Chapter 55 So That's How You Want to Play

After a brief intermission, the second round of pick-and-ban commenced, with Snake on the blue side and EDG on the red side.

Seeing Snake substitute their starting jungler, Ailoli sat in his chair with a beaming smile, unable to help boasting, "My god, have I really become this strong? Just one game was enough to banish the Vietnamese guy to the bench to wipe down the water cooler."

Lin Ruo delivered his trademark sarcasm, "Don't worry, once this Spring Split is over, you'll realize that using Snake to flex about how good you are is a very foolish thing to do."

"Why?"

Lin Ruo smiled faintly, putting on a mysterious air and remaining silent.

Actually, there was no special reason—it was just that Snake would later go on to lose even to internet-cafe amateur teams.

At this moment, Zhu Kai, clutching his little notebook, could never have imagined that they would achieve legendary infamy in the Demacia Cup qualifiers at the start of summer.

His mind was entirely occupied with figuring out how to rescue his current coaching career.

After three bans, they entered the first round of selections.

Looking at his lifeless teammates, Zhu Kai rubbed his head in frustration.

If there was still one clear-headed person left on the team, it had to be the top laner.

Adapting his strategy to suit the individual, Zhu Kai immediately ordered the lock-in of Jayce.

Since the top lane was the only one with any sense left, if he didn't let the top laner carry, who else could?

Everyone else was practically driving nails into his coffin, the kind who wished they could hammer in a few extra ones for good measure.

"Xuanjun, you know I've always trusted your ability."

Hearing this, Flandre rolled his eyes. "Then you should have picked it for me sooner! Now that you finally remember, and after I've been counter-picked every single game, am I somehow worse than the enemy top laner?"

"Fine, fine, my mistake." Zhu Kai backed down immediately.

Players needed a bit of fire and temper to have any fighting spirit; this was the exact atmosphere he wanted.

In the EDG player booth.

Seeing the blue side first-pick Jayce, Mouse suddenly let out a sigh of relief.

Wonderful, he could go back to playing a tank and getting carried again.

EDG locked in Varus and Zyra for their first two picks as usual, maintaining their fierce bot-lane dominance.

Crystal哥, whose mood had just improved slightly, became unhappy once more.

Vaguely sensing the prelude to a line-phase collapse, he hurriedly spoke up:

"Quick, quick, pick me Lucian, otherwise the enemy's just going to ban him."

"What Lucian? There's no way any bot lane match-up is going to out-duel EDG anyway, just hunker down and play safe."

Since the top laner was the big brother, the bot lane naturally had to be left to fend for themselves to ensure resources were funneled elsewhere.

With a wave of his hand, Zhu Kai locked in the early-game wave-clearing duo of Sivir and Malzahar.

Falling behind a bit in farm during the early game didn't matter; the two of them wouldn't get tower-dived, and they would still be useful in the late game.

Besides, calling this bot lane combination weak in the laning phase was a bit of an exaggeration.

As their levels increased, they could completely generate some counter-pressure over lane control.

However, considering that his bot lane's skill level was somewhat questionable, Zhu Kai still opted for safety:

"You two just quietly stay in front of the tower, clear minions, and drag the game to the late game."

Thinking back to the Thresh from the previous game, Crystal哥 instantly felt a sense of relief.

EDG followed up by locking in Corki.

With the second phase of picks concluded, they returned to the selection stage.

Zhu Kai stroked his chin, pacing back and forth, pondering which mid-lane champion could both survive the early game and radiate pressure across other lanes.

A flash of inspiration struck him, and he locked in Ziggs, followed by stealing away the enemy's Ivern.

"Zitao, you know which lane's tower to push, right? Make sure to roam top often and use your passive to help take towers."

"Zzr, remember the key instruction: protect top."

After rattling off his instructions, EDG locked in Shen to respond.

Arriving at the final pick, Nofe hesitated slightly.

"How about... we take Lee Sin."

Lin Ruo sneered, "You're still obsessed with forcing a Lee Sin? Can he block the enemy team? Take Olaf and pair him with Shen to charge down the enemy."

The loyal Ailoli followed orders without a second thought and locked in Olaf.

You always had to trust your thigh-carry unconditionally.

Nofe glanced at the screen and silently went to shake hands.

With both team compositions finalized and the match about to begin, the caster Guan Zetao dove straight into analysis without missing a beat: "Snake has opted for a tower-pushing composition. In the early game, they'll use mid-jungle synergy and support for the top lane to build an advantage, and then rely on Sivir as the primary carry in the late game."

"It's a fairly reasonable multi-lane transition composition, but the problem is that EDG picked Olaf precisely to disrupt your early-game tempo," Jiejie added, shaking his head slightly:

"To be honest, without Olaf, Snake's composition is quite good, but the moment Olaf is locked in, Jayce is going to suffer in the top-jungle 2v2 matchup. We'll have to see how they break the deadlock and whether the mid lane can make things happen."

As they loaded into Summoner's Rift, the game commenced.

Having just purchased his starting items, Lin Ruo turned his head and laid out the game plan for this match.

"Ailoli, don't bother coming bot this game. Focus on top and the enemy jungle."

"If you can't shit in the enemy's jungle during the early game, you might as well retire."

Shen paired with Olaf was terrifyingly fierce at level one; they definitely couldn't let the enemy jungle farm in peace.

Having grasped the instruction, Ailoli strutted swaggeringly into the blue-side jungle with Mouse in tow.

Ivern was frightened away, and Jayce had to head to lane early.

Ailoli devoured the blue buff to hit level two and proceeded to clear out the enemy's jungle camps.

Zzr chose to counter-jungle by taking the blue buff in exchange, keeping his cs count from falling too far behind.

However, the initiative in the top-side jungle was completely controlled by EDG, and Jayce's lane-pushing and growth would face certain hindrances.

They had to reclaim that control as soon as possible.

After devouring the Scuttler, Ailoli predictably headed straight top to camp, blatantly squeezing the living space out of Jayce.

Flandre, forced to retreat, could only endure the humiliation for the time being.

Once Zitao reached level six, they achieved mutual wave-clearing in mid, and only then did the mid-jungle synergy with Ivern begin to effectively make things happen.

"You need to help me push the mid tower first. Only once the mid tower falls can I radiate pressure top and drive the tempo." Seeing that Ivern kept camping top to hound Shen and occasionally dragging him into jungle invasions, Zitao was somewhat reluctant.

In his view, Zhu Kai's words were absolute garbage.

If you pick Ziggs and don't take down the mid tower first, your value is instantly cut in half.

Unlike the Vietnamese bandit, Zzr lacked any strong opinions of his own; hearing the mid-laner's call, he turned around and went to help shove the wave.

Sivir was already capable of holding her own solo in the bot lane, and Crystal哥 also began attempting to roam.

Summoning Daisy, the three of them applied forward pressure to chip away at the mid tower's health.

And that chipping caused a massive disaster.

Ailoli popped Ghost, carrying the attached Shen, and charged straight out from under the tower for the kill.

Malzahar was a mere toy in front of Olaf and offered zero obstruction whatsoever.

The three squishies were forced into a running-for-their-lives, hacked-to-death rhythm.

Racing all the way, Ailoli fought like a madman, combining with the descending Shen's crowd control to consecutively hack down Ziggs and Malzahar.

Snake paid the price of two kills in exchange for taking down Olaf, while shaving the mid tower down to nearly half health.

At first glance, it might have seemed acceptable, but both kills had landed squarely on Shen.

Upon recalling, the Shen player purchased Sunfire Cape, securing a completed item ahead of Jayce.

Flandre's face in the top lane instantly flushed red with sullen anger: "Darn it, if you guys are going to hand kills over, you shouldn't give them to Shen! How is Laozi supposed to play top lane now?"

"It's fine, once we push down the mid tower, I'll come help you take top," Zitao could only offer this comforting remark.

Yet the moment those words left his mouth, Ohq down in the bot lane inexplicably perished.

The expressions of everyone on Snake turned exceptionally grim.