Chapter 234: Don't get excited yet, G2 isn't the LPL's fourth seed

The cheers faded away, and Summoner's Rift appeared before everyone.

The first match between SKT and G2 officially began.

Blue side, SKT

ban: Leopard Woman, Male Gun, Jesse

Top lane: Duke, Nasus

Jungle: Bengi, Mang Seng

Mid lane: Faker, Orianna

ADC: Bang, Ezreal

Support: Wolf, Thresh

Coach: Kkoma

Red side, G2

ban: Ryze, Caitlyn, Syndra

Top lane: Island, Titan

Jungle: Firrrrrre, Vi

Mid lane: Perkz, Viktor

ADC: Zven, Jinx

Support: Mithy, Janna

Coach: ocelote

G2's lineup first appeared in a practice match against their own second team, and later was only used in practice matches versus Snake and H2K; aside from that, no one had seen this lineup, and the secrecy work was excellent.

In the past few days of scrims against H2K, G2 played nothing else but this double-lock system; of course, it is a system, not a completely fixed lineup.

Overall, this setup is as follows: the core is either top lane or support Titan plus jungle Vi, with one or two long-range damage dealers that can consistently add damage; this core must have some burst capability, so it is usually taken by mid lane or support, while the ADC position is highly flexible and can be adjusted on the fly, whether Titan goes top or support, depending on the situation.

This system is G2's absolute trump card.

Liang Yan hoped it would win the opening match and become an absolute weapon throughout the season, something even stronger than ROX's double ADC.

This was also what Liang Yan said in the promotional video, to bring a revolution to the world.

As long as it performs normally, Liang Yan has no doubt it can achieve this, because later generations have verified that the lock‑on engage‑and‑instant‑kill system is actually unstoppable.

Of course, this is assuming opponents of equal skill.

"The match has started; let's look at both sides' runes and masteries. First, let's check Jiao Shen's Vi—hmm, a fairly standard rune build: red armor penetration, yellow attack speed, blue magic resistance plus quintessence attack damage, with the usual Thunderlord's mastery."

"No."

Miller interrupted Wawa,

"His build probably isn't red armor penetration; his attack damage is absurdly high. I'm not exactly sure of Vi's base attack damage, but it should be similar to the Mang Seng's—around fifty-plus points. Yet he now has nearly 70 attack damage at start. Three quintessences only add 7 points, so the red marks are mostly granting attack damage, not armor penetration."

"Oh? Isn't it better to take armor penetration for higher cost‑effectiveness?"

"Generally that's the case, but Vi's skills already grant armor penetration, so early game it's more beneficial to stack attack damage."

"I see, that's actually quite detailed—looks like Jiao Shen has really studied this champion thoroughly."

Miller thought to himself, "You're not saying anything new…"

But Miller was already used to it and wouldn't cause a scene on the spot.

Wawa is Miller's mentor; as a shot‑calling commentator, his ability to hype the crowd is excellent, making cold streaks rare when he's on air, but his game knowledge is merely average—his actual skill hovers between silver and gold, and his current platinum rank is thanks only to other commentators carrying him.

Of course, LPL viewers are familiar with the regular commentators; unless they make a blatant mistake like messing up an ultimate, they usually just throw a jab in the chat and don't really harp on a commentator's slip.

"Alright, let's see how the early game goes—both junglers are starting with help from their top laners and clearing from top to bottom…"

"Duke deliberately delayed his lane a bit, letting his fury fade—is he trying to hide his jungler's early clear?"

"Right, and on the other side, Jia ke zhang's Titan is low on mana, so Jiao Shen's early clear would be hard to hide, but he's smart—he doesn't recklessly shove the wave, otherwise he'd push and then be unable to, letting Nasus control the lane and cause trouble."

"Yes, Nasus versus Titan is essentially pressure‑free."

"Huh? Jiao Shen's clear is a bit fast—he finished his red buff at 2:15, matching Bengi's Mang Seng skipping blue and going straight to three wolves."

"Good pull, uh… what's this? Oh, it's the patch notes for Vi's update!"

The commentators were chatting when a info box suddenly popped up in the lower‑left of the broadcast, showing Vi's changes in patch 6.17.

"The base cooldown of her passive and Q were reduced by two seconds, and the first point of E now gives two charges… wow, that's still a pretty big buff!"

"More than just big—I feel it's an epic‑level buff!"

"No wonder I said he clears so fast—he opens with two Es right at the start, of course it's quick!"

"Hmm, at level two he takes W for attack speed, left‑right punches, outputting while shielding himself… you know, this champ is pretty decent for jungle; let's try it next time."

"You can play it, but I warn you—don't pick it when we're duo queuing together."

"Tch, you still have the nerve to look down on me—I won't even bother talking about you."

"Hahaha… huh? The bot lane's fighting! Wow, Wolf's Thresh is low on health, he already used Flash, feels like he's about to die!"

"Ezreal quickly threw a heal, but Thresh with Janna's Ignite can't be kept alive! Jinx's heal‑speed chase lands the final shot—directly taking Wolf's head!"

"But after he runs out of ammo he also loses his deterrent, and Bang keeps chasing him, auto‑attacking nonstop!"

"He didn't dodge the Q! His health is already in danger!"

"Janna's E is on cooldown! Zven hurriedly flashes—but he misfires! Ezreal's basic attack is locked on! This is a flash‑into‑the‑grave!"

"Janna's out of mana, so she's not much of a threat to Ezreal; Bang just pulls back toward the river, ending up in an ADC‑support trade that feels like G2 is losing a bit."

"Ah, win or lose aside, G2's bot lane is playing super aggressively—they're actually pressuring SKT's bot lane like this!"

"Um… Jinx plus Janna, unless they run into yesterday's pure‑counter double‑ADC comp, this is probably the strongest bot lane in the current patch, and since they're facing a short‑range support, playing aggressively is to be expected."

"But could you have predicted at the start that G2's bot lane would be able to lane‑kill?"

"That really wasn't expected."

Exactly! So they played especially fiercely today—what does that show?

What does it show?

It shows these G2 players aren't scared of SKT at all—they're very eager to fight!

That's a good angle, but don't get excited—no matter what, G2 won't be the LPL's fourth seed.

I didn't say that either.

That's what you're thinking.