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

Chapter 230 Battle against C9

"Forty-three minutes..." Xiao Yan leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath. "This is no longer a contest of skills, it's a contest of who has the biggest bladder and who has the strongest willpower."

Faker stood up and patted Xiao Yan on the shoulder: "Riot Games has forcibly shackled all teams with turret plating and minion wave mechanics. Whoever can maintain focus for the longest time under these shackles will have the last laugh. Get some rest, we have training tomorrow."

……

Time flies like an arrow; in the blink of an eye, the S8 group stage is already halfway through.

Today, they will face off in the second round of the group stage against C9, the North American powerhouse who fought RNG to the extreme with their "delaying tactics" a few days ago.

The convention center was bustling with activity.

"Welcome back to the S8 World Championship Group Stage! We're about to bring you the highly anticipated match between SKT and C9!" Wawa's voice was still full of passion as he spoke from the commentary booth.

Miller chimed in, "The key points of this match are very clear. SKT is currently the most offensively potent team in this World Championship, especially their bot laner, Xiao Yan, who is in incredibly hot form. He's adapted very well to the current meta, which hasn't diminished his performance. C9, on the other hand, is the team that best understands defensive counter-attacks and stalling tactics. In this clash of offense and defense, who will prevail?"

"That's right," special guest Guan Zeyuan also shared his opinion. "C9 has already shown us their terrifying resilience when facing RNG. If C9 still chooses that extreme wave clear composition today, I think it's unlikely that SKT can finish the game within 35 minutes. So this match is not only a test of SKT's tactical reserves, but also a huge test of the players' physical fitness and mentality."

On the stage, both teams are already in position.

The business plan (BP) phase has officially begun.

C9 is on the blue side and has the right to ban and pick first.

Their coach, Reapered, stood behind the players, holding a notebook, his eyes constantly scanning the SKT players' bench.

"Ban Tristana, Caitlyn, and Lucian," Reapered decisively issued the order.

The entire audience erupted in uproar.

"Three bans on the ADC! C9 is still giving Xiao Yan a lot of face!" Wawa shouted.

On SKT's side, coach kkOma let out a cold laugh.

"Trying to target Xiao Yan? Then your Nakagami-no-Yama can forget about having an easy time."

SKT countered by banning Anivia, Viktor, and Nocturne, effectively shutting down several of C9's strongest wave clear and support champions.

Subsequently, C9, in their first-pick position, decisively locked onto Sivir, the Goddess of War.

"Sivir again!" Miller slapped his thigh. "C9's intentions are too obvious. No matter what you ban, I'm going to pick the ADC with the fastest wave clear! As long as Sivir is on the field, SKT won't be able to push onto the high ground easily!"

Following that, C9 selected Sion for top lane and Orianna for mid lane.

This is an extremely solid positional warfare lineup. Sion tanks in front, while Orianna and Sivir clear waves relentlessly from behind. As long as they don't initiate team fights, SKT will have a hard time finding a breakthrough.

It's SKT's turn to select players.

kkOma walked up behind Xiao Yan and patted him on the shoulder: "Xiao Yan, with this lineup on the other side, what are you aiming for?"

Xiao Yan stared intently at the remaining ADC heroes on the screen.

"They want to drag it out, they want to fight a positional war..." Xiao Yan's lips curled into a cold smile, "Then let's give them a monster that they can't deal with in the later stages."

"Get this for me, Kai'Sa, the Daughter of the Void. Explore the infinite possibilities of game novels, all at p>"

The moment Kai'Sa's avatar lit up and locked, a burst of enthusiastic cheers erupted from the crowd.

"Kai'Sa! Xiao Yan picked Kai'Sa!" Wawa shouted excitedly. "She's a champion with extremely high burst damage and finishing ability, but at the same time, her range is relatively short. When facing long-range poke compositions like Orianna and Sivir, her output environment will be very difficult!"

"Xiao Yan is walking a tightrope!" Guan Zeyuan analyzed. "Although Kai'Sa is strong at taking down backline enemies, if her entry timing is wrong, she can easily be controlled by Sion or killed by Orianna's ultimate. This requires an extremely terrifying ability to time her entry perfectly!"

The final lineups for both sides have been determined.

C9 (Blue Side): Top lane Sion, Jungle Xin Zhao, Mid lane Orianna, Bot lane Sivir, Support Tahm Kench.

SKT (Red Side): Top laner Aatrox (TheShy), Jungler Lee Sin (Peanut), Mid laner Syndra (Faker), Bot lane Kai'Sa (Xiao Yan), Support Alistar (Wolf).

"The match begins!"

With a resounding system notification, ten heroes descended upon Summoner's Rift.

As everyone predicted before the match, the game fell into an extremely dull rhythm from the very beginning.

C9's tactical execution is terrifyingly high.

They don't engage in any pointless fights with SKT.

In the top lane, Sion, facing TheShy's Aatrox, immediately built Ninja Tabi and a small Thornmail, then stayed under the tower, using his Q and E skills to farm from a distance. Although TheShy had a significant CS lead over Sion, he couldn't find an opportunity to solo kill him.

In the mid lane, Faker's Syndra attempted to harass Orianna with Dark Orb, but C9's mid laner Jensen played extremely cautiously, preferring to miss a few minions rather than enter Syndra's stun range.

The bottom lane, on the other hand, is extremely boring.

Although Xiao Yan's Kai'Sa was not behind in last-hitting, he felt a bit helpless in the face of this playstyle that didn't interact with him at all.

"Are these guys turtles?" Peanut complained in the voice chat. His Lee Sin had been wandering around the jungle for ages, but couldn't find a single ganking route. C9's vision control was impeccable; as soon as Lee Sin showed his face, C9's laners would immediately retreat to a safe distance.

"Don't rush, control the resources slowly." Xiao Yan's voice remained calm. "If they want to stall, we'll take control of the dragon and the Rift Herald. Let's see how long they can hold out."

Ten minutes later, SKT secured their first dragon (Earth Dragon).

At fifteen minutes, SKT used the Rift Herald to destroy two layers of plating on C9's mid-lane turret, but still couldn't push it down. Orianna's ultimate cleared a wave of minions, thwarting SKT's offensive.

Twenty minutes later, SKT secured their second dragon (the Fire Dragon).

At this point, the economic difference between the two sides was less than two thousand yuan.

"This was so agonizing." In the commentary booth, Wawa couldn't help but sigh. "This match almost put me to sleep. C9's defense was like an impenetrable iron wall. Although SKT controlled the map resources, they couldn't convert their advantage into a victory."

"This is exactly the situation C9 wants to see." Miller's expression was grave. "The longer the game goes on, the better Orianna and Sivir's items will become. Once we reach thirty minutes, C9's positional warfare capabilities will experience a qualitative leap. SKT must find a way to break the stalemate!"

At 25 minutes, the third dragon spawned, and it was still a fire dragon.

This time, C9 is finally not going to back down.

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