novelODS 037 Haha
037 Haha
The five-minute break passed quickly, and both players returned to the stage.
Li Zhixing sat in his chair and, before the match started, explained his strategy for the next game.
"It's our turn to play on the red side this time. Hyungseok, put in a little effort. I'm planning to try and fight them in the top half of the map."
"Huh?" Jang Hyung-seok said helplessly, "This is going to be tough, isn't it?"
Although he gave the opponent a lot of trouble in the last game, it was his comfort zone, and that's what he's good at.
But if he were to pick a champion like Fiora and start hacking away like Smeb, he would find it uninteresting.
"That's precisely why we have to fight," Li Zhixing chuckled. "Don't worry, the enemy top laner is no match for you."
In the previous game, Li Zhixing was also observing the opposing team.
Smeb, as a top laner, can only be described as having a very distinct personal style, capable of playing a carry-style top laner.
But to say he's that strong is really an understatement.
Looper's carry potential is indeed his weakness, but if even his weakness can outweigh the strengths of other top laners, then it proves just how far RISE has evolved.
Looper, unfazed, said, "Then, let's go!"
Soon, the draft phase for the second game began.
After the crushing defeat in the previous match, LG's ban picks have changed slightly.
They banned Spider and Alchemist, and also banned Lee Sin.
Li Zhixing was somewhat surprised to see these three ban slots.
Looper's Alchemist in the last game didn't really have any standout performance, and even gave away the team's only kill. The fact that he was still banned shows how disgusting he was to the opposing team.
What surprised him even more was that the opposing team banned two junglers, showing him great respect.
Li Zhixing remained calm and banned Rumble, Jax, and Kennen to pave the way for the top lane.
After a few hero exchanges, the lineups for both sides were finalized.
Blue side LG-IM: Top lane Riven, Jungle Volibear, Mid lane Karthus, Bot lane Varus and Annie.
Red team RISE: Top lane Renekton, Jungle Jarvan IV, Mid lane Zed, Bot lane Kog'Maw and Lulu.
After losing the first game, LG made a significant change to their lineup, picking Karthus, a pure AP carry, for the mid lane, and having their support pick Annie, a popular roaming support in the current meta.
Clearly, the loss in the previous game made LG completely disappointed with the bottom lane, so they chose to place all their bets on the top lane.
However, they did not expect that RISE would also turn its attention to the upper half of the board, concentrating its profits there as well.
The eyes of the LG members gleamed when they saw this.
Wouldn't that present an opportunity?
Even SKT doesn't dare to face us head-on in the top half of the map, how dare you be so arrogant!
Come on, let's catch up!
It has to be said that Smeb is truly exceptional, which is why he has become the absolute core of the OGN team.
Despite facing a significant disadvantage in the matchup between Riven and Renekton, he didn't suffer much of a loss and managed to go toe-to-toe with Looper!
Of course, in Li Zhixing's opinion, there was really nothing to say about this Riven pick.
In this era, even the fastest QA (Quick Attack) has not yet been developed; even professional players' QA speed is like a tortoise crawling.
It's time to release a tutorial video on lightning-fast QA...
Li Zhixing's mind was filled with random thoughts as he farmed his way to the top lane.
Since Looper alone cannot create a lane advantage, he is needed to break the deadlock.
The player with the biggest skill gap between the two sides is definitely the jungler.
Li Zhixing's prince took advantage of Looper pushing the minion wave and ambushed the lane bush from behind.
He had barely crouched down in the grass when the Lilac bear charged out of the river.
The audience began to stir, as if they could already see the scene of a bloodbath.
Looper was clear-headed and a master of acting. He feigned a retreat, but secretly took two steps towards the bushes...
The opposing team clearly didn't see through Looper's intentions. Volibear landed on all fours, flashed up, and carried Renekton behind him.
Riven also showed her EQ perfectly, her killing intent was palpable!
But at this moment, Looper smiled instead.
The next instant, the military flag fell from the sky, and the halberd emerged from the bushes beside them, crashing into Jarvan IV's body!
The prince pierced through the air, sending LG's Ueno flying!
Taking advantage of the armor penetration effect of Prince's Q "Dragon Strike", Looper targeted Riven, used his empowered Q to bite her, followed by an A and an E to build up 50 rage again, and finished her off with a final empowered Q!
"First blood!"
Riven died instantly!
At that moment, the opposing bear also used its W ability to bite!
Riven and Volibear also have extremely high burst damage; under normal circumstances, a single combo can easily kill a Renekton.
However, Riven's death triggered the Renekton's "Dangerous Game" rune, which healed him, and Volibear's bite was so powerful that he couldn't finish her off!
Looper used his E ability to escape, giving the bear no chance to finish him off.
Lilac's heart skipped a beat, but at this moment he had neither the ability to dodge the bear nor the ability to subdue the crocodile, so he could only turn away with hatred.
A counter-gank easily turned the tide of the game.
But at this moment, Looper just felt it was pointless: "Hey bro, if you play like this, there's no way I can show off my skills!"
They said they would test his ability by playing in the top half of the map, but he was crushed by the enemy top laner in the first wave. What's the point of having him then?
Upon hearing this, Li Zhixing chuckled and said, "You've done a great job this time. This seduction is part of your abilities."
Looper was about to grin when he heard the praise, but then Li Zhixing spoke up again.
"But your Renekton laning phase is so bad, you can't even hold your own against Riven. Do you really think you still have a chance to shine? Go back and practice your Renekton skills. If I see you laning like this again, you might as well go home and raise pigs!"
Looper's face immediately fell again.
Sure enough, getting the captain's praise was harder than climbing to heaven.
But these words did indeed ignite his competitive spirit, and he decided to prove himself in the subsequent competitions.
In the blink of an eye, seven minutes had passed.
The crocodile let out a "Hungry!" and activated its ultimate ability, challenging Riven to a decisive battle.
Smeb, however, didn't back down and responded with his own powerful attack.
It has to be said that Riven is indeed at her strongest at level six, and with Ignite, her damage output is immeasurable.
Fortunately, Looper had a clear strategy and used a predictive Flash to dodge Riven's "Wind Slash," successfully stalling for the cooldown of her second Q. He then countered with a "Tyrant Slash" to finish her off!
"RISE Looper has killed LG-IM Smeb!"
The news of the kill echoed throughout the arena. Li Zhixing's Prince appeared on the top lane right on time, stopping the Volibear who came to collect the kill and escorting Looper back to the tower.
But at that moment, a purple line appeared above the heads of all five members of R1SE.
This is the enemy mid laner Karthus's ultimate.
"Requiem": After chanting for three seconds, it deals damage to all enemy heroes.
In the current version where the roaming rhythm is not yet fully developed, this is an excellent support skill.
Looper was at a loss for what to do when he saw the purple line, so he could only take his hands off the keyboard.
But after waiting for a long time, no damage was seen.
Instead, a kill notification popped up.
"RISE Faker has killed LG-IM Kuro!"
"Oh! Sang-hyeok!" Looper's face lit up with surprise. "Perfect timing!"
Li Zhixing smiled and nodded, exclaiming, "Not bad, very decisive."
He switched his screen to the mid lane and saw the solo kill.
Almost the instant the purple line appeared above his head, Lee Sang-hyeok's Zed used Flash, W, and his ultimate to dash three times, quickly getting close to Karthus's face.
The Death Song "Requiem" lasts for three seconds, which is neither too long nor too short.
For some people, they might not even realize that this is a chance to kill someone until the ultimate move lands.
But for some people, three seconds is enough to kill Karthus twice.
Lee Sang-hyeok listened to his teammates' praise, but only gave a faint chuckle.
"hehe."