Chapter 251: We LCK are Invincible! A Breakthrough in the Laning Phase?

When the Gen. main crystal exploded into fragments across the sky, the LCK commentary booth couldn't stop sighing.

The Roaring Emperor rested his elbows on the desk, unconsciously rubbing his bangs, his voice strained and frustrated: "How could it end up like this?"

"The team composition in the first game wasn't problematic; even if the ADC were swapped for other hyper-carry heroes, it would still be hard to survive. It was clearly a winning position as long as the early-game tempo remained steady!"

"But perhaps it was just the lack of a warm-up in the first game. The top priority now is for Gen. to adjust their state immediately. As the sole remaining hope for our region in this MSI, they really need to wake up!"

Compared to the chattering Roaring Emperor.

The two people beside him, though they tried their best to look dejected, honestly felt no ripples in their hearts.

Xu Xiu had no connection with the Gen. members; conversely, he had a tiny bit of a bond with V5—after all, he had his old brother Beryl, with whom he shared a deep friendship.

Not to mention, even setting aside personal emotional factors.

Deep down, Xu Xiu had actually favored V5 slightly more from the start!

Although, in truth, both mid-laners on the field had "milked" him in recent years, and if counting by frequency, Chovy from the same region had done it even more!

But the ID "Ye," who had only experienced a single short battle at the World Championship, left an impression on him that was simply too profound.

It was just that even Xu Xiu hadn't expected the first game to be so crushing.

And if Xu Xiu still felt some worry about his own region's situation and was still a bit pained by the loss in this match.

The Scout beside him was actually feeling quite happy!

Don't misunderstand—it wasn't because he was happy that the LPL won.

It was simply because Scout had come to show his face today to look for a job. Clearly, the weaker the teams within the LCK region were, especially with the obvious decline in the mid-lane position, the greater his own opportunities would naturally be!

Scout had only just realized his opportunity had come when he saw T1 being sent home one after another by two LPL teams and witnessed Faker's incredibly poor performance!

He was even already dreaming.

If Faker remained in this state by the World Championship this year and T1 put up another miserable historical record at the World Championship... by then, he might even have a chance to return to T1!

The screams and cheers inside the Copper Box Arena never ceased for a moment.

The entire Gen. team lowered their heads and walked quickly back to the backstage lounge. Since the entrance was next to the spectator stands, many LPL fans were currently crowding the front row, waving cheering banners and showing off their might at them!

And just as the Gen. members stepped backstage and pulled back the curtain.

A thunderous opening!

Coach Score stood directly at the entrance, staring at everyone with a cold expression.

His face was full of disappointment, making the entire Gen. team tremble in fear, not daring to make a sound, only daring to lower their heads and follow behind him.

"Sibal..." Before the room door was even fully closed, Score immediately squeezed out the frustration he had been holding in for a long time through his teeth.

"Ya, Sibal!!!"

"What were you all playing this game! How could you get beaten like this!?"

Let alone the outside audience.

Before the match, everyone on the Gen. team except Viper also believed that the strength of both sides was about the same, and that the advantage might even be on their side.

After all, one of the cores who beat them last year had come to their side this year; it was purely a case of one growing while the other wanes!

Who could have imagined that once they clashed, it would be such a completely one-sided situation?

Truly, shattering at a single touch!

"Why on earth did you go to chase at the 6-minute mark? Wouldn't it have been fine to just honestly take the little dragon! Why didn't you follow the tactics we laid out!"

"And in the mid-game, the support was too obsessed with protecting the AD! With the opposing support and mid-laner roaming like that, if you, a Nautilus, don't move along with them, of course the opponent can find tempo everywhere. How could this situation possibly be stabilized!"

"And Doran! You explain to me, what was the meaning of getting solo-killed by Sylas while split-pushing? You were at full health, what were you posturing for!?"

"Did you see the ID above his head!!!"

The super senior Score finished his head-to-toe summary before he finally let out a breath.

The Gen. members, sprayed with spit all over their faces, didn't dare to respond with a single word.

He softened his tone slightly: "This game, at least Viper and Chovy performed okay. As for Chovy, I can only say that K'Sante doesn't seem to suit us, but the good news is that we burned a lot of mid-lane heroes."

"Now I'll talk about the BP. Next game, I don't want to see any more accidents!"

Score had the best attitude toward the mid and bot duo; after all, these two were extremely stable carry hyper-carries in the league, and he trusted them the most.

Come to think of it, this MSI version wasn't particularly compatible with Gen. , which was very similar to T1.

Although Peanut was a jungle-carry player in his youth, his current aged state meant his jungle-carry performance couldn't compare to Oner's.

And everyone knows Chovy's most proficient heroes.

Even when he plays heroes like K'Sante, Nautilus, Annie, or Lissandra, he still plays them like he's playing Azir!

This brings up his "other self in the world"—Mr. Left Hand is completely different in this regard. Playing these functional mid-laners that don't require carry responsibility, where you just dump your skills and run, he seems to have an innate talent.

He doesn't even need to practice!

Of course, Left Hand is also not as good as Right Hand when it comes to using "Super Farmer" heroes, which can be considered the most distinct difference in their playstyles.

However, as Viper listened to the coach talking about the fine-tuning of the BP, he felt a bit distracted for a moment.

He couldn't help but glance at the silent live broadcast on the big screen to the right.

The broadcast was replaying several highlights from the previous game, and watching Sylas being unstoppable in front of the high-ground gate, knocking everyone into the air and sending him flying, with a one-second black screen and absolutely no room for operation...

At this moment, Viper still felt lingering fear.

He finally knew today how other AD players felt when facing them last year... this was just too terrifying!

Although he was a participant in every wave last year, when it was his turn to stand on the opposite side, the experience was completely different!

And this scene also appeared once again at the Copper Box Arena.

For the LCK fans on site, it was undoubtedly another critical hit.

T1 lost last week, and even though they lost to two LPL teams in a row, they could still comfort themselves by saying: "It'll be fine when Gen. comes!"

But, what if even Gen. was bullied like this!?

This was their number one seed that had swept everyone in their region!

The Korean audience on site was passionately expressing their emotions in the LCK live chat and on Korean websites.

【Damn Gen. ! They lost even worse than T1! Did I buy a ticket today to suffer!】

【Hehe, I'm serious, if Gen. gets 3-0'd again, I think the LCK can really just die. What's the point of continuing? They only know how to bully at home and then go out and embarrass themselves!】

【Hey, hey, hey, losing doesn't mean they're going home directly. This is a winner's bracket match, why are you so pessimistic after losing just one game?】

【Why? Fun fact: if Gen. also loses twice and goes home, the LCK will become the third region, only behind North America's trash in terms of speed of going home, and won't even be able to keep the second region spot... This is practically the same shame as getting a bronze medal at the Asian Games!】

【Buck up, Gen. ! The last bit of face for the LCK depends on you!】

However, amidst a chorus of cursing and pessimism.

There were also unexpectedly positive supportive comments appearing and scrolling by.

【Believe in Gen. ! The first game on the red side was just not warmed up yet, they will definitely win it back this game!】

【Don't just look at the win or loss. Actually, Gen. only made those two mistakes in the last game. Without those mistakes, V5 definitely wouldn't be their match!】

【If you ask me, Gen. intentionally lost the first game! It's all tactics! They intentionally chose a trash composition in the first game to burn heroes, so the opponent won't have any heroes to use later. They can just surrender in the BP!】

【Indeed, even a well-known LPL commentator posted on Weibo saying that Gen. definitely didn't show their true strength. This is respect from the opponent!】

【Yes, yes, yes! The person above is right! We LCK are invincible! We are the number one region!】

In a corner of the stands.

While waiting for the start, one person was holding two mobile phones, frantically tapping the keyboard, constantly switching between translation software and the live broadcast screen.

A companion leaned over, saw the original sentences in the translation software, and instantly widened their eyes and shouted: "Damn! Brother, you're a KRD! You can even hype like this?"

But that person just gave a relaxed, hehe laugh: "You don't understand~"

"Koreans are too easy to troll. You tell them they can win, and they actually believe it~"

"You have to make them feel hope, then let them experience despair, then see hope again, and finally despair. That's how you get the thrill! Our Anti-Pressure Bar has a professional 'Trolling Foreign Dogs' group that specializes in this."

"Damn, high! Truly high!"

And don't say, under the wave of passionate, encouraging comments that inexplicably popped up in the live chat and on Korean websites, many LCK fans actually regained their confidence.

That's right, didn't they just lose one small game?

The BO5 has only just begun!

We LCK are invincible!

When the players from both sides returned to the stage, many LCK fans who had regained their confidence used all their strength to roar and cheer from the stands. Coach Score, walking in front with his hands behind his back and his head held high, felt his blood boil upon hearing the cheers in his native language.

He raised his hand and patted Chovy on the shoulder: "Look, so many supporters who traveled from our country are cheering for you. They didn't even care about the failure of the last game!"

"Bring out your true strength, Ji-hoon! Prove to them that you are the strongest mid-laner!"

"This game, only success is allowed, no failure. We Gen. must hold onto the face of the LCK!"

Chovy listened to the coach's pep talk and only dared to nod lightly at an angle barely visible to the naked eye.

The entire Gen. team felt immense pressure upon hearing this, and of course, they all knew that this game could not be lost.

After all, a 0-1 start is indeed not scary... but 0-2 would be very scary!

The players sat down to prepare.

The director's camera also cut to the official commentary booth.

The LPL commentary booth was still analyzing the hearty and satisfying match, their faces overflowing with laughter.

Wawa said excitedly: "It seems like V5's Caitlyn system has found a brand new best answer. Caitlyn and Neeko feel even more intimidating than last year's Caitlyn and Ashe!"

"I can only say that V5's ability to have such an unstoppable performance after arriving at MSI is inseparable from the fact that they are constantly leading this version and always walking at the forefront!"

The Haier Brothers partner, Miller, also added to his partner's words: "Of course, including our dear Brother Guan who just posted on Weibo predicting that Gen. 's strength this year definitely shouldn't be just like this, we still can't let our guard down."

"Oh, the BP has already started here! Gen. has switched to the blue side for the second game, and they are still targeting the mid-lane with their bans!"

First round of bans—

Gen. : Akali, Annie, Wukong

V5: Xayah, Lulu, Tahm Kench

"The bans in the first round for both sides haven't changed much. The blue side made adjustments because they wanted to snatch champions and didn't want to be countered by OP picks in the second round, while the red side, where V5 is, followed the same bot-lane-focused draft strategy as the previous game."

"GEN first-picks Sion! V5 responds by taking Lee Sin and Jayce!"

"It is worth mentioning that for V5, Lee Sin and Jayce have a lot of flex potential! Jayce can flex between top and mid, and Lee Sin can even flex between top, mid, and jungle!"

When the GEN coaching staff saw that the opponent didn't pick a bot lane duo with their follow-up picks, they were initially a bit pleasantly surprised.

In their view, they clearly thought a mid-lane Lee Sin was more likely, as the impression left on everyone last week was deep enough.

However, the positioning of the mid lane is very important in this game, so they still chose to play it safe.

"Let's pick the bot lane first. The champion they banned feels like they want to engage."

After all, Score is a former professional player, so he isn't exactly a fool; looking at the opponent's first-round bans, he guessed some of their intentions.

"We definitely have to take Aphelios, pair him with Renata, it can play defensively!"

Renata's pick rate in the current patch is very low, a far cry from the glory of last year's World Championship.

The reason is similar to the sudden demise of Varus.

In a patch dominated by tank supports, Renata slightly lacks proactive tools, and the disadvantage of her inherently weak laning ability has been infinitely magnified.

Coupled with the most important "revive" mechanic, it generally requires pairing with "brawling" oriented heroes to be more suitable—which does not align with the rhythm of the current hyper-carry patch.

Of course, Renata is indeed a good choice for playing defensively.

V5, meanwhile, hesitated slightly on the third pick.

BeryL saw the few champions the opponent had already revealed and directly suggested he pick first.

"Perhaps seeing the opponent's bot lane duo revealed, V5 surprisingly picked a support in the first round, locking in Thresh, whom they've used quite a bit recently," Miller still tried to analyze.

Entering the second round of drafting—

V5: Maokai, Kindred

GEN: Zeri, Lucian

Because V5's top, mid, and jungle positions were completely undetermined, GEN couldn't guess the opponent's team composition for a moment, so they simply went all out to ban AD carries.

But by the fourth pick, V5 had already revealed their hand!

"Kai'Sa!? A very rare champion in this patch!"

"So V5 is going for an extreme engage composition again! And why does it feel like it might be even more extreme than the last game? Lee Sin is highly likely to be the mid laner!"

With the AD carry selected on the fourth pick, GEN still didn't know what the opponent's final counter-pick position was.

They could only continue to pick according to their own plan.

The jungler picked Viego first, and Score said in a low voice: "What do you want, Zhixun? Their Lee Sin is highly likely to be mid."

"Pick someone you can lane well against. In this game, you'd better be able to stand your ground during the laning phase and keep an eye on the opponent; then we'll have a very easy time!"

Chovy thought silently and didn't answer immediately.

Finally, among three flex options, he locked in a champion that was also somewhat rare.

"Wow, wow, wow, it's here, Chovy's Aurelion Sol! His signature pick from the LCK Spring Split is here!" WaWa habitually exclaimed.

"Can we still see this champion in the MSI patch? Even Master Ye doesn't play him anymore~" Miller joked.

Since Aurelion Sol became popular after his release, during the 2023 spring splits in major global regions, two players' Aurelion Sol were the most famous.

One was naturally Ye Bo, who played him all spring.

The other was Chovy!

And his Aurelion Sol was indeed one of the very few, like Ye Bo's, that could create laning advantages—a "Laning Aurelion Sol."

It's just that ever since Aurelion Sol was nerfed twice before the MSI patch, he went from a hot meta pick to being ignored overnight.

Just as the casters said, even Ye Bo doesn't play him much anymore.

Of course, Ye Bo not playing him isn't because the champion is truly that weak—it's just that his priority is lower in the first few games, and he has better choices.

And the current patch's major magic carries also include the reworked Azir and Orianna; although their pick rates are also very low, they are at least more common than Aurelion Sol.

So when Ye Bo saw the opponent pick Aurelion Sol, he was still somewhat surprised.

However, it was more of a pleasant surprise!

This guy seems to be walking right into the line of fire.

"Xun, what if I swap champions? You play Lee Sin? I have a champion that lanes very well against him!" Ye Bo symbolically asked his teammates for their opinions.

V5 had indeed originally planned to flex Lee Sin to the mid lane, pair him with an aggressive jungler like Kha'Zix or Elise in the jungle, and continue to carry out their "Crushing the Turtle Shell" aggressive tempo.

But if it's against an Aurelion Sol, Ye Bo has a better choice.

A choice he is confident can break through from the "laning side"!

It was clear his inquiry was indeed symbolic; Xun, having received the big brother's request, said nothing and just kept nodding vigorously.

"V5 finally fills in Gragas. Gragas has no problem against Viego in the jungle, and the composition is also very cohesive."

Both sides' compositions are confirmed.

《Blue Side: GEN vs Red Side: V5》

【Top: Sion vs Jayce】

【Jungle: Viego vs Lee Sin】

【Mid: Aurelion Sol vs Gragas】

【ADC: Aphelios vs Kai'Sa】

【Support: Renata Glasc vs Thresh】

(End of chapter)