Sui Ning and his teammates were already completely familiar with the setup inside Venue 3. They arrived early at the player seats and got their equipment ready. Tio showed up less than two minutes after PNG, taking their seats one after another.
The tallest top laner, Lee Kyung-jun, stood in front of his desk, untangling his keyboard and mouse cables while staring intently in PNG’s direction. The rest of his teammates huddled together, whispering among themselves.
Wei Ye felt his skin crawl under the gaze and shivered. Lowering his voice, he muttered in annoyance, “Why are they looking at us like that?”
“They want to beat you up,” Ji Yunyu glanced at him. “Who told you to disgust them so badly last round?”
Wei Ye elbowed him, letting out a cheeky laugh. “Don’t act like you and Feng-bao weren’t involved. When we said we were going top, you two charged in the fastest! It’s not like I could solo-camp top out of thin air!” What, visiting top lane five times in ten minutes—is that so unusual?
Then he raised his chin and called out louder, “Am I right? My god Wind?”
There he went again with the nonsense. Sui Ning tilted his head and pretended not to hear.
Ji Yunyu’s lips curved slightly, a hint of amusement flashing in his eyes.
He had always had an excellent memory. Back in the first round, when they faced Tio, he had already recognized their top laner Yuim as the same opponent he and Sui Ning had encountered months ago while practicing on the international server. After that match, Yuim had been so furious he even filed a report to the officials.
At the time, Sui Ning and Ji Yunyu had been focused on climbing rank and hadn’t thought much of it.
Only now at Worlds did they learn that his real name was Lee Kyung-jun, a legitimate starting player for Tio who had worked hard with his team this summer to rise from the brutal Korean league.
Who knew whether that match with the “Fan’en & Fanlei brothers” had left too deep a psychological scar—last round, Tio had first-banned that duo outright. But even so, facing PNG’s new mid-jungle pairing—Soulreaper King plus Dragon Monk, a combination strong in engage, farming, map control, and split pressure—Tio had still fallen short.
“PNG’s mid-jungle combo really has something special. Last round, they controlled Tio’s jungle early and then crushed them with two dragon fights in the mid game. Tio just couldn’t find a way back!”
At the commentator desk, Qing Ci grew more serious. “At first glance, Soulreaper King plus Dragon Monk doesn’t seem like a combo, but in reality, they complement each other across power spikes, teamfight roles, and more. It’s basically a Tier 0 mid-jungle duo right now!”
Chao Mi chuckled. “The question is—how will Tio deal with this mid-jungle problem today? We all know the simplest way to deal with a combo you can’t beat is to ban it! But with such tight ban slots, Tio probably can’t solve it that simply.”
“Exactly. And at times like this, you really feel how advantageous it is that Wind alone draws two or three permanent bans for PNG!” Qing Ci nodded. “Any team facing PNG is effectively down two bans from the start. Tio’s draft is going to be very difficult.”
[Other HPL teams: haha, now you Worlds teams finally understand our pain!!]
[You don’t notice it much domestically, but at Worlds it’s so obvious—everyone’s bans against PNG start looking the same, and they’re banning niche champs like Aeria and Fan’en that only Feng-bao plays…]
[Not exactly no one else plays them, but compared to meta Tier 0 picks, they’re definitely less popular]
[So when my team’s coach said drafting against PNG is hard, he wasn’t kidding… my bad for doubting him (sarcasm)]
Fortunately, banning wasn’t Tio’s only option—they could also pick away key champions.
Tio took blue side and immediately threw out three strong bans: Stellar Sprite, Specter of Shadow, and Little Traveler. Then they first-picked Soulreaper King.
Qing Ci let out a surprised “Huh?” “They banned Little Traveler from the support pool? What’s the idea here?”
Little Traveler’s ultimate had just been reworked and was still a niche support, barely discussed across regions. Yet today it suddenly appeared in the first ban phase. Qing Ci pondered it carefully but couldn’t figure out why it had become such a pivotal pick-ban factor.
On stage, however, Coach Chen Chen clicked his tongue slightly the moment Little Traveler was banned, clearly displeased.
“Korean coaches know their stuff,” Chen Chen said through his headset with a faint smile, his expression turning a bit colder as he looked toward Tio’s coach.
The opposing coach seemed to sense it, glancing back and raising an eyebrow.
PNG had indeed developed a strategy around Soulreaper King (in Chen Chen’s view, only half-complete), but during internal HPL scrims, the coaches had quickly identified a fatal weakness:
Little Traveler’s reworked ultimate, Fate Reversal, causes all units in an area—enemies, allies, towers, even minions—to enter a 2.5-second stasis.
The strongest version of a Soulreaper King composition is when teammates all have Flash and ultimates ready, and once they catch someone, they dump everything head-on—what’s commonly called “all-in fighting.” As long as the engage isn’t completely off, it’s easy to wipe the enemy team in mid game.
But such compositions often lack strong individual skirmishing and follow-up cleanup. That’s why Chen Chen usually picked a highly mobile marksman for Lin Zhaoxu—someone capable of both chasing and self-peeling—to compensate for this weakness.
So what happens when this “all-in” composition runs into Little Traveler’s 2.5-second teamwide stasis?
Even without theorycrafting, their scrim results made it clear: out of ten seemingly perfect teamfights, at least six or seven would be turned around by a single ultimate from Little Traveler. No matter how cleanly Soulreaper King’s side chained their crowd control and Flash engages, they couldn’t overcome a full-team stasis that negated everything—essentially resetting the fight while wasting all their cooldowns.
Because of this, Chen Chen still considered PNG’s Soulreaper King system to be only “half a composition.” As long as Little Traveler remained a counter, the system was like a castle in the air—liable to collapse at any moment.
Now, Tio banned Little Traveler first, then picked Soulreaper King. Their intentions were crystal clear: First, the King of Withered Souls is a powerful standalone mage carry—Tio wants it. Second, they know Little Wanderer counters it, so they won’t give PNG the chance to pick it in response. Third, they’ve already figured out PNG’s system weakness.
“They’ve studied this composition pretty deeply,” Chen Chen said, arms crossed, his tone meaningful. “No wonder they had the confidence to take blue side first.”
By this point in the group stage, the red side win rate was approaching 55%. Anyone paying attention could tell that in the new patch, red side probably had a slight advantage.
Lin Zhaoxu raised his hand like a curious kid. “They—you mean all the Korean teams? I heard several Korean teams are scrimming together internally, with coaches staying up late every night holding big meetings. Is that true? Are they secretly exchanging info with each other?”
Chen Chen rolled his eyes. “You make it sound like espionage. Haven’t you been scrimming with HPL teams? Hasn’t your coach been staying up late in meetings, too?”
Lin Zhaoxu: “…Yeah.”
“Then why are you asking?”
“Fair enough.”
Lin Zhaoxu scratched his head, unusually unable to come up with any cheeky remark, and fell silent for once. But PNG’s team comms were still noisy.
Wei Ye picked up the baton, chatting freely during draft. “So that means they’ve been scrimming UG every day? These strategies were probably practiced with UG too, right?”
“Yeah. And they—… first pick Shadow Hawk for support. Don’t let them build their comp.”
Chen Chen cut himself off mid-sentence to lock in their pick, then continued, “If Tio understands this, UG definitely does too. The question is how much they can execute on stage. Don’t think just because Tio looked weak last round that they’re easy. Have some ambition—think about who these systems are ultimately being practiced for.”
That shut Wei Ye up. He had wanted to say that even if Tio broke Soulreaper King system, PNG’s raw strength was still superior, but…
Fine—he had to admit, the coach’s words hit a hidden nerve.
Chen Chen then turned to Ji Yunyu. “Cloud, should we show the Koreans our second card this game? Our wolf king—Howling Mooner?”
Before Ji Yunyu could answer, Chen Chen added, “I’d suggest not, but you might feel some pressure—especially mid lane. They’ll definitely focus on Soulreaper King. What do you think?”
His gaze shifted to Sui Ning.
Ji Yunyu instinctively looked at Sui Ning. Seeing him subtly shake his head, Ji Yunyu’s eyes darkened slightly. After a brief pause, he said, “…Yeah, let’s not reveal it yet.”
Chen Chen nodded in acknowledgment.
The half-wolf champion Howling Mooner, covered in pure white fur, was PNG’s hidden card. Whether used to counter or complement Soulreaper King system, it had shown outstanding potential. It was also a pick Ji Yunyu had been secretly practicing, avoiding foreign “spies” and grinding extra hours.
Several HPL coaches unanimously believed that in patch 6.2.1’s draft war centered around Soulreaper King, if Little Traveler was the King card, then Howling Mooner had the potential to become a Joker—
But potential still needed time to develop.
Chen Chen had no desire to use this not-yet-polished trump card in a group stage match against Tio. He was wary of Korean coaches’ analytical abilities and knew that revealing all their cards too early was a bad idea. Since Ji Yunyu agreed to hold it back, then they would keep it hidden.
——
“Alright! Both sides have locked in their drafts!”
Chao Mi perked up and looked at the big screen, where familiar champion portraits appeared—
[Red side PNG vs Blue side Tio]
Top: Verdant Treant vs Furnace Ram Spirit
Jungle: Shadow of Vengeance vs Dragon Monk
Mid: Phantom Trickster vs Soulreaper King
Marksman: White Bird vs Explorer
Support: Shadow Hawk vs Scythe of Calamity
Chao Mi exaggeratedly rubbed his eyes and joked, “Am I seeing the team names correctly? Tio’s composition looks way too familiar! If you covered the names, I’d think this was PNG playing! Looks like this comp really works!”
“Exactly. Tio first-picked Soulreaper King, and their follow-up draft is very similar to PNG’s previous games!” Qing Ci added with a meaningful smile. “Guess no one will doubt PNG’s composition anymore—look, even Korean teams are learning from us!”
[??? What’s going on—why did these two suddenly turn up the heat??]
[Are there still people worshipping Korea and stepping on PNG? Where are those who said Korea’s meta understanding is a season ahead of HPL??]
[Copying, just copying? Can’t they come up with something original?]
[‘Learning’? Two words is too generous—just call it what it is: stealing!]
The commentators were subtly defending their region, and viewers gradually caught on. Sure, in competitive play it’s normal to learn from each other’s drafts and strategies—but copying it this thoroughly, even mirroring the pick order, inevitably stirred up deeper rivalries.
But given Korea’s reputation as a powerhouse region, many netizens pushed back:
[??? Did PNG register a patent on this comp? Is it illegal to use it?]
[Top teams think alike! Soulreaper King is meta—developing similar comps is normal. Why call it copying?]
[Some people just get biased the moment they see an all-Chinese roster. Is it that hard to admit Korea is strong??]
[Already making excuses for PNG? Right, right—if they lose, it’s not because Tio is strong, it’s because their comp got “copied”!]
[? The match hasn’t even started and you’re already betting on the result?]
The chat grew increasingly heated—just short of people arranging offline fights.
You have to remember—before the match, the Korean side had already thrown out harsh words, saying they would use their “lower-tier horse” to take down PNG, the “top-tier horse”! Not only did that annoy PNG fans, but no HPL viewer could stand hearing that. Our number-one seed gets talked down like this?!
Fans sneered, clenching their fists: Say that again—to our socialist iron fists.
So up till now, every match involving China vs. Korea had chat sections filled with arguments—there wasn’t a single one without a flame war.
After the first round where PNG beat Tio 1:0, many fans felt vindicated. But then SST and UG showed overwhelming dominance, drawing in even more “neutral viewers who favor Korea,” and the conflict only escalated further.
With this draft revealed, regardless of how much pressure the players on stage felt, the fans below had already maxed out their PvP intensity—using PNG’s most practiced and frequently used composition against PNG itself… wasn’t that basically slapping them in the face?
Even putting aside the whole “learning vs. copying” debate, just this kind of dismissive, using your own methods against you approach was enough to make people angry.
Not to mention, Tio had never even used Soulreaper King system before.
This match wasn’t just PNG’s qualification decider—Tio needed this win just as badly.
On stage, the commentators looked calm and composed, as if completely unaware of the bloodbath happening in chat.
Chao Nu examined the draft again, a trace of concern flashing in his eyes:
“PNG’s composition has gone back to their familiar summer split system. They’re very good at it, but I’m still a bit worried whether they can adapt more in the new patch. Especially against a buffed Soulreaper King system—this feels like a straight head-on clash.”
In the group stage, Chao Mi would rather see flexible counterplay than pure strength clashes—that would be safer.
Qing Ci, however, was more optimistic. “But PNG didn’t let Tio gain an advantage in draft either. Especially the support pick—Scythe of Calamity doesn’t synergize with Soulreaper King system at all. They need picks like Shadow Hawk, Spirit of the Forest, or Radiant Goddess!”
“A weak support pick means Tio lacks crucial teamfight crowd control. That indirectly increases the pressure on their top, mid, and jungle, since those roles aren’t as convenient for initiating fights.”
Similarly, although PNG’s comp looked like a “rerun of an old show,” that “old show” had strong laning across all three lanes. And key picks like the tree spirit, Shadow of Vengeance, and White Bird were all left open. As long as they held steady early, they wouldn’t be afraid in teamfights at all.
Qing Ci added, “But mid lane might be under heavy pressure—Tio will definitely focus on mid this game.”
——
Both teams set up vision at the start. Before even 1 minute 30 seconds, Tio’s top laner Lee Kyung-Jun began frantically pinging top lane.
Ping ping ping!!
[Tio_Yuim] is requesting assistance!
“?” Jungler Shin Hao-Jin was startled by the noise and instinctively glanced at Lee Kyung-Jun’s screen—everything looked normal.
He couldn’t help complaining, “Ah, don’t spam pings at the start! Nothing’s even happening yet!”
Lee Kyung-Jun stayed on guard. “No, you don’t understand this feeling—this place is too dangerous! Cloud must be camping me!”
“That’s impossible, we need to play for mid this game,” Shin Hao-Jin said helplessly. “Calm down, it’s only one minute in. I haven’t even finished my first buff, and Cloud is still level one too! There’s no way he’s ganking top at level one!”
Recalling how he’d been trapped under tower last time, Lee Kyung-Jun cautiously edged toward the lane, muttering, “Ugh… I really feel like that guy is going to ambush me. He’s seriously insane…”
Shin Hao-Jin: “I guarantee it with my life—he’s not there.”
Lee Kyung-Jun rolled his eyes. “What do I want your life for? It’s not even worth 300 gold!”
Mid laner Moon Chan-Woo had been quietly listening. Hearing that, he couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Relax, hyung, you’re playing Furnace Ram Spirit this game. Against a tree, they can’t kill you anyway—ah, shi—!”
He suddenly cried out. Before his smile could fully form, Sui Ning seized an opening and hit him with a combo—A-W-A-A—along with some minion damage.
That small mistake made Moon Chan-Woo’s face go pale. He quickly pressed Tab to check Sui Ning’s summoner spells—Teleport + Flash.
If it had been Ignite, his laning phase would’ve been completely doomed again.
He immediately stopped chatting and focused fully on the lane.
Tio’s bot lane wasn’t having an easy time either. Having been tempered by countless strong teams, Lin Zhaoxu and Cheng Su picked White Bird + Shadow Hawk, completely outclassing Tio’s Explorer + Scythe of Calamity in raw laning strength.
Seeing Cheng Su itching to engage, Tio’s bot duo, who had originally wanted to contest level 2, decisively gave up and waited for the wave to push back.
Chao Mi commented, “Both sides are relatively calm at the start. PNG and Tio are mirroring their jungle paths, both starting red buff! But Tio’s mid and bot lanes clearly aren’t doing well—they’re getting pressured immediately! Only top lane—Furnace Ram Spirit should have a slight early advantage over the tree—”
Before he could finish, a familiar shadow finished red buff, ignored the smaller jungle camps, and charged straight toward top lane.
At 2:11, Ji Yunyu arrived top.
Chao Mi’s eyes widened in disbelief: “—Red start into a level 2 top gank?? Again??”
“A classic replay—PNG is going for another top lane camp??”
He almost wanted to ask on Yuim’s behalf: Are you even human?!
----------
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