League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 467 Faker, nothing special.

Seeing SKT lock in Aatrox, countless LCK viewers finally couldn't hold back and started ranting in the LCK live stream.

Is this for real?

[Damn it, the first two Sword Demons have been exploited and become weak points, do you still dare to pick them?]

Ugh, I don't even dare to watch anymore.

It's okay, trust SKT. They're the only team to win with Aatrox!

But that win was against EDG, so it's not a real victory.

On the other hand, the atmosphere at the LPL commentary booth was completely different. Wawa, Miller, and Guan Zeyuan next to them couldn't help but laugh.

"You really dare to pick Aatrox?" Miller couldn't help but laugh. "To be honest, judging from the results of the first two matches, Aatrox really isn't a good choice, is he?"

To be honest, it's actually quite abstract.

No one knows what happened, but in just two days, the hero Aatrox has undergone a complete transformation. From dominating the group stage with three consecutive MVPs at the beginning to becoming the weak point in two consecutive games now, everything is very abrupt.

This is actually quite counterintuitive.

After all, as everyone's understanding of Aatrox deepens, this version of the hero should become stronger and stronger.

Does this mean that it's simply a matter of LCK players not being good at Aatrox, but LPL players are?

This makes even less sense.

Ultimately, there is only one reason.

That means LPL has completely figured out Aatrox, and is far ahead of LCK. They not only know how to play Aatrox, but also have a clearer understanding of how to counter him.

The other day, LPL used Aatrox to dominate, which was actually a trap they set for LCK.

When LCK belatedly realized and spent two days mastering Aatrox, they will unleash their second move, giving LCK a big surprise!

"But LCK teams really can't do anything about it, right?" Wawa couldn't help but laugh. "After all, you can't let LPL teams have Aatrox, but banning him isn't a good idea either. So you can only pick him, trust yourself, and gamble that the opponent can't handle him. It's just that you lost the gamble in the first two games."

The doll actually hit the nail on the head.

LCK teams don't really have much of a solution.

They've already paid a heavy price for this Aatrox, so they certainly can't let him go to an LPL team again.

Their choice was to internalize the problem and then trust themselves, but they failed.

However, the loss in the first two games did not seem to affect SKT.

In this match, SKT still chose to trust themselves and still picked Aatrox as their first pick.

"Then here's the question," Colonel Guan added finally, "Does QG have any strategies to counter Sword Demon?"

The three commentators exchanged glances; the answer was obvious.

The other three LPL teams might not be able to handle it, but QG definitely won't.

Especially Chen Dongqing.

He probably has 10086 ways to defeat the Sword Demon.

Just as the three commentators were discussing, QG's first and second picks quickly made their choices.

Their choice was very clear—Kai'Sa and Alistar, directly locking in their best AD carry and support.

On the other hand, SKT's strategy is also clear. They don't seem to have any intention of continuing to switch to Aatrox. Instead, they directly lock in Galio and Lucian, which should be their two carries.

There's not much to say about the casting of Galio.

Since losing the game in S6, Faker has gradually shifted to an extremely team-oriented playstyle where he carries four opponents.

It has to be said that this style of play is indeed suitable for the current SKT, after all, Faker's four teammates are really hard to evaluate.

"QG's third pick is Jarvan IV in the jungle, cutting off the enemy Galio-Jarvan IV engage combo, and then they move on to the second round of drafting!"

"Then in the second round of bans, SKT mainly targeted the top lane, banning Jayce and Darius. It's worth mentioning that Darius, besides being a champion that Maokai occasionally picks, is also a counter to Aatrox. So, barring any surprises, SKT's Aatrox will likely be a top laner this game!"

"Then QG banned Braum and Lee Sin! Okay, now for the final pick phase! If nothing unexpected happens, QG should pick the mid laner first, saving the top laner for last!"

At this moment, the QG team members were also discussing the choice of mid laner.

"Xiaohu, you're facing the greatest mid laner in history," Shi Senming said with a grin. "You'd better play carefully this game, or you'll get completely destroyed."

Upon hearing this, Xiaohu suddenly felt immense pressure. "So, what do you guys think I should choose? How about Ryze?"

"Isn't that a bad idea?" Xiangguo frowned. "How can my prince coordinate with Ryze? You should get someone more aggressive, then the two of us can easily take down the enemy."

"That"

"What are you afraid of!" Chen Dongqing said from the side. "Faker isn't good right now, so just play boldly!"

"Then," Xiaohu hesitated for a second, and said, "Give me Zoe?"

"No problem." Banbazi patted Xiaohu on the shoulder. "Faker is in your hands this game."

Xiao Hu felt like he'd heard those words somewhere before, and he couldn't help but shrink back, feeling a chill of fear.

Faker, how can you solve this so easily?

After Zoe is locked in, the choice is back in SKT's hands.

They need to lock in their lineup in this wave.

It seems that the SKT members haven't finalized their decision yet. They discussed it for a long time before finally deciding to lock in Sejuani for the jungle position and Morgana for the support position. The lineup was thus finalized.

"I have to say, SKT's lineup this game is incredibly solid!" Miller couldn't help but comment. "Three melee champions, plus Morgana protecting them from behind, their charge will be absolutely devastating!"

"That's right, this match will be a big test of Xiaogou's damage output." Colonel Guan commented with his arms crossed: "Once team fights start, he will definitely be the target of focused fire."

"Unless Tree also takes on a carry role to help the dog share the firepower, since with Jarvan IV and Alistar in the team, they don't lack frontliners and initiators."

Let's have the center position!

This is also what Chen Dongqing was thinking!

What kind of carry is not afraid of being charged by the front line and can also easily defeat the Sword Demon?

The answer is clear.

"Come on, let's get Vayne!" Chen Dongqing licked his lips and said, "I'm going to be invincible this game."

When Vayne popped into Chen Dongqing's mind, images of him laning against Aatrox and various team fights in the mid-to-late game also came to mind.

In every single one of those scenes, Chen Dongqing was carrying the team!

Night Hunter, locked on!

"VN!?" Colonel Guan's voice boomed through the sky: "Is this top lane Vayne? She actually looks pretty good!"

The moment Vayne was locked in, the cheers from the crowd erupted!

I don't know when it started, but Chen Dongqing's Vayne can now elicit cheers from the audience.

It's not that his Vayne play is particularly iconic.

The main reason is that Vayne is a legendary champion, and QG also has Uzi, a professional player who comes to mind when Vayne is mentioned.

Picking Vayne in front of Uzi really gives you a weird, satisfying feeling, like you're being NTR'd!

The heroes for both sides have now been determined!

Blue side SKT: Top lane Aatrox, Jungle Sejuani, Mid lane Galio, Bot lane Lucian and Morgana.

Red team QG: Top lane Vayne, Jungle Jarvan IV, Mid lane Zoe, Bot lane Kai'Sa and Alistar.

After the draft phase, Banbazi closed his notebook with satisfaction and said, "The draft was excellent. Now it's up to you guys!"

When these words reached the ears of the other teams backstage, everyone felt a little strange.

Can the draft picks in this game be considered good?

Looking at the lineups alone, SKT is actually the clear winner.

Because their four heroes, besides the AD carry, almost all have crowd control abilities and strong utility, making them a template lineup for professional matches.

On the other hand, QG seemed somewhat out of place.

While Kai'Sa and Alistar are strong in mid-game team fights, they are very weak in the laning phase. Vayne in the top lane is also extremely rare in professional matches, highlighting her abstract nature.

The only redeeming quality is that the lineup perfectly matches the players' styles.

Chen Dongqing's Vayne always pressures the opponent so much that they can't even last hit. Xiaohu's Zoe also has a big advantage against Galio. QG can stabilize the situation in the early game by relying on the lane advantage in the top and mid lanes.

Furthermore, with Uzi anchoring the bottom lane, even if they fall behind in lane, they won't be at a significant disadvantage, and steady development won't be a problem.

If we can drag the game out until the later stages, victory is ours for the taking!

Perhaps this is why Banbazi said the draft was good, because the players are the key.

In the voice chat, Chen Dongqing, the key player in this round, confidently said, "Leave it to me!"

The match began quickly.

Chen Dongqing stood by the spring and pressed TAB to take a look at the other person's talent.

As you can see, Huni, the top laner, really has some ingenious ideas. In this game, he actually took Electrocute to counter a ranged champion like Vayne.

They have brilliant ideas, but that's not enough.

Even if Aatrox is a ranged attacker, he should still bring Comet, since the long-range attack and short-range control of Q1E can give Comet a very high hit rate.

It can only be said that Aatrox is only a newcomer, having only been out for two days, and LCK's research on him is still far from sufficient.

Even so, they should not be underestimated.

After thinking about it, Chen Dongqing decided to buy the extract.

This is called respecting your opponent in spirit but despising them in action.

Watching the classic tree-cutting technique, countless viewers exclaimed how satisfying it was.

I love this Tree Blade; building a Doran's Blade just doesn't feel right!

Of course, Chen Dongqing wasn't just blindly showing off. After all, Vayne's Q [Dodge Roll] is effective against Aatrox's Q [Darkin Blade]. Given Chen Dongqing's reaction and skill, it's highly unlikely that he'll run into any major problems.

Once the minion wave was online, the director immediately focused the camera on the top lane.

We saw Vayne show no mercy and directly drive Aatrox out of the experience zone.

The level 1 advantage of long-range units over short-range units is that simple and brutal. If the opponent gets the experience from melee units, then it's actually because the long-range unit player didn't play well.

Huni's first reaction was to be unconvinced—of course, he has always been unconvinced by anyone, that's just his style.

He wielded the Sword Demon, stepped back into the experience zone, and seized the moment when Vayne's auto-attack came, unleashing a Q!

Huni's idea was simple: he wanted to lure VNA into a trap, so that VNA would attract the minions' aggro and quickly push the minion wave under the tower.

If you can use your Q skill to counter-attack Vayne, that would be a killer move, and you'd make a huge profit.

Unfortunately, none of these are possible.

Backstage, Ah Guang, who has extensive experience handling pressure, saw Huni's actions and immediately commented sharply, "Huni is too young. How can you fight Brother Tree like that?"

Huni is indeed young.

Strictly speaking, since he joined SKT in S7, he had never faced Chen Dongqing in lane, so he had no idea how terrifying this man's details were.

Chen Dongqing is skilled at using long-range attacks against short-range attacks, and he has a top-notch technique for controlling the aggro of minions!

Time your attack perfectly to land on the enemy the instant the minion's basic attack is launched.

This way, the minions will be unable to attack Vayne in time due to the interval between their basic attacks, and then the aggro will be transferred back to the enemy minions.

Chen Dongqing first used this technique in the 2017 MSI semifinals, where he taught G2's top laner Expect a lesson!

(See Chapter 263 for details)

Last year at MSI, Huni, who did not qualify for the MSI, was already on vacation. During his vacation, he did not pay attention to anything related to LOL, which meant that he was unaware of Chen Dongqing's amazing Kaspersky attack technique.

Now, Huni has also taken the initiative to become a student, using his own blood as tuition.

Almost exactly as before, the ranged minions immediately transferred aggro to Vayne because of her basic attack, but the basic attack was delayed.

A few moments later, the ranged minions' attack interval finally ended, and just as they were about to unleash their basic attacks, the aggro was transferred back to the enemy minions.

This wave seems to have happened without any incident.

As for Aatrox's subsequent Q skill, there's not much to say. Chen Dongqing rolled sideways and just missed Aatrox's Q.

Chen Dongqing retreated a step, maintaining the maximum distance and the perfect timing, and launched another basic attack!

The ranged minion turned its head again, raised its hand again, and then turned its head back.

Huni frowned and slashed out with his second Q, but Chen Dongqing stood just outside the sword's edge, not moving an inch, and once again timed his attack with a basic attack!

Three basic attacks successfully triggered Vayne's Press the Attack, and Aatrox's health had dropped by nearly a third!

But what about ranged minions? They still just turn their heads, raise their hands, and turn their heads again.

Vayne is still at full health.

The minion wave is still stuck in the middle.

Huni was almost dizzy.

With no other option, having lost too much health and no longer able to use his Q skill, he had to turn around and retreat, giving up the experience of three minions.

But it's only at this point that experience is put into practice.

late!

Chen Dongqing decisively took two steps to catch up, using the passive movement speed bonus to close the distance between them.

Only after both sides had escaped the minions' aggro range did Chen Dongqing finally stop pretending. He chased after the enemy, using A followed by Q twice, and finally stepped into the turret. He even managed to hit the Sword Demon once more while standing under the turret, reducing his health to below half before retreating with satisfaction!

Losing a little health is no big deal; with life regeneration and the A-rank minion's healing from extraction, you'll be back to full health quickly.

The most important thing is to make the Sword Demon lose health.

The lower your health bar is, the easier it will be to dive the tower later!

For a Sword Demon who loses half his health at level one, the game is basically over.

In the following time, Chen Dongqing returned to the minion wave, focusing on last-hitting minions and slowly pushing the wave forward.

Chen Dongqing had performed this process countless times. During this process, he could even be distracted to take a look at the laning situation on other lanes.

In the bottom lane, Uzi's laning phase is indeed not easy, after all, Kai'Sa's weak laning phase is still not to be ignored, and he is currently being pressured in the lane.

But he was only pushed back by the lane; Uzi was not at a disadvantage in terms of either last hits or health.

Chen Dongqing nodded in relief and switched the camera to the middle.

The most noteworthy aspect of today's match is the mid lane.

as predicted.

Faker's Galio had a very comfortable laning phase, while Xiaohu's Zoe struggled to exert any pressure, resulting in a close match between the two.

But as Chen Dongqing's camera turned to the center, the two sides clashed in the middle lane.

Faker found a tricky angle, and while Galio used his Q on the minion, he swatted Xiaohu with the side wind, then moved to dodge Zoe's Starfall.

In this back and forth, Xiao Hu revealed his true, foolish nature.

Chen Dongqing couldn't help but chuckle, then asked with a question mark, "Li Yuanhao, are you under that much pressure?"

Li Yuanhao did not reply at this moment, but a bead of cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

It seems the pressure is really immense.

This is clearly not good news.

To avoid getting caught, Xiaohu didn't bring Teleport this game, but instead brought Purify.

If even with Cleanse, Chen Dongqing's Vayne can't suppress Faker, then when Faker's Galio starts roaming, it won't be good news for Chen Dongqing's Vayne.

When Chen Dongqing saw this scene, he wanted to say something to comfort her.

Faker is a top-tier player in history, that much is undeniable.

In the mage meta of the second half of 2016, Faker benefited from the meta and could dominate mid laners with his individual skills, with almost no one escaping his CS advantage.

At that time, only Doinb managed to find a unique path by roaming, bypassing Faker's lane, and even managed to solo kill Faker once while having a first blood advantage.

That solo kill has been talked about by Doinb ever since, and viewers in his livestream feel restless if they don't hear the story of his solo kill against Faker within five minutes.

But it's not 2016 anymore, it's 2018 now.

This is the lowest point in Faker's career.

In fact, Chen Dongqing has said many times that Xiaohu is now no worse than Faker is now.

Moreover, Faker plays a champion like Galio, so how strong can he be in the laning phase?

From another perspective, BDD beat Faker in the league but couldn't beat Xiaohu, which also proves that Xiaohu is no weaker than Faker now.

Xiao Hu put too much pressure on himself, which even affected him.

But after thinking about it, Chen Dongqing ultimately didn't speak.

There's no way to deal with this; he has to figure it out himself and unload the burden on his own.

Chen Dongqing re-engaged in the game.

Because QG had a huge advantage in the top half of the map, Blank chose to farm the river crab early on in order to secure his own river crab, relying on the lane priority in the bottom lane to take the river crab.

This means that Huni in the top lane is completely isolated and helpless.

QG's level 3 tower dive in the top lane is a done deal, a loss that SKT anticipated.

In this situation, Xiangguo was naturally not going to hold back. Prince quickly reached level three and came to the top lane. He waited for Vayne to use her AE to pin the wall, and then used his EQ combo to follow up with a knock-up control!

Chen Dongqing followed up with an A and then a Q, triggering a powerful attack with a strengthened basic attack, instantly depleting the Sword Demon's remaining health of over 100!

"First blood!"

The first blood has been born! This first blood came too naturally and too easily, so much so that the audience's reaction was relatively lukewarm, with only the most basic applause.

The camera then cuts to Blank's side. Xiao Hei's Sejuani wandered around the bottom lane twice but didn't see any opportunities, so she could only sneak into Xiang Guo's bottom jungle and steal a set of wolves.

While watching the game, Xiaohu habitually shouted twice in the voice chat, "Awesome! Awesome!"

Chen Dongqing thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "Li Yuanhao."

"Um?"

"See? Your teammates are much stronger than his," Chen Dongqing said with a smile. "Don't be afraid. Fight him; you'll have your teammates to back you up."

With this first blood to back him up, Chen Dongqing's words carried much more weight.

Xiao Hu was slightly moved by his uncle's words, and suddenly he understood something.

Yes, my teammates are a two-time champion top laner, a two-time champion jungler, a two-time champion AD carry, and a support who won a championship right from his debut.

What am I afraid of?

What happened to Faker again?

If Faker were truly that good, would he have been fourth in the LCK?

Xiao Hu was still uneasy, but his actions had become much bolder.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Faker looked at Zoe, who had suddenly become fierce, and was puzzled, not knowing what had happened.

But if the other party suddenly becomes fierce, it's not necessarily a bad thing; there may be opportunities to take advantage of it.

"Zenku," Faker said, "Let's gank mid lane later, there'll be a chance."

Jungler Blank quickly nodded and said, "Coming, bro!"

The game has reached four and a half minutes.

Xiaohu continued to push the mid lane minion wave aggressively. After pushing the wave forward, he boldly whittled down Faker's health under the tower while maintaining vision control in the river.

But just then, a gank from the jungler came out of nowhere.

Blank figured out Xiaohu's warding pattern and deliberately circled around to a blind spot to attack from behind!

At the same time, Faker's Galio also delivered a Justice Punch to close the distance, and then began to charge up his W!

Xiaohu reacted quickly, keeping a close eye on the two's movements. He cleansed away the moment Galio's taunt was released, and then flashed to dodge Sejuani's Q skill, successfully escaping to safety.

Xiaohu, who had survived, breathed a sigh of relief, but instead of retreating, he advanced, using a Sleepy Bubble on Sejuani, and then, right in front of Faker, unleashed a QA combo on Sejuani, along with the damage from his W, directly triggering Electrocute and bringing Sejuani to low health!

Although it was impossible to get a kill in this wave, Xiaohu has already made a great contribution!

Not only did it draw out the enemy jungler's position, relieving pressure on the top and bottom lanes, it also severely damaged the enemy jungler, creating room for its own jungler to maneuver!

Seeing the situation in the mid lane, Xiangguo charged into the enemy jungle without saying a word, carrying his battle halberd!

This wave will earn at least two sets of jungle camps!

The jungle and mid lane are closely related. If the jungler can invade, then the mid laner also has someone to back him up. So even if Xiaohu doesn't have Flash, he still dares to boldly go up and push the lane and harass the enemy.

Xiao Hu is becoming more and more confident as he plays; he has now figured everything out.

He even started to reflect on himself, realizing that he shouldn't have played so cowardly a few minutes earlier.

I'm so stupid, really.

Why did Faker pick Galio first? Why did he also initiate the jungle pick first?

Ultimately, there is only one reason.

Even Faker himself knows that he is far from his peak performance, so his playstyle is shifting towards team play.

What do I, Li Yuanhao, have to be afraid of?

With this in mind, Xiaohu first returned to base to replenish his supplies, and then became increasingly aggressive in the lane, almost to the point of taking a dump on Faker's head!

The camera cut to the mid lane, and many people were surprised to see the laning scene there, exclaiming that Xiaohu seemed to be playing exceptionally well today!

This scene clearly caught the attention of SKT as well.

"We absolutely have to gank mid, Sang-hyeok," Blank said. "Should I come?"

Faker stared at the mid-lane situation for a long time before finally speaking, "Come on, I can flash to catch him."

If SKT wants to break the deadlock in this game, Faker's Galio role is crucial, so he must be active.

If we want to make a move, we have to kill Zoe!

Faker considered the possibility of Jarvan IV counter-ganking, but he felt that killing a Zoe without summoner spells meant Jarvan IV wouldn't be a problem.

Backstage at LCK, everyone listened to the voice communication between SKT's mid and jungle players and couldn't help but let out a wail.

Kkoma's eyes widened, and she shouted, "We can't go! We can't go!"

From their vantage point of view, they could clearly see that Xiangguo was squatting next to the middle lane.

Admittedly, the prince's counter-gank was within Faker's expectations.

But what if, in addition to the prince, there is also a bull-headed creature? How would you deal with that?

Shi Senming's move was quite ingenious. Since the bottom lane couldn't gain lane control no matter what and needed to farm, he might as well give up the laning phase and make use of Alistar's roaming ability!

So, he pretended to return to base, but actually circled around the jungle before heading straight for the mid lane!

Faker used his E skill to dash forward, then flashed and charged his W, clearly intending to keep Zoe in place!

Soon, Sejuani appeared in the mid lane, and a coordinated attack from SKT's mid and jungle quickly began!

Xiangguo was terrified that Xiaohu would die, so he moved incredibly fast this time. Almost the instant Xiaohu was hit, he rushed up and executed an EQ combo, successfully sending both of them flying!

On the LCK commentary booth, the "Roaring Emperor" shouted, "How could mlxg's counter-gank be so timely? That EQ combo was too lethal! Can Zoe still kill him?"

"We can kill her, right? Zoe doesn't have Flash!"

"Kill him if you can!"

In that instant, a flash of golden light appeared off-screen, and a cow suddenly appeared on the battlefield, knocking two more people away with a WQ combo!

Three people in the LCK commentary booth suffered cardiac arrest.

"Aaaaaah! What's that minotaur doing here?!"

"That Q knocked up two more enemies, Zoe's about to escape!"

"He's not just trying to run away, Zoe wants to fight back!"

Xiao Hu's [Hypnotic Bubble] was directly applied to Galio next to him. After the bubble was triggered, Xiao Ming's Bull Hoof Clang knocked him unconscious.

This level of control is enough to sentence Galio to death!

Xiao Hu used his passive skill [Fireworks] to successfully take it down!

On the other side, Blank observed the situation and decided to stop running, chasing after Zoe with his pig whip and lashing her fiercely!

Finally, he used his E to freeze Zoe, and then broke the ice with a basic attack, finally taking down Xiaohu!

But this killing spree also left him no chance to escape. Xiangguo didn't hold back either, and with another move, "Dragon Strike," he directly attacked Sejuani from behind, killing her!

One for two!

"Nice!" A thunderous shout erupted in the QG voice channel. Xiaohu, who had been replaced, was the most excited one at the moment, praising his teammates for their timely support.

Shi Senming was also grinning at this moment, and he said, "Of course I have to help you. I'm afraid you won't be able to beat them. If the enemy Galio flies directly to the bottom lane, then we're doomed."

"Don't worry, I'll definitely beat them after this!" Xiao Hu replied confidently.

At this moment, his conviction became more steadfast, and even a bold idea began to form in his mind.

Faker, you're nothing special after all.

Sorry I'm a little late.

(End of this chapter)