Chapter 69: The True Origin of the LPL Strategic Dilemma!

The historical origins of the "bot lane core" tactical system in the LPL region and the source of its strategic dilemma actually lie in these past two years.

During the S2 era, the pace was generally slow, and the mid, top, and jungle ecosystems were dominated by support-oriented champions; after Gao Yidao nerfed Kassadin into a Void Crawler, there was a lack of effective means to one-shot squishy targets, so by the time team fights broke out, the AD could almost always complete the three-piece set of Attack Damage, Attack Speed, and Armor Penetration.

Furthermore, with WE as a pioneer securing the IPL5 world championship using a bot-lane-centric playstyle, combined with the visual shockwave caused by Smile's far-superior understanding of the AD role during the barbaric early days of esports, successors naturally rushed to imitate.

This tactical cognition continued to permeate from the professional scene into the grassroots ecosystem, with countless Xinshou Sect tutorials universally recommending ADs with lower mechanical barriers for beginners; in the ranked environment, 70% of matches exhibited a strategy prioritizing bot lane resources.

Then came Royal Club unveiling the ultimate "four-protect-one" system at the S3 World Championship, marking the LPL's tactical reliance on the bot lane reaching its absolute peak.

When the entire region's focus of confrontation concentrated on the bottom half, players inevitably fell into a "Dark Forest" game theory scenario—

Ask yourself: when you are in such a region where the bot lanes are all monsters, and opponents constantly gank bot from mid, top, and jungle, what is the best solution?

The answer is simple—just join the magic barrage together and that's it.

So for a long time, whether an LPL team was strong depended entirely on how good their bot lane was!

And with the arrival of S3, assassins ran rampant like a dimensional strike, directly dismantling the tactical foundation of the LPL.

With the AD's status plummeting, the LPL's competitiveness naturally suffered a massive blow; even with subsequent version updates, the bot lane has long been forced to sit at the kids' table, and wanting to win a championship relying on the bot lane given this strategic mismatch is nothing short of a fool's dream.

Now, Jiang Ming pulling out top lane Jayce early is driven by the intention to change the region's habits and one-sided playstyle.

He wants to tell these teams that there are many ways to win a game, not just mindlessly protecting the bot lane to farm and waiting for team fights.

"Maokai, Kha'Zix!"

Jiang Ming saw through Old Qian Ge's tactical thinking at a glance; after determining they couldn't win the top-mid-jungle confrontation, he was delusionally hoping to drag the game late with Kog'Maw in the bot lane.

Since you guys love playing ADs, I'll just show you how to withdraw money from ADs in various fancy ways.

The blue side's best Lulu for protecting Kog'Maw was stolen; now they only have a Janna, and with Maokai and Kha'Zix in the mid-jungle, they can beat Kog'Maw so badly he won't even dare to last-hit minions.

Old Qian Ge's final two picks were Rumble and Ryze.

"Yo, a fire-breathing Poppy!"

Jiang Ming patted his forehead; he had slightly overestimated the draft quality of these professional teams in front of him.

When he saw Kog'Maw and Janna, he originally thought Old Qian Ge wanted to play a four-protect-one composition, but since Lulu was stolen by his own team, he had no choice but to abandon the Wind Sister and settle for Janna to add some engage.

Now that the fire-breathing Poppy is out, Jiang Ming completely lost his composure.

This isn't a four-protect-one either?

Ryze needs to farm, Kog'Maw needs to farm, and Rumble needs to farm; who exactly should the jungler help?

Most critically, LGD's composition has zero synergy; no protection when needed, no engage when needed.

"AD takes Graves."

"Rock, you watch for ganks; breaking through either the top or bottom lane won't be difficult."

"Got it, Brother Ming."

Jiang Ming didn't dwell on it too much; on the fifth and final pick, he added a Graves to supplement the team with burst damage.

Both teams' compositions were confirmed:

Blue Side LGD: Top Rumble, Jungle Gragas, Mid Ryze, Bot Kog'Maw + Janna.

Red Side NXG: Top Jayce, Jungle Hecarim, Mid Kha'Zix, Bot Graves + Lulu.

When the matchup of heroes from both teams appeared on the big screen, the audience in the venue and in the live streams began a new round of discussion.

【Ah, why did NXG pick Jayce, such a trash hero?】

【Is the left side a meat-sword team? How will they fight once Gragas gets tanky in the late game?】

【Graves has been nerfed into what shape, yet they still pick him? Why does the internet hype up such a team?】

【Clearly the blue side won; Gragas tanks in front, Janna and Rumble can destroy heaven and earth with one ultimate, while Ryze and Kog'Maw reap kills like crazy in the back.】

Reap kills like crazy?

You guys are probably dreaming of eating peaches.

Players with slightly higher game understanding scoffed at this.

Although NXG's composition isn't fully clear yet, it is definitely stronger than the combination on the right where all engage relies on Flash.

"Ji, write it down quickly; JM has come up with so many game strategies, top lane Jayce might be another ranking tool."

……

Just as the LPL audience and the on-site commentators were still focused on whether the compositions were reasonable.

OGN region, CJ team base.

As a team leading the way in the Korean region, CJ's training room did not have the cramped feeling found in other teams.

MadLife, serving as the team's support and shot-caller, sat Face Grim in front of his computer; the live broadcast screen clearly showed the ongoing LPL preseason match.

"Jayce has long-range damage; if Kha'Zix evolves his W, he can achieve a similar effect... oh right, Graves' ultimate must be counted too."

As his train of thought gradually clarified, MadLife's eyebrows twisted tighter and tighter. "The blue side lacks engage tools... and once their state drops to a certain level, Hecarim can immediately charge the formation, and finally Kha'Zix will finish the cleanup."

It clicked!

Thinking it this way, it makes sense!

"So that's how it is!"

"What is how it is?" Shy, sitting nearby, took off his headset and asked curiously, "Min-ki, you've been muttering to yourself in your seat since just now; what are you looking at?"

"Don't tell me you're watching some 18+ videos."

"Of course not!"

"Shang Mian, come look at this." MadLife pointed at the computer; the two were nearly the same age, so there was no senior-junior barrier between them.

"NXG?"

"Such a familiar name." Shy struggled to retrieve memories from his mind. "Is this a match from the neighboring LPL?"

"Yes, we talked about this team earlier; their mid laner—or rather, their boss—defeated the WE quartet in ranked matches and reached the top as the National Server Number One in the LPL region."

"I remember now."

Mentioning other things, the youth might have little interest, but add the WE keyword, and he instantly stopped feeling sleepy.

Last year's Dragon Tiger Cup, the scene where WE's bottom lane stomped on their heads to produce a 1v3 highlight reel was still vivid in his mind.

Oh, and that bunch of idiots from KT, who actually pushed an enemy high ground and turned the tables on a team that had them slaughtered while disconnected from the network.

Unlike the LCK region in later eras, which generally looked down on LPL teams, at this current point in time, many OGN teams treated WE as their hypothetical enemy.

"That JM is playing professional matches?"

Shy's eyes lit up; he had also heard of this operation freak who dominated the ranked ladder and brutally abused professional players from neighboring regions.

"Not exactly; he set up his own team to play in the LPL."

"Oh my, being his own boss? That's impressive."

MadLife was somewhat speechless; how had they started chatting? "I need you to look at NXG's use of this champion. You are a professional top laner. Without considering team fights for now, how do you think playing top lane would work?"

"Jayce?"

"Playing top lane for melee combat is completely fine. Hey, that's actually a very good idea."

"Ranged harassment, melee dueling... there aren't many top lane champions with high burst damage."

Shy, whose eyes had lit up, pulled over a stool and sat down next to MadLife.