One of the things that stood out in the match between Hanwha Life Esports and Brion on the 10th was the item tree of the mid laners. On this day, both players quickly equipped themselves with tier 2 shoes. In addition, ‘Zecca’ Kim Geon-woo bought ‘Ionian boots of brilliance (cool shoes)’ throughout all three sets that day, rather than the ‘sorcerer’s shoes (magician shoes)’ that mid laners usually choose when playing Azir.
In the meantime, among the mid laners, quickly pick up the ‘disappearing parchment (parchment)’ that can take all of the spell power (40), mana (300), and skill acceleration (10) with 1300 gold, and then raise the mythical item to 1 core. It has been considered a common build. However, on this day, Kim Geon-woo bought parchment → cool feeling → mythical item (1/2 sets), cool feeling → parchment → mythical item (3 sets).
After the Brion match, I met Kun-Woo Kim to hear about the recent game and the change in the item tree. Kim Geon-woo cited the reasons for purchasing shoes quickly: ▲Joining the bottom battle quickly ▲Securing the initiative in the line battle by avoiding the opponent’s skills. It is interpreted that as the importance of the bottom line increased, the mage item tree also changed in the process of players contemplating the best play according to the meta. 안전놀이터
In recent pro-level games, 3v3 fights between jungler and bot duo have become very important. Kim Gun-woo seemed to see the need to have a little more influence on this engagement as a mid laner. He emphasized the need to buy shoes quickly, saying, “There are a lot of 3-on-3 battles at the bottom, but if the mid chooses a mage, they can’t join quickly.”
I also thought that tier 2 shoes were important to secure leadership in the lane battle. He said, “In a one-on-one fight between mages, if you buy shoes first, you have an advantage in the lineup. I can avoid a lot of skills, so I can take the initiative.” Buying Tier 2 shoes quickly in mage matchups and using movement speed to gain an advantage in deal exchanges is a play Kwak “BidiD” Bo-seong has enjoyed since before.
Kim Hong-jo bought the cool sense first rather than the parchment that disappeared in the first set that day. When the same match between Azir and Viktor took place again in the 3rd set, this time Kim Gun-woo also responded with a cool feeling. Kim Geon-woo said, “Originally, I bought parchment first, but after playing from the recent practice game to today’s game, buying shoes first was good in terms of mobility and laning.”
He cited ‘caustic ratio’ as the reason for choosing Cool Gamshin instead of Mawan God. He said, “If I could buy the Demon Goddess right away, I would buy it. However, when I first returned, I bought ‘boots’ with 300 gold, and when I returned again, the shoes that I could buy universally were cool shoes,” he said, “I buy them because the cost performance is good.”