LPL didn't want me? I joined SKT instead!

Chapter 225 The Muddy Pool

He pinned the minion wave firmly against the edge of the turret, using his range advantage to constantly whittle down the turret's health while interfering with Ezreal's last-hitting under the turret.

Although Attila was extremely frustrated by the beating, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness it's the new version. If it were before, I would have died by now," Attila thought to himself, relieved. He used all the health potions he had and combined them with Tahm Kench's Relic Shield to heal, managing to survive under the tower.

Time passed by, second by second.

Ten minutes have passed.

Xiao Yan's CS reached an astonishing 105, while the opposing EZ only had a pitiful 60.

A full 45 dollars was deposited!

In professional matches, a 45-creep lead in ten minutes is an extremely exaggerated statistic.

However, when the director switched to the economic panels for both sides, everyone was stunned.

Xiao Yan's economy was only slightly ahead of EZ by less than a thousand gold.

"This...is this the effect of the new version?" Miller gasped. "Xiao Yan has done his laning phase to the extreme, dominating by almost half in CS and even taking down a turret plating layer. However, because he hasn't secured any kills, and with the early-game minion gold reduction, his economic advantage isn't as significant as we expected!"

Wawa frowned as well: "Yes, a thousand gold advantage at the ten-minute mark is just a pickaxe difference. For Xiao Yan, that's simply not enough to create a crushing equipment advantage. VIT's bot lane is in a bad situation, but they survived!"

Not only in the bottom lane, but also in the mid and top lanes, the situation was equally tense.

Faker's Azir and Jiizuke's Ekko were pushing the lane against each other in the mid lane, neither able to gain the upper hand.

Although TheShy's Aatrox outplayed Cabochard's Urgot in terms of skill, Urgot is an incredibly tanky champion, and with the increased base health in the new version, TheShy could only take down half of Urgot's health with a full combo, making it impossible for him to secure a solo kill.

The entire Summoner's Rift seemed to be mired in a quagmire.

There were no kills, no intense clashes, just monotonous last-hitting, vision control battles, and endless skirmishes.

The match has reached the 20-minute mark.

The score on the field remained a glaring 0-0.

This would have been absolutely unimaginable in SKT's previous matches.

The audience began to stir; accustomed to fast-paced, bloody slaughter, they found the long operation somewhat tedious.

But Xiao Yan, sitting in the competition area, remained absolutely calm.

His brain was like a high-speed supercomputer, constantly analyzing the situation on the field, calculating the time it would take for both sides to complete their equipment, and planning the next lane operations.

"Since I can't crush you through laning, I'll use the overall suffocating feeling to slowly strangle you." A cold glint flashed in Xiao Yan's eyes.

He began to demonstrate not only his exceptional mechanics but also his terrifying understanding and management of minion waves.

Xiao Yan commanded his troops to begin an extremely meticulous switch of lines and resource plundering.

Taking advantage of the female police officer's ability to push towers quickly, he immediately switched to the top lane after taking down the bottom lane tower, cooperating with TheShy to put pressure on VIT's top lane.

VIT's defense was incredibly tenacious; they understood that the essence of this patch was "dragging it out." As long as they could drag it out until Ezreal had three core items, and until Ekko and Urgot were fully built, they would have the resources to engage in team fights.

Therefore, VIT adopted an extremely conservative strategy of avoiding fights. Whenever SKT grouped up and pushed forward, they would immediately retreat and use Urgot and Ekko's wave clear abilities to defend their second tower.

The situation became extremely tense.

At 25 minutes, SKT secured their third dragon (Earth Dragon), but still failed to secure First Blood.

Thirty minutes in, the two sides finally clashed for the first real clash of the game while vying for vision around the Baron.

Peanut's Olaf was clearing wards when VIT's jungler Nocturne used his ultimate to shut down the enemy and burst him down.

"Darkness descends!"

Accompanied by the sound effect of Nightmare's ultimate ability, the entire Summoner's Rift was plunged into darkness.

VIT's Ekko and Urgot instantly used their teleports, attempting to focus fire and eliminate Peanut.

"Fight! We can fight!" Faker shouted in the voice chat. His Azir immediately drifted into the fray and used his ultimate (Imperial Wall) to push away the charging Nocturne and Ekko, saving the low-health Peanut.

TheShy's Aatrox activated his ultimate, charging into the enemy ranks like a god descending to earth, wildly wielding his massive blade.

A team fight erupted instantly!

However, since the economic gap between the two sides had not widened to a significant extent, this team fight was exceptionally fierce.

Although TheShy dealt high damage, VIT's Urgot and Tahm Kench were just too tanky, managing to withstand Aatrox's first burst of damage.

Jiizuke's Ekko used his ultimate to avoid fatal damage, then used his W skill to stun Wolf's Morgana, and with Ezreal's damage, they killed Morgana.

"First Blood!"

Thirty-one minutes into the game, the first blood of the match finally came, and it was VIT who got it!

"My God! VIT got First Blood! SKT's support is dead!" Wawa shouted. "SKT is struggling in this team fight! Without their huge early-game gold lead, SKT's team fights are no longer the overwhelming dominance they used to have!"

At this moment, Xiao Yan's policewoman stood at the edge of the battlefield.

His equipment consisted of Infinity Edge, Rapid Firecannon, Stormrazor, and Last Whisper.

This is a standard front-line damage build, but when facing Urgot and Tahm Kench who are not far behind in development, Caitlyn's damage seems to be negligible.

Xiao Yan remained calm.

He was acutely aware of his current predicament. He didn't have the equipment advantage to melt his opponent in an instant; all he could rely on now was his superhuman micro-management and positioning.

"Brother Xianghe, pull him away, don't fight him head-on," Xiao Yan calmly commanded.

He manipulated the policewoman, beginning a breathtaking "dance on the edge of a knife".

After killing Morgana, VIT's Nightmare targeted Xiao Yan. He activated his W skill to block a basic attack from Caitlyn, then flashed to close the distance, intending to use his E skill to fear Xiao Yan.

The instant Nightmare Flash landed, Xiao Yan reacted with lightning speed.

The policewoman used her E skill almost simultaneously with Nightmare's Flash.

A rope net struck Nightmare's face precisely, slowing him down. The policewoman used the recoil to move backward, perfectly creating distance and breaking Nightmare's chain of fear at the last moment.

"Bang!"

A headshot auto-attack landed on Nightmare, followed by a very tricky W skill placed at Nightmare's feet.

Nightmare stepped on the trap and got shot in the head again!

In just two seconds, Nightmare, who was at full health, was reduced to low health by Xiao Yan's smooth combo and could only retreat in a sorry state.

But the crisis was not over.

VIT's Ekko used his E skill to pass through the wall and head straight for Xiao Yan.

Ekko has the Lich Bane passive effect active on him, so if this attack lands, the policewoman will lose at least half her health.

Chapter 225: A Surprise in the Mud Pit. Click to unlock now.