League of Legends: League of Unknowns

Formation-wise, Team Skycrown often favored champions with a longer attack range such as Ezreal as the ADC or Syndra as the Mid.

The main role of most teams’ Support was usually to protect the backline. On the contrary, Team Skycrown had an unorthodox Support, namely Luocheng, who could contribute so much more. The prerequisite for this strategy to work depended on the ability of the backline to stay safe in the early-game. After all, the Mid and ADC were still the two most vital positions in a MOBA game like LOL.

Charon’s unexpected Flash into the bush followed by a leap had successfully killed off Team Skycrown’s main attacker, Ezreal. Syndra, with only minimal HP left, was forced to retreat, leaving behind the Jungler Olaf and Da Luo’s tanky Shyvana.

Da Luo and Zhou Yan had been latching on to Hades’ Riven in hopes of shutting her down as quickly as possible. However, Da Luo realized that his damage output could hardly surmount to Riven’s life steal that was granted to her by her Bloodthirster.

That was the sad truth about playing solo-Top in the current patch. Once the Top had fallen heavily behind in terms of item build during the late-game, it was no surprise that they would no longer be able to threaten the enemy’s core.

Zhou Yan was also focusing his attack on Riven, but his only effective damage came from the true damage of Olaf’s E-skill.

After an extended pursuit, the two of them finally managed to put down Riven who was only one kill away from Legendary, but in the process, the both of them had sustained enormous damage from Elise and Graves as well.

Hades’ first item had been an Infinity Edge, and the critical damage he was dealing with the item was unbearable even to a Tank.

On top of an Infinity Edge, Riven now also possessed a Phantom Dancer and a Last Whisper. It no longer mattered how tanky Da Luo’s Shyvana was.

***

The situation took a turn for the worse after a seemingly favorable engagement. Team Skycrown’s biggest problem had been the lack of sufficient firepower.

Da Luo’s Shyvana and Zhou Yan’s Olaf were killed successively. Luocheng’s Anivia first transformed into Eggnivia, consequently killed, and then resurrected again by his Guardian Angel.

Mana still remained the biggest headache of a Support Anivia. No doubt, Luocheng’s Anivia could last in a team fight seemingly forever and adequately stall the enemy, but as its mana was depleted, there was nothing else he could do. Thus, after being reborn the second time, Luocheng decisively fled the scene.

They had lost this team fight.

The gap in team gold was simply too huge. If they had managed to finish off Rengar and Annie a few seconds earlier, the outcome would have been different.

The biggest upset came from Charon’s Rengar’s impromptu leap. Nobody could have foreseen it, not even Luocheng, and this gave him a firm reminder that they should never underestimate any member of Team Daemons.

“My bad. This is on me,” Lin Dong looked down and said in regret.

This teamfight could have gone either way. The perfect ice wall placed by Luocheng had caught the opponents by surprise and effectively separated them. He had then sacrificed himself to hold down all three enemies, creating an enormous room for his teammates to ambush the remaining opponents.

His unexpected charge had forced the first mistake from Hades’s Riven in this game. The latter had miscalculated his damage and was unable to instant-kill Ezreal. Ideally, the other four players of Team Skycrown should have counter-killed Hades swiftly and launched their retaliation immediately after. That would have teed up nicely to the time Luocheng would be brought back from his second resurrection.

Team Skycrown had executed this strategy numerous times in practice games, causing a lot of trouble to the Taiwanese teams. After all, not many champions could hold back the opponents for as long as 20 seconds.

Unfortunately, a slight difference led to an entirely different conclusion. The death of Ezreal and the banishment of Syndra from the imminent teamfight had provided sufficient breathing room for Hades to recover. Although he was eventually killed, he had laid enough damage on his pursuers and had succeeded in making both Da Luo and Zhou Yan’s tanky heroes vulnerable to Graves’s AOE damage.

The only survivors in Team Skycrown were the barely alive Wu Sen and Luocheng’s Anivia with zero mana.

The teamfight had taken place at the blue buff area, and upon winning the fight, Team Daemons would not hesitate to go straight for the Baron.

After slaughtering the Baron, the gold gap between the two teams had grown beyond 10,000 and it was next to impossible for Team Skycrown to turn the game around at this point.

Lin Dong felt extremely awful now. He blamed himself for not being more vigilant.

‘How could I have neglected the bush in front of me and fail to see it coming? I should have taken Rengar’s leap into consideration!’

If he had been more careful earlier and had used his skills from afar instead of marching on, he should have still been able to wound Riven heavily. Moreover, Wu Sen would also have been able to attack from a safer position instead of being chased away. His mistake had cost them their best chance to kill Hades, and he shouldered the biggest blame for this defeat.

“It can’t be helped. Let’s play on.” Luocheng calmed the team.

Others would have surrendered under such circumstances. Team Daemons charged on to secure an inhibitor turret after claiming the Baron. Next, they would undoubtedly go straight for the Nexus on the next minion wave and wrap up the game.

Play on?

What else was left to play? His teammates knew Luocheng was only withholding his professionalism as a true gamer.

Anivia depended greatly on its passive and Guardian Angel to be effective. Luocheng had neither at the moment, and in the next 5 minutes, Luocheng could no longer orchestrate another miracle of strangling three opponents simultaneously. The strong yet cautious Team Daemons would also never give him enough time to recover Anivia’s resurrection skills.

***

With barely any suspense, Team Skycrown’s Nexus was promptly destroyed by Team Daemons.

Rengar once again led the assault, and Team Daemons successfully team-wiped Team Skycrown in the final battle on the latter’s high ground, wasting no time in securing the win.

“If I remember correctly, this is the first time Team Skycrown has been wiped in an official league game. Their win-streak has finally come to an end as well, but that’s totally forgivable. They are facing the strongest team in China, after all. I dare say if it were not for the advantage gained during the Level 1 teamfight, this game would not have ended in such a hurried manner. Team Daemons should definitely expect a more difficult game up next. Overall, Team Skycrown has matured tremendously well over the past year. From the toughness shown after losing the early teamfight to the strong laning basics and rotation awareness, this team can now be considered top-notch in China. It’s been such a long time since I’ve watched such a memorable competition. Anyway, congratulations to Team Daemons for getting the first game!” Bao Jun commented in high spirits.

The cheers from the crowd were equally deafening seeing as majority of the audience were Team Daemons’ supporters.

Nonetheless, Team Daemons’ fans were obviously concerned as the game progressed.

Usually, they didn’t have to worry much when their team was leading by more than 7,000 gold. They simply needed to cheer wholeheartedly behind their team’s bullish performance.

However, they couldn’t do the same in this game. The reason behind their insecurity was Team Skycrown’s impalpable resilience.

Charon, who would become careless when the team had a huge lead, was unusually wary throughout the first game. Equally, Belial’s Elise had also not loosened up for a single second and was in a constant tug-of-war against Olaf in the jungle.

Hades who topped the kill list had also come short in several attempts to take over the game. Why was he remaining extra cautious with such an overpowering item build?

It wasn’t that he lacked the confidence. Hades was just being careful to not to provide Team Skycrown with the slightest chance to topple their advantage. His rare passiveness and attentiveness impacted their fans, almost as though they could also feel the enormous pressure brought by Team Skycrown to their favorite team.

One simple mistake would give Team Skycrown the opening they needed to come right back into the game.

This was evident in the final teamfight where Anivia’s ice wall had almost given Team Daemons a fatal blow. If it hadn’t been for Charon’s heroic act, Team Daemons would be the ones being wiped, subsequently losing the Baron. The advantage that they had all game would be instantly surrendered to Team Skycrown.

Regardless, Team Daemons had now taken the first game despite the momentary scare.

***

During the break, the host walked down into the auditorium to interact with the fans.

At the same time, the first game’s MVP, Hades, had been invited into the pressroom. He was currently being interviewed by a pretty host.

MVP, most valuable player, was an honor given to the overall best player in a match.

“Hades, it’s rare to see you pick Riven in an important competition such as this. People would usually think of another player, namely Zhao Tinghua, when we mention Riven. Surprisingly, your mastery of this champion is better than most of us would have expected. The fury of that eye-catching skill-combo had silenced the crowd at times. So, do you have anything to say to the audience after being voted as the MVP in the first game? Of course, we understand that this is not the first time you have been crowned MVP. You are the best mid player in this country, after all,” The host asked with an elegant smile.

As a general rule, a host needed to be watchful with his/her choice of words during a live broadcast. Words like “best”, “strongest”, and “greatest” were best avoided, because such strong words were viewed as an offense to other professional players.

Nevertheless, no one would object when Hades was called the best solo-mid player. Indisputably, he had been the one who had dictated the last game.

Hades did not get carried away by the host’s exaggerated compliment. Only he and his team who had gone through the last game understood how hard-fought that victory was. They had almost become the losing side.

Hades replied humbly, “Without Charon’s decisive leap, we might still be battling in front of the computer right now, and I wouldn’t be the one sitting here as well.”

“Oh. I believe you are talking about Team Skycrown’s captain, Fighting Hawk. Undeniably, Fighting Hawk’s Anivia in that late teamfight was an eye-opener! His capability to hold back three champions as a Support this late in the game was truly remarkable,” The host recalled the enthralling teamfight and lamented.

The 7,000 gold lead had nearly evaporated due to this single execution. Team Daemons had only ever heard about Luocheng being a slick Support before facing Team Skycrown, but now, they had learned that he could actually will the course of the game to his team’s favor!