The third round of HLE vs. GEN in Switzerland is the most exciting series of the World Finals so far, with both HLE and GEN capable of winning the World Championship on the one hand, and first-class performances from BP to in-game on the other. While there were some minor mistakes on both sides, there were three reasons that really decided the direction of the match.
The first is GEN's handling of line change tactics. As the team that is most proficient in lane change tactics in the LCK, GEN can be said to be perfect for this system, and can always exchange a lot of map resources in lane change. Their Athlon tactics put HLE Dragon Soul under pressure early on, resulting in HLE having to take on the front team, and in the last two rounds, they both got a lot of nest bugs, allowing them to put pressure on their opponents in terms of pushing towers. Of course, the reason why HLE lost so many map resources was also the fact that Peanut's jungler path was seen through, at least in this head-to-head confrontation, he was suppressed by Canyon.
The second is HLE's hero prioritization problem. Throughout the series, HLE was forced to ban the Giggs and Nedriy combination in every game, which was a strong lineup in the summer playoff version, especially when it came to putting pressure on lanes and towers. HLE's own proficiency in this lineup was not very high, and he didn't have a good way to deal with it, so he was forced to ban. In the first game on the blue side, they snatched Yon's favor and released Alora, while GEN chose Morten to match Aurora. When faced with this combination, HLE did not choose Celestial Jungler, but chose Sejuani, because Cele would really be restrained by this Ueno.
Although Chovy used Ahri to gain an advantage during laning, when the teamfight was turned on and the side lane led, the strength of the hero Jon was revealed, and the hero basically took the ban. Overall, HLE's lineup in the first game was not too afraid of GEN's strong opening, after all, Kai'Sa had the ability to save her life, and Delight's Ruil opened a good wave. However, after HLE switched to the red side in the second game, they had to take Yon's banning position themselves, which led to a not-so-good lineup for the team.
In an interview with the HLE team, they knew that Vi was not a good choice to face the combination of Alora and Morteng. But in the second game, in order to cooperate with Akali to cut the back row, they still chose to give up Sejuani and chose Wei. But in fact, the combination of Arola and Moteng is too strong, once the lights are turned off and the circle is lost, it will be difficult for Rambo's ultimate move to be put well, and the entry of Vi and Akali will become disjointed, and it will be difficult for Ember to have output space. The only thing HLE can open is support, but Peyz plays Callista, the tool man, and specializes in throwing support and receiving support. Of course, Zeka's skill hit rate is also impressive, and it is not easy to see Akali carry's game in the World Championship at the moment.
In the third game, the HLE blue side directly grabbed Smod, apparently to hit the nuclear system. GEN once again got the lineup of Allora, Moteng and Ahri, and banned two shooters with self-protection ability. Coupled with the fact that HLE also banned two shooters, the only option they could choose was Varus, and the team chose Sejuani and Renata to fight back. GEN came up with a trick of genius, and they recently took out a tucci in a training match, and it worked well and used it directly in the game. GEN's strong opener is able to make the big Tucci shoot coolly, and the big Tucci is longer than Smod.
After Tucci got multiple heads in the early stages, HLE chose to give up all resources to Zeka in an attempt to wait for Smud to come out of the mountain to fight back. Due to Zeka's stacking speed, it was stacked to 225 before the battle of the small dragon, giving HLE the illusion that he could take over the group. However, after Alora's ultimate was restricted, HLE couldn't touch Peyz on the flanks at all. Although Peyz's subsequent arrest relieved HLE, they still couldn't solve the underlying problem. That is, HLE's two-shooter didn't have a chance to poke, GEN directly forced the fight, and Doran's Nar couldn't get around to put pressure on Tucci.
As a result, GEN not only relied on a novel system to win, but they also dismantled the Smod system to make the team more comfortable in the subsequent BP. Due to the lane change tactics in this version, many heroes who were originally difficult to mix in the lane period have also been given development opportunities. This is undoubtedly a good thing for GEN, which has a deep hero pool. Moreover, the state of the Nakano players on GEN is better than the first day with the naked eye, and Kiin has been practicing Aurora like crazy in September and has a super high proficiency. Canyon's state in this series dreams back to 2020, and it is not at all the third uncle who got lost in Xia Duel.
Judging from the post-match interview, HLE tried to disassemble GEN Kaminakano in the third game, but in the end it didn't happen. In addition to being suppressed by GEN on the BP side, the state of the HLE players is also a little worse. Doran and Peanut are blue-collar players in their own right, and expectations shouldn't be too high for them, and Delight's first game was a perfect start. But the three games of double C were really suppressed by GEN's counterpoint, and Zeka was controlled by Ahri many times during the second game of the lane, resulting in a disadvantage in the middle lane and no resources, and various empty skills in the group. In the third game, Smod ate four ways by himself and didn't do much damage in the team battle. Viper's lack of presence in the last two games and his solo steal in the third game was one of the turning points of the game.
However, judging by the competitive form presented by HLE, they will certainly have no problem reaching the knockout stage, and they will also be able to avoid GEN in the quarterfinals. The team will need to consider whether they can get their hands on other systems if Zeka is targeted, but this version of the non-displacement shooter will have a hard time surviving, especially against heroes like Arora, Morten, and Yon. Peanut became the "Korea factory director" after coming to the World Championship, and his lack of outstanding performance in the LCK league was also a major weakness of HLE. As for GEN, they gradually found the version of the answer, and the proficiency of Aurora and Ahri is beyond the reach of other players, and the team does have a big advantage.