Chapter 375: Bloody Zero-Kill! The Authentic

"If they didn't manage to swap lanes, based on what you just said, G2's laning phase is going to be in bad shape, right? Wouldn't that mean they're at a disadvantage in all three lanes?"

The main broadcast for the LEC region.

Josh, the G2 coach who recently posted on the European and American anti-stress forums claiming Ye Bo is a "cyborg" and that "Brier is just a duo-queue gimmick," asked with confusion.

After all, the outside world cannot know the mind games happening inside the arena.

Although Josh is currently a coach for the Valorant division, he previously caused a trending-level spectacle on the internet and is indeed a G2 member, so no one would say anything if he made a guest appearance at the World Championship.

"Uh, is it possible they just don't know how to swap lanes?"

Co-streaming with him is Caedrel, nicknamed "Ou Gang"—known for his striking resemblance to Crystal, his identical streaming style, and the fact that he is also a former pro player whose trophy cabinet is filled with nothing but flower pots.

As a famous LPL fan, Ou Gang's interactions with Josh, who embodies the G2 "war wolf" identity, make for top-tier entertainment.

"How is that possible!" Josh replied with a look of disdain: "GEN and JDG could figure it out in one night; do you think we at G2 can't? I suspect there's some other tactic at play!"

"By the way, Caedrel, I have to ask you a question before we watch this match~"

Because they failed to swap lanes, G2 was at a disadvantage in all three lanes early on, almost without question.

Naturally, there wasn't much to see during the opening laning phase.

Josh took the initiative to tease: "First of all, I definitely support G2, but Caedrel, we all know you're an LPL fan."

"So the question is, in this crucial battle between V5 and our European first seed G2, who are you supporting?"

Upon hearing this, Ou Gang didn't panic at all and said with a straight face: "You have to be clear, Josh. First of all, I'm not an LPL fan; I'm just a fan of V5 and WBG."

"Secondly, this is a really tough question. How should I put it? It's like watching your family fight your favorite person; it's really hard to choose!"

"But you know, the same blood flows through me as them, and regardless, I am a representative caster for the European region. G2 is connected to me by blood, and blood is thicker than water! So my support for V5 and Ye will never, ever exceed that of any European team!"

"Especially since this is our region's proudest child, G2!"

"Oh?"

Josh smiled and pointed at the collar of the shirt on the other side of the screen.

"Then what is that black-collared shirt you're wearing underneath? It looks a bit like a V5 team jersey to me."

Ou Gang immediately widened his eyes and retorted: "You're slandering me! Let's just watch the game first; it looks like G2 is about to make a move!"

He changed the subject at light speed.

On the broadcast, Sylas, who started with a double-buff level-three clear, was preparing to make a move on the bottom lane.

It is well known that Sylas jungle "cannot farm," as he easily collapses if he just keeps farming, so he must gank early.

V5 naturally had precautions in place.

As soon as Sylas reached the edge of the bottom river, he was forced back by their positioning, making it clear they knew his location.

"They have vision, just come out and help us push the wave!" Hanssama commanded.

Because they didn't know where the enemy Jarvan IV was, it was hard to say how a 3v3 counter-gank in the bottom lane would go, and the risk was too high if Draven managed to pick up a kill.

And contrary to Ou Gang's speculation.

G2 clearly had an understanding of lane swapping.

After they discovered their opening "mind game" of swapping lanes hadn't succeeded, they knew they had to continue seeking opportunities to swap, otherwise, continuing to lane would just be a slow death.

"Jarvan hasn't shown up yet; if he's not counter-jungling my top side, he's in mid or top. You guys be careful!" Jungler Yike warned the mid and top laners.

From the very beginning of the lane-swap meta, it has been repeated constantly—the first priority in the lane-swap mind game is always lane priority.

Only those who push the minion wave out first have the qualifications to "actively swap lanes."

Just like this wave.

V5 lost track of the enemy bottom duo and was forced to deal with a push, so if they wanted to continue "hunting for the matchup," they could only clear the wave under the tower and recall to "blindly hunt."

Due to the difference in recall timing, V5 could only guess whether the opponent went to mid or top.

"BB, get ready to TP bot, we..."

As Hanssama spoke, he suddenly started brainstorming.

His nickname "Brother Ou" wasn't for nothing; one of the reasons was that he was an AD player who participated in shot-calling!

Especially in the lane-swap meta, and with his support Mikyx not being skilled at shot-calling, many of the rotations were decided by him.

"I feel like they might also swap to catch us, BB, you should act a bit!"

"The two of us will continue to bot!"

After a brainstorm, Hanssama made a decision that seemed like a very clever tactical play.

Repeating the same trick!

Although their "thousand-layer cake mind game" failed at level one, and they didn't know if the opponent just happened not to swap this game or had somehow terrifyingly guessed their thoughts—

But they would try it again this time.

There was no reason they could guess it again this time!

In the top lane, BB immediately began to cooperate, intentionally sacrificing minions to let the wave push toward their side, acting as if he were helping the AD stack the wave and save health, ready to TP bot at any moment.

He picked Yone and was countered by the opponent's Jax; laning was basically a prison sentence.

He was desperate to run away!

Even if it was just as miserable to face two people in the bottom lane, at least he could serve the purpose of drawing fire.

The duo detoured from the base to head back toward the bottom lane, and even after reaching their own bottom tier-one tower, they deliberately waited instead of showing themselves, wanting to wait for the opponent's bottom lane—who left late—to appear first.

But, just as Tristana and Syndra were about to step out of the tower—the opponent's bottom lane, Draven and Neeko, appeared first!

"???"

Hanssama was stunned: "What does this mean... could they have guessed we didn't swap even this time!?"

"BB, you didn't give us away, did you?"

BB in the top lane was very innocent: "No, I've missed at least ten CS."

Hanssama began to doubt reality.

Could it be that for two waves in a row, I've been "playing mind games with the air," and they actually had no intention of lane swapping this game at all?

However, the spectator view saw it clearly.

Josh covered his forehead with a constipated expression: "This, they really didn't realize it at all!?"

Ou Gang pointed at the screen: "No, no, no! The jungler is about to bump into them; they should realize it now!"

Jungler Yike had just come out of Jarvan's empty bottom-side red buff area, preparing to return to his own bottom-side blue area to finish the remaining two camps.

He didn't expect to run head-on into a Jarvan as soon as he stepped into the entrance bush!

A 1v1 between Sylas and Jarvan might not be completely unwinnable.

But since they were near the mid lane, the enemy Viego was already on the way, and Azir was completely helpless.

Sylas would explode if he stayed a second longer!

There was no choice; Sylas had to use E first to bait out Jarvan's EQ, then decisively flash over the wall to escape.

"That's not right, how could Jarvan stay in my blue buff area for so long..." Yike, having escaped, finally realized in hindsight.

You have to know.

Sylas had gone to the bottom lane to help push the wave first, then wandered around in Jarvan's red buff area.

Jarvan had done a fast level-three clear in the bottom area, then headed straight for Sylas's blue area; he should have finished the remaining Gromp and Wolves in his own jungle long ago.

Unless he was delayed by something.

"Oh, this is V5's little design!" Ou Gang analyzed, looking excited: "After Jarvan entered Sylas's jungle, he didn't rush to farm, nor did he go to the bottom lane to counter-gank, but instead came to the corner in front of the base gate and placed a ward!"

"It was exactly this ward that captured the pathing information of G2's bottom lane, allowing V5's bottom lane, who left late, to change their route while heading toward the top-side base gate!"

"They calculated everything! Just this one ward shattered G2's bottom lane's intentions!"

Josh glanced at him sideways: "Whose side are you on?"

"I'm just analyzing the situation~"

Ou Gang chuckled and became serious again: "This makes me feel like G2 is in a very difficult spot. Their lineup was already weird, and V5's lineup is ridiculously good!"

"And in the mid lane, Caps's Azir feels like he has no way to deal with Ye's Viego..."

Back in the summer split against BLG, Ye Bo had used Viego to play against Yagao's Azir.

At that time, Yagao was restricted because Viego's E-skill Black Mist provided close-range stealth, and the new version of Azir had to prioritize W, making it difficult to frequently reposition sand soldiers, while the sand soldiers couldn't easily poke without knowing Viego's position, leaving him with no way to deal with the opponent in lane.

Caps in this game clearly hadn't overcome this problem and encountered the same dilemma as Yagao.

The mid lane was still relatively okay.

The most miserable ones were actually the top lane, where the swap failed, and the bottom lane.

If Sylas didn't go to the top lane to help relieve pressure, Yone wouldn't be able to lane, and V5 seized this point, immediately calling for Jarvan to prepare for a tower dive in the bottom lane to help Draven cash in.

But the facts also proved—G2 is definitely not a weak team, and they are certainly not playing randomly!

They were truly prepared!

Just as Neeko transformed into a minion to tank the tower, Syndra immediately used a long-range EQ to break the point, instantly forcing Neeko back into human form!

Clearly, {Support Syndra} was something G2 had specifically researched, chosen among several heroes that needed to be burned, precisely because it could counter the Neeko support they needed to release.

Come to think of it.

Neeko has actually received quite a significant nerf at the World Championship, to the point where her stats are too low to be used as a mid laner.

Yet she remains a must-ban or must-pick, and the {transforming into a cannon minion to tank towers} mechanism that the designers wanted to keep for "face" is clearly the culprit, as its strategic value is too high.

Of course, everyone has long known how to deal with it.

After all, Neeko's mechanism is that {she will be interrupted if she takes 'hard CC'}, so theoretically, picking a hard-CC support and finding a way to "control" the opponent while Neeko is tanking the tower can break it.

But it's not that simple in practice.

—Neeko usually stands at the edge of the tower range while tanking, and common hard-CC supports like Nautilus or Alistar have to basically walk out of the tower to interrupt her, and using key crowd control on the support makes it difficult to protect their own poor AD.

Not to mention that Neeko's teammates will also help block!

However, Syndra’s E-Q combo not only had an outrageously long range, but it was also extremely difficult for a champion like Neeko, who lacked mobility, to dodge!

"Interesting," Beryl said, watching the opponent’s Syndra while rolling his small eyes in thought.

Even teams whose strength was inferior to theirs clearly had aspects worth learning from and reflecting upon.

Relying on Syndra’s ability to guard against Neeko, V5 was in no rush to force a tower dive, wanting to avoid any unnecessary complications from a trade of kills.

Syndra was getting a bit carried away, even finding a few opportunities to defend the jungle, where she used Force of Will to snatch away low-health jungle monsters right in front of Jarvan IV, throwing them directly under her tower to eat them herself!