“I don’t even know what to say anymore,” Qing Ci shook his head in disbelief, his throat dry. “The six bans in the first phase from both teams completely exceeded my expectations!”
“Or rather, rewind five minutes—even if you gave me ten times the courage, I wouldn’t dare predict that in the final game, Stellar Sprite - Aeria and Shadowmoon Gun - Fei would both be left open at the same time!!”
His voice trembled. “Not only were they left open—they were picked! My god, I just want the director to ask the two coaches what exactly happened backstage. What were you thinking?! I cannot understand this at all!”
Aeria had previously been banned out for 2,500 hours, and Fei wasn’t far behind—ever since summer began, whenever Meng Xiyue played, that champion sat permanently in the ban pool. That was why Qing Ci couldn’t understand: why would both teams pull something so flashy in the final showdown?
—That’s right, to the commentators and audience, this kind of draft already looked like pure showmanship! If not for the championship trophy sitting center stage, anyone unaware might think this was just an exhibition match!
However, the coaches from other teams watching the finals clearly saw it differently.
Tang Yu from HTG, Barbecue from TL, Da Ju from FR… all of them sat with their teams in front of large screens, watching the broadcast. Coach Da Ju, in particular, had already turned this BO5 into a teaching case.
He called Xu Zhiyi over and gestured at the draft screen. “You—analyze this draft.”
“Oh—okay!” Xu Zhiyi was suddenly called on and instinctively straightened his back.
His gaze landed on Aeria’s icon as he began analyzing: “From the first picks, you can already see both teams’ ideas. Aeria and Fei are both strong picks, so both sides need to build their compositions around their first pick—choosing synergistic partners to maximize their effectiveness!”
“On PNG’s side, Aeria is strong at skirmishing around objectives in the early and mid game, and catching split-pushers later. In teamfights, she excels at flanking and diving. So the ideal composition needs to be able to fight early-mid, and also have enough late-game damage to melt the enemy frontline!”
Xu Zhiyi licked his lips, growing more confident. “In other words, PNG needs a strong mid-game top laner for objective fights, plus a late-game hyper-carry marksman with lane priority! That means Explorer from last game, which focuses on mid-game, isn’t suitable. The marksman should ideally be Soul-Piercing Spear—that’s also PNG’s original go-to strategy from the regular season!”
Lin Zhaoxu’s Soul-Piercing Spear - Grier had always been one of his signature picks. It was only because Sui Ning’s Aeria had been locked out that he gradually shifted to safer marksmen like White Bird.
Da Ju almost couldn’t hold back his applause—good lord, you’ve finally grown up! Suppressing his excitement, he continued, “What about Navic?”
Xu Zhiyi answered instantly: “Fei has one of the shortest ranges among marksmen, so he’s not suited for poke. But his strength lies in strong laning and gaining lane priority early, and he naturally counters Aeria.”
“Also, he has high mid-to-close-range burst, strong chase and cleanup ability, but struggles to dive carries. So he works best in engage-heavy compositions—So Navic needs strong engage tools and champions that can threaten the backline!”
As he spoke, Xu Zhiyi mentally reviewed Navic’s champion pool—and was startled to realize that many of their players had champions fitting these conditions!
No wonder Shadowmoon Gun and Stellar Sprite were core picks for their respective teams—because no matter how you built around them, the rest of the team could always synergize!
“Good,” Da Jusaid, looking at him approvingly. “Very good.”
-----
PNG Pick – [Wildfang]
PNG locked in their first pick on red side, exactly as Xu Zhiyi and many coaches had predicted. If Chen Chen could hear Xu Zhiyi’s analysis, he’d be shocked—the once arrogant rookie now understood the game so clearly.
But that wouldn’t change his plan.
“For bot lane, we need priority. Do we pick support or marksman first?” Chen Chen adjusted his headset and asked. Both roles were key, especially support.
Ever since PNG decided to let Shadowmoon Gun through, Chen Chen had anticipated Navic might go for a dive composition. So he had already banned the best engage-support partners—Spirit of the Forest and Shadow Hawk. That left only Radiant Goddess and Scythe of Calamity as optimal engage supports. PNG could simply pick one to deny it.
“No matter what, one will be left for them. Taking support first might be better,” Sui Ning suggested after a moment. “We don’t have many suitable supports left.”
If they picked marksman first, PNG’s flexibility would shrink significantly. At this point, all marksmen were still open in the draft.
Watching, Xu Zhiyi couldn’t help but ask, “Why pick Wildfang first? Wouldn’t it be better to secure bot lane priority first? Isn’t PNG building around Aeria?”
“Because they need flexibility,” Da Ju explained. “Wildfang is extremely versatile—it doesn’t just fit one style. If PNG doesn’t get their desired picks, they can still pivot into a double-kiting composition—swap marksman to White Bird and add more control from jungle. Their mid-game strength would still be explosive and align with Aeria’s power curve.”
It also created pressure for Navic—until picks were locked in, PNG’s jungle, marksman, and support could all still change, forcing Navic into tougher ban decisions.
Only then did Xu Zhiyi fully understand. These coaches were all cunning—like bargaining at a market, never revealing their true intentions, always holding something back, making sure they came out ahead in the end.
When it came to blue side picks, Navic was just as crafty.
Navic Pick – [Void Ranger]
Navic Pick – [Radiant Goddess]
“They’re hiding everything—everyone’s hiding!”
Qing Ci couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Navic has completely changed their style this game! They didn’t even prioritize jungle in the first round! There aren’t many strong junglers left—Shadow of Vengeance is banned. Why not take Dragon Monk? Or steal Cloud’s Void Devourer? Aren’t they even trying to secure mid-jungle strength first?!”
In contrast to his partner’s anxiety, Chao Mi looked serious. “I actually think with these two picks, Navic has already shown killing intent. Liome’s Void Ranger is one of his signature champions—it was banned by PNG in Game 1, even higher priority than White Bird! Now that both are open, Navic chose Ranger plus Radiant Goddess—this combo has extremely strong pressure in both laning and teamfights!”
[Damn damn damn—Liome finally got Void Ranger!! Bot lane is gonna be insane this game!!]
[So White Bird just got ignored like that?? I don’t get it, I feel like it’s my first day watching pro play]
[They’re not picking top or jungle either—what are they even trying to guess…?]
[This Game 5 draft has me completely confused. After all that banning, it feels like nothing got banned, and everyone just got what they wanted??]
“This isn’t a case of nothing being banned—it’s that things weren’t contested earlier!”
Tofu took a sip of warm water and shot back at the chat: “Void Ranger wasn’t banned every game before either. So why did they pick White Bird back then? And why pick Ranger now? Use your brains, you little fools—different comps need different champions!”
As he spoke, Tofu opened the official War of Glory website, pulled up Void Ranger’s page, and zoomed in on her core abilities.
Passive: Each basic attack applies a [Devour] mark to the target.
W: Deals long-range damage and adds [Devour] stacks.
R: From extreme distance, flies to the last target marked with [Devour].
“Compared to Stellar Sprite, White Bird and Shadowmoon Gun are both short-ranged carries. In teamfights, that range disadvantage makes things really uncomfortable for them,” Tofu explained calmly. “But if you switch to a dive-type champion like Void Ranger, it’s a different story. Short range doesn’t matter—I’ll just be right in your face. In fact, once it’s point-blank, Ariya actually becomes the one at a disadvantage.”
[66666]
[Damn… I can only say damn]
[Holy crap, in the final game both teams are really pulling out everything they’ve got]
[These coaches are so scheming, I swear they could survive 1000 episodes in a palace drama]
Fortunately, Navic’s response didn’t go beyond Chen Chen’s expectations. He continued committing to flexible drafting.
PNG Pick – [Void Devourer]
PNG Pick – [Scythe of Calamity]
By the end of the first phase, both sides were playing mind games even harder.
In reality, both teams had overlapping needs for the top lane—champions that could fight mid-game objective battles and synergize with the team. Whether fighter or tank, there were viable options.
With a shared mindset of “I won’t ban it—if it’s open, I can pick it,” Chen Chen and Panpan silently shifted ban pressure onto other roles: jungle and marksman.
Navic Ban – [White Bird]
Navic Ban – [Explorer]
Panpan had his players ban two extremely strong marksmen in a row with a clear goal: Navic wanted to hard engage—dive straight onto PNG’s double carries. With most mobile marksmen gone, only a few immobile, weaker picks remained. When the fight starts, who’s going to save Lin Zhaoxu?
PNG Ban – [Dragon Monk]
PNG Ban – [Coldfront Lord]
Chen Chen read Navic’s intentions and banned two of the most common engage junglers—both posed massive threats to the backline, especially when combined with Navic’s composition.
As soon as these bans went through, Pei Xingyi couldn’t help clenching his fist and whispering, “Yes!”
This meant that before the game even started, his hidden pick—Stone Sentinel jungle—had already forced out two bans from Navic’s opponents. In a deciding game where even a single ban slot is fiercely contested, this was huge.
Hard work really does pay off.
Panpan finally let out a breath of relief as well.
Navic Pick – [Stone Sentinel]
Navic Pick – [Soul-Sealing Blade Demon]
“?????”
“…Huh???”
“I… you… what is this…?”
“I don’t get it. I completely don’t get it anymore.”
The audience gave up trying to analyze. Blade Demon as a top laner made sense—Mistake was excellent on it. But… Sentinel jungle?? What kind of madness was that?
They were done. Just end the world already.
Yet this baffling jungle pick left PNG silent for a long time.
Only at the very last second of the countdown did they finally decide.
PNG Pick – [Soul-Piercing Spear]
[??????]
[What even… forget it]
[Picking Spear into Navic’s comp? Did we time travel back to July?? Are they insane?]
[What are they doing?? Have these teams been playing so long they’ve lost their minds??]
With both team comps finalized, not a single fan—online or offline—was satisfied.
Navic fans were unhappy—they couldn’t understand what their coach and jungler were doing. PNG fans were unhappy—they thought their coach and marksman had lost their minds.
Conclusion: blame the coaches!
“But… could it be that both compositions actually make sense?”
Chao Mi finally recovered from what looked like a near heart attack and spoke weakly, “Looking closely, Navic actually has a very clean teamfight dive composition. Both top and mid lanes can secure priority quite well! Void Ranger + Radiant Goddess into Soul-Piercing Spear + hook support—although Ranger’s base range is a bit shorter, the overall pressure isn’t overwhelming.”
“Even if they lack some jungle strength early on, they can trade resources through top and mid lane priority. It’s not hard for them to weather the early-mid game. Once they reach mid game teamfights, Blade Demon and Ranger pose massive threats to PNG’s backline. Sentinel anchors the frontline and directly counters Stellar Sprite, while Shadowmoon Gun adds damage and zone control—Navic is very strong!”
As he spoke, Chao Mi’s eyes lit up more and more, as if he’d had a breakthrough. “And on PNG’s side—at first glance they look like a bunch of scattered pieces, but together this is actually their classic map-control composition!”
So-called “map control” refers to securing neutral objectives across the map.
Chao Mi continued, “Wildfang + Soul-Piercing Spear are top-tier objective-fight champions. They’re incredibly strong around dragons, Rift Herald, and jungle skirmishes! And Stellar Sprite goes without saying—her range mechanics and ultimate, which ignores terrain, are practically made for objective fights!”
“The jungle ‘excavator’ is also a fast-clearing, high-mobility map-control jungler. It provides engage and crowd control, and when paired with Scythe of Calamity’s hook—PNG’s small-scale skirmish strength is extremely high!”
Qing Ci also came to a realization. “Now that you mention it, even though it’s still Stone Sentinel, its role in Game 1 versus Game 5 is completely different after the composition changes.”
In Xiang Jin’s hands, Sentinel had to carry early-game tempo. That wasn’t too hard against weaker teams, but against someone like Sui Ning, who also plays for tempo, it was easy to get suppressed in lane due to mechanics and execution.
But now, moved into the jungle, mid lane is handed to the stronger Shadowmoon Gun, while Pei Xingyi focuses more on linking the team’s tempo in mid game and contributing in teamfights later.
“Exactly. And the fact that they dare pick it in Game 5 means Truik must be confident in his Sentinel jungle,” Chao Mi said, regaining his energy. “No matter what, from the drafting phase alone, every player has brought out their best. This is without a doubt going to be a peak showdown! Summoners around the world—are you ready?!”
“HPL Summer Finals, BO5 final game—starts now!!”
“Na—vic—!!!”
“PNG—! Let’s go—!!”
------
At level one, both sides played extremely cautiously.
Navic, in particular, was extra careful when scouting vision. Although neither team intended to fight level one, after the previous game’s lesson, Navic would never forget the importance of tracking the enemy jungler’s starting path—and they would never again blindly rely on saving wards for gank protection.
To that end, they copied PNG’s style and used all their starting wards to cover the river and jungle. Bian Cheng even placed his ward directly on top of Ji Yunyu’s blue buff.
No one was in the blue side jungle. Bian Cheng immediately called it out: “Cloud started red.”
Of course, to gain this information, all five Navic players revealed their positions on the map. At this point, all ten players’ movements were completely visible, eliminating any possibility of a level-one play.
Qing Ci let out a small sound of surprise. “Previously, many players thought PNG was the only team that didn’t fight level one. But looking across the playoffs, the number of level-one fights in Season 6 has dropped off a cliff compared to before. Maybe this opening vision setup explains why teams aren’t keen on level-one fights anymore?”
“In situations like this, both sides are tracking all five enemy players—that’s something PNG has always done.”
Chao Mi stroked his chin thoughtfully. “When you know everyone’s position, the success rate of level-one fights drops significantly. In the past, those fights relied on numbers advantage or catching opponents off guard—but situations like that are becoming rarer.”
This might reflect an overall improvement in the region’s understanding of the game.
Chao Mi recalled that Korean teams hadn’t played level-one fights for a long time either, and more Western teams were beginning to adopt PNG’s style.
Remarkable.
“This bot lane is going to be under a lot of pressure.”
Ji Yunyu spoke in a low voice. “I’ll start red. I can gank bot at level 3.”
Soul-Piercing Spear + Scythe of Calamity versus Void Ranger + Radiant Goddess—on paper, neither side had a clear advantage. But PNG’s map-control strategy required lane priority, and if bot lane wanted to gain priority from an even matchup, they had to fight for it.
And once they fought, anything could happen.
Ji Yunyu’s thinking was clear—when this composition was drafted, he already knew that his job wasn’t necessarily to create kills, but to ensure his lanes could survive and stabilize.
Ideally, he would path top—help Wei Ye fix the wave and look to secure Rift Herald. But their top-jungle 2v2 was weaker early, so he had to focus mid and bot first.
Lin Zhaoxu nodded repeatedly. “OK.”
To be honest, he felt a lot of pressure facing Zou Jiayou’s signature pick. Fighting for lane priority felt like dancing on the edge of a cliff—having teammates come help was something he absolutely welcomed.
Sui Ning also understood Ji Yunyu’s plan. He tapped his item bar, signaling that he didn’t need help mid.
[PNG_Wind] has purchased [Long Sword]!
“Long Sword again—exactly the same as Game 1!!” Qing Ci immediately noticed Sui Ning’s unusual starting item, frowning. “Against Sentinel mid, you could use the extra attack damage for auto-attack trades. But this time Sentinel is in the jungle, and he’s facing Shadowmoon Gun! In a straight trade, Wind definitely won’t have the advantage!”
Chao Mi smiled. “I actually think this Long Sword is quite interesting. There’s no mana potion in the Rift—Aeria can’t spam abilities to clear waves without running out of mana. That’s where the Long Sword comes in.”
Sui Ning lowered his gaze, focusing on the blue side minions.
To him, laning was never just a duel between two champions—it was a contest over wave control and initiative, built around the minion wave. Especially when the team needed map control, obsessing over a small difference in starting AP simply didn’t matter.
“Normally, before level 6, Aeria can’t win lane against Fei. Because I have initiative—I decide whether to freeze or push the wave. That’s the advantage of an ADC-style champion in mid.”
Noticing the item bar, Meng Xiyue let out a faint laugh. “So he bought a Long Sword to offset this disadvantage. Although it’s the same item as in Game 1, the purpose is completely different.”
In the first game, it was for fighting champions—now it’s for clearing minions. Meng Xiyue thought it was a pity. If not for this Long Sword, Aeria would have had to spend a large amount of mana casting abilities just to contest the wave with Fei, and even then might not have been able to push his lane.
Once PNG’s mid lane loses priority, Navic’s top, mid, and bot can all play more proactively. Proactivity means opportunities, means macro control, means snowballing.
What was originally a deadly and subtle early-game trap was resolved by Sui Ning with a single item. That’s what “game understanding” really looks like. Thinking of it this way, even Meng Xiyue couldn’t help but feel a bit impressed—just how many layers of thought were running through Feng-bao’s mind?
But whether he admired it or found it troublesome, at this level of play, solo kills in early laning were already extremely rare. Meng Xiyue’s job now was simple: don’t let Sui Ning easily take lane priority and dictate the tempo—respond to every move.
Chao Mi: “Mid lane—Wind and Cpyhc are both playing cautiously. Before level 3, it’s mostly about peaceful farming. But the jungle is where things get interesting. Navic saw PNG start red, yet Truik still chose to mirror Cloud’s clear—Cloud goes down, he goes up!”
Qing Ci shrugged. “Sentinel doesn’t win early 1v1s against the Void Devourer and can even get bullied and have camps stolen. I think Truik considered this and wants to avoid fighting for now! But Cloud clearly wants to create an advantage for bot lane—”
Before he could finish, the camera suddenly cut to bot.
Both sides were probing. As Cheng Su stepped forward, his gaze kept flickering between Zou Jiayou and Bian Cheng. PNG’s duo wasn’t weak to begin with—as long as he landed the hook—
Cheng Su narrowed his eyes, adjusted his positioning, and focused intensely. Just then, Zou Jiayou stepped slightly left to last-hit, positioning himself behind a low-health minion.
“Minion!” Cheng Su shouted. The opportunity was fleeting—he only had time to say that one word as his left hand pressed Q, sending out the sharp hook of his Scythe of Calamity.
Lin Zhaoxu immediately barked, “Damn it, what are you yelling?! Good thing I understand you!”
Though complaining, his reaction speed was absurd—he last-hit the blocking minion just before the skill collided. Good thing it was him—anyone else wouldn’t have understood what Cheng Su meant!
“Level 1 bot lane fight—Er—llit—!”
“It landed!! That hook connects! Bot lane is playing this level 1 extremely aggressively!”
The hook latched onto Zou Jiayou, who cursed under his breath.
“Fight it, fight it—I have Exhaust,” Bian Cheng raised his voice, trying to push Lin Zhaoxu back. “We can take this!”
Zou Jiayou didn’t respond, but the fact that he didn’t instantly Flash away already showed he agreed.
“Trade skills!” Cheng Su said quickly, then asked, “Can we force out Liome’s abilities?”
“That guy’s got Flash + Purify hard to say,” Lin Zhaoxu clicked rapidly, trying to squeeze out as much damage as possible.
“Let me remind you—you also have Flash + Purify. Eh?! Exhaust, Exhaust—the enemy support doesn’t have it!”
“Liome doesn’t want to use his skills, but Mior learned W at level 1 to boost attack speed—his damage onto Liome is dropping HP fast with the passive!!”
The commentators stared tensely at the screen, not daring to relax for even a second. “—This is looking bad, Nox! Exhaust goes onto Mior!”
“Is there still a way out?!”
Lin Zhaoxu didn’t hesitate—he instantly used Purify to remove Exhaust. Trading summoner spells with the support wasn’t a loss; after all, Purify isn’t that impactful early on.
But Zou Jiayou’s health was low, and Lin Zhaoxu wanted to keep pushing, trying to force out the enemy marksman’s summoner spells as well!
The Soul-Piercing Spear lifted its bow, glowing with a faint dark-blue light. The empowered basic attack from [W – Deep Corrosion] still had 1.5 seconds left—he wanted to chase!
Seeing his marksman still stepping forward, Cheng Su couldn’t even maintain his “cool guy” persona anymore and immediately warned, “Don’t get carried away—if you int, I’m seriously going to kill you!”
Lin Zhaoxu: …
He snapped back to his senses instantly.
The two retreated, and Navic’s fans in the audience finally let out a breath of relief.
“No kills in that bot exchange, but they did burn Nox’s Exhaust!”
The commentators noticed Ji Yunyu’s position, and their just-settled nerves tightened again. “Although Mior also used Purify, Cloud is pathing downward. PNG’s bot lane objective is very clear—poke, chunk HP, force summoner spells, and wait for the jungler to gank! Navic’s bot duo didn’t bring Heal—if they get caught, it could go very badly!!”
But Pei Xingyi was on the top side. By the time he thought about helping bot, it was already too late. He had warned his teammates to play safe early, but didn’t expect bot lane to lose their summoners!
Ji Yunyu even only cleared a single Blue-side buff to hit level 3 before sprinting straight to bot, arriving in lane at exactly 2:41—
At the same time, the Stone Sentinel had only just finished its first jungle quadrant, and the bot lane support hadn’t even reached level 2!
The commentator couldn’t help but facepalm. “Oh my god, does he have to be this fast?! He’s just abandoning the jungle?!”
Even the chat in Tofu’s stream was speechless—bro, it’s not even three minutes yet!!
Is this how you gank bot? Is bot lane your dad or something?
[What the hell, starvation-style jungling??]
[Is this just the marksman experience??]
[You’re really not even looking at your jungle, huh!]
[Yun, eat more, don’t starve yourself, mom will worry]
[Sure, the rotation is fast, but Truik can counter-jungle here—PNG doesn’t seem to gain much?!]
“No, he can’t!”
Tofu said firmly. “Navic mid didn’t secure lane priority, so Truik doesn’t dare to invade! If he does, it’s just a repeat of last game—getting collapsed on 3v1 in the jungle. Plus, he’s on Stone Sentinel this game—Cloud even left him the big camp. By the time he steals anything, it’ll already be too late!”
That was exactly why Ji Yunyu dared to show bot at 2:30.
Sui Ning could use wave control to keep Meng Xiyue pinned in mid. Even though he couldn’t rotate himself, his teammates could take advantage of their strong early-game champions to make plays!
At level 1 mid, was Meng Xiyue supposed to give up the wave and run bot? Not to mention the losses—even timing-wise, it was impossible.
If he didn’t help bot, and no fight broke out in the jungle, where else could he go but stay mid?
And if Pei Xingyi tried to invade and Meng Xiyue gave up the wave to assist, Sui Ning could simply follow.
No matter how you look at it, PNG held the initiative—this was their standard early-game approach when playing a control-oriented composition.
Meng Xiyue clearly understood this and quickly pinged bot lane to retreat.
But Ji Yunyu had already arrived.
The moment the Void Devourer appeared at the river entrance near bot lane, Bian Cheng immediately said, “Leave me, leave me—don’t turn back!”
Level 3 versus level 1, with Exhaust still on cooldown—there was no way he could survive.
[PNG_Cloud (Void Devourer) has slain Nv_Nox (Radiant Goddess)!]
[First Blood!]
----------
No comments:
Post a Comment