Chapter 557: Unconventional Jungle Core

LCK has no team with poor vision control; as the recent LCK champion, KT absolutely cannot have any obvious weakness, otherwise they would definitely not get past that SKT hurdle.

However, relatively speaking, vision control is the comparatively weak spot among KT's strengths.

After playing many practice matches against VG, KT unconsciously received much influence; they integrated VG's understanding into their own system, thereby strengthening their overall ability.

However, gains come with losses; due to limited energy, a team cannot be strong in every aspect. While KT's other aspects were strengthened, vision control suffered a bit of neglect because they overtrusted Mata's individual ability.

Banning Mang Seng would further weaken KT's weak spot; since Zhu Xiaolong felt there was nothing worth banning, Liang Yan casually brought it up.

Then VG banned Mang Seng.

I didn't expect the casters and audience to react so strongly.

Afterward, they entered the champion select phase.

As expected, KT's first pick secured the Ice Archer, the AD that influences the jungle the most when not engaged in combat.

Through practice comes true knowledge; after research, KT determined that the Ice Archer is the marksman with the highest win rate against VG, and when they pick this champion, their practice match win rate can barely reach around fifty percent.

Next, VG locked in Syndra and Karma on their first and second picks.

"Huh?! VG first-picked Syndra! It seems this hero holds an extraordinary position in VG's eyes; could it be that they've rarely taken it before just to pretend?"

"Hard to say; VG is very good at hiding things."

"KT second and third picks instantly locked in Graves and Rumble!"

"No problem; Rumble is a must-pick for Smeb, and I'm puzzled why VG didn't ban Rumble but instead banned Mang Seng."

"Changzhang probably has Jiao Shen's WeChat, right?"

"Ah? Uh... yeah, he does."

"We can ask after the game."

"This..."

There are many reasons why FIFAHUN gave the top-jungle duo these two champions: first, Score taking Graves can adopt a pure farming playstyle, avoiding intense confrontation in the jungle with Firrrrrre; second, the Graves+Rumble top-jungle combination is strong enough not to fear losing lane advantage; finally, Rumble is Smeb's signature champion, and in KT's decisive game against G2 it played an extremely crucial role, with a metaphysical bonus.

Therefore, KT's two picks were predictable to everyone, plain but correct; even if Liang Yan were KT's coach, he would make the same picks.

VG made the last pick of the first round, and only when the select timer was about to expire did the right-side third pick slot finally lock in.

It was also an unremarkable choice: Barrel Alaska.

"The barrel can go top lane or jungle, and VG is starting to waver again."

"This is actually a fairly standard tactic: picking a flexible champion in the first round creates major trouble for the opponent's second-round bans."

Changzhang said this in an old-masterly manner, as if he had always done this while at EDG.

Changzhang then said: "However, I didn't expect Shuijing Ge not to pick his champion in the first round; I thought they would lock in Varus right away."

"Yes." Guan Zeyuan nodded, speaking without hesitation: "Objectively speaking, VG's bottom lane duo is somewhat weaker compared to the combination of Mr. Dai, the near-champion marksman, and the true champion support Mata."

"What does 'near-champion marksman' mean?"

Miller's question left Guan Zeyuan stunned for a moment, after which he said:

"Back in Season 4, who didn't think Samsung Blue would be champion? Deft was that Samsung Blue's marksman, which everyone knows—doesn't that count as near-champion?"

"Oh oh, you can count it that way."

Miller and Changzhang tried hard not to laugh.

Guan Zeyuan snorted, ignored them, and loudly said while looking at the BP screen:

"Good! Both sides are now entering the second round of bans and picks..."

The barrel's wavering nature left KT unable to determine his final position, and FIFAHUN's response was to ignore him; in the second round of bans, they targeted the AD slot that FIFAHUN viewed as VG's weakness and still undecided, hammering it with the two marksmen most frequently used by Gangzi—Varus and Ezreal—sending them to the Small Black Room.

VG's last two ban slots were both used on supports: Lulu and Tahm Kench.

Immediately after, VG's first pick in the second round was Mantis.

Thus, the barrel was confirmed to go top lane.

Why ban Tahm Kench?

FIFAHUN was still pondering the intent behind VG's two bans when, through the screen in front of Pawn, he saw VG make their second-round first pick; he could only temporarily interrupt his ongoing thought, glancing over both sides' pick lists, vaguely discerning something.

We need to strengthen our poke……

After a moment's consideration, FIFAHUN made a decision:

"Take Jayce first."

This is what Pawn uses; Jayce doesn't match up well against Syndra, but FIFAHUN trusts Pawn's individual ability, and Easyhoon is not a meat‑eating mid laner.

After confirming the mid lane pick, FIFAHUN devoted all remaining time to thinking about the final position's selection.

If we had to point out the blue side's biggest weakness, it lies here.

VG hid their AD pick until the very last, which gave FIFAHUN a bit of a headache.

What exactly does VG want to pick?

FIFAHUN searched his memory, trying to find some clues from past practice matches against VG.

FIFAHUN naturally knows that VG's two ADs have different styles: SMLZ is a dedicated attack‑speed‑focused hypercarry AD, while Kryst4l practices only non‑attack‑speed niche marksmen—actually not really niche, just not mainstream in the current version.

But the problem is, Kryst4l is mysterious; he rarely appears even in practice matches, or if he does appear, VG might deliberately have him share an account with Smlz.

In short, FIFAHUN's knowledge of him is actually limited; based on the available information, he considered every possible pick VG could make, and all felt mismatched with VG's lineup—he couldn't pinpoint it exactly, just felt that nothing was right.

After thinking for a while with no clue, time ticked away second by second, the white bar representing remaining time almost shrunk to nothing; FIFAHUN could only give up guessing VG's intent and ultimately chose the unchanging answer to all changes: giving Mata a Janna that has been hot for a long time, still extremely high in popularity, and a pick that can't go wrong.

Of course, if Karma were available, FIFAHUN would prefer to take Karma, but it wasn't available because the enemy first round snatched it.

I have no choice either……

FIFAHUN muttered to himself, and then saw the enemy instantly lock in a Bomb‑man.