Chapter 232: Dreaming Back to S5?

So the problem is, SKT bans champions like this, and then the strong heroes they have to release are getting a bit too many!

Yeah, after all, banning one more marksman means banning one less of another hero, which isn't great news for the blue side, because blue can only pick one in the first pick, while red can double‑pick and take two!

Don't rush, I think we should hold off on judgment for now and see how G2's second ban goes.

Caitlyn, this pick is still fairly normal……

And SKT immediately followed up with their last ban, taking out Jayce!

Huh? I have a question: Has G2 played Jayce in this World Championship?

Um……

Er……

I don't remember; I think… maybe they haven't played it?

I also recall that they probably haven't played it, so why is SKT banning it?

I don't know; maybe they scrimmed against each other, so they likely know a bit about each other's tendencies.

Alright, G2's final ban was fairly standard—they banned Syndra.

That way, all four strong champions end up being dealt with.

Yeah, wow, here it comes again—SKT instantly snags the Blind Monk!

My goodness, the Leg God……

To be honest, being targeted like this is a bit rough; I hope his champion pool can hold up, mainly hoping G2 has some backup tactics so they don't get shut down by a two‑ban‑one‑pick, which would make a 3‑0 sweep boring.

I also hope G2 can give everyone some surprises, and personally I actually lean toward supporting G2.

Right, after all, there are two Chinese players.

But that line about being the fourth seed isn't dare to be mentioned anymore—online it's blowing up right now.

G2 player bench.

Ka Lao Si is communicating with the players.

In this pick, G2's double pick has one must‑have: Aphelios, but how to take the other involves many nuances—if they take Karma, Janna is very likely to be snatched by SKT.

Although Karma is the version's best support, its synergy with Aphelios is actually worse than Janna's, and Karma still pairs better with Ezreal and Wheel Mother, so if Janna gets taken, Aphelios loses its ideal partner.

If they take Janna, another problem arises.

SKT might pull out Ashe.

Then G2 would be in a tough spot.

Because the double‑ADC combo was developed specifically to counter Janna, once Aphelios‑Janna faces double ADC it puts the bottom lane at a disadvantage—not a total collapse, but a medium disadvantage.

Liang Yan, however, lets Ka Lao Si feel confident taking it.

Why?

Ka Lao Si is utterly puzzled.

Because Wolf can't play Ashe. In another timeline, even if Wolf was forced into that situation by double ADC in the semifinals, he never practiced Ashe, so when they faced Samsung in the finals and got caught up two games, SKT had no choice but to ban Janna.

All this is tucked away in Liang Yan's mind, unfortunately he can't just tell his teammates.

Fortunately, given Liang Yan's current stature, he doesn't need to explain things in excessive detail; after a brief thought he said:

"They haven't used it in our scrims, so before they pull it out we'll just assume they won't and deal with it that way."

Perkz said, "Shxt!" Does that work too?

Liang Yan countered, "How wouldn't it work?"

Perkz shrugged:

"You're the big brother, I'll listen to you!"

Yeah, Perkz long ago gave up his obsession with being the team's big brother; now he's clear on who the real big brother is.

After all, being the big brother means backing it up with skill.

In G2's countless unofficial internal solo tournaments, first place has always been a sure thing—Perkz sometimes even gets pushed to third by Zven's burst of cosmic power, and as for Lao Zhang, that slippery guy always ends up fifth.

After hearing that, Ka Lao Si thought for a moment and then nodded:

"OK, then we'll just take Janna!"

Thus G2 locked in their double pick: Aphelios plus Janna.

SKT likewise dragged the clock down to the last few seconds before locking in Ziggs plus Ezreal.

It's obvious SKT's grab of Ziggs serves two purposes: one, Faker himself is extremely proficient with Ziggs; two, it's specifically to stop G2 from running a Prince Ziggs, and they deliberately left a stronger top‑lane and support to counter any weird tricks G2 might pull later.

Barring surprises, before either side's ban‑pick system fully solidifies, SKT will keep probing with this BP strategy throughout the Bo5.

Liang Yan can't help but admire—Coach Kkoma's BP skill is truly top‑tier; if G2 let Ka Lao Si handle the whole BP alone, they'd likely get torn apart, unable to even form a decent system.

Fortunately, although Tang Anna still can't take the BP stage, Ka Lao Si isn't alone—he has a BP assistant even stronger than Tang Anna……

All this preparation—wasn't it just for this kind of match?

At this critical moment, Liang Yan certainly won't keep hiding things; even if some aspects can't be explained, he'll use his authority to push them through.

In the blue team's third round and the red team's second round of picks, that's usually when the composition is set—no matter what system you want to run, you can't hide it anymore.

The red team's second‑round pick is a double pick from the third and fourth tiers, relying only on the final fifth‑tier slot, so it's obviously impossible to conceal anything; thus G2 must consider how to achieve, as much as possible, a single goal with these two picks:

To build their own composition system while preventing the blue side from fully seeing through their playstyle, lest the blue side counter with a final double pick.

"First take Titan, and hold mine for last."

Liang Yan made the decision.

Actually, the first BP is the easiest to do, since the opponent doesn't yet know our hidden cards, so we can still stash something away.

Ka Lao Si had no objections; he immediately had Perkz take his Viktor, then had Zven lock in Titan.

These two picks by G2 instantly sparked a huge uproar.

The commentators from all sides were also bewildered.

Behind the SKT player bench, Kkoma was even more dazed.

Never would I have thought that G2, who had played so many practice matches against SKT, would actually still be hiding something like this at a time like this.

Janna had to be playing support.

Zhong Lu also had Viktor.

So this Titan had to be going top lane.

Top lane Titan had been a hot pick throughout last season and this spring split, but after the mid‑season tournament, with Riot's nerfs to Titan and the whole Summoner's Rift environment shifting, top lane Titan quickly fell into the gutter.

Kkoma hadn't even recalled that this hero had been buffed in patch 6.16 until support Wolf brought it up.

"What?! Top lane Titan? G2 is dreaming back to S5?!"

"No way, after hiding it this long, that's all?"