LOL: My talent is top-tier, my professional skills are unparalleled.

Chapter 305 Listen to the deathly silence of extinction!

In the player tunnel at the edge of the stage, the players from EDG and Flash Wolves prepared to take the stage.

The Flash Wolves' mid, jungle, and support are their core carry players, while their most reliable player is Karsa, the engine of the game. That's why he's the Wolf King!
However, Karsa's departure significantly weakened the Flash Wolves' fighting strength.

Soon, both players went to their seats and began final adjustments, and the director handed the camera back to the commentary booth.

The Haier Brothers were naturally the commentators for this opening match.

"EDG had the first choice of side in this game, and they decisively chose the blue side. This match uses version 8.13, and the reworked Aatrox can be played."

"Furthermore, Riot Games released a hotfix to buff Aatrox a couple of days ago, and this hotfix will also be active in the patch for this tournament!"

"It's said that quite a few players are already practicing Aatrox seriously. Let's see if Flash Wolves will ban him."

EDG immediately banned Taliyah, while Flash Wolves banned Swain.

EDG then banned Ryze and Tahm Kench, while Flash Wolves banned Irelia and Ornn.

This Intercontinental Rivalry tournament is the global debut of version 8.13, so everyone is not very familiar with the version changes, and the ban/pick phase is basically following the previous version.

"Let's see which hero EDG will first pick, will they..." Before Wawa could finish speaking, EDG's first pick had already revealed the hero they wanted to choose.

A deep voice echoed through the venue.

Listen to the deathly silence of extinction!

Aatrox, the Darkin Blade!
"Wow, the reworked Aatrox! EDG immediately picked it. I wonder if it will be given to Kshine in the mid lane or Flandre in the top lane," Miller chuckled.

The chat in the LPL live stream was scrolling wildly.

"Huh? They pulled off something big right from the start! I don't know what use this stupid hero is!"

"Isn't this version of Aatrox just being played like a dog by agile fighters? He might as well just use a weapon."

"Hilarious! When Irelia was first reworked, she was absolutely dominating. Didn't you realize this year is definitely a warrior meta?"

"..."

In fact, almost none of the heroes that Riot reworked are weak, and they basically dominate the competitive scene!

On the Flash Wolves' side, they locked in Lucian and Alistar as a counter-strategy.

The bot lane meta has also undergone a major shift, with both Ezreal and Kai'Sa receiving slight nerfs.

Lucian has risen again due to the rework of critical strike items, mainly because the new Essence Reaver is a perfect fit for him.

Lucian's performance in the laning phase is very aggressive, which indirectly squeezes the survival environment of Ezreal and Kai'Sa.

Hybrid Ezreal is too slow, and Kai'Sa also needs three items to evolve her Q and E skills.

In the current meta that emphasizes early and mid-game tempo, these two heroes seem too slow!

Another beneficiary of the mana-stealing item is Xayah.

However, EDG didn't pick Xayah, but instead chose Ziggs + Leona!

"Huh? Ziggs? An unconventional bot lane combination?" Miller's eyes widened, quite surprised by the choice.

But that makes sense, since the LCK region has almost made Ziggs a regular pick for the bot lane.

The main reason why the Bomber is strong in the bottom lane is because he's good at playing him.

With stable lane control, as long as teammates can provide consistent crowd control, Ziggs' AOE damage is quite considerable. His W ability is excellent at taking down towers, and his snowballing ability is also top-notch!
Flash Wolves then picked Mundo on the third floor!

Mundo! This champion dominated the top lane throughout this summer season!

8.9版本的时候，蒙多的大招【背水一战】的治疗效果，从40%/50%/60%提升到了50%/75%/100%。

Previously, when Mundo was level 6, using his ultimate in a fight was a complete loss, because activating his ultimate would deduct a certain amount of his current health.

Some players have calculated that the amount of health deducted by Mundo's ultimate at level 1 is actually about the same as the amount of health restored by his ultimate.

However, Mundo's health is deducted first and then heals, so if Mundo uses his ultimate first in a fight, he's essentially helping the other person. And Riot Games is now ruthlessly and brutally buffing his stats!
Mundo's level 3 ultimate ability can fully restore his health!

Despite Mundo's skill mechanics still being terrible, his stats are ridiculously strong.

In League of Legends, numerical values ​​represent everything.

With the nerf to armor penetration items, this has made the numerically monstrous Mundo a bully in the top lane.

In patch 8.13, Riot Games nerfed the damage of Mundo's E skill, but it was a minor issue and did not affect Mundo's dominant position in the top lane at all!

Both sides entered the second round of drafting and banning.

Because Aatrox is a champion that can be played in both the mid and top lanes, Flash Wolves are not sure who EDG will give Aatrox to.

Therefore, they chose to target the jungler by banning Camille and Xin Zhao.

EDG opted to ban Sejuani and Zoe.

Flash Wolves immediately picked Troll Warlord as their jungler.

EDG also revealed their trump card, selecting Jayce + Nocturne!

"Wow? Aatrox is going to give it to Flandre, and Kshine is picking Jayce for mid lane. That makes perfect sense."

If you pick Ziggs in the bottom lane, the other lanes will need to add some physical damage. Jayce, a physical poke champion, is a natural match for Ziggs!

Seeing this, Flash Wolves picked Syndra as their second pick.

These lane-dominant heroes are the kind you can pick when you really don't know what else to choose.

Syndra is strong in lane and has decent teamfight capabilities.

But when the positions were finally changed, everyone was taken aback!
Finally, the lineups for both sides were officially finalized.

EDG (blue side) fielded Jayce in the top lane, Nocturne in the jungle, Aatrox in the mid lane, and Ziggs and Leona in the bot lane.

The red team, Flash Wolves, consists of top laner Mundo, jungler Trundle, mid laner Syndra, and bot lane Lucian + Alistar.

"Huh? Is it Flandre playing Jayce?" Miller seemed very surprised, as did Wawa next to him!

"This is quite unexpected. It's hard to imagine that Kshine would be playing Aatrox in this game. EDG has once again given us a pleasant surprise!"

In the past six months, Wang Yao has mostly played conventional mid-lane heroes, and he doesn't even often pick Irelia.

The sudden appearance of the Sword Demon left them all somewhat bewildered.

The Flash Wolves players also looked stunned, especially Maple in the mid lane.

broken!

Why are they using such a disgusting swaying move on the other side?!

Wang Yao's use of the Sword Demon technique truly surprised the audience.

In the live stream's chat area, besides rapidly scrolling question marks, there were also viewers' doubts and confusion.

"Holy crap! Is this Aatrox going mid lane?"

"This version of Aatrox can be used in the mid lane? EDG seems a bit too overconfident this game. Who the hell would pick Aatrox to lane against Syndra? Unbelievable!"

"Brother Yao wants to go for big breasts right off the bat? Great, I like it!"

"IG can be flexible, and so can EDG. Today, I'll show you Yao Ge's bottomless hero pool!"

"..."

Some viewers actually guessed EDG's intentions: they wanted to use this Intercontinental Cup to send a message to the LPL teams.
EDG's mid and top laners can also be flexible. The flexible hero pools of Flandre and Wang Yao can completely support the endless variations in the draft phase!

(End of this chapter)