prynovel Chapter 241 The Disadvantage at the Start
Chapter 241 The Disadvantage at the Start
Chapter 241 The Disadvantage at the Start
three days later.
Gwangju Women's University Gymnasium, South Korea.
The battle for the quarterfinals of the S8 World Championship has officially begun here.
The stadium was packed, with tens of thousands of spectators waving their light sticks, turning the scene into a sea of red and blue.
LPL and LCK fans were locked in a fierce battle in the stands, their deafening shouts seemingly threatening to lift the dome of the arena.
"Welcome to the quarterfinals of the 2018 League of Legends World Championship! I'm your commentator, Wawa!"
"I am Miller!"
"I am Guan Zeyuan!"
As the three commentators delivered their passionate opening remarks, the lights in the arena dimmed instantly, and the pre-match promotional videos for the two teams began playing on the big screen.
After the promotional video ended, both contestants took to the stage amidst deafening cheers.
Xiao Yan walked at the very back of the group, and the moment he appeared in front of the camera, the crowd erupted in screams that even drowned out Faker's. His god-like Xayah performance in the group stage had already made him a new god in the hearts of countless ADC players worldwide.
The contestants took their seats and began adjusting their equipment.
Soon, the large screen switched to the BP interface.
In the first game, WB was on the blue side and SKT was on the red side.
"Alright, the ban/pick phase has begun!" Guan Zeyuan quickly got into the zone. "WB immediately banned Xiao Yan's Xayah! Very decisive! WB's coaching staff must have watched that Xayah replay from the group stage so many times they wouldn't dare show it!"
Miller continued, "Not only Xayah, WB banned Faker's Galio as their second pick! This is to dismantle SKT's mid-game support system. Their third pick was TheShy's Jayce! Extremely targeted! Three bans!"
The positions were given to SKT's top, mid, and bottom cores respectively!
Wawa looked at SKT's draft: "SKT banned Akali, Aatrox, and SofM's signature Lee Sin, which are strong in the current meta. The draft is very intense."
The selection process has begun.
WB's first floor instantly locked in the current version's very strong jungler—Xin Zhao, the Demacian General!
"Xin Zhao!" Guan Zeyuan exclaimed, "SofM has picked Xin Zhao! This champion has extremely strong early-game jungle dueling capabilities and is incredibly efficient at ganking! It seems WB is determined to gain an early advantage in this match!"
On the first and second floors, SKT steadily locked in Braum and Lissandra.
Braum provides extremely solid counter-attack protection, while Faker's Lissandra is designed to counter WB's potential strong engage composition by providing stable point control.
Subsequently, WB locked in top lane Renekton and support Rakan on the second and third floors.
"Renren and Xin Zhao! WB's top and jungle duo is too aggressive!" Miller gasped. "These two champions can practically tower dive any top laner at level three! TheShy's going to be in trouble this game!"
On the third floor of SKT, they locked up Gragas for Peanut, attempting to use Gragas's control and physique to counter Xin Zhao's invasion.
The second round of ban/pick phase has ended, and the final lineups for both sides have been determined.
WB (Blue Side): Top lane Renekton (Bin), Jungle Xin Zhao (SofM), Mid lane Syndra (Angel), Bot lane Lucian (Light), Support Rakan (Crisp).
Looking at these two lineups, the atmosphere in the commentary booth became somewhat heavy.
"SKT's lineup—" Wawa analyzed with a frown, "is too heavily biased towards the mid-to-late game. Sion, Gragas, and Braum, these three frontliners are tanky, but they deal almost no damage in the early game. Faker's Lissandra also needs items to support her. As for Xiao Yan's Sivir—that's definitely a champion who needs three items to take over the game."
Guan Zeyuan sighed, "On the other hand, WB's lineup is practically a do-or-die situation! The early to mid-game burst damage of Renekton, Xin Zhao, Syndra, and Lucian is incomprehensible! If SKT..."
If we can't close the economic gap before 2000 minutes, and WB starts snowballing, this lineup won't even last until Sivir is fully formed!
Miller nodded, his tone grave: "This game will be extremely difficult for SKT in the early game. Especially Peanut and TheShy; they'll face a relentless onslaught from SofM and Bin. The match has begun, let's enter Summoner's Rift!"
With the announcement of the all-out attack, the first match of the quarterfinals officially began.
Just as the commentators predicted, WB displayed an extremely aggressive style from level one.
SofM's Xin Zhao didn't choose the conventional bottom jungle clear; instead, he led his bot lane duo to forcibly invade SKT's red buff jungle!
Wolf's Braum, despite his defensive efforts, was forced to retreat due to the early-game dominance of Lucian and Rakan. Peanut's Gragas was forced to start with the blue buff in the top half of the map, losing the experience and gold from the red buff at the start of the game.
This was just the beginning of a nightmare.
Three and a half minutes later, Peanut's Gragas had just finished taking down the river crab in the upper half of the map and was about to go farm his own Gromp when a figure wielding a long spear suddenly jumped out of the bushes!
It's SofM's Xin Zhao!
After stealing the red buff, instead of farming his own jungle, he crossed the mid lane and ambushed SKT in their upper jungle!
"My God! SofM's starvation playstyle!" Guan Zeyuan exclaimed. "He's only level two! But he has the red buff! Gragas is only half health and got stabbed by Xin Zhao!"
Fearless Charge (E), Triple Claw Strike (Q)!
Zhao Xin's spear, like a viper's tongue, pierced deeply into Gragas's chubby body. The red buff's slowing effect made it impossible for Gragas to move an inch.
Peanut was shocked and quickly used his Body Slam (E) to try to escape through the wall, but SofM reacted very quickly, immediately followed with Flash, and finally used his Q skill to launch Gragas into the air!
"First Blood!"
Less than four minutes into the game, WB's jungler solo-killed SKT's jungler in the enemy jungle, securing the first blood!
"Damn it—" Peanut stared at the gray screen, slammed his mouse hard, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead. He was stunned by SofM's completely unreasonable playing style.
"It's okay, stay calm." Faker's calm voice came through the voice chat. "If he plays like this, his own development will be affected too."
However, before Faker could finish speaking, more bad news came from the top lane.
Having secured First Blood, Zhao Xin didn't even glance at his own jungle before swaggering towards the top lane with both buffs.
At this moment, TheShy's Sion was being pressured under the tower by Bin's Renekton. The Renekton was already brimming with rage, ready to unleash his attack at any moment.
"Zhao Xin is flanking! WB is going to dive the tower!" Miller stared nervously at the screen.
As the minion wave pushed into the tower, Bin's Renekton didn't hesitate. He used his E skill to pass through the minions and then used his red-rage W to bite Sion, pinning him firmly under the tower!
SofM's Xin Zhao burst out from behind the tower, his spear like a dragon, and with the burst damage of Renekton, instantly wiped out Sion's health bar!
Although the turret damage ultimately traded kills with the tanking Renekton, this one-for-one exchange was a huge loss for a Sion who needed to farm. Even more devastating was that a massive wave of minions was swallowed by the turret, causing TheShy to fall a full level behind Renekton in experience!