League of Legends: Reborn in Season 3, Tuning the Entire League

Chapter 232 Egg Hat Clockwork, and the 3-2 Score That Changed History!

After the first match of the semifinals ended, viewers in the OGN region couldn't contain themselves and flocked to the forums during the break, starting to hurl insults and profanities.

[Oh dear, a 50/50 match? Is this what they meant by a 50/50 match before the game? A godlike LeBlanc against a 1-3 Orianna, forcing a 50/50 situation, huh?]

As expected, the 3-0 defeat in the quarterfinals wasn't a regional issue; it was purely Samsung's own poor performance. Letting them swim back after the match was too lenient.

Thinking about it this way, NJ and the others must be crying in the bathroom. Samsung, who snatched the number one seed from them, actually lost to this kind of trash?!

[Upstairs, are you already popping champagne halfway through?]

[It's only the first game of a best-of-five series, where does this inexplicable confidence come from?]

the other side.

The NXG players did not attend today's semi-final match; instead, they stayed at the hotel.

They only have half a day to relax, so instead of wasting energy traveling back and forth to the competition venue, it would be more pleasant to lie in bed and take a nap.

"Brother Ming, the Royal Family won't be defeated 3-0, will they?"

The NXG team watching the match couldn't help but feel a little worried after the first game.

This emotion has nothing to do with anything else; it's purely out of concern for Royal Never Give Up (RNG) from the perspective of being part of the same LPL region.

"The mid lane matchup isn't a big problem, but it feels like Wait can't control Faker's roaming."

"SKT's coaching staff is so cunning. They can't play jungle skirmishes, so they directly tie up the mid and jungle to coordinate. Bengi shouldn't call himself a jungler anymore, he should just be called SKT's number two support."

"Shenchao's champion pool is a bit shallow. After Renekton was banned, Kennen is the only one he can barely use. If Lao Park were here, his Rumble would give SKT a taste of what a Chinese barbecue stall can do."

"Fortunately, he has practiced with his weapon, but it's uncertain whether he can bring it out for the semi-finals."

As Jiang Ming listened to his teammates' discussion, his eyes remained fixed on the screen. Long-buried memories from the depths of his mind gradually resurfaced, slowly overlapping with the scene unfolding before him. It was as if he had returned to the game results he had witnessed as a spectator at the Staples Center in his previous life.

Do not……

"We won't be swept 3-0."

He began, "Tabe has played scrims with us, and SKT's tactical system is, to some extent, just a weaker version of ours. Bengi lacks initiative in the jungle, and the mid-jungle matchup isn't as strong as we imagined."

These words seemed to be an explanation for the team members, but in fact, they were more about convincing his former self.

As it turned out, Jiang Ming was right. After switching to the red side, Royal Club immediately unleashed their trump card in the second game.

The ultimate trick that was hidden in the crotch of a man in his past life as a plane ticket has finally been revealed!

First, there was a change in the team's overall playstyle. Knowing that Zhu Rang and Fu Manduo's bottom lane was not an easy target to crush, Royal Club decisively abandoned the overly bottom-lane-oriented playstyle and gave UZI the Explorer champion, which he was good at but not overly aggressive.

Secondly, in the mid and jungle, Tabe strengthened the competitiveness of the jungle during the draft phase. After designing a first-pick Gragas for Faker, he immediately locked in Lissandra in the mid lane, firmly grasping the lane control in the early game. In the jungle position, due to the need to limit UZI's Caitlyn in the bot lane, SKT, on the blue side, had to release Spider-Man's signature champion.

The mid-jungle duo of Lissandra and Elise is a mid-jungle combination that maximizes both control and damage in the early game.

Once he got the Crystal Maiden, Wu Wukai simply pushed the lane mindlessly in the early game, assisting his own Spider in invading Benji's jungle.

Faker was temporarily unable to move due to minion wave issues, and with Tabe's roaming, they directly broke through Bengi's jungle at the thirteen-minute mark.

Royal Club doesn't usually get much benefit from this kind of mid-jungle-support synergy, because UZI in the bot lane desperately needs his teammates' support to ensure his development.

Starting from this summer, the region was repeatedly crushed by NXG's bot lane in scrims and the main event using the same method. When they finally made it to the quarterfinals of the World Championship, they almost repeated the same mistake against SSO's bot lane. It was only then that the extremely competitive UZI took the initiative to make changes.

In Jiang Ming's words, UZI's playstyle has begun to shift towards the style that best suited him in S9.

If the jungle suffers, the top and bottom lanes will also suffer.

Just as Da Mu on the top lane was thinking of trading blows with Shen Chao, a giant icy claw appeared behind him the next second.

Lissandra initiated with crowd control, followed by Elise's Cocoon. With the combined efforts of the three, even the sturdy Shen could only meet his end on the spot.

Royal Club had an early advantage and their operational strategy was no less than SKT's. Just when everyone thought they could easily win this game,

In the mid lane, Li Guapi activated his Demon King buff the moment he reached level six. He used a tricky E-flash in the jungle to bump into Wait, who was returning to lane. At the same time, he used his ultimate to blast Wait back from beside the spider. There was a dummy waiting in the river. Wait had no choice but to look at his health bar, which had reached its limit. Considering the need for the next round of attack, he gave up the idea of ​​using Flash to escape.

A turn-based strategy tip from JM!

In professional matches where both sides are evenly matched, there is no such thing as a guaranteed win. To win a game, it depends on which side can seize opportunities during their offensive rounds while withstanding the opponent's intrusion.

Waiter's patience paid off, as it proved effective just minutes later in the dragon team fight.

With Faker's Gragas and Bengi's Aatrox's Flash not ready, Lissandra landed a beautiful Ice Claw wall-flash, controlling four SKT members, including Faker.

The Ice Maiden initiated a perfect team fight, and Shenchao entered the fray afterward, giving UZI a perfect output environment. Royal Club secured an ACE against SKT at the cost of two kills.

At 28 minutes, SKT tried to initiate a Baron Nashor fight, but were repeatedly hit by EZ's Q from the Baron pit. Zyra, the duo, was almost killed on the spot by a clipping Q due to her teammate's positioning mistake.

Having acquired key items, Lissandra wouldn't allow SKT to retreat smoothly. After flashing to avoid Gragas's ultimate, she used her E skill to engage and her WR skill delayed the blue team's eventual defeat by a significant amount of time.

And while waiting for the R skill to end, there's also the 1.5-second invulnerability effect from Zhonya's Hourglass.

SKT's escape was a close call; there wasn't a good way to take down Lissandra before she used up all her abilities.

Due to the disadvantage in the jungle, Xiaozhu's bottom lane was repeatedly ganked by four players, causing Vayne's development to lag far behind. She had just completed Blade of the Ruined King and Phantom Dancer when she had to face Ezreal who had a Bloodthirster ahead of her.

Well, it's a pity that the commentary stage these days is missing that classic line: "Adding a Bloodthirster will deal a lot of damage."

The two teams' carry output environments and damage were not on the same level. Even though Faker's Gragas used his skills well, no one could finish him off.

Not only was Baron Nash taken over by Spider, but three of his men were also left behind during the subsequent pursuit.

Finally, taking advantage of Baron Nashor's buff, Royal Club won two consecutive team fights and ultimately destroyed SKT's main base.

The two sides drew 1-1, returning to the same starting line.

The third game!

Faker brought out his signature Ahri, and Bengi countered with Lee Sin.

Zhu Rang and Fu Manduo secured the EZ and Zyra combination.

However, something unexpected happened again: the royal family finally unleashed their hidden trump card:
The top lane consists of Jax, the jungler is Elise, the mid laner is Gragas, and the bot lane duo consists of Corki and Leona.

In the early game, Tabe took advantage of the lane swap and ganked Faker's Ahri in the mid lane at level two, forcing Faker to use Flash.

Then the top laner came to gank, and the Spider executed a tower dive combo...

As a result, by the mid-game, Faker's Ahri score had plummeted to an abysmal 0-3. The game went on forty minutes, with the gold difference remaining around two thousand throughout!
SKT's economy mainly relies on Piglet's Ezreal, whose impressive 5-1-5 score makes him a key pillar of the team.

"But I have to say, Faker's ability to catch up in farm is just too strong. He has 407 CS, which is more than 40 CS ahead of Waiter's Gragas."

Watching the Ahri, who was playing with a score of 0-3 and was still a huge threat to Royal Club's carry, the three LPL commentators couldn't help but sigh.

Royal Club themselves didn't expect that even after they had given up all their cards in the third game, it would still be so difficult to win against SKT. In fact, during the last push on the high ground, UZI's Corki almost followed the example of LPL's "Death Pilot Kid" and was charmed by Ahri and died on the spot.

Fortunately, he reacted quickly, instantly dispelling the charm with Mercury and flashing behind his opponent to create distance from SKT.

Royal Club secured match point with a score of 2:1.

"It's still missing something!"

Jiang Ming shook his head, thinking it was a pity.

The current royal family is far more powerful than in the original timeline.

Even someone like Zaozi, who received no attention and was constantly being taught a lesson in the competition, has been transformed into a better version.

Even though Riot Games unintentionally weakened SKT's Bengi, SKT also evolved under the influence of NXG.

Of course, figuring out Royal Club's playstyle doesn't mean SKT can rest easy.

Trailing 1-2, in order to avoid an unexpected 3-1 defeat by Royal Club, they once again unleashed their ultimate move in the fourth game.

Benji, a traditionally herbivorous jungler, transformed into a scavenging jungler, feeding Faker every single jungle resource from level one, including the blue buff, raptors, and wolves.

The reason why the silly chicken dares to play like this is quite simple.

Soon, Xiaoxiao's exclamation from the commentary booth provided the answer:
"Wow, Faker's first item is actually Shattered Ghost Spirit?"

"Mid laner Orianna has built jungle items!"

The Essence of the Broken Ghost

Equipment effect: +50 Ability Power, +10% Cooldown Reduction
Unique Passive - Spirit Drain: Gain 2 Ability Power for each large or epic monster killed (cap: 30).

Unique Passive - Butcher: Increases damage dealt to monsters by 30%, and 6% of the damage dealt to monsters will be used to restore health, and 3% will be used to restore mana.

Unique Passive - Ecological Protection: Gain one stack of Bounty every 1.5 seconds (up to 80 stacks). After killing a large or epic monster, up to 40 stacks can be converted into 40 gold.

Yes, thanks to Riot's major version update, the Egg Hat Orianna, which was originally supposed to appear in Season 4, was released ahead of schedule.

An item costing 2,400 gold, including its stacking bonuses, can provide a hero with 90 ability power, a mana and health regeneration buff, and even extra gold income to accelerate development. You can imagine how overpowered it is.

Jiang Ming was not surprised. After Riot Games released the version update, all the teams with a certain level of strength in their training and competition groups would study the new equipment.

SKT prepared the "Egg Hat Orianna" strategy in the semifinals, which was, in a sense, a last resort.

The fourth match.

After the chicken, who had been working on his way to enlightenment, completely transformed into a jungler who was essentially a "father-supporting" type of player, it took forty-one minutes for Orianna, who only had two kills on him, to finally get his full build.

In this match, Faker's Orianna broke two records in the S3 World Championship.

Highest number of last hits, and highest gold income in the same time frame!
If it were someone else, you might worry about whether this Orianna could achieve the desired effect, but when this person has Faker's name above their head...

Everything felt so reassuring.

At 43 minutes, a team fight broke out in the jungle. Orianna used her QR combo to pull in three players, instantly killing Royal Club's mid and jungle.

SKT also tied the game.

Decisive game.

Foreign players lamented that the lack of a blind pick phase in the finals made them want to experience the thrill of the double Zed battle once again.

In the fifth game, Royal Club finally exposed its biggest problem: a lack of foundation. After Cheng Yaojin used his three-pronged attack, both sides returned to a physical battle.

This time, Waiter did not break his promise. With the help of the jungle Spider-Man, he fought back tenaciously with 4+6 against the opponent's 8+2. The mid and jungle were evenly matched for a time, making up for his pre-match boast of a 50/50 chance.

Unfortunately, by the fifth game, Tabe couldn't handle the combined pressure of drafting and making in-game decisions.

At 35 minutes, SKT initiated Baron Nashor. Tabe, whose energy was severely depleted, was already slow to react. After entering the Baron pit, he was caught out by Faker's Ahri.

With the support player instantly killed, the rest of the team was reduced to a four-on-five situation in the team fight, ultimately leading to a tragic end.

Finally, as SKT shattered Royal Club's Nexus, the score on the big screen quietly shifted to 3:2.

……

"sorry!"

"sorry!"

"sorry!"

Tabe was filled with self-reproach, his forehead pressed against the table, his knuckles almost drawing blood from his palms, and he kept repeating his apology for the last team fight.

The three of them, Kaminari and Nakano, slumped back in their chairs, their faces also filled with disappointment.

The stadium lights dimmed, but the championship trophy in the center of the stage reflected a cold light under the spotlight.

When the host announced the name of the winning team in the semi-finals, the cheers from the stands seemed to come through thick glass, making people's eardrums hurt.

Their World Championship journey came to an end amidst this gradually setting light and shadow—it's over!

From the TGA Winter Tournament to the LPL World Championship semifinals, they have done enough in just one year.

But when you watch the championship trophy in the center of the stage gradually recede into the distance, the bitterness in your heart is hard to describe.

Under the camera, UZI, his face flushed, bit his lip tightly, his eyes rolling upwards as if trying to hold back the tears.

He didn't know why he felt like crying again. He had matured a lot and had experienced many failures along the way, but he just couldn't control his emotions.

It was as if... as if... a voice from the depths of the universe told him.

This might be the closest he's ever come to that Summoner's Cup.

(End of this chapter)