Starting Lineup Race (3)
Yes, Far East Prince snags the jungle Pantheon that's been evaluating so well lately.
They could flip him to support in a pinch, but on this patch he's probably jungle.
And there's Ezreal and Leona—P1 locking in their bottom lane combo early.
Rapid, the AD carry P1 has poured so much care into raising. The very first pick this team ever handed him was Ezreal.
Rapid's first champion on the main roster was recorded as none other than Ezreal.
And Azir.
Looks like a pick that says Leon's Azir last game didn't cause any problems.
The champions were appearing one by one.
And still no sign of the top-lane champion.
If first pick was the flower of the blue side, then P1's red side strength right now was getting the last pick.
Yes, Far East Prince's composition is complete.
Early priority without falling off late—an all-around solid draft.
And P1's final pick.
We still haven't seen a top champion, have we? Just what will face Pigeon's K'Sante…
Jayce!
Hahaha—a champion whose performance can swing wildly depending on the pilot. Jimin's first champion on the main stage is Jayce.
A player who showed overwhelming force back in Challengers. I'm looking forward to this.
Yes, draft is over!
Far East Prince with a versatile composition. P1 looking like they intend to counter it to some degree. This should be a lot of fun.
Two players so many SCK fans have been waiting for. Can they live up to the hype—or will Far East still get to say not yet?
"…"
The nerves had already melted away, and the patterns they'd practiced all this time were rising cleanly into Jimin's mind.
"P1! One! Two! Three!"
"P1 fighting!"
"Far East, one! Two! Three!"
"Far East fighting!"
Yes, Game 2 is underway! Blue side Far East Prince, red side P1!
Whenever Luca picks up Taliyah, the mid AP that's been getting so much attention lately, he puts on a terrifying carry display—and Far East left it open for him, heh.
Whether Taliyah gets to run free, or how well Azir can shut her down, is going to be the key.
Oh—and already.
It's fierce, isn't it?
Jayce was applying aggressive pressure from the earliest stage of the game, moving as if the enemy jungler simply didn't exist.
Whoa—Seismic Shift!
Wow, he almost died there.
In the mid-lane duel, Taliyah's skill nearly all connected, and Azir's HP was carved down in an instant.
Is this mid lane looking okay? It's already gotten pretty uncomfortable for Azir.
Sometimes Azir goes in boldly trying to pin Taliyah's feet and eats one just like that.
Is Luca's Taliyah really matchup-free?
The moment Jinzao appeared on vision, Azir gave a huge step back. P1 was chipping away points in the mid-lane duel, bit by bit.
Bottom-lane vision lit up. P1's bot duo was slowly measuring their distance when Jinzao showed himself.
Leona slammed her skills onto Ren and stuck to him—perfect targeting.
Ren! Ren!
Ahh, they got him. First blood!
P1…
P1 takes down Ren and claims the first kill.
Durandal's skill distribution was perfect. And Rapid's skillshots have been something else from the start.
The broadcast cut to P1 support Durandal's personal camera.
Hahaha—that was such a smooth play from P1.
It didn't look like a bold attempt so much as casually collecting what was already theirs. Anyone watching could see P1 had room to spare.
Oh—what was that skill just now?
The observer swung to the top-lane duel. K'Sante's W—meant for tanking and CC—whiffed into empty air as he tried to land it on his opponent.
Jayce flipped into hammer form and charged in.
Ohhh, if it goes like this…
He doesn't have Teleport, you know?
No HP, no Teleport, and the wave pulled awkwardly toward the enemy—an uncomfortable spot.
From the little glimpses earlier and from the CS numbers, Jimin is running this lane extremely well.
Jimin and Pigeon both came up from Challengers this time—and from Pigeon's side, he can't afford to carry that Challengers-era evaluation straight into the main stage.
Maybe it was because he was young, but Far East Prince's top laner Pigeon couldn't hide the discomfort on his face.
The item gap is starting to open a little.
The CS difference between Jayce and K'Sante, already widening from the early game, converted into an item gap before long.
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
Applause broke out as P1 jungler Oz took the dragon.
Yes, and Pantheon goes top…
P1 had just put a burst of pressure bot. On the flip side, Far East's jungle Pantheon burned his ultimate toward the top side.
But if he peels off like that…
Jayce, who'd been measuring his distance the whole time, slipped the escape route clean—Pantheon failed to cut him off.
You can't just burn Pantheon's level-six first ultimate that emptily!
This was basically praying Jayce would throw—way too complacent.
Even granting that he had no priority, K'Sante was getting completely overrun by Jayce from the earliest stages. Pantheon had come up to free him for the sake of the future and left empty-handed, without even a kill or assist for the trip.
Whoa, whoa, hang on! Hang on!
Every time he bought items, Jayce tested the strength of his weapons by hammering on K'Sante.
Ahhhh!
The last Q, launched through an Acceleration Gate, clipped just short—and K'Sante clawed his way out of hell.
But if he has to go home like this…
No champion and no minions left to block for the top first turret. All it could do was hand tower gold to the enemy walking in.
The observer cut to Jimin's personal camera. While his teammates were briefing, the man who'd just taken K'Sante to the brink of a solo kill only had that one line at the end.
Wow. Hahahaha. He's so calm.
Like crushing the enemy top is just the natural order of things.
Anyway, Jimin has been playing extremely well so far.
By anyone's measure, Jimin's debut was exceeding expectations—using pure individual force to open up a priority top 1v1, then turning that into damage even on the enemy jungle. It was the way Jimin had always wanted to play.
The moment jungle and mid converged on the bottom-lane battlefield, Leona's ultimate dropped on Miss Fortune's head. Behind MF, Taliyah's Weaver's Wall sealed the escape so thoroughly that even wanting to run wasn't an option.
Wow—there's no way out of that.
P1!
A clean four-man gank, and P1 deleted the enemy bot duo entirely. Already, the fans cheering for P1 were starting to feel certain.
The global gold lead is three thousand.
P1's tempo is way too fast, isn't it?
P1 was seizing the game at high speed. With the mid tower practically free to give away, Far East was forced to answer the Herald fight.
Yes—Weaver's Wall goes down.
Ezreal's ultimate rakes them clean!
Ohh—Azir!
Azir tried a super toss—and got perfectly countered by Taliyah's skill.
Double kill!
Ahh, this is collapsing way too easily!
Far East's champions were being slaughtered one-sidedly.
KRA-KOOM!
Waaaaaah!
Jimin!
Jayce's Shock Blast turned the body of the already-broken Miss Fortune into powder.
Can Far East even take Baron vision?
Far East's minimap is pitch black.
The Baron vision fight that could decide the game. But with both mid laners eyeing each other on the top side and both top laners parked bot, the main force's power was already tilting hard one way.
They're hitting it—P1 starts Baron!
P1 tried Baron first, baiting the enemy in.
Weaver's Wall!
Taliyah's wall went up and Ezreal's Trueshot Barrage came screaming through. Far East was clawing through the fog of war like wading a swamp.
Pantheon ultimate lights up, but—
Ahhh!
"WAAAAAAAAAH!"
In the blacked-out Baron pit, Pantheon gambled on a luck-based steal—and failed. The price of a lost gamble was his own body. P1 took Baron and a free service kill to go with it.
Baron taken, one man down—this is Far East's biggest crisis.
Whoa, whoa, hang on a second!
The observer snapped to the bottom tower. Both top laners were still there, neither having teleported to join.
K'Sante flipped on his all-out ultimate assault and charged Jayce. Even in a losing 1v1, K'Sante's ultimate could flip a fight on a single skillshot or a moment of the opponent's complacency.
Hammer form—CRASH!
But Jayce slipped it cleanly, and finished by sending K'Sante into the sky with a hammer-form Q.
Solo kill! We've got a solo kill!
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Barely after the Baron-taken banner had lit up, P1 fans had to crank their decibels all over again.
Muramana, plus core items built off Serrated Dirk. Jimin had honestly been thinking more poke—and still walked away with a side-lane victory report to go with everything else.
If MF's ultimate is getting spent just clearing minions…!
Baron still has a minute left, you know?
Far East Prince looked like they'd lost all siege power. Never mind the champions—the growth gap had already ballooned past recovery.
Waaaah!
This is electric.
A single poke from Jayce left Miss Fortune practically crippled.
P1! Are they snapping a two-game losing streak with this kind of performance?
GG!
"P1! P1! P1! P1!"
Fans clapped and roared for the beautiful play. For a moment, the last two losses seemed forgotten.
P1 walked away with a lot today.
All seven players showed well—Coach Jang Yaohwan has a happy kind of problem on his hands.
For the first time in a while, a P1 match ended and the atmosphere among the fans turned genuinely joyful.
"Hoo…"
"Nice!"
P1's coach, Song Hochang, came bounding out to encourage the players.
"I told you I wouldn't say a word even if you got ganked a few times—what's with that composure?"
"Haha…"
Jimin laughed awkwardly.
"…"
His debut. And a win. Jimin was still a little dazed.
Wearing the P1 uniform, standing tall in Jongno, and winning beautifully like this…
"Kinda wish there was more, though."
"Huh?"
Kang Jun said it just loud enough for Jimin alone.
"Yeah?"
"Hm?"
"…"
Watching Kang Jun tilt his head, Jimin let out a small snort of a laugh.
Same here, honestly.
The lane had gone well, but the game had exploded so early that it never really got to flow normally. By Jimin's own standards, it was a game where he'd wanted to show something more. But it was only the first match.
"This is announcer Song Hyuna. Today's sole POG—P1's Luca, who put on a brilliant showing with Sylas in Game 1 and Taliyah in Game 2. Congratulations on the win."
"Thank you."
With the match between P1—now 2–2 in Summer—and Far East Prince over, Kim Junyoung, "Luca," who'd taken POG for both games, came out alone for the interview.
In Game 1 he'd put on a side-lane solo-kill show with Sylas; in Game 2 he'd grabbed Taliyah, pinned the enemy mid Azir, shaken him down, and finished with zero deaths.
"The team had been on a losing streak lately, so we really wanted to snap it today—I'm glad it worked out."
"Yes—and today your teammates Jimin and Rapid made their main-roster debuts. How did it feel playing alongside the new players?"
"Uh… both Jimin and Jun have outstanding physical talent and work incredibly hard in practice, so I honestly expected them to do well right away—but they exceeded even that. They stayed so calm and played so well. I'm really grateful."
"That sounds exactly like something the big brother of the team would say. We'll wrap the interview here. Congratulations again on the win."
"Thank you."
With the man and woman exchanging polite bows, the match captured on camera came to a perfect close.
"There are a lot of people watching, so don't worry."
"Yes."
Jimin nodded.
"…"
I'd forgotten about this.
P1 was a team that held fan meetings often after wins. And today the opponent had been Far East Prince, rated as a weak side against P1—plus it was the day Jimin and Kang Jun were scheduled to play.
There was no way the P1 fans who normally packed Jongno would miss this.
"Please form a clear line so we can tell you apart."
Fans lined up under the staff's direction. Winner fan meetings ran a lottery before the match, and only the drawn fans could take part. The meeting itself ran about thirty minutes. Each person in line got a little over a minute.
Because of that, plenty of fans looked even more nervous than the players who'd debuted today.
Gulp.
Here they come.
Fans approached the standing players one by one.
"…"
They're all women?
He was already careful because they were fans, already awkward because it was his first time—and on top of that they were all women. Jimin was pretty tense.
He'd broadcast in front of thousands of people, but that hadn't been face-to-face while playing a game, and back in Challengers there hadn't been any fan meetings at all.
"Um…"
"Yes."
Still, as a pro, Jimin tried to hold steady. The first fan was a young woman who looked like an older sister type.
"Uh… yes, congratulations on the win. It was your debut today and you played so well, and uh…"
"Thank you."
I'm losing it.
When the woman couldn't quite meet his eyes, Jimin got awkward right along with her.
"S-sign…"
"Oh—yes!"
About ten seconds of silence passed before the fan asked for an autograph. It looked like she'd had more to say.
"Sorry—I just tagged along with a friend and never thought I'd actually win the fan-meet lottery."
"Ah, no, sorr—I mean, thank you."
"…"
Jimin barely managed to finish the signature.
"Next, please."
Staff brought the next fan forward.
It's short.
The time with each person was so brief that Jimin's head was spinning.
"Oh my gosh, please take a photo with me!"
"Yes!"
Thankfully, the second fan—also a woman—seemed sociable.
"You were seriously amazing today. Congratulations. Absolute best."
"Hahaha, thank you."
The warm praise pulled a smile onto Jimin's face too.
"Next, please."
"Fighting for the next match too!"
"Yes, fighting!"
That went better.
He felt like he'd bungled the first one, but this time he'd done okay.
Hm?
Before the next fan arrived, Jimin glanced sideways.
"…"
The older teammates chatting with fans at complete ease. Kang Jun, on the other hand, looked just as awkward as expected.
"Can you put this on for the photo?"
"Huh?"
Of course, now it was Jimin's turn to freeze.
What even is this.
The woman fan was holding out some kind of bear-ear headband.
"Oh my gosh, you're so cute."
"…Haha."
But he knew making a sour face here would be a serious rudeness.
"…"
And while they were taking the photo, her beauty-filter selfie app piled on even more cringe-inducing decorations.
"Next, please."
"Ahem."
Whoa.
The next woman fan was, by Jimin's standards, on the pretty side.
"Congratulations."
"Thank you."
"When I play Jayce into tanks I keep shoving the wave and dying—how are you that calm?"
"Ah—hahaha."
"I've rated you insanely high since your Academy days, Jimin. All three of your accounts have high ranks right now. This was genuinely better than I expected."
"…Thank you."
What is this?
The words coming out of that pretty face were… heavily Sol-brained. It felt like she was talking to one of her own friends. Watching someone that pretty dive into such serious Sol conversation left Jimin a little startled.
"I really think you're going to be the best top in the world someday."
"Yes—I'll work hard."
Not bad.
Of course it felt good. Having fans this varied was a good thing.
"…"
He clearly saw the small voices and mouth shapes of the women fans whispering as they looked at him.
"Your hands are big, but they're really pretty?"
"Uh—thank you."
I'm going to die.
But what couldn't be helped, couldn't be helped. As fans armed with soft voices and the scent of cosmetics kept coming one after another, Jimin found it harder and harder to fight the embarrassment.
"Fighting!"
"Fighting!"
Phew.
Still, he managed a bright smile for the last fan.
"That concludes it!"
His first fan meeting was over.
"Hey, why are you hanging so far back? Come further forward."
"What do you mean… you go to the back."
"That's embarrassing, though."
"…"
Being awkward face-to-face with fans was mutual. Jimin simply ignored Kang Jun's grumbling.
When they all stood together in front of the fans for the final greeting, Jimin's hands were still shaking a little.
"Please keep supporting us going forward!"
"P1 fighting!"
Fans shouted and cheered as they watched the players walk away.
"Hoo…"
Jimin almost looked back—then stopped himself, knowing the sheer weight of stares that would land on him.
It's hard, sure.
But just like Sol practice was grueling and the fruit was sweet, dealing with fans was exhausting—and still pretty rewarding.