Chapter 25: Not good, Lu Ka seems to have a bit of shaky hands

The opening match's player introduction segment finally ended, and the players from both sides returned to their player benches to start checking and debugging equipment. The two commentators also finally returned to normal pre-match commentary, but they still occasionally slipped in a sentence or two of overt praise and veiled criticism toward G2.

For example, the previous sentence said G2's player lineup was very luxurious, and the next sentence said the personnel were too mixed, the makeshift squad definitely had serious coordination problems.

Yet they didn't mention at all that OG was also hastily assembled.

Liang Yan had already foreseen it.

Both teams had serious coordination problems, so this match would surely be full of mistakes, the errors on both sides would absolutely be beyond imagination, and the audience would definitely be shocked.

The double ban-pick phase was about to begin.

The two coaches each stood behind their own players.

It's worth mentioning that before last year, coaches were not allowed on stage, and the LPL joke that "coaches are just there to help order takeout" spread widely precisely because of this rule.

Until the spring season of last year, when Riot overhauled the format of global professional leagues, coaches were finally able to come on stage to assist players with ban-pick, and the coaching position began to be truly valued.

Ka Lao Si came from a professional player background, so his professional ability was naturally guaranteed, but being a former pro player didn't automatically make him suitable as a coach; usually, support players transitioning to coach are a better fit, because the required professional abilities for the two roles match closely.

And Ka Lao Si used to play mid lane.

Moreover, he really had no talent for coaching; at this moment, going on stage to do ban-pick, he didn't even have a notebook for show, relying purely on memory and on-the-spot reaction.

This game, G2 took the red side.

OG had the first ban and pick, first banning Bu Long, and G2 followed by banning a support, Bard.

This could also be considered a EU characteristic.

Compared to other regions, EU's characteristic is liking to ban supports, with the whole region understanding that supports have a very high weight of influence on the game.

Banning Bu Long is EU's biggest characteristic.

In the morning, Liang Yan looked at data from other regions; this thing Bu Long basically had no one picking it in LPL and LCK, let alone banning it.

Over in LPL, they like to ban junglers.

However, LPL's environment is also quite different from EU and LCK; while spider junglers are very popular in LCK, hardly anyone uses them in LPL, and their characteristic there is the ice woman top lane.

LCK, on the other hand, likes to ban mid laners.

The mid-lane environments of the three major regions are actually similar, except LCK considers mid lane more important than other positions; Shah is essentially a pick-or-ban, other popular ones include Viktor, Ahri, Xiao Yu Ren, Zed…

Exactly, Zed.

Liang Yan also never expected that in his lifetime he could still see this thing pressed into the Small Black Room on the stage, and in a place like LCK, it felt quite miraculous.

After all, in the later era's overall environment, assassins as a category have almost vanished from the stage, except for a reworked Akali with a twisted mechanic.

Right, this is patch 6.10.

Rock Sparrow has already been released and unlocked.

But nobody picked it.

It's true that it's weak, but not so weak as to be completely unplayable; the reason nobody uses it is mainly that its operation difficulty is relatively high, everyone's proficiency improves slowly, and moreover, in an environment where Zed and Xiao Yu Ren run rampant, its early-game survivability is worrying, plus the stupid bug that after casting W you cannot release any other skills within 0.5 seconds remains unfixed, so naturally nobody uses it.

However, Liang Yan vaguely remembers that Rock Sparrow still appeared in the summer of the S6 season; probably later patches fixed the bug and also significantly buffed it.

That's worth keeping in mind.

In a moment of distraction, both sides had each banned three players.

The camera cut to G2's player bench.

Ka Lao Si walked behind the G2 Zhong Ren with his hands behind his back, his mouth constantly opening and closing; since the locker room couldn't hear the team's voice chat, Liang Yan also didn't know what he was saying.

The camera panned over the top lane position, Lao Zhang's face appeared on the broadcast for a few seconds; Liang Yan saw this and relaxed a little, Lao Zhang looked focused, although it wasn't obvious how relaxed he was, at least he wasn't as tense as when he first went on stage.

What Liang Yan didn't know was that Lao Zhang's situation at this point was similar to, or even harder than, taking an English listening exam; Ka Lao Si spoke a bit fast, Lao Zhang's English was rushed, and even though he had crammed some league-related terminology beforehand, he still only half-understood many things.

Both sides began picking champions.

OG first snatched a Leopard Woman.

G2 double-picked Xiao Yu Ren and Qian Jue.

Then it was OG's turn to double-pick, locking in Da Shu and Wei Lu Si.

Liang Yan watched this and recalled something, muttering softly "armor-piercing mid lane Wei Lu Si", and Biman nearby heard it and asked:

"Are you going mid?"

Liang Yan nodded without speaking.

Following that, G2 took Nv Jing and Nai Ma.

OG finally locked in their composition with Fei Ji and Feng Nv.

G2's last pick was Jia Ke Si.

Both sides had one frontliner with four squishies, but Jia Ke Si isn't a traditional tank frontliner, so OG's composition looked somewhat more solid.

The two commentators were also very surprised that G2's top laner picked Jia Ke Si, guessing for a long time what G2's intention was in choosing Jia Ke Si, but they didn't hit the mark, because they didn't know Lao Zhang, unaware that this was Lao Zhang's signature champion.

Liang Yan saw that Jia Ke Si was finally locked in, his mind eased a little; Lao Zhang had gotten his most comfortable champion, laning should be fine, and even if they lost, it probably wouldn't fall on him to take the blame.

Yes, Liang Yan already felt that G2 was doomed this game.

This had nothing to do with the lineup.

It was mainly because the commentators and audience messed with his mindset at the start.

The problem likely lay with the three players in mid and bottom.

Speaking fairly, if Liang Yan himself were in the position of those three mid/bottom players, he'd probably also find it hard to stay calm and make every decision under these circumstances.

Especially AP.

As long as the lane doesn't collapse, it counts as a win.

Ka Lao Si returned to the locker room with a solemn expression, and as soon as he entered he said:

"Not good, Lu Ka seems to have a bit of shaky hands."

Lu Ka is AP's real name.

This confirmed Liang Yan's speculation.

The battle began.

Both sides erupted as soon as they engaged, each side's five-man group invading the enemy jungle; after circling around and seeing no opponents, they seemingly had a mutual understanding and ran toward the middle lane.

Both sides charged from the grass on either side of the river into the middle lane, and upon meeting they immediately burst into combat.

The final result was a three-for-two trade, with G2 losing one more person.

Brains were blown out.

The whole scene looked like a silver-tier match.

The audience, however, found it exhilarating, and with the commentator's hype, the atmosphere became extremely heated; the noisy sounds carried backstage, making even Liang Yan feel a surge of restlessness.

Turning his head, he saw Ka Lao Si pulling out a tissue to wipe the sweat from his face.

Liang Yan thought, "It can't be that serious."

It was just a three-for-two trade.

Although big brother AP died in the initial team fight, he at least got a kill, right?