League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 305 WE's Incompetent Draft Picks

"Alright, welcome to Zhengda Plaza!" Guan Zeyuan's voice was incredibly loud. "This is the venue for the 2017 League of Legends Pro League Summer Split. The upcoming match is between two teams that performed well in this year's Rift Rivals—QG and WE!"

Beside him, commentator Wang Duoduo nodded emphatically: "These two teams gave our LPL a huge advantage by scoring two goals in the opening stages of the Intercontinental Cup finals! This match can be described as a clash of titans!"

At this point, the director also switched to show the match data of both teams in the summer split.

Wang Duoduo glanced at the data and immediately said, "From the data, we can see that the two teams are almost identical in terms of average gold lead, first blood rate, and average number of Baron and Dragon kills. QG only has a significant lead over WE in average kills!"

"QG's stats used to show an absolute dominance, so this situation of being evenly matched with their opponents is actually quite rare!"

Upon hearing this, Guan Zeyuan immediately explained, "Actually, there's nothing we can do about it. After all, WE had a perfect 5-0 record, while QG lost to EDG at the start of the Summer Split due to an incomplete roster. Their stats were inevitably affected."

"Although QG has achieved a fierce winning streak after Shu Ge's return, the number of matches is still insufficient to boost QG's team statistics."

The director's camera then panned across the audience, showing that the hundreds of seats in Zhengda Plaza were now packed to capacity, with the vast majority of the audience holding up QG light boards, and Chen Dongqing's supporters making up the majority of them.

On the other side, a considerable number of WE fans were also in the audience. They may not be as numerous as QG, but those who know, know that the 60E fans have a strong sense of unity.

This team has been in a slump ever since the departure of their manager, and now they are finally seeing a glimmer of hope. Of course, they want to give their team the loudest cheers!

The director then switched the camera to the players' seats, where all ten players were already in their places, looking quite relaxed.

Because of the intercontinental tournament, the relationship between the two teams has improved considerably. They are currently chatting in their rooms, discussing how to give each other some leeway and avoid making the game too ugly.

Chen Dongqing didn't participate; he simply lay on the chair and waited for the competition to begin.

"Alright, both players' statuses have been confirmed. Blue team top laner, please start the game!" The female referee's voice came through the headset.

Both teams quickly got into a ready state.

They were just joking when they said they'd let each other win; when the game actually started, they were all incredibly ruthless!

Chen Dongqing sat up straight and clicked "Start Game!"

The draft pick/ban screen instantly switched to the view of both players and the entire audience!

"WE has the right to choose sides in this match, and they have proactively chosen the red side for themselves."

It's no exaggeration to say that since the Ardent Censer was introduced at the Intercontinental Cup, it has directly changed the drafting strategies of teams all over the world.

At the very least, the priority of the red side has been greatly increased now, and many teams will actively choose red.

The reason is actually quite simple: the blue team exists mainly to prevent overpowered monsters.

However, there are just too many overpowered monsters in this version. There are Zac and Rek'Sai in the jungle, and Kalista, Kog'Maw, Janna, and Lulu in the bot lane. The blue side can't possibly ban them all with their three ban slots. It's better to choose the red side and adapt to the situation. At least you can't go wrong with picking second.

"Let's take a look at the ban picks for both sides!"

The first ban picks are, of course, nothing special; they're still the classic Poppy and Fiora.

The second option is to ban both Excavator and Zac.

The third option is even simpler: ban Lulu and ban Janna on the same side.

"In that case, both Officer Jess and the policewoman are outside!" Colonel Guan spotted the blind spot: "But QG can only choose one!"

This is clearly WE's plan.

Since the policewoman can't handle Jess, why not just release them and take one on each side?

Anyway, my brother-in-law is a good Caitlyn player, and 957 has a deep champion pool. Although his Jayce proficiency is average, he can definitely use him without any problems.

As for Chen Dongqing choosing Jess, he can still play well even as a backup.

At this point, the choice is now on QG's side.

"Let's pick Jayce first," Uzi said. "If they pick Caitlyn, I can pick Kalista to counter her."

With Uzi's statement, the first three picks for both sides were basically set.

Chen Dongqing and Banbazi shared the same idea and, without any hesitation, locked in Jayce.

Following that, WE picked the top-tier laning combination of Caitlyn and Karma, which fits the current Ardent Censer meta.

QG then discussed which support item to pair with the skateboard shoes.

If you're picking Skateboard Shoes as your second pick, you're definitely aiming for the laning phase. You either need to pick a champion that can initiate team fights or one that can push the lane, otherwise you'll be constantly pressured under your tower and unable to compete in lane.

Based on this situation, QG immediately locked in a Rakan!

This hero is invincible when engaged, and even without Xayah, he still has enough strength, so there's no doubt about it.

As for the incense burner, although Luo suffered a slight loss by selling it, it was still usable.

After picking Rakan, WE locked in Camille on the third floor to counter Jayce and allow for top/jungle flex picks, entering the second round of selection.

"The second round of bans and picks was still quite swift. WE, on the red side, banned Lee Sin and Syndra, effectively shutting down this mid-jungle duo that QG frequently uses!"

"QG first banned the Camille-Galio engage combo, and then banned Corki, a champion Xiye has been using recently, before entering the champion selection phase!"

"Red side's fourth move, WE quickly chose to pick the Prince!"

WE has a Camille top and jungle flex pick, but QG's top laner Jayce has already been picked, so they don't need to flex their pick and simply pick Jarvan IV, which is Xiangguo's specialty, instead of banning him.

Incidentally, it also gives the Counter position to Xiye, which is quite perfect.

The choice is now given to QG.

They are under immense offensive pressure in this game, and they must establish a significant advantage within the first thirty minutes.

These last two choices become especially important.

What was originally an extremely tricky draft situation turned into a surprise when the camera cut to the QG players' bench, revealing that they were all smiling.

WE's decision to pick Prince as their fourth pick, while consistent with their drafting strategy, was seen as utterly ridiculous by QG.

During the MSI finals, KT once showed up with Jayce mid in the semifinals, which made QG extremely nervous. Gao Dewei even had several hours of special training with Chen Dongqing because of this.

Since then, mid-lane Jayce, and ways to counter mid-lane Jayce, have always been in Goldwyn's arsenal.

QG now has the potential to switch between top and mid lane with Jayce.

The only problem for QG was that Camille's position was uncertain, making it inconvenient for them to pick a top laner later.

If they pick Camille and she ends up as the jungler, wouldn't that be ridiculous?

Now, with WE's Jarvan IV effectively locking Camille in the top lane, QG's draft strategy has been completely unlocked.

Without hesitation, QG picked Sejuani jungle as their fourth pick to help initiate team fights.

Then, in their fifth move, they directly targeted Cassiopeia to counter Camille!

Of course, WE didn't actually understand their move.

Because QG picked Jayce and Cassiopeia, both champions that can be played in both top and mid lanes, WE initially thought they would have Jayce in the top lane and Cassiopeia in the mid lane.

"Are they trying to use Cassiopeia to counter Jarvan IV and Camille's engages?" A hint of doubt flashed through Redmi's mind. He felt there was something wrong with his interpretation, but he didn't know what the problem was.

At this moment, Xiye spoke up, "If the enemy mid laner is Cassiopeia, then just give me Orianna."

Orianna is definitely a good mid-laner; she's a natural counter to Cassiopeia and fits their team's rhythm perfectly.

WE has always relied on the female police officer to set the pace and maintain the situation, and then the two carries with three items in the next thirty minutes to exert their strength.

The combination of Clockwork and the female police officer perfectly fits this pattern.

When Redmi thought of this, it nodded and decided to finalize the lineup as well.

But the moment the lineup was finalized, Redmi's expression changed immediately upon seeing the heroes on both sides.

"Something's not right!" Redmi blurted out, but he spoke in Korean, which most of the team didn't understand.

Only the brother-in-law replied, "Something seems off?"

Redmi immediately replied, "The opposing team might be playing Jayce mid!"

Upon hearing this, the brother-in-law's expression changed, and he looked at QG's hero selection box.

At this point, we can see that QG is constantly switching hero positions, and finally the lineups for both sides are finalized:

Blue side QG: Top lane Cassiopeia, Jungle Sejuani, Mid lane Jayce, Bot lane Kalista and Galo.

Red team WE: Top lane Camille, Jungle Jarvan IV, Mid lane Orianna, Bot lane Caitlyn and Karma.

The WE team was completely dumbfounded.

Why didn't they think of the possibility of Jayce playing mid?

They confidently picked Orianna to counter Cassiopeia, but the opposing mid laner was Jayce.

If Orianna plays against Jayce, isn't that a 0-10 matchup?

It's like they willingly offered their heads to QG to beat!

Camille in the top lane couldn't say a word against Cassiopeia, and Orianna in the mid lane had absolutely no say against Jayce!

Add to that a champion like Sejuani who's all about crowd control and can easily tower dive.

The match hasn't even started yet, but WE's mid and top lanes are already halfway to victory.

Looking at the lineups of both sides, Chen Dongqing couldn't help but say, "Is WE messing with Jβ? They're not even trying to defend against Jayce's swing play!"

Banbazi was all smiles; he hadn't expected Redmi's draft picks to be so stupid.

It was simply a mistake.

Or rather, QG never picked Jayce in the mid lane, which led WE to a misunderstanding.

At this point, Colonel Guan also spoke up, saying, "In that case, WE is in a bit of danger this game. Their top and mid lanes are at a huge disadvantage, and their bot lane might not be able to achieve the desired effect against Rakan's strong engage!"

Karma, needless to say, has no mobility. If Rakan uses his W, she'll likely be knocked up. Caitlyn isn't much better off. Although she has a small dash, it's slow and short-range, so it might not be very effective against Rakan's W.

Wang Duoduo laughed and said, "Then the pressure will fall on your brother-in-law."

The camera then focused on the center of the stage, where the two coaches were shaking hands.

Banbazi's smiling face contrasted sharply with Redmi's worried expression, which only proves that the show was very entertaining.

The two, both from the same star system, were old acquaintances. As they were leaving the stage, Redmi asked helplessly, "When did you start practicing your mid-lane Jayce?"

"I haven't practiced much. I only played two scrims during MSI," Banbazi said with a smile. "There's nothing I can do. My players are just too talented. I don't usually worry about their champion pools."

Redmi gritted its teeth in envy.

How did this guy manage to snag such a great group of players?

The camera then circled the audience again, where QG fans could clearly see the difference in lineups between the two teams, and they began to clink their support sticks together, cheering and screaming loudly.

Immediately afterwards, the camera switched back to the main stage, and Summoner's Rift appeared on the screen.

At this time, the QG voice channel was also in an uproar and quite noisy.

"Come on, let's go straight in!" The five QG players started from the bottom left corner of the map and headed straight for the opponent's top red zone!

As for their own red buff area, they ignored it and switched directly to the jungle.

With such a significant advantage in the upper half of the bracket, their primary objective in this match was to dominate the upper half.

As for the bot lane, it's just a shame for Uzi.

If they had known that WE's last two draft picks would be so stupid, they wouldn't have picked Kalista and Garen for the bot lane. They would have just stuck with Ashe and Braum instead.

QG has Cassiopeia, Sejuani, Jayce, Kalista, and Rakan, all of whom are top-tier level 1 team fight champions. WE had no choice but to give up their red buff area.

After Condi withdrew from the jungle, Uzi and Shi Senmin quickly returned to the city and headed to the bottom lane with the minions.

Chen Dongqing stayed in the jungle, helped Xiangguo attack the red buff a couple of times, and then headed straight to the lane.

When Chen Dongqing reached the triangular grass on the other side, he became more cautious and used the A key to walk, always on guard against someone lurking in the grass.

But the most outrageous thing is that there are actually people squatting there.

The snake woman had just disappeared into the bushes when she saw a gray lady raise her scissor kick at her, and she kicked twice in quick succession, A followed by Q!

Fortunately, Chen Dongqing was prepared and kept attacking the ground, and the Snake Woman immediately used a basic attack on him.

At the same time, Chen Dongqing quickly invested skill points into his E skill, but instead of using it, he maneuvered Cassiopeia towards Camille.

Come on, whoever chickens out is a coward!

The two chased each other and exchanged another basic attack. Chen Dongqing saw that the magic shield on Camille's body disappeared, so he immediately used EA to attack her again!

Then he followed EEA's hit-and-run rhythm and stuck to Camille to fight!

You really hurt me with that kick? Go ahead and kick me! Let's see who loses more blood!

Cassiopeia chased Camille all the way to the tower. Although she used up all her mana, the opponent was also brought to low health, making it a huge win for her.

"That's a bit of a blow for 957!" Colonel Guan couldn't help but shake his head, saying, "He originally planned to ambush from the bushes, land two Qs, and then run, but he didn't expect Tree Bro to react so quickly; he didn't even think about running!"

"The key is that Doran's Shield has been nerfed in this version!" Colonel Guan pointed out. "957 is missing a potion, so his health can't be fully restored. On the other hand, Treant Protector can quickly recover his mana by farming a few waves of creeps with Doran's Ring."

That was exactly what Chen Dongqing was planning.

Although one side is out of mana and the other is out of health, the side with out of mana is clearly in a better position.

From this point on, QG has already achieved half of its goal.

Next, all you need to do is complete the other half – farming lanes and tower diving – and you can easily clear the top lane.

With Condi forced to farm in the bottom half of the jungle at the start of the game, no one could help 957 during this wave!

When Leg Bro saw this, he frowned deeply.

With his current health, it's inevitable that he'll be overpowered.

If he returns to base and then teleports back online, and manages to keep the minion wave outside the tower while at full health, can he survive?

I don't know, but I have to do it.

Although 957 is a blue-collar top laner, he has never been one to passively accept his fate or simply coast along.

957 decisively returned to the city, and then quickly teleported back online.

By paying the price of a teleport, 957 regained his ability to compete in lane.

At this moment, the minion wave reached a low health level, and 957 boldly moved forward, just in time to catch the scent of three melee minions.

The snake woman still doesn't have much mana, so he's fearless.

Chen Dongqing was somewhat surprised by the situation before him.

He didn't expect the other side to pay such a high price to gamble on a lane matchup.

But it also caused stomach upset.

You don't actually think that teleporting online will be useful, do you?

Soon, the second wave of players went online. 957, with full health, went forward. He even dared to deliberately use his health to sell Chen Dongqing's mana. If he could wear down the snake woman until she was out of mana, it would be worth losing another 200 health.

But Chen Dongqing was experienced and didn't fall for it. He used light basic attacks to whittle down Camille's health, and only used his E skill to last-hit minions and regenerate mana.

Anyway, he has the advantage of long range against short range, and the push of the minion wave is inevitable, it's just a matter of degree.

On the other side, 957 also played quite rationally, and after reaching level two, he took the initiative to use W to sweep minions and enemies, maintaining the momentum of the minion wave.

We waited until the third wave of minions.

After Chen Dongqing cleared the minion wave, he did push it forward, but due to 957's series of actions, only two minions remained.

957 can easily clear out a few minions, and when the fourth wave arrives, the minion wave can reset in the middle, which is definitely a comfortable situation.

They had a very clever plan, but they clearly didn't realize how monstrous QG was.

The minion wave reached the tower, and 957, following plan, held the lane. At this point, the fourth wave of minions had reached behind the tower and was about to push out.

But just then, a pig suddenly ran out from behind WE's first tower.

Xiangguo was also unscrupulous, appearing directly behind the enemy tower and cutting off the minion wave that 957 had been longing for!

That would be awkward.

If the minion wave is cut off by Sejuani and they can't get through, then when QG's fourth wave of minions comes to the lane, won't they still have to go into the tower?

The minion wave was held, and QG's minions were gradually approaching.

Seeing this, 957 was so angry he almost ground his teeth to powder. He really didn't dare let the minion wave into the tower, so he had no choice but to go out and hold off the minion wave.

But how could he possibly withstand that?

At this moment, Chen Dongqing also quickly approached and launched basic attacks at Camille.

At this moment, it seemed like a contest between Sejuani and Camille to see who could tankier.

One person can carry an entire wave, while another can carry a few remaining soldiers plus a hero; whoever can't hold on first loses.

That Camille has no chance of winning!

Sejuani is tough and resilient; even if she survives a dozen seconds longer than Camille, she won't lose health from the Stomach Lock.

957 only lasted two seconds before its health dropped by a quarter.

If this continues, won't the snake woman kill me with her attacks?

But at this point, it's unlikely he can escape by hooking the wall; there are people in front and behind him, and he has no way to escape.

With no other option, he had to turn around and retreat back into the tower, letting the minion wave go into the tower.

But as soon as he entered the tower, Sejuani entered the tower as well.

"Here it comes, we're going for it again! This is insane!" Colonel Guan shouted. "So, what do we do about this?! Is it even feasible?"

It would be a miracle if it were even possible.

Even though 957 was fully focused, searching for that sliver of opportunity, he couldn't withstand the ground binding thrown by the snake woman.

Sejuani was supposed to go first, but she lost too much health due to disconnection, so Chen Dongqing had to tank the damage.

The ground-binding spell blocked Camille's E and Flash, followed by Sejuani's close-range Q.

Camille was knocked up with Q, followed by two W attacks and a basic attack, then another E to control her, effectively sealing her fate.

Chen Dongqing doesn't have much mana now, but his Q skill plus a few Venom Fangs is enough. Two E skills followed by a basic attack will instantly empty Camille's health bar!

"First blood!"

A blood is born!

(End of this chapter)