During the pre-match group meeting on Thursday night, White Crescent and the other team members sat on the chairs and listened to the analyst team's report.
"It's worth mentioning that there have been some changes to the armor-piercing equipment in this version." Analyst doom printed out a chart and stuck it on the whiteboard with a magnet. "All armor-piercing equipment has been nerfed. You can see from the chart that the current armor-piercing equipment is much less cost-effective than before."
"The other change is that the duration of Zeal of War has increased by two seconds." Su Cheng, who was sitting there, tapped on the whiteboard. "The combination of the two changes has brought about a very obvious effect."
"The armor-piercing ADC is going to sit on the bench and be replaced by a normal offensive ADC …" Su Cheng glanced at her notebook. "In the days after the new version was installed, Ember had a total of eight banners and 41 selections in the five divisions. Their winning rate is only 41%."
"Ice and Attack Speed. Verus and Policewoman are gradually replacing Ember's T1 position. Ice had 18 bans and 42 selections, with a winning rate of 64%. Verus had 59 bans and 13 selections, with a winning rate of 53%."
(See the chart for the data.)
The data listed by Su Cheng was very detailed, and it was convincing.
Ever since she joined the team, she and doom's ability to analyze and understand the version had always been very stable. They could analyze the version in simple terms and had never made any mistakes.
Although Su Cheng had only been an analyst for half a year, her ability had improved by leaps and bounds. She was not weaker than other domestic colleagues.
Firstly, it was because Su Cheng was good at studying and had excellent control of the details on the field. She was hardworking and serious. Secondly, it was because of her peers.
Just like what White Crescent said, the coaches were not the only messy things in the LPL two years ago. The analyst team was also useless.
The main function of most team analysts was to order takeout and help the players clean up their dirty clothes.
S5 was the first year of the domestic coaching and analysis teams.
After the large-scale introduction of the Korean coaching team and the MSI championship, the LPL coaching team felt a sense of crisis.
If you wanted to survive in the last elimination system, you had to get out. No team would hire idlers … except for IG.
The coaches with "meritorious" contributions were kicked out and could only look for jobs in the LSPL. The people who stayed behind suddenly realized.
Shocking!
So the analysts and coaches have to analyze versions?
In this way, the domestic coaching team had only been established for a little more than a year. In comparison, Su Cheng, who had been in the industry for half a year, was already considered a relatively good analyst in the country.
Su Cheng and doom, another daily ranking data analyst, were mainly analyzing the new version 7.4, which was released on February 27th.
Here, I need to mention the work of an analyst.
In the early stages of the version update, their main task was to find a suitable version answer. At the same time, they also had to find out each player's eye position and movement habits to communicate with their own team members.
Some people might find it strange. Don't the players and coaches read the content of the update?
Of course he would.
However, most of the time, they only had the impression that certain heroes had been strengthened or weakened.
As mentioned before, most of the content of the version update would not appear on the surface. A small change could affect the entire ecosystem.
For example, Lucian's wind-up and yellow chicken basically belonged to those who had hands, and he could easily suppress them online.
The new patch had suddenly nerfed Lucian's damage output. If Clockwork and Yellow Chick were to face Lucian again, they would have a much easier time.
But would Clockwork and Yellow Rooster rise to prominence because of this?
Not necessarily.
If the overall tempo of the game was slower, and there was no requirement to bind the mid laner in the early stages, then heroes like Clockwork and Yellow Rooster would have a much better environment in the mid lane.
However, if the version still required the mid laner to be bound and the tempo of the game was faster, then when one Lucian fell, another Sindra would rise.
Once Sindra became popular, it was possible to create a new mid laner environment. Heroes like Tribulation and Fishman, who were also bound to the mid laner, and who countered Sindra, would quickly become popular.
It was a very simple principle.
However, judging the environment of the version required a lot of data. The professional players themselves had to practice matches and play ranked matches, so they definitely didn't have enough time.
The coaches were usually responsible for supervising the players' condition and practice, reviewing the content of the various matches, and guiding the players on how to play the game, so they didn't have much time either.
Thus, these tasks had to be done by the analyst team.
Analyzing the version in the shortest time possible and giving suggestions to the coaches and players on how to choose heroes and how to set up their eye position was basically the job of the analysts.
Version analysis was divided into two levels: the tournament and the ranked matches.
The latter wasn't difficult, but it was relatively tedious to organize the data. Doom, the analyst in the YM team, was responsible for this work. He had to organize the ranking data of the Korean server and the Chinese server, and then summarize the strongest heroes in the version.
However, there was one thing to note. The ranking data was not the same as the tournament data. Many popular heroes couldn't make it to the tournament, but some of the more popular heroes appeared in the tournament.
Because of the difference in the level of blood between the ranked matches and the tournament, even the Korean server's King's Game, where the professional players gathered, fought more often than in the tournament.
Under such circumstances, the late game farming heroes and solo laners were definitely not popular. Heroes like Yellow Rooster and Ryze were typical examples. There was a huge difference between the selection rate of the ranked matches and the selection rate of the tournament.
As a result, the data would inevitably deviate from the tournament data. At this time, the tournament data analyst would be needed to combine the data with the content of the version to come up with a reasonable answer.
"Another key point is that the bounty for the First Blood Tower has been reduced." Doom took a sip of water and continued, "The gold reward for dismantling the First Blood Tower has been reduced from 400 to 300."
"Fists are starting to attack us?" Xiao Tian gulped down a mouthful of cola, his tone somewhat dissatisfied. "How disgusting."
The reduction of the bounty for the First Blood Tower meant that the income generated from the early game would be reduced significantly. This would undoubtedly affect YM's early game four-packs.
"This is normal." White Crescent kept pressing the button on his ballpoint pen. "Every year, the champion of the S Tournament will be targeted by Fists. They don't want the championship to be monopolized. Their main goal is to keep the competition alive."
"This is only the first cut." White Crescent might not have won the S Tournament, but he was an experienced player. He had a lot of reasoning to say. "Wait until the mid-season version. You'll definitely have to cut it."
At noon the next day, the YM team got into the BMW and headed to the stadium.
Guo Hao was still taking care of Jack in the hospital, and Su Cheng couldn't make it because she had a full class. Only Lefty was left to watch and learn.
YMA was on a roll. After the fifth week of the regular season, they had a 15-game winning streak. Including the newly established Suning Esports, no team in the secondary league could stop Knight, who had received LPL training in advance.
He had an average of 7.7 kills, 0.5 deaths, 6.8 assists, 35.5% of the damage output, 177% of the damage conversion rate. He used a different hero in each game, and he had scored 30 solo kills. On average, he killed his opponent twice in a game.
More importantly, he used an AP hero to get Killer Book. If Killer Sword hadn't been deleted, he would have gotten Killer Book if he played Jayce.
Knight, who was crowned as a scholar by the LSPL audience, was the demon king who dominated the secondary league.
Lin Yan taught Lefty everything he knew. He answered all of Lefty's questions.
He didn't care if his disciple starved his master. For Lin Yan, it was definitely a happy thing to see a new star rise under his guidance.
It was another focal battle. There were already many fans waiting outside the square.
This time, the audience wasn't all supporting YM. There were also many people holding Royal Family items.
When they saw YM's unique and eye-catching BMW arrive at the stadium, the audience burst into cheers. They also took out their phones to record.
"Good luck YM!" A male audience member held his phone and shouted. "Kill RNG as much as you can!"
His voice was very rough, and Lin Yan couldn't help but look over.
Even though his words were suspicious of starting a fight, the RNG fans around him didn't come forward to argue.
That was because this guy was too strong.
He looked like a shrunken version of Dwayne Johnson. He could probably kill Little Tortoise with one punch.
Little Dwayne Johnson saw the chubby Lin Weixiang squeeze out of the car. He immediately raised his fist and waved at him. "Play well, LWX!"
"GG …" Lin Weixiang looked at the veins on Little Dwayne Johnson's arm. His hand began to tremble. He was gradually entering the initial stage where he couldn't get any feedback.
After the makeup was done and the tactics discussed, the first BO3 match of the night had just begun.
Group B's LGD against Group A's IG.
IG's performance in the first round of the inner circle was quite good.
Other than losing to YM and WE, they also had three wins and were currently ranked third in the group.
LGD's performance wasn't satisfactory.
As mentioned before, starting from the S5 season, the country paid more attention to the improvement of the coaching staff. However, LGD was an exception.
They only had one coach and no analysts.
(Yes, LGD. In S10, they only had two coaches, Wheat Tip and Wild King. They didn't even have an analyst. You're really something.)
Other than the lack of coaching staff, the individual strength of LGD's players was also worrying.
Dharmaraja brought his optimism to the top lane during the Spring Season. He had accumulated Tower Sword experience over a long period of time.
Everyone had their own style of play, but Dharmaraja's playstyle was unique.
Even if you covered his ID, you would still be able to guess Dharmaraja's identity without hesitation after two minutes. This was his innate unique temperament.
Noh Sei was still the same Noh Sei. He invaded the jungle as fast as lightning and didn't talk reason at all. He often gave the opponent a head as compensation when he attacked the jungle.
However, this was Noh Sei's character. He was always honest and never did dirty things.
I attacked two groups of junglers. Naturally, I had to give you my head. Otherwise, how could it be considered fair?
Gao Dewei, IMP, and Ling Heino were dumbfounded when they saw their own unrestrained jungler duo.
"Wow … They even dare to fight like this?
Why doesn't it count as passive time? "Left Hand muttered as he looked at the big screen.
Lin Yan was looking at Tieba. When he heard Left Hand's words, he looked up at the big screen.
The top lane was killed.
The Sh's Qing Gang Yin faced Dharmaraja's Shen. He killed the top lane in three minutes and then retreated calmly.
The director quickly replayed it.
The top lane and the top lane started fighting from level one.
Although Shen had Q's blade damage bonus, The Sh cleverly used a passive shield to block Dharmaraja's set of small bursts. Then, he used W [Tactical Sweep] to hit the recovery effect.
At level one, Qing Gang Yin won.
From then on until level three, the two sides continued to fight. Dharmaraja was never afraid. He just fought and was evenly matched with The Sh.
The level three and a half HP The Sh showed a wave of flaws and went forward to attack. Dharmaraja thought it was an opportunity and taunted him.
The two sides exchanged until their HP was low. Dharmaraja thought he could complete the solo kill with the help of a wave of minions.
However, he didn't expect Qing Gang Yin's passive [Adaptive Defense] to cool down at the critical moment.
The Sh obviously calculated the cooldown of the passive before he dared to attack. Dharmaraja looked at the low HP Qing Gang Yin and saw a shield suddenly appear on his body. He was about to explode!
He quickly ran down the tower.
However, The Sh handed over his hook rope and kicked Shen. He took Dharmaraja's HP with a normal attack!
The two seconds of [Adaptive Defense] just helped Qing Gang Yin block the tower's first attack. Then, The Sh gave up his flash and retreated. He had less than 100 HP left!
Qing Gang Yin was calm and calm. It was obviously calculated in advance.
What happened next made the YM members hungry.
"Can I order takeout?" Lin Weixiang stared at the game on the big screen in the lounge. "I'm a little hungry."
"You still want to eat?
Aren't you afraid of high blood pressure if you continue to gain weight? "
Liu Qingsong was a little fat when he first came to YM. But now, his weight loss was very good. He looked well-proportioned and was similar to Jack's weight when he gained weight through braised pork.
"I can't help it. It's too delicious." Lin Weixiang patted his slightly bulging belly.
Although the game in the lounge was on mute, it did not affect Dharmaraja and Noh Sei's excellent Manchu Han Imperial Feast.
Noh Sei used Blind Monk to go to the anti-Ning Mantis Jungle. However, the top lane could not help him at all. The Sh arrived in time to help Ning take the Blind Monk's head.
Dharmaraja controlled Shen to miss the taunt again. He was killed by The Sh after he reached level 6.
Then, it was IG's time.
Ning gradually found the trick after a few games. He did not go to the bottom lane. He protected the top and middle lane.
Most of the time, Broiler and The Sh could control the lane advantage. Then, Ning could invade the top half of the jungle unscrupulously. After all, there was someone behind him. He was bold.
Noh Sei's jungle was completely reduced to Ning's experimental field in this best-of-three.
Broiler was even more ruthless. Since he lost to Lin Yan's YM, he changed his playing style.
Originally, he liked to rely on his own strength to gain the lane advantage. Now, he was crazy about roaming.
He often went back to his base to drop level two shoes. Then, he went straight to the side lane to kill people. This way, he could gain the economic advantage. In the middle lane, he was always scanning for opportunities to ambush people.
In this game, he controlled his middle Clockwork to ambush Hirano Ayaka three times.
In the whole game, Hirano Ayaka died a total of ten times. His level could not catch up at all. And if his level could not catch up, he would be caught more easily.
It became a vicious cycle.
After two rounds of 25 minutes, IG easily defeated LGD.
Easy victories one after another made the rookies even more certain of their wandering playstyle.
After the game, Hanyi's face relaxed. After losing two games against YM and WE at the beginning of the Spring Season, IG gradually found a rhythm that suited them.
…
"Xiao Ming, did you see the champion's skin?" The YM players saw their old teammate Shi Senming before the game.
"Hehehe … I saw it." Xiao Ming laughed. "My and Jack's teleport effect is much better than yours."
"Don't bark, you stinky dog." Little Wang Ba was angry when he heard the teleport effect. "This year, Brother Ran and I will do a teleport effect."
"You're choosing a skin already?
Who gave you the confidence? "Xiao Ming poked Jin Gong in the waist." We'll be the champions this year, okay? "
Jin Gong was poked in the waist. He grabbed Xiao Ming's neck and shook it. "Ah Ssi … You little bastard, you don't even come to see us. I even cooked you egg fried rice!"
"The two bases are too far away. I can't understand!" Xiao Ming begged for mercy.
Ouze listened to them discuss the champion's skin. His eyes were full of desire.
He had two runners-up in the S-League, but compared to the champion of the year, he was still far behind.
Even before the finals, Ouze knew that he would not be able to win the championship. The champion's skin was even more unattainable.
S5 and S6 had been dormant for two years. Ouze was unwilling, but he could only accept reality.
However, this year, he had stronger teammates. His desire to win the championship began to stir again.
…
The commentator for today's match was still Doll, Mille. This was almost the standard for YM to play against strong teams.
"The battle between the first place of Group A and Group B. It's another highlight."
"However, there's a situation on YM's side."
Doll knew that some of the viewers did not look at the starting lineup posted by the team's official Weibo, so he explained to them first.
"JKL has been forced to rest due to his physical condition. YM has new bottom laners LWX and Pinus. Both of them used to play for Team TCS and experienced the City Hero Tournament and LSPL. Strictly speaking, they're not rookies."
Mille nodded. "That's right. I personally think that the key to this BO3 is whether or not YM's new bottom laner can withstand the pressure. After all, they're facing UZI and Xiao Ming."
[A bottom laner duo that can't even survive in LSPL is going to play against the world champion and world runner-up. Everyone, guess how long it takes for the bottom laner to explode?]
[I'm guessing that they'll be killed when they reach level 6.]
[Losing a tower in ten minutes shouldn't be a problem, right?]
[No problem. I think that if Xiao Tian doesn't go to the bottom laner, losing a blood tower in ten minutes is already giving them face.]
Even many YM fans were not optimistic about this match.
RNG's sharpest spear was now against YM's weakest shield. How could they play?
BP officially began. YM won the coin toss and chose the red side.
RNG banned Lucian, Sindra, and Qing Gang Yin in the first round. YM banned Little Temptress, Ice, and Verus.
"Except for Little Temptress, who must be banned on the red side, the other two bans are given to UZI in the bottom laner!" Doll felt that there was a gimmick when she saw the bans.
"RNG's three bans are all given to the middle and upper ranks!
Both sides aim at the opponent's strong points and strive to block all of them! "
RNG's coach this year was FireFox. You could call him Fire Fox or Brother Feng.
At the same time, he was also an analyst for S5 LGD. After Chris and LGD had a falling out, he temporarily became LGD's coach. S5's famous "Iron Man" was written by him.
Although according to the players' memories after the game, this famous book was "written" by Brother Feng and the team members together.
Everyone felt that fire could make iron, so Fire Man could also make iron, so it was released. Naturally, they couldn't let Brother Feng take the blame alone.
Most of the time, he didn't act up and just played BP honestly. Occasionally, he would have a flash of inspiration and swing his choice to trick the opponent.
At this time, he was standing behind RNG's player bench. "Xiao Hu, how about I give you Jace first?"
"Then the opponent will definitely choose EZ," Ouze interrupted. "If he's paired with a soft support, I can't do anything to him!"
Ouze now had only one thought in mind — to destroy YM's bottom laner.
A persimmon naturally had to be pinched. The opponent's LSPL bottom laner combination was the breakthrough point in Ouze's eyes.
Brother Feng hesitated for a moment and decided to give Ouze EZ first.
Due to the equipment changes, Armor Piercing Ash had been weakened very badly in this version. It was very difficult to take it out.
After all, if it was originally an armor piercing item, 20 minutes of Ash could use the strength of the equipment to make up for the previous economic disadvantage of the matchup. However, it couldn't be done now. Armor Piercing Ash's performance in the early and mid stages of the game had decreased a lot.
With Ice and Verus banned and EZ taken down by himself, Ouze felt that the opponent's ADC didn't have any heroes to play.
"YM chose to take Jace and Spider first. This Jace can be used as a swing to block RNG!" Mille analyzed. "After all, Jin Gong and Ran both know how to use it, and the effects aren't bad either!"
Karma and Blind Monk were the second and third choices for RNG.
Brother Feng knew that if there was still no jungler, then YM's second ban would definitely target it.
"Hammer Stone?" Doll was in disbelief. "YM's support is going to take a control type hard support!"
"You have to know that Xiao Ming, who's sitting opposite him, is someone who's about to have a Hammer Stone skin." Mille was also a little emotional. "This choice is indeed very bold."
[Woah woah woah, he's playing Hammer Stone right in front of Xiao Ming?
You're really something.]
[Don't say anything else. Wait for Ouze and Xiao Ming to destroy YM's new bottom lane!]
The bullet screen reacted fiercely to YM's support choice.
YM banned Vampire and Shen in the second ban, while RNG was determined to ban LWX's hero pool.
Then they banned Policewoman and Ember.
Although these two heroes were now very low priority, Ouze didn't plan on letting Lin Weixiang get them.
Ouze had to educate this new ADC in this game and tell him that this was LPL.
"Jin Gong, you use Wine Barrel. Release Big Tree!" White Crescent said.
Wine Barrel, like Big Tree and Shen, was a top laner in this version of the game.
He had enough control, W and passive recovery could help him laze in the lane, and he could also use E to dodge the team.
White Crescent looked at the hero selection window on the opposite side. He was nervous and uneasy.
From the beginning of the BP, he had dug a hole. Now it was up to RNG to see if they would jump in.
"Do you want to choose Big Tree + Ella?"
Doll wasn't surprised. "This way, RNG will use Karma in the middle lane. Their coaching staff will be swayed again!"
"It's a very normal choice." Mille nodded. "Now that the heroes in the middle lane have been banned, there's no one who can play Jess. It's not a bad idea to let Xiao Hu use Karma."
"But this way, RNG's DPS will be all on the bottom lane. Their Big Tree, Blind Monk, and Karma's top laners won't have high DPS in the team battle!"
"RNG will lock the lineup and see what YM's last choice is for LWX …"
White Crescent smiled proudly after seeing RNG's final lineup.
The fish had taken the bait.