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

Chapter 481 Top and mid laners trade kills; if they can manage to stay together, that's a success!
It was precisely because Zhou Dian was certain that SKT would reserve the fifth counter pick for Faker in the mid lane.

That's why LGD chose the blue side in the first game of the BO5 series today.

In this way, even if LGD is on the blue side, Zhou Dian can still counter the opponent by picking the second pick in the top lane.

Since the top lane is a counter anyway, the blue side's natural advantage in the draft is a bargain, so why not take advantage of it?

LGD's strategy was to ban a few mid-lane heroes with high variability, and then let Faker counter Wei Shen's hero selection at the end.

Give Wei Shen some mid-lane heroes that are easy to play.

If you can manage to share a room, that's a success!

After all, the mid lane is shorter, and it's faster to return to base and rejoin the game, making it easier to withstand pressure compared to the top lane.

The draft strategies of both sides in this game have inadvertently created a "trade" between Zhou Dian and Faker!
Although the two players are in different lanes and cannot directly face each other, the essence of Huni and Wei Shen exchanging pieces with their opposing players is the exchange between Zhou Dian and Faker, the two absolute strong points of their respective sides.

The key to winning this game might actually lie with their respective teammates.

Thinking of this, Zhou Dian heard Dgc's voice in his ear.

"Then it's Kennen?"

“OK!” Zhou Dian nodded.

Im then locked up Kennen on the fourth floor of the blue team's building.

In the commentary box.

"Kenan?"

Miller hesitated before saying, "We've seen Kennen play against Gnar twice before, and to be honest, the results were so-so!"

"That's how it is, but what about the player Zhou Shen?"

PDD quickly organized his thoughts and continued, "He is very good at playing long-range top laners, which allows him to fully exert his dominance."

"It's just that Kennen can't do much against Na'Gar in the mid-to-late game split pushes!" Miller still wasn't very optimistic about Kennen.

Miller subconsciously felt that Zhou Dian's Kennen in this game was AP Kennen, the kind who builds a full AP build and uses his ultimate to enter team fights.

AP Kennen is indeed no match for Gnar in split pushing during the mid-to-late game.

Miller's subconscious idea stems mainly from the fact that most LPL professionals' understanding of the game is primarily focused on team fights.

In their eyes, no hero can be separated from the word "team battle".

Not to mention Kennen, a champion who can create miracles in team fights.

However, after seeing SKT pick Gnar, Zhou Dian had already decided to play AD Kennen in this game.

The solo lane ability of AD Kennen is often overlooked.

After locking in Kennen, PYL locked in Zac on the fifth floor of the red side.

"Okay, in the end, we chose Zach for Eimy!"

"Among the remaining junglers, Zac is indeed a decent front-line pick, since LGD didn't pick any tanks in their first four picks."

Miller nodded; the choice of Zac as a jungler was quite to his liking.

Just three seconds after LGD finished picking their champion on the fifth floor, the red team revealed Cassiopeia on the fifth floor and locked her in.

"Faker picked Cassiopeia without hesitation!" PDD exclaimed.

"Wow, Cassiopeia's lane dominance is incredible!" Miller frowned without realizing it.

“SKT is going to play very fast!” Miller continued, “And I saw that Zac’s win rate is actually zero percent.”

At the bottom of the large screen, Zac's stats for this World Championship were displayed.

He played four matches and didn't win a single game!
Seeing this data, Miller somewhat regretted his previous comments about being optimistic about Zach.

The first game of the BO5 series has finished its draft phase, and we're now in the final minute before the loading screen appears.

Dgc was the first to emerge from the glass enclosure where LGD was located, exposing himself on the stage.

The stage design for the finals was roughly the shape of Summoner's Rift.

When the two teams are playing, the glass room where the players are located is the fountain for the red and blue teams.

Stepping out of the glass room, you'll be directly facing the central road.

As soon as Dgc came out, he saw that there was nothing in front of him, so he turned around to ask the staff whether the two coaches still needed to shake hands after the draft.

After receiving confirmation from the staff, Dgc walked forward.

After taking only two steps, a person came out of the glass room where SKT was located. It was SKT's head coach, KkOma.

In the commentary box.

Seeing Dgc walk out of the glass room and repeatedly turn back to ask the staff questions in a slightly awkward manner, Remember changed the subject, saying, "Both coaches are very familiar to everyone. Coach Dgc goes without saying, and Coach KkOma is the most famous coach in the history of League of Legends!"

At this point, Dgc, who came out of the glass room and walked onto the "middle path", had already passed the middle of the river.

Seeing this, PDD couldn't help but joke, "In this mid-lane solo, Coach Dgc went online first, Coach KkOma is at a slight disadvantage!"

After shaking hands with KkOma, Dgc immediately turned around and walked towards the glass room where his team was located. There was a passageway leading to the backstage area nearby.

Next to the glass room where the SKT team is located, there is also a passage leading to the backstage area.

However, after shaking hands with Coach KkOma, he followed behind Dgc and walked the same path as Dgc.

"Hey, we need to go back to our own tower!"

"Hey, KkOma, what's that got under the enemy tower?!" Miller said with a laugh. "Trying to tower dive at level one, huh? Well, you're done for!"

It was originally just a few jokes that followed PDD's discussion about the head coach's mid-lane solo match.

Miller never imagined that his casual, joking remarks would become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

After both head coaches walked back to the backstage area, the director promptly zoomed the camera on the audience.

Giant portraits of the ten heroes chosen by both sides were also displayed on the big screen at the venue.

The game has entered the loading screen.

This is what LGD's team voice chat is like right now.

Zhou Dian joked with Wei Shen, "Going against Cassiopeia, Wei Shen, can you handle it?"

"No problem, no big deal. I'll go in and turn off the ID display first. If I can't see Faker's ID, there won't be any issues!"

Wei Shen's self-deprecating remark at the end made his teammates laugh, creating a very cheerful and relaxed atmosphere.

At the same time, in SKT's team voice chat...

"Oh no, it's AD Kennen! Huni, can you hold your own in lane?"

Upon seeing that Kennen's keystone rune in this game was Fervor of Battle, Wolf couldn't help but say to his own top laner.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. AD Kennen is useless in team fights!"

Huni spoke with confidence, but his tone sounded a bit unconvincing.
Soon, the loading screen ended, and the final battle of the S7 World Championship, the first game of the BO5 series, officially began.

Blue side LGD:

Top lane Kennen, jungle Zac, mid lane Malzahar, bot lane Xayah and Janna.

Red team SKT:

Top lane Gnar, jungle Gragas, mid lane Cassiopeia, bot lane Varus and Lulu.

The camera takes a bird's-eye view of Summoner's Rift.

Then, the ten heroes from the red and blue team's fountains became clearly visible to all the spectators. Simultaneously, a huge roar of "LGD, go!" erupted from the crowd.

Amidst such high expectations, Miller subconsciously began to worry again.

"Look at SKT's lineup for the first game today, it's so incredibly aggressive!"

Upon hearing this, Remember said, "It's mainly because it's very targeted. Varus and Gragas, who are picked first and second, both have an advantage in their respective lanes."

"Including the last two picks, SKT has a three-lane advantage with Gnar and Cassiopeia!" Miller said.

PDD added, "When I saw the champion picks this game, one phrase came to mind: 'cut the Gordian knot'!"

At this point, the standard OB interface appeared on the large screen.

PDD, who used to be a professional top laner, would often start by looking at the runes and items of both top laners when commentating on matches.

Then he noticed that Kennen's keystone rune in this game was Fervor of Battle.

"Hey, Zhou Shen is going to play AD Kennen this game!" PDD said. "Then SKT won't have a three-lane advantage like Miller said!"

"I think with Zhou Shen's skill, if he plays AD Kennen, he can at least guarantee that he will have an advantage in the laning phase."

"So, does that mean we should give up team fights, or go for a split-push strategy?" Miller really wasn't optimistic about AD Kennen.

Isn't this weakening Kennen's strongest teamfight ability?
Back to the game.

Both sides maintained a very solid starting position in this game.

Both sides lined up with ten players along the river, prioritizing the defense of their own jungle areas.

At 1 minute and 20 seconds into the game, Zac placed a ward with his trinket at the narrow pass between SKT's F6 camp and the top river.

He then returned to his own lower jungle area.

When the jungle monsters spawned, Eimy's Zac chose to start with the red buff, with the two bot laners helping him clear the jungle.

Peanut's Gragas also chose to start with the red buff, with the top laner Gnar helping him clear the jungle.

Gnar helping Gragas start farming will naturally delay his return to lane.

After Zhou Dian's Kennen came online, he chose to push the lane himself.

Zhou Dian's Kennen picks Doran's Shield as a starting item, which is unusual for him and very "steady".

Huni's main reason for playing Gnar is that he has Bloodlust as his keystone rune, indicating his determination to sustain in lane.

This week's top team doesn't want to give SKT any chance to break through.

With SKT's highly aggressive lineup, if they can't find any weaknesses in LGD for a long time, the power of their lineup will naturally decrease.

In other words, LGD has the advantage in this game because they are evenly matched, so there is no need to rush and there is no pressure to attack.

Zhou Dian's Kennen started pushing the lane in the top lane, and SKT's bot lane duo also started pushing the lane in the bottom lane.

When not ganked by the jungler, the side that pushes the lane first will always have an advantage in the laning phase.

However, SKT's bot lane duo simply pushed the lane.

Meanwhile, in the top lane, after Gnar helped Gragas secure the red buff and arrived at the lane, Kennen was already standing in front of the minion wave, effectively blocking Gnar from the outside.

This resulted in Kennen finishing off the first wave of minions, bringing his total to six, while Gnar's total was still zero.

At the same time, it also forced Gnar to miss out on the experience from a melee minion.

Level 1 Gnar is quite weak, so we still need to pressure him!

Stability and suppression are never in conflict.

"Kennen is playing really aggressively here, he leveled up W at level 1!" PDD exclaimed. "Gnar can't beat Kennen at level 1, Huni has to play defensively here!"

The second wave of minions arrived on the top lane, and Gnar was already seven CS behind Kennen.

It seems that Gnar won't be able to farm properly until Kennen pushes the minion wave to the tower.

The OB view switched to the mid lane, where Cassiopeia had also out-farmed Malzahar by six CS and had pushed the minion wave all the way to LGD's mid-lane tower.

After pushing the lane into the tower, Faker controlled Cassiopeia to go to the top river and placed a ward with his trinket in the small bush in the middle of the top river.

At this point, Kennen also pushed the top lane minion wave to SKT's top tower.

The LGD mid laner and SKT top laner, who were pressured from the start, actually did a very good job of last-hitting under the tower, only missing one minion under the tower.

After finishing off the tower minions, both players were only down by three CS, which wasn't too bad.

Meanwhile, LGD's bot lane duo had just finished their tower kills.

In this game, across all three lanes, it was imp's Xayah who was pressured the most from the start.

He's already eight CS behind Varus.

The fact that the middle and lower ranks were pressured is consistent with the commentators' predictions after the player selection.

Peanut's jungle route in this game was red buff, then raptors, then blue buff, and then he went to the bottom river.

After the Gragas devoured the river crab, he immediately plunged into LGD's lower jungle.

Upon entering, Peanut discovered that F6 had already been destroyed.

After placing the trinket ward in the bush next to F6, continue down the path.

The red buff has definitely been taken; there's no need to check. The stone beetle should still be there.

The barrel walked behind LGD's Stone Beetle camp and fired a Human Bomb (E) into it.

Sure enough, the stone beetle was there.

The barrel was happily scrubbed.

When the fight was almost over, PYL's Janna walked over to the Krugs and found the Gragas.

There were still two small Krugs left to fight. When Peanut saw Janna, he got too lazy to fight them and simply used Gragas's E to escape over the wall.

Now that Janna has discovered Gragas's whereabouts, Eimy won't hold back.

Zach burrowed into SKT's red zone, and from a great distance, charged up his rubber band slingshot (E) and jumped into SKT's stone beetle camp.

At this point, Zac had already cleared all five of his own jungle camps except for the Krugs, and had also taken down the Rift Scuttler in the upper river. He was already ahead of Gragas in terms of jungle clearing progress by more than one camp.

However, Zac was spotted by the vision previously set up by Faker's Cassiopeia when he was taking the Rift Scuttler.

So Huni's Gnar in the top lane had already placed his trinket ward in the bush in front of the Krugs camp.

The moment Zac jumped in to fight the stone beetle, he was spotted by Gnar.

Of course, even if Gnar discovered that Zac was stealing the Stone Beetle, he couldn't stop Zac.

At this point, all Huni can do is avoid trading blows with Kennen after knowing that Zac is right behind him, lest he be tower-dived by LGD's top and jungle.

On the other side, Peanut's Gragas, after taking down LGD's Krugs, did not return to his own bottom jungle to farm the Wolves and Gromp.

The barrel moved up along the back of the dragon pit, while Malzahar had already pushed the mid lane minions back.

Gragas is clearly trying to flank Malzahar.

However, just like Huni, after his Janna discovered Gragas's whereabouts, Wei Shen immediately controlled Malzahar to come to the F6 camp and placed his trinket ward in the open space between the F6 and the red buff.

After spotting the barrel at this ward, Malzahar immediately ducked into the river, but the barrel's flanking maneuver yielded no results.

Conversely, in an attempt to keep Malzahar in place, Cassiopeia forced her way in to fight Malzahar, losing a significant amount of health in the process. Cassiopeia's condition was no longer as good as Malzahar's.

(End of this chapter)