Chapter 36: It left me confused

"This Malphite pick is a bit strange..."

Su Xing glanced at the opponent's lineup, feeling an indescribable strangeness in his heart.

Judging from the previous pick/ban, the opposing coach definitely put in the effort, but the problem was that this Malphite pick felt like something was wrong.

He knew a bit about 957, and judging from the first two games, he definitely wasn't as strong as TheShy, but his own strength was still much higher than AJ's.

In this situation, instead of picking a champion that could carry and gain an advantage in lane, they actually picked a Malphite to just chill against Ornn? "I guess they want Malphite to engage."

Uzi also didn't understand what the opponent's thinking was, adding, "But this lineup is also quite disgusting in the late game. In the mid-game, Senna can roam freely. You guys need to be careful."

"Got it."

As they jumped to the loading screen, Su Xing timely activated 【Prophet Replay】. However, one look at it left him confused.

The starting positions were normal, but around 1:20, the Senna and Tahm Kench, who were originally in the bottom lane, suddenly walked towards the top lane, and at the same time, 957's Malphite started walking towards the bottom lane.

Lane swap. These two words flashed through Su Xing's mind. He never expected that in his lifetime, he would see the appearance of the lane swap tactic again.

The lane swap tactic appeared a long, long time ago, but back then Su Xing hadn't even started playing League of Legends. Later, in his impression, it was popular for a while during the S8 season, and then it disappeared completely because of the designers' intervention.

"This explains why they picked Malphite..."

Until this moment, Su Xing understood why the opposing coach picked a Malphite; it was to deal with the lane swap. And he also noticed a detail: both Tahm Kench and Senna took the 【Demolish】 rune.

"Using lane swaps to reduce laning pressure and then using double Demolish to eat plating to make up for the economic gap?"

Although the Lucian + Nami combination wasn't very strong in the early game, it was only not strong before level 3. Once they reached level 3, Nami would hang an E skill, and Lucian would E in, and a set of skills could directly take away half the health of a squishy champion.

To avoid the bottom lane from collapsing, the coach on Zitai's side chose to let 957's Malphite appear in the bottom lane, just to withstand the pressure brought by Uzi's Lucian.

In this situation, as long as Malphite didn't deliberately go up to eat Nami's skills, Lucian would still find it difficult to kill Malphite under the tower in the early game, unless they called the jungler to dive, which might provide some opportunities.

As for the Tahm Kench and Senna who went to the top lane, they could use double Demolish to eat plating to make up for their economy, and these two champions together were more than enough to deal with an Ornn.

Then, when it was about time, they would swap back. By the 7 or 8-minute mark, both Tahm Kench and Senna would be ahead of Uzi's Lucian in economy. In this way, Uzi wouldn't have any way to gain a laning advantage.

"If they really succeed in this lane swap, it will indeed be very difficult to play in the mid-game..."

Su Xing fast-forwarded and took a rough look. According to the original trajectory, the opposing bottom duo lane-swapped and directly suppressed Ornn out of the experience zone, and then were dived by the jungler who came to help.

And on their side, because they didn't realize such a thing as a lane swap, the early game rhythm was completely messed up. Except for his own advantage in the mid lane, even Uzi in the bottom lane was only farming normally.

Later, Uzi, who had experienced the lane swap era, adjusted the team's strategy in time, but with the rhythm completely messed up, Bei Shang didn't know what he could do at all. AJ's Ornn was even a level behind by a large margin. In the mid-game, Uzi was often engaged by 957's Malphite's R and died to AOE. The situation basically relied on him struggling to support it alone.

This game lasted for nearly forty minutes, but in the end, the opponent's Senna's items were fully formed, and Zitai's Viktor also got to six items. In the final team fight at the Baron pit, they were wiped 0-for-5 and directly GG'd.

"They are going to lane swap this game."

At this time, the game had just entered the fountain, and Su Xing said directly, "Uzi, go to the top lane; AJ, go to the bottom lane."

"Lane swap?"

Hearing this, everyone was full of question marks. No, brother, how do you know the opponent is going to lane swap? "If it were a normal lane, Malphite would just be chilling against Ornn. The opposing coach couldn't make such a mistake."

Su Xing said slowly, "The only explanation is a lane swap. His real purpose is to let Malphite go to the bottom lane to withstand the pressure."

"Damn, there really is such a possibility!"

Uzi thought carefully for a moment and said, "Bad, how did they learn that set of professional play?"

"Is there lane swapping in professional games now?"

Su Xing was slightly stunned. Good guy, is it really a retro trend? "Yeah, that version of MSI often had lane swaps."

Uzi rubbed his eyebrows and said, "But this is just a guess..."

What if the opponent didn't have this intention at all?

"No, they definitely will swap."

Su Xing pointed to Senna and Tahm Kench's runes and said, "If I'm not mistaken, both of them took Demolish. Once they appear in the top lane, AJ won't even be able to get experience."

"When the last big wave of minions enters the tower, AJ will only be level 1. If the opposing jungler appears in the top lane at this time, what will he do?"

"Once AJ is killed, they can easily eat plating with double Demolish. And most importantly, AJ can't use Teleport to get back to lane at that time. Imagine if AJ resurrects and uses Teleport to get back to lane, but the jungler hasn't left yet?"

AJ:... Don't, playing like that is too disgusting, right?

Once such a situation really occurs, not only will his own lane collapse, but the entire team's early game rhythm will be severely affected.

"Then swap!"

Uzi didn't hesitate too much because Su Xing was the team commander now.

At the same time, Zitai's side was also plotting the next lane swap strategy in full swing. They felt that this would definitely catch their opponents off guard.

"Wait until 1:20 to leave. Now you guys deliberately show your faces in the river or something."

Zitai acted profound and marked a position. He felt that this lane swap tactic was a huge move and would definitely make the opponents suffer a big loss!

"At this point, I'm going to find trouble with Ornn."

Xiaolongbao said, "Malphite can hold on, right? Don't get poked too much, otherwise, if the opposing jungler reacts, they will also go to the bottom lane to dive you."

"It's fine, I'll just hold on."

957 said softly, "This idea is actually quite good. Except for Uzi, basically no one on the opposite side has experienced the lane swap era, right? AJ counts as half."

"Yeah, they shouldn't expect us to lane swap."

Zitai was extremely confident, "As long as we disrupt their rhythm in the early game, we can win team fights easily in the mid-game!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 37 =====