Chapter 63: The Showdown Between the New and Old Jungle Kings

After Liang Yan finished saying that, G2 had very little time left to choose.

Ka Lao Si couldn't think of a better plan in the short term, and Liang Yan's male gun had been validated in practice matches against TSM, which was reassuring, so Ka Lao Si didn't dwell on it much and quickly made a decision.

"Zhang, what do you think?"

"I'll listen to Liang Yan!"

"OK, that's decided then!"

Ka Lao Si finished speaking, patted AP's chair back, had AP take Rambo, and then directed Zven to lock down the male gun.

With Red Side locking those two picks, aside from the G2 players' bench, everyone else was stunned.

The venue instantly erupted in an uproar.

The commentators exclaimed repeatedly:

"OH MY WORD! Rambo? Male gun?! What is G2 picking?!"

"Sorry, I can't understand either; Ka Luo Si's BP in this game is indeed really weird!"

The people on the opposing H2K were also stunned for a while, and H2K coach pr0lly kept turning his head to look over here, his facial expression vividly conveying a sentence:

"What the hell did you pick?"

"Ka Lao Si, are you human?"

"Then I ask you, you picked these four things, who are you planning to have initiate?!"

The H2K players had the same question.

"Coach, they seem... not to have any initiation?"

"No doubt, they don't have any!"

"Oh ho, what a coincidence—just good we have Zac, then pick a good mid laner who can kite, and we'll crush them!"

Yue Lun volunteered: "Viktor, coach, please give me Viktor!"

pr0lly nodded: "Approved!"

Yue Lun (Ryu) immediately had Freeze lock down Viktor for him.

Odoamne then asked:

"Then should I provide the initiation?"

"Yes, this is necessary—since Maokai is gone, shall I give you Shen?"

"Shen has no wave clear at all; if I lane against Rambo, I'll die horribly."

"So the troll also…… captain... you haven't practiced enough... Nasus?"

"Centaur! I can play centaur!"

"Are you sure?"

"As long as I can smoothly reach level three, I guarantee no problems!"

Even the elder brother said that; if the coach doesn't nod, it wouldn't be appropriate.

So VandeR helped the top laner elder brother lock down centaur.

"H2K's lineup is locked! Since Maokai and Ekko were both banned by G2 into the Small Black Room, they ultimately chose centaur to counter G2's Rambo; I personally think this pick isn't that great, but their overall lineup looks OK!"

"Yes, actually H2K should have a better top lane pick, but I guess they considered needing initiation, so they ultimately chose this centaur."

"G2 also lacks initiation, and now they only have one last choice left; Drakos, what do you think they'll pick?"

"In theory they should pick a mid laner who can initiate, but there really aren't many mid laners who can initiate; Shah is the only one that fits the current meta."

But after several practice matches where it performed mediocrely, AP seemed to have a bit of a shadow about this champion, and after Ka Lao Si inquired, he immediately expressed refusal.

Then AP himself gave an answer:

"Captain, I want captain! Give! Me! Captain!"

Ka Lao Si wanted to cry but had no tears:

"Lu Ka, we lack an initiator..."

"Never mind! You let them mess around, I just want captain!"

"Why are you so obsessed with these obscure mid laners? Can't we occasionally be a bit more normal?"

"No! I got a pentakill on captain in ranked last night, my feel is blazing hot!"

"Last night... it's almost been twenty-four hours..."

"Just asking if you'll give it or not!"

Can't you not give it?

He could only ask that in his heart; saying it out loud would be unthinkable. Although he is the coach and usually has considerable authority in front of the team members.

But AP is his "son".

Occasionally letting him have his way once in a while is fine……

Ka Lao Si consoled himself and, gritting his teeth, agreed to AP.

Liang Yan didn't say anything.

Mainly, it's indeed hard to say anything, after all the top‑jungle combination he proposed to take is also quite strange—by most people's understanding of the version.

G2 securing the captain caused the venue to erupt in another wave of sound.

The two commentators, on the other hand, didn't shout, probably because they'd gone numb.

Both sides' lineups were fully locked.

H2K, Blue Side

ban: spider, cat girl, excavator

top lane: Odoamne, centaur

jungle: Jankos, Thresh

Zhong Lu: Ryu, Viktor

Xia Lu: Freeze, Lunzi Ma

Support: VandeR, Bard

Coach: pr0lly

G2, Red Side

ban: Ryze, Big Tree, Ekko,

Top Lane: Island, Rambler

Jungle: Firrrrrre, Male Gun

Zhong Lu: Perkz, Captain

Xia Lu: Zven, Lu Xi An

Support: Mithy, Bu Long

Coach: ocelote

"Come on, this game is up to you!"

Under the referee's urging, Ka Lao Si patted Liang Yan's shoulder to encourage him, then took off his headset and handed it to the referee, leaving the player bench.

The two coaches shook hands at center stage, exchanged a compliment "Great pick," then, sharing a tacit understanding, smiled at each other and went their separate ways back to the locker rooms.

Tang Anna sat in the lounge, and when she saw Ka Lao Si enter, she asked:

"How did you pick such a lineup?"

Ka Lao Si didn't speak, walked to the computer and sat down, then said:

"Jungle and top lane are Liang's opinion; he's very confident, I think it's fine!"

Tang Anna stared at the male gun's original art in the draft interface on the monitor, dazed—clang.

Liang Yan picked it?

Then it's fine.

The draft ended, and the commentator's high-pitched voice came from the venue:

"Welcome back to Summoner's Rift, everyone! We just witnessed one of the most... amazing BP openings of the summer season kickoff! Both genius coaches ended up picking a wild core lineup that looks both shocking and eye‑catching!"

"Yes, just as PiraTechnics said, both coaches' BPs are extremely outrageous..."

PiraTechnics interjected: "What? I didn't say that!"

Drakos said to himself: "However, judging by lineup completeness, I personally favor H2K's side—at least their champion picks at each position look reasonable and have some synergy potential, while G2's lineup looks quite unconventional—I'll speak bluntly, please bear with me. But there's no doubt that—"

"This is a showdown between wild cores!"

"From the coaches' BPs it's clear they obviously built their layout around the jungle position, just adopting two different BP strategies!"

"H2K chose Kalista's terrifying late‑game potential, complemented by the fearsome teamfight initiation of the centaur; if the game drags into late game, G2 will surely be crushed by H2K's lineup advantage!"

"Meanwhile, Red Side G2 gave newcomer Firrrrrre a pure‑man Graves, paired with a Rambler that can dominate top lane in most situations; it's foreseeable that he will put immense pressure on Jankos in the early‑mid game!"

"Wild core showdown! New and old wild king clash! The battle has already begun—let's wait and see!"

PiraTechnics remained silent for a while.

"You've said everything; what should I say?"

"Oh, sorry, if you're really bored, here (handing over mineral water), you can water that potted plant behind you."