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

Chapter 243 Come on, let's have a level 1 raid.
The lineups for both sides have been officially confirmed.

Blue side NXG: Top lane Zac, Jungle Aatrox, Mid lane Orianna, Bot lane Varus and Leona.

Purple side SKT: Top laner Renekton, jungler Elise, mid laner Gragas, bot lane Corki and Lulu.

Xiaoxiao assessed the lineups of both sides, clicked her tongue, and said, "Judging from the lineups alone, NXG is obviously more focused on the mid-to-late game. Zac and Aatrox in the top lane both have good engage capabilities, and it doesn't matter who carries Orianna's ball in team fights. In addition, Varus and Leona both have big crowd control abilities and can coordinate well... It's kind of like an ultimate-focused team."

"In contrast, SKT places more emphasis on early and mid-game skirmishes. The strong combination of top laner Renekton and Elise, coupled with the mid laner's super wave clear after building Chalice of Harmony, makes their synergy extremely formidable."

"The bot lane duo, Corki and Lulu, will definitely be able to put up a good early game pressure against Varus and Leona. Hmm... it's going to be tough. It'll be really tough in the early game. Let's see how JM plans to play."

"How about switching lanes? This way we can avoid fighting SKT in the early game as much as possible." Miller had a great idea. Since you are strong in all three lanes, I might as well switch lanes and quickly transition to the early game. Zac has a passive that means he won't be afraid of your duo lane and Elise sticking together under the tower. Even Leona can roam earlier.

“It’s not that easy.” Bella shook her head. “We know, and SKT certainly knows too. They will definitely do something at the start to prevent NXG’s lane swap strategy.”

At this moment, on the big screen, after a brief loading period, ten heroes landed in Summoner's Rift.

Jiang Ming shifted slightly, finding the most comfortable angle to fit into the gaming chair. "Go straight to the red zone; they'll definitely invade."

"Song Yuan, remember to save your skills. If you encounter them later, just use your passive skills."

Song Yuan mimicked the signature move of the Azure Beast, revealing his front teeth with a grin, "Don't worry."

"Come on, let's team up at the barbecue stand!"

The other three also focused their attention and quickly bought their equipment from the old shopkeeper.

No one questioned why Jiang Ming was so certain that SKT would invade from the red zone rather than the blue zone.

This is why NXG immediately became a level above Jiang Ming when he took the field. Although Pang Ran's command was also good, he had not yet developed that kind of unquestionable absolute confidence. At some key moments, a delay of one or two seconds in decision-making would often have a significant impact on the battle.

Jiang Ming wasn't making a random judgment. Although the current version has made great strides forward under Riot's sweeping changes, the overall structure, especially the neutral resources, hasn't changed much. With the dragon in the bottom half of the map, the key to contesting it in the early game is the bottom lane. Going to the top lane to control it is not very meaningful if Aatrox doesn't appear in vision for the first few minutes.

Another key aspect of SKT's invasion was preventing the two giants from running to the top lane.

"Should we just crouch in the triangular bush?"

"No, the four of us are next to F4. Pangpang, wait a second or two before you go to the triangular bush to place a ward."

As the heroes headed towards the jungle, Jiang Ming discussed the team's strategy for the level 1 team fight with his teammates.

“Oh, we can see that both sides have a clear strategy for the level 1 team fight,” Miller said with delight, “and they are both moving towards the lower jungle.”

The audience was thrilled.

Since entering the professional league, NXG has rarely been seen actively engaging in level 1 team fights; when they have a disadvantageous lineup, they mainly focus on trading.

Unexpectedly, in the first game of the finals, JM gave SKT a huge gift.

Fight!
Fight!
How can you play League of Legends without a level 1 team fight?
"The hero assignments of the two teams are somewhat mirrored," Xiaoxiao chuckled. "SKT's four players went down the bottom lane, while Lulu went alone to the blue team's F4 exit to place a ward, preventing NXG from passing them by."

"Our team's Pangpang is standing alone in the tri-bush, and SKT's five-man squad is gathering. It feels a bit dangerous..."

“SKT is very cunning. They only exposed the top, jungle and AD in their vision first, while Gragas was standing at the very back.”

"Thank goodness, Pangpang was very cautious. He placed a ward in the grass and retreated immediately."

Because Leona retreated quickly, SKT's team paused briefly in the bushes while waiting for their teammates, thus failing to gain immediate vision of the giant.

"The purple team hasn't seen Leona and is continuing their invasion. This ward in the tri-bush will be crucial."

Ambush!
SKT advanced very cautiously, using Renekton and Elise, who started with Doran's Shield, as scouts to navigate the fog of war.

Unfortunately, the skills that Zac and Aatrox used to enter the fray were completely unreasonable.

Rubber band slingshot

Zac's E skill knocked up three people, Varus unleashed a barrage of Wraith Arrows, and Shi Zhenyu's Aatrox spread his wings and took flight, using Dark Leap to complete a second control.

As the least noticeable member of the crowd, Jiang Ming simply used his Q skill silently.

SKT's mid, jungle, and support players suffered a sudden drop in health.

boom! boom! boom!
For a moment, the narrow triangular intersection behind the dragon was filled with the golden light of Summoner Spells.

Fumanduo's support character escaped the fastest, directly flashing into the dragon pit.

Faker, despite being hit by a bunch of skills, didn't panic. He instantly learned his E skill, created some distance behind him, and then used Flash.

Yeah, Gragas showed off his E-flash at level 1.

Unfortunately, its purpose was to facilitate escape.

After hanging around the crowd, Da Mu breathed a sigh of relief and then used his magic to escape downwards into the dragon pit.

"Don't chase, just make a profit, we haven't done enough damage."

Jiang Ming called out in time, and the four NXG players immediately stopped. The left side lacked early-game damage, and with their concentrated positioning making it difficult to pinpoint a target for focused fire, securing kills was purely a matter of luck.

In addition, SKT's discipline was good, with the top, mid, and jungle players taking turns tanking damage, thus avoiding giving up the first blood.

"Oh dear, it's a pity it was just a little short. The barrel managed to escape with a sliver of health."

"That was a huge profit! They used Aatrox's passive ability to trade three of SKT's flashes."

[Wuhu, game over.]

[You dared to invade? Hahaha, you tried to steal a chicken but lost the bait!]

JM: I don't like engaging in level 1 team fights simply because I don't want the game to lose its suspense too early; that would be letting down the ticket-buying audience.

[Great packaging! I'd give this cup 82 points, and the rest is a bonus for you, bro.]

Within the SKT team.

Everyone fell silent.

They knew very well that if they faced NXG in a normal laning phase, focusing on farming and outpacing team fights, it would be a slow death.

In the first game, they chose a lineup that was practically walking a tightrope, and they even bet on the level 1 team fight, all in an attempt to accumulate enough advantages in the early game.

But unexpectedly, they sent a huge one;
The crocodile's Ignite, the level 1 Gragas with E, plus three Flashes—they knew better than anyone what that meant on the World Championship stage.

It's blown through!

"How did they know we'd come from the bottom half of the bracket...?"

Piglet recalled the scene of the five NXG members attacking together, clearly having been prepared in advance, and said somewhat indignantly.

"What, you're still going to say they were spying on the screen?" Da Mu said, as if trying to calm himself down.

Benji marked the tri-bush: "The enemy Leona was the last to arrive, and we couldn't provide crowd control immediately. It must have been the support who placed the ward, and we went back from the Krugs."

“Yeah, if Jutan hadn’t been away, Sang-hyeok wouldn’t have been able to escape.” Fu Man-do agreed with Ben-chicken’s idea.

"Let's stay calm for now, and be careful while Flash is on cooldown."

……

Without Flash in the mid lane, the situation for Gragas in the early levels is predictable.

The director also very considerately locked the camera on the mid lane, saving the time of only symbolically scanning the top and bottom lanes and the jungle.

"Here it comes, the classic level 1 minion wave push."

"Ugh, Gragas is having a tough time. He leveled up E at level 1 and he doesn't even have the chance to farm minions anymore."

"Clockwork directly crosses the minion wave to exert pressure, not even letting you get experience."

"JM is a master of minion waves. He can draw minion aggro and then use QA to whittle down Gragas's health, just like eating and drinking. I feel that the mid lane will be widened to a terrifying gap today because of this level 1 E skill."

"Don't forget about Flash. Now that the mid laner doesn't have Flash, even if Bengi wants to help, he'll have to think twice about his own safety."

As the commentator said, on the field, Benji instinctively looked towards the mid lane after finishing the first set of jungle monsters.

However, the positioning of Orianna and the minion wave clearly indicated that there was no possibility of ganking at the moment.

"Brother Xingxiong, calm down!"

In the team voice chat, Faker reassured them, "I can handle the pressure in the mid lane, you can check out the side lanes first."

They switched their bot lane to the top lane, which allowed them to take advantage of Varus and Leona's positions. Although they were missing summoner spells, they were still able to exert significant pressure in the lane.

In the mid lane, Orianna pulls back, which will result in significant losses for her. However, she chose the Crystal Flask and three Health Potions as her starting items, so she can play cautiously and farm until her Q level is up.

Benji isn't stubborn; he likes to gank mid just because it makes it easier to win the game. If he knows he can't gank mid but still goes, then he's not a mid-protecting jungler, but a brain-deprived jungler.

At 2 minutes and 40 seconds, the mid-lane hero reached level 2.

Jiang Ming decisively retreated, not getting carried away by the fact that he had taken down a lot of health from the barrel earlier due to his long reach. If the level 2 barrel had been able to get close, Orianna might not have been able to secure a win in the trade.

"It seems difficult to get any kills in the mid lane for the time being. The director switched the camera to the Spider. Today, Benji is acting differently than usual. Is he planning to take down the bot lane first?"

"Counter-gank, the minion wave is pushing forward, the spider is just counter-ganking, Lulu doesn't have Flash, if the Aatrox comes from the river to gank, normally there is a good chance of getting a kill."

However, just as Xiaoxiao finished speaking, the audience couldn't help but chuckle.

The reason is simple: from God's perspective, everyone could clearly see that after clearing the red buff, Aatrox took a peculiar jungle route: red-blue-ghost-wolves, and then returned to the bottom lane.

However, it was precisely this strange choice that caused Benji's Spider to waste a lot of time in the top lane.

(End of this chapter)