novellk Chapter 56: Akali with a Wise Heart
Chapter 56: Akali with a Wise Heart
6 month 22 day.
IG vs. Tes.
The match between two very popular LPL teams drew a huge crowd.
Both players looked quite relaxed.
In their past encounters, Tes has lost to IG multiple times.
But that was the complete IG with Rookie.
Whether substitute player Forge can withstand the pressure from left hand today is a point of great concern for all IG fans.
When Karam appeared behind the IG players, the internet was instantly filled with criticism.
【Karam? Tell him to go down and thank him.】
Isn't Chen Song much better than Karam?
[@Wang Sicong, what are you thinking, Principal?]
[It's pointless now, IG is gone.]
Two familiar figures were on the commentary desk; Guan Zeyuan still remembered them.
"Hey, they've already banned 5 heroes."
The screen switched to the BP interface, and Guan Zeyuan exclaimed:
"IG, on the blue side, first banned the strong Olaf, Neeko, and Sylas."
"Ryze and Aatrox, TES is banning all of TheShy's champions."
"Should we ban Irelia? I think we should consider that."
Remember to add: "But if Sejuani is brought out, it will give Ning a lot of room to maneuver, even though Tes' Xx can counter her with Trundle."
"Tes banned Sejuani, so IG will definitely have to pick Irelia."
Sure enough, no sooner had the words left his mouth than IG locked in Irelia.
"However, Xx picked up Gragas jungle, which he is very good at."
"Tes, should we just take that barrel of radiance?"
Guan Zeyuan and Ji De carefully analyzed the BP on both sides.
"Oh? Yuumi and Sivir combo, that's practically telling you not to mess with my bot lane."
While they were speculating which hero Tes would pick as his third pick, Tes pulled out Kalista on the third floor.
Both sides banned Jayce, Yasuo, and Kennen respectively.
As for why Yasuo was banned, it's because LCK has been developing a lot of strategies for using Gragas and Yasuo recently, so IG chose to play it safe and ban Yasuo.
When facing an unfamiliar lineup, the best approach is to simply press the button.
In the commentary booth, the two were chatting and laughing, speculating which mid laner TES would give 369, when Vladimir appeared first.
Then it locks instantly.
In their impression, 369 rarely picks Vladimir proactively, especially when facing TheShy on the red side, he is even less likely to proactively reveal his top laner first.
If it were TheShy, they could understand, but why did Tes just let 369 take it first?
"Tes actually picked Vladimir first. Although I don't think there's anything wrong with 369 playing Vladimir, was it really necessary to give 369 Vladimir before IG even had their top laner ready?"
Guan Zeyuan expressed his confusion and began to analyze: "However, TES also made preparations in advance. This Vladimir is likely to be a flex pick. After banning lane-dominant champions like Kennen, there are no more top lane-dominant champions left."
"Ryze, Jayce, Neeko, Kennen, none of them are left."
Guan Zeyuan's analysis is very accurate.
Upon seeing the vampire's hand, Karam frowned.
He couldn't think of any hero to use to suppress this vampire.
Chen Song, sitting in the lounge, looked at the screen and shook his head.
In the tactical materials he handed to Karam before the match, he emphasized that Tes would definitely target TheShy in the ban phase, and he also demonstrated several draft picks to counter him.
But in the end, Karam still managed to fall into the trap.
"There's no way around it, Karam's probably going to pick Akali again."
"But Akali really isn't suitable!"
"I hope I'm just jinxing it."
As Chen Song muttered to himself, IG locked in Akali as their fourth pick.
IG's last pick was Xin Zhao for Ning.
"The last pick IG gave Ning was actually quite interesting, in my opinion."
Guan Zeyuan explained, "Why?"
"Because Xin Zhao often needs his teammates to push the lane a lot and the support to invade the jungle. But actually, IG's Akali doesn't have that much of an advantage against Renekton."
While Guan Zeyuan was analyzing, Tes simultaneously picked Crocodile as their last move.
"In my opinion, neither Akali nor Irelia has a significant advantage against Renekton. Xin Zhao is actually not that easy to play, so Ning's decision to pick Xin Zhao is quite risky. We should look forward to seeing how Ning performs."
With the lineups finalized, both sides began switching hero positions.
"As expected, I think it was the right decision not to put the vampire in the top lane for the final matchup."
The final lineups for both sides have been determined.
Blue side IG: Top lane Akali, jungle Xin Zhao, mid lane Irelia, bot lane Sivir + Yuumi.
Red team TES: Top lane Renekton, Jungle Gragas, Mid lane Vladimir, Bot lane Kalista + Lux.
"The match has officially begun. This is also a key match of Week 4. Let's see what surprises Ning's Xin Zhao has in store."
As Guan Zeyuan's voice faded, the fans in the audience took turns cheering for both teams.
"There's something interesting here."
Before the two teams positioned themselves for the level 1 team fight, I explained a strategy employed by IG: "In the previous game against EDG, IG successfully located Jiejie in the third game by placing wards at the mid and right river entrances. At the start of this game, we can see that they placed wards in the same location, and these wards happened to spot Tes's movement into the jungle."
"Akali with a silver spoon in her mouth? I haven't seen Akali with a silver spoon in my life."
Guan Zeyuan focused his attention on TheShy: "This Akali with the Wise Heart skill has a lower margin for error, but her laning phase poke ability is indeed very strong."
IG players' rest area.
After listening to the two commentators' analysis, Mafa leaned close to Chen Song's ear and asked, "What do you think of TheShy's Akali this game?"
"That's strange."
Chen Song thought for a moment: "Akali against Renekton, using Wisdom to harass might be effective, but it would be too disadvantageous if both sides were to fight at level six."
Mafa nodded: "Perhaps TheShy has some unique understanding."
Personally, I still feel like I'm at a disadvantage.
Chen Song continued, "The reason for bringing the Heart of Vengeance is simply to maximize damage output, but champions like Renekton who have sustain in lane are not afraid of your Heart of Vengeance's damage output."
"Fortunately, we have an advantage in the mid lane."
Mafa offered a word of comfort.
Chen Song sighed inwardly, wondering if it was because his expectations were too high, or if Mafa and the others simply didn't understand. Even when it came to drafting and talent selection, he and Karam seemed completely unable to offer any advice to the players.
Does this mean he'll have to create a separate profile for talent selection in the days to come?
"It's true that Irelia has an early-game advantage against Vladimir."
Then Chen Song poured cold water on the idea: "Unless Ning stays in the mid lane the whole game, Knight's Vladimir will only need to push the lane, roam, help the jungler invade, or wait for the jungler to come and help. Irelia will be almost useless in this game."
"And you should know, Xx is a jungler who really likes to help others; he knows exactly how to play the game."