Chapter 17: Yo-ho, the Renowned Founder of Shock Wave Theory!

A mysterious sequence of numbers flashed through Jiang Ming’s mind, and a slight smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. It wasn’t mockery—back in Season 3, Seven’s Lee Sin had quite the reputation. At that time, the pig farm’s mechanics hadn’t declined yet, and combined with Jiang Ming’s mastery of a standard, instinctive playstyle, Lee Sin, who thrived in early jungle skirmishes, remained a formidable weapon in his hands.

The current crop of League players were still in the exploratory phase, unfamiliar with many of Lee Sin’s techniques—such as the R-Flash, Sonic Wave kick, or W-Flash.

“JM, do you want me to take Zed?” came a voice promptly from a first-floor player on the purple side chat channel. This player was no slouch either, immediately speaking up upon spotting the star player.

In LOL’s internal system, floors mostly corresponded to hidden matchmaking ratings, though exceptions occasionally occurred.

In this match, though Jiang Ming held the highest hidden rating among the five, he was assigned to the second floor.

Jiang Ming typed back, “No need, brother and support should pick their mains first.”

The first-floor jungler didn’t refuse and decisively locked in his favored jungler, Jarvan IV.

After a moment’s thought, the second-floor curly-haired player chose Sona.

He had originally considered practicing Thresh, a new champion resembling a robot in role but more versatile as a support.

However, since Thresh was banned by the blue side, he had no choice.

Pick priority returned to the blue side’s second and third floors, where Gragas and Caitlyn appeared on the selection screen.

“First pick Gragas? Confident, aren’t you?” the opponent remarked.

Seeing no sign of deception, Jiang Ming quickly locked in his champion.

“Invisible blade—the deadliest of all!”

With Jiang Ming’s selection of the Shadow Assassin, the lineups swiftly took shape.

Blue Side: Top—Shyvana, Jungle—Lee Sin, Mid—Gragas, Bot—Caitlyn and Janna.

Purple Side: Top—Zac, Jungle—Jarvan IV, Mid—Zed, Bot—Ezreal and Sona.

With the teams set, Jiang Ming’s hands never stopped moving. As a streamer, he had to serve his viewers well.

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“For Zed, use the talent and rune setup from my previous tutorial video; it’s fairly universal: talent tree 21-0-9, and runes fixed on attack damage and armor penetration. No need to take scaling cooldown on the major marks; the gains are minimal.”

“Looking at team comps, it’s hard to say which side is better. The enemy’s mid and jungle are stronger early on, but our team has more crowd control overall. However, Caitlyn and Janna’s long range makes it tough to close in during team fights, which is a direct counter to Zed.”

Jiang Ming did not look down on the so-called “King Emperor” players of today despite his advanced game understanding. As a bottom-lane player, he quickly recognized that the combination of Caitlyn and Janna, with their long reach, was an effective counter against assassins in this meta—a testament to his exceptional in-game talent.

[“This doesn’t look good!”]

[“Gragas mid is ridiculously sticky with great sustain; Zed won’t get any advantage. I don’t think Ming needs to force Zed—better to climb ranks steadily and reach Challenger.”]

[“The enemy mid and jungle are pros—mid is Cool from OMG, jungle is Clearlove from WE.”]

[“Oh wow, bot lane has Smile and Curly Hair too. As long as mid holds steady, with the King on their team, late-game team fights should be a sure win.”]

“Smile, huh!” Jiang Ming watched with interest as the loading screen showed their bot lane duo’s picks.

Ezreal and Sona—this was a signature combo of the two former WE players.

Since the end of the Korean Dragon Tiger Cup and IPL5, Smile had garnered titles like the world’s best AD carry, the “farming robot,” “unbeatable late-game,” and “the man who adds a C to AD.” The chat was right; at Smile’s current level, once Ezreal hit mid-game item spikes, the enemy Caitlyn simply couldn’t compare in damage output.

Still, Jiang Ming had no intention of relying on others.

If the enemy mid were Faker, perhaps he would worry more about his teammates’ condition. But facing Cool, the founder of the renowned Shockwave Theory, Jiang Ming felt no pressure.

In his eyes, the current player was only a fledgling “Little Red Warm Wave.” Although he had been hyped as the world’s number one AD carry, a product of capital-driven promotion, it was this theory’s originator who was the true world-class Shockwave.

In the original timeline, Cool rose to fame in the Season 3 World Championship by single-killing Faker amid network lag, earning the title of world’s second-best mid-laner. He mistakenly believed he possessed that level of skill. After losing to Xerath’s poke while playing Yasuo, he turned to drama and infighting within OMG, tangled with his jungler girlfriend, and caused the Galaxy Battleship to sink in Season 5.

What followed was even more bizarre: he joined FPX, looked down on LWX as weak, refused to practice champions or scrims, got criticized by coaches, struggled with the Old Men’s Cup, suffered endless setbacks, and blamed champions for his failures. He had neither honor nor true skill, and his Shockwave boomerang ended up hitting himself—a classic case of misunderstood “dark traffic.”

The game began. The five players moved with lightning speed, finishing item purchases and taking their positions.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

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With a Long Sword and three Red Potions, Jiang Ming pinged several signals on the map, signaling Jarvan to place a defensive ward.

In the era when double buffs allowed a rapid level three, Lee Sin’s early invasion power was immense. Moreover, before level three, it was difficult for him to contest lane priority against Gragas mid.

Unlike the future jungler Gragas, Season 3’s Q did not require a delayed release to maximize damage; the W lacked extra damage but granted damage reduction and bonus physical attack, making it a comfortable skill for early auto-attacks and last-hitting. The E did not stun but had significant displacement, slow effect, and damage unmatched in later versions.

Curly Hair and Smile exchanged glances upon seeing the map pings, both thinking the same thing: “This guy’s playstyle feels more professional than ours…”

On the blue side:

“Banning Zed? How could they ban Zed? He’s just a random player,” scoffed Cool, controlling Gragas. To him, no matter the top ladder ranks, most of their time was spent in professional matches. If they really pushed rankings, top ten would be like their backyard.

Time ticked by without either side attempting a level one fight.

Cool approached midlane with the minion wave, spotted Zed, and raised his hand to throw Q, intending to explode the enemy and minions together.

But because of the distance between them, before Gragas’s rolling barrel reached its destination, the dual-bladed Shadow Assassin stepped lightly, passing by with a sidestep.

“Face the shadow, seek the truth!”

Swish!

Dodging the rolling barrel, Zed immediately fired his shuriken—Shadow Slash: Razor Edge!

The sound of blades piercing flesh rang out as Gragas’s head was hit, snowflakes flickering above it.