League of Legends: League of Unknowns

It was fortunate and unfortunate at the same time, to be in the same team as someone who was so strong that you couldn’t help but admire them!

Tinghua was also equally talented at that time in e-sports, and he had little competition when he played Warcraft 3. After switching to Dota, his talents were even more prominent, displayed to its fullest. Accurate calculation and aggressive playstyle, that was how he had gained the strongest title as Blood Eagle in Dota.

However, like a poster that changed headlines frequently, the glory and miracles that Tinghua could have built in e-sports was unfortunately overshadowed by Luocheng’s dazzling talent which was just too bright!

There were many times where Tinghua had thought to himself, if he was not on the same team, if he became his opponent instead, would he have been able to share the spotlight with Luocheng? Would the e-sports world put Blood Eagle and Fighting Hawk at the front together!

At first, these were just fleeting thoughts in Tinghua’s mind.

But in a flash, this turned out to be an inevitable reality!

Tinghua didn’t feel sorry at all, instead, he was excited for such a golden opportunity!

After playing professionally for so long, professional competitions were not something that was out of reach for novices anymore, but a level of confidence that was expected!

And now, Tinghua’s hands were shaking like a new player in a professional competition!

Was it from the excitement of having a battle against someone they had been unable to settle the score with, or was it the fear of facing the strongest player who was born for the sake of e-sports? Or could it be the resentment that was left in him after Luocheng had retired?

All of that didn’t matter!

Even when it concerned the Worlds, Tinghua had not hungered for victory as much as he did now against Luocheng. More importantly, Tinghua knew that Luocheng had a reason that he had to win. This meant that he would go all out, and it was possible that he would unleash that wild potential that he had kept hidden all along!

This guy’s wildest ambition was greater than anyone here, and only on the surface did he look to be calm!

He was more arrogant than anyone else, and Tinghua didn’t know where he had learnt to have such a deep, calm attitude.

Luocheng didn’t know that in the past year, Tinghua had actually been in China. The reason he chose not to play was simple. Luocheng was just like a lion who had woken up, and it was not worth taking a shot at him at that time. Only now when he had returned to his original state, when he had been forced into a corner, only then would he be worthy of Tinghua using all his strength to face him!

***

Luocheng had never directly spoken to Tinghua because he was well aware of what he wanted to do.

He wanted to be the enemy and so, he would be. Luocheng wouldn’t regret anything, this just meant that he would carry the heavy burden with the team!

He broke off his gaze and focused his attention on the screen.

One mouse, one keyboard, one computer, and a monitor.

The world in the monitor was like his second world, and he really existed inside it.

Inadvertently, he was once again going into this battlefield. It was as though everything remained the same as it did in the past, but also very different from before.

The competition was still a competition, but the enthusiasm from the people and the recognition was completely different.

Probably, he was not born in the wrong era, but the transformation needed to go through a burning experience, like a phoenix rising through the ashes, before it could reach Nirvana!

***

“Our beloved audience, what you are watching now is the LOL Professional League brought to you by Tencent!”

“On your right, it’s this year’s dazzling team, Team Skycrown! After a year of hiatus, this team has brought consecutive shocking and groundbreaking games! I believe that their strength has deeply impacted all of our hearts. After their amazingly shocking results of tying with Team Daemons, they will now face our LPL winning-streak team, Team Sky!”

“This year, Team Sky has had a bloody nature, beating Team Daemons with a straight 2 to 0 which shocked everyone, becoming the highest scoring team in all of LPL history, being so far ahead!”

“Which of the two teams is stronger or weaker, and who will win the championship for this year’s LPL? Let us wait and see!”

The commentator’s strong voice trailed off, and two pillars of fire sprayed up from the stage suddenly!

The flames burned brightly, and this fire would soon be carried over into the Summoner’s Rift by the player’s champions. This fire would sweep through the rift, bringing never-ending bloodshed and renewed battles!

Ban/Pick!

After a heated prelude, the screen finally jumped to the banning phase!

With more than one hundred champions, in the end, there would only be ten champions the summoners would pick!

Five champions for each team from the pool of over hundred champions. Usually in normal games, the lineup would always be unpredictable and unruly. But with trial and error, there would always be more and more awareness in offense and defense, as well as a more balanced lineup!

The choices in the lineup of professional players was a trend, and tens of millions of LOL players around the world would unconsciously follow suit.

Team Skycrown had already undergone long research and practice, and although their plays were unprecedented and unique, the teams that imitated them found that their win-rate would shoot unimaginably high!

But in actuality, Team Skycrown’s lineup was just not suitable for the normal amatuer players. This was a point that Luocheng had specifically stated in his interview, saying that the result would be similar to a child imitating their parents.

Players who had watched Team Skycrown in the competitions were now speculating and also anticipating.

They were trying to guess what lineup Team Skycrown would use this time, and what sort of new twist would they bring along!

***

First ban, Team Skycrown needed to aim it at Zhao Tinghua!

Targeting a specific person didn’t necessarily mean banning his champion.

As a part of Tinghua’s disruptive plays, it required the assistance and cooperation from his Mid. With the Mid and Jungler’s intervention and ganks, pacing the game was a play that was frequently used by the better amatuer players.

Tinghua’s control over the jungle area was based on having a strong Mid because it wasn’t as though he could beat the opponent Jungler all the time. If his opponent’s Mid, Top, and bottom lane were quick to assist…

The first ban was to ban Team Sky’s Mid—Xie Yi’s LeBlanc!

Starting with Tinghua to initiate and followed up by Xie Yi’s LeBlanc, this system of Team Sky would now be unsuccessful. Team Skycrown was incredibly smart to see that the key problem was not what champion Tinghua would have chosen, but who the follow-up champion Mid would choose…

It was obvious that Xie Yi had worked very hard at mastering LeBlanc, all for the sake of synchronizing with Tinghua’s way of killing in the jungle area and catching people!

Banning LeBlanc was equivalent to limiting Tinghua’s invasion strength, making it harder for him to do so.

***

On Team Sky’s side, their first ban was Anivia.

In so many games of the LPL, Anivia was a champion that had not been picked at all, what more ban.

However, Team Daemons and Team Sky had both wasted a valuable ban on this unpopular champion. This was a testament to how much pressure Luocheng had caused on the professional players with this champion!

That’s right, a changing-lanes reviving phoenix was a big threat. Team Sky would not be the same as Team Daemons who had seen such a disgusting play and use of this champion during the late-game…

For the second ban, Team Sky banned Caitlyn.

Team Skycrown was notoriously fond of swapping lanes, and with Caitlyn who could push out a Bloodthirster, she was born to fast-push a lane. Team Sky needed to slow down Team Skycrown’s rhythm in the game!

The third ban, Team Sky banned Da Luo’s Dr. Mundo!

Team Skycrown had always used a fast-pace push, but they weren’t afraid of the late-game, because by then, they would have a nearly invincible Mundo!

“These three bans, it’s really showing how well they know us.” Lin Dong said.

Luocheng nodded his head in agreement.

No matter how arrogant or how conceited Team Sky was, they always maintained their studies and research on their opponents to understand them. Each of these bans was a stab to the core of Team Skycrown. Even if it was a fast push, there were not only these two champions that they could use in the late-game. Even so, from the bans on hand, they could already tell that Team Sky understood their playstyle!

Pick, Team Skycrown would pick first!

The first champion was their ADC—The Battle Mistress, Sivir.

The first pick would usually not be the Mid champion because there were some criterias to this lane. First pick would normally be either the Support or one of the two strongest ADC’s in the game!

Sivir for ADC, at first glance, it would seem as if she had no repositioning skills, however, she was an extremely difficult champion to kill, and her ulti contribution to the team was simply unmatched by other ADCs.

“Normal lanes?” Lin Dong asked as he looked over to Luocheng.

Luocheng was looking at the picks on their opponent’s side, and he would only decide after seeing what champions were picked.

Needless to say, one of their opponents picks would definitely be Top or Support.

As long as two champions appeared, Luocheng would roughly be able to guess what champion Tinghua would pick!

Nowadays, the first-tier Junglers would be Elise, Lee Sin, Kha’Zix, Vi, and Pantheon among others. What champion Tinghua picked would ultimately be the deciding factor on whether they swapped lanes.

“We can’t do the normal lanes, there’s a 70% chance of him choosing Kha’Zix,” Luocheng said, finally deciding!

With Kha’Zix in Tinghua’s hands, it would be a harvest festival. It was even more terrifying than a Mid or Top, and you needed to invest a lot of time to track him down.

However, even if you did see him, you wouldn’t be able to stop him from leaping from corpse to corpse, like a grim reaper wielding his scythe to harvest his victims…

If they maintained normal laning, that would just give Tinghua plenty of time to build up his Kha’Zix.

The better his build, the harder the teamfights would be for Team Skycrown during the late-game!

“How do you know that he will pick…” Wu Sen was about to voice his doubt when their opponent’s third and fourth floor picks appeared.

Wu Sen hadn’t even finished his sentence yet and the third floor had locked in the champion Kha’Zix with little to no hesitation!

Kha’Zix was a champion that could be chosen under a lot of circumstances, and the more control over the rift they had, the more terrifying it was for Kha’Zix to jump in and clean up everything.

Tinghua had that confidence, and he didn’t care whether Team Skycrown had anything up their sleeves for the late-game!