Su Cheng replayed the two matches that Samsung had lost at double speed.
She used a pen to draw a bunch of meaningless symbols on the paper, but she couldn't come up with a reason.
Su Cheng angrily stepped on the chair and accidentally bumped into the edge of the table.
"Hiss …" Su Cheng hurriedly rested her chin on her knees and gently rubbed her calf.
She then found the video of Samsung's loss in the LCK bubble match. She stared intently at Samsung's field of vision in the video and judged what they were going to do next based on their positioning.
She still didn't find anything new.
Samsung had lost because they had made mistakes in the early stages of the game. Their opponents had seized the opportunity and slowly encroached on their field of vision. In the end, they had lost the game.
These early mistakes were the players' own technical problems. Su Cheng was an analyst. She was looking for tactical problems. Low-level mistakes on the field were not her responsibility.
It seemed like they were in some kind of trouble.
She was a little hungry. Su Cheng cooked herself a bowl of frozen shrimp dumplings. She ate while reviewing the game.
After two mouthfuls of shrimp dumplings, Su Cheng's mind suddenly lit up.
Since she couldn't find any problems in Samsung's games, she might as well do the opposite. She looked at the games that Samsung had won and discovered the secret of their victory.
She opened the second game of Samsung against RNG. Su Cheng picked up another shrimp dumpling and stuffed it into her mouth.
Su Cheng looked at the computer screen. The chopsticks in her hand stopped in mid-air. The shrimp dumpling between the chopsticks was crystal clear.
Two seconds later, she sped up her eating. She ate while smiling, as if she had found a treasure.
Late at night, YM held their first group meeting before the quarterfinals.
Su Cheng, who was far away in China, started a video call to replace the main analyst.
Her tone sounded a little rushed, as if she had encountered some good news.
"First, we need to confirm that from the beginning of the group stage until now, each team's understanding of the current version of the game is different," Su Cheng said.
"First, it's because the coaches, analysts, and players of each team have different understandings of the versions. Second, it's because of the subtle influence of their opponents in the mock competition."
"If you often study the game version and train your team faster and stronger, your understanding of the game version will naturally become stronger, and vice versa," Su Cheng said. "This will lead to the phenomenon of the strong becoming stronger and the weak becoming weaker."
This was common sense, and no one refuted it.
"Starting from the second round of the group stage, the LCK teams have stopped inviting us to practice matches. The three teams are probably going to be the first tier."
"You won't be able to learn anything new from the strong teams in the mock competition. Our analysis team's current mission is to be responsible for the version analysis of the data in the arena and help you catch up with your opponents in terms of version understanding." Su Cheng subconsciously twisted the pen in her hand.
"I'll analyze the most advantageous version choice for you so that you can get heroes that are more suitable for the version on the field. You can play more steadily and win the competition."
"That's right, and then?" Hanyi looked down at the information and nodded gently.
"There's no data from the mock competition. Let's take a look at the second match between RNG and Samsung in the group stage," Su Cheng continued. "This BP thinking …"
She sent a picture to Hao, who projected it on the big screen in the middle of the training room. It was a BP image of the game.
"The red team RNG banned Panther Lady, Ember, and Karma. The Samsung team has Blind Monk, Sindra, and Dragon King. Banning them is a very common choice, but the Samsung team has a huge advantage in terms of selection."
"Policewoman from Samsung is the ADC that RNG has been using since the second half of the summer game," Su Cheng said. "On the surface, it looks like they are blocking UZI's hero pool, but we have to find something deeper."
"The opponent chose Policewoman, a hero destined to push the tower. The RNG coaching team thought that the opponent's push would be the breakthrough point, so they chose Excavator, a hero who is good at catching the bottom of the line. Then they gave UZI EZ, a hero who can mix and develop."
"But they were fooled. Samsung took two conventional choices and finally got Ella, who made her debut in this international competition." Su Cheng took a sip of water.
"RNG obviously didn't expect Ella. Because UZI chose EZ before, it was okay to use Nami to fight Ella, but it couldn't change the fact that they were pushed to the bottom of the line. Bull's Head Sheik's life was wasted in vain. They could only use Boulogne to try to block Ella and Policewoman's forced consumption with his shield."
Su Cheng looked up. She was now like a teacher. Seeing that the students below the stage were still listening to the class attentively, she continued to speak.
"The BP segment is over. Let's look at the lineup of the two sides. Samsung is Ike, Olaf, Victor, Policewoman, and Ella. RNG is Rambo, Excavator, Grasshopper, EZ, and Boulogne."
"Can you see where the problem is?" Su Cheng completely put herself in the role of a teacher and asked the YM people in the training room.
JKL raised his hand and answered the question. "RNG lacks damage."
"What else?"
"I don't have the right of line control," Lin Ran said as he leaned back in his chair. "Especially when it comes to the top and bottom lanes. Lambo on the top lane is easy to fight against Ike, but RNG is on the red side. If Lambo pushes the line, Olaf may catch him from behind the triangular bush."
"That's right!"
Su Cheng snapped her fingers, her face full of confidence. "The bottom lane is too long. Excavator can catch it, but Olaf is likely to squat. The safest way for RNG is to first catch the middle lane to expand the advantage of Grasshopper, and then go for a four-pack to drive the bottom lane rhythm."
"But grasshoppers that haven't reached level 6 are too weak when it comes to jungling. This means that RNG won't be able to attack mid lane before level 6." Lin Ran unscrewed the cap of his mineral water bottle and took a gulp.
"In other words, RNG will be crushed to death before level 6. The three lanes can only rely on the Spicy Saucepan gambling style to catch people. It will be more comfortable if you catch the right lane, but if you can't, it will be a bloodbath."
"And the role of Ella's backhand in the middle stage is too strong. The big move can play the role of dividing the battlefield." Lin Yan rubbed his wrist. "This makes RNG's output unable to be fully given in a short time. It is the key output to kill the three-star team."
Lin Yan and Su Cheng looked at each other and smiled tacitly.
Xiao Tian snorted and felt that there was a sour smell of love in the air.
"The three-star analysis team crushed RNG. It can be said that even if the strength of the players on both sides is equal, the winning rate with the three-star lineup is more than 70%."
"Then let's look at it in reverse. Why did RNG make such a big disadvantage?" Su Cheng crossed her two soft white palms.
"First, it's because the red team's BP is too difficult to make. The Leopard Lady, Ember, and Karma are not easy to release. This is an objective fact and there is no way to change it."
"Second, they don't have enough information about the heroes in the version and let the opponent get the support Ella," Su Cheng said. "If RNG took out the bottom lane combination of EZ and Ella in the front, the three-star team would take out Policewoman Nami or Policewoman Morgana. RNG's bottom lane can barely defend the defense tower."
"I guess they didn't make an appointment for the LCK training competition from the second round of the group stage. Otherwise, they would definitely be on guard." Su Cheng guessed.
"Third, their understanding of the version's tactics is not qualified. It is a crime for RNG's coaching team to choose the bottom lane combination of EZ and Boulogne. Taking it out is a tacit agreement to release two small dragons first. It is impossible to play a team battle with small dragons."
"I just sorted out the data of the group stage." Su Cheng pulled out a piece of paper from her notebook. "EZ's current win rate is 34.4% and Boulogne's is 37.5%. The data can also support my statement."
"Although EZ can be chosen now, he is definitely the sewer of sewers," she said. "In this version, team battles often break out in the early stages of the bottom lane. EZ's performance in team battles with minions is too bad. The minions will limit his output environment."
"Let me say, it is better to choose Ice than EZ." Su Cheng's voice was strong. "Although the cooldown of Ice W [Ten Thousand Arrows] in the finals has been reduced from 1210864 seconds to 1512. 5107.55 seconds, he is still more useful than EZ. At least he can be used as a tool."
"Then it's okay." JKL laughed. "My EZ sucks. I definitely won't choose him."
He wanted to ease the atmosphere, but the training room was still silent. Hanyi's expression was dark and the others' eyes were focused on Su Cheng.
JKL quickly shut his mouth. He was now a little brother.
Su Cheng calmed herself down and continued speaking.
"You can say that Samsung got the real answer in this group stage. On the other hand, RNG is still stuck in the summer version. It is normal for BP to be crushed."
After a pause, Su Cheng took out another piece of A4 paper.
"According to the data, S6 is currently the season with the highest damage per team. Out of the 16 teams, 10 of them have an average damage per team of over 2000. In the previous seasons of the S Tournament, the standard was 1600."
"Where does the extra 400 points of damage come from?
Supports and top laners now have to take on a certain amount of damage. "
"In summary," Su Cheng looked around the training room again. "I think that starting from the quarterfinals, the bottom lane will be more inclined towards extreme suppression and attrition. The top lane will be more inclined towards team fights and disrupting the game. The middle lane and jungle will have to ensure line control and roam. The main goal is to help the bottom lane."
"In my opinion, the essence of the current version is that the top lane heroes have to control the line control and protect the jungler from invading. The focus is on the bottom lane. Because the protection mechanism of the bottom lane's tower has been removed, it is the easiest lane to get to the first blood tower and then control the little dragon."
"The little dragon in this version is very important. The fire dragon, earth dragon, and water dragon's attributes are quite strong …" Su Cheng continued to speak eloquently.
"Hanyi, what do you think?" Hao, an old diamond goalie, listened to her reasonable explanation and looked at the head coach.
"Now it seems that there is no problem with your analysis." Hanyi nodded lightly. "Thank you for your hard work."
The pale-faced main analyst holding a cup of water nodded repeatedly.
In one day, Su Cheng's analysis had been done to the extreme.
"I'll make a training plan," Hanyi said. "Everyone get ready. We can clarify the strategy for the quarterfinals."
Su Cheng, who had received everyone's approval, smiled.
"Teacher Su, you're amazing." Before going to bed, Lin Yan had a video call with Su Cheng as usual.
"Sigh." On the other end of the video call, the sky in Shanghai was still bright. Su Cheng sighed. "On the surface, it seems that I have done a lot of work, but it is still not enough. We have only perfected the understanding of the group stage version, and Samsung's version understanding is definitely far ahead of us."
"I always feel that the LCK division has a big move that is useless." Su Cheng had calmed down now, and her expression was not very good. "Their analyst level is a lot ahead of us. I looked at the training game record. Samsung did not use Ella in the training game with you before."
"Ella is just the beginning. It is far from over …"
"Teacher Su is here." Lin Yan smiled. "Don't belittle yourself."
Su Cheng spat and blushed for a moment.
"Lin Yan, the game now is different from S3 and S4. The off-field analysis team has played a huge role," Su Cheng said softly. "If there is a slight deviation in the understanding of the version, it will affect the direction of the entire best-of-five. It is too difficult to win by relying on individual strength …"
"Su Cheng," Lin Yan took a deep breath and said seriously, "Don't put too much pressure on yourself. No one will blame you."
"… I know." Su Cheng's voice was soft. She lay on the bed and swung her legs. "But the feeling of being crushed by someone's IQ is really not good."
After clarifying the training goal, YM began to increase the intensity of their training.
LCK would definitely not arrange a training game with them now. The Korean team was afraid that the training game would be stolen by other divisions.
YM had no choice but to look for RNG and EDG for training.
However, the results were poor. YM's winning rate in training games was as high as 90%. It was meaningless to continue fighting like this.
"Isn't your standard a little too ridiculous?"
EDG's head coach, Abu, did not seem to realize the seriousness of the problem. "Are you going to fight SKT so fiercely?"
Hanyi could only laugh dryly. He had hinted at Abu before, but the other side did not seem to understand and was still playing with EZ.
It was October 14th in the blink of an eye.
At the Chicago Theater, the first best-of-five match of the quarter-finals was held today. It was EDG against ROXTiger.
It was estimated that Fat General's waist injury had relapsed. Today, they were playing Junior Scout, and the top lane was Koro1. Ah Guang's family suddenly had an accident, so he had to return to China first.
When Buckmeat heard the news, he was dumbfounded. He had not been on stage for a whole year because of the dispute over the contract. He did not expect to be able to step onto the stage of the global finals.
However, the audience, who did not think highly of EDG, had already begun to close the coffin lid on the team. Xia Jue's junior, who had been destroyed by Lin Yan, and Buckmeat, who had not played in training games for a year, did not seem reliable at all.
However, the audience did not expect that the biggest problem was not these two positions, but the jungler.
In the S6 finals, the rise of carnivorous junglers like Spider, Blind Monk, and Olaf made it difficult for a jungler like Factory Director to adapt.
Excavator, the only jungler he was good at, was continuously blocked by the Tigers and could not be released at all.
Factory Director was completely at a loss. He was completely dominated by Little Peanut, the representative of carnivorous junglers.
In the first round, Ming Kai only started attacking after Olaf stepped on a clip and was beaten to a critical health point. In the fourth round, he even used Blind Monk to deal 4396 damage in an attempt to unify the jungler's output.
He played the worst League S performance of his career.
EDG's BP thinking was still very problematic. The problem of superstition over EZ had not been solved. They felt that Defter's EZ was very strong and could completely hold the bottom lane.
However, their version told them, "I don't want what you think, I want what I think."
EDG only won a small game with Defter's Policewoman, who was unable to defter. In the end, they were defeated by the Tigers 1: 3.
As soon as the game was over, the domestic audience wailed.
EDG's fans began their routine of playing dead every autumn, allowing passersby and supporters of other teams to vent their dissatisfaction.
"Trash Ming Kai. Every word he says, he's in the top eight every year!"
Similar arguments filled all the major forums — the key point was that these four words were really ridiculous, just too f * cking ridiculous.
"EDG is the first to fall. Are the other two teams far behind?"
Now, no one was optimistic about LPL. EDG's defeat told them that LPL was now a long way behind LCK in terms of mechanics and tactics.
Amidst the complaints, on October 15th, LPL's first seed, YM, versus LCK's third seed, SSG.
If they lost this match, LPL could only leave the S6 stage with the regret of being in the top four. If the first seed could not beat the third seed, how could RNG hope to beat SKT in the top four?
"Stay calm and play well. Don't take what's happening off-stage to heart!"
Hao cheered them on from the backstage of the stadium. "Don't be nervous. This is your first year in the S League, and so is your opponent!"
"Get on stage!"
Winston, who was in charge of player management, ran over, panting. "Come on everyone, we're counting on you!"