Chapter 634: The summer season battle has already kicked off, VG vs LPL

In the EDG player bench, Scout sat in the middle, propping his chin with one hand, staring blankly at the screen. In the previous game, his Kassadin was targeted by the enemy jungler, and he never managed to stack a full Goddess's Tear even after twenty minutes, making it extremely unpleasant to play. Returning to the resting room, he had wanted to offer a few suggestions, but all he heard was A Bu ranting at people, and even now his head is still buzzing……

Mouse unconsciously tapped the spacebar a few times on the keyboard, his expression looking a bit numb and a bit bored. He suddenly turned his head and said to Ai Luoli:

"This game, we're Hong Se Fang; the enemy banned the blind monk—do you dare to pick it?"

Ai Luoli had just lifted the paper cup and taken a sip of water; hearing Mouse's remark, she spat it out with a puff, but fortunately she reacted quickly enough to bend over in time, so the water didn't land on the keyboard.

Ai Luoli silently took out a sweat towel, wiped her mouth, pretended not to have heard Mouse's words, gave an awkward smile, turned her head and said to Nofe:

"Come on, coach, we're running out of time."

Nofe glanced at him, thinking, "It's not like you're the one banning champions, why are you in a rush?" but he had also made a decision in his mind, looked at Mouse and nodded, then spoke in stiff Chinese:

"Still ban Galio."

Mouse, while selecting Galio and sending it to the red side's first ban slot, casually asked, "What about Zac?"

Nofe looked somewhat surprised: "Did I say that already?"

Mouse:???

What did you say?

I damn well only heard you jabbering away there—who can understand your bird language……

But A Guang didn't say anything.

Never mind, just consider it said.

……

A few minutes later, the ban/pick phase ended.

Both sides' lineups were now completely locked.

Under the referee's urging, Nofe stopped communicating with the players, took off his headset and mic equipment and set them on the ground, then left the EDG player bench anxiously.

He had thought that if EDG released Zac, VG would choose to actively ban it. Because Zac, simply put, is the quintessential utility champ; although his engage is fierce, he lacks sufficient damage-dealing ability, so he can't compare to Mang Seng, that warrior-type utility jungler. No matter how well Zac initiates fights, ultimately he still relies on teammates; he himself lacks the ability to carry alone, whereas Mang Seng can unleash explosive AOE through strong mechanics—that's the difference between the two. Firrrrrre, as VG's absolute core, doesn't seem like a player who enjoys playing pure utility champs, and according to Nofe's data statistics, that's indeed the case: last season, the Jade Goddess could be called the Vermilion Fire, but Firrrrrre played only two games total from regular season to playoffs, and even if the enemy made it available, he wouldn't pick it.

But Nofe never expected that VG wouldn't ban Zac even until the very end.

With only the last ban slot left, Nofe was already in a bind; he could only grit his teeth, hope with a bit of luck that VG wouldn't snatch Zac, and gave the final ban to the champ that posed a greater threat to EDG—the Sword Maiden.

As a result, VG instantly locked in Zac.

At that moment, Nofe felt his heart skip a beat; after temporarily suppressing his unease, he chose the former between racing for Ziggs + Varus and Varus + Thresh, because Karma was still in play, making the urgency to snatch Thresh less strong.

Then VG instantly locked in Prince + Thresh on their second pick.

What was bound to happen eventually happened.

Top lane Prince!

Nofe's second hope was shattered, and all he saw was darkness before his eyes.

In the second round of bans/picks, Nofe thought about limiting Zzitai's champion pool to let Scout break through him, so he banned the Viktor and fox that Zzitai had used the most last season, which were relatively flexible picks.

As a result, Zzitai pulled out a fox spirit he hadn't used last season.

Whether the opponent was bluffing or actually skilled, Nofe couldn't tell; just comparing, he felt that as a coach he was really no match for VG's coach.

The lineups for the second game are as follows:

VG, blue side

ban: Shen, Syndra, Frost; Kennen, Rumble.

Top lane: Flandre, Prince

Jungle: Firrrrrre, Zac

Mid lane: Zz1tai, fox spirit

Bot lane: Smlz, Kalista

Support: Caveman, Thresh

EDG, red side

ban: Galio, Mang Seng, Sword Maiden; Viktor, Hu li

Top lane: Mouse, Kled

Jungle: Fireloli, spider

Mid lane: Scout, Ziggs

Bot lane: Zet, Varus

Support: Meiko, Karma

The commentators analyzed the two sides' lineups using the map-reading interface.

Miller: "Just looking at the lineup, EDG's is very good—able to engage and poke, with power relatively balanced across stages, making it a fairly well-rounded composition."

"On VG's side, Prince + Zac + Thresh are all the current meta hot picks, but I think Prince and Zac's functions may overlap a bit, so their synergy isn't that great, and I also feel VG's lineup lacks a champion like Ziggs or Galio that would synergize with Prince and Zac, and the fox spirit paired with those two feels like it has no real synergy—after they dive in, figuring out who should deal damage becomes a serious problem."

Wawa: "That's correct! But you should know there's a saying that's been circulating in the martial world, and it's been perfectly proven on VG—it goes:

"The weirder the lineup, the faster the win!"

"……

You've already decided VG will win, and I'm still talking nonsense!

Miller changed the topic:

"Speaking of which, Ma Ge picked two pairs of sneakers in this opening match, but I saw online analysis that sneakers aren't particularly strong this season, right?"

"In ranked play, the pick rate has seen a slight rebound, but it's still not especially strong; on the Korean server high‑elo ranked, mainly it's just those three: Frost, Varus, and Caitlyn."

"So I also don't know why Ma Ge likes them so much."

"Then we'll have to ask the VG coach, Zhu Xiaolong Long Ge."

"I think to answer this question, watching Jiao Shen's livestream would be quicker."

"Oh~"

Hahaha~

To be honest, Long Ge as a coach… is pretty relaxed, I'd say.

Hehehe~

The audience members who got it laughed along; those who didn't were completely bewildered, not knowing what riddles these three commentators were spouting, which was really annoying.

Someone in the live chat did post an explanation, but it was quickly drowned out by the flood of 'hahaha' comments, and few could see it clearly; besides, who comes to watch a match in person while holding a phone to watch the stream?

Amid the nonsense, both sides entered Summoner's Rift.

Come on! The battle has already begun, the second game of the opening match of the 2017 LPL Summer Season, EDG versus VG! Who will win? We'll see!

Bullet comments:

【The battle of the summer season has already begun, VG versus LPL! Who will win? We'll see!】