Chapter 113: Beat them to death!

On the Twitch platform, the live room of a certain big streamer from North America.

The two streamers were on a call.

"You said they went on a trip before the match?"

"Too naive!"

"You've all been fooled by G2!"

"He's really good at pretending, you know!"

"They're just pretending to go on a trip; actually they're holding a meeting on a cruise ship to discuss tactics!"

"But really, someone saw them playing mahjong."

"Then did anyone hear what they were saying? On the surface it looks like they're playing mahjong, but actually they're reviewing the match!"

"Huh?"

"For example, like this."

"Perkz played a card: 'East wind, Firrrrrre, your support was slow last wave, pay attention next time.'"

"Firrrrrre also played a card: 'Get rich, no, Perkz you went in too early, you should pay attention to my signal.'"

"Then it was Zven's turn: 'White board, Firrrrrre, this lane matchup puts a lot of pressure on my bottom lane; I might not be able to hold up in another game.'"

"Firrrrrre slapped the cards down: 'Chicken dinner! Zven, it's not that I don't want to go, but the enemy keeps invading my jungle; how can I go?'"

"You see, that's how it is: they communicate feelings and build chemistry while playing mahjong, while also reviewing mistakes from practice matches."

"The audience in the live room burst out laughing."

"But some people actually believed it."

……

"At the venue, G2 team's voice channel."

"The opponents really have no understanding; it feels like they're just copying LCK's bans and picks."

"If they were just copying, that would be fine, but they insist on adding their own understanding, making it look like a weird mess."

"They banned the troll, hahaha, it's obvious at a glance they want to pick Shen; their only understanding is the money-stealing flow plus global support."

"They probably also want to pick Karma."

"Holy cow, shield-shield flow, that's insanely strong~"

"Give it?"

"Sure, it's that strong, let them take it, hahaha."

"If they take Shen, they'll lack damage; they need to pair him with a damage-dealing support or jungle core—Varus or Jinx plus Janna would work, then add a spider, and mid-game team fights would be incredibly strong."

"No, they don't have that understanding; they'll just copy us and add a Big Mouth or something, ending up with another weird composition."

"Huh? No way."

"It will happen, trust me."

"Then he'd have no damage in the early and mid game."

"Pairing with Lulu would still work."

"So should we ban Lulu at the end?"

"I think that's fine."

"Everyone chatted away, and we saw straight through UOL's shorts."

"But the commentator was saying 'What?'"

"Why ban Lulu?"

"What kind of godlike thinking is this from G2!"

"In this game, G2 on the red side gave their third ban to Lulu, after which both sides began picking champions."

"As expected, UOL first picked Shen."

"After Shen's rework in patch 6.2, he never gained much popularity and was an absolute niche pick in competitive play; recently he hasn't received any buffs, and was actually nerfed in patch 6.15, yet mysteriously he became hot in the global playoffs' postseason, first because someone developed a playstyle similar to the captain's 'Scout Hand' money-stealing flow, and second because of his W ability 【Ultimate: Soul Blessing】—this skill creates a two-second shield barrier; allied heroes standing inside (including Shen himself) gain 100% dodge, equivalent to everyone having Jax's 【Counter Strike Storm】, which is incredibly strong."

"In this meta where AD carries basically live off basic attacks (even Ezreal starts building Blade of the Ruined King), especially the hot pick Jinx, who only has four bullets, Shen's one ability shuts these champions down completely."

"Also, Shen plus Ice Woman's engage is indeed very strong:"

"Ice Woman engages → Shen ults to protect Ice Woman → lands taunt and control; this combo engage is indeed unstoppable against certain compositions."

"But Shen also has a fatal flaw—he himself has almost no damage output."

"Although Shen in lane looks like he can fight, and his average damage in postseason stats across regions looks okay—higher than many utility junglers—actually that damage is just farmed in lane, and he can't kill anyone; it's basically ineffective output, and once teamfights start he becomes purely a protection and control utility. He's tanky as hell, but his damage is still worse than a Bu Long."

"G2 has its own version understanding, and based on that they've built their own version system; in their system, a pure utility top laner like Shen has no place, and they also don't think this champion is that impressive."

"They have their own system for countering basic-attack compositions, but it's not Shen."

"However, you don't need a bull knife to kill a chicken; playing against UOL truly doesn't require pulling out a secret weapon."

"Under Liang Yan's influence, Ka Lao Si's game understanding has changed dramatically; after UOL locked in Shen, their first pick was to take AP's Malzahar, then after thinking a bit they also took Jinx."

"The commentator then exclaimed:"

"Ah?!"

"Huh?!"

"No, what is G2 doing?! Taking Jinx right in front of Shen?! This…"

"This is looking down on people!"

"The six people on the opposing UOL side also stared in unison, then became indignant:"

"Fuck! What does G2 mean by this?"

"Are we idiots?!"

"They have no damage; we'll pick more tanks and see how they play!"

Get a Karma, tank upon tank!

Nice! Karma is absolutely awesome! Shield upon shield, so tanky the enemy wants to cry!

Should Karma go mid or bottom?

Mid lane, mid lane, we want Bu Long or Ta Mu as support, tank them to death!

Just this, just this!

UOL's coach Sheepy didn't speak at first, but felt everyone's made sense, so he let the second floor lock down Karma, then after thinking, suddenly realized his own lineup also lacked a bit of damage, after weighing it in his mind, he let the third floor lock a currently popular big damage core, Big Mouth.

At the same time, Karma can also be flexible, making it hard for the enemy support to pick.

Hey, awesome!

When it was G2's turn to pick two, they locked in Spider and Bard.

UOL's everyone burst out laughing.

The commentators also looked like they'd seen an old man's phone on the subway.

Even the official match livestream's bullet comments felt that G2's lineup was unwatchable.

【Done, this lineup's fighting a unicorn with its head!】

【What is Ka Lao Si thinking, the sole damage output point is completely shut down by Sejuani, no damage, no tankiness, what the hell are we playing?!】

【Ka Lao Si's brain is waterlogged!】

【Can't blame Ka Lao Si entirely, look at the camera, they've been communicating, it's definitely everyone's pick together.】

【That means everyone on G2 has waterlogged brains!】

【Why pick like this, are you intentionally throwing the game?】

UOL's last two picks were decided quickly, they took Rek'Sai and Bu Long, locking in the lineup.

By G2's final pick, they instantly locked in the crocodile.