At his words, Ming Kai and Tong Yang's expressions immediately darkened.
The two of them narrowed their eyes in unison.
Chu Ran really was petty, huh~
He was already starting with verbal attacks?
As everyone knows, many EDG Fans considered Ming Kai the team's backbone, but in reality, plenty of anti-fans cursed him as a jungler who only knew how to cling to other people's coattails.
Netizens often joked online.
Pawn carried Ming Kai forward under such a burden every day that his back eventually gave out and collapsed.
Pawn, meanwhile, remained expressionless. He and Deft had been at EDG for two years, and they could understand a little of it by now.
But he and Deft would soon return to the LCK. The past had faded like smoke; it no longer mattered.
All that could be said was that the LPL was simply a tactical wasteland. It was terrifying.
Even someone as strong as Marin had run away from LGD.
Tong Yang, meanwhile, was deeply displeased. Back then, he had been called Invincible Tong, at the height of his glory. It was worlds apart from his current state. Chu Ran bringing up old matters again could not have been more openly mocking.
Tong Yang laughed in anger. "Fine. I'll play Gnar this game."
"Alright."
Abu looked at the two men glaring at each other but said nothing.
This kind of healthy competition was exactly what he wanted to see, and the key people he was watching in this tryout were Chu Ran and Tong Yang.
Whoever performed better in the tryout would get the spot.
Ming Kai, Tong Yang, don't say I didn't give you a chance when the time comes.
But seeing Ming Kai support Tong Yang so strongly, Abu began grumbling inwardly again.
He even wondered whether Ming Kai had been acting as Tong Yang's advisor behind the scenes when Tong Yang had gotten arrogant, made all kinds of demands, and then given up after being rejected.
If that was not the case, then Tong Yang was simply missing a screw in his head.
Otherwise, there was no way to explain everything Tong Yang had done back then.
Soon, everyone was ready.
Since this was a scrim, there was not much concern over team compositions.
Tong Yang decisively locked in Gnar. Abu had originally thought Chu Ran would pick Fiora, but to his surprise, Chu Ran directly took out Yasuo.
"Yasuo?"
"Yasuo does well against Gnar, but Little Ran, are you confident?"
"Coach Abu, do you know which champion I'm best at?"
"Don't tell me it's not Fiora, but Yasuo?" Abu froze.
Chu Ran smiled. "No, it's still Fiora."
Fuck you!
What a waste of an expression.
Red Temperature Value +23
Abu was angered into laughter by Chu Ran, but he did not say anything more. He thought even more highly of Chu Ran now.
As long as Chu Ran did not perform too poorly, he would definitely choose him and would not consider Tong Yang.
The previous lesson was right there. Who knew whether there would be a next time?
A moment later, both sides finalized their compositions.
Ming Kai and the others were on blue side, while Chu Ran was on red side.
Blue side's lineup was Gnar top, Kha'Zix jungle, Syndra mid, and Jhin with Braum bot.
Red side's lineup was Yasuo top, Lee Sin jungle, Orianna mid, and Sivir with Alistar bot.
When Ale saw Chu Ran pick Yasuo, teasing immediately erupted in the team voice chat.
"Bro, you're playing Yasuo? You've got some real guts."
"Can we win?"
"Guaranteed win." Chu Ran's tone was firm.
Under the effects of the Innate Sword Body Dao Embryo, any champion who wielded a sword had already become one of Chu Ran's signature picks. Add Brother Ale's Blessing, along with Chu Ran's own skill and experience—if he still could not beat Tong Yang, he might as well smash his head into a wall.
"Be careful of Ming Kai. He'll definitely Gank you like crazy."
Hearing Deft's voice, Chu Ran nodded. "Alright."
Although Ming Kai was known for never looking top lane during matches, given everything he had done today, it would be strange if he did not camp Chu Ran to death.
After all, this was a scrim, not an official match.
At this point, Deft and Pawn began conversing in Korean.
"Who do you think will win?"
"It has nothing to do with us."
"I'm wondering whether we really have to leave EDG."
"Let's go." Pawn's gaze was deep. EDG already had Scout now, leaving no room for him to shine.
More importantly, he could not see any hope of winning a championship at EDG. Two straight years of quarterfinal exits had chilled his heart. It would be better to return to the LCK and give it a shot.
Naturally, Chu Ran could not understand what Deft and the others were saying, nor did he care.
Once the game finished loading, countless pings immediately lit up across both teams' jungles.
Chu Ran came to the river and pressed Tab. Seeing that Meiko had not brought Scanned, he quickly said, "We can ward F6. They don't have Scanned."
The second team's support then placed a ward in the passage between F6 and red buff, directly monitoring Ming Kai's jungle path. Likewise, the jungle path on Chu Ran's side was also exposed.
This game, both junglers started on the bottom side.
The plan was to clear the entire jungle, then Gank top if there was an opportunity; if not, recall.
At one minute and forty seconds, Chu Ran controlled Yasuo as he arrived in lane with the minion wave, positioning himself closer to the river side.
Gnar was nowhere to be seen. He was most likely hiding in the brush, hoping to break Yasuo's Wind Wall with a few stolen Auto Attacks right from the start.
"His awareness is decent."
Seeing that Chu Ran was on guard, Tong Yang immediately stepped out of the brush. At this moment, Abu and Mouse were standing behind Chu Ran, watching the matchup between the two.
"Who do you think will win?"
Mouse froze for a moment before slowly speaking several seconds later. "Hard to say. Yasuo does have an easier time against Gnar, but it's not that easy. It depends on mechanics. I favor Tong Yang a little more."
Neither level-one Gnar nor Yasuo was particularly strong. Chu Ran had learned E at level one on Yasuo, taken Warlord's Bloodlust as his keystone, and used standard attack damage, Magic Resist, and armor runes. His three quintessences were all AD, except he had swapped one small AD rune for 1% critical strike chance.
Yasuo's passive doubled his critical strike chance, giving him 2% crit from the start. With good luck, he could even land consecutive critical hits.
Seeing Tong Yang's level-one Gnar try to seize lane priority, Chu Ran gave him no chance. He immediately dashed through a minion with E and charged forward, landing an Auto Attack that triggered Warlord's Bloodlust.
Tong Yang's eyes narrowed as he immediately positioned backward and threw out an AQ. But just as he raised his hand for the second hit, Chu Ran dashed through another minion with E, instantly dodging the returning boomerang.
He came out slightly ahead in that trade.
He had hit Gnar with one extra Auto Attack, while Gnar had only removed the shield on the body of Yasuo.
Furthermore, Gnar's Q had not damaged Chu Ran's minion wave. That tiny difference was enough for Chu Ran to seize lane priority.
"He even dodged that? Damn it."
At that moment, Tong Yang gritted his teeth. Losing lane priority meant Chu Ran's Yasuo would reach level two first. Once he did, Yasuo would stand in front of the minion wave and pressure Tong Yang's Gnar.
He dashed straight into Gnar's face with EAEQ. Although he took one AQA from Gnar, level two dealt more damage than level one. He again came out slightly ahead in the trade, and Gnar directly missed the experience from two melee minions.
Seeing this, the corner of the mouth of Chu Ran curled upward. One or two more trades, and he could go all-in.
In Chu Ran's eyes, Tong Yang's Gnar had terrifyingly slow casting motions and skill windups. This was the boost brought by his trait—his dynamic vision had improved significantly.
At this moment, Tong Yang pressed his lips together and unconsciously straightened in his chair, putting away the contempt in his heart.
This Yasuo had some skill.
But not that much!
As long as he played safely and farmed for a while, he would be able to turn things around soon.
Abu watched everything unfold and nodded approvingly. "Little Chu's awareness and lane management are very meticulous. Pulling into the brush like that to avoid vision and minion aggro—Ah Guang, you need to learn more from him."
"Huh?"
Mouse froze. What the hell was he supposed to learn?
He played Maokai. Did he need those kinds of details?
"But it feels pointless for Yasuo to push this hard. There are no resources in the top side jungle, so lane priority is useless. Instead, he's pushing the wave over and extending his position, giving Ming Kai room to Gank him. Does he think he can solo kill?"
"Do you think there's a chance?"
Looking at Gnar and Yasuo's current HP, one below half and the other just over half, Abu fell into thought.
"Definitely no chance. You know how top lane is—it only ever blows up. But if you want to solo kill someone, as long as they don't want to die, the opponent can never solo kill them."
Mouse spoke with great confidence. He was a veteran weakside player.
How could he not know how to stay alive in top lane?
Before you continue