League of Legends: League of Unknowns

If each team refrained from using their main tactics and strategies during the qualifiers of the new competition season, then the LPL was the time when they would truly display the full extent of their skills as well as their understanding of the new season!

As far as understanding of the latest season was concerned, there was no doubt that Team 71’s analyst was on another level as compared to Team Sky’s. From the game interface displayed on the screen, everyone could see that Team 71 were making picks that differed from their usual lineup.

When they saw Xie Yi from Team Sky choosing Gragas for Mid, Team 71 immediately picked Lulu for their own Mid!

In the previous seasons and patches, Lulu would usually be picked as a Support. She used to be one of the hottest and strongest Supports, but she had been nerfed in the current patch. As she wasn’t that good of a Support anymore, it was now entirely possible to use her as a Mid.

In the early matches, you wouldn’t see Mid Lulu much in the local games. For Team 71 to pick this champion, they must have enough confidence in playing her well.

Both sides made their picks quickly, as they already had their own play styles and routines. As long as it was not obviously being targeted, they will pick it.

Blood Eagle Zhao Tinghua’s champion pick was The Voidreaver—Kha’Zix!

Following the nerf on Kha’Zix’s W and overall kit, he hasn’t appeared in quite a while, even though a Mid Kha’Zix was quite popular back in the day…

However, now Kha’zix in the jungle is gradually getting more popular in other countries. Kha’Zix was a fascinating champion, so when Blood Eagle chose him, the entire arena burst into cheers!

Among the Jungler champions, Kha’Zix was the only one who could go pure damage, the other champions would have to build tank…

***

In the new season, the success rate of Jungler ganks have declined due to the warding trinket that had been introduced, which significantly reduced the route of the Junglers.

As the overall status of Junglers had declined, how would a team like Team Sky, whose Jungler was the core of the team, be affected? Would they be weaker?

These doubts swirled in Yu Luocheng’s mind, and he got his answer six minutes into the game…

“Beautiful! Blood Eagle’s gank let him get two kills! In a good game, Kha’Zix is really terrifying, especially if the one playing him is our Blood Eagle!”

After taking a double kill and one jungle creep camp, Blood Eagle immediately built the Spirit of the Elder Lizard.

The extra damage on monsters from Spirit of The Elder Lizard was scary, and his ganks were then not as frequent as before. From the Krugs and the Wraith camp, to the Wolves and the Wight, he gained quite a significant amount of gold from clearing these four camps just once. Only after that did he choose another lane to gank…

A good Jungler must always have a good grasp on their own pace. They must know when to farm jungle creeps, when to gank, and when to counter gank. The most terrifying Jungler was one who got the kills, had a high amount of assists, and at the same time was leading in his farm of the jungle. This type of Jungler would be the one to cause a fatal blow to their opponents in the mid game!

From the time the blue buff respawned for the second time, Team 71’s jungle area had become Blood Eagle’s backyard. He was ahead in kills, item builds, and even in levels. Lulu was not able to get the blue buff, and Kha’Zix’s damage was too high.

No one was able to withstand a set of skills thrown out by him!

The moment Lulu missed out the blue buff, it became impossible to keep up with Gragas’ farm at the middle lane…

“Their jungle area has collapsed, Team 71 has to initiate a fight first,” said Lin Dong.

“Yeah, Team 71’s pacing is messed up. The problem is even if they can surround them and initiate a team fight, can they defeat Team Sky’s lineup?”

The most scary thing to happen in a match was to have your pacing messed up. There were some lineups that were suitable to push in early game and put pressure on their opponents. But there were also some lineups that were more suitable to do so after twenty-five minutes, as they would be more effective after having built two or three complete items.

Team 71’s only early game champion was their Mid Lulu, but due to their blue buff getting taken, she wasn’t able to put enough pressure on Xie Yi’s Gragas at the middle lane…

As Yu Luocheng and Lin Dong expected, Team 71 initiated an early team fight. Even if Xie Yi’s Gragas can’t kill anyone, his ulti was able to throw their enemies in various directions, lowering their health. Blood Eagle’s Kha’Zix would then find a chance to jump in to finish off the kill and jump right back out…

Blood Eagle had built the Sword of the Occult, and the only other person who had built this item before was Yu Luocheng’s Vayne. The boldness of Blood Eagle building this item made his fans who were already crazy about him worship him even more!

As the team fight progressed, Gragas consumed his ulti again and froze the lane. When the enemy defended the turret, they continued to farm, and when the enemy retreated, they pushed the lane.

“It doesn’t feel like a Jungler Kha’Zix, instead it feels like he’s Mid or a Top Kha’Zix,” said Lin Dong.

Yu Luocheng nodded his head in agreement. Zhao Tinghua’s Kha’Zix was developing very well. It should have been Mid Gragas who held the highest damage, but when the fight started, it felt like Kha’Zix was the core of the team, and the rest of them were just his stepping stones.

The game did not drag on for very long, because by around the twenty-minute mark, the well-knit Team 71 was obviously in a losing situation.

Team 71 could play very well in the laning phase, and was disciplined in the middle game, but would only truly be in their element in the late game. However, Zhao Tinghua was like a trickster with an explosive ability, his aggressiveness could mess up their perfectly well thought out plan.

He boldly interrupted all of their farming during the laning phase. Just like that, Blood Eagle’s Kha’Zix would easily lead Team 71 around by the nose. If they weren’t careful, they would be helpless to do anything but follow his pace for the remainder of the game.

Once this happened, Team 71 had already lost. They were forced to team fight too early, and Lulu was not able to match the AOE that a strong champion like Gragas had. And when Kha’Zix’s terrifying damage output was added on…

Every team needed a core.

Without Blood Eagle, Team Sky was a completely different team. After watching this match, Yu Luocheng knew that in this year’s LPL, Blood Eagle would be the biggest obstacle standing in the way of them winning the championship!

All the tactics and strategies studied by Zhang Aijing were all a joke in Zhao Tinghua’s hands. With his unique and unpredictable play style, he was able to lead his entire team towards victory…

Zhao Tinghua was all smiles after the match. To him, victory was to be expected, and you can say that he had maintained his smile since the beginning.

He patted Forgetful Laughter’s shoulder as he walked past, and said in a light voice, “Top is strong, but it’s hard to carry a team full of people who are slow to respond.”

Forgetful Laughter knew that Zhao Tinghua always had something to say, being arrogant and all. He didn’t pay him much heed, and instead said, “Wait till you win the championship, then you can come back and lecture me in this tone.”

Zhao Tingua hadn’t meant much. He just wanted to let Forgetful Laughter know that even if he was a great player, he could not save the other four noobs.