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

Chapter 444 An even higher master, as tall as two or three stories!
After Cuvee went live in this game, he deliberately didn't push the lane with Aghanim's Scepter, wanting his front-line creeps to die quickly so that Shen would lose experience.

Unfortunately, Shen still gained experience points.

He didn't expect that after Shen accompanied his teammates to the red side's jungle to provide vision, he would recall to base but instead of going straight back to lane, he would follow them to their own red buff jungle.

This move had a remarkable effect, directly helping Xayah secure the first blood!

It would be better if his teammate had called Shen over.

But if it was Zhou who realized something and went there on his own initiative, then that would truly be...
Thinking of this, Cuvee raised her opinion of Zhou Dian even higher in her mind.

On Zhou Dian's side, although Shen didn't lose experience at the start, the situation wasn't as comfortable as Wawa had described.

It was actually quite uncomfortable!
He learned the E skill at level 1, so Shen would have to take damage if he tried to last-hit minions.

Cuvee certainly won't let this opportunity pass by, and will definitely suppress him severely.

The red team's backline minions were low on health, and Shen went up to finish them off. Kennen immediately started auto-attacking Shen.

Shen retreated, and Cuvee used the skill points he had been saving up until this moment on his E skill.

Kennen activated his E skill, accelerated, and chased Shen a few times, eventually triggering Thunderlord's Decree.

Shen lost a lot of health in this attack.

Kennen, who crossed the minion wave, seemed completely unconcerned about being taunted by Shen and having the minions turn the tables on him.

The reason is simple: Shen's E skill hasn't finished its cooldown yet!
In order to get to the lane quickly, Zhou Dian used Shen's E skill once in the river as a movement skill.

When Shen emerged from the top lane river bush and appeared in Kennen's vision, Shen's energy bar was almost full.

The moment after appearing in Kennen's field of vision, Shen's energy naturally returned to full.

It was this small detail that Cuvee noticed and took advantage of.

Using Shen's natural energy regeneration rate and the energy consumed by his E skill, Cuvee roughly deduced that Shen had used his E skill to travel a few seconds earlier.

At this moment, he was certain that Shen's E skill would be ready again in a few seconds.

So Kennen learned his E skill and immediately pushed past the minion wave to whittle down the enemy's health.

Zhou Dian's move to control Shen and go forward to last-hit minions was originally intended to take advantage of the invisible threat of Shen's E skill to steal some minions while under pressure.

This way, he'll only get hit twice by Kennen at most, and won't be able to proc Thunder.

Actually, it's not a loss, as the Doran's Shield will recover quickly.

After all, as long as you hold onto your skills, they will always be an invisible threat to your opponents, who will have to constantly guard against your control skills.

Similarly, in the third game of LGD's quarterfinal match against Longzhu a week ago, Zhou Dian's Cho'Gath against Khan's Kennen performed so well in lane, fully utilizing the mutual fear between high-level players.

Of course, Zhou Dian's attempt to last-hit minions when Shen's E skill wasn't actually ready could only fool skilled players.

If the opponent is a reckless fool who doesn't consider these things at all and just uses their skills to attack you, then this week's peak performance will only result in you getting beaten for nothing.

As the saying goes, idiots beat experts, and sometimes that's just how it is.

However, Zhou Dian still got beaten for nothing!
Sometimes an idiot can indeed outmaneuver a master, but that's only occasional.

At other times, I'm just a pig being slaughtered by experts.

In reality, only true masters can defeat masters.

Was Khan, the top laner from Longzhu, the opponent in last week's quarterfinals, a skilled player?

of course!
Is CuVee, Samsung's top laner and one of our opponents in today's semifinals, a top player?

That would be even more true!
Why can Zhou Dian scare Khan but not Cuvee?
All I can say is that Cuvee is a much better player than Khan, by two or three stories!

When Kennen used his E skill to chase Shen across the minion wave, Zhou Dian immediately realized what went wrong with his play.

Cuvee is certainly not a hothead; he wouldn't just come at you without thinking. That's impossible.

It must have been when Shen's energy bar was almost full just now, which Cuvee caught and exploited.

If this week's peak hadn't revealed that Shen had used his E skill to travel more than ten seconds earlier...

He could have scared Cuvee the same way he scared Khan.

After being thoroughly attacked by Kennen, Shen could only wait in the back for Kennen to push the minion wave over.

Taking advantage of this moment, Zhou Dian quickly reviewed the brief exchange he had just had with Cuvee in his mind.

Then Zhou Dian realized that against a player of Cuvee's caliber, his Shen was bound to get beaten up just now.

After securing First Blood for his teammate, Shen immediately rushed up the lane.

As soon as his E skill was ready, he used it to travel immediately.

Therefore, it's unavoidable that when Shen arrives at the top lane, his energy bar won't be fully restored.

If Zhou Dian doesn't use Shen's E skill to travel, Shen will most likely not be able to get online in time to gain experience from the three front-line minions of the red team.

However, after quickly reviewing the situation in his mind, Zhou Dian realized that there was indeed a more perfect way to handle this situation.

The best course of action for me in this situation would have been to wait a second longer at the edge of the river bush in the top lane, until my energy bar was fully restored, before stepping out of the bush.

This way, you gain experience without revealing when Shen used his E skill.

There is definitely an opportunity to do better!
Constantly reflecting on one's own shortcomings and then making improvements is a quality that top athletes must possess.

However, it is a fact that Zhou Dian did not perform his best this time.

However, Cuvee's ability to seize opportunities is just too strong.

The name "Summer Withering" is truly fitting; its condition is frighteningly good!
This game is the one where Zhou Dian has felt the most pressure so far in this World Championship.

It's not the pressure from a tournament at the level of the S-series semifinals.

It's the pressure from the opponent in front of you.

Fortunately, the damage from this wave of health loss wasn't too significant.

When Zhou Dian picked Shen, he had already considered that CuVee was very likely to pick Kennen, and he was prepared to withstand the pressure.

Now that I've already helped Xayah, who needed help the most, get First Blood, it doesn't matter if I take a little more pressure myself.

The commentators in the audience obviously couldn't understand many of the psychological battles between the players.

Seeing Shen get a last hit and then get chased down by Kennen, Wawa said, "Wow, this CuVee is so aggressive! Zhou Shen seems to be under a lot of pressure in the laning phase this game!"

“No problem, there’s no need to worry about Zhou’s ability to handle pressure!” Miller added.

"It's okay for tank heroes to be pressured a bit, and Jarvan IV is a jungler who takes a lot of damage in the early game. In this game, Ambition was solo jungling, which greatly affected the early game rhythm!"

This is the third time in a short period of time that Miller has emphasized the prince's rhythm.

There was no way around it; in the quarterfinals, Ambition's jungling rhythm was just too terrifying, completely crushing WE's jungler Condi.

It's hard to imagine that Ambition is a veteran jungler who "came to the game later in life".

Ambition only switched from mid lane to jungle last year. He may indeed be too old and is finding it difficult to perform well in the mid lane.

When Ambition played mid lane, he was a well-known "background character" and a frequent subject of highlight reels.

Unexpectedly, switching to jungle has given him a second spring in his career.

It's worth mentioning that Faker's first professional kill came against Ambition. At the time, Ambition was playing the popular Kha'Zix mid lane, and at level six, he evolved his abilities under the tower, standing still, only to be tower-dived and solo-killed by Faker's Nidalee.

To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that "two Zeds in one game" is just too classic, it would be a different story.

Ambition's Kha'Zix evolution under the tower could very well replace Ryu as a regular feature in Faker's career highlights.

Back to the game.

The observer camera focuses on the jungle area.

Eimy's Gragas has finished clearing the red buff and F6 camps, and is now clearing the wolves.

The prince of the sect leader had just taken down the red buff by himself and was preparing to attack the F6 camp.

The next moment, the OB camera switched to the mid lane, where the level 2 Taliyah had already pushed the minion wave to LGD's mid-lane tower.

Kassadin is farming minions under the tower.

The current situation is that LGD's lineup in this game is being suppressed and losing lane priority in all three lanes.

If it weren't for the prince giving up first blood, LGD's jungler Gragas would have had an incredibly difficult time without lane priority on all three lanes.

From this perspective, Samsung's decision to release Xayah and Rakan wasn't unfounded or an overreaction!
LGD picked Xayah and Rakan in two rounds during the champion selection process.

Furthermore, they used up the valuable first-floor space of the blue team.

In order to acquire Xayah and Rakan, LGD gave Samsung all the items they could comfortably play.

If LGD is on the red side, Samsung definitely won't let Xayah and Rakan through.

If the red side can get Xayah and Rakan together on the first and second floors, it won't cost much in terms of draft resources.

However, if that kind of thing really happens, then it can only be said that the Samsung coach is incredibly stupid.

However, Samsung actually dominated the draft phase in the first game.

Samsung's intention is to see whether their most proficient and familiar strategy is more effective, or whether the current meta's favorite Xayah and Rakan combination is stronger.

After losing to WE in the quarterfinals by letting them win a game with Xayah and Rakan, Samsung started conducting another "experiment".

They clearly believe in the power of human will and want to defeat the game version with their own strength!

The implication is clear: Hey, you bunch of designers who like to create monster versions of the game, I'm not going to do it your way!
However, in this game, the Prince gave up first blood at the start, and especially after Xayah got the first blood, Samsung's ambition to overcome the current meta has obviously been crippled.

Dgc, who had already returned to the backstage lounge, looked at LGD's situation in the game where all three lanes were pushed back and they had no lane priority at the start. After carefully considering the comparison of the two teams' lineups, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

Dgc then belatedly realized Samsung's true intentions in the business plan.

I was so foolish to think that Samsung was arrogant and let Xayah and Rakan go, thinking that my chances of winning this game would increase greatly.

Actually, I was guided by Samsung throughout the entire BP process.

Samsung's draft picks in the first game highlighted arrogance, as well as their preparedness and confidence.

What a ruthless coaching team!
Even Samsung's decision to enter LGD's red buff area for a level 1 team fight was likely a pre-planned strategy.

Fortunately, Xiao Zhou's Shen suddenly followed him to the jungle.

Samsung's level 1 team fight, initiated by Samsung, ended with their jungler, Jarvan IV, giving up first blood.

After Xayah secured the first blood, the situation on the field was roughly as Dgc had initially predicted, and LGD's chances of winning increased significantly.

Dgc felt somewhat relieved.

He was certain that Zhou Dian's decision to have Shen follow his teammates to the red buff area was his own, not a command from his teammates.

The game time has reached a little over 3 minutes.

After taking down the blue buff, Gragas went into the upper river and destroyed the Rift Scuttler.

The minion wave on the top lane is currently trending towards LGD.

But at this point in time, the top lane minion wave is still in the middle position.

Kennen also slowed down his push at this point, only last-hitting minions, and the minion wave advanced very slowly.

Cuvee then placed the trinket ward on Kennen in the top lane river bush, making it virtually impossible for Gragas to gank Kennen.

In terms of early minion wave management, Cuvee did a better job than Khan.

After defeating the river crab, Eimy switched screens to check all the lanes and realized there were no opportunities to gank anyone, so he decided to keep farming!

The barrel entered Samsung's upper jungle and used a scouting berry to shoot upwards, discovering that the red team's Krugs were still there.

So, the barrel went up and started fighting the three-star stone beetle.

Eimy had actually considered whether to flank Kennen from behind.

But just as Gragas finished taking down the Rift Scuttler and headed towards Samsung's jungle, Kennen suddenly started pushing the minion wave aggressively.

At this point, two large waves of minions with cannons arrived in front of Shen's tower. It's not necessarily going to be effective for him to forcefully capture Kennen.

Let's just stick with a stable group of stone beetles.

After bringing a large number of minions to Shen's tower, Cuvee controlled Kennen to stroll around the upper river.

I was trying to find the location of the wine barrel, but I couldn't find it.

But it has to be said, Cuvee played too steadily.

They must have thoroughly studied LGD's jungler's various tactics against the top laner.

After defeating the Krugs, Eimy's Barrel chose to recall to base.

Meanwhile, Prince Ambition, who had a bad start, had already cleared his lower jungle, taken down the river crab, and returned to the fountain a few seconds before Gragas.

Both junglers upgraded their jungle items and headed straight for their own Krugs after leaving the fountain.

When the prince reached the location of the stone beetle, Master An discovered that his stone beetle was gone.

Knowing that he had been outmaneuvered by the Gragas, he decided to move forward and go to the red team's top lane tri-bush to see if there was an opportunity to gank the top lane.

That guy on the enemy top laner mysteriously appeared in the bottom half of the map at level one, causing me to give up first blood. I have to get revenge on him!
A large wave of minions had previously pushed into LGD's top tower, but now the wave has been pushed back and is heading towards Samsung.

Zhou Dian, controlling Shen, leaned down and placed a trinket ward in the top lane river bush. Just then, he saw a red team ward fall from the other side of the bush.

Zhou Dian immediately realized that this was a fake ward on the Prince's Sightstone jungle item.

The prince is here!
He quickly marked two spots on the map and pointed out the prince's location to his teammates.

Zhou Dian was really lucky this time; when he placed his ward, he didn't see the prince who was right next to the wall.

But just then, they saw the prince insert the eye before it entered stealth mode.

That is to say, they discovered the prince.

If Shen had waited even a second longer to place the ward, he might have been caught out by Flash.

It's unlikely that Shen will be killed. Without Flash, and with Samsung's top and jungle players not yet at level six, they definitely won't be able to kill Shen.

The prince, who had been spotted, left the vicinity of the top lane, while Shen pushed a large wave of the push lane to Kennen's tower before recalling to base.

(End of this chapter)