Chapter 277: Dog Trainer? Information Dog!

"Welcome back to the 2023 Summer Split!"

The broadcast screen cut back, and Wawa's resonant voice appeared: "Today's opening match is truly full of highlights. Not only is it Master Ye's birthday, but it's also the first summer clash between two teams with deep ties, and furthermore, it's EDG's first match since bringing in Uzi!"

His partner, Miller, naturally picked up the thread: "Indeed, I never expected to see Doggy make a comeback on EDG."

The director pulled up the data comparison between the two teams from the Spring Split.

There was naturally nothing much to say about the other positions; after all, V5 was the Spring Split champion, so it was normal for them to lead EDG in every role.

The focus, naturally, was on the head-to-head record between the two bottom-lane marksmen.

"The last time these two legendary AD players faced off in the LPL was the final summer series of 2016, and that was also the series where Doggy regretfully lost 0: ," Miller read from the script provided by the director's data.

"After exactly seven years, the two sides are facing each other once again as the very first match of the Summer Split!"

"As for their career head-to-head record... well, Deft still holds a slight lead."

At this point, even the guest commentator beside the desk, Mlxg, couldn't help but lose his composure.

This was because the 【Career Total Match Record】 for Uzi and Deft showed—the two had played a total of 8 series and 19 individual games, with Uzi winning only 1 series and 5 individual games.

A total win rate of a staggering 22. 0%!

Fortunately, considering today was the opening match, the guest chosen was Mlxg rather than the originally planned Cool.

Mlxg was holding back a laugh as he explained for his old teammate: "To be fair, Deft was truly fierce in those years."

"But back when Deft beat Uzi, Clearlove was always standing behind him; Clearlove really had a knack for playing against Uzi... but today, Clearlove is standing behind Uzi!"

Wawa immediately smoothed things over and changed the subject: "That's right, that's right! Clearlove is the EDG coach now, so he must have passed on some tips for ganking the bottom lane to Jiejie~~"

"And today is also the first match of the new patch. Everyone knows the mid-season patch brought huge changes to the game. At the same time, the new hero Naafiri and Milio, who didn't get a chance to appear in the playoffs, are all unbanned. These are all things we can look forward to today."

The commentary desk took the opportunity to educate viewers who hadn't checked the patch notes.

Meanwhile, in the player booths, the members of EDG wore different expressions.

"We definitely can't lose today!" The top laner, Ale, seemed quite excited: "Let's take down V5 and get a winning start for Doggy!"

Come to think of it, Ale, who debuted on OMG in 2018, was no longer a rookie.

Yet, to this day, he didn't have much of a "positive reputation."

Even his only appearance at the World Championship was the S11 LNG group stage exit, where the team was captured by North American and European teams in succession, paying a heavy tribute to a certain future legendary team's record.

Fortunately, Ale always thought highly of himself and remained convinced that he was a top-tier top laner!

Compared to the others, he was actually very eager to play against a team like V5; he just wanted a chance to solo kill their star players to prove his ability!

"Good luck, good luck..." The mid laner, Fofo, looked quite nervous.

After all, he was the one who "replaced" Ye Bo.

Every time EDG lost a match in the first half of the year, people inevitably compared him to Ye Bo, and now he had to face him directly, so the psychological pressure was naturally immense.

But in all fairness.

Fofo was definitely one of the most stable performers on EDG in the first half of the year, performing even better than the two champion jungle and support players who stayed on the team—it was just that his predecessor's performance had been too exaggerated, making the contrast too sharp.

And Uzi's nervousness was actually no less than the mid laner's.

After all, this was his first match since his comeback, and he naturally wanted to prove himself!

If Deft could dream back to S6 and win the MSI championship, why couldn't he?

Of course, more importantly, the entire EDG roster had heard about the "Asian Games Roster," and no one didn't want to fight desperately for that spot.

Even Uzi was no exception!

Ye Bo typed and interacted with Jiejie in the custom lobby until the referee sent the notification to start the match through their headsets, and everyone officially entered the zone.

A crisp sound rang out.

"Let's enter the pick-and-ban phase!"

"It's worth mentioning that the patch has undergone massive changes, and the strong heroes from MSI have almost all been nerfed. Although mid lane was the least affected, mid lane Titan, Neeko, and K'Sante were all weakened."

Ignoring the systemic impact of minion wave changes, looking solely at the mid lane ecosystem, it was the least changed in the new patch.

Because the items for fighters, marksmen, and supports had almost all changed, only the items for mid-lane mages had barely changed, or even received buffs.

Both sides' first round of bans—

EDG: Akali, Sylas, Neeko

V5: K'Sante, Renata Glasc, Lulu

"In the first round, EDG is on the blue side and has directly banned all three major mid-lane heroes!"

"My goodness, this is the respect coming from an old teammate!"

"And EDG has directly first-picked Aphelios, grabbing the strongest late-game carry of the current patch for Doggy!"

Item changes led to varying degrees of shifts in the AD ecosystem.

But only Aphelios's status remained as stable as Mount Tai.

It even rose instead of falling!

This brings up the "logic" behind the designers' changes to marksman items this time.

Of the original three mythic items, only Galeforce was kept, and its attack damage and critical strike rate were nerfed; meanwhile, Infinity Edge, Guinsoo's Rageblade, and Navori Quickblades all became mythic items.

The true meaning of this change is: ADCs are forced to choose between "mobility" and "damage"!

Galeforce naturally represents mobility.

And the other three are all super-damage items of the same tier, which are also the "core items" that the vast majority of marksman heroes must build!

You have to know, a single Infinity Edge was once the super-core item for so many ADCs; it almost meant that whenever it was completed, the build was complete.

But now, as mythic items, one can only choose between the Galeforce and Infinity Edge series!

For many late-game carry heroes, the combat power of a two-item build without Infinity Edge is definitely not enough, and their power spike has to be delayed to at least three or even four items.

But Aphelios, relying on his special skill mechanics and the excess stats provided by his passive—

Becomes the only exception!

Those who know, know: Aphelios has never lacked damage. You can often see a late-game 0-10 Aphelios wipe everyone out in a team fight if left alone—the only thing he lacks is survivability.

Yet, in this patch, {Galeforce} + {Shieldbow} can be built together!

If other ADCs dared to build like that during standard development, they would definitely be working as massage therapists on the spot, acting as scraping technicians.

Only Aphelios, as long as he can survive, will not lack damage, and thus he has leaped to become the only T0 marksman in the current patch.

"You can see that V5 also values the bottom lane; they banned two supports in the first round and then directly grabbed Jinx and Tahm Kench in the second pick."

"Oh, does that mean EDG doesn't have any good enchanter supports left to take?"

The commentary desk only then realized the key to the problem.

Zhu Kai, standing behind EDG, clearly just realized it too, finally understanding the intention behind the opponent's first-round BP.

Still the same point.

What Aphelios needs most is to survive, so to exert his full ability, he must be paired with an enchanter support with strong protection capabilities.

But with Lulu and Renata banned and Tahm Kench taken, there were actually no strong enchanter supports left!

"What to pick? What to pick?" Jiejie, on the second floor, turned his head to ask.

Whenever this moment came, he would start to miss the days of last year, when a reassuring voice would always come from beside him.

"This can only be Milio. Meiko, can you do it?"

Zhu Kai looked at the scribbled notebook in his hand, pretending to be serious.

"Um, should be, no problem," Meiko paused and replied.

Although Meiko definitely hadn't played much of the new hero, the hero's operation was very simple.

It's just that although Milio also has decent protection capabilities, it mainly highlights his {crowd control removal} ability, which is clearly a cut below the other three protection kings.

Zhu Kai waved his hand: "Then Milio and Kindred! Play around Doggy!"

Although Jiejie's Kindred wasn't his signature, there were better choices outside.

But Kindred could not only take away Xun's signature pick but also provide an extra means of protection!

At first glance, it still seemed very reasonable.

"V5 counters by picking Vi. Although Sunderer was heavily nerfed this patch, Vi is still a very good choice in the jungle!"

"Both sides enter the second round of BP!"

V5: Galio, Sion

EDG: Annie, Azir

"My goodness, EDG has used five bans on mid laners!" Wawa said happily: "They really respect Master Ye too much! Is this how they're doing it in the first match of the new patch?"

Miller expressed a different opinion: "But to be honest, V5 is on the red side and has the counter-pick. Can these five mid-lane bans really be effective? Not to mention V5 is very good at mid-top flex picks."

"Sure enough, Gragas! Gragas is very good at flexing!"

Mlxg added from the side: "And Gragas slightly counters Kindred; his ultimate can blast people out of Kindred's ultimate."

The EDG members on the other side also fell into deep thought.

Gragas was a hero frequently used by V5 in both mid and top; this move clearly gave them no chance for a counter-pick, and both mid and top could only be blind-picked.

"Pick Jayce for me? Fiora is also fine; I feel like I can play a solo lane this game!" Ale expressed his opinion, eager to try.

Zhu Kai hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said: "No, no, our lineup is too fragile. We need to add a front-liner in the top lane; let's go with Ornn."

"For mid lane, let's go with the Twisted Fate we planned! They definitely won't expect it!"

There was no homework to copy for the new patch, no data to refer to; it was a brand-new attempt for everyone.

This kind of opening match is also the best way to see a team's understanding.

And, EDG's understanding of the mid lane under Zhu Kai's leadership—was roaming heroes like Twisted Fate!

He, of course, also noticed the change regarding {mid lane minion waves}.

His thought was: since it's hard for ordinary heroes to roam, why not use one that can fly across half the map directly?

The more difficult the environment is for others to maneuver in, the stronger a hero capable of such shameless maneuvering should be!

Thinking about it at first glance, it seems there is no problem with that.

The only small problem is.

If Twisted Fate is truly the answer, yet V5 did not move to pick or ban it in the second round of the fourth slot, could it be because V5 failed to discover it entirely?

"Finally, it's V5's counter-pick slot; it feels like Gragas is actually decent against both of these."

"Is he a dog!?"