Chapter 183: Give SKT a Boost

The rooms arranged by Riot for each team were all four-person large rooms, but since G2 had only Tang Anna as a female, she lucked out and got a single room to herself.

Tang Anna sat cross-legged on her bed, while the two of them sat on chairs facing the bed at the table.

"What's going on?"

Tang Anna still didn't know what had happened.

Ka Lao Si briefly explained the situation, and upon hearing it, Tang Anna guessed something and looked at Liang Yan, asking:

"Are you trying to confirm something?"

"Smart."

Liang Yan smiled and nodded,

"After watching today's match between SKT and Electric Wolf, what do you think?"

"It looks like SKT deliberately gave the Dragon King to FW."

"Hmm!"

Tang Anna straightforwardly voiced her viewing impressions, while Ka Lao Si vigorously nodded in agreement.

Liang Yan then followed up on that line of thought, asking:

"Why would they do that on purpose? The previous game against CLG already proved it—Dragon King is that strong; once given to the opponent, no matter who, it's highly likely to lose."

"I think there are two possibilities..."

Tang Anna pondered.

Ka Lao Si nodded vigorously again: "Hmm!"

Tang Anna immediately gave Ka Lao Si an annoyed glance: "What are you humming about?"

"Two possibilities." Ka Lao Si said innocently, "Isn't that right?"

Tang Anna sneered: "Then go ahead and spell it out."

"Is it that hard to guess? Isn't it just two possibilities?"

Ka Lao Si looked doubtfully at Tang Anna, then at Liang Yan,

"Either Faker can't play Dragon King;"

"Or SKT pretends Faker can't play Dragon King, deliberately shows weakness by releasing it to deceive people, while also wanting to verify before entering the quarterfinals whether they can actually handle Dragon King."

Tang Anna was startled.

This old guy actually gets it?!

It seems his daily pretense of being busy in his coach's seat isn't entirely an act.

Liang Yan, however, showed no surprise at all.

He had watched Ka Lao Si grow up before his very eyes, and looking at him, he smiled and said:

"What was the first thing you said?"

"Either Faker can't play Dragon King?"

"Hmm."

Liang Yan glanced at Tang Anna,

"Do you think it's possible? Faker can't play Dragon King."

"Yes."

"No."

The two gave opposite answers.

"Are you joking?"

Ka Lao Si stared at Tang Anna in shock,

"How could a two-time world champion mid laner possibly not play the current strongest mid‑lane champion?"

Tang Anna retorted:

"If you think it's impossible, then why did you say it's possible?"

"I just..."

Ka Lao Si couldn't answer.

"No need to argue."

Liang Yan waved his hand and said,

"Actually, it is possible."

As someone who's been there, Liang Yan actually knows the truth.

In the timeline Liang Yan experienced, throughout the entire S6 World Championship schedule, SKT never once picked the then‑popular mid‑lane champion Dragon King.

Not even once.

This also became one of the main reasons Faker was criticized at the time, and some even argued that ROX managed to push SKT to a full five‑game series in the "strongest Bo5 ever"—the S6 semifinals—mainly because Faker couldn't play Dragon King, forcing SKT to ban it in all five games, effectively giving SKT one fewer ban than ROX.

But is it really because Faker doesn't practice Dragon King, and even after seeing its terrifying meta strength, he stubbornly refuses to learn it?

As for the true answer to this question, Liang Yan doesn't know it; in fact, aside from the people involved, nobody knows the answer.

However, later generations have offered some analysis and speculation on this, which Liang Yan has read.

One view widely accepted is that SKT as a whole misunderstood the meta at the time; when Dragon King started gaining traction in ranked play, SKT didn't give it enough attention, and since Dragon King had a persistent bug that could get it banned by Riot, SKT's coaching staff—or Faker himself—never planned to practice it from the start. Although things turned out unexpectedly, Dragon King not only became the S6 mid‑lane meta T0, but Riot also fixed the bug at unprecedented speed, bringing Dragon King back; however, by then it was too late, and SKT had no time to develop a Dragon King‑focused system.

But Liang Yan thinks it doesn't matter.

Whether it's Faker being stubborn and not practicing Dragon King, or the fact that the 'push‑bar' hardly pairs with Dragon King, or the fault of SKT's entire coaching staff, none of it matters.

What matters is,

how SKT dealt with the Dragon King system?

— In the timeline before Liang Yan's rebirth, SKT ultimately won the S6 World Championship, and Liang Yan clearly recalls that SKT banned Dragon King in all five games of the semifinals against ROX (because that Bo5 attracted huge attention), yet in the finals against SSG they didn't ban Dragon King even once. This shows that SKT found a way to handle the Dragon King system.

What exactly is that method?

What Liang Yan wants to know is the answer to this question.

This is very important.

Of course, the group stage still hasn't finished, and today we just got wrecked on FW, which shows SKT probably still hasn't found a way to counter the Dragon King system.

Given that, Liang Yan decided to give SKT a boost and help them speed up their progress.

As for why he would do that?

It's hard to explain in just a few words, but Liang Yan naturally has good reason to do so.

Moreover, with his eloquence, it wouldn't be hard to convince Ka Lao Si and Tang Anna.

In fact, Ka Lao Si never even asked Liang Yan why he wanted to help SKT; when Liang Yan announced his plan, Ka Lao Si agreed without another word.

Tang Anna was a bit doubtful, but she didn't ask. She seems to still be sulking at Liang Yan, though Liang Yan still doesn't know why.

Since Liang Yan himself can't even recall what he did to upset her, it's naturally not a big deal—this little girl holds a grudge too tightly; getting angry over a small thing for so long is truly speechless.

After all, they need to communicate often; dragging this out isn't a solution, so Liang Yan doesn't plan to keep wasting time on Tang Anna.

After discussing serious matters, Liang Yan deliberately got up a bit later than Ka Lao Si, slowed his steps unnoticeably, and after Ka Lao Si left the room, he pretended not to care much as he turned to ask Tang Anna, while gently closing the door:

"By the way, Miss Tang, I have something I wanted to ask you."

When Liang Yan discusses official business, he usually calls Tang Anna 'assistant' or 'Tang assistant', rarely calling her 'Miss Tang'.

So when Tang Anna heard that form of address, she knew Liang Yan probably had a private matter to say, and her whole body tensed up instantly.

But on her face she pretended not to care, not looking at Liang Yan, she crossed her arms and asked:

"What's the matter?"

"If I recently inadvertently did something that upset Miss Tang, or offended Miss Tang, could you forgive me?"

Liang Yan also didn't beat around the bush, smiling at Tang Anna he said.

Upon hearing that, Tang Anna stared at Liang Yan, dazed for a moment.

"You little brat, you don't even know what you did to offend someone, yet you want me to forgive you?"

"Too much!!!"

"Oh, alright."