Chapter 27: The Classic First-Pick Vayne!
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The fundamental reason he had barely ever been matched against JM last season was that there was a considerable gap between their ratings…
The purple side banned Zed, LeBlanc, and Varus.
It was worth noting that, although the chubby little UZI was nowhere near as famous as he would become in later years, he was already a rising prodigy. In the TGA Winter Finals that had just concluded, he had played Varus for Huayi Spider and claimed the first pentakill of his professional career.
The purple side focused its bans on the middle and bottom lanes, while the blue side mainly targeted the top lane and jungle.
PDD’s signature champions, Zac and Rumble, along with Ming Kai’s jungle Evelynn, were all sent to the blacklist.
Once the bans were complete, Jiang Ming, sitting in the first position, typed into the chat:
“Do you need me to pick a champion for you?”
gogoing replied, “I’ll take my own. Shyvana and Renekton are both still available.”
“Are you taking Jayce? He seems pretty strong in both the top and middle lanes.”
“Help me pick Vayne! Can you help me pick Vayne?” UZI asked impatiently.
Vayne in the first slot?
Jiang Ming’s hands froze over the keyboard. Looking at the childish message in the chat box, he found himself unsure how to respond.
All he could say was that fifteen- or sixteen-year-old UZI truly lived up to his nickname, Mad Puppy.
Then he remembered that he was streaming. No matter how he replied, it would easily stir up trouble, so he simply chose to handle it coldly.
Inside the Royal Club team, the older tebe looked somewhat helpless. He tugged at UZI beside him and said, “Not like that, Puppy. Picking Vayne first makes you too easy to counter, and it’ll be uncomfortable for you to play. If you want Vayne, we can pick her later.”
“All right, then.”
“Ming, pick Jarvan IV for me first.”
Shi Zhenyu had already decided to build himself a villa in the middle lane, so he hurriedly typed the request.
Among the functional junglers, Jarvan IV was unquestionably the most suitable choice under the circumstances.
Outside the game, a crucial promotion match for the rank of Grandmaster had been paired against a professional all-star lineup. The YY platform executives were so happy they were practically dizzy with excitement.
They could increase the publicity a little more and invest even more traffic.
What if they failed to recoup the cost?
What a joke. How could these people know that the number of new users joining the platform over these two days alone would already be enough to cover the expense?
So, after using pop-up windows and homepage advertisements, YY brought out another trump card. They directly put a banner in the upper-right corner of other game-related streaming rooms.
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“Waiting for you! The professional all-star match featuring the strongest players in YY’s League of Legends section!”
Under such an aggressive promotional campaign, the number of viewers in Jiang Ming’s stream began to rise sharply.
…
“JM, what champion should I pick for you?”
When it came time for the blue side’s final two picks, gogoing, who was in the fourth position, took the initiative to ask because the top and middle lanes would be swapping champions.
“Gragas, I suppose.”
Jiang Ming glanced at the enemy lineup before answering.
He found it difficult to comment on WE’s tactical system. Entering Season Three, they were constrained by their mid laner’s champion pool. Whether forced into it or simply unwilling to change course, they still could not bear to abandon the global-pressure strategy that had been the core of their IPL5 championship.
PDD in the top lane had already begun consciously trying, in solo queue, to popularize the “handsome and wealthy” Jayce he had repeatedly promoted. Misaya, however, still refused to let go of his Twisted Fate.
That was not to say Twisted Fate was a bad champion. In the seasons after Season Three, he would occasionally appear on the professional stage and still perform well. But this was Season Three, an era ruled by assassins. Against LeBlanc, Zed, Talon, Gragas, or even Riven, who could roam from the top lane into the middle, Twisted Fate could do little but kneel and beg for mercy.
Another reason Jiang Ming had chosen Gragas was to consider how to deal with WeiXiao in team fights. In this game, the enemy Caitlyn was protected by Thresh, making it difficult for other physical assassins to kill her alone.
“Misaya, why not switch to Orianna? I feel like Twisted Fate will be under a lot of pressure against Gragas.”
“Or Ahri…”
From the purple side’s final counter-pick position, Fzzf offered his suggestion.
It was not that Twisted Fate could not fight Gragas. In Season Three, Gragas was a champion with extremely high mana costs. By using his red and blue cards to clear waves quickly and restore mana, Twisted Fate could maintain his lane presence while draining Gragas’s mana advantage.
If he used Gold Card well, he could even interrupt Gragas’s Body Slam.
Once he reached level six, he could push the wave and use his ultimate to support the side lanes, forcing Gragas to surrender lane priority.
In the early game, he could even gain a slight advantage over his opponent.
However, all of that described an ideal matchup. Judging from the form JM had displayed, Fzzf truly did not believe their own mid laner could overpower him.
Picking Orianna, or bringing out an assassin like JM to counter the matchup, would have been the more comfortable approach.
Misaya shook his head. “Ahri… I’m still just a little short on proficiency with her.”
“As for Orianna, I might as well play Twisted Fate.”
Misaya had complete confidence in his signature Twisted Fate and was certain he would not lose out in lane.
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Gragas had high burst damage but short range, so use Gold Card to create distance. As long as he reached level six safely and flew down to gank twice, the combination of WeiXiao and Fzzf could tear open a breach.
That was how WE had won their games before.
“Fine, then. Pay extra attention to your positioning in lane and try to coordinate with me around the jungle,” Ming Kai reminded him. To make up for his team’s lack of early jungle strength, he had once again chosen Lee Sin.
The champion-selection countdown ended, and both teams’ lineups were finalized.
Blue side: Renekton top, Jarvan IV jungle, Gragas mid, Vayne and Zyra bottom.
Red side: Jayce top, Lee Sin jungle, Twisted Fate mid, Caitlyn and Thresh bottom.
As soon as the lineups appeared, a large number of pessimistic comments flooded Jiang Ming’s stream.
[We’re doomed, we’re doomed. How are we supposed to fight four WE players?]
[The left side is a random assortment of strong players, while the right side took the weakest member, Strawberry, and replaced him with PDD, creating a fully upgraded version of WE.]
[This is awful. As if it weren’t enough for the system to match all the WE players together, they’re even playing their signature global-pressure strategy.]
[Twisted Fate can fly bottom and catch fragile targets like Vayne and Zyra every time. Once Caitlyn gets her tower-pushing rhythm going, the left side won’t even be able to defend their towers.]
[Ugh, forget it, everyone. We already said that ordinary solo-queue players can’t compare with professionals. JM might have some mechanical skill, but not much. Once WE’s strategy comes online, the game is over.]
Twisted Fate flies bottom, and the game is over?
Jiang Ming found that amusing. Yes, everyone in the league knew that Misaya’s Twisted Fate would inevitably fly to a side lane and create pressure after reaching level six. Jiang Ming even knew that Misaya would certainly fly bottom to help WeiXiao.
But Twisted Fate had to reach level six first.
Before level six, unless he drew red cards every time, Twisted Fate’s wave-clearing ability could not suppress Gragas.
And could Twisted Fate draw red cards every time?
Of course not. If he kept drawing red cards, his mana would run dry, and he would simply play himself to death.
Therefore, Jiang Ming only needed to establish a health advantage before level six—or even kill Twisted Fate outright—and lock him in the middle lane.
Once the game began, the ten players were almost all professionals, so everyone positioned themselves extremely cautiously at level one. The red side’s Twisted Fate was given no opportunity to invade, land a predetermined stun, and seize the initiative.
Both junglers started normally at their respective buffs.
As the minions reached the lanes, countless eyes outside the stream turned toward the middle lane.
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