Chapter 123: Shield and Control

I have to say that RNG's bp this time was indeed very smart.

As the red team, although they couldn’t be the first to choose, RNG made the choices for the next two floors.

If VG helps Houye take the Tsar on the first floor, then in this round, RNG will grab Varus and use it to counter the Tsar in the middle lane.

If you don't take the first floor...

Then RNG will pick the Tsar! They can even pick Varus, who can restrain the Tsar!

After all, in this game, VG’s mid laner is not Leng Shao, so Xiaohu naturally doesn’t have to worry about being killed in the laning phase!

So for RNG, Tsar is still the best solution!

As expected, when RNG saw VG choose Miss Fortune on the first floor, they decisively took away Tsar and Varus, directly determining the key double C in the lineup.

Looking at RNG's selection, Lin Dong couldn't help but feel a headache.

"broken……"

"RNG seems to have learned their lesson this time!"

"Once I pick up the Tsar and Varus, it's hard for me to gank whether I go to the bottom lane or the middle lane."

"Because these two heroes don't rely on skills to suppress the opponent in the lane, their positions will definitely not be too far forward."

"The only good news is that the opponent has banned Tam. Although the chance is small, at least there is a chance."

"But why do I feel like I'm going to be forced to play RNG in the late game this time?"

To be honest, Lin Dong is not afraid of fighting with the opponent in the late stage. After all, the late-stage team battles depend on the performance of AD, and Sima Laozei in his peak period is obviously better than the current RNG bottom lane.

But the problem is...

Lin Dong didn’t want to play against RNG in the late game at all.

Although the bottom lane is not very good, what if General Tiger awakens early and transforms into Tiger Jiuwan?

Thinking of this, Lin Dong asked subconsciously.

"Speaking of which... besides Varus, what other heroes can counter the mid-lane Tsar?"

"Yes, it's easy to play against Enchantress." Hongmi replied, "The problem is that the Marquis doesn't know how to play this game."

Hearing the conversation between the two, the Marquis said helplessly.

"In fact, there is a hero who is good at fighting against Tsar in the early laning phase. It is easy to get the laning advantage, but the problem is that as time goes on, the advantage is not so obvious, and it is not as useful as Varus."

"What hero?" Lin Dong was stunned.

"Xerath," the Marquis replied, "It has long arms and strong consumption ability, but later on..."

After hearing the Marquis' words, Lin Dong instantly understood.

The range of Xerath's skills is indeed very far, and he can indeed suppress the Tsar during the laning phase.

And it seems that the Marquis is the one who is good at using Xerath.

During the SKT period, he would have Ziggs in his left hand and Xerath in his right hand. If all else failed, he would choose Tsar or Ice Maiden.

But the problem is...

The hero Xerath can only be regarded as a mixed-up mage, who can neither initiate team fights nor harvest enemies.

The most important thing is...Xerath is AP damage.

In this version, the Tsar’s first piece of equipment will definitely be Nashor’s Tooth, and the second piece of equipment may be the Abyss Scepter.

But the Abyss Scepter can provide magic resistance attributes.

For Poke heroes, as long as the opponent has a little resistance, it will be a bit difficult for one person to consume it.

This is also the reason why Poke-type heroes are not very effective if taken out alone.

If you want to throw, everyone must throw together. Only in this way can the power of the Poke lineup be perfectly exerted.

But this time... there doesn't seem to be such an opportunity.

Even Xiao Duan who was standing by noticed something and spoke up.

"If we pick Xerath in the middle lane, and Varus is picked by the opponent, then doesn't that mean we have to pick Jayce in the top lane?"

"But the problem is... this way, our lineup will be too fragile. Without Tam, if the opponent rushes in, we will most likely be wiped out."

After hearing Xiaoduan's analysis, Hongmi nodded and said.

"Xerath's damage alone is simply not enough."

"How about... we still play this game in the late game?"

"Besides, the opponent chose Varus in the bottom lane, most likely because they didn't think about the early game. The support position can first take the Troll, use the pillar's deceleration, and cooperate with Miss Gun's ultimate to output."

"Although in theory Alistar might be better, there are too many heroes that can restrain Alistar. Poppy, Gragas, and Thresh can all interrupt Alistar's WQ combo."

However, when Lin Dong heard Hongmi's words, an idea suddenly came to his mind!
"and many more?"

"Xerath's damage alone is definitely not enough."

"Of course, Xerath's damage alone is not enough, but what if... someone else provides the damage?"

"Who said that when you're Poking, you can't use your ultimate to Poké?"

Thinking of this, Lin Dong suddenly spoke.

"You can choose Xerath, then give me a Graves, and then take a look at the opponent's lineup."

At the same time, on the other side.

Looking at VG's selection, Fly raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Xerath and Graves?"

"It looks like the opponent is not going to play a Poke lineup."

"That's right. We got Varus in this round. It won't be easy for the opponent to Poke him."

"However, there should be no need to change our lineup."

Shaking his head, Fly still chose the tactics he had arranged before.

"The jungler is chosen last, pick the robot and Titan first."

However, what Fly didn't know was.

The moment RNG selected these two hook heroes, Lin Dong immediately understood.

"As expected! Force the lineup!"

"Are you psychologically traumatized by our Pokémon in the last game?"

"Robots and Titans, this time the opponent can really hit people."

"But the problem is..."

"After you drive into someone, you have to be able to defeat them!"

Thinking of this, Lin Dong decisively asked again.

"Brother Saint Spear, can you play Karthus in the top lane?"

Hearing Lin Dong's words, Saint Spear Brother and Hongmi were both stunned.

Death song?

Isn't this a mid-lane mage?
How did you get single?
Of course, this routine was not something Lin Dong came up with on a whim.

In a certain version in the middle of the S6 season, the win rate of top lane Karthus suddenly soared, directly reaching the first place in the top lane win rate list and becoming the T0 of the version.

The reason is simple. In that version, the Staff of Time was strengthened.

In fact, the Staff of Time was not strengthened much, but it successfully made the top lane Fatan appear in everyone's vision.

Among them, the Ravens were first in the win rate list at the beginning.

Until top lane Karthus emerged.

The gameplay is also very simple.

Use the Time Wand, Ice Wand and Big Mask to stick to the opponent.

But this style of play is very disgusting.

Especially against that kind of strong lineup.

The team fight did start, but as long as Karthus was standing in the middle, the people in the back row didn't dare to step forward to deal damage before Karthus's passive disappeared!
Not only that, Karthus is even the nemesis of hook heroes.

Isn't Karthus' weakness that it's difficult for him to enter a team fight?
In this game, the opponent didn't have Thresh, and both hook skills could help Karthus enter the game...

As long as Karthus is selected, RNG will have good news and bad news in this game.

The good news is that the hook hero hooked it.

The bad news is that a dad has been hooked.

Soon, in VG voice.

After a brief moment of astonishment, Saint Spear nodded. "You know how to play."

"You can pick Karthus in the top lane." Lin Dong narrowed his eyes slightly. "Don't the opponents like to start a fight? Then let them start it. With Karthus, if they start it, can we win?"

"What if the other side doesn't open it?" Xiao Duan asked subconsciously.

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw everyone looking at him as if he were a fool.

The next second, he suddenly slapped his forehead and came to his senses!
"Fuck! I forgot!"

"Xerath has long arms and stronger consumption ability than the opponent. Although the opponent's Varus can also Poke, we have Karthus's ultimate, which can harvest the opponent, but the opponent can't harvest us!"

"And the male gun's ultimate skill also has the ability to harvest."

"But, in this case, will we have no front row?"

"Fuck! I'm such an idiot!"

"So what if the opponent has a front row? Their front row can't block skills! The only advantage of the front row is the ability to start a team fight, but they can't beat us even if they do!"

Hongmi, who was standing by, also reacted quickly and asked subconsciously.

"Instead of using small skills to poke, use the ultimate to poke? This idea is not bad. It feels even better than Jayce and Nidalee. Jayce's cannon and Nidalee's Q can be easily blocked by the front row of the opponent. However... playing this way is a bit risky. After all, the CD of Karthus' ultimate is too long. The rhythm will definitely not be as good as in the last game."

"It's okay. We are not afraid if it drags on. The later the game goes, the stronger Karthus will be." Lin Dong replied.

"What if the opponent wants to train the bottom lane? The opponent's bottom lane Robot and Varus are very aggressive. If they choose Karthus, we won't find out until we reach level 6. But before level 6..."

"It's okay, just let the support block the skills." Lin Dong smiled, "It just so happens that our lineup still needs a way to start a team fight that can threaten the opponent's back row."

"what?"

When these words came out, everyone in the voice chat was stunned.

Xiao Duan was even more confused!
If it is a critical moment in a team fight, it is understandable for you to help the AD block skills.

But if the opponent chooses a lottery lineup such as Robot and Titan, can you block it once, but can you block it a second time?
However, at this moment, Hongmi's eyes lit up and said.

"Wait... blocking skills and starting a team fight, you're not talking about the same thing that Leng Shao played before, right?"

"Yes, Nightmare support." Lin Dong nodded. "For our lineup, there is no need to choose the front row. As long as we can deal with the opponent's back row from a distance, the opponent's front row will become toys, right?"

Listening to Lin Dong's words, Hongmi's expression became strange.

Theoretically speaking, this lineup... is indeed playable!

But the problem is...

Why does it look so abstract?

Top lane Karthus?

Auxiliary nightmare?

What the hell are these?

This time's lineup has made Redmi lose confidence.

But he still chose to believe Lin Dong.

"Try it?"

"What if it works?"

"Even if we lose, the worst that can happen is that we can just call Young Master Leng up in the next round."

But for Lin Dong, this lineup is very reasonable.

what?
Assassin support? What's so strange about that?

Pantheon and Joker as supports later became T0 of the version?

Do you understand the value of a support's skill set killing an ADC in seconds?

Although this is certainly not possible in this version, so just let him wear ordinary warrior equipment. As long as the team fight can be started, and Karthus and Xerath use their ultimates at the same time, won't the opposing back row die anyway?

As for using Nightmare's W skill to block Robot's Q skill?
In later versions, some people even used the clown's box and the great inventor's turret to block it!
This is very reasonable!
However, this is a tough situation for the three people in the commentary booth and everyone from RNG.

At first, looking at VG's lineup, everyone thought it was quite normal.

until……

Karthus and Nightmare were locked down by VG at the same time.

At that moment, the three people in the commentary booth were all stunned!
"Huh? Wait...what is this?"

"Karus, Nightmare... Who is the support in this VG lineup? Xerath?"

"But the problem is, it's hard for a mid-lane Karthus to fight against Tsar, right? His arms are too short!"

"It can't be Nightmare in the mid lane and Karthus in the top lane, right? Although VG did use Nightmare in the mid lane, but can Lord Hou play this?"

On the other hand, looking at VG's outrageous lineup, all RNG members were stunned!
What the hell is this lineup on the opposite side?

The poke doesn't look like poke.

The group opening doesn’t feel like a group opening.

I want the front row but I'm not in the front row yet.

Why does it look so abstract?

It's a complete weirdness!
So Fly studied and studied for a long time, but still couldn't figure out VG's approach.

In desperation, he could only add a jungler.

"The opponent's jungler should be a farm player in the early game. Just like in the last game, we should pick a rhythm jungler who can gank."

"It just so happens that in this round we have more control over the first move and are good at seizing opportunities."

"Actually, you can still use the spider. The little spider can block the Graves's basic attack."

"The only problem now is to see how the opponent's lineup is going to swing!"

Soon, the lineups of both sides were determined.

VG, blue side.

Karthus on top, Graves in the jungle, Xerath in the middle, and Caitlyn + Nightmare on the bottom lane.

RNG, red side.

Titan on top, Spider in the jungle, Tsar in the middle, Varus + Robot in the bottom lane.

However, when I saw VG's lineup.

The people in the audience were immediately blown away.

"????"

"Ah? Supporting Nightmare? You're not... crazy, are you? Can Nightmare play support?"

"Don't tell me, I can really do it! That's how we bronze players play! Forget about Nightmare support! Garen can also support! He comes out of the bush and does a brain chop! So awesome!"

"Am I crazy, or is VG crazy?"

"Honestly, isn't this nightmare support a bit too abstract?"

"Oh no, this time we really have shield and control!"

“Hahahahahahahahaha, it looks like it’s me, Shan Niruo! My understanding of the game is so advanced!”

"Hongmi: Choose a support with shield and control. Xiaoduan: Okay, Nightmare!"

"Sima the old thief has broken open. He has come to VG, but why can't he escape this curse?"

However, watching Nightmare shake to VG's support position.

Mata, who was on the opposite side, suddenly had a dark face!
"Wait? Nightmare Auxiliary?"

"broken!"

"The opponent is trying to use Nightmare's W skill to block my Q skill!"

"The point is, why do I seem to remember that the CD of Nightmare's W skill is exactly the same as the CD of my Q skill?"

However, as soon as Mata finished speaking, Mlxg's voice came from the voice chat.

"Different."

"Ok?"

"Nightmare's W skill CD at level 20 is indeed seconds, the same as Robot's Q skill CD, but as the level increases, his W skill CD will be a few seconds shorter than your Q skill. Your hook is not as fast as his shield."

Mlxg seemed to have noticed something at this time and took a deep breath.

"So... obviously, it's basically difficult for you to hook anyone in the bottom lane in this game."

At that moment, Mata just felt like he was really screwed!

When playing with a robot, it is already difficult to hit a person with Q!

The result now is that even if you hit the Q, you may not be able to hook it!
How do you play this bot lane?
(End of this chapter)