Chapter 694: What the hell is this play?

SKT's lineup overall belongs to a late-game composition, its power spike comes relatively late, so when Syndra got two kills early on, SKT had to do something to recover the situation, otherwise VG would snowball the lead, causing the power gap to become too large, and SKT would likely collapse completely in the mid-game, unable to drag it to their composition's advantage period.

But now the situation is different; a wave of ganking bottom lane, pushing towers and taking dragon gave SKT a foothold, and the game has entered the mid-game; as long as they drag it out another fifteen minutes or so, SKT's compositional superiority will show.

Moreover, after the early laning phase, with Baron not respawning, as long as neither side feeds recklessly top lane, it's hard for either side to open up a huge gap.

This means that in the next ten minutes or so, they will enter SKT's comfort zone; they no longer need to desperately recover from a disadvantage, but simply play according to their strongest style, steadily farm, and drag the game past twenty-five minutes before facing off against VG.

This is exactly the typical LCK avoid-fight, farm-oriented playstyle.

How could Liang Yan not see that?

Although VG's lineup isn't completely unable to contend with SKT in the late game, if both sides enter the late game on even terms, VG will obviously have a harder time, since Gangplank and Jinx are widely recognized as late-game hypercarries.

Therefore, Liang Yan certainly won't let SKT comfortably farm; even without Baron, he'll use something else to force SKT into a teamfight.

And the best part is, the timing of this teamfight is entirely up to VG.

Because VG has the Rift Herald.

When to release the Herald is up to Liang Yan!

This means Liang Yan can pick the moment when his side has just completed a key item while the enemy has saved up gold but hasn't had a chance to buy it yet, engage then, and the actual power gap will be larger than what the gold difference shows!

What is macro play?

Put simply, macro is about exploiting timing differences!

After exchanging waves, both sides returned to lane and placed vision. SKT resolved to avoid fights as much as possible, so most of the wards they placed were defensive; whereas VG's wards were all aggressive.

Fu Lan Duo, who was still farming top lane, after clearing a wave shifted to mid lane.

Xiao Duan's Thresh headed straight to mid lane upon leaving base, leaving only Sima Laozei alone to farm bottom lane.

VG's four players gathered in mid lane.

SKT sensed VG's intention; Faker immediately recalled Xiao Huasheng, who had been planning to go bottom to catch Ashe. Xiao Huasheng assessed the situation and realized that even if he caught Ashe, it would be a loss, because once he showed up bottom, VG would surely push mid turret.

On VG's side, Liang Yan was clacking away on his keyboard, sending a string of messages to the team chat, repeating it three times:

{Top, AD=has flash; JUNGLE, MID, SUPPORT=no flash}

{Top, AD=has flash; JUNGLE, MID, SUPPORT=no flash}

{Top, AD=has flash; JUNGLE, MID, SUPPORT=no flash}

Clear and concise; the other teammates only need a glance to know the situation, and when they fight they'll have a plan.

Liang Yan then added:

"Ma Ge doesn't need to come, but keep an eye on this side."

"Got it!"

VG held the initiative; their members had already gathered in mid lane, then grouped up and pushed the minion wave forward.

Huni's Gangplank, far behind in gold and items, could only passively farm against Jinx; after clearing the wave he moved out late, still making his way through the jungle, quite a distance from the mid turret where SKT's mid-jungle-support trio were grouped.

But Faker wasn't the slightest bit panicked.

Although the three SKT members here have no flash, VG is the same: aside from Jinx, the other four VG players lack flash.

Moreover, the three SKT players have already taken position to clear the wave.

Thus, in Faker's view, VG simply doesn't have the means to force a tower dive.

Too bad he forgot that Liang Yan never plays by the book!

"What?! Jiao Shen ulted?!"

"Huh? No, is VG really going to fight? 4v3, not 4v4 tower dive?!"

At the instant the minion wave entered turret range, Braum unleashed his ultimate Glacial Prison out of nowhere; the move was so sudden nobody expected him to initiate like that.

Because SKT had already formed up, with a Titan at the front!

Your AD isn't even here, and you're opening with a Titan?!

At that moment, Faker was also a bit dazed, not understanding what VG was trying to do.

But he quickly figured it out.

"Jiao Shen's ult froze Wolf! But he didn't charge forward, just lingered at the turret edge and cast his W, Winter's Fury."

"Faker's predicted Rock Blast missed!"

"Sheng Qiang Ge didn't jump in either, just stood to the side-rear of Jiao Shen to provide cover."

"Only the Marquis's Syndra is dealing damage!"

"Huh? Not tower diving……"

"Xiao Duan landed a hook, applying Ignite at the same time!"

"What?! He... he ignited? He's going for the kill!"

"Thresh is dragging the Titan out! After two pulls, a Fate's Tug yanked the Titan free! VG, are you going in or not? Still only Syndra dealing damage! But hey, the Titan's already lost most of its health!"

"Huni's about to die!"

"Xiao Huasheng is still hesitating whether to go in because he has no flash; his items aren't great either, so he can't tank much, and most of VG's key abilities are still off cooldown—if he jumps in he'll likely be burst down instantly."

"Watch the arrow!!"

"Sima Laozei's arrow landed first!!"

"The Titan was locked down by various small skills for five or six seconds, then took an arrow! It feels like VG is just going to torture it to death!!"

"Good grief? What kind of play is this from VG!!"

Even Faker was left bewildered.

What on earth is VG's playstyle?

Ult-spam to kill a support? Wolf's been locked down for nearly ten seconds! With nobody else dealing damage, they're just relying on Syndra spamming Q over there!

But what can SKT do?

Honestly, there's nothing they can do!

Because the opposing side hadn't fully committed, many key skills—Pig Sister's Frozen Assault, Syndra's Scatter the Weak and ultimate energy torrent, Thresh's ultimate—were still held in hand, and Jax didn't even enter the fight! On SKT's side, the uncontested Faker and Xiao Huasheng originally also had no way to save anyone; the only way to save someone was to rush forward and push the enemy back, but Faker and Xiao Huasheng didn't dodge, they simply didn't dare to advance, for once they stepped out from under the tower the enemy would surely engage aggressively.

However, Huni finally arrived.