Chapter 90

"Then the Ning Wang team has no other choice; they can only pick Ice Witch."

Wawa rubbed his chin and continued, "Actually, this can also be considered a type of tactic for the Uzi team. Everyone knows how to play against LeBlanc anyway; it just depends on whether you have the guts to pick it."

"But I'm saying, just in case—if the Ning Wang team picks Ice Witch and still can't beat LeBlanc, then for the players on the Ning Wang team, that would undoubtedly be a crushing blow to their confidence."

Miller continued, "I can only say that in terms of the design of this Ban/Pick phase, the Uzi team has really given me many surprises."

Meanwhile, on Weibo, the moment Su Xing locked in LeBlanc, countless fans in the LPL region were sighing. Is a player with this kind of champion pool really not planning to make a comeback?

"Did you see that? Tengjing, a mid-laner with this kind of champion pool and this kind of strength is actually a retired player."

"What right does he have to be retired? Tengjing, do something! The 'Huazi' team is just missing a powerhouse like this!"

"Brother, what about this guy's contract? Can we hold him up? Our region is just lacking a mid-laner like this!!"

"@Xiaohu, come out and learn properly how to play mid-lane. I get angry just looking at you."

"Don't kick that unlucky thing Xiaohu; he's useless when given a chance! It was like this last year, and he's still here this year."

"Let me tell you a fun fact: next year it will still be me, Xiaohu, showing my might in the spring like a tiger, and turning into a sick cat directly during the autumn World Championship."

"Honestly, if it really comes to it, let's crowdfund to buy Su Xing back. We'll pay the lawyer fees for the lawsuit."

Public opinion is a very subtle thing.

While the audience online was still lamenting why Su Xing had to retire, the two teams on-site had already completed the Ban/Pick phase.

The Uzi team chose Gangplank for top, Olaf for jungle, Su Xing's LeBlanc for mid, and Kai'Sa + Rakan for bot.

The Ning Wang team chose Jayce for top, Gragas for jungle, Ice Witch for mid, and Xayah + Alistar for bot.

In terms of team composition, the Uzi team has stronger team-fighting capabilities.

Especially after the game time passes thirty minutes, a Gangplank and Kai'Sa with three core items can output massive damage in team fights.

As for the Ning Wang team, their tempo in the early to mid-game is stronger.

Once Ning Wang's Gragas opens up the situation in the top lane and allows TheShy to start snowballing and gain an advantage, then Jayce's mid-game poke combined with Ice Witch's strong engage will be somewhat unsolvable.

"We need to play in the top half of the map this game. Xiao Duan, remember to move around more."

"Xiang Ge, your task is just not to die under the tower. The Ning Wang team won't come to dive the bot lane early on."

"Beishang, keep an eye on the mid lane. If Ice Witch pushes too hard, you need to apply some pressure."

After selecting the lineup, Tabe reminded the members of the Uzi team incessantly about some details to pay attention to during the game; after all, for a coach, this is all he can do.

"Okay, okay, okay, we know, we know."

Uzi started laughing. It was clear that Tabe, as the coach, wanted to win even more than they did.

"Be serious, 3:0 and we're off work."

After entering the game, the ten people from both sides immediately bought equipment and headed out.

However, compared to the first game, the Ning Wang team seemed much better behaved this time; they didn't even show any intention of wanting to fight a Level 1 team fight.

"?"

Uzi didn't forget to type a question mark in the public chat. "Stop with the question marks. If you can't beat them, can't you at least hide?"

The AD of the Ning Wang team also replied in the public chat:

"It's boring."

Uzi pursed his lips, but just at this moment, he glanced at his teammate's equipment bar and discovered, why are there two Doran's Blades?

Top lane starts with a Doran's Shield to resist pressure, the jungler buys a jungle item, mid lane... wait, what is the meaning of this LeBlanc buying a Doran's Blade? "Brother, what is this?"

Uzi pinged Su Xing's Doran's Blade. "Huh?"

Beishang and the others were also taken aback. Did Su Xing buy the wrong item? "It's a Doran's Blade. Can't you read Chinese?"

Who knew Su Xing would say with a straight face: "Haven't you seen a LeBlanc buy a Doran's Blade?"

Uzi:... He had seen LeBlanc, and he saw Doran's Blades every day, but he had truly never seen these two things appear at the same time.

"Don't be anxious, you'll understand in a moment."

Su Xing chuckled, but he didn't explain too much.

For a mage hero, there is no doubt that a Doran's Ring is the most suitable starting item, but who stipulated that a mage cannot buy a Doran's Blade?

The reason LeBlanc is countered by Ice Witch is that LeBlanc cannot recklessly W forward to harass. Once LeBlanc W's forward, Ice Witch can use her own W skill to counter, ensuring her Q skill hits 100%.

And for an assassin hero like LeBlanc, if she doesn't harass or gain an advantage during the laning phase, it is very difficult to get solo kills or have enough time to roam.

Especially after experiencing the first game, he knew better than anyone that Ice Witch playing against LeBlanc is truly played with eyes closed. If he followed the conventional laning approach, he might not get crushed, but it wouldn't be much better.

So he thought of another approach.

Since he couldn't use skills for risk-free harassment, he would use the most simple and unadorned basic attacks.

Because as long as he didn't use his W skill, Ice Witch couldn't use her W skill either. Conversely, as long as he maintained a relatively safe distance and continuously used his Q and E skills combined with basic attacks to harass, then Ice Witch's only remaining counter-means would be a hard-to-hit Q skill and basic attacks.

In this way, the originally disadvantageous laning would become advantageous.

Also questioning the Doran's Blade were the three commentators at the desk and many viewers watching the game online.

However, the director was also very sensible; after the minion wave arrived in the mid lane, his camera basically stayed on the mid lane.

Yet, a scene that made the commentators and the audience feel incredible happened: after the three melee minions of the first wave died, Su Xing's LeBlanc began to apply pressure forward.

He threw a Q skill and then continuously followed up with basic attacks to output damage on Xiaocaobao's Ice Witch. Xiaocaobao didn't indulge Su Xing either and chose to trade basic attacks with him.

But soon, Xiaocaobao discovered that something was wrong.

After his Q skill missed, his health dropped faster than he imagined. LeBlanc had lost one-third of her health, but he had lost two-thirds! Just like that, before the second wave of minions arrived, Xiaocaobao was forced to start retreating due to his health issues.

This meant he had lost lane priority.

The short ten-second game of wits made the three commentators exclaim that they couldn't understand it. Is this the charm of starting with a Doran's Blade? "I can only say that the Uzi team's mid-laner, Su Xing, is a very smart professional player."

After a brief moment of astonishment, Guan Zeyuan also figured out why Su Xing's LeBlanc chose to start with a Doran's Blade.

"Starting with a Doran's Blade causes the adaptive force in the runes to become attack damage. In this way, the attack damage on LeBlanc's panel will be much higher than Ice Witch's."

"Besides that, the Doran's Blade can also provide a certain health-regeneration effect. Secondly, the most important thing is that at Level 1, LeBlanc's Q skill is impossible to miss, while Ice Witch's Q skill can be dodged."

"In this way, as long as Ice Witch chooses to stop and trade basic attacks with LeBlanc, the outcome is already doomed."

After Guan Zeyuan's explanation, Wawa and Miller also understood this point.

"So, can this be considered a different playstyle developed by Su Xing?"

Wawa was a bit hesitant, and after a moment, he said, "I remember that no one ever chose to start with a Doran's Blade on LeBlanc before."

"Indeed, there hasn't been."

Miller seconded, "And I have watched many professional players' ranked matches; no one has ever chosen to start with a Doran's Blade like Su Xing."

"This can be considered a piece of 'black technology'."

Guan Zeyuan commented sharply, "Everyone knows that the most uncomfortable thing about LeBlanc playing against Ice Witch is not being able to gain an advantage during the laning phase. Now, you only need to buy a Doran's Blade to solve the early laning problem. Subsequent equipment purchases just need to continue focusing on mage items."

"Indeed, professional players usually choose boots as their first item."

Miller pondered for a moment and said, "For professional mid-laners, their laning phase is actually only the first six levels. Once they pass Level 6, you can basically find that except for the mid lane where you don't see the mid-laner, you can see the mid-laner anywhere else on the map. If this trend continues, and Ice Witch cannot suppress LeBlanc before Level 6, then LeBlanc roaming after Level 6 is an unacceptable fact for the Ning Wang team."

Under the premise of being countered in the laning phase, Su Xing relied on his unique understanding and strong laning ability.

He completed a suppression against Xiaocaobao.

Clearly, Xiaocaobao was also a bit dazed by Su Xing's Doran's Blade LeBlanc. After being at a disadvantage in the Level 1 trade, it wasn't easy to regain lane priority.

"How is he playing so disgustingly..."

In the Ning Wang team's voice chat, Xiaocaobao couldn't help but complain. It was understandable that he got crushed when he picked LeBlanc in the first game, as LeBlanc is indeed countered by Ice Witch in the laning phase.

But how could he be beaten to the point of having no power to fight back by his LeBlanc when he picked Ice Witch? "Hold on, Old Song!"

Yu Wenbo in the bot lane spoke up, "You don't want a super-fed LeBlanc to one-shot me in the team fight later, do you?"

Xiaocaobao: If it were anyone else's LeBlanc, he would definitely have several ways to make the opponent unable to breathe during the laning phase.

But Su Xing's LeBlanc... it's hard to say. He could only say that he wasn't sure how this laning would evolve as it went on.

"I'll try my best."

Xiaocaobao seemed a bit annoyed. If he were facing other professional players, he felt he might still be able to make some moves and find an opportunity to turn the disadvantage around.

But facing Su Xing, he knew very clearly that once he fell into a disadvantage during the laning process, there would basically be no chance to come back.

This point had already been verified countless times in training matches.

In fact, Su Xing didn't reveal any flaws. As long as he was within range to basic attack Ice Witch, he absolutely wouldn't use his skills.

He was playing a "Basic Attack-focused" LeBlanc.

"Can we gank?"

At this time, Beishang had also finished a clear and glanced at the top lane, finding no opportunity, so he set his sights on the mid lane.

After the previous trades, Xiaocaobao's Ice Witch's health had been maintained at around half. For a jungler, this kind of health is an irresistible temptation.

"It's a bit hard to gank."

Su Xing shook his head. Although he had been keeping the minion wave in the middle, the hero Ice Witch was too flexible.

Even if he intentionally exposed a flaw by moving forward with his W skill, a player of Xiaocaobao's level would definitely not fall for it.

"Come to the top lane. I just happened to recall, so I can go to the top lane for a wave."

At this time, Xiao Duan spoke up.

The bot lane had also been trading, but without the interference of the jungler, both sides just traded some status and stopped at that.

"Okay, you come out and pretend to help me push the wave, then walk down and come back."

Hearing this, Su Xing also felt this suggestion was good, because for all professional players, this time is a very sensitive point. They were still a bit short of experience for Level 6, but they had about 1,000 gold on them. At this time, basically all professional players would default to recalling to buy boots or some components of core items.

Under these circumstances, his choice to push the minion wave wouldn't arouse Xiaocaobao's suspicion.

And he would seize this time point to pretend to recall to update his equipment, but in reality, he would coordinate with his teammates to go to the top lane for a "Four Protect One".

"OK."

Hearing this, Beishang walked out of the river bush. At the same time, Su Xing also began to use skills to push the wave.

All of this inevitably created an illusion in Xiaocaobao's eyes: LeBlanc was very eager to recall to buy equipment, and as everyone knows, LeBlanc basically has no ability to push waves before Level 6, so he called the jungler to help push.

And Beishang's acting made all of this look just right. He appeared and pretended to push the wave, but in reality, he didn't push all the minions over completely. Instead, he simply used his E skill to hit them and then basic-attacked the minions until they were low health before walking towards the bottom jungle.

Through this operation, he created an illusion for the Ning Wang team, but in reality, he seized this gap to return to the top jungle from the bottom jungle.

And this scene also made Xiaocaobao more certain of his guess.

"The jungler went down; you guys be careful."

As Su Xing unhurriedly finished clearing all the minions, Beishang and Xiao Duan both appeared in the top jungle.

"Go, go, go."

Su Xing retreated two steps, pretending to retreat to the corner to recall, but in reality, he used a W skill to move directly forward and meet up with the jungle-support duo.

"The opposing jungler should be in the top lane."

At this time, AJ in the top lane spoke up: "But I'm not sure which bush."

He had faced TheShy many times, so he could observe some of his small habits to judge whether there was a jungler behind him.

Although the minion wave position was kept in the middle, most top-laners would subconsciously lean towards the top bush when dealing with this kind of wave. The advantage of this is that if the jungler comes to gank, he can retreat at the first opportunity, thereby avoiding the risk of being ganked.

But TheShy was different; his position was always leaning towards the bottom river, with an attitude of not fearing being ganked at all.

Then there was only one answer: there was a jungler behind him.

There was only one reason to put himself in this position: he was baiting.

As long as the Uzi team's jungler came to gank, they would fall into the 2v2 scenario that the Ning Wang team's top and jungle liked the most.

"No big problem, you just pretend to expose a flaw."

Su Xing said calmly: "The Ning Wang team's top and jungle aren't as patient as Xiaocaobao."

"Good."

Sure enough, after AJ walked up a few steps, TheShy suddenly made a move, followed immediately by a Gragas appearing from the middle bush and using E-Flash to knock him up.

"I knew it..."

Because he was mentally prepared, AJ also used Flash to avoid Gragas's E-Flash.

However, Jayce's damage was indeed very high. Switching forms and coming up with a combo reduced AJ's health to one-third.

"Coming, coming."

Only three seconds later, the Uzi team's mid-jungle-support trio walked over from the river and appeared in front of the Ning Wang team's top-jungle duo.

TheShy:... Ning Wang:... Who said LeBlanc was recalling?

And what is the meaning of this Level 3 support appearing in the top lane? Xiao Duan's Rakan was extremely decisive, using Flash to connect with his W skill to knock TheShy's Jayce up directly.

Su Xing's LeBlanc didn't have Level 6 yet, but at this time, he only needed to add an E skill to connect the control chain, and Jayce wouldn't even have a chance to use Flash.

Beishang's Olaf didn't even need to be mentioned; he just needed to throw a Q skill and pick it up to output mindless damage, not even needing to turn on Ghost.

First Blood!

First blood went to Su Xing's LeBlanc. After that, the four people's eyes fell on the Gragas who had no Flash.

"You take the kill?"

Su Xing glanced at AJ. After all, he had used a Flash to bait, so he deserved a kill.

As for the jungler?

Honestly... a jungler who doesn't take kills in a game is a good jungler.

"You take it, you take it."

AJ hurriedly refused, saying: "Don't touch my minion wave."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 91 =====