The week before the start of the 2019 League of Legends World Championship, Riot Games released 'The Longshot' a documentary-style video short on Kim "PraY" Jong-In's game-winning cross-map Enchanted Crystal Arrow in game 2 of the 2016 World Championship Semifinals match between ROX Tigers and SK Telecom T1.
The Longshot is an iconic moment in Worlds history, and a defining play in PraY's storied career as one of the greatest AD Carries to ever play the game. However, it is not The Longshot in game 2, but in fact, the following game 3 performance that solidified Pray as the greatest Ashe player of all time.
ROX Tigers came into the Semifinals against SKT Telecom T1 as the higher seed (#1 LCK vs. #2 LCK), but having never beaten SKT in a best-of-five series despite three chances, were not considered the overwhelming favorite. When SKT took the first game in its typically controlled, steadily-paced style of play, the same old story looked to be unfolding in the newest chapter of ROX vs. SKT in best-of-five matches.
ROX shot those expectations into the sun, rocking the Worlds meta like an earthquake with a brand new innovation: Miss Fortune Support. Pairing Kang "GorillA" Beom-hyun's brilliant innovation with PraY's Ashe created a level 6 combo capable of deleting Zyra, arguably the strongest Support champion in the meta and a favorite of SKT's Lee "Wolf" Jae-Wan. Despite losing to the Ashe/MF combo in game 2, SKT opted to allow ROX to pick both champions while giving Wolf Zyra again.
Due to the unconventional success of Miss Fortune as a counter Support to Zyra, GorillA understandably captured most of the attention of ROX's Bot Lane carry performance in game 3. However, for every Bullet Time kill that GorillA was able to score was often a dunk set up by a perfect alley oop courtesy of PraY's Ashe, using Ashe's ultimate practically on cooldown to set up play after play on the bottom side of the map before threatening the rest of the map with deadly accuracy.
PraY's proficiency on Ashe was integral to ROX's success. Color Caster Joshua "Jatt" Leesman pointed out that in a meta that favored 5v5 teamfighting, Ashe was a significant downgrade in potential late game damage when compared to the hypercarries that were dominating Bot Lane.
Despite this fact, ROX believed in PraY's Ashe as much if not more than in the previous game, first picking it on blue side in the Draft Phase of game 3. Bae "Bang" Jun-sik and Wolf seemed confident that game 2 was a fluke, and locked in Caitlyn and Zyra once again, daring GorillA to play Miss Fortune into for a full 2v2 rematch in terms of champion picks.
The matchup in the Bot Lane may have been the same, but the results were far worse for SKT. PraY secured the first kill in the lane, immediately firing Enchanted Crystal Arrow as an opposing minion died to give him the experience to level up mid-fight. GorillA followed up with the Miss Fortune 1-2 punch of Make It Rain and Bullet Time, and Wolf was wiped off the face of the rift. Immediately when Ashe's ultimate came off its cool down, PraY set another play up for GorillA, and Wolf died again.
The back-to-back kills on the SKT Support gave PraY and GorillA an advantage in lane that would build until it eventually broke, and the marksman duo was free unleash its pressure on the rest of the map. ROX amassed a late game lead of nearly 10,000 gold, capped off by securing Baron Nashor, and defeated SKT convincingly in just under 40 minutes. Of the 19 Enchanted Crystal Arrows PraY shot in game 3, he successfully connected with his mark with 15 of his ultimates.
Not only did PraY only miss four Arrows the entire game, but of the ults that made up his otherworldly 79% accuracy percentage, nearly half of them ended up in kills for ROX. Time after time, Pray's Arrows would set up crucial long range picks that helped the Tigers secure crucial advantages, only to use it again right off cooldown to secure a succesful seige to extend ROX's lead.
When Pray wasn't securing seven kills with his Ultimate alone, he managed to mix in some incredible teamfighting, specifically in one of the few instances he whiffed the Arrow. In arguably the finest combination of positioning, mechanics, and micro decisions ever seen on the Frost Archer in competitive play, PraY clutched out a crucial teamfight in tandem with ROX Tigers Jungler Han "Peanut" Wang-ho.
PraY's performance in game 3 of the 2016 World Championship Semifinals was the single greatest Ashe performance in the history of League of Legends. PraY delivered on the first pick Frost Archer, hit 15/19 of his arrows, 7 for secured kills for ROX, and finished the game with a scoreline of 5/2/12 — good for 95% kill participation. GorillA's Miss Fortune was the star of the show, but the curtain would never have opened without PraY.
Time and time again throughout the broadcast of game 3, Play-By-Play Caster David "Phreak" Turley seemed almost flummoxed by the near-flawless execution of Pray and GorillA's Ashe/Miss Fortune combo, emphasizing the level of difficulty in hitting players of Bang and Wolf's respective caliber with skillshots on such a consistent basis. PraY needed to play Ashe as well as anyone had ever seen it in LoL Esports at the time, but fortunately for ROX, he played even better.
PraY sent Madison Square Garden into hysterics with his incredible cross-map arrow to win game 2 of the 2016 Worlds Semfinals in SKT, and rightfully so. However, the e series' best keep secret is that it was his insane performance in the third game that solidified him as the greatest Ashe to ever play League of Legends.
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