A few days later.
When the V5 group appeared on the stage again, it was already the end of the first week of the Regular Season. Today, they would officially begin their Regular Season campaign.
Unlike the energetic image everyone had imagined, the V5 group generally looked rather listless. Of course, that meant Hong Mi's militarized management had to be mentioned.
Hong Mi was the kind of coach who led by example and forbade his players from playing other games during competitions.
Likewise, before matches, he set a bedtime to keep everyone from staying up late and losing their energy. But how many young people these days could actually fall asleep the moment they hit the bed? Didn't everyone like staying up late on their phones?
And so, room inspections began.
First room inspection: Blitzkrieg Poland.
Second room inspection: Maginot Line.
Nth room inspection: Battle of Stalingrad.
By now, they had become capable of fooling Hong Mi's room inspections with flawless acting.
"I told you not to send it last night, but you just had to. Look, now everyone's been dragged down with you." Luo Zhen quietly muttered to PPGOD beside him. If this guy hadn't used his account to post lewd pictures in their six-man group chat last night, would everyone be this drained this morning?
"Damn it, didn't you use my phone to send them while I was showering? And you're blaming me?"
"What? Just tell me, did you look at them or not?"
"I did."
"Then that settles it. Carry the blame properly. Next time, I'll make you the First Hand."
"..."
When you arrived in a new environment, what was the fastest way to blend in with your teammates?
Treating them to a meal?
No, that was way too lame.
Friendship between men was simple: studied together, held guns together, split dirty money together, and visited brothels together.
The last two were a little difficult. They were already teammates, so they had the first one covered. But holding guns together could still be accomplished through certain special methods, such as lewd pictures.
Don't ask. Their idol had taught them.
They're here, they're here.
A ten-year V5 fan has arrived uninvited.
Incheon people, assemble!
I'm different. I genuinely really like Xiao Yang as a player. I'm a true fan, and I'm looking forward to his performance on V5. Let's go!
For most viewers, winning the Demacia Cup had already given them an initial awareness of V5. However, quite a few viewers paid no attention to the Demacia Cup at all, so they were naturally curious about the birth of the new V5.
Especially after seeing 369 and Karsa on the same team again. The feeling was simply too absurd to describe.
"Brother 9, looks like quite a lot of people want to see you perform today." On the stage, Luo Zhen, as usual, opened his mouth to tease his own top laner.
The current V5 had a good-natured Big Brother, a dice-rolling top laner full of Show Effect, and a doomed support they could trash-talk and grill whenever they had nothing better to do. If they won, he was a genius debuting; if they lost, he had a bright future ahead of him. What kind of debut environment was this?
All that could be said was that teams without much of a fanbase were truly suitable for rookies making their debuts.
Compared to those unlucky guys who had debuted as top laners on Traditional Powerhouse teams, Luo Zhen had it far too comfortable, didn't he?
He could even joke around however he wanted.
"It's fine. Watch me perform today. I'm going to beat the hell out of their top laner!"
"What if we give you Gragas?" Hong Mi couldn't hold it in after hearing 369 sound so confident. He immediately threw out a soul-searching question that left him frozen in place.
"Then... should I silence anyone who might bring up that question first?" 369 spoke with a hint of hesitation, then turned to look at Karsa beside him.
Karsa: ???
Soon, the match began.
First Ban Phase:
RA: LeBlanc, Lee Sin, Lucian.
V5: Renekton, Caitlyn, Twisted Fate.
One side targeted V5's standout Demacia Cup champions, while the other simply banned according to the patch. With their raw strength on display, V5 wasn't particularly afraid of RA's draft.
First Pick Phase:
RA: Jinx (First Pick) + Lulu, Gwen.
V5: Aphelios-Thresh (First Two Picks) + Jax.
RA First Picked Gwen because, with the arrival of the New Patch, Gwen had received another small boost from patch changes and was gradually entering an era where she ruled the top lane.
With 369 finally returning to the stage, Hong Mi naturally gave him room to show off. Hong Mi himself had transitioned from being a top laner into coaching, so he understood clearly that the top lane was different from ADC. ADCs needed steadiness, while top laners needed absolute confidence.
They just had to believe in 369.
As for Aphelios-Thresh, aside from Caitlyn, it was one of the few hypercarry ADC pairings that could stand alongside Jinx in the current patch.
Second Ban Phase: Xin Zhao, Viego, Jarvan IV, Rek'Sai.
Hong Mi could tell what the opposing jungler wanted to pick without even thinking. But it didn't matter. Since they had Karsa, they could pick a jungler that would disgust the other side too. At the start of the season, without pressure from standings points, there was no need to keep picking conventional champions.
Thus, with their Fourth Pick, V5 brought out Nocturne.
"Nocturne?"
"Is this a Mid-Jungle flex pick from V5? No, Nocturne seems a little weak in mid lane in the current patch, so it should be jungle."
S12 new mythic item version.
Because of the updates to strategic objectives and Elemental Dragons, the general understanding was that teams should play late-game Double C carries. That way, they could press their advantage when ahead and turn things around when behind. But the mid lane pick hadn't even come out yet, and they had already taken Nocturne. Wasn't that strange?
RA's coach pondered for a long time before finally locking in Qiyana and Azir.
That made V5's remaining pick simple. They immediately took Corki on the fifth pick!
Thus—
RA: Top Laner Gwen, Jungle Qiyana, Mid Laner Azir, Bottom Lane Jinx + Lulu.
V5: Top Lane Jax, Jungle Nocturne, Mid Laner Corki, Bottom Lane Aphelios + Thresh.
V5's Composition was very late-game-oriented, but once it scaled, it would be nearly unstoppable. This drafting style stemmed from Hong Mi's pursuit of patch strength. He was the kind of coach who would even steal strategies from the neighboring LCK in order to learn, so he had also stolen Kkoma's favorite approach.
My players are strong, so I'll pick a late-game composition, play defensively and counterattack, then see what new things you can bring out.
Once you revealed something interesting, he would copy it that very night and let the enemy understand what TX speed meant the next day.
"Play freely this game, but don't go too wild. Karsa, help the team keep an eye on the tempo." Even after the draft ended, Hong Mi still maintained his motherly persona, constantly reminding Karsa about in-game tactics right until he stepped off the stage.
"Don't worry, Coach. I can't promise much else, but I can definitely keep 369 from messing around."
Karsa sounded extremely confident. He had abundant experience grilling 369. Naturally, 369 didn't argue back. After all, he was already mostly past his rebellious phase. He could handle this little bit of teasing.
"As for Xiao Zhen, don't get carried away. Don't mess around, alright?"
"Absolutely, Coach. Put ten thousand hearts at ease. Besides, I'm naturally afraid of snakes, so I wouldn't mess around anyway."
"Really?"
"Because I think snakes are really creepy. When I was young, I saw a female snake living in the same nest as a scorpion. And that snake didn't even eat meat. She liked eating gourds. There was an old man who grew lots of gourds, and in the end, that female snake tricked both him and his gourds into her nest. Tell me, isn't that creepy?"
V5 members: ???
Have You Ever Seen Rift Relativity?
In the early game, Nocturne jungle clear was definitely slower than Qiyana's. Mainly because Qiyana had mobility while Nocturne did not, so Karsa was once again starting as the weaker jungler and would avoid the enemy early on as much as possible.
Looking at the compositions, Leyan would probably target bottom lane as his breakthrough point as well. That made things simple.
With wards placed in the river by mid and support, they would protect the vision around bottom lane and the Bottom Jungle as thoroughly as possible. Then Nocturne would path upward from the bottom side and first look for an opportunity to give 369 an advantage.
As for bottom lane?
That was the farming lane. Besides, he trusted the steadiness of his own ADC, so there wouldn't be much of a problem.
"Brother Ka, there's no need to say much this game. Come bot more, alright? As long as you come, not only will I give you the kills, you can even take the minion waves." Before the minions had even arrived, Luo Zhen was the first to paint Karsa a Future Market.
"No problem, but it has to be after Level 6 or when we find an opportunity. If I come, their jungler will come too, so it'll still depend on the 3v3."
"It's fine. As long as we don't let their ADC play comfortably. Even if we're both underfed, I'll definitely be more useful than their ADC."
After spending some time getting used to one another, everyone had come to understand this guy's strange hobby as an ADC. Apart from when he faced top ADCs like JKL and LWX, where he would inexplicably become extremely steady, Luo Zhen would strike ruthlessly against any ADC around his own level or below it.
That included, but was not limited to, calling for help, Heaven and Earth Together, and suicide tactics.
Luo Zhen had something to say about that too. It wasn't like he had been born liking to disgust others. It was mainly because he had once been soaked by the rain, so he wanted to rip away everyone else's umbrellas too—then pour some boiling water over them while he was at it.
Since ADC was so hard to play in this patch, then nobody should play it!
Against the Jinx-Lulu pairing early on, they would definitely lose out in trades. After all, both were ranged, and Lulu's Q had Wave Clear Ability that could help the ADC quickly hit level two. But it was fine. Moon Man had Red Smite early, so it wasn't entirely unacceptable.
Lane details?
Just last-hit. As long as Lulu didn't lose her mind, these two combinations basically couldn't fight.
The whole V5 lineup had a simple early-game objective in lane:
"Prepare soldiers and train horses, awaiting the right moment to strike." +1 authority.
"Avoid their sharp edge and endure for now." +1 authority.
As for whether it would become—"Boyue, I no longer have the strength to turn things around."
That depended on the situation.
But since this was the ADC role, and both sides were hypercarries trading blows, they naturally had to understand certain ADC fundamentals, such as poking and trading.
Put simply, before fighting, you had to know your own damage and the enemy's damage. If you hit him with one full combo and he hit you with one full combo, who would lose out? What support did I have, and what could he do for me? What support did the enemy have, and what could she do? What abilities did I need to dodge?
It was like playing King of Fighters in an arcade back in the day. Everything depended on calculation.
Or playing cards. Both sides planted cards at the start, gambling on the opponent falling for First Strike.
The thought process was simple. It was just that people normally played games for entertainment, so they easily suffered Pig Brain Overload and played randomly by feel. Losing out was therefore only natural. In that case, it was more advisable to play ARAM, because that was the true brainless kind of fun.
Alright, back to the point.
V5's bottom lane had Aphelios-Thresh. So when could they fight the enemy?
Very simple: when Thresh landed a hook on the enemy mid or support.
If Thresh hooked Lulu, they could fight. If he hooked the ADC, they should just trade a bit of poke and leave it at that. If they kept fighting, they would definitely lose out, because Lulu was a lane bully in the Support Role early on. They couldn't out-auto her.
As for Moon Man's weapon management?
Go watch videos to learn that. It was hard to explain in text, but it wasn't too difficult anyway.
"That's why I hate patches like this. They're pretty boring." Luo Zhen complained while last-hitting, though his hands never stopped moving.
Moon Man had 550 attack range, while Tongbi reached 650. The enemy Jinx had 525, and her level-one Q in Cannon Form reached 600. She could only match Tongbi's normal attack range after putting three points into Q. Before Tongbi ran out, Jinx couldn't pressure him with range. As long as he watched the support, he could basically level up without using his brain early on.
He glanced at the Control Ward in the river.
Since their bottom lane was being pushed in slightly, RA's jungler Le Ye unsurprisingly chose to invade at level three. On one hand, he could protect their Jinx hypercarry. On the other, they had Lane Control in the bottom half, so there was no reason not to invade the jungle.
But once he entered and saw the completely empty lower jungle, he immediately guessed Nocturne's location.
It was just that the ping came a little too late.
The moment level-three Nocturne appeared top lane by hugging the river vision, Cube was completely dumbfounded. Only when Nocturne was nearly in his face did the jungler's MISS ping begin appearing on the Minimap.
Cube: Fuck me!
Seriously.
Didn't V5 just acquire a promising rookie ADC? Didn't they pick Aphelios to compete with them in the late game? Didn't they say dragons were especially strong in the New Patch, so their playstyle would lean toward bottom lane?
Then what the hell was a level-three appearance top lane supposed to mean?
369 really got Crown Prince treatment wherever he went, didn't he?
Cube really wanted to curse on the spot, because he was the type of top laner who would die if you dared to gank him. And Gwen's W was completely useless against those two disgusting bastards, Jax and Nocturne.
Before you continue