinion.

Dgc thought about it for a while and then shook his head.

He wasn't sure about the issue either.

So they decided to simply pass the problem back to IG.

So what if your IG team is good? LGD isn't helpless against Kalista either!
With only a few seconds left to choose a champion, Dgc said, "Let's pick Sejuani first!"

So, Zhou Dian locked up Pig Girl on the first floor of the blue team's map.

Although Cinderhulk has become more expensive, Sejuani is still a Tier 1 jungler in the current version.

IG picked champions very quickly, with Kalista and Kennen being picked on the first and second floors respectively.

Since LGD has already brought back Kalista, let's not worry about whether LGD actually has a way to deal with Kalista.

If IG doesn't pick anything in their first two picks on the red side, they'll be really stupid.

We can't let LGD get both Sejuani and Kalista.

What's the point of playing then!

"LGD didn't pick the skateboard shoes, but IG still has to. They picked Kennen on the second floor, but we don't know if this Kennen is for support or top lane."

When Kennen support was first developed in Season 5, it was designed to be paired with Kalista.

At the time, this bot lane duo's lane dominance was unparalleled.

After that, Kalista gradually became less frequently seen on the field, and Kennen as a support player slowly disappeared from the scene.

With the increasing popularity of skateboarding shoes, Kennen support has also made a comeback.

Subsequently, LGD secured the bot lane duo of Tristana and Rakan on the second and third floors of the blue side.

Upon seeing Kennen, Dgc frowned.

Just because you see a skateboard shoe doesn't mean Kennen is a support. TheShy could very well be playing Kennen top lane.

LGD is on the blue side and cannot pick a top laner as the last pick.

Therefore, we must take into account the possibility that IG's Kennen is the top laner.

If LGD picks a pure tank top laner, and IG picks Kennen, then LGD will simply be getting beaten up, and Kennen will have a comfortable time to farm.

We've moved on to the second round of draft picks.

After some thought, Dgc decided to give Zhou Dian Gnar.

Gnar is somewhat versatile; he's not afraid of either IG's Kennen, whether he's a top laner or not.

With IG picking Cho'Gath as their last pick on the red side, it's clear that Kennen is going to be the support.

Upon seeing IG's lineup, Zhou Dian immediately sensed something was amiss.

First of all, the combination of Kalista and Kennen in IG's bot lane is undoubtedly a very strong one.

On the top lane, his Gnar is facing Cho'Gath. If the opponent is weak, he might have a chance to gain a significant advantage.

However, he was facing TheShy.

Although Zhou Dian believes that TheShy's tank champion play is not particularly good these days.

However, Cho'Gath happens to be the tank hero he played the most and the one he played the best during this period.

Gnar isn't actually as easy to lane against melee champions as you might think.

It's said that long-range attacks counter short-range attacks, but Gnar's attack range is only 400 yards, which is neither long nor short, and his stats aren't particularly outstanding, making it somewhat awkward.

Especially against heroes with strong regeneration abilities like Cho'Gath, you don't actually gain much of an advantage.

This hero is good at laning against anyone; Gnar has great crowd control and is good at team fights, while Gnar can split push.

To put it bluntly, he's a jack-of-all-trades hero.

Dgc released this hero for him based on these considerations.

However, in the final lineup selection, LGD's lineup was far less stable and easier to perform than IG's lineup.

To put it bluntly, the problem stemmed from the skateboard shoes, which put them at a disadvantage in the subsequent draft phase.

As one of the few commentators with the best understanding of the game, Zhihuan naturally noticed it too and immediately said:
"LGD is in a bit of a predicament now that they didn't get the boots. Zhou Shen picked Gnar in the top lane, and he probably won't be able to perform well against Cho'Gath. I think this game will depend on the bot lanes of both sides."

"Of course, the bottom lane is also the most important lane in the recent version!"

After the two head coaches shook hands, they entered the players' tunnel.

On the large screen at the venue, the game entered the loading screen.

Blue side LGD:

Top lane Gnar, jungle Sejuani, mid lane Corki, bot lane Tristana and Garen.

Red square IG:

Top lane: Cho'Gath; Jungle: Gragas; Mid lane: Lucian; Bot lane: Kalista and Kennen.

While waiting for the video to load, the director's camera kept panning across some beautiful female audience members, and the commentators on stage started chatting.

After fans on both sides shouted "Go China!" three times each, the OB interface appeared on the big screen at the venue, and the first game of the BO5 semi-final officially began.

Upon entering the game, both sides lined up in a row along the river, taking defensive positions.

Below the large screen at the venue, the keystone talents of the ten heroes on both sides were displayed.

Guan Zeyuan, who was in the commentary booth, immediately noticed something different.

"IG's top laner, jungler, Cho'Gath, and Gragas all have Stoneborn Pact as their keystone rune!"

Zhou Dian noticed this as soon as the game loaded.

Both Cho'Gath and Gragas have this support-oriented rune, clearly indicating they're going to be the go-to carries for their mid and bot lane marksmen.

[Stoneborn Pact]: A keystone talent in the Resolve tree. Impaired movement effects applied by your hero will mark enemy heroes. When your allied heroes attack these marked enemy heroes with basic attacks, they will receive a healing effect. The mark lasts for 4 seconds.

TheShy's choice of runes was undoubtedly clever. He knew that his Cho'Gath couldn't reach the top-ranked Gnar, so taking Grasp of the Undying wouldn't be very useful. He simply chose Stoneborn Pact instead.

As for Ning's Gragas, he probably felt there was no pressure facing Sejuani, so he simply brought Stoneborn Pact instead of [Courage of the Colossus].

Because IG's mid and bot lane marksmen are Lucian and Kalista, both of whom are very strong at snowballing in the early game.

LGD's mid and bot lane marksmen are Corki and Tristana, both of whom need to have certain items in the mid-game to become effective.

In the late game, IG will undoubtedly lack damage output.

But now Zhou Dian is worried that LGD won't have a late game.

Once Lucian and Kalista gain an early advantage, IG will group up immediately.

With the Stoneborn Pact effect on both Cho'Gath and Gragas, it's like both carries have gained an extra lifesteal item, leaving LGD with no chance to turn the game around.

The key to this game lies in the laning phase between the mid and bottom lanes.

It seems unlikely that Zhou Dian and TheShy in the top lane can influence the outcome of the first game of this BO5 series.

(End of this chapter)