Chapter 210: Hexagonal Mid-Laner! Then I didn't come to the LPL for nothing!

"Congratulations to V5 for taking the first game!" Miller shouted with excitement in his voice.

"In the opening game, they used the rhythm of their bot lane duo to rapidly expand their advantage, and then quickly closed out the match with powerful farming and laning ability in the mid lane!"

Beside him, Wawa said loudly: "To be honest, this style from V5 is too seasoned, especially player Ye Bo this season. He has started using various mage carries more often, which gives a real sense of security; the match never actually slipped out of their control!"

Duke shook his head and said with some emotion: "I have to say, JDG was simply stifled in the jungle this game, and the strong combo picked by their bot lane duo was restricted by that strange Caitlyn support."

"Honestly, back when I was a pro, the thing I feared most was a team that could pull out new tricks at any moment."

Among all the leagues, the Spring Split is the most unique period.

Except for last year's S12, which was the only time a "subversive" change was made in the middle of the year.

In all other seasons, the biggest "subversive" changes of the year happen at the beginning of the year, which is during the Spring Split.

So generally speaking, the Spring Split is a stage for all teams to explore a brand-new Rift—familiarizing themselves with unfamiliar things, and naturally, everyone instinctively defaults to the old playstyles they are most familiar with.

TES, JDG, and even WBG, who changed their entire roster, are all like this; the overall playstyle and system of the teams haven't changed much from last year.

But it is obvious.

Playing up to now, V5 already has several different systems and playstyles, and they are constantly trying new things.

The biggest change is Ye Bo.

From last year, when 90% of the time he prioritized "early-game heroes" to bet on the rhythm, as if every game had a sense of urgency where "success or failure depends on this,"

to this year, he has started to pick major carries like Ryze and Aurelion Sol more frequently.

It seems he has shifted that sense of urgency onto his opponents, while his own side has transitioned into a state of mastery and relaxation, and the appearance of "crisis moments" has decreased significantly.

Of course.

The most important thing is... even when he picks these mage carries, he can still mostly gain an advantage in lane!

This is the stuff of "What am I even learning here."

The stream is currently playing the post-match highlights.

From the early-game counter-pathing and level-one design, the jungle skirmishes and bizarre laning understanding, to the passionate clash in the top lane in the mid-game.

And finally, those successive, shocking Starfall Cascades crashing down; both the visual effects and the actual gameplay moments are memorable, as if the pressure is overflowing from the screen!

【This is what a dragon should be! The pressure is real, right? Do those noobs playing it a few days ago even deserve to be called Aurelion Sol?】

【The new Aurelion Sol looks so cool, it's just a pity the ultimate name isn't imposing enough. I suggest changing it to—"Heavenly Motion: Ten Thousand Phenomena!"】

【Looking at it this way, is this year's Great King coming out so early?】

【Then I have to mention someone. For many consecutive years, wherever he is, that team is the LPL's number one seed for Great King, and in the end, they even won the World Championship... That's right! It's my Flandre!】

【Don't say it, use the process of elimination. EDG was also on a crazy losing streak last summer, then Master Ye came and kicked someone out, and they immediately started an invincible winning streak! It really is a problem with the person!】

【Designer: "I balance the patch carefully every day, never expected that in the end, all my work would be in vain because of one person."】

Backstage, the members of JDG sat together with varying expressions.

Generally speaking, none of them were convinced.

That Sion stole the buff at level one and got to lane with a lead in items, and because he arrived late, the minion wave was pushed in, and the ward he placed at level one didn't have any effect; it was normal that he couldn't suppress the opponent later.

Kanavi, on the other hand, believed that his own plays had no issues, and since that Sylas played so smoothly in the early game, it was normal for him to chase him down once he hit his power spike.

Ruler, however, was annoyed to the extreme!

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, and in the end, he couldn't help but open his mouth: "Ya-i-xi, I already said, come bot, come bot!"

"Why keep going to the top lane to gank a Sion? Even if you gank him until he's ruined, is it useful? Can we win?"

Ruler spoke in Korean on purpose; not many people present could understand.

And obviously, he couldn't be saying this to the coach.

Kanavi didn't look at him, just leaned forward on his own, picked up the kettle on the table, and poured himself some water.

Ruler thought the other party had become sensible, his expression softened slightly, and he leaned his upper body forward a bit, using the back of his hand to push his water cup forward by 0. cm.

However... Kanavi just finished pouring water for himself.

Then he put the kettle back!

"?"

Ruler almost couldn't help but blurt out the famous quote he learned from Gezi-ge: "Ya, do you think the water will crawl into your brother's hand by itself?"

And Kanavi, unhurriedly, took a sip of water first.

The words that followed made Ruler almost explode in anger after a brief moment of shock!

He only said three words coldly.

And, he even said it in Chinese.

"Go, and collapse."

"... ibal, we even got a solo kill in the bot lane! How would it collapse if you came bot to fight earlier!?"

"Nonsense, every time I panned my camera to the bot lane, your health bars were already being suppressed miserably. If I went and got counter-ganked, we would have been blown wide open, and Aurelion Sol always had lane priority to roam."

"And they kept invading my jungle too. With the bot lane constantly calling for me, how could I go?"

The two held their own opinions.

This is the limitation of perspective that players in every position have regarding other positions.

In the end, everyone can only view problems from the perspective of their own position.

From Ruler's ADC mindset, since I picked Kalista + Renata, you should have kept coming to the bot lane to find fights!

Even if there wasn't a guaranteed win in a 3v3, you still had to come; that's the only way my pick makes sense.

But from Kanavi's jungle-carry mindset.

You guys couldn't maintain your health in lane, yet you kept calling me bot—isn't that just asking me to sacrifice my life as a jungler to trade for a chance for you to make a play?

In your dreams!

Having played at JDG for so many years, I, Kanavi, only have moments where the laners trade for me to gain an advantage!

How could I possibly use the jungler's life to trade for an advantage for the laners!

Missing was caught in the middle of the two clashing heads, listening to the mix of Chinese and Korean, feeling his head ache a bit.

One is the jungle big brother he's been with for over a year, the other is the AD big brother he still has to communicate with closely later.

He had to consider both.

On the other side, Homme had the same mindset; these two Korean imports were players he valued highly, which is why he didn't speak up at first.

But seeing that the situation wasn't right, he sighed and spoke in a gentle tone.

"Alright, there's no need for this."

"Everyone be a little more patient. Our team hasn't played many games yet, it's normal that our playstyle hasn't meshed well. We will definitely find the playstyle that suits us best slowly."

"The most important thing now is the next game..."

Homme's drafting ability is unquestionable; purely speaking of professional capability, it is no exaggeration to rank him in the top three among coaches working in the LPL.

Yet in his ten-year coaching career, only when he first started as an assistant coach with no real power under his master Edgar for SSW did he have that one experience with a good World Championship result.

Afterwards, all the teams he led alone mostly had excellent results in the domestic league, but as soon as they reached the World Championship, they started acting up!

They would even blow a big one at any moment, and up until now, they haven't even broken through to the semifinals once!

A large part of the reason is his personality.

To put it bluntly—"He is too gentle, he can't suppress the players at all!"

In this regard, he's not even as good as White Crescent.

White Crescent at least had the famous scenes of throwing a cola bottle and saying "Am I being too gentle with you?" and "Watch the VODs!", so he could at least discipline players, and people would be afraid when he got angry.

But in Homme's career, the most serious conflict he had with players was just backstage after the S12 group stage loss:

"If you think I'm a moron as a coach, then you don't have to listen."

Not being able to suppress players can be a big or small issue.

The downside is that some team members might not practice heroes due to "preference," just like 369 currently not playing Jax because he "doesn't like" playing the version's T0 mid-lane pick.

There might also be team members with poor "discipline" who refuse to change, or because someone doesn't want to change their playstyle and instead wants the team to accommodate them, and when facing huge adversity, it's hard to quickly adjust the state of the team members, leading to a direct collapse...

However, if the team's results are excellent and there are no major conflicts between the players, the impact isn't significant.

Ruler and Kanavi didn't really have any fundamental conflicts; they were both just here to work, and they might not even be together next year, so being ordinary colleagues is fine.

At most, Ruler felt a bit annoyed that he couldn't bully anyone here.

But Kanavi also had his say.

When I was at Griffin, I was bullied because I could only eat Tarzan's leftovers and leftover kimchi roots every day, which is why I ran to China!

You dared to bully me when I was in the LCK, and now that I'm in the LPL, you still want to bully me?

Then I didn't come to the LPL for nothing!

So Kanavi was indeed acting this way on purpose; it wasn't that he really had a grudge against Ruler, he just wanted the other party to realize the reality early and know that the sky is different here!

Homme began to set up the tactics for the next game.

The two also calmed their emotions, and the four listened and discussed together.

It seems like someone is missing!?

It turns out that just when the bot and jungle duo were arguing earlier,

the other key party involved, who lost lane priority in the mid lane, which led to the jungle not being able to push as planned—had long since quietly and skillfully slid his chair back half a step.

He sat there silently biting his fingernails, pretending nothing had happened.

Before long, the break ended.

The players from both sides returned to the stage.

"Welcome back to the 2023 Spring Split live broadcast! What is about to take place now is the second game of V5 versus JDG."

The host, having just finished reading the advertisement, was preparing to conduct the pre-game analysis for this match when they suddenly heard the producer's voice in their earpiece.

Their eyes lit up abruptly.

"There is breaking news that I need to share with everyone: JDG has actively chosen the red side for their priority side selection in the second game!"

Miller also chimed in: "This choice is indeed rare."

"However, there is another piece of data that might be somewhat counter-intuitive to share with everyone; in fact, in the LPL data conducted so far, the win rate of the red side in the pick-and-ban phase is actually slightly higher, leading the blue side by a narrow margin of 52. %!"

Ever since the first match of the global pick-and-ban format began, there have been many discussions regarding the imbalance between the red and blue sides.

But unlike what many people expected.

In the Spring Split data so far, the win rate of the red side is actually higher!

The data for each region is different; for example, the win rate of the blue side in the LCK is surprisingly high, even approaching 60% at one point.

This perhaps indeed proves that there is a difference between the red and blue sides—but it is by no means a gap that leans heavily toward one side.

And Homme also has his own understanding.

In his view, the biggest advantage of the "Global Pick-and-Ban" format is that the red side no longer possesses "fixed ban slots."

The so-called disadvantage of the red side is actually that there are heroes in the meta that are almost impossible to deal with and must be picked if not banned—and these heroes are generally defaulted as the red side's fixed ban slots.

Just like last year's World Championship.

From the initial Kalista, to the later Caitlyn, and then to the later Aatrox, they were all things that naturally occupied an advantage once picked by the blue side!

But under global pick-and-ban, after a few strong heroes have been picked in the previous game, there might be room for maneuver once their numbers are controlled.

And the red side also possesses its own greatest advantage.

Counter-picking!

In the first game, V5 used the double-flex of their mid-jungle and bot lane, plus a brand-new Hail of Blades double-marksman combination, which caused the red side's counter-pick effect to not manifest even half as well.

But this does not mean that they can do it this game as well.

In Homme's view, when facing the V5 team, the most important thing is the choice of the counter-pick slot—he must use this to forcibly restrict the opponent's mid-laner to ensure his tactics proceed according to plan!

Of course, this can also be considered an attempt by Homme.

When Ye Bo and Beryl heard this notification backstage, they were also somewhat surprised.

However, ever since the last match against TES, they actually had a similar understanding.

The default ban board appeared.

The portraits of the 10 heroes used in the previous game had turned gray.

"V5 starts by banning Wukong and Aphelios, while JDG bans Akali and Azir."

"The logic for both sides' first two bans should be similar to the last game; it is still targeting the signature heroes of the opposing players."

"Also, due to the disappearance of Varus and Caitlyn, the priority of Aphelios has become higher than that of Zeri!"

As the second game began, the brain-burning nature of global pick-and-ban began to manifest.

After the small rework in the S13 preseason, Zeri and Aphelios stood side-by-side as the two highest-priority "major core" AD carries of the meta—if it weren't for global pick-and-ban, presumably 80% of the matches would feature these two!

Then why did V5 ban Zeri in the last game, but changed to banning Aphelios in this one?

Because Varus, Caitlyn, and Kalista, which pose the greatest laning pressure on Aphelios, have all been defaulted to banned.

And what Zeri leads Aphelios in is the advantage of attack range in the laning phase!

However, V5's third ban was also slow to be placed.

On the camera, one could see Ye Bo and Beryl seemingly in constant communication.

Both of them keenly sensed something unusual.

The biggest change in JDG's pick-and-ban this game is that they did not ban K'Sante with their second ban, but continued to ban mid-lane heroes.

This presents a new variable.

In the last game, the reason V5 did not follow up by banning Jax when K'Sante was banned for their third ban was because there was still the "Poke-style Varus," an ADC that is not afraid of Jax at all, available to be snatched, as well as many choices in the top lane that could deal with Jax.

But in this game, Varus, Jayce, and Sion have all been defaulted to banned.

If Jax is released at this time, the blue side will fall into a dilemma of choosing between K'Sante and Jax; picking Jax first will be countered later, and picking K'Sante first will be countered by Jax.

"Then let's go with Jax, anyway if we beat Wei, Xun still has that!" Beryl said, shaking his head.

Ye Bo also nodded: "Hmm, then let's ban Jax, and see what their third ban is; there aren't many things left outside this game."

V5 sent Jax to the ban list.

First round of bans—

V5: Wukong, Aphelios, Jax

JDG: Akali, Azir, Poppy

The final ban appeared, and the commentary desk had not yet realized anything.

But the two parties in the battle had already seen the opponent's intention.

"Trying to make us take a multiple-choice test."

Clearly, Homme was deliberately maintaining the "quantity" of heroes worth picking.

Among all the positions outside, what are the remaining meta-OP heroes most worth snatching?

K'Sante in the top lane, Vi in the jungle, and Zeri as the ADC.

Exactly three!

Not only that.

Jax, who counters K'Sante; Poppy and Wukong, who counter Vi; and Aphelios, who counters Zeri, have all been taken off the board!

This means that no matter what the blue side picks first, JDG will undoubtedly take the remaining two without hesitation, filling up the double-OP positions that the red side gets to pick last.

And there is no need to worry about the opponent getting a counter-pick on the second or third floor for those double-OP positions!

This is where the gap between Homme and White Crescent can be seen.

The same situation.

In the second game between V5 and TES, White Crescent could only think of formulaically rushing to the blue side, and did not consider the red side's counter-pick factor at all, which led to his first-pick not having any effect.

Fortunately, this problem is not difficult for V5 to solve.

Because besides their pick-and-ban ability, they also have something that the TES players themselves do not.

"V5 finally first-picks K'Sante! JDG, as expected, immediately counters by taking Vi and Zeri!"

"It must be mentioned that this version of K'Sante has been heavily nerfed! I don't know if he can still be flexed now."

Looking at the changes alone, K'Sante seems to have been cut to the artery in this patch.

Everything that was weakened was highly valuable.

The {knock-up duration} of Q3 went from 1s to 0. 5s, the {stun duration} of Q3 went from 1. 5s to 1s, and the {minimum stun duration} of W also went from 0. 5s to 0. s.

The loss of dual resistances from R went directly from 65% to 85%!

Not only were the key crowd-control abilities of Q and W cut, but he also became squishier after activating his ultimate.

It's just that this thing's mechanics are just shameless; even after taking such a hit, its utility compared to other heroes is still very strong, as if it went from 110 points to 99 points.

"V5 counters by picking Lulu and Lucian?"

"If they want to pick Lucian to lane, wouldn't Lucian-Nami be better? This combination looks a bit strange."

The commentator's game understanding was truly lacking, and Zoom was only half-knowledgeable, failing to see the deeper meaning.

But Homme, after a brief hesitation, had a look of shock in his eyes.

Because at the same time.

The V5 on the opposite side immediately gave him a multiple-choice test.

He realized that the understanding of the person in charge of pick-and-ban on the other side was indeed very deep; many things were exactly the same as what he, a full-time coach, thought.

Just like the interpretation of the bot lane.

In fact, from the second game of global pick-and-ban, the position most affected should be the bot lane—because the keyword for the bot lane is "Combination Selection"!

The simplest example.

For instance, the disappearance of Renata Glasc will cause the combination selection of Draven, Aphelios, and Kalista to be restricted, making it easy to impose limitations through pick-and-ban.

Take Zeri for another example!

Zeri's best partner is undoubtedly Lulu, followed by Yuumi and Rakan, which Missing uses extremely well.

And the opponent directly snatched the best Lulu, almost clearly telling you that if you don't pick a support, don't even think about getting a good combination; prepare to resist pressure and lose the lane just like the last game.

But at the same time, the mid-jungle hero that best pairs with JDG's jungle Vi is clearly Ahri, which is equivalent to making you choose between mid and bot!

"Pick Rakan."

In Homme's view, there are still quite a few choices for the mid lane; anyway, the opponent's mid lane hasn't been revealed yet, and having the fifth-pick counter slot should be enough.

Entering the second round of bans—

JDG: Zhao Xin, Sejuani

V5: Ahri, Taliyah

Because they were unsure of K'Sante's direction, 369 first picked the versatile Gnar, leaving the counter-pick slot for the mid-laner.

However, V5 clearly had plans early on.

"V5 fills in Kennen and Kindred!?"

"Kindred!? Hiss, this seems like something Xun is actually good at!"

Kindred is a hero so unpopular in the current meta that it couldn't be more unpopular.

More accurately, it should be said that ever since the jungle-carry meta of S10, this thing has been in a corner ignored by everyone, with only a few "signature" players using it.

And although Xun had always been a small transparent figure in the competitive scene before this year, the commentators had an impression that he was one of those so-called signature players.

This is another difference between V5 and TES.

The "champion pool" of this V5 lineup—it's just bizarrely deep for everyone!

"So, it really is mid-lane K'Sante!"

"Master Ye's K'Sante!!"

"Although K'Sante has truly been nerfed quite a bit in this patch, we've seen him play it consistently since the solo tournament at the annual awards ceremony, and it was precisely with this hero that he defeated Uzi to win the Solo King trophy!"

Homme realized that things were exceeding his expectations.

Kindred clearly countered Vi's point-and-click lockdown ability to some extent.

And this mid-lane K'Sante was, in fact, somewhat unexpected.

He certainly knew Ye Bo could play K'Sante, but that was in a previous patch.

After the massive nerfs in 13. , a pick that was originally seen as only viable in the mid lane due to raw stats shouldn't be that strong anymore.

Can it still "force its way" into the mid lane now?

Homme really didn't have much understanding of mid-lane K'Sante, mainly because no one in any region was really using it to play mid; it wasn't even enough for the top lane.

And even if it were played, it was meant to counter melee heroes like Sylas or Galio.

He didn't think too much about it.

Following the plan, JDG locked in LeBlanc as a substitute for Ahri, continuing to carry out the main theme of their mid-jungle for this match.

Knight didn't say a word, offering no opinions throughout the process.

Anyway, the main point was to never take responsibility and never take the blame—after all, the coach told me to pick it!

Both sides' lineups were finalized.

《Blue Side: V5 vs Red Side: JDG》

【Top: Kennen vs Gnar】

【Jungle: Kindred vs Vi】

【Mid: K'Sante vs LeBlanc】

【ADC: Lucian vs Zeri】

【Support: Lulu vs Rakan】

"It seems JDG choosing the red side specifically really had an effect; the lineup looks quite good!" Wawa said casually.

"The blue side lineup looks very solid as well," Miller added, playing it safe, "Let's see if this match can provide some ideas for other teams; after all, everyone is still in the exploration phase."

"However, I am personally looking forward to this mid-lane K'Sante!"

"I can only say that Master Ye's boundaries are still expanding! From last year's high-tempo early-game heroes to this year's mid-to-late-game hyper-carries, now he can even dabble in this kind of 'utility' hero! If he can really make it work, he truly is a hexagonal mid-laner!"

"It's a pity, but I feel like there's not much to say about playing against LeBlanc, right?" Zoom also expressed his opinion on the mid-lane matchup.

However, it was different from everyone else.

Upon seeing the opponent pick LeBlanc in the counter-pick slot, Ye Bo's expression seemed somewhat strange.

My friend, who taught you to pick LeBlanc against K'Sante?

There was another understanding.

It was something different from Ye Bo, the people at the commentary desk, and even everyone else present.

And who said K'Sante is a "utility" hero?

In Ye Bo's view.

The K'Sante he understood in this patch—was a true "Assassin" hero in every sense!

(End of chapter)