Chapter 85: Aggressive, Full-Throttle All-Out Attack Formation!

August 7, 2022.

"Alright, everyone! Welcome back to the live broadcast of the 2022 LPL Summer Regular Season!"

The official commentator sat upright in the booth, and after finishing his self-introduction, he steered the topic toward the match: "Coming up next is the clash between EDG and BLG, and this is also our final match of the summer regular season!"

"While we wait for both teams' players to get ready, let's first take a look at the data comparison between the two sides!"

Although there are no opening ceremonies for online matches, the preparatory work is just as tedious.

The camera placement alone requires specific positioning; it must expose the players' faces, hands, and peripherals entirely within the frame.

The director knows what the audience wants to see, and during the pre-match time, they pulled up the players' six-dimensional radar charts for comparison.

Even for this usually boring pre-game segment, the livestream room data is already approaching that of the main event, and secondary streams are all actively online!

"It's here, it's here! The streamer has been hungry for three days, this is exactly what I've been waiting for!"

The largest barbecue stall on the entire web, the DYS livestream room, sees its three gluttonous hungry ghosts appear immediately.

Jide in the main broadcast room is narrating: "As for the top lane, apart from damage taken, player Bin leads Flandre in all other stats, though this also has a lot to do with the team positioning of both sides."

"Oh, hurry, hurry, skip, skip! I want to see the mid laner's!!!" Sun Ye felt so anxious he felt like hair was about to grow on his head.

Due to match records, the six-dimensional data charts will have certain fluctuations, and the gap in the jungle position also looks quite significant.

But when the mid lane panel lit up, the chat was instantly filled with exclamation marks!

"Holy crap! Ask!"

"Damn, 17 MVPs! The true MVP King is here!"

From KDA, to damage per minute, to team damage share, average solo kills per game, and kill participation rate—

All data, even to the point of being somewhat exaggeratedly comprehensive and far in the lead!

"Haha, why does this look like a pimple growing in the middle of a steamed bun?" Xika chuckled, offering a vivid metaphor.

Actually, if one were to use Scout's data from his time at EDG for comparison, at the very least it should be a "darts hitting a balloon" style six-dimensional data comparison.

At the very least, in the {gold per minute} category, the opponent should be firmly ahead of Ye Bo.

But after coming to BLG, even this stat for Scout has been averaged out by the matches on those utility-type heroes, resulting in the entire data chart, when compared horizontally, finding almost no standout points.

Looking at the six-dimensional chart, it looks like a blue circle nearly filling the hexagon, with a small red circle at the center point.

[Grandpa! God!]

[Good heavens, all of Master Ye's stats are top two in his position, how scary is that.]

[693 damage per minute? Feels higher than many ADs!]

[The difference between a substitute and a starter is clear; today I'll let you know why a starter is a starter and a substitute is a substitute!]

[Thinking of Zhu Kai looking favorably at the theft yesterday makes me want to laugh, saying that as long as the mid lane plays normally, BLG has at least a 60% chance of winning, and all other lanes have advantages.]

[Pig Kai? I am the Sahara Desert, shielding from the sand and wind!]

"Looks like it's about to start!"

The three in the livestream room were still discussing the bot lane data comparison when they saw the banner on the broadcast screen change.

"BLG must lose today! Go EDG!!!" Xiaohai Youshen shouted, clenching his fists.

"What do you mean, Child God, have you defected? You didn't show any mercy when EDG played WBG and V5, you were gnashing your teeth every time you watched their matches!" Sun Yalong asked back, confused.

"It's not that, if BLG wins this match, the playoffs will push V5 and WBG down one spot each, and WBG would have to start from the first round of the qualifying tournament!" Xiaohai Youshen explained as if it were obvious.

"On the contrary, for EDG, winning or losing today doesn't affect their ranking at all. I'm so afraid they'll practice new strategies again! Please don't crash and burn!!"

Xika habitually started trolling: "Got it, got it! Then if EDG loses today, it must be on purpose, clearly trying to screw over my Weibo and V5!"

The BP screen appeared.

First game, blue side EDG, red side BLG.

"EDG starts by respecting Gwen, which A Bin likes to play recently; BLG counters by paying tribute to Taliyah, hey, no problem."

"EDG self-banning Aphelios?"

BLG's head coach Chashao, seeing the opponent ban Aphelios, smelled something unusual.

Aphelios is one of the opponent's AD's most proficient heroes and is also one of the top three ADCs in the current version; as the blue side, there is generally no reason to self-ban.

The only drawback is that this hero's early-game offensive capability is not high.

Then, isn't the only reason for a self-ban that they are preparing to play a fast-paced lineup this game and want to pick an aggressive hero for the bot lane?

In the current version's bot lane ADC ecosystem, the only remaining aggressive heroes are Draven, Kalista, and Lucian; among them, Lucian was just nerfed, and the blue side doesn't have the ability to get the combo directly.

At the same time, due to the schedule being moved up, Zeri's nerf on the official server hasn't been synchronized yet, so she still belongs to the heroes that the red side must self-ban.

"Puppy, we on the red side definitely have to let one of Draven or Kalista out." Chashao asked for the AD's opinion: "I feel like they are definitely going to take these two. If you were to take Senna, which one would you rather play against?"

Uzi thought for a moment; EDG's Draven had shown an aggressive system in previous matches, clearly more intimidating than Kalista.

"Kalista, I guess. Anyway, Senna-Tahm Kench just plays safe and farms, I'll take Glacial."

Both sides' first three bans—

EDG: Gwen, Aphelios, Sylas

BLG: Taliyah, Zeri, Draven

"This EDG ban is not right! It's really not right, I'm telling you!" Xika felt his barbecue soul burning: "Feels like they're trolling! Want to throw the game!"

"How could they self-ban Aphelios and Sylas? Although Ye Wen's Sylas has a bit of green, Scout's Sylas definitely isn't any better; his performance on the stage is average!"

"It's bad, Child God really called it!" Sun Yalong understood what he meant, teasing the innocent boy next door.

Xiaohai Youshen, whose face was already turning red with heat, sincerely roared: "If EDG throws the game, I will definitely be a hater for life! Doing this means they owe my V5 and WBG a World Championship trophy!"

The reason EDG banned Sylas first is clearly not because they are afraid of this hero.

Mainly, Sylas is the candidate with the strongest small-scale "fighting ability" among the current version's strong mid laners.

Regarding the intention EDG already exposed in the first three bans, it is clearly to play an early-game aggressive system.

And Sylas's mechanics belong to the type of hero that the blue side is uncomfortable first-picking because they will be targeted by ultimate abilities, and it is very uncomfortable for the red side to give it to the opponent.

The blue side, unsurprisingly, first-picked Kalista, and the red side directly countered with Senna-Tahm Kench.

The blue side continued to take Renata to form a combo, fully displaying the blue side's advantage in BP.

However, in the third pick, EDG hesitated for a while.

"Xuanjun has to pick first; I guess they will get countered in the top lane this way. This means picking the mid laner first, and the top laner will have to be banned in the second round." Maokai also guessed the opponent's BP intention.

"I can do it, Jayce or Gnar?"

Flandre's mouse clicked back and forth between these two heroes.

These are the two top lane heroes most suitable for picking first in the system they are preparing to play this game.

There are no natural enemies in the laning phase, and they possess aggressiveness from the early game to the mid game.

But as a match full of traffic, just clicking on two heroes was enough to ignite the livestream room.

"Flandre! You're bold!!!" Sun Yalong widened his eyes: "If you have the guts, pick it! Pick it!"

"Still hasn't picked, what a pity. I actually just wanted to see Councilor Jayce from Xuanjun."

"BLG third pick grabbed Azir for Scout; I knew it would be Azir. This guy is crazy about cosplaying Feifei now; he gets an Azir addiction whenever he has the chance!" Xika shook his head and evaluated.

In fact, as things have developed to this day, BLG's "double C" priority configuration of top + mid is clearly more frequent.

Actually, this is normal; just like when Scout first appeared, BLG also tried to let him take the helm first.

At this point in time in '22, even if Scout's competitive state has declined significantly, it must be a bit fuller than Uzi, who retired and then returned, otherwise Uzi wouldn't have failed to appear steadily even in the spring.

BLG's basic policy now is that in the case of failing to grab Aphelios or Zeri, the two version ADs, for the bot lane, they mostly choose the Senna-Tahm Kench combo for resource allocation.

"Xin Zhao has to be banned, but LeBlanc and Akali... tsk tsk." Chashao pinched the tip of his nose in distress during the second round of bans.

Knowing that the opponent is going to play an aggressive lineup, Xin Zhao, as a hero who plays shamelessly in early-game fights, must be guarded against, but at the same time, there are two assassin kings in the mid lane.

Although, theoretically, BLG has Tahm Kench here, theoretically they shouldn't be too afraid of these two assassins.

But when paired with the ID on the opposite side, it still gives people significant psychological pressure.

"Ban Akali..."

"Akali it is!"

Two voices sounded at the same time; it was Bin in the top lane and Scout in the mid lane.

Clearly, although neither has experienced it personally, these two are relatively the most clear about which hero of the opponent is more terrifying.

Especially Bin, with his strong fighting spirit, actually very much looks forward to playing against the opponent's Akali... but the premise is that he gets to lane against her!

Second round of bans————

EDG: Kennen, Poppy

BLG: Akali, Xin Zhao

"BLG is indeed leaving a lineup counter for the top laner; the fourth pick grabbing Trundle can counter Kalista, but there aren't many that Weiwei can play. The remaining good utility choices are either Trundle or Jarvan IV."

"Holy crap!? This EDG mid-jungle combo!"

EDG's fourth and fifth picks didn't pause at all, instantly locking in the hero avatars.

Volibear + Lucian!

BLG's fifth pick for the top lane actually doesn't have many choices.

Because the jungle and bot lane of this lineup are turtle attachments, clearly a turtle growth lineup, then the single magic core output of the mid laner is definitely not enough. The top lane must also supplement a core, and it's best if it can be an AD core.

Among the remaining strong AD cores in the version outside the game, there are actually only Gangplank and Kayle as choices.

Bin naturally chose his famous "Earth Fire" Gangplank.

Both sides' lineups are confirmed.

<>

[Top Lane: Gnar vs Gangplank]

[Jungle: Volibear vs Trundle]

[Mid: Rogue Sentinel vs. Emperor of the Sands]

[ADC: Spear of Vengeance vs. Purifier]

[Support: Baron of Alchemy vs. River King]

"What a terrifying lineup!" Sun Yalong adjusted his stomach and analyzed with a hint of seriousness.

"This Akshan probably wasn't picked just because the opponent picked Volibear; it feels like they really wanted to play it! It's all about roaming, and with this lineup, Jiejie could have picked Volibear himself!"

"EDG has a super aggressive lineup! It’s like having five cannons aimed at a siege; the offensive pressure is truly maxed out! It’s the kind where if they don't have a 5,000 gold lead by twenty minutes, their base might as well start smoking on its own!"

Xika also recalled: "Volibear in the jungle, I remember it was a very popular standard pick in the spring, but ever since the durability update, this thing has vanished to the point where no one plays it. It's because it's harder to make plays in the early game, and it's easier to crash and burn in an even game!"

Volibear's hero attributes are extremely polarized; as a well-known "stat-check" hero, his early-game fighting ability is incredibly strong.

But the price is that if this hero doesn't have a sufficiently large economic lead in the mid-game, he will turn into an awkward super minion that has no damage and can't take a hit in a matter of minutes!

Once the durability patch updated, the blow to such extreme heroes was fatal.

The match enters the loading screen.

"Let's do our best this game, everyone!" While waiting for the fountain gates to open, Shuwuzi was still optimistically encouraging his teammates: "If we win this one, we can play two fewer BO5s in the playoffs!"

"I can be left alone in the top lane; he can't pressure me, just let me know early if he goes missing," Bin said confidently.

"Let's go, let's go!" The thin LQS spoke up to encourage them.

Scout didn't speak; he took a deep breath and stared at the screen.

For the others, losing this game only concerned their starting position in the playoffs.

But for him, this game clearly held an extremely important "extra meaning."

There had never been a moment where he wanted to win more than now!

But when Scout pressed Tab and subconsciously checked the scoreboard, he suddenly discovered something.

"Ignite!?"

The mid-lane Akshan was actually carrying "Ignite"!

Scout felt the veins in his temples throbbing; his originally calm state of mind instantly flared up a bit.

What does he take me for!

A pushover? A weak link!?

"Then he should be playing very aggressively, should I come over early?" Weiwei, who liked to talk less nonsense, said some nonsense.

"It's fine! No need! Just start normally and don't affect the tempo; I'm not that easy to gank!" Scout gritted his teeth and said words that the old him would never have said.

Of course, it was also because the Emperor of the Sands himself isn't easy to coordinate with a jungler for ganks; he is a hero you play by yourself.

Although EDG didn't have much crowd control at level one, they relied on having three long-range heroes to hold the upper hand in the level-one skirmish.

BLG maintained a fairly conservative formation, with everyone heading straight to the bottom river to place wards before immediately retreating to defend.

"Hey, they're coming in, they're coming in!" Weiwei called out to his teammates.

"Give it to them, Bin, don't go in and give them your abilities; if they want to swap halves, let them!"

EDG grouped up and charged into the jungle from the upper river entrance. Fortunately, the BLG members were prepared, moving in an extremely cautious and defensive manner, not giving Volibear and Renata Glasc the distance for a Flash-Q.

BLG headed straight for the ward placed in the river, clearly capturing the whole process.

On the map, one could see that the EDG members only took a stroll through the red buff area before quickly returning the way they came.

But Weiwei wasn't stupid; it was still impossible for him to turn back and start at the red buff.

Clearly, the upper jungle was now full of enemy wards; running back to start there would not only expose his location but also make him vulnerable to a level-two counter-jungle invasion.

Instead, starting in his own lower jungle, while his position would still be exposed, offered better options like variable ganks and jungle-swapping strategies, both of which were better ways to handle it.

1 minute and 30 seconds.

Jungle monsters respawned, and minions arrived in the lanes.

Akshan moved close to the minions, clearly intending to perform a "grazing auto-attack."

This maneuver had now become Akshan's signature move on the Chinese server, with a popularity even rivaling the "light-speed QA," a trend Ye Bo had accidentally started.

And Scout also had his own understanding of how to respond.

It was the simplest and most direct way: move forward and take it head-on!

The initial understanding was to pull back out of range when minions were low on health, but in reality, doing that would pull oneself out of the minion wave's {aggro} range.

This would allow Akshan to get a free auto-attack!

In fact, as long as you stay close to the minion pile while grazing, Akshan's secondary auto-attack damage is already reduced, and by "taking it head-on," you force the opponent to draw minion aggro.

As long as you don't let Akshan trigger his three-hit passive, the minion wave's concentrated fire is definitely more painful; trading health this way is a huge win!

A light arrow flew out.

Akshan simultaneously drew minion aggro, then immediately retreated to break the aggro.

In terms of health trading, Akshan had indeed lost quite a bit, while the Emperor of the Sands was able to farm easily.

However.

Just as Akshan was briefly kiting back to the front of the lane, he suddenly shot the hook of his E [Heroic Swing] toward the side wall!

Akshan vaulted into the air and dashed forward!

And most crucially, the arrow from that first shot of the hook locked onto the Emperor of the Sands directly at maximum range, maximizing the damage!

{The "grazing" arrow was actually just to apply a 5-second mark for the E ability}

This caused the E-ability arrows, which would have otherwise hit the minions in the first half, to complete their target acquisition early and strike the Emperor of the Sands in their entirety!

After Scout realized what was happening, he blocked Akshan with his body and summoned two sand soldiers to poke him frantically.

But because Akshan had landed almost the entire duration of his E, this trade was still a loss!

Scout's palms were slightly sweating.

He could clearly feel the exuberant killing intent from the opponent, as if they were risking their life, almost overflowing from the screen!

'No wonder he brought Ignite; he had designs on me from the very beginning?'

The Emperor of the Sands walked steadily toward the river, placing an extra ward at the crucial upper river entrance to protect the vision that had disappeared after the level-one skirmish.

Based on the movements detected by the level-one vision, Volibear might be thinking of making a play at level two.

And this spot at the river entrance was the inevitable path for the opponent, whether they wanted to gank or counter-jungle.

1 minute and 55 seconds, the second wave of minions arrived.

The Emperor of the Sands had been trading grazing auto-attacks with Akshan; unable to replicate the level-one E scenario, both sides had traded health down to an almost equal 60%.

This is also why Akshan rarely learns E at level one.

The level-one E has an 18-second cooldown; once used, there's no follow-up.

But at this moment, Akshan's positioning suddenly became aggressive, moving closer to the lower river.

It was clear he wanted to hit level two first.

The Emperor of the Sands stood diagonally, moving closer to the upper river where he had vision protection, preferring to miss minions rather than stay within range of the opponent.

As long as he could ensure Akshan couldn't land a full E ability like the first time, even if Akshan hit level two first, he couldn't effectively harass him, and this most difficult first level would soon be over.

Akshan auto-attacked a minion and hit level two.

Scout didn't panic, stepping back directly to prepare to soak experience from a distance while waiting to hit level two.

But, it was at this very moment.

The sound of thunder echoed from the shadows.

The hook was thrown, and Akshan came swinging in!

Just as Scout was puzzled by the opponent's forced play——————

From behind, out of his own jungle.

A bear claw that summoned a thunderous bombardment strangely flashed out, aiming for the head, and smashed down with a crushing blow!

(End of chapter)