Chapter 244

Season 6 World Championship patch, the top lane environment underwent a huge change. After Shen, who was hot in the playoffs, got nerfed, the top lane still had only one mainstream tank champion left: Bo Bi. In some situations, Troll is also a viable option, but it absolutely cannot be considered mainstream. Some people play Ekko, but that's a forced choice.

As for tree-type champions, they had long been flushed down the sewer by the meta.

Now the top lane belongs to long-range and strong lane-pushing champions, and the man at the very top of the top lane food chain is Jayce.

To counter Jayce, either match him with another long-range pick, like Kennen.

Or suppress him with lane pressure, like Ramb o.

The only thing that can straight-up withstand Jayce is a hammer-form little cannon.

However, Lao Zhang's Jayce had never been proven on stage; even SKT hadn't seen it in scrims, whereas mid laner Perkz had played Jayce a few times.

Kkoma pulling out this Jayce also had a thought of gambling.

He was betting that Island wouldn't play Jayce.

So when it was SKT's turn to pick, Kkoma didn't rush to take top lane, but calmly locked in Zed first, then locked in Mang Seng.

On G2's side, Liang Yan frowned slightly upon seeing SKT's two picks.

Ka Lao Si chatted away with the duo over the headset, his tone cheerful.

Liang Yan fell silent for a moment, then said:

"Something feels off."

Everyone fell silent immediately.

Ka Lao Si adjusted his earpiece, walked up behind Liang Yan, and asked doubtfully:

"What's wrong?"

"Wait… let me think it through."

Liang Yan propped his cheek with one hand, looking at the two picks SKT had already locked on the right side of the screen, quickly organizing his thoughts.

The first pick of Zilean was within Liang Yan's expectations; this pick could prevent G2 from taking Prince + Zilean's ultimate combo, and Faker's Zilean remained trustworthy—although in the previous game Faker's Zilean took the blame, that was a decision-making error unrelated to the champion itself, so picking Zilean first was completely fine.

Moreover, G2 had scrimmed against SKT many times; Lao Zhang had never picked Jayce once, while AP had picked Jayce twice, so SKT would naturally stay wary that G2's Jayce would go mid rather than top, leaving the top lane unpicked for now was therefore also fine.

But why pick the Blind Monk first?

Couldn't they take a support?

Couldn't they take an AD carry?

Normally, SKT's second pick would ideally be to take either Jinx or Janna, breaking up the strong Jinx+Janna combo. Liang Yan put himself in their shoes; if he were SKT's coach, he would definitely pick Janna first.

Unless SKT was hiding a later pick, thus first taking the versatile Blind Monk as a placeholder.

Is that possible?

Of course it's possible.

Liang Yan wasn't so arrogant as to think SKT definitely had no hidden cards.

Then…

What is SKT's later pick?

Wolf wouldn't play Miss Fortune; besides that, what other nasty tricks does the bot lane have?

Did they secretly practice a fire man?

Surely it's not Annie, right?

Or maybe Ashe + Nami to brute-force it?

In my impression, SKT's Ashe+Nami combo is extremely practiced, capable of standing toe-to-toe against Jinx+Janna without falling behind.

Plus, Ashe's skill set also works well to disrupt G2's early jungle tempo, and her ultimate can even draw lots to initiate fights…

The more Liang Yan thought about it, the more he felt this possibility was quite likely.

He therefore let out a slight sigh of relief.

Ashe+Nami isn't really a nasty trick; after all, it's just each relying on their own skill.

Then there's nothing to fear.

Having reached a conclusion in his mind, with little time left for picks, Liang Yan spoke up:

"I probably overthought it; let's just go with the normal pick."

When those words came through the earpiece, everyone simultaneously let out a sigh of relief.

Ka Lao Si smiled again and said:

"OK, then shall we proceed with the normal pick?"

"Yeah, normal pick it is."

Liang Yan said, first locking in Jinx.

Then Perkz helped lock in Janna.

Ka Lao Si took two steps to stand behind the duo, lightly placed his hands on Zven and Mithy's shoulders, and encouraged them:

"You did well last game; keep playing the same way this game, and leave the rest to Liang."

The duo nodded in unison.

However, SKT's subsequent picks further deepened Liang Yan's speculation.

SKT picked Braum and Ashe.

Picking Braum was clearly premised on Jayce going mid to limit G2's top laner; after all, if they let the enemy have the gunner and then G2 snatched the lane-dominating Braum, that gunner would likely run rampant in the top half, so SKT snatched Braum first.

What if G2 picks Pantheon?

SKT has Ashe, which can easily reveal G2's jungle start; Liang Yan thought replicating the frantic early-game invade strategy used against RNG in this match was nearly impossible.

After all, Bang is not Uzi, and SKT is not RNG; they have no tactical obligations they must preserve.

If one must insist that SKT has some core tactical philosophy, it would be this:

Always trust big brother Xiang He.

Next, G2 locked in their last two picks.

The venue let out a shout, and the audience all got excited.

The commentators also shouted excitedly:

"Male Gunner!!!"

"Male Gunner again!!!"

"It's actually Male Gunner plus Kayn……"

On the LPL commentator's desk, Wawa and Miller's moods were rather complicated.

It was this Male Gunner, ruthlessly and mercilessly dashing LPL's last hope, sweeping RNG away in a 3-0 defeat, leaving them humiliated.

As LPL commentators, Wawa and Miller's feelings toward this Male Gunner were obviously a mix of hatred and fear; but as commentators, they would also view the issue objectively.

Thus they had to admit, this Male Gunner is indeed terrifyingly strong!

Now RNG is dead, while LPL's fourth seed is still in the minutes, so all the emotions in their hearts eventually turned into a feeling of relief.

"It's a strange feeling—Male Gunner is clearly not a mainstream jungler in this version, and could even be called an off‑beat choice. But for some reason, when G2 pulled out this Male Gunner, I felt unexpectedly reassured!"

"Because it's played by Jiao Shen."

"Eh, no!"

"Huh?"

"What's his ID?"

"Firrrrrre…… oh, I get what you mean."

"Exactly!"

Wawa shouted excitedly,

"His name is Fire! Open fire! Male Gunner is all about blazing away!"

The barrage started scrolling:

【Blaze away!】

【Fire at LCK!】

【Go, fourth seed!】

Then SKT locked in their last pick.

"Wow!!!"

Wawa was overexcited one second, and the next second her face was full of shock,

"Female Gunner?!!"

Miller was equally stunned:

"Good heavens! Who would have thought SKT would also play this kind of weird thing—it's totally unexpected!"

Yes, it's totally unexpected.

Looking at the opposing side's fifth pick, the Female Gunner already locked in, Liang Yan sat in the G2 player's bench, stunned for a while, while Ka Lao Si stood behind him, likewise frozen like a wooden chicken.