LOL: Can’t I play other games professionally?

Chapter 394 Just Catch JK in IG (First Update)
"Good afternoon, everyone in the audience and viewers watching the live stream. Welcome to the LPL 2018 League of Legends Spring Finals. Let's witness the birth of the new champion together."

"Hello everyone, I'm commentator Miller."

"I'm a doll."

"I remember."

On the commentary platform, which the camera focuses on, the three commentators, dressed in matching black suits, smile and look up at the audience.

The atmosphere-setter, Doll, spoke first: "There's no pig vs. dog battle today, but there is a pig vs. chicken battle. As two top teams that have only lost one major game each in the regular season, the excitement of this match is self-evident."

"Indeed, there have been very few times in LPL history that two teams have dominated the regular season. It is safe to say that this final will be a fierce battle."

Miller chimed in.

However, most people believe that although both teams only lost once in the regular season, there is still a difference between those losses.

After analyzing a lot of data, I remember focusing on the highlights of the match: "EDG and IG were both very aggressive in the early game, so this match was definitely not dull or boring."

"Moreover, the match between Lin Ruo and Ning Wang will obviously be the biggest highlight of this game."

As the engine of IG's rhythm, Ning, who hasn't lost his rookie vibe, now holds a top-tier strategic position in the team.

Lin Ruo needs no further introduction; he is the absolute core of EDG, and his early actions are crucial to EDG's advantage and development.

Amidst the lively discussion, the business plan (BP) negotiations between the two sides quickly commenced.

As the camera panned to the large screen on site, the first draft picks on both sides were about to be revealed.

IG, having won the right to choose sides by flipping a coin, proactively chose the blue side at the start and banned Olaf and Karma in the first two rounds.

Olaf's strength in the current version is self-evident, and Lin Ruo's performance in the semifinals was even more remarkable, so banning him was a wise choice.

As for the other choice, Karma is Scout's most frequently used utility mid laner this season.

EDG, following IG's usual strategy, also showed full respect in the draft phase, banning Rakan and Jayce in the first two bans.

Rakan is the support champion that Baolan has used the most this season, while Jayce is the most commonly used mid-top flex pick by IG. Jayce is often used to confuse opponents in the draft phase, so it is necessary to ban him.

Watching the back-and-forth banning from both sides, Miller thoughtfully followed up, "IG dropped the mid lane Swain option as their third pick. Rookie doesn't use it often, but Scout is very good at it."

"That's right. EDG banned Fiora to prevent TheShy from split-pushing in lane. TheShy has had several memorable moments this season. Clearly, neither side is stubborn when it comes to banning champions."

"That's what the doll commented."

In the first round of the draft, Kai'Sa's appearance became a key point again.

There are two champions in the current version who can reliably suppress Kai'Sa in the laning phase.

They are Xayah and Varus.

Taking this into account, IG prioritized locking in Troll King in the first position, forming a formidable duo with Olaf in the current meta.

When they arrived at EDG's side, Varus and Tahm Kench showed their skills without holding back.

EDG didn't want to test whether IG would lock in Kai'Sa later, so they directly picked the most versatile bot lane AD Varus. Even with Tahm Kench as support, Varus' laning ability is still good, and he can also provide sufficient protection.

Seeing this situation, IG stopped pretending and promptly picked Kai'Sa to take control of the bottom lane.

JK has always been a sacrificial role in IG. He can pick Kai'Sa to withstand pressure as usual, and if the game can be dragged to the mid-game, he can play a significant role as a carry.

Moreover, EDG's support is Tahm Kench, which will actually reduce Varus's ability to exert pressure to some extent.

Then, with the addition of Vladimir, IG began a deep swing between the mid and top lanes.

"So, could EDG pick Ornn first, since he's a commonly used champion, to initiate team fights? If you pick Tahm Kench, you'll definitely lack engage potential, so this pick would be even more necessary."

I remember saying very seriously that EDG's choice now seems to be an excellent one.

However, EDG didn't seem to think that way. To the surprise of the three commentators, Gnar became EDG's main pick on the third floor.

"Ah, this..." Miller was somewhat shocked.

IG was even more shocked. Their original plan was for EDG to initiate the team fight with Ornn first, and then for TheShy to pick Gnar.

This way, there won't be any problems with lane control in the mid-to-late game.

But EDG actually picked first…

EDG picked Ornn whenever possible during the end of the regular season and the semifinals of the playoffs, almost more often than Letme did.

There is no doubt that they were tricked.

And GimGoon is no Mouse either; his lane dominance with Gnar is by no means weak.

This problem has now fallen directly on IG's shoulders: what should they play in the top lane? Moving Vladimir to top is clearly not going to work...

Jayce and Fiora are both gone.

There's only one option left, and that's the Captain. But the Captain is too reliant on farming. Vladimir and Kai'Sa also need to farm. If it's a three-farming lineup, it will cause significant delays.

Both sides quickly entered the second round of bans and picks.

IG banned Ryze and Cassiopeia to protect Vladimir's rights online.

However, EDG has many options and is not limited by this.

After removing Alistar and considering the possibility that IG might actually pick Gangplank to fight head-on, the mid-lane pick was quickly decided to be Taliyah.

IG had no choice but to lock Ornn into TheShy's top lane, and the two sides switched roles, with IG starting to play an engage strategy.

However, for IG, if they were to go for the top lane team fight route, it would actually be better to bring in Duke, but they don't have many options right now.

The bull's head is gone, and so is Luo.

There are very few champions capable of initiating team fights, and IG's last pick was Braum, who still has the ability to initiate team fights, but is more inclined towards counter-initiation.

When it came to EDG's last pick, they didn't even need to think about which heroes to choose.

Wine barrel.

Pairing with Taliyah makes her an excellent initiator.

Miller nodded slightly after seeing EDG's fifth-floor pick locked in: "Then the lineups for both sides are finalized. The blue side is IG, with Ornn in the top lane, Trundle in the jungle, Vladimir in the mid lane, and Kai'Sa and Braum in the bot lane."

"EDG team on the red side: top laner Gnar, jungler Gragas, mid laner Taliyah, and bot lane duo Varus and Tahm Kench."

"Both sides are ready. Let's move on to the first match of the finals."

As Miller finished speaking, a deafening roar of cheers erupted from the crowd.

Meanwhile, the beautiful melody of the LPL Spring Split theme song, "Opening the Sky," once again resounded in the arena, drawing all the viewers into the Rift. After this match, this melody will be used in every decisive game of a BO5 series in the LPL.

However, given this situation, Lin Ruo could only say that he would never hear it again, because EDG would never have a decisive game.

After a short while, all ten players from both sides quickly entered Summoner's Rift.

Amidst the continuous pinging, the EDG team, having grouped up and left the fountain, headed straight for IG's lower jungle area, unexpectedly leaving a ward in the red buff pit.

In terms of level 1 dueling ability, with Tahm Kench, Taliyah, and Varus who can deal high damage with just auto-attacks, even if IG has top-tier invasion champions like Braum, they have to back down.

Moreover, they didn't even realize EDG's sudden invasion at the beginning.

Soon after, Ning's jungle movements became very clear and were exposed to the public eye.

He chose the red color.

The biggest difference between Trolls and Gragas lies in their jungle clearing ability.

Without teammates' help, it's inevitable that Gragas will take damage after clearing the first jungle monster, but it's a different story for Troll King.

Its jungle clearing efficiency is quite amazing; even at level 1, it can still handle things with ease and confidence.

This is also the reason why EDG chose to invade and place wards to prevent the Trundle from entering the bottom lane, and at the same time, it is not necessary for the laners to help them enter the bottom lane.

Therefore, EDG can easily fail to determine the location of the Trundle based on the online situation. If TheShy makes a good play in the top lane, he will be able to come online later.

Unable to reach a final decision, and with EDG's bot lane duo needing to push the lane, Trundle can circle around from the river after clearing the red buff. Level two is the most likely time for First Blood to occur.

EDG's invasion effectively avoided this, denying the troll any space for a surprise attack.

Ning was indeed a bit frustrated at this moment. He actually wanted to take down the red monster by himself, but in that case, it would be better to ask his teammates to help him.

Once the field of vision is clear, it makes little difference whether teammates log in in the morning or at night.

1 minutes 40 seconds.

Lin Ruo chose to start with two red buffs.

F6 is definitely a must-take, as Gragas makes it extremely easy to take down F6 with his barrels.

After that, I went to the jungle as usual to farm, going through the process of killing the three wolves and the blue buff to level up to level three.

Whether or not to kill the frog depends on the situation in the river. If the river crab is still there, you should definitely kill it first. If you can gank the bottom lane, you should also take a look.

Compared to these, Lin Ruo preferred invasion. Although the troll cleared jungle camps quickly, he didn't dare to attack the F6 camp at level two, so he could only kill the red monster and then headed top without bothering to ward the bottom lane.

Lin Ruo could easily find the delicious and plentiful F6 to counter this.

That's the advantage of playing Gragas; it makes stealing F6 very easy. There's a reason why SoFM often likes to play this big-bellied hero.

With her beer belly bulging, Lin Ruo manipulated the barrel and turned around to swat the toad. And so, a beautiful day came to an end.

Arrest people? You can't arrest a single one.

After reaching the finals, both sides became much more focused and vigilant. Even JK stopped catching Varus and Tahm Kench's Qs as often.

Ning's side didn't make any progress in the top lane either. GimGoon's Gnar was as steady as a rock. All he could do was repeat Lin Ruo's strategy: take down the river crab and then go in to steal the Krugs, so as not to let Lin Ruo take away his F6 lead in experience for nothing.

Logically, that should be the case, but Ning was worried that Lin Ruo would flank and forcefully attack the bottom lane, so he chose to come down to defend the jungle without taking the river crab.

Little did they know that Lin Ruo had no such intention at all; she had simply left a spy in the bushes next to F6.

With nothing else to do, Ning Wang could only go down and farm stone beetles to make do with what he had to do.

Five minutes passed without any rhythm, which was quite unusual for both teams, but the three commentators in the commentary booth were quite understanding.

As I said before, all strategies and matchups become extremely cautious once you reach the finals, which highlights the determination of both teams to win the championship.

However, Lin Ruo disagreed with this, saying, "I'm not arresting people because I'm waiting for someone. What about you?"
In terms of team composition, although Troll Warlord is definitely much stronger than Gragas, the difference in their mid-lane matchups is significantly greater.

It's a very obvious concept: can vampires roam freely? No.

Can talids swim? Need I say more…

Therefore, Lin Ruo deliberately slowed down the pace for a simple reason: firstly, it was indeed difficult to find things to do; secondly, he could wait until Yan Que came out of the mountain, as it would be more likely for the two of them to travel around, do things, and capture people.

So here's the question: what is the troll waiting for? Probably waiting to die.

For EDG, if we move the timeline back, Taliyah's ultimate will bring about a qualitative change in their lineup. For IG, Vladimir's ultimate will remain the same, but their lineup will remain largely unchanged.

For a vampire to go on a journey is considered rebellious and disrespectful, an act that would make him abandon his home.

For the rock tit to go swimming is a perfectly natural behavior.

Therefore, Lin Ruo's invasion of the jungle earlier was for a reason. He needed to keep an eye on the troll's position and eliminate the corresponding spies in the jungle to pave the way for his later actions.

After returning to the city, Ning, who was wandering around the lower half of the map, could only go to the Ueno area, because that was the only place where there was still a river crab waiting to be slaughtered.

The remaining monsters will respawn in a while, especially since the red monsters have a long respawn time, and F6 was killed during the time when the barrels were at level 3.

Even though Prince Ning still couldn't eat anything, he still had no choice but to go down.

At this point, the timer has reached 5 minutes and 30 seconds. Taliyah will soon reach level 6, and he must be wary of any possible actions by EDG.

However, EDG's actions seemed to have exceeded his expectations. Taliyah had already unknowingly disappeared into the river before reaching level 6.

A Taliyah without a level 6 is a different concept from a level 6, but a level 6 does make it a different concept.

Ning didn't eat the river crab at first in the upper half of the map, and Lin Ruo didn't eat the river crab at first either. However, Ning didn't go to the river to check because of the mid lane pushing the lane and the constant invasion by the Gragas.

The low-health river crab now in front of Scout's Taliyah is the last bit of experience he needs to level up to 6.

The moment the upgrade light shone at the river mouth, the level 5 Gragas, along with the level 6 Taliyah, darted into the jungle, heading towards the bottom lane along the path behind the red monster's lair.

The time is still less than 6 minutes, and the Gragas is not yet level 6, but EDG's long-planned action is incredibly decisive.

The IG duo, who were playing very aggressively online, immediately prepared to retreat to their tower after being reminded.

EDG's bot lane duo, of course, didn't hold back and crossed the minion wave to chase and engage their target.

In the race against time, Lin Ruo, who was manipulating the wine barrel, suddenly leaped from the exploding fruit next to the Red Monster's side area into the Stone Beetle area.

This was a pincer attack, with Taliyah in front and him ambushing from behind.

The IG duo retreated very quickly. Scout, who had just reached the bottom lane tri-bush, hurriedly activated his ultimate and created a stone wall that stretched forward.

(End of this chapter)