Group Stage: Facing JDG

On the afternoon of the seventeenth, after watching BLG and Anyone's Legend play out a full Bo3, Lin Heng let out a breath and got ready to take the stage.

Danny asked him, "Are you paying close attention to BLG's matches?"

Lin Heng nodded. "BLG is one of the opponents in our league we need to pay particular attention to. In this laning meta, their laning is too strong. They might give us a lot of trouble during the laning phase. Xun's return has also improved the atmosphere on the team, and Viper joining has made their bot lane more stable and less likely to give away opportunities. If they correct a few bad in-game habits, they'll be very strong."

Of course, they had yet to face BLG, so all of that was a matter for later. First, they had to defeat today's opponent.

The last time they faced Anyone's Legend, Ning had volunteered to take on Tarzan. Today, against JingDong Gaming, the team had Wei start instead.

Both were in fairly good form, so the club was willing to rotate them to bring variation and diversity to the lineup.

After rebuilding, JDG had formed its team around bot laner Gala, bringing in Vampire as support. The LPL had produced quite a few promising new supports in recent years.

God V, Erha, Jwei, and Kael were all promising new supports with standout qualities.

JingDong Gaming might have chosen God V because his personality seemed to mesh better with Gala's.

For mid and jungle, they had chosen HongQ and Junjia, a pair of carries from Taiwan. HongQ was young, but he had a wealth of experience in major tournaments and a promising future.

In the top lane, they had brought in Xiaoxu. His performances over the past two years had been fairly solid. He had not had many highlight moments, but he made up for it with consistency.

When building a team around mid and bot, stability in the top lane was naturally very important.

Mao Mao and Tong Xi cast the match, while Xiao Yu hosted.

For the pre-match interview, Wei spoke about how quickly IG was coming together. Although everyone was on the older side, they all had plenty of experience.

During reviews and tactical planning, everyone was quick to take things in and understand them, which was why the team had managed two 2–0 victories.

The match soon entered Ban and Pick.

JingDong Gaming chose to ban and pick first, while IG chose blue side.

With their first three bans, IG took out Gala's Varus, as well as Rumble and Orianna, two champions considered fairly overpowered in this patch.

JingDong Gaming's bans were highly targeted: Akali, Sylas, and Ambessa.

With those three champions banned, their intention was very, very clear. First of all, they had to have banned these three engage champions to protect their two carries.

And with Sylas banned, they were most likely going to first-pick jungle Malphite, who was still fairly strong in this patch. A champion like Alistar did not have such high priority in game one.

Teams still preferred to play enchanter supports to avoid getting crushed in lane.

Sure enough, JingDong Gaming immediately first-picked Malphite.

On IG's side, Wei volunteered to pick jungle Dr. Mundo, a very comfortable counter to Malphite in the jungle. First, none of Malphite's abilities except his ultimate could break Dr. Mundo's passive. Second, the percentage damage from Dr. Mundo's Q also hurt a tank as beefy as Malphite.

But IG did not pick Neeko next, as the casters thought they most likely would. Instead, they picked LeBlanc for Rookie right away.

"Huh? They're not taking Neeko? Are they not playing for bot-lane pressure?" Mao Mao asked, puzzled.

JingDong Gaming then took the popular bot-lane duo of Yunara and Lulu. Both champions performed very well in the early, mid, and late game.

IG picked Caitlyn for Uzi with their third pick.

"Here it comes! They're going straight for lane pressure. But then why didn't they take Neeko earlier? She'll definitely be gone in the second round."

Sure enough, JingDong Gaming banned Neeko and Karma in the second round, two champions who could pair with Caitlyn to pressure the lane with their long range.

Elise and Lux, Caitlyn's two most common partners, were not very strong in this patch and had low pick rates.

IG banned Jax and K'Sante, two top-lane champions Xiaoxu was fairly proficient with.

Then IG picked Morgana fourth.

"Oh? Morgana with Caitlyn? It looks like IG is handing the ball to Uzi this game. Morgana and Caitlyn might not have quite as much lane pressure, but later on, Black Shield can help protect Caitlyn from Malphite's ultimate. You could call it a protective choice."

But JingDong Gaming's next choices left the casters baffled. With their fourth and fifth picks, they locked in Renekton and Azir.

"Gnar is still open, Xiaoxu, and you're picking Renekton into TheShy's Gnar? Aren't you a little too confident? JingDong Gaming's lineup looks very well-rounded, with Renekton and Malphite for the early game and Yunara and Azir for the mid to late game, but you can't ignore the counter matchup. TheShy is definitely going to punish you with Gnar."

Mao Mao was utterly perplexed. "Gnar has always been a huge counter to Renekton, and it's TheShy on the other side. You still dare to pick Renekton outright without banning Gnar?"

"Then there's only one way I can understand it. They picked Renekton to hold the line in those two key early-game objective fights. As long as he can help the team secure one or two early dragons, JingDong Gaming will have the means to drag the game out. In the late game, their two carries with Malphite as a big frontline will be very strong," Tong Xi analyzed.

"Then we'll have to see just how hard TheShy's Gnar can pressure him in lane this game." Mao Mao seemed certain that TheShy would pick Gnar.

But with the fifth pick, Lin Heng once again locked in a champion no one had expected.

"Engine activated. Ready to roll!"

The Great Steam Golem, Blitzcrank.

"Huh? What's this? Top-lane Blitzcrank? Or is it top-lane Morgana? Why does every IG Ban and Pick look like this? You can't predict what they're going to pick at all!" Mao Mao exclaimed in shock.

Only after the champions' positions were adjusted did everyone finally confirm that Morgana was going top and Blitzcrank was playing support.

"W-wait..." Tong Xi quickly sorted through her thoughts.

The most bewildered of all was Xiaoxu on JingDong Gaming's side.

"C-coach, how do I play this? I've never seen it before. Weren't we supposed to be playing against Gnar?"

Tabe stared wide-eyed at IG's lineup on the screen. Then he could only hastily add, "Gala, you have to watch out for the hook."

Before taking off his headset, he could only say helplessly, "Xiaoxu, do your best to hold out. She's useless late game."

"Morgana seems to have a really easy time against Renekton," Tong Xi said after thinking for a moment.

"First, the only way Renekton can stun Morgana is with a fury-empowered W, which breaks shields. But Morgana has Flash and Q, and when she's pushing the lane, I don't think Renekton is very likely to catch her with an empowered W. On top of that, TheShy's spacing is still top-tier.

"Second, even if he calls Junjia over for a gank, there's nothing Malphite can do. Malphite can't break Morgana's shield to start the fight, so it feels like there's no way to gank her. Morgana also has her ultimate to protect herself. This lane is really comfortable."

"TheShy can really have a great time pressuring Top Lane this game."