Chapter 35: Battle against SKT!

Dongmen, could you also teach me how to play Ryze?

Seeing Wu Zhu start to play, Da B began to get anxious.

Someone's little dog only got a bit of training from Caitlyn, yet you just poured out all your knowledge.

Jin Gu Gu, ever since the spring season started I've been losing at Ryze so much I'm numb to it; who knows how many times the forums and coaching staff have held meetings about this, how can you just stay unmoved?

Help me out, bro!

"Do Ryze even need teaching? Isn't it just face-rolling the keyboard after the passive triggers?" Xu Dongmen said righteously.

"Ah? It's nowhere near as simple as you say!"

Doinb vehemently denied.

Face-rolling the keyboard is fine, but the problem is ensuring skill hit rate while face-rolling the keyboard is not easy.

His problem is that when face-rolling the keyboard, he tends to waste Q, and he always struggles to control the passive stacks.

This version of Ryze's passive stacks one layer per skill cast, and upon reaching five stacks it enters the supercharged state.

In the supercharged state, each skill Ryze casts greatly reduces the cooldown of his other skills; theoretically, the QWE cooldown can drop as low as 0.1 seconds.

This is also where the term "face-rolling the keyboard" comes from!

"Ying Bi Ge, how many Ryze games have you played in League of Legends up to now?" Xu Dongmen asked.

"About a hundred or so, mostly this year; I didn't used to play this champion much before." Doinb spoke frankly.

"Do you know how many games Faker has played?"

"I don't know."

"I don't know either, but it's definitely more than you... Ying Bi Ge, what do you think your gaming talent is compared to Faker's?"

"In that case, I think we're about even!"

"Goodbye, dirt clod…"

"……"

23 minutes in, Xu Dongmen and the others finished their match against SUP.

Uzi picked Caitlyn for the first time this season and immediately earned MVP.

"This MVP, I have half of it." Xu Dongmen posed as a credit-seeker.

"That's a must—at least two-thirds yours!" Wu Zhu grinned ear to ear.

Having won the match, satisfied his urge to play, and made a new breakthrough on his signature champion, he was overjoyed!

After returning to the hotel, he, still unsatisfied, played Caitlyn all night.

Basic combos like EQA and EWA became increasingly smooth, and he pulled off all kinds of flashy plays in actual games.

Xu Dongmen offered him an advanced suggestion: "Try EQW A, or EWA Q A."

"What the hell? You can do that? The success rate is a bit low, but this combo deals insane damage!" Uzi found a new goal.

He was already highly proficient with Caitlyn; the only thing he wasn't familiar with was the headshot mechanic introduced in Season 6. With Xu Dongmen's guidance, he picked it up quickly.

The negative example is Da B.

These days he's also been practicing Ryze, but that's all it amounts to.

If Wu Zhu's progress is lightning-fast, Doinb's is as slow as a turtle.

His Ryze was already quite green, so naturally a short period of practice wouldn't suddenly turn him into a Thunder Law King.

Esports has no shortcuts.

"No, Dongmen, I see you aren't that strong with many heroes in ranked, so why do you become strong in matches?" Da B felt puzzled.

Since reaching Master, Xu Dongmen has been considered integrated into the tier.

You can't say he's that strong, but the two often duo queue, and no one has more authority on the matter than Doinb.

His ranked is average, yet in matches he's like a fish in water with any champion, and he's never underperformed.

This is the opposite of Doinb's experience: many champions he casually slaughters in ranked, but once in a match he reverts to "Ying Bi Ge".

"Hahaha, do you know the value of going on a rampage in matches while guarding your ranked?"

Xu Dongmen burst out laughing.

"Compare with me? Sorry, I have a special training method."

"Buddies don't take shortcuts; we rely entirely on 'talent'!"

The next day arrived, everyone packed up their gear and walked to the venue.

The hotel was only a few hundred meters from the arena, making walking very convenient.

"Look, it's the QG guys!"

"Holy shit, Uzi!"

"Jin Gu Gu is way too skinny—does he even weigh a hundred catties?"

"Dongmen is so handsome, with great presence—he single-handedly raises the team's looks!"

Over the short distance, Xu Dongmen and company encountered a huge crowd of fans.

Some wanted to come up for a photo and autograph, but the team captain blocked them.

They were rushing to the venue, with no time to interact with fans.

Upon arriving at the arena, the first match was already underway.

CLG versus G2, a Europe‑America showdown.

Xu Dongmen and the others hurried into the dressing room to fix their appearance.

As they entered, the SKT members happened to be coming out.

Duke, Langbang, and Faker!

The two sides brushed past each other, wearing friendly smiles.

Only Doinb's smile disappeared when he saw Faker, and he directly pretended not to have seen him.

Xu Dongmen had heard that Da B, back when he was a streamer in Korea, once had a grudge with Faker in the Korean server ranked matches.

The situation was basically that when fans saw their idol they frantically called him "brother", but Li Xianghe thought he was too noisy, not only not responding but also blacklisting and muting Doinb, after which fans ran over to spread the word…

Once or twice would be fine, but it happens every time.

As thick-skinned as Da B, he also couldn't quite save face.

"Brothers, the chance for revenge has come!"

Doinb started to get restless.

With the Europe-America match ending, the China-Korea showdown kicked off.

QG vs SKT!

As today's featured match, even before the game started, the venue began to fill with a smell of gunpowder.

Today's attendance was no lower than yesterday's, and this match is what everyone most anticipated.

"Ready, begin."

With the referee's order, the match entered the ban/pick phase.

SKT was on blue, QG on red.

SKT made the first move, banning two mid laners in a row, taking away both of Doinb's main and off picks.

QG responded by banning Ryze and Kennen.

As for Faker's Ryze, not only did QG not want him to get it, after the most promising year in S5, the entire LPL didn't want to see it again.

As for Kennen, this champion has too high a priority in champion vs. champion matchups, so the red side must take this ban slot.

SKT's third ban went to Elise.

They had studied Xu Dongmen, whose Elise so far still holds a 100% win rate.

"Dongmen, should we ban Nidalee?" Cui Jiaolian asked for Xu Dongmen's opinion.

"No, ban something else instead." Xu Dongmen shook his head.

It's not that he's being arrogant; if we ban Nidalee, the enemy will surely snatch Graves.

Better to each take one.

Cui Jiaolian nodded: "Perfect, then we'll ban Trundle, so we can safely pick a tank top lane."

As expected, SKT first picked Nidalee.

Kennen, Nidalee, and Graves are all junglers for T1, but their priority differs significantly.

QG snatched Maokai and Alistar, intent on building an ironclad lineup.

Maokai is also the champion Duke used most in the spring split, and this pick carries the meaning of using a pick instead of a ban.

SKT displayed the poise of a world champion, immediately revealing their double C picks in the second and third slots: Azir and Lucian!

"No wonder they banned Elise; they were afraid we'd counter with Elise and Ezreal in mid‑jungle." Cui Jiaolian reacted extremely quickly.

Graves + Ezreal!

Xu Dongmen and UZI simultaneously got their champions, making it another double marksman lineup.

The first two picks, Maokai and Alistar, were precisely to set the stage for the double marksmen.

SKT also realized this, taking Poppy and Braum in their last two picks to build a defensive line for their composition.

…………

After the lineups were set, both head coaches walked toward the center of the stage to shake hands.

Before the camera, Kkoma walked over in a few steps, arrived early and waited, and when shaking hands with Pu Longyun he gave a 90‑degree bow.

The respect shown by Kkoma left all the audience feeling puzzled.

Many people pulled out their phones to look it up.

Pu Longyun, former head coach of SKT's StarCraft II division, led SKT to two championships and two runners‑up in four years, won Coach of the Year twice, and is hailed as one of the most legendary coaches in StarCraft history!

Even Korean media have called him the first person to professionalize esports coaching.

Pu Longyun first became a coach in 2004.

At that time, the then‑19‑year‑old Kkoma had just stepped into the esports scene as a StarCraft II pro player, a rookie among rookies.

Between the two of them, there's a generation gap!