As usual, the commentator for this highlight match was Doll, Mille.
"Before the match, I have to tell everyone that even though RNG is currently second in Group B, they haven't been in good form recently." Doll was the first to speak. "They've had a hard time winning the past few matches."
"Yes, this RNG team hasn't shown the dominance they had in the Spring Season." Mille nodded. "You can see that after UZI came to RNG, they haven't gotten into their best form yet."
"If YM wins this match, other than WE, the rest of their opponents won't pose much of a threat to them. They're basically locked in at the top of Group B," Mille continued.
"This YM team doesn't have any weaknesses in any of their five positions."
"We originally thought that the top lane would be a breakthrough, but Xiao Tian has repeatedly gone to the top lane to help in these matches. Jin Gong, who has always been left alone, has also started to show his prowess. After gaining an advantage, he'll also help the team. His ability to pull with 41 points is quite strong."
The two commentators went back and forth, analyzing the strength of both teams.
"YM has a very easy time beating those weaker teams. They often have a 5K economic advantage in 15 minutes of laning." Doll became an YM fan and began to flatter them. "This economic gap is too exaggerated. They'll just crush them in the laning..."
The two commentators were warming up the audience. Lin Yan and his teammates went on stage to adjust the equipment and settings. They were chatting and laughing with a relaxed expression.
Unlike the relaxed YM players, RNG's faces were solemn.
They were now facing a lot of pressure. After stumbling through most of the Summer Season, RNG was now at a loss.
At the beginning of the season, Coach Fly wanted to continue the Spring Season's jungler playstyle. He wanted MATA to roam and Saucepan into the jungle together. Then, Xiao Hu would choose a hero who could take the top lane to help out...
"Hey, doesn't it sound like YM's mainstream playstyle?"
However, if MATA and Saucepan roamed together, Ouze could only stay under the tower. No matter how good he was in the laning, he couldn't beat the other two.
Ouze, who stayed under the tower and did not pressure anyone, was half useless. His positioning was to play a line suppression, and even take the lead to push down the next tower. Then, he would change lines and continue to snowball.
In that case, there was no need to buy Ouze. Wouldn't it be cheaper and more practical if the tool was heartless?
Not long after the mid-season competition ended, the summer competition began. There was no time to adjust their RNG, so they could only continue with the same strategy as the spring competition.
However, a problem arose. Once summer arrived and the weather turned hot, Xiao Hu's condition became abnormal.
His condition began to decline, and his equipment became more conservative. His damage ratio fell to 26%, even lower than the LGD Spellemperor.
Xiao Hu's slump made it difficult for the management to put the burden of the mid-to-late game output on him. They could only look for other ways.
If one of the two C's fell, the other would have to be replaced. Ouze naturally took over this heavy responsibility.
Other than facing the bottom lane duo of deftmeiko, he and Mata crushed all the other bottom lanes.
However, if they wanted to play a suppressive role in the bottom lane, they basically had to hold the line. If they held the line, they could be caught.
Spicy Saucepan was forced to change their strategy and move to the bottom lane more frequently to set up vision and anti-crouch.
After losing to YM, the RNG coach began to use Ouze as the core of the lineup system.
The first round of Group B ended, and RNG was ranked second. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, and Ouze was also playing very happily.
However, in the round-robin between groups, EDG's Zhuge Mingkai came up and gave RNG a head-on blow.
You take care of Ouze and I take care of Mr. Dai. In the top lane, choose a Big Tree and a looper for Mouse to play hard. Then, rely on the perfect operation system to nibble away at vision. In the late game, RNG could only rely on Ouze.
However, Mr. Dai was not weak at all. At his peak, he was the nightmare of all the AD players in LPL. From lane to team play, he was completely textbook level.
This season, he had an average damage of 745 points and a damage conversion rate of nearly 170%. He was ranked first in the LPL AD rankings.
It turned out that as long as Mr. Dai was financially supported, he would lead the team to victory.
0: 2. RNG was in a daze.
The coaches and analysts looked further than the audience. They found the shortcomings of the system with Ouze as the core.
They could not win against EDG.
This was a fatal problem because they had just trampled EDG under their feet in the Spring Tournament.
They wanted to adjust the system and focus on practicing Ember, but there was no time. The playoffs were about to begin, and they had to ensure their ranking.
In conclusion, RNG was now a mess internally. MLXG, Ouze, and even MATA would come out to command. The early offensive rhythm was very chaotic.
"YM chose the red side, so RNG first banned people. Hammer Stone, Blind Monk, and Lisandro, three rhythm heroes in three positions," Doll said with a smile. "In the second half of the summer tournament, this is basically the standard ban choice for all teams against YM."
"It's very normal for YM to ban people. Chiwil, Bull's Head, and Centaur. These are all heroes that RNG often chooses."
"RNG chose Nanqiang first. They also figured out Xiao Tian's playstyle and knew that he could only choose some early offensive jungler heroes. However, Blind Monk was banned, and Excavator can't win against Nanqiang."
Mille said. He had done a lot of research on YM this season and was familiar with their team's playstyle.
"YM chose Policewoman and Morgana for the bottom lane first. They are a very strong duo to fight against Ouze."
"Ice and Boulogne, RNG chose the Freljord duo. Their laning ability is not weak, but will they be countered by Morgana?" Mille was a little puzzled when he saw RNG's pick for the bottom lane.
Ice's arrow and Boulogne's passive would be perfectly countered by Morgana. He did not understand RNG's choice.
But everything was in Hanyi's plan.
The heroes that UZI most often chose in the summer tournament were EZ, Policewoman, Chiwil, and Ember (from LPL's official data). Chiwil was banned by them, and then JKL chose Policewoman.
Leaving Ouze with EZ and Ember, RNG had practiced Ember many times before. It was fine against weak teams, but against YM, the originator of playing Ember, they would not choose it easily.
EZ was countered by Policewoman, so UZI could not bring it out.
Lucian and Callista's damage curve was too early, and RNG was in a confused state. They could not play in the early and mid stages, so UZI did not dare to choose.
After considering all the factors, RNG could only choose Ice, the AD that Morgana countered.
RNG chose Ice and Boulogne, so it was destined that they would not be able to gain an advantage in the bottom lane.
Ever since Hanyi entered LPL, her BP style had become more and more sinister. Everything depended on the strong individual ability and hero pool of YM's five players.
YM chose Wine Barrel and Shen to make up for the frontline's calmness and team initiation.
RNG hesitated for a long time, but still chose Tsar and Bobby, and decided to delay the formation.
"Let's see what Ran's last counter pick is." Mille was a little curious. "I saw that Ran was practicing Vampire during the live broadcast two days ago. Will he take it out today …"
"Titan!"
Doll looked at the selection screen in surprise. "If I'm not mistaken, this Titan is for Ran's mid lane. This is the first time he's chosen a mid lane Titan in LPL."
"That's right. The last time he chose this hero was in the LSPL finals. It left a deep impression." Mille sighed.
The two teams' lineups were confirmed.
Blue RNG: Bobby, Nanqiang, Tsar, Ice, Boulogne.
Red YM: Shen, Wine Barrel, Titan, Policewoman, Morgana.
Both teams entered the Summoner's Canyon and began the battle for the top of Group B.