LPL History

Chapter 171 The Filthy Pool and the Evil Dragon Hidden in the Ruins, Stealing Heavenly Secrets; The Holy Spear Shatters the Mantis Chieftain; Starry Eyes Terrify the Pomelo Spirit

League of Legends Season 4 actually underwent some major changes.

The most noticeable changes are to the map and jungle areas.

Regarding the vision system, the familiar free scout ward has finally appeared, reducing the early-game vision cost.

As for the changes to the jungle, the F4 and Monster Frog, which people later became very familiar with, finally made their debut.

The experience and gold from jungle monsters will increase over time, solving the problem of low jungle resource growth in Season 3. Furthermore, the increased jungle resources allow junglers to develop faster.

In general, before Season 4, the jungler was arguably the lowest-ranked and least economically valuable position, second only to the support role.

However, with the S4 update, Riot Games hopes that junglers can also have their own space to develop in the jungle.

In this context, developmental and aggressive heroes have the opportunity to take center stage.

Upon entering the game, Zhou Li took a look at the lineups of both sides.

YG's lineup is quite obvious; they're going to play their bot lane with their cards on the table.

After all, the bot lane has picked a push combo of Caitlyn and Morgana. If you don't focus on the bot lane, then pushing the bot lane is no different from feeding kills.

Zhou Li marked a signal on the map and began to speak:

"Invade the area, but don't actually engage; just show the enemy your position."

Upon hearing Zhou Li's words, everyone in WE.A was taken aback, wondering why Zhou Li was suddenly giving orders.

After all, in everyone's impression, Zhou Li was incredibly lazy. Although he did have some ability, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to enter the youth training team, but his professional attitude was really bad. In the team, he was often just a tool, doing whatever he was told.

"Could it be that they heard rumors that the little beast is planning to change people, so they want to perform seriously?"

Xi Ye, who was originally the team's commander, immediately thought of this possibility.

After all, they'd been teammates for a while, and if Zhou Li could adopt the right attitude, he hoped they wouldn't be replaced, so he spoke up to remind him:

"The other side is also quite good at counter-attacking, so don't get carried away."

Hearing Xi Ye's words, Zhou Li nodded and emphasized:
"Yes, whatever you do, don't fight. Just make a show of it. I'm going to go into the enemy jungle."

WE.A's lineup is inherently very strong in level 1 team fights.

YG believes that WE.A's motivation to engage in a level 1 team fight is perfectly legitimate.

So, the moment YG noticed WE.A's movements, the entire company began to gather.

They absolutely cannot give up the bottom jungle; if they do, Morgana and Caitlyn's bot lane will be rendered useless.

However, what YG didn't know was that WE.A had only invaded with four players at that time.

Pantheon has already headed towards YG's top half of the map.

Then, a ward was placed at YG's blue buff location.

Pantheon is a very powerful champion in the early game, but he becomes like a super minion once the late game arrives.

WE.A's lineup in this game is a very typical early-game lineup.

Therefore, as a jungler, Zhou Li must set the pace of the game in the early stages.

After surveying the area, Zhou Li retreated to the riverbank bushes and waited quietly.

On the other side, after Yu Zhe's Thresh made a symbolic but somewhat hasty hook, WE.A also gave up on invading and chose to retreat.

From the commentary booth, looking at Pantheon quietly crouching in the bushes, Miss began to speak:

"Hey! Pantheon over here seems to have something in mind but hasn't made a move yet... and the Kha'Zix is ​​definitely heading towards the blue buff! Is Li trying to steal the enemy's blue buff?"

In fact, when YG's bot lane picked the Caitlyn and Morgana combo, the jungler didn't have many other options, because he was already tied to the team.

Of course, he could take the red buff and then go straight for the blue buff, and then go back to the bottom lane to continue farming. However, this would inevitably slow down his jungle clearing speed. Also, due to the changes in jungle experience in Season 4, starting with two buffs would no longer allow the jungler to reach level three.

If Pantheon really tries to gank, by the time Kha'Zix circles back, it might be too late.

Furthermore, WE.A's previous feigned invasion further lulled YG into a false sense of security.

Even if we disregard all these factors...

In professional matches, it's somewhat absurd for a jungler to run into the enemy jungle at level one to react.

Because if you fail to counter-jungle, the entire game's rhythm may collapse.

So Kha'Zix never expected Pantheon to invade his jungle in this way.

After seeing Pantheon and Shyvana appear, Zhou Li gave a signal to Zac, the Yeti.

"Come on, jump on him right away."

Hearing Zhou Li's words, the snowman was actually somewhat unwilling.

After all, this means sacrificing his top lane, and learning E will put him under immense pressure in lane.

But Zhou Li was already squatting there, with no intention of leaving, looking like he would die trying if he didn't succeed, which was equivalent to kidnapping him.

Left with no other choice, the snowman had to come closer.

At this moment, the blue buff respawned, and the Shyvana started helping Kha'Zix farm the blue buff.

Although Zac didn't appear, YG didn't pay much attention, assuming that WE.A's jungler was just trying to gank bot lane from the top side.

"YG seems completely unaware of WE.A's tactics! Shyvana has already left and is about to go online!"

In the WE.A commentary booth, Zhou Li's calm voice rang out.

"Charging up—"

He served as the team's commander throughout the entire S3 season.

Now, when giving instructions, the language is simple and clear.

"Jump!"

As Zhou Li finished speaking, XR transformed into a green blob of flying energy, soaring over the high walls and tracing a beautiful and elegant parabola across the canyon before crashing heavily onto Blue Buff and Kha'Zix, splashing out a blob of unruly hot excrement.

At the same moment, Pantheon's spear pierced the mantis's body.

Zhou Li did not choose to waste his damage on the blue buff.

His exceptional intelligence gives him absolute control over the potential for harm.

The moment Zac landed, Zhou Li's Smite had already been applied to the Blue Buff.

I then leveled up to level two and learned the W skill!
The sudden turn of events left the notes momentarily stunned.

By the time they realized what was happening, the buff was already gone.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw Pan Sen, who had already been promoted to level two.

The damage from the jungle monsters, Zac's damage, and Pantheon's spears reduced his health to half.

"Holy crap, can you save me?"

The player immediately called for help from their top laner and used Flash towards the top lane.

But Pantheon didn't use his W, waiting for Kha'Zix's Flash.

The instant Kha'Zix flashed, Pantheon immediately followed up with W, stunning him on the spot.

Pantheon's combat power at level one is already ridiculously strong. His Q skill has only a four-second cooldown, allowing him to chase down Kha'Zix with both auto-attacks and pokes.

Although the Dragon Girl had already turned back and arrived, the Kha'Zix had already been killed by Pantheon's spear and could only retreat back to the lane.

Pantheon, who secured First Blood, did not choose to clear Kha'Zix's upper jungle.

Instead, they headed straight for the middle lane.

Otto is showcasing his dominance with LeBlanc in the mid lane.

After leveling up to level two, WQ immediately started attacking Xiye's Orianna.

He knew that LeBlanc would have a hard time gaining lane control against Orianna.

Since lane control cannot be guaranteed, the best approach is to use lane control to gain an advantage in health.

In this game, he originally planned to invade the enemy jungle with the notes and counter Pantheon.

Therefore, he must gain an advantage in the mid lane.

Therefore, Otto also changed his usual steady style of duoing with the turret and played very aggressively.

However, to his surprise, the other side was so cunning that they started with a trick.

This made Otto even more impatient.

So, from level one to level two, they chose to step on Xiye's face, trying to forcefully break his state.

However, he never expected that as soon as he stepped on the river, Pantheon had already emerged from the river bushes.

"Damn it! Is this guy an idiot? Coming to my mid lane like that!"

The Zhou dynasty's choice of rituals was indeed very anti-human.

In a successful level 1 counter-jungling scenario, the obvious choice is to clear out the entire jungle area first, thus hindering the enemy jungler's development.

This person actually chose to gank online!
A level 2 Pantheon paired with a level 2 Orianna definitely can't take down LeBlanc.

Even if LeBlanc no longer has W.

However, Zhou Li's purpose was not to kill Yao Ji; he was simply there to suppress Yao Ji's condition.

W stomp on head followed by AQ!

LeBlanc was already low on health due to frequent health regeneration, and Pantheon's combo forced her to activate her passive.

Pantheon had no intention of giving chase at all, and turned to leave, not giving LeBlanc a chance to turn back and deplete his own resources.

As Pantheon walked towards his upper half of the map, Electric Stick cursed loudly in the voice chat.

"Is this guy even human? How can he be so despicable as to come to mid lane and annoy me?! He went back to the top side and got the red buff!"

However, what Electric Stick didn't know was that after Zhou Lika showed him the last vision of him walking towards the upper half of the map, he immediately turned around and headed towards the bottom lane.

This gank has two objectives. One is to disable the electric stick's status, preventing him from comfortably supporting the jungle in the future.

Secondly, they deliberately gave him false vision information, making YG think that he was clearing his own jungle in the top half of the map.

But would Zhou Li go to clear the fields?
Everyone's playing Pantheon, why are you still farming jungle camps?

Pantheon is an early-game champion, while Kha'Zix is ​​a scaling champion.

He can choose not to develop, but a mantis cannot.

Therefore, as long as he gets the mantis to self-destruct with him, he'll make a killing.

So Zhou Li didn't go to his own top half of the jungle, nor did he go to his own bottom half of the jungle. Instead, he went around in circles and headed towards YG's bottom jungle!
"Wow! Li is really good at stirring things up. He's given away a false vision and is planning to go into YG's bottom half of the map again, but YG has vision control on the F4 side..."

As soon as Miss finished speaking, Pantheon suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Huh? Pantheon suddenly stopped moving. Is this... is he trying to cut off the ward's vision and time?"

Perhaps to verify the speculation about the long hair, the director immediately switched to YG's first-person perspective.

From YG's perspective, Pantheon's position was just outside the edge of the ward's vision!

Furthermore, this scout ward was dropped by YG's support during the level 1 team fight, and now it only has three seconds left!
In the last second before the scout wards took over his vision, Pantheon, who had been motionless, finally moved and headed towards YG's jungle.

"Oh!!"

A gasp of surprise rang out from the crowd.

Miss looked at Pantheon's actions in surprise and said:

Wow! This Li is so thin!

Meanwhile, the mantis was attacking its red buff.

F4's vision gave him a false sense of security, and coupled with the fact that he had seen Pantheon go to WE.A's upper jungle, he never expected that Pantheon had sneaked in in the dark.

Without any warning, Yin Fu had already used Smite early on, wanting to refresh Smite's cooldown quickly and speed up the subsequent jungle clearing progress.

However, what he didn't know was that as the red buff's health decreased, the audience, who were watching from God's perspective, showed expressions of pity.

"Snapped!"

The spear suddenly flew out and killed the red buff instantly.

Before the mantis could react, the King of War had already raised his shield and started smashing it wildly behind him!
This time, with the red buff, Pantheon didn't need Zac's help at all and directly chased down and killed Kha'Zix, who had no Flash, in the jungle!

"Wow! This game is really tough for Fu Yin. She got completely crushed right from the start!"

YG players' bench.

Seeing that the note had died again, Otto finally couldn't hold back and started talking to his teammate.

"Damn it, how the hell did you die again? Can you even play? Stop acting like a cripple!"

The already disastrous start to the game had left the player on the verge of a mental breakdown, and when Otto insulted her, she retorted:

"Damn it, he's been chasing me for ages, what the hell are you doing?"

"What am I doing?" Otto, who seemed to be holding a nuclear weapon, exclaimed, "What the hell am I doing! Can't you see he ganked me at level two? How could he gank me at level two if you weren't dead? How can I help you if I have no lane priority and no health? Are you brainless? I'll XXXX you."

The brat, his head throbbing from being hit with the electric baton, finally spoke:

"Okay, stop arguing!!"

However, the next second, even more furious shouts and curses came out from the electric baton.

"Damn it, why are you coming to mid lane again?! It's disgusting!! Why do you keep disgusting me?! Is it because I don't have a jungler?!"

Pantheon killed Kha'Zix, took down YG's F4, leveled up to level three, and then went straight to the mid lane, forcing LeBlanc to use Flash.

Pantheon then burrowed into the upper half of the map and wiped it out.

Meanwhile, the mantis could only go to the lower half of the map and pitifully ate a golem.

Pantheon, who had reached level four, was about to return to base.

As a result, Otto, who was positioned under the tower and alongside the turret, had only one-third of his health remaining.

He gave Xi Ye a signal and spoke directly:

"Come, more."

As Pantheon circled around from behind him, Electric Bat felt a chill run down his spine.

Pantheon didn't rush to make a move, but instead walked directly to LeBlanc's face.

Then, with AWQE and Xiye's output, they instantly killed LeBlanc under the tower.

But at this point, Pantheon's health was already quite low. Just when everyone thought Pantheon was about to use Flash to escape the tower, Pantheon turned around and attacked a minion.

Pantheon's passive ability refreshed a shield.

When it comes to tower diving, besides Elise, it can only be Pantheon.

Pantheon's shield can block damage from turrets.

Pantheon, having activated his shield, didn't even use Flash and leisurely walked out of the turret's attack range.

Wow! Li is so thin!

As Miss exclaimed in surprise, the audience erupted in cheers.

Meanwhile, in the live stream, YG was being attacked so harshly by fans that even their own mothers were no longer respected.

【? ? ? ? 】

What is YG doing?

Is this praying mantis for real?

[Are you deliberately putting on an act to disgust us OMG?]

[How disgusting! It's only been a few minutes, and Nakano has already exploded.]

[Is YG's mid and jungle players completely useless?]

The 59e fans were like a powder keg that had been lit, frantically attacking the live streamer's mother in the chat room.

Little did they know, the stun gun had no mother at all.

Then, out of nowhere, a message spread—

[Two LSPL teams deliberately picked Kha'Zix and Pantheon to throw the game and subtly criticize OMG.]

However, since a significant portion of the 59e (presumably referring to a group of players) were 60e (presumably referring to a group of players), and WE.A is, after all, WE's second team, to avoid damaging the team's reputation, the rumor gradually evolved into—

[A player from a youth training team colluded with the YG esports team to maliciously throw matches.]

Meanwhile, at this time, OMG eSports Club...

Yuzu and Lingyao exchanged a glance.

Lingyao patted Youzi on the shoulder and comforted her:

"Brother, I'm sorry."

Yuzu, somewhat helplessly, said:

"What is YG doing? It feels like they're playing the game without any brains."

He also saw the online speculation that the two teams had fixed the match.

Although he didn't think it was a fixed match, he genuinely thought the YG team was terrible.

Keep in mind that his Pantheon was facing SKT at the time.

If you were to play against SKT, would you dare to try counter-jungling with Pantheon like that?
The jungler and the laner have different roles.

There are many factors that influence the difference in jungle matchups.

The team's vision control and the individual skill of teammates in lane will greatly influence the jungler's performance.

This is not a position that can be gained by relying solely on individual skill; it requires awareness, a strategic perspective, a wealth of tactical experience, and flexible thinking.

Take the match between YH and WE.A as an example.

It was obvious that YG didn't take this match too seriously, while WE.A had meticulously planned it.

From the initial feigned invasion to create opportunities for Pantheon, to the frequent ganks in the mid lane, the vision control and counter-jungling, and finally the tower dive kill, these were all clearly a series of tactics that WE.A had designed from the very beginning.

YG didn't take any precautions at all, nor did they even think of taking any precautions, which is why they were beaten so badly they were completely bewildered.

However, you can't achieve the same effect against SKT in the All-Star game.

Yuzu understood this, and so did the elixir.

But netizens won't understand this.

They only recognize two keywords.

Mantis.

Pan Sen.

"Sigh, I feel like I'm going to get criticized again. How many people can actually understand the game?"

Hearing Yuzu's sigh, Lingyao subconsciously spoke up:

"But to be honest, that maneuver of using the card to control the field of vision and timing was really something."

Yuzu pursed her lips.

Although he didn't want to admit it, he couldn't refute it.

Put yourself in their shoes. If you were to learn that there is information about this place, your first thought might be, "Then let's not bother invading, we've already gained something anyway."

Let alone trying to exploit vision and timing manipulation techniques.

They would never even have that thought.

(End of this chapter)