League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 256 The opportunity to rise above others is just around the corner! (Bonus chapter for the Alliance Leader)

It's 5 a.m. in China. It's still quite early, but a certain live stream room on Douyu in China is already packed with people.

Countless viewers set their alarms and struggled to get out of bed at five o'clock, all for QG's match!

Meanwhile, in the live broadcast room, Wawa, Miller, and Remember were all dressed in suits and ties, ready to go in the commentary booth at the Olympic Stadium.

The three of them saw through the live footage that both teams had taken to the stage.

"Alright, the QG and GAM players are on stage! This is our LPL region's first match at MSI, let's cheer for QG! We hope they can get off to a winning start!"

Countless League of Legends players focused their attention on this live stream, watching the players take the stage, sit in their seats, and watch the draft phase begin!

"Alright, QG is on the blue side in this match. Let's see what the draft picks are for both sides!"

"Let's stick with our current strategy," Banbazi said from the QG player bench. "Let's ban Poppy first and see what the other side says."

GAM has never been QG's main research subject, so their understanding of it is not deep.

Of course, they still know which heroes to ban.

On the other side, GAM was much more arrogant. They didn't even bother banning Fiora; instead, they banned Jayce.

Kennen is at a disadvantage against Jayce, so just ban him.

Upon seeing this, everyone in the room couldn't help but squint slightly.

The champion Fiora is just released like that? That's a bit arrogant!

Did he really think his AD Kennen could handle Fiora on his own?

QG secretly sneered.

However, they did not rush to draw conclusions, but continued with their business plan.

"In the second draft, QG banned Graves, while GAM banned Caitlyn! And for the final pick, both sides banned Ziggs and Karma!"

The Bomber was a ban that Banbazi decided to add at the last minute.

It has to be said that, compared to AD Kennen, this Ziggs bot lane is GAM's most threatening point against QG.

QG has always won games thanks to Uzi's perfect tower-pushing rhythm. If the opponent picks a Bomber, it's like crippling Uzi by half, so they have to limit him.

Then it was QG's turn to make the first choice.

The LPL commentators were all talking amongst themselves as they watched the scene unfold.

"Fiora's out!" Doll exclaimed. "But Kennen, who was really hot in the first two games,' is also out there! Both of these champions are skilled with by Maokai, let's see what they have to say!"

At this moment, QG members were also asking Chen Dongqing what to say, whether to pick Kennen or Fiora.

"Is there even a choice?" Chen Dongqing rubbed his hands together like a fly. "It's definitely Fiora!"

This version includes the QG championship skin!

Chen Dongqing dreams of playing matches using his own skin, but unfortunately, his Fiora is so popular that it's usually banned.

Throughout the entire Spring Split, only TheShy, that reckless youngster, ever let Fiora play. Theoretically, it's very likely that she won't be let play even once at MSI.

But now that the opportunity is right in front of him, he has to consider whether this is the only chance he will ever have in his life!

Why would a good guy let Fiora play?

Even if picking Fiora might be countered by a counter-pick, Chen Dongqing still has a strong stomach.

Do you really think Kennen can counter my Fiora?

Fiora, locked on!

A terrifying cheer erupted from the audience below the stage. Even the Brazilian audience deeply understood how terrifying Chen Dongqing's Sword Maiden was!

His 0-2 comeback victory against Riven in the third game of last year's finals, and his A-flash four-hit solo kill on the bottom lane duo in a team fight, have been made into GIFs and played on repeat in esports forums around the world.

Now that Ilex has picked Fiora again, cheers are definitely in order!

But the three commentators had a lot to think about after seeing this scene.

It seems that Brother Tree hasn't mastered AD Kennen yet.

Backstage at the venue, the KT members nodded in approval upon seeing QG's decision.

They determined that QG had not practiced AD Kennen yet.

This strategy was indeed first proposed by GAM's top laner in a scrim, as they wanted to use Smeb to test its strength.

Clearly, the strength of the lineup was exceptional, so both teams unanimously chose to keep their AD Kennen a secret from other teams.

GAM successfully used this hidden move to win a point at the start of MSI, and also caught QG off guard in this game!

The KT players, who were about to face QG, had a plan in mind and felt that this was a point worth taking advantage of.

On the other side, GAM made their selection quickly, predictably locking in Kennen and then picking Zyra as support.

The current AD Kennen build is already an open secret, so Chen Dongqing can confidently choose armor in his runes, making the laning phase more comfortable.

Fiora is a champion that needs to be paired with a jungler, so Xiangguo picked Gragas to make up for the lack of AP damage and control, and then locked in Lulu.

As can be seen from the fact that GAM chose Ziggs in the bottom lane in the previous game, they are a team that mainly focuses on the top side of the map, which is quite similar to QG's style. Therefore, this game will be a passionate battle between the top and jungle players on both sides.

Once the tone was set, both sides made their choices quickly, and the lineups were determined rapidly.

Blue side QG: Top lane Fiora, Jungle Gragas, Mid lane Syndra, Bot lane Varus and Lulu.

Red side GAM: Top lane Kennen, Jungle Lee Sin, Mid lane Galio, Bot lane Ashe and Zyra.

GAM has chosen a relatively uncommon hero – Galio.

Actually, it's not that uncommon.

In fact, after this hero was reworked into the Colossus of Justice, his strength is obvious to all. He is often seen in the top and mid lanes of ranked games, and he also appeared in the first three ranked games.

However, so far, this hero hasn't delivered a very carry-like performance, and there's still room for further development.

However, one thing is certain: this version of Galio can easily gain lane control over Syndra.

Therefore, Chen Dongqing needs to pay more attention to Galio's support during the laning phase in this game.

The match started quickly. This year's MSI viewing system has undergone some minor changes. The keystone runes selected by both sides will be displayed directly next to the hero portraits on the left and right sides, in the same column as the ultimate cooldown.

So right at the start of the game, everyone saw the keystone rune that Fiora had chosen.

The Warlord's Bloodlust

With the Doran's Shield in her item slot, Fiora is practically a walking embodiment of resilience.

But there's not much that can be done, since Kennen's laning strength is undeniable, and he's exceptionally good at bullying short-ranged champions.

Of course, you could argue that Fiora can easily use her W to block Kennen's stun and counter-attack, but this is actually more common in lower ranks.

A skilled Kennen player can easily dodge Fiora's W sword aura with their E skill to speed up, and then Fiora's W will go on cooldown for 22 seconds, becoming Kennen's toy.

Even JJKING inevitably ends up in jail every time he encounters Kennen in ranked games.

Moreover, this version of Kennen goes back to base to buy Vladimir's Scepter, which further enhances his laning ability, making Fiora even less of a matchup.

Therefore, in high-level matches, Fiora's strategy is simple: just withstand the pressure, and you've already won half the battle.

If you can bring the line over and gank the jungler once, that's a double win.

If we can safely drag it out until the mid-game, then we can use the Trinity Force and Mercury's Shoes.

That just means they've won so many games they're completely outmatched and are starting to dominate.

With this in mind, Chen Dongqing followed the soldier online.

During the broadcast, the director gave a close-up shot, showing Fiora's skin glowing with a faint blue light and her white armor emitting a misty blue aura, which drew gasps from the audience.

With the healing from Doran's Shield and Bloodlust, Kennen's little darts couldn't even scratch Fiora's health.

Of course, disadvantages are inevitable.

Watching the Grand Duelist Fiora helplessly endure pressure under his Kennen's attacks, GAM's top laner Stark's heart raced, before he grinned.

Stark is a complete rookie player.

The 19-year-old had been a high-ranking player on the Vietnamese server for several years, even reaching the top spot. He officially joined GAM in March of this year and finally made his professional debut in April.

He has only played professionally for one month so far.

His performance this month has been phenomenal.

So far, he has never lost a lane match. As a rookie, he fought his way through the play-in stage and advanced to the MSI group stage with his team!

And now, he is standing in front of Ilex.

This is Ilex! The world's undisputed best top laner!

And he was playing Fiora!

Just like Faker in the past, as long as you can kill him once in the laning phase, you can immediately rise to prominence and become famous worldwide!

The thought of this fueled Stark's excitement, and he became even more eager to try, increasing Kennen's pressure even further!

In this game, he chose to level up E at level 1 to kite, and then level up W at level 2. His laning ability is very strong, and he is not afraid even if Fiora dives in.

At the same time, he maintained the awareness of a professional top laner, and did not forget to place a ward in the river when the three minutes were approaching, which made Xiangguo's gank unfortunately fail.

When Gragas appeared in the mid lane, Kennen's pressure intensified rapidly!

Four minutes later, the enemy Fiora swiftly thrust forward with her sword, followed by an auto-attack, an E, and then [Laurent's Eye Blade], proactively using her W to slow and lock down the enemy!

Stark felt a sudden panic, but he made a steady move. Kennen used his E skill to accelerate and dodged the sword aura at the last second, then turned around and used AQW to counterattack!

But Fiora remained calm and composed, dodging into the bushes. Kennen had already placed a ward in the river, so the bushes were now Fiora's home.

Stark had no choice but to turn back and use Doran's Blade to continue healing. Although he didn't gain an advantage in this exchange, he didn't actually lose any health.

He played absolutely perfectly in the first few minutes of the laning phase!

win!

But little did he know that his good days were about to end.

The two sides continued their battle in lane.

Seeing that his attempts to gank the top lane were unsuccessful, Xiangguo simply turned his attention to the middle lane.

Their combination of Gragas and Syndra is incredibly powerful; against a melee Galio on the opposing side, they could easily get caught if they're not careful.

Five minutes later, Xiangguo astutely seized the opportunity when GAM's vision disappeared, launched a surprise attack on the mid lane, and used Syndra's push to control a meatball to charge in, forcing the enemy Galio to use Flash.

Galio, who was in poor condition, had no choice but to abandon the minions and return to base to recover his health. However, the enemy jungler Lee Sin quickly came over and skillfully cleared a wave of minions that were pushing into the tower.

"The enemy Galio doesn't have Flash." Xiangguo pinged, then quickly went back to the jungle to farm.

The mid laner's Flash was caught, which meant that the mid lane advantage was secured. Xiangguo returned to the jungle to farm and wait for the next move to begin.

For seven minutes, Gordes maintained sufficient lane pressure, and Syndra's high kill threshold posed a significant threat to Galio without Flash.

There was no other way; GAM's mid laner had to give up mid lane control and push the minion wave under the tower.

However, his decision to leave the lane open clearly gave QG's mid and jungle players an opportunity to coordinate their attacks.

The two didn't go to the top lane. Kennen had already reached level six and had Flash available, making him difficult for them to catch.

Their target is the jungle!

Levi, the Vietnamese jungler, is a jungler with a distinct personal style.

His playstyle mainly revolves around three lanes of minions plus red and blue buffs, which makes team fights incredibly annoying.

If he's in bad form, then the entire GAM team will collapse.

If he's in good condition, he should step forward!

After all, the abundant jungle resources last year led to the jungler's high status, and the Vietnamese team led by Captain also performed well.

But the difference lies in...

After the jungle resources were drastically reduced in Season 7, jungle carry players like Peanut quickly changed their style, adopting a more aggressive, tempo-driven playstyle.

But Levi is still a wild core.

It can only be said that this is a limitation of the GAM team.

If the jungler kills them, GAM will be half gone.

The two pretended to gank top, but actually circled around in the dark and went straight into the bottom jungle to find Lee Sin farming!

Syndra controlled the ball with a push, and then Gragas rammed into him with his belly. Both of them dealt full damage and easily sent Lee Sin away!

The Vietnamese were clearly not well-versed in military strategy; QG's feigned attack on one side while secretly advancing another caught them completely off guard!

This put the Vietnamese mid-laner in an awkward position.

After pushing the lane, he headed top, ready to use his ultimate to support the top lane at any time.

The result was counterproductive; their own jungler was caught in the bottom jungle, and his ultimate ability was no longer within range.

With no other option, he could only continue moving upwards, hoping to catch Fiora and cut his losses.

On the top lane, the two were also locked in a fierce battle.

Both top laners had already returned to base once, and both of them had built Vampiric Scepter in a very similar way.

Chen Dongqing's original idea was to take advantage of his teammates' feigned gank to show the enemy Kennen a bad attitude, so he went straight in.

The other person was indeed stunned and didn't dare to fight back, allowing him to poke him twice.

But the next second, QG's mid and jungle players appeared in the bottom half of the map, and the situation reversed.

Fiora turned and ran away. Stark felt cheated, and Kennen immediately used his E to attack!

Chen Dongqing was not afraid at all. He retaliated with a Q, pressing his face against Kennan's.

But Kennen seemed unable to handle the provocation. As soon as Fiora poked him back, he immediately used his ultimate to control her!

At the same time, a magic circle unfolded centered on Kennen, and the Thunder Prison drew a concentric circle that enveloped Fiora!

Chen Dongqing raised an eyebrow when he saw Galio's ultimate ability, somewhat surprised.

But he remained completely calm.

No bragging, this ultimate move is completely under his control.

He has a hard time against Kennen by himself, but he has some room to maneuver against both Kennen and Galio by himself!

Upon seeing the magic circle, Chen Dongqing immediately abandoned the idea of ​​using W to block Kennen's stun and instead took the stun head-on.

He seized the opportunity when Kennen's first stun ended and immediately unleashed a W [Laurent's Eye of the Mind]!

QG Fiora adopted a defensive stance, her entire body shrouded in a grayish-white mist.

Just as the sword energy was about to strike, the hero appeared!

Galio landed hard, his immense force shattering the earth!

"They're moving too slowly!"

The Sword Maiden was completely unharmed by this power; instead, a sword aura shot out straight out!

The sword energy was aimed at Galio, who had just landed and hadn't had time to move!

When the "Unrivaled Challenge" is activated, a countdown appears above Fiora's head.

Kennen's lightning continued to strike, and Fiora was about to enter her next stun state.

Chen Dongqing instantly arranged the skill sequence. In the end, he did not use A-Flash-Four-Break. Instead, he quickly moved to the diagonal position, used A followed by movement and then basic attack to slowly break through two weaknesses. Then he used Q to draw a diagonal line and broke through the third weakness as well!

As Fiora began moving with her Q skill, Kennen stacked three more stuns, stunning Fiora.

Galio quickly followed up, taunting the enemy with his W, then taking a step back and charging in with a punch!

Seeing this, Chen Dongqing secretly sneered.

Galio is still a relatively new champion, and these players' proficiency with him is too low.

In later generations, even the golden Galio knew to use the reverse E skill so that the control could be seamlessly connected.

Of course, it doesn't matter whether it's positive or negative.

Because Kennen had already inflicted the stun twice, and the control time was very short, Galio's W did not have to be charged for very long.

Regardless of whether Galio's E is positive or negative, Fiora can always use Flash.

Chen Dongqing decisively dodged the punch and used Flash to reach the last opening.

With a single strike, four attacks pierced through.

The number above Fiora's head stopped: 2.80.

It took nearly three seconds to achieve a fourth breakthrough, which is considered quite slow for Chen Dongqing.

The main reason is that Chen Dongqing saved a Flash to dodge Galio's E, and he deliberately held onto his E skill.

And the E skill is waiting for now!

Galio is tough and resilient; even after taking four hits, he still has half his health left.

At this moment, although Fiora had cast a healing spell, she had taken damage from two people, and her health was now in a very dangerous state, with only a little over 20% remaining!

If Fiora hadn't used her W to block Galio's ultimate and then flashed to dodge Galio's E, she probably would have died long ago.

Chen Dongqing glanced at Galio, who was at half health, and quickly estimated that the damage was about enough.

Fiora followed up with two consecutive attacks using A and E, then used Q to reposition herself, striking a newly created opening on Galio's left side.

After the initial stab, another critical strike followed!

AEQA deals four consecutive hits, including vulnerability, critical hit, and consecutive canceled recovery animations!

Galio's health bar plummeted under the continuous damage, quickly reaching near-death!

Chen Dongqing was slightly surprised to see that Galio was still alive.

Without the fervor of war, the damage was indeed somewhat lacking.

Fortunately, Bloodlust also has its advantages. Fiora's Q vulnerability combined with the healing circle and the recovery from Bloodlust once, her health managed to recover a little bit!

But the problem is still not significant. Galio was forced to use Flash by Xiangguo, leaving him with no way to escape.

Fiora swiftly swung her blade and secured the kill!

"Alright, Galio takes it!" The commentators exclaimed in surprise from the booth, "Fiora single-handedly turned the tables and killed one of them! And she still has a third of her health left, yet she can still fight back!"

I remember that no sooner had she finished speaking than Fiora turned and slipped away.

There's no way to beat them.

In order to ensure that he could get Bloodlust in the laning phase, Chen Dongqing lost the sustained output ability of Fervor and also chose the Fortitude tree, which meant that he did not have the healing from Dangerous Game. Therefore, killing one of the two was already his limit.

Chen Dongqing's skills were top-notch. He controlled Fiora to dodge Kennen's Q skill, and then used his Q skill to dash away and successfully returned to the tower.

Upon seeing this, the audience was shocked, and then quickly offered their applause and cheers.

After farming under the tower for a few minutes, Fiora, who had been constantly pressured, actually managed to kill one of them in a 1v2 situation. Can you believe it?

The comments section was filled with shock.

【2.8】

[He was constantly pressured in lane, yet he managed to turn the tables and take on two opponents? I don't understand.]

[One against one is a small disadvantage, one against two is a huge advantage!]

[The main problem is that Fiora is too easy to beat Galio; she's practically a toy for him.]

Indeed, how can a champion with so much crowd control but low damage deal any damage?

【Sent! I don't think this AD Kennen is any good either!】

Seeing the low-health Fiora safely recalling to base under the tower, Stark was immediately furious.

He had worked so hard to suppress Fiora for so long, and then his own mid laner fed her to the enemy team right away. Who could stand that?

Although he didn't die this time, it was even more painful than being solo killed!

He couldn't help but steal a glance at the mid laner, but ultimately remained silent.

He's just a rookie who's only been with the team for a little over a month, while their mid laner, Optimus, is one of GAM's most senior players.

Moreover, he doesn't really have the right to blame others.

Stark pressed TAB and checked the matchup information for both sides.

The CS (creep score) of both top laners were almost the same.

Although he kept pressing the line, embarrassingly, he didn't actually press the dagger.

This Fiora's last-hitting skills are terrifyingly solid!

Moreover, when Galio ganked top, Fiora was almost at full health.

This Fiora player is too slick. He rarely has a chance to harass her, and even if he does, she recovers very quickly.

If he could play more aggressively in lane and whittle down Fiora's health, then they could still win this fight.

But it's no use saying all this now.

After Fiora recalls to base, her items will inevitably be ahead of his, and it will be questionable whether he can still dominate the lane.

Upon returning to the city, Chen Dongqing immediately purchased a pair of Mercury Shoes at full price, maximizing his aggressive style!

Although Kennen is built as an AD champion, his skills still provide AP damage and crowd control, making Mercury's Treads still quite crucial.

After going online again, Chen Dongqing was no longer afraid and would stab at Kennan whenever he saw him.

Fiora without her ultimate is much stronger than Kennen without his ultimate!

Chen Dongqing chased after him, quickly slowed down using the AE mode, and then kept a close eye on Kennen's movements.

The moment Kennen's character model turned around, Chen Dongqing didn't care whether it was a Q or a basic attack, and decisively used W!

Only after it was made did I realize that it was Kennen's Q skill.

Even better.

Fiora adopted a defensive stance to block the Q, and while Kennen was still stunned after casting the Q, a slowing sword aura pierced his body!

The key to Fiora's matchup against Kennen is whether her W can hit. Even if W only slows him down, she still won't lose in the trade!

Chen Dongqing quickly pursued, walked to Kennan's weak point, and struck through the opening with a powerful slash.

Chen Dongqing's thinking was quite clear. Fiora chased Kennen and slashed him twice more. Kennen's Q skill was actually ready, but he wasn't in a hurry to use it.

He currently has two stacks of Kennen's passive ability active on him, and he only needs one more stack before he will be stunned.

However, once Kennen's crucial Q skill is blocked, he can't stun anyone with EW alone unless he auto-attacks to trigger W's passive.

The shuriken in Kennen's hand was crackling with electricity, which meant that Kennen's W passive was fully charged.

At that moment, Kennen quickly launched a basic attack at Fiora!

Chen Dongqing reacted quickly and swiftly unleashed a Q attack!

Although Fiora was stunned, she couldn't stop the [Sky Piercer] that she had already started casting. While stunned, she used a dash to break through the opening again, reducing Kennen's health to below half!

This is called control cancellation, where the control duration is overridden by using the skill's release animation.

After the dizziness subsided, Chen Dongqing landed one last attack on Kennen, triggering Warlord's Bloodlust for a speed boost. At the cost of a small amount of health, he created distance.

With this wave of roster changes as a dividing line, the situation in the top lane began to reverse.

After enduring pressure for nearly eight minutes, Chen Dongqing finally gained lane control and the right to push the lane!

When QG's top laner is able to push the lane into the tower, the enemy top laner will inevitably face a barrage of attacks!

Fiora quickly turned around to farm minions and push the lane, and rapidly recovered her health using Vladimir's Scepter and runes.

Nine minutes passed quickly, and the minion wave reached Kennen's tower.

As if it had been rehearsed in advance, Xiangguo's wine barrel appeared behind the tower right on time.

Stark suffered cardiac arrest.

I clearly placed a ward in the triangular bush, how did you get around it?

Having experienced the trials of last year's competitions, Xiangguo's strength has reached a new level this year, and he has reached his peak.

Now he has an even stronger grasp of the game. The fact that Kennen has wards in the tri-bush is something he has planned for. So he chose to take a route from the Baron pit to the red buff area and then go around in a big circle to catch the enemy off guard.

Without pausing, the barrel charged forward, its belly bulging, and with Fiora's damage, it took down Kennen in one fell swoop!

Fiora swiftly brought down her blade, bringing KD to 2-0!

Thank you to the leader who wants to decide whether or not to change the name!

This is the first proper alliance leader I've ever encountered since I started writing this book. Thank you, boss.

I just finished writing a chapter and then I saw a patron. It's quite a coincidence. This is called the "empty draft plan".

(End of this chapter)