League of Legends: League of Unknowns

After taking the mid lane tower as well as the Dragon, Team Skycrown had the advantage on team gold.

If they had only lost a tower on the side lanes, Team Beijing would not have such a hard time fighting back. However, the mid lane was the core of the game, and with the tower that had initially given around 2,000 units of vision gone, this would make it hard for Team Beijing to go to certain important spots to gain vision.

Without vision, even if you met a Support in the jungle, you would not be brave enough to kill him as there might be some other players in a bush near the Support. Never assume that a Support which came into your jungle was there to play around and look around the bushes on his own. If you believed it and took the bait, get ready to be killed.

***

Vision was extremely important. Everyone on Team Beijing had to bring wards with them now, the Support and the Jungler was also tasked with having a vision ward and three stealth wards on them at all times.

It did not matter which season of competition it was, vision had always been the core of the game. The new season did not have the Oracle’s Elixir anymore which made vision suppression a little bit milder, but the wards were still there as a tool to control the vision. If you caught an enemy off guard somewhere that they were not supposed to be, you could set up an ambush and surround them.

Team Skycrown made an outstanding play, not letting Team Beijing get back their rhythm. At around sixteen minutes, Team Skycrown made a three-man push at the mid lane and a one man push on each of the side lanes.

Caitlyn, Lee Sin, and Gragas had high pushing capabilities as well as defensive abilities. If Da Luo’s Rengar pushed the bottom lane and forced the enemy to go on the defensive, he could then go to the mid lane to kill their enemies.

It was the same for Luocheng. If there was anyone defending, he could use his Ultimate to teleport to the mid lane and help with pushing.

Really, you can’t do much against a Support that had a Sunfire cape before sixteen minutes. Ironically, this was the only item that Shen possessed at the moment.

***

Split pushing, ambushing their enemies in the jungle, controlling the Dragon… after the eighteen-minute mark, Team Skycrown was already ahead by 6,000 gold!

The Beijing Team was having a hard time in this game. Number One’s skills were great but he did not have anything to show off for in this game. Solo kills and pressuring on lanes could very well be put aside as Team Skycrown did not want to play the conventional way of farming in their lanes. Have you ever seen a Support that would gank the enemy Mid at Level 3!?

Upon taking the mid tower, Team Skycrown had used many tactics. Small-scale pushing, stealing the Dragon, ever going as far as to steal the blue buff. Once Team Beijing had gotten back their rhythm, Team Skycrown chose to split push.

Who cared about a player’s skill or execution? The team which controlled the flow of the game and had the least mistakes would ultimately have the upper hand for the whole game.

“If this goes on, we will definitely lose!” Ping Feng said.

Team Beijing’s members all nodded their heads in agreement.

In this game, all of Team Beijing’s members felt an immeasurable amount of pressure on their chests and it felt as though it was extremely hard to breathe.

At first, they had not believed that Team Skycrown had hidden their strength before the LPL. But today, they could tell that there was a significant difference of Team Skycrown from before and during the LPL!

Which team would try to make the enemy Mid go back to base due to low health and gank the mid lane in between the two towers? Even the strategy of stealing the blue buff and the Dragon was unheard of! These tactics may seem easy to pull off, but in reality, only professional players knew how hard it was to coordinate the attack!

“I know.” Number One made his sentence extremely simple.

His silence showed his nervousness. He was trying extremely hard to think of a counter to Team Skycrown so that they could make a comeback. Too bad the enemy was too careful and disciplined to let them have the chance to do anything.

In these types of situations, just one person’s skill would not be able to save the game, not to mention, his economy was not that great either.

“Pay attention to the Baron.” Ping Feng reminded them.

The support, Pi Ka, nodded his head as he walked cautiously to the Baron and placed a ward.

Upon placing the ward, he saw that Shen was peeking out from the corner of his screen and chose to retreat immediately.

This Shen had a Flash. With a Shadow Dash from Shen and if another enemy popped up from behind Shen, he would definitely die there.

After using the time to get vision on the Baron, all that was left to do was defend the lanes.

With the tower being destroyed, farming near the remaining towers was a good choice. Even if the enemy chose to split push, you could still support the other lanes in time.

If they could get lucky during the enemy push and win a team fight, they would have a chance to make a comeback.

Number One’s core items were ready. With this set, killing a squishy enemy would be easy, plus he had his Flash and Ignite ready. Once he found a good spot to attack and kill the enemy mage or ADC, even if he had less items and money, it didn’t mean that he could not fight back!

It was a shame that just as Number One was thinking of this plan, Team Skycrown stopped pushing aggressively, frustrating Number One.

“Both Shen and Rengar have their Ultimates and there are still two more minutes until the Baron respawns. Their lanes are pushed so nicely and yet they are not pushing! How could that be?” Number One thought to himself.

“Do they want to take the Baron?” Number One suddenly thought of this possibility.

It would not be possible for Team Skycrown to take the Baron without them noticing as they already had a ward planted there. Their Jungler, Top and Support were all on the map, so under these circumstances, it would not be possible for them to take the Baron.

“Why are they not pushing and standing around in the lane?” Number One tried very hard to estimate what Team Skycrown was thinking. Team Skycrown’s behavior was too erratic and unpredictable, and this made trying to predict their moves close to impossible.

Just as Number One was caught up in his thoughts, the three champions on the map suddenly moved toward the Baron.

Since they all moved in the same direction and at the same time, they must want to take the Baron! Number One called out to his ADC who was about to go to the bottom lane to farm.

“They want to take the Baron, gather up and get ready for a team fight!”

Number One took the lead and everyone moved toward the Baron pit.

Suddenly, a buff appeared on Team Skycrown’s champions!

Number One who was walking toward the Baron couldn’t believe his eyes!

How…

How could they have killed the Baron so fast!

All of Team Beijing were instantly stunned.

It was just five seconds ago that they had seen Team Skycrown heading toward the Dragon. Their DPS combined was still not high enough to kill the Baron in five seconds!

“They…they were stealing the Baron all this while!” Ping Feng finally realized.

But there was a ward in front of the Baron, how had they taken it?

Ping Feng did not understand until he saw that Shen had less than one-thirds of his health. As soon as it hit them on what had just happened, the whole of Team Beijing felt a chill down their spines, Team Skycrown was too scary!

They had been tricked!

Number One laughed bitterly.

How could he have been so stupid? He had been too naive in thinking that putting a ward at the entrance of the Baron pit would ensure the Baron’s safety.

Team Skycrown, you really have exceeded my expectations with this strategy to take the Baron.

It was at this moment that Number One began to lose hope.

***

That is correct. There was a ward at the entrance to the Baron pit which Luocheng had seen the enemy Support planting.

Almost everyone would think that when there was a ward outside of the Baron pit, the Baron would be safe. In reality, this was not the case. With Caitlyn’s attack range, it would be easy for her to attack the Baron from behind the pit, and at the same time, Shen could use his Shadow Dash to taunt the Baron, taking in the aggro from it. By using this maneuver, the ward outside the Baron pit would not be able to catch these actions, thus, fooling their enemies!

First, they just had to attack the Baron until it had less than half of its health left. Next, the teammates who were pretending to loiter in their lanes could come rushing to the Baron immediately. With five people attacking all at once, getting rid of the Baron’s remaining health would be a piece of cake. Furthermore, with Lee Sin, the kind of support which could deal tremendous amounts of damage there, even if Team Beijing realized and rushed over, they would only be greeted by a dead Baron!

This play of stealing the Baron had already riled up the audience, gaining an immense amount of applause. Those LPL competitors were not stingy with their applause either.

They knew that there was a ward there but they went ahead and did it anyway!

After seeing this strategy to steal the Baron, all the LOL players present had no idea how to express the feelings they had right now.

What was the first step in acquiring the Baron?

Of course it was not to go right up to it and try to kill it immediately. No, it was to gain vision and then get rid of the enemy’s wards.

Everyone was used to the thought of getting rid of the enemy ward before killing the Baron, but after Team Skycrown’s fight today, all of the LOL players present were newly educated. You didn’t need to get rid of the enemy ward every time you fought the Baron. Even if you knew there was a ward there, ignore it and let it be, as this would make the enemy drop their guard. After that, fight it with two people first with the other three acting. After that, gather everyone together and kill it.

How would you be able to face this strategy of killing the Baron?

How would you still have the confidence to face this kind of opponent who was a genius?

This Baron provided 1,500 gold to Team Skycrown, and Number One knew that after this, the game was lost.

If it was any other team, even if they had 10,000 gold less compared to the enemy, they would still have the confidence to fight and even try to make a comeback.

But facing Team Skycrown which was a team that was completely different from the others? After seeing their tactics firsthand, how could he have the courage to face them?

So strong!

This team was really strong. Number One had not believed that they had saved their strength for the LPL, but after fighting it out, he finally realized the difference in power between his team and Team Skycrown.

It was like a child trying to fight against an adult, was there even a comparison?

So this was Fighting Hawk and his team…