When an Alpha is Marked by One of His Own Kind

Chapter 100

During the halftime break.

Shen Qiao was in somewhat low spirits. Just now, he'd gotten his best champion Renekton in that last game. But he'd failed to win an advantage for the rest of his team. He felt he was responsible for seeing that game through to the end.

In other words, in Shen Qiao's mind, he was the one who was most at fault for that loss.

If his counter-ganking sense had been a bit stronger, maybe he wouldn't have been ganked by WTG so much early on. Maybe he wouldn't have allowed WTG to build up so much momentum. And maybe now it would be DG who was at match point, and WTG who was feeling more pressure.

But he hadn't played well.

Renekton hadn't flourished.

Shen Qiao sat in silence in the lounge. Lu Zhe looked at him, then looked over at Old Wo who was sipping at his thermos with his head bowed. Er-Hua was looking at his phone, watching something or the other. Qian Bao was able to self-regulate her mood and chat with Coach Fang about how she'd played Azir in that last round.

She felt she hadn't been good enough with Azir either.

But Qian Bao had practiced two types of middle lane champions that year. One was the high-burst, high-damage type like LeBlanc, capable of putting pressure on her opponent or winning an advantage with a solo kill so that she could squeeze in some time to support the top and bottom lanes.

The other type consisted of champions like Nautilus and Galio. These weren't champions who could pursue a solo kill, but would instead weather the damage from the enemy mid-laner. With this type of champion, Qian Bao would be expected to always keep her eye on the other lanes and the situation in the jungle, so that she could rush over to assist wherever she was needed, arriving sooner than the other team's backup.

Through that style of play, she could win an advantage for DG on the other lanes and allow the jungler to collect as many resources as possible. After taking a tower and freeing up all the other champions, Qian Bao herself would have room to grow as well.

The champion Azir was very strong in the middle lane, with a wide range of skills. His sand soldiers were good for extending his range, and his ult was a good way to initiate a fight or to dissuade the enemy from pursuing while he tried to retreat. His passive could also make use of his team's turrets, making him a well-rounded champion.

But Qian Bao felt she hadn't been able to build up the momentum that she should have.

In the first round, Qian Bao had done a lot of damage with Syndra. After that, WTG had been careful to send Syndra to the ban list. Now three games had passed, and the fourth was looming. Since they were already on the ropes, she felt she may as well play it safe in the middle lane again.

She'd gotten practice with that type of champion over the past year, after all. Although she hadn't actually pulled out that trick in many official games before, it was clear that WTG was dead set on ganking DG's top laner in that match. If that was their plan, then why not compete with them to see whose support could arrive faster?

Qian Bao still remembered the practice match in which DG had used this tactic to suppress WTG.

And that was the only time WTG had lost.

Could they have practiced relentlessly to counter this specific tactic after losing that game?

Qian Bao didn't think so.

And...

Even if they'd made some adjustments since that practice game, would WTG dare switch up their current strategy after smoothly winning two games in a row? Would they do that during such a critical match?