You call this thing stable?

To build an early game with the Lucian-Nami combo, the team needs a late-game carry. Since Lucian has short range and struggles to clear waves, Azir's presence effectively solves this problem.

For TES, it's simpler: Viktor and Jayce.

There's no choice, Qing Tian's champion pool is limited to Xin Zhao, Lee Sin, and Renekton. You can't pick Xin Zhao against a flexible composition like V5's, so he has to choose between secondary options like Jayce or Jax. As for why not Jax, it's just that if you can't play Jax well, it's truly a bizarre sight.

Rich's choice is even simpler: continue with Gwen.

At this point:

TES: Top Jayce, Jungle Viego, Mid Viktor, Bot Tristana + Alistar

V5: Top Gwen, Jungle Xin Zhao, Mid Azir, Bot Lucian + Nami

When V5's lineup was revealed in its entirety once more, people realized that Coach Homme had, once again, subtly given them a double-circle attribute. On the surface, this lineup seemed to lack a frontline, but in reality, if they could kite well, this double-circle would be far more effective than any frontline.

"This is the last game. The best I can do is to make the lineup as comfortable as possible. The rest is up to you guys." Coach Homme closed his notebook. At this moment, all he could do was trust.

"Such a steady coach. This lineup looks great from the start." Brother Ka, being an old hand, immediately saw that their lineup was slightly better than the opponent's. As long as they handled the laning phase well and didn't make any mistakes, their win rate should be good.

"What about Xiao Zhen? Everything okay?"

"Ah, no problem." Luo Zhen stretched his right wrist, a brighter smile than ever before gracing his face. "Coach, you just need to hold down the left mouse button."

"The rest is up to AK!"

Chapter 55: Who Killed Whom?

Since the Demacia Cup, Coach Homme had been setting traps for his opponents.

Jhin, Ziggs, or even Jinx – these champions were indeed within Luo Zhen's champion pool, exactly as the data showed. However, there was one crucial detail that was wrong: the very first sentence in Luo Zhen's profile read: "LDL bot lane can dominate."

What does it mean to dominate?

Is it dominating when an ADC like Jinx or Caitlyn, who are strong late-game carries, gets a CS lead?

Is it dominating when a specific team composition like Ziggs-Senna creates a team advantage?

Neither.

True domination starts from the laning phase, completely overwhelming the enemy. So, which champions can achieve this?

Lucian, Kalista, Draven, Samira.

No one noticed the significance of this statement, except for Coach Homme. Not only did he notice it, but he even used it to set a trap. Even as he shook hands with Bai Seyueya, Bai Seyueya couldn't understand the subtle smile on Coach Homme's face.

By the time he realized something was wrong, he had already stepped into the trap Coach Homme had woven for him.

In this game, TES's jungler would be under a lot of pressure. The top laner, Jayce, needed protection, and the bot lane of Tristana and Alistar also needed protection against Lucian and Nami. However, if he had to choose, he would prioritize protecting the top lane. Because the bot lane was JKL, he naturally trusted that even if they fell behind, it wouldn't be a complete collapse.

V5, on the other hand, should focus on the bot lane in the early game.

Even so, Karsa chose to farm from the bot lane upwards. He also chose to trust his bot lane, but he trusted more that the opponent would attempt an dive at level three on Gwen. If there were such things as stand-ins in this world, Karsa's stand-in would undoubtedly be a giant radar.

And at this moment, just at the start of the game, his radar was already sending him a warning.

The game began with no early jungle skirmishes. Luo Zhen and PPGOD returned to the bot lane and started contesting level two as soon as they got online.

Lucian and Nami have an advantage against Alistar and Tristana in the early game. We must reiterate that Alistar is almost useless before level six. Although his Q, W, and E are all crowd control abilities, and his passive can heal him, he has a fatal weakness that severely hinders him – no area-of-effect damage and no mobility.

His W and Q skills are single-target. His E skill requires a delay to take effect. Furthermore, hard supports like him usually stand in front of the ADC to protect them while they farm. The problem is obvious: you can't help your ADC clear waves and gain levels, nor are you tanky enough to withstand the early game damage from Lucian and Nami. If your W-Q combo or Q-Flash is dodged, or if it hits but your ADC gets knocked up by Nami's bubble, the charging Alistar can only become a beef dinner.

Simply put, it's easy to go and never return.

Famous scenes like Tristana and Alistar getting three consecutive solo kills on Lucian and Nami in the World Championship can only be attributed to "Little Lu Bu's" unique skill. After all, not everyone can suppress their power to only 30% of their ability like him.

"Should we go in? Or wait a bit longer?"

"Don't rush. You need to have full confidence in me. Let's wait for level three."

"You can actually hold back?"

"Absolutely. I've used the five-game halftime break to confirm my advantage over JKL: my hair is longer than his!"

"???"

As everyone knows, the longer the hair, the stronger the power. Look at Super Saiyan Goku in his later years, with his entire body covered in colorful yellow hair. Each evolution made his hair more luxuriant, which already shows the influence of hair on strength.

What?

You mean Saitama?

He went bald. He doesn't think JKL is bald, so it should be fine.

In fact, from ancient times to the present, major anime have generally promoted the idea that the more bizarre the form, the stronger the power.

Take Dragon Ball – Super Saiyan, Naruto – contacts and tattoos, One Piece – transformations, Bleach – spiritual youths, Black Clover – colorful hair.

Based on these, he has already confirmed that he is stronger than his opponent.

Of course, the above is just him bragging. In reality, it's not that he doesn't want to engage, but he needs to know the jungler's position first. Otherwise, if he charges in and Viego comes down from the river, that would be too much of a hassle.

As for how to find out?

It's simple: leave it to the mid and jungle.

Azir is guaranteed to have lane priority against Viktor in the early game. Rookie can then go forward and place a ward at F6 as a judgment. Then, the jungler will decide whether to go for level three or four based on the top laner's health. If Jayce is pushing and zoning Gwen, he will definitely be looking for a jungle gank to dive. In that case, the bot lane can push.

If Jayce is playing defensively and not pushing the wave, then Luo Zhen and PPGOD need to play a bit more cautiously.

As for whether he was afraid of Qing Tian acting, well, he wasn't afraid at all.

Because he didn't have the skill.

A top laner who dominated the LDL, TES had already suffered from his information advantage. It was like that guy, hailed as South Korea's last man, was actually American. It was just bullying those who didn't know any better.

Soon, they realized Jayce was starting to freeze the wave.

To be safe, the support went to the river to place a ward. Okay, bot lane hit level three, and they could start looking for opportunities.

At this point, all eyes were deliberately focused on top lane by the director.

Gwen absolutely could not be allowed to farm comfortably.

This was the game plan decided within TES before the match even began. Because V5 had a double circle lineup, and Xin Zhao was the jungler. Plus, Karsa was an old hand, so it would be difficult for them to limit Xin Zhao's development. That was fine.

But if Gwen also developed normally, their team fight spacing in the mid-game would become very passive.

So, diving the tower was a strategy TES had decided on from the very beginning.

Jayce went top and started applying pressure, freezing the wave into the tower, waiting for the jungler to gank. For most top laners, this was practically standard in every ranked game.

Of course, they weren't playing the top laner who waited for the jungler to dive.

They were the ones waiting to be dived.

The enemy's intention to dive was becoming increasingly obvious. Rich's movements started to show signs of restlessness, but... he was faking it.

Because Karsa was behind him, by the stone golems, near the brush.

Your acting as Qing Tian is bad because you're a genuine LDL player. My acting as Rich is good because I was actually a three-time champion next door, already an acting veteran. TES couldn't tell, and as the minion wave entered the tower, Tian's Viego also came out at the opportune moment.

They wanted to dive!

"Here they come!"

The moment Viego charged up his W skill and struck first, a golden flash appeared from the fog of war not far behind Gwen, arriving shortly after.

W [Windslash Electric Thorn]

The instant he saw the mark on himself, Tian instinctively pressed Flash towards the outside of the tower.

There was an ambush!

Seeing this mark, how could he not know that their plan to dive at level three had been seen through by the enemy?

But the problem was, even if they saw it, did you trust your bottom lane that much?

Their bottom lane was JKL!

As both teams stared at each other across the tower's attack range, a remarkably conspicuous kill notification suddenly flashed on the screen.

[V5's AK killed TES's Zhuo]

[First Blood!]

The kill came from bottom lane.

See, I told you. If you don't go bot, your bot lane definitely can't handle my JKL's offense. Tian thought with a laugh, preparing to stall the enemy jungler for a bit longer. However, he quickly began to realize something was wrong.

Wait...

That notification just now.

Who killed whom?

Chapter Fifty-Six: Switching, Combat Stance

[???]

[What happened~ What happened~ What happened~]

[Where's the director's camera? Save us, dammit.]

[I can only say, pay attention to the timing of entering the venue after this match.]

This 2v2 in top lane was uneventful, just a Flash, not much to watch. But this sudden kill in bot lane was suddenly very interesting. The LPL director hurriedly pulled the camera back, only to see that on the bottom lane, Lucian and Nami still had decent health, but the Alistar had suddenly died.

What... what's going on?

It wasn't until the replay started playing on the big screen that everyone finally understood what had happened.

It was actually quite simple. V5's bottom lane grabbed level three and immediately went aggressive, unleashing a combo on Alistar. This was normal. As long as the enemy jungler's movements were spotted, going aggressive at level three was practically standard for bottom lane, and usually, it wouldn't result in a kill.

The problem was this.

If Alistar had directly knocked Lucian away with his W, or used his E-Q combo, or just walked towards the tower, it would have been fine. But for some reason, Zhuo hesitated for a moment the instant he was hit.

In that brief moment, PPGOD's bubble followed up and hit him.

Seeing this, Luo Zhen immediately ignited him and started dealing damage.

In the early-game bottom lane matchup, any CC on a carry was extremely deadly. Because skills like bubble could easily last for 1.5 seconds, and in the early game, 1.5 seconds was enough for the bottom lane duo to unleash most of their burst damage.

By the time Alistar regained control and prepared to escape.

It was already too late.

The perfect full damage output sent Zhuo to his fountain, securing First Blood.

At this point, it wasn't just the bullet screen that couldn't understand Zhuo's thought process; even JKL was starting to question his own sanity. He'd pondered for ages without understanding. His mind drifted to the universe, contemplating the nature of existence and humanity's destiny. Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind, and he subconsciously uttered a phrase he didn't understand. He could only repeat it again and again to ensure he wouldn't forget. The words sounded like Chinese, yet also like Tibetan. After Google translated it, four characters appeared: "Beasts are born."

Bottom lane, doomed!

"Wow, Zhuo's mistake this time was inexcusable. If he'd just done anything, he would have escaped. But he just stood there and did nothing."

"This puts JKL in a really tough spot. They got first blood with the Lucian and Nami combo, and now bottom lane is completely unplayable."

The casters sighed as they looked at the current situation. A full five-game series like this really tested a player's mental fortitude and a coach's ability. Since it was the Demacia Cup, the coaching ability couldn't really be judged yet, as the teams were new.

But the mental fortitude? That was on full display.

Honestly, if you can't play a support like Alistar, you might as well just lock in Leona.

But to pick him and then play so poorly? That's truly just dragging your teammates down.

Unlike other bottom lane pairings, Lucian and Nami in the early game are different. With Caitlyn and Jinx, if you get first blood, you can still play defensively. At most, you're not daring to trade much, and you cede a bit of lane priority. But if Lucian gets an advantage, it's not just about trading anymore.

Find an opening, and he can just E in and cripple you.

The pressure immediately shifted back to Xiaotian's shoulders. He had originally planned to focus on the top side of the map, giving Jayce a good environment to farm early. But now, the bottom lane was sending out distress signals. With the economic and item advantage from first blood, it was hard to say if the enemy jungler wouldn't just dive bottom lane to trade kills. And TES couldn't afford for Tristana to fall behind early.

So what could be done?

The only option was for the jungler to come to the bottom lane to protect Tristana and help her farm when the enemy bottom lane pushed the wave under the tower.

But doing so would mean the top side of TES's map would be lost.

Viktor wouldn't dare cross the river, and Jayce could only watch helplessly as Gwen farmed minions, feeling anxious. Especially for Jayce, he absolutely needed to build a health advantage first, then an item advantage. If the gap between them wasn't widened by level six, Jayce's laning phase would become difficult.

One move affects the whole board; this is professional play.

"What a shame, we can't just pressure bottom lane and crush them like in the LDL," Luo Zhen sighed, watching the enemy jungler disappear from the map. He then began to retreat with his support. He wasn't in a hurry, as Lucian and Nami's strength would last until before the thirty-minute mark. He just regretted that the chance for revenge was gone.

"It's not too bad. At least you created a tempo swing this time. Brother Ka can go cause trouble elsewhere, and trying to solo kill Tristana is a bit difficult anyway."