freeallnovels Chapter 82: Carrying the Team Forward
Chapter 82: Carrying the Team Forward
The game started.
Both sides played very steadily at the start, with the top lane actively trading blows while the other lanes focused on farming and developing their own resources.
At 6 minutes and 17 seconds into the game, Faker's Irelia played aggressively. After leveling up to six and engaging in a fight, coupled with Haru's Sejuani gank, Chovy's Aatrox was forced to use Flash. GRF's support Tahm Kench quickly teleported to the mid lane to protect him.
Less than a minute later, SKT jungler Haru's Sejuani circled around to the mid lane again, and this time Aatrox couldn't escape.
First blood has been drawn; Faker secured the kill.
Chen Song nodded slightly. This is how you play Irelia during her strong laning phase. If you can't suppress Aatrox, it will be even harder to win later.
At 7 minutes and 47 seconds into the game, Haru seized an opportunity and caught GRF's Jayce in a flanking gank.
However, the coordination between SKT's top and jungle laners actually allowed Jayce, who was supposed to die, to survive.
Chen Song frowned. The way these two were behaving made him feel that Ueno was someone he had only recently met.
In the first 10 minutes, SKT had a slight advantage in the lanes, leading in CS across all three lanes.
However, Chen Song noticed a problem: GRF's Karthus was farming in the jungle without taking any initiative, but SKT was still unable to suppress his development.
A champion like Karthus, if left unchecked in the early game and not targeted or focused on, becomes a walking bomb in the late game, or even a walking atomic bomb.
The game lasted 12 minutes and 34 seconds.
The game reached its first turning point.
Taking advantage of SKT's recall, GRF quickly regrouped and rushed down the first Infernal Dragon.
SKT reacted quickly, taking down the Rift Herald.
But when Chen Song saw what happened next, he couldn't help but click his tongue.
He subconsciously dragged the progress bar back ten seconds and watched it again. SKT wasted too much time when taking the Rift Herald, which caused them to crash into the tower just after the 14-minute plating disappeared.
The Rift Herald charged headlong into the enemy, but didn't gain a single gold coin from the tower plates!
"The timing control..." Chen Song wrote two words in his notebook: "rough".
The game lasted 15 minutes and 11 seconds.
The fight finally broke out in the top lane.
SKT's Sejuani and Camille simultaneously initiated on GRF's Jayce, but Camille's E skill missed Jayce in the first hit, resulting in insufficient follow-up damage and allowing the low-health Jayce to escape.
GRF counterattacked, Karthus joined the battle, and dealt maximum damage.
Faker's Irelia teleported into the battlefield, while Chovy's Aatrox also rushed from the river to the top lane.
Irelia and Aatrox killed Killsong and Camille respectively.
Ultimately, Faker also died, resulting in a 2-for-3 trade for GRF, while SKT's top lane first tower was also taken by Chovy.
The game lasted 17 minutes and 52 seconds.
SKT proactively set their sights on the second spawning fire dragon.
Because SKT hesitated for too long near the dragon pit, GRF ended up taking the dragon, and Karthus secured the second fire dragon.
The comments section was filled with the word "coward".
Chen Song frowned. He didn't like to analyze the game with such subjective evaluations, but from God's perspective, SKT's lineup had five champions: Camille, Sejuani, Irelia, Varus, and Lux. All five champions had crowd control abilities and could initiate team fights.
Even in this situation, they played timidly in the mid-game, unwilling to take the initiative or take risks, and watched helplessly as GRF gradually eroded their advantage.
Watching these people play is simply agonizing.
This is Chen Song's summary of the match.
The game lasted 26 minutes and 14 seconds.
GRF's Tahm Kench drove up the lane to gank Camille, forcing Camille to use her ultimate. Karthus then used his ultimate, forcing the low-health Camille to recall.
GRF turned around and started Baron, but SKT's entire team arrived. GRF's Baron attack was not fast enough, so they chose to retreat.
At this moment, Chen Song noticed a detail: Faker tried to find opportunities to initiate team fights in several skirmishes, but his teammates' positioning was clearly out of sync.
Some wanted to fight, while others wanted to retreat; there was a clear problem with command and communication.
The real collapse began at 38 minutes and 30 seconds into the game.
At this point, GRF finally made up their minds to fight Baron Nashor, and SKT chose to engage in the team fight at the Baron pit after GRF secured Baron Nashor.
This time, SKT launched a beautiful counterattack, using Guardian Angel and Stopwatch to avoid a lot of Karthus' damage, achieving a 1-for-4 trade, and then taking the Elder Dragon.
The commentators were even excitedly shouting on stage, "SKT has turned the tide!"
Chen Song didn't think so; instead, his brows furrowed even more.
He glanced at the time; SKT had taken the Elder Dragon around the 40-minute mark, but GRF had been relentlessly suppressing their vision control.
The chance to turn the tide is in their hands, but there isn't enough vision on this map to help them convert this advantage into a victory.
At 44 minutes and 40 seconds into the game, SKT initiated a Baron Nashor attack.
Camille chased Aatrox over the Baron pit, but went too far over the wall and her teammates couldn't keep up, resulting in her being killed.
Having suffered a player loss first, SKT had no choice but to retreat, allowing GRF to seize Baron Nashor.
The game lasted 46 minutes and 20 seconds.
The Ancient Dragon has entered the decisive team fight.
GRF initiated the fight against the Elder Dragon, but SKT took over and managed to secure the Elder Dragon buff. However, GRF had already seized control of the team fight.
SKT's Camille once again charged into the enemy ranks alone, and Karthus with no mana relied on his composure to cast his ultimate, causing four SKT members to fall, leaving only the support Lux to escape with low health.
GRF pushed down SKT's base along the mid lane and destroyed it.
Chen Song leaned back in his chair, the image on his screen frozen on the moment the SKT base exploded.
He lowered his head and wrote in his notebook:
[Five crowd control heroes failed to initiate a single decent team fight throughout the entire game.]
[The command structure is confused, and decisions are made hesitantly.]
[Aside from Faker, the other four players are in poor form, especially the top laner and jungler.]
They have resources, but can't capitalize on the tempo advantage.
They defeated the Elder Dragon, yet were wiped out as a team.
He watched the footage of the final team fight over and over again, pausing and replaying repeatedly, his eyes glued to every time Faker's Irelia used her E skill to lock down enemies, Q to chase them down, and pull them back with a sliver of health.
"This person is really carrying the team forward," Chen Song muttered to himself, his voice very soft.
He thought for a moment, then added another sentence to his notebook:
[Carrying the team along isn't a long-term solution. In team games, one person's potential can't support the team's minimum performance. If you want to continue winning championships, you have to change your teammates.]
Chen Song hadn't turned off the match recording yet when he opened the second game. In the draft phase, he noticed that SKT had made some personnel changes.
Faker was replaced, and mid laner Gori took over. The jungler and support were also replaced.
Chen Song was taken aback.
He had seen players replaced before, but he had never seen three players replaced at once.
The Spring Split champions' roster lost three positions after just one game?
Moreover, the person who was substituted was the only player on the SKT team who was in good form throughout the entire match.
25 minutes, GRF 12:4.
The explosion effect at SKT's base lit up again. In the second game, GRF crushed SKT, and SKT suffered their fifth consecutive loss.
Chen Song closed the page and wrote a final sentence in his notebook:
[Faker's individual skill is top-tier, but his teamwork is problematic. It's not his fault, it's a systemic issue within the entire SKT team. If I were to face them, I wouldn't want to see how Faker carries, but rather how his teammates drag the team down—that's the team's real weakness.]