League of Legends: League of Unknowns

“Is Zhou Yan playing Lee Sin?” Belial was doubtful.

If they had opted to pick the Jungler position first, why hadn’t Team Skycrown picked Zhou Yan’s most powerful champion, Elise, when she was still available in the pool?

No doubt Lee Sin was the more superior Jungler by default in this patch, but Belial knew that Elise was still the champion that Zhou Yan had the most confidence in. There must be a reason as to why Team Skycrown had passed on Elise so blatantly.

“Hades, what’s on your mind?” Belial asked.

Hades was still pondering. He had a lot of options to play in the mid-lane, so even if the opponents had banned his three most-used champions, there was still a rabbit ready to be pulled out from his hat.

Obviously, Team Skycrown was aware of this too. Thus, they did not specifically prohibit mid-lane core and this left Hades ample options to choose from.

‘Kassadin?’

Hades’ Kassadin was world-renowned, and he himself was sure that he could demoralize the opponents’ backline during late-game with this champion. However, he decided not to pick Kassadin.

They were facing none other than Team Skycrown who was exceptionally good at snowballing early advantages into late-game invincibility. Kassadin was a champion that required a prolonged farming window. If they were to be oppressed in the early-game, then it was very likely that they would not have a chance to regain control.

He was unwilling to gamble on Asmodai’s final professional match. He needed a champion that could guarantee their victory.

‘So what should I pick? Gragas?’

Gragas was also a champion with great potential as a late-game carry. His Ultimate was often the key to completely turning over a team fight. Yet, it still lacked the assertive quality that Hades was looking for.

‘Orianna?’

Again, another super-late-game champion. Team Skycrown played at a faster pace compared to any other team, meaning that there would be no room for Orianna to develop properly.

After some deep consideration, Hades finally selected the most disturbing hero in this patch.

It was Ziggs! To say that this champion was an overkill in this season was not at all an exaggeration. His damage and pushing capacity was off the charts, moreover, Ziggs’s skill combo was close to unguardable, not to mention his insanely long-ranged Ultimate!

The moment Hades confirmed the champion, Wu Sen from Team Skycrown instantly turned restless.

“D*mn! Since when did he pick up this champion!?” Da Luo groaned.

Ziggs was one of Da Luo’s least favorite opponents. Not only did he have high damage and a short cooldown, but once he got his hands on the blue buff, his skills would be seemingly endless. One would still be hit no matter how great he/she was at juking.

Among the LPL players, Xie Yi was unanimously the best Ziggs user. Other teams would ban this champion immediately whenever they were up against Xie Yi’s team.

On the other hand, Hades had seldom used Ziggs in the past. Ziggs’s playstyle which emphasized long-range poking simply did not fit in with Hades’s close-range combatant style.

Had he been training this champion for a long time and waited until this moment to unveil the hidden trump card?

Asmodai chanced a glance at Hades thoughtfully. The switch in style marked Hades’ new turning point in his career.

During the previous season, Hades had realized how drab his champion pool was when facing the world-class mid-player. To overcome this, Hades had tried out all possible Mid champions during the off-season. Among them, he preferred Ziggs the most as this champion provided him with an entirely different dimension as compared to his usual heroes Kassadin, Zed, Gragas, and Ryze.

“Poke-oriented? Hades, as far as I know, is used to taking the enemy’s life at a close range, regardless of a face-off skirmish or silent ambush. This should be the first time he has ever brought out such a poke-oriented Mid in an official competition,” Bao Jun noted.

“I agree. In fact, most professional players are usually obsessed with certain styles and become less flexible in official tournaments. However, since LOL is an ever-changing environment with new patches coming out periodically, some champions that might not be usable in the past may suddenly become the meta champion in the new season. This is a lesson to all professional players that they should never be rigid with the strategy and be able to adapt with different champions. The change in Hades’ mindset by selecting Ziggs is a good example to be followed by others.”

The audience’s mood was always reflected by the best player’s action on the stage, and the selection of Ziggs by Hades fired up the crowds.

No matter what, Ziggs’s dominance in the current version was indisputable. He had great poking damage, high AOE output, a convenient relocation skill, solid pushing ability, and last but not least, a long-range Ultimate to support his teammates. Such a versatile mid champion was hard to come by, and a lot of players had immediately fallen in love with Ziggs after his unique playstyle was made popular.

Those who had used this champion before were eager to see Hades demonstrate his own rendition of Ziggs.

***

On the other hand, the champion selection of Team Skycrown was rather anti-climactic.

Normally, they were the ones who would draw the “ooh”‘s and “aah”‘s from the audience with their lineup, especially on the Support choice. That was not the case in this match. They had picked all the mainstream champions of this season so far, so now, the only question that the audience had was how would such a lineup pan out.

“Dr. Mundo, Lee Sin, Elise, Gragas… Right now, I still can’t picture how their final formation will look like…” Bao Jun observed Team Skycrown picks and analyzed.

“You seemed to have forgotten something. Team Skycrown has selected four champions, so now, the last pick is definitely reserved for the ADC,” Li Hua reminded him.

“Whoa! I wouldn’t have noticed if you did not mention it. What is Team Skycrown thinking? A solo-top Dr. Mundo, fine. A Mid Gragas, that’s reasonable too. But I do think that it’s a little greedy of them to pick both Lee Sin and Elise simultaneously. Which one of them is going into the jungle? If one of them is the Jungler, then the other must be the Support!” Bao Jun spoke hushed tones.

At a quick glance, Team Skycrown’s lineup seemed justifiable, but looking deeper into it, there was an underlying anomaly.

Perhaps Elise would be the Support? In the previous season, this had been one of the trendy picks. Strictly speaking, the Support position was still regarded as mainstream for Elise. The switch of styles had happened when some players discovered that Elise was actually more prominent in the Jungler role, but that did not diminish her suitability as a Support.

Some of the audience had already surrendered five bucks to their friends. A lot of those in the audience had bet on whether Luocheng would go for another unorthodox Support in the second game. Since Elise did not fall into that category, those who believed in Luocheng’s individualism had lost the bet.

Soon, Team Skycrown confirmed their ADC, which was Draven.

Lin Dong had practiced painstakingly using this champion, thus, he picked him with utmost confidence. With Draven under his control, even powerful champions like Sivir or Lucian would not be his match.

***

Although Team Skycrown’s lineup were all champions that were usable in this current season, team-wise, there was no familiar complementation between their heroes.

“Alright, we’re entering the loading screen now. We should see our players appearing in the Summoner’s Rift at any moment.”

The map came into vision after Bao Jun and Li Hua further explored the philosophy behind both teams’ champions selection.

Bao Jun immediately noticed a baffling surprise as soon as they entered the game.

“What… on earth!?”

The audience was still generally puzzled. Most didn’t know why Bao Jun had exclaimed although some of the more attentive audience had noticed it as well.

The second Summoner’s skill on Elise was Smite. Besides, the ID on top of Elise was Gale Crane, meaning that Elise was the Jungler and not the Support.

In that case, was Lee Sin the Support?

No!

Team Skycrown had once again perplexed the audience with their signature unpredictability.

The second Summoner’s skill on Lee Sin was also a Smite! The ID on top of Lee Sin was Luocheng’s ID, Fighting Hawk. If he had chosen Exhaust or Ignite, those in the hall would be impressed that this maverick had once again pulled out an unconventional Support!

Yet, he was equipped with a Smite…

This usually led to an AFK in pub games.

Suddenly, a lot of players doubted that their pub teammates must have been trying new strategies when they selected Smite as their second Summoner’s skill…

“Good gracious! Is this a double-Jungler strategy?”

The entire nation had been guessing what kind of Support Luocheng was going to use in this match.

The majority of them had been disappointed when Elise was selected and many grieved as their eager anticipation was not met. The remaining few had daringly guessed that perhaps Lee Sin was the Support this time.

All of them could not have been more wrong.

There was simply no Support in this match to begin with!

“Captain Yu, Fighting Hawk, should I call you a genius or a clown!? Can you at least try to play one normal game? Your opponent is the best team in China, Team Daemons!” Bao Jun was completely dumbfounded.

Those in the hall who had gambled were bewildered as well. If there was no Support, how were they going to decide who had won the bet?

***

Team Daemons had noticed it as well earlier through the loading screen.

The atmosphere inside their chamber almost dropped to the freezing point.

Team Daemons had never been afraid of playing against any team. Their experience was vast and had perceived most lineups and strategies before.

Yet, again and again, Team Skycrown had presented them with great unpredictability. They seemed to enjoy toying with Team Daemons’ foundation. The unprecedented double-Jungler formation had successfully unnerved Team Daemons. They still remembered how Team Skycrown had gorged up the supposedly superior Team Revelations in the past with their savage tower-targeting playbook.

‘Can you guys be more normal? Why do you always use such crooked playstyles? Worse, it f*cking works every time!’