NOVEL WEB Chapter 465
The game has begun.
– Welcome to Summoner’s Rift.
[“Alright, everyone, let’s do our best. I’ll really focus this match.”]
[“Wait, does that mean you were slacking in the last match?”]
[“Shut up.”]
This game was quite favorable for us in terms of ban/pick, but thinking that the opponents would just roll over is a mistake.
[“The enemy might swap lanes, so keep an eye out.”]
And it was true.
The fact that the opponents picked an uncomfortable matchup in the bot lane means they’re considering a lane swap.
We needed to prepare for that in our early laning phase.
[⬇] [⬇] [⬇]
Early invade timing.
We headed straight to the top bush.
[“Hmm, no one’s here.”]
But the opponents didn’t show themselves in the top invade, leaving us no choice but to return.
Now, we had one option to consider.
Should we swap lanes without knowing the enemy’s intentions, or choose something else?
[“Let’s just play it safe and stick to our lanes for now. We could end up getting caught if we try to chase after a swap.”]
[“Got it.”]
Our understanding of lane swap meta wasn’t great yet, so this was better.
– Minions have spawned.
Finally, the minions arrived in lane, and the enemy bot showed up at top.
[“So they really did swap.”]
The easiest way to counter the Senna-Tahm Kench combo is to pick a ranged supporter and apply pressure from the start.
However, by pulling out the Senna card, SY’s bot lane became very weak, and the way to cover that was the lane swap.
We weren’t entirely caught off guard by that fact, but we also lacked the confidence to force a swap ourselves.
Either way, it was advantageous for us in the laning phase, and the targets we wanted to avoid weren’t us.
The serious laning phase began.
Since we were holding control in mid, the power struggle in jungle naturally got affected.
It meant I had the authority to decide the starting position for the jungle.
My starting point was enemy Raptor.
I had fully intended to center the game around mid and bot.
The opponent seemed to have anticipated that as well; I didn’t see their Rakan on the red side.
From the ward’s revealed position, it appeared Rakan was also starting at my Raptors.
This set up a natural 50/50 scenario.
“Let’s go as we practiced.”
[“Okay.”]
The attacker and the defender.
That match had begun.
*
“……”
The Rainbow’s gaze was on the enemy laner.
It was true that the enemy’s pick was close to a counter for an engage composition, but it was really Rainbow who had led the ban/pick.
I know it’s a bit unfavorable.
But I don’t care.
A ban/pick to crush OLZ with overwhelming power.
Because Rainbow didn’t want to give OLZ any growth opportunities or chances for a comeback.
The somewhat excessive engage composition was designed just for that.
“Hmm.”
Rainbow could feel the aggressive pressure from Orianna’s attacks right from the early laning phase.
No matter how much of a matchup it was for Kassadin against Orianna, the fact that a grounded mage like that was pushing the lane so aggressively showed that they wanted to seize control.
‘They’re trying to empower their jungle.’
In that process, it might put themselves in danger, but it’s not like a pre-6 Kassadin and Rakan can easily kill an Orianna with summoners available.
Thanks to Orianna’s harassment from the beginning, Kassadin had to use skills to secure every minion.
He couldn’t win, but he could hold on.
He had picked this champion because he was confident he could withstand.
But the loss of control is something you don’t feel yourself; it’s the ripple effects that others experience.
Especially if you don’t have control in mid, that directly connects to the jungle.
And the ganks and dives that follow from the jungle can also be affected by that.
The timing of 2 minutes and 40 seconds approaches.
When managing the minion wave, three waves will stack, forming a dive line.
“I’m starting to feel uneasy.”
Many people point out a contradiction when evaluating Kayn.
Kayn is a typical late-game scaling champion.
So he usually sucks the blood of his teammates while jungling, but to transform, he has to gank.
Contradiction, contradiction, contradiction.
But if you have a good understanding of the champion, you can overcome those contradictions.
The Prisoner did it,
And the Outlaw will too.
‘If I were the Prisoner, around this timing…’
“Should we be a bit careful in the bot lane?”
Kayn is a weak champion for ganking, but the one thing that allows Kayn to exist as a jungler is his unpredictable gank paths.
Kayn’s e skill can go over walls, and when combined with the q skill, he can leap over multiple walls at once, allowing for creative plays based on the player’s capability.
Just like right now.
[“Hey, the enemy is coming.”]
The dive line was formed, and Ornn tried to fend it off as best he could under the turret.
But…
After all, Tahm Kench is a champion specialized in diving.
No matter how tough Ornn is, dealing with a 3-man dive isn’t easy.
– First Blood!
– Our ally has fallen!
If our top fell victim alone and sadly, we had to exact revenge.
The enemy top was alone as well.
Since we had a Shyvana in our composition, it wasn’t impossible to dive, so we had no reason not to try.
[“I’m going.”]
The 2 minutes and 40 seconds dive line was the same for SY.
Though their alignment was a bit slower than OLZ, the difference wasn’t significant.
[“I’ll go first.”]
Shyvana would take the turret aggro first, and the dive began.
However, the enemy had K’Sante.
The moment he pulled off his taunt, K’Sante’s W mind game worked, and thanks to CC immunity, the taunt didn’t properly land.
[“Uh-oh.”]
And K’Sante’s W hit Shyvana, causing her to take an extra turret shot than planned.
– Our ally has fallen!
– Enemy slain!
1:1 trade.
We managed to kill K’Sante, but considering our Ornn fell so easily, it was a significant loss for the team.
“It’s fine. Let’s focus again.”
We already knew our team composition wouldn’t have a significant advantage in the early game.
But once Kassadin and Rakan hit level 6, SY’s retaliation would begin in earnest.
[Kassadin – Level 4]
As long as Kassadin can comfortably reach level 6, he’ll be a lot better than what people generally think.
However, the problem is that no team wants to see a Kassadin reach level 6 easily.
For Kassadin, a long trial awaits before hitting level 6.
The sudden presence of Kayn coming over the wall was just that.
“Kayn mid.”
Although Kayn appeared riding up the wall, to be honest, it wasn’t a particularly threatening gank.
Orianna wasn’t a champion with a very strong response to ganks either, and more than anything, Kayn’s performance before his transformation isn’t too strong.
True enough.
Kayn just lightly grazed the top of Kassadin’s head with his scythe and passed by naturally.
The red orb was absorbed into Kayn.
I don’t really know, but he must be filling up his gauge for transformation.
[“You good, bro?”]
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
Kayn’s intention was just a bit of damage gank and gauge collection, nonetheless, he wasn’t trying to kill Kassadin or force his flash.
But still, because the laning phase against Orianna was so tense, even slight health loss made Rainbow feel strong pressure.
It was okay to sustain some health, but in the current health situation, Orianna could easily solo kill him.
“I’ll go back home for a bit and teleport back.”
[“Do you need me to cover the lane?”]
“No, I think it’ll be fine.”
If the player controlling Orianna wasn’t Getback, he would have been getting farmed by now.
But since Getback is strong, he was not the type to let that lead to significant losses.
Kassadin returned to lane with teleport, continuing the laning phase.
Having already gone home once, Kassadin was in a much better condition to continue laning than before he returned.
And…….
[Kassadin – Level 6]
Finally, Kassadin reached level 6.
Rainbow that had been lying low began to move in earnest.