[Have you guys finished using Brother Ran?
Give him back to me.]
[Not yet. He's only ranked two. Let me use him for two more days.]
[Hurry up. Without Brother Ran, I'll be too slow to gain points.]
This strange conversation happened at the end of December. The people involved were Phyllostachys Pubescens and Shi Senming.
Ever since the new rules regarding the rankings at Canyon Peak were announced, the pro players were afraid that they would not be able to participate in the Spring Season, so they could only play in the Chinese server during the off-season.
However, at the same time, a large group of pro players, a bunch of streamers who wanted to become famous, and a vast number of directors and film crews rushed in. The environment at Canyon Peak instantly deteriorated.
Unlike the Korean server, the 'coach' of Canyon Peak could guess the identities of the five players in advance through a series of methods such as spying, adding each other as friends, and so on.
This caused the ranking system established by fists to be unbalanced. Originally, the ten players on both sides were similar in strength, but the banned players could only play around. The king of a thousand points became a master goalkeeper.
As a result, the difference in strength between the two sides at Canyon Peak was huge. There were often situations where the top, middle, and jungler on the other side had already appeared before the bottom lane could complete two sets of equipment. A set of small skills was enough to instantly kill the ADC.
Ouze played for two days and his mentality was blown to pieces. He hoped that the top and middle jungler would not collapse and develop into a team battle. However, this idea was not valid at Canyon Peak at all.
As long as they did not die, they would fight to the death. It was either you collapsed or I blew up. Peacefully developing and replenishing the army?
That did not exist. If you survived, the army would be yours. However, before that, you had to fight first.
Under such circumstances, most pro players would find it difficult to maintain a high win rate.
However, Lin Yan was different. Other than the actors in the film crew, no one could block his path to the top lane.
He relied on his brain to play the game. Normal junglers could not coordinate with him. Without vision and the protection of teammates, he did not push the lane to suppress the opponent. He calculated the time difference between the opponent's hero and the jungler to roam other lanes.
Even though those Ultimate Skill Brothers who had been banned from the game knew who was the boss, they gave all their headcount to Lin Ran. Then, they let the mid laner roll the snowball.
Who would not like this kind of teammate?
In order to get more points, Pro Bro began to interact with Lin Yan more frequently.
Every morning, when Lin Yan woke up, his WeChat would be filled with invites from pro players. It was as if he had become a social butterfly in the eSports scene.
On the eve of New Year's Eve, with Lin Yan's help, the YM players all reached the top of the canyon. The rest of the time, they only needed to play the maintenance game.
In the blink of an eye, it was 2017. All the teams had gathered for training in preparation for the LPL Spring Competition that would begin on January 19th.
YM's first match was against IG in the same group. They only had one match in the first week, and then they had a long holiday.
But White Crescent was under a lot of pressure.
This was because last season's YM champion coach, Hanyi, was now the head coach of IG. Whether or not he, as a newcomer, could gain the trust of the management and team members would depend on this opening match.
Doom was the data analyst he had brought along. He was mainly in charge of the team's daily ranking training and the discovery of version heroes. Su Cheng, on the other hand, was in charge of competition training materials. She was more inclined towards the professional arena.
The three of them met in the training room, and after discussing their respective responsibilities, they began to prepare for the opening match.
The first thing to do was to study the version.
The basic numerical abilities of Fist's new heroes were average, but when it came to nerfs and map resource changes, they were forever gods.
Every version change would eliminate a large number of teams with poor adaptability, and then new forces would spring up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.
Policewoman's basic attack power was increased by two points and her movement speed was increased by five points, and she could instantly become a T0 in the version. After Raven was hit several times, even a TS player like Raven, who was proficient in Raven, would use it less frequently.
All of this could prove Jax's words — the strongest weapon was the patch.
In this case, even if you had the system, it wouldn't work. Unless you could let yourself use a cheat without a CD, or force the opponent to lower their intelligence, you would have to adapt to the version honestly.
In terms of heroes, in the S7 pre-season, Pekingese and Enchantress were reworked, and Qing Gang Yin made a shining appearance. Consumption, recovery, true damage, displacement, sudden attack, control …
All of the advantages were combined into one, and he could even carry one in the middle and late stages. He was simply the perfect hero.
Qing Gang Yin, who had such a perverted mechanism, was hit by Fist's two attacks as soon as he logged on the server, but he was still strong.
The changes in the jungle were even more obvious, and this was the most important thing for Fist every season.
In addition to the previously mentioned adjustment of the jungle refresh time from 100 seconds to 150 seconds, the bodyguard son with the red and blue buff disappeared.
Two new birds were added to the Beak Bird camp, becoming F6.
The two Gargoyles had now learned to split, and it was quite tedious to farm them.
At the same time, the experience in the jungle had also been changed. In addition to the double buff, the experience provided when the other four groups of jungle were cleared for the first time was reduced by 25%.
This change was very important. Now, it was still the buff and double camps that could be leveled up to level 3, but if they wanted to level up to level 4, they would need to clear all six groups of camps.
The analysts and coaches were busy analyzing the changes in the new version, and the other members of YM were also nervously preparing for the game.
Unlike last year's opening of the summer tournament, there were countless teams coming to YM's door this year.
White Crescent chose the best of the best and found teams from EDG, RNG, WE, and some LCK to train.
Today's strong heroes in the bottom lane were similar to the S6 finals. They were still consumption-type supports. Liu Qingsong, who was good at hard supports, had fewer training opportunities. Most of the time, the Prophet and Jack were partners in the bottom lane.
After a few days of training matches, the Prophet, who was better at laning than roaming, performed well.
The prevalence of consumption-type supports meant that he did not need to find Xiao Tian to do the linkage. He only needed to switch lanes with the AD to push the tower. At the same time, he did not need to take on the command work. The team had Lin Yan and Jack who could control their teammates.
In other words, the Prophet was now a tool to use skills in the bottom lane. He did not have much impact on the entire YM team.
White Crescent looked at the training match record on the whiteboard with a win rate of 80% and felt a little relieved.
His coaching career had been full of ups and downs. S5 had won the LPL championship in LGD in the summer and participated in the relegation competition in OMG the following year. If Guo Hao had not found him, White Crescent would have run to LSPL.
The pressure of coaching a team that had just won the global finals last year was self-evident. White Crescent was sure that if YM's results fell, he would definitely be bullied by crazy fans on the internet.
But looking at it now, it did not seem that difficult.
On January 18th, the night before the opening of the spring tournament, YM held a group meeting.
Su Cheng held a notebook in one hand and a marker in the other, scribbling on the whiteboard.
"Little Tian, take note of the changes to the jungle experience in this version. If you just farm the jungle, it'll be very slow to level up from level 3 to level 4. Farming the jungle is now something you have to do at level 3. It's a good choice to gank or counter the jungle, especially the counter jungle. The rewards are quite high."
Originally, if a group of junglers was countered, the opponent jungler could still level up to level 4 with five groups of junglers. But now, it was not possible. As long as a group of junglers was countered, the jungler would not be able to reach level 4.
"According to this version's BUFF-A Camp BUFFs three-level route, that group of junglers will be eaten in 2 minutes, 13 seconds to 17 seconds. A group of non-buff junglers will take 150 seconds to respawn. This means that if the opponent jungler does not gain experience online, he will need to wait until the next group of junglers respawn in 4 minutes and 43 seconds to reach level 4. The vacuum period in between is equivalent to the opponent jungler being disconnected.
"Therefore, carnivorous junglers are quite popular now. Everyone's primary goal is the same as S6's — to protect the jungler from invading."
"Lin Yan, can we prioritize the red side tomorrow and leave the counter position to you?" White Crescent asked.
He was very different from Hanyi's serious coaching style. Like most coaches in the country, he was more gentle. The advantage was that there was less psychological pressure on the players, but the disadvantage was that it was difficult to supervise the players.
"Sure, I have no objections."
After the finals of S6, Lin Yan's support roaming ability had automatically increased by 3 points. Including the finals, the German Cup, and the mock competition, he had accumulated a total of 1,200 points. He invested all of them into the version development ability.
After defeating SKT with Lucian and the Commanding Flag, Lin Yan had tasted the sweetness of the version development ability. Even if his lane suppression ability was slightly lacking, he could make up for it with all kinds of black technology.
Currently, his various attributes were as follows:
Support roaming ability 89
Version development ability 94
Lane suppression ability 91
Farming ability 90
Team battle damage 90
He was gradually moving toward becoming an all-rounded pentagonal warrior.
On the afternoon of the second day, the YM players took a bus to the venue of the Spring Season — Shanghai Zhengda Stadium.
"This location is quite good …" Xiao Tian looked through the glass window at the Oriental Pearl Tower not far away.
"This year, the Alliance took advantage of our victory to pull in a large amount of sponsorship," Guo Hao said as he sat in the front. "The venue was moved from Hongqiao Performing Arts Center, where the Aurora Building and the Bund are."
"This place is quite close to Fudan University, only about 10 kilometers." Hao turned to look at Lin Yan. "This will make it convenient for Su Cheng to come and watch the competition."
It was already three in the afternoon when they finished their makeup. Everyone returned to the lounge to listen to the management's tactical arrangements.
At 4: 40, under the guidance of the staff, the YM players left the lounge with their keyboards and mice and rushed backstage to prepare.
"Ning, are you nervous?" Phyllostachys Pubescens looked at the tall Ning opposite him.
"Why would I be nervous?" Ning replied casually. "Brother Ran, be careful today. I'll crush you."
"Are you full of yourself now?" Lin Yan laughed and punched Ning's body.
"That's right. I have rookie and Theshy now. One is better than the other. What's there to be afraid of?"
The slightly plump Broiler smiled shyly. Lin Yan looked at the plump collagen on both sides of Broiler's cheeks and resisted the urge to pinch his face.
Theshy wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses under his thick curly hair. He was thin and tall, and his face shape was quite similar to his. His appearance was somewhat cold.
"Hello." Lin Yan took the initiative to greet him when he heard the live host, Yu Shuang, warming up the atmosphere.
Theshy turned his head abruptly and stared at Lin Yan's handsome face. He grinned, revealing his white teeth. His smile was exceptionally bright.
"Oh my god …" His Chinese was a bit awkward. When he spoke, he blushed for a moment and looked very shy. Theshy reached out his right hand and shook Lin Yan's hand tightly. He then switched to English. "You did very well in this year's finals. I'm your fan."
Lin Yan felt a chill run down his spine when he heard this. He felt like he had been cursed by some mysterious power.
However, he was more surprised that Theshy's personality was completely different from his cold face.
Bao Lan, who was beside him, retracted her slender white arms into her sleeves and covered her mouth and nose with her sleeves as she laughed.
The Prophet glanced at Bao Lan and his body shrunk back subtly.
"Prophet, ignore him. He's just a level two cripple," Jack teased. He had known Bao Lan before he became a professional player.
"How can you say that?" Bao Lan walked forward and pretended to strangle Jack.
On the other side, Hanyi and White Crescent nodded at each other as a form of greeting.
Compared to the players, the coaches of both teams were the ones with the strongest desire to win.
…
"Welcome to the live broadcast of the 2017 LPL Spring Season …" The commentators for the opening match were still Doll and Mille.
Mille glanced at the players' seats. "I think YM's uniform is quite interesting."
Doll couldn't help but laugh. "Isn't this black and red uniform a little out of place with the blue and white BMW logo?
Look at how clean IG's uniform is! "
The YM fans below the stage roared with laughter as well.
In the end, BMW and their previous sponsor, Belle International, invested together. Due to YM's performance at S6 last year, the team name's influence was not small. The two sponsors discussed for a while and decided not to change YM's team name for the time being.
However, the two sponsors took up all the space in front of YM's uniform. There was basically no space left. The color mix made YM's uniform look strange.
"The long off-season is finally over. From today onwards, we, the audience, will be able to test the skills of each team after the winter transfer period. At the same time, this is the first LPL 10 ban match!"
"To explain to the audience who are not familiar with the rules, both teams will first ban the blue side and choose the first three heroes. Then, the second round of BP will begin. At this time, the red side will ban first and choose first. This way, the red side will still have the last counter position."
"In today's opening match, YM has the priority to choose the side. They have decided to take the red side first. In fact, this is the first time we've seen the 10 ban mode. It's not clear whether the red side or the blue side has the advantage in this version."
"There are still many things to watch in this opening match. IG's new top laner is extremely good at attacking, and Jin Gong is quite experienced in resisting pressure. It can be said that it's a battle between spear and shield. The jungler position is a battle between former teammates. The individual strength of the two teams' midlaners need not be discussed …"
While the commentators were still chatting, the BP screen appeared.
"IG's blue side banned Lucian first. This hero has not shown any signs of being weakened after being used by Ran in the finals. Now, many passersby use of it to hit units and restrain mages. The effect is quite good."
YM locked down the Pekingese. This hero had been reworked in Version 6.24. The Q [Cruel and Merciless] had become a circular arc of damage. Under the brutal effect, the W [War Roar] had 1.5 seconds of immunity. It was simply terrifying.
"Spider Queen … This is one of the best heroes used by Xiao Tian. Junglers who can do things in the early and middle stages of this version are more popular. First, because the attributes of Little Dragon and the value of Blood Tower have not been weakened. Second, because the spawn speed of the jungle is now slow. The development of wild cores like Nanqiang and Panther Lady has been forced to slow down. The 150-second spawn time of the jungle camp is too long for them."
"Carnivorous junglers are different. I hunt in the jungle and then come back to eat the monsters. It's not a waste of time at all."
Mille's words were reasonable.
YM banned Qing Gang Yin again. They knew Theshy's offensive ability. It was impossible to put such a strong warrior hero on the blue side of IG.
IG reserved the last position for the first round of bans for the mid laner. The new version of Little Temptress was blocked. The reworked Little Temptress Q's ability to clear the line was much more efficient. It was also a strong version.
"IG is basically choosing Sindra. The heroes who can compete with her online have been blocked … As expected, YM will not release her. Broiler's Sindra is still worthy of a ban!"
Hanyi first took down Blind Monk for Ning.
"Ice and Excavator. You guys keep a close eye on Blind Monk's position!"
White Crescent found that Jack's Ice was very intelligent in the past two days of training matches. He could find the position of the opponent's jungler with the help of the pre-match coaching team and the situation on the field.
In the professional arena, the consequences of exposing the jungler's position were very serious. If it was light, the enemy's online heroes would be alerted and unable to gank. If it was heavy, the jungler would be attacked and various neutral resources would be stolen.
With the addition of an excavator with Earth Hearing, White Crescent was going to suppress Ning to death this time, leaving him with no rhythm at all.
In this version, junglers were the rhythm engine. Once the position was guessed, YM would be much more comfortable in the early stage.
IG chose the double C combination of Ryze and Ember, which was quite strong in the mid-stage.
YM's third choice was Ella as a support.
The second round of BP began.
"Ban Nami first. They should be targeting the top laner's hero pool!"
White Crescent adjusted the position of his headphones. He planned to find trouble with the opposing support Sapphire in the second round.
As he guessed, Hanyi sent Titan to the ban position. After the preseason version update, the top laner returned to the era of Titan and Big Tree.
"YM banned Karma in the end, and IG banned Big Tree." Mille glanced at the bans on both sides. "YM is now two positions away from the top and middle lane, and IG is the top support."
"Can we take Jayce first? We can swing the top and middle lane a little. This way, Jin Gong won't be afraid of being countered." Lin Yan suggested.
White Crescent thought for a moment and decided to follow Lin Yan's suggestion and take Jayce first.
"That picked Rambo, and Sapphire took Tam. IG's Ember, Ryze, and Rambo, these three short-legged heroes, need Tam's protection very much!" Doll raised his voice.
In the last counter position of YM, a man with a cowboy hat appeared in the Prophet's selection box. It was the card master, Drizzt!
"Jayce will be used by Jin Gong. Ran will take the card and take the middle lane, but the card will not have the advantage against Ryze in this version. Let's see how Ran will deal with this situation!"
The lineups of both sides were confirmed.
IG on the blue side: top laner Rambo [TS], jungler Blind Monk [Ning], mid laner Ryze [Broiler], bottom laner Lu Jin [Child's Wandering God], and Tam [Sapphire Megan].
Red side: top laner Jayce [Jin Gong], jungler Excavator [Tian], mid laner card [Lin Yan], bottom laner Ice [JKL], and Jayla [Prophet].
"Be sure to keep an eye on the opposite jungler and try to snowball in the early stages." White Crescent gave one last order and took off his headphones to shake hands with Hanyi.
The two coaches looked at each other and then left.
When they loaded into Summoner's Canyon, the audience burst into deafening cheers.
YM's cheers echoed in the stadium!
The headphones could not block out the endless cheers. Broiler was a little jealous.
He would be satisfied if he could have so many fans.
Lin Yan looked at the lineup of both sides and felt that his team had a good chance of winning this game.
He had been studying BP ever since he started playing professionally and had been tirelessly absorbing knowledge. After selecting all the lineups, Lin Yan stood in God's view and reviewed the game. He could feel that there was something wrong with Hanyi's BP.
At first glance, IG's lineup was very strong. There was no lack of first-mover control and team damage output. Rambo and Ember could divide the battlefield, and Tam could protect their teammates very well.
However, Hanyi ignored the lane.
In this version, taking Tam meant giving up the right to the bottom lane by default. The combination of Ember and Tam could only hide under the tower for the rest of their lives if they played Ice and Jayla without looking at the player's ID.
As a result, most of Tam's big moves in the early stages were useless. Once he used the big move Abyss Dive to support his teammates, the bottom lane tower would very likely be destroyed directly.
Although the cards in the middle lane were pressured to play against Ryze, Ryze could not care less if the cards only pushed the lane.
Once Lin Yan seized the opportunity, the best choice was to wander to the top lane and catch Rambo, who had no displacement.
The card's big move had a teleportation range of 5,500 yards. Ryze's Level 1 R [Warp Realm Jump] only had 1,500 yards. Naturally, there was no need to talk about who could rush to the top lane first.
If Rambo was caught too many times in the top lane, Jesse could take over the game in the middle lane. IG would not be able to drag it to the front at all.
In other words, Hanyi's BP was too idealistic.
…
Lin Yan bought the Doran Ring and went online. He brought Flash Teleportation, while Broiler brought Flash Purification.
Before Level 3, Ryze was basically unable to clear two layers of Rune Energy Acquisition Shield, which meant that Ryze's fighting ability was not strong.
Broiler also knew this. He knew that Lin Yan's lane strength was not bad. It was basically impossible to kill in the early stages. He might as well develop peacefully with Lin Yan.
At 2 minutes and 31 seconds, YM's bottom lane was the first to reach 2.
"Mongoose, I'll push forward two more steps. I can see his double buff camp at the same time!"
Jack didn't throw out the drone immediately after reaching Level 2. He didn't push the minions deep enough. A little more forward would be the best opportunity.
Kid and Sapphire didn't want to fight with this bottom lane composition. When they saw Ice swagger forward, they immediately retreated to the bottom of the tower.
Jack adjusted the angle and successfully shot Eagle Soars the Sky.
The drone under the Source Plan's skin flew across the sky. It saw the empty red buff and three wolves. Finally, it caught Blind Monk who was eating mana in the top half of the map. The blue buff who was pulled into the bushes still had very healthy health.
"Blind Monk has been revealed. This farming movement is already under YM's control …"
Jin Gong, who was pushing the line, discovered Blind Monk's position. Just as he was about to retreat, he heard Xiao Tian's call.
"He's definitely fighting this Magical Swamp Frog. Come and help me!"
Jin Gong, who wanted to sacrifice himself for the team, didn't hesitate. He decisively started pushing the line and prepared to head to the jungle.
"Xiao Tian's movement is to catch Blind Monk. Jin Gong helped with two red buffs at the start of the game. Xiao Tian took three of the three groups of monsters in the top half of the map. With the AOE damage of Excavator's Q skill, his farming speed is slightly faster than Ning who is alone!"
"Normally, he wouldn't be that fast, right?"
Mille saw that Blind Monk had only taken 13% of the Magical Swamp Frog's health when Xiao Tian crossed the river. He was confused. "Blind Monk's red and blue buffs are all single monsters. His farming speed shouldn't be that slow?"
"Ning's condition is a bit bad. The Magical Swamp Frog's damage isn't low. Blind Monk only has 23% health!"
Lin Yan also took out a red card and prepared to push the line quickly. He wanted to stop Broiler from entering the jungle.
Theshy saw Zega's speed of pushing the line quickly. Being extremely talented, he instantly understood what YM was trying to do.
His heart was burning with anxiety as he frantically pinged the minimap. Then, he mumbled a bunch of Korean. His current level of Chinese was still stuck at the level of hello and thank you, so he couldn't express himself in Chinese in time.
Broiler quickly went through Theshy's words in his mind and then translated them to Ning. However, the efficiency was too slow. It wasn't as fast as communication.
Ning was stunned for a moment when he saw the warning signal. He couldn't react in time and wanted to retreat.
However, it was too late.
Xiao Tian drilled through the wall above the Magical Swamp Frog. Blind Monk couldn't react in time and tore open Ning's wound with his sharp claws. At the same time, Jin Gong used Flash to close the distance. EQ landed on Blind Monk who was sent flying!
Ning's Punishment had already been used when he was fighting the blue buff. In this version of the game, it would take 3 minutes and 15 seconds for the next Punishment to be used. He didn't have any way to recover health!
The blind monk wanted to run over the wall, but Little Tian decisively flashed over the wall and used a Red Rage E to kill him!
"Ning died before he could even use Flash. This wave is too much!"
"Go straight to the top lane. I can get there!" Lin Yan used a red card to withdraw the minions. After being attacked by Broiler for a round, he immediately drank a health potion and retreated down the tower.
"Come, come, come!"
Jin Gong was very excited. At this time, there were still four minions under the tower that had not been cleared. Xiao Tian had just used Flash to kill Blind Monk. He was right in the middle of the first and second towers on the top lane of IG. He could definitely cross the tower!
"Is YM crazy?
His card is only level 3 and he wants to bring his teammates to cross the tower? "Mille looked at the teleportation light in front of the first tower on IG and shouted in disbelief.
Broiler took two steps forward and found that Lin Yan had retreated too far. He couldn't stop him in time!
Lin Yan teleported to the tower guard so that it would be immune from the tower's damage for a period of time.
With enemies on both sides, where could Rambo run to?
He wanted to control it but Lin Yan raised his hand and used a yellow card. Rambo, who was frozen, couldn't resist!
Xiao Tian pushed it up and continued to control it. Jin Gong then used his cannon form, [Super Electric Charge], changed to hammer form, and smashed a set of skills on Rambo's face!
Before Theshy died, he threw out a harpoon and wanted to replace Lin Yan who was in the tower. However, Lin Yan decisively used Flash to get out of the tower. He pulled the tower's aggro and dodged the harpoon at the same time.
"Perfect coordination for crossing the tower!
YM's control of the tower is too skillful!
Theshy can't control it! "Doll shouted.
Broiler, who was in the middle lane, could only use up his mana and push the minions out.
At this time, he regretted being afraid that Nakano would target him with a Purify. If he had used Teleport, the outcome would be completely different!