Lin Yan took off his headphones, stood up, and looked at the audience.
The stadium was silent.
The audience was still immersed in the scene of Rambo's five-kill. It was too shocking for them.
They could not understand how Rambo's damage could be so exaggerated in 20 minutes.
"Go shake hands, it's boring." Lin Yan curled his lips. He had thought that the audience would be strong, but it seemed that they were just so-so.
As they shook hands, Li Xianghe was clearly upset. He had made a fatal mistake in the early stages of the match. The Lamia who had reached 0/2 in 5 minutes was obviously unable to take on the responsibility of being the core of the team. Even the strategy that they had planned could not be implemented.
Kkoma, who was in the lounge, was deep in thought.
Even though they had lost the match, he felt that there were no problems with the strategy. If Faker had not made any mistakes, they would have gained the upper hand in the early stages.
After the match, Lin Yan and Liu Qingsong were arranged to be interviewed by the Chinese media.
After the routine self-introduction, Ren Dong of the Immortal Grasp faced the two of them.
"Congratulations to YM for defeating SKT and adding another point to our LPL division. How do you feel about this match?"
Liu Qingsong thought for a while before answering. "As a member of the team, of course I'm happy to win against SKT. However, I didn't have much gaming experience in this match."
"My teammates are too strong. Brother Ran went straight for a five-kill and didn't give me, a support, a chance to show off my individual control." He shrugged.
Lin Yan thought for a while and felt that Liu Qingsong was hinting at someone.
He saw Ren Dong's gaze on him. He picked up the microphone and said without hesitation,
"I'm very happy too."
"I've been winning since my debut. Logically speaking, winning the Intercontinental League group stage shouldn't affect my emotions too much …"
He paused and met Ren Dong's puzzled gaze.
"However, the fans in the stadium are too passionate. I've never seen such a high-quality audience." Lin Yan saw Liu Qingsong trying to hold back his laughter. "Their passion for eSports moved me."
"Of course, I won't let them down. Under these circumstances, I'm very happy to win a match. It's a very satisfying and fulfilling thing." Lin Yan concluded.
Due to the LPL's official interview that day, and the fact that they had just defeated their strong opponent, SKT, the audience's enthusiasm was at an all-time high.
[What do you mean by passionate eSports? Hahahaha.]
[This sarcasm has a Xiao Tian flavor to it!]
[Ran: The audience wants me to lose?
I'm going to win!]
[You want the heart of a shrimp, right?]
Liu Qingsong was still trying his best to restrain the corners of his mouth and maintain his aloof persona.
Ren Dong's expression almost collapsed.
He coughed lightly, then immediately brought up the second question. "The elimination round will be held tomorrow. What do the two of you think about it?"
"Just … win the championship." Liu Qingsong's face was stiff as usual.
Lin Yan held the microphone. "If our LPL team can play tomorrow, I will be extremely excited. I will give the audience an extremely exciting match that they will never forget."
His tone was serious, but Ren Dong and Liu Qingsong could hear the strong threat in it.
If the LPL team did not get a guaranteed spot in the finals, Lin Yan would definitely go on a killing spree against the LMS team in the semifinals. It would not be impossible to recreate the scene where he wiped out the Blitz Wolves.
[Crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy!]
[Bad guy, I'm looking forward to it. What should I do?]
[Can we lose the IG later on?
I want to see the LPL team kill Wan Wan!]
"Thank you for your hard work." Guo Hao stood at the exit of the players' tunnel to welcome them. He stepped forward and patted their shoulders.
"We've got four wins, right?" Liu Qingsong asked. "Are we catching up to LCK?"
Guo Hao remembered these things very clearly. "We must win the MVP in IG. Only then will we have a chance to fight for first place."
At this time, Hanyi and the IG team members walked out of the lounge.
"Good luck, good luck." Lin Yan looked at his old coach.
Hanyi's stiff face revealed a hint of a smile. "Don't worry, we'll definitely win this match."
However, the face-slapping scene always played out very quickly. Lin Yan did not expect his post-match interview to come true.
The MVP team of LCK, who they had previously ignored, exploded with amazing energy!
"This support is quite powerful …" Liu Qingsong and the Prophet mumbled to each other.
Lin Yan leaned back in his chair and stared at the big screen in the lounge.
The MVP support was good at playing tricks. In this match, he brought out the non-mainstream Cheyenne to fight against IG's bottom lane.
In the first ten minutes of the match, Cheyenne had already gone offline three times. Each time, he was able to kill IG.
On the other side, Sapphire was firmly tied down in the bottom lane and could not move.
Under such circumstances, IG could not defend against Cheyenne who was everywhere. The MVP team played a beautiful jungle attack.
In the beginning and middle of the match, IG was dizzy from Cheyenne's attacks. As long as they heard Cheyenne's big move, their hearts would be in chaos. In the middle of the match, IG's economy fell behind 5K's and the situation was on the verge of collapse.
After Hanyi joined IG, he had been emphasizing on the operational thinking and tried to let IG have more tactical thinking.
However, after half a year of teaching, IG's disadvantage was still the same — forcing the team to fight.
This was the strategy that IG had pursued since the establishment of the club. It could be called the cornerstone of the team. Hanyi could not change it at all.
This strategy of forcing the team to fight was a double-edged sword.
Either they could turn the tables around in one wave, or they could die immediately after the team fight without even a chance to struggle.
This round of IG was the latter result.
In the 26th minute, they took advantage of 6K's economic disadvantage to forcefully fight against the MVP team in the Dragon's pit.
Cheyenne's strength in the river fight did not need to be mentioned. He activated his big move and crashed into Broiler and Sapphire. He cooperated with his teammates to kill them first.
After a 0 for 4 team fight, the MVP team obtained the Dragon and took out all of IG's outer towers, increasing the economic gap to 10,000.
At this point, the last bit of suspense in the match was lost. The MVP team returned to the city to restock their equipment and used the Dragon's buff to flatten IG's base.
Hanyi, who was in the resting room, was very unhappy.
Every time he saw his team members deal with a disadvantageous situation like this, he felt his blood pressure rise.
IG's team members completely abandoned the role of the coach in this disadvantageous situation. In any case, they were reckless from the beginning to the end.
White Crescent Moon drew a heavy 'x' on the battle record.
At this point, all the LPL matches were over. They were ranked second with a record of 5 wins and 3 losses. They would face the LMS team tomorrow.
"Do we still need to prepare for tomorrow's semi-finals?"
White Crescent was very relaxed. He felt that the Wan team was just giving away points. "Why don't we directly study our opponents tonight?"
The other three coaches did not have any objections.
In their opinion, the Wan team was indeed very weak. Whether it was individual strength or overall coordination, they were not on the same level as the LPL.
That night, the coaches of the four teams studied the LCK team's recordings in the training room. A few analysts gathered together and divided up the various data of the Korean team.
Dozens of team members were racing against time to practice for the competition.
It was worth mentioning that after the end of the group stage, the three main divisions would undergo a cruel elimination round. The other divisions could not arrange for an opponent to participate in a practice match. This was because there was a possibility that their prepared strategies would be revealed.
The LPL teams split into groups of two and practiced with each other.
The night passed quickly. While the three main divisions were preparing for the elimination round, the public opinion before the competition was gradually fermenting.
The LPL fans were looking forward to seeing a hearty victory tomorrow. In their opinion, there was no suspense.
Many Wan team members had also seen Lin Yan's new interview video.
They realized a problem: no team could stop YM.
Even the once strong SKT could not stop this supernova team. How could their LMS team, a group of old, weak, and disabled people who relied on the bloodline of the King of Fighters to survive, fight against YM?
It was like trying to smash an egg against a rock.
Moreover, Lin Yan almost wrote the word "threat" on his face in the interview. If they continued to mess with the audience's mentality tomorrow, no one could guarantee that YM would not do anything drastic.
24 kills and 0 deaths against the Lightning Wolf might just be the appetizer. Using the Dragon to stall for time and forcefully blocking the high ground to kill them was not out of the question.
After all, the Fist officials only prohibited malicious abuse. YM "believed" that they could not finish the match in one go. Blocking the high ground to kill them was not against the rules.
With this kind of difference in strength, the more they made a scene, the more difficult it would be for their own division. Moreover, the audience would feel very aggrieved.
To continue making a scene or to preserve one's last shred of dignity was a choice that did not require much thought.
The Wan team members planned to save their strength for the finals. After all, their division would have been eliminated by then. Even if LPL vented their anger, they would not be able to find fault with them.
That's right. The Wan team members felt that their teams were doomed the next day. The finals would undoubtedly be a traditional LPL versus LCK match.
Therefore, when the four LPL teams went on stage the next day, the audience was completely silent. There were no boos or respectful applause like the previous day.
The rules of the continental knockout stage were very interesting. The four teams could freely decide the order in which they would go on stage. They only had to follow one condition — in the first four rounds, each team had to go on stage once.
Once they reached the final round, the two divisions could freely choose any team to compete with.
This kind of competition was more like a game of horse racing. It tested the ability of both sides to arrange their teams.
In the first round of the semi-finals, the LPL joint coaching team decided to let WE be the vanguard.
The opponent sent out the strongest team in the division, the Lightning Wolf.
What happened next made everyone's jaws drop.
Kandy lost his rhythm in front of Casa. The battle was quickly divided by the Lightning Wolf. WE seemed to be sleepwalking in the early stages. They did not even organize an effective attack.
Like Land Tiger, Maple seemed to have found confidence in Xi Ye. Sindra was played like an assassin in his hands. He used all kinds of angles and squatted down. In 20 minutes, he managed to kill three people.
In the middle of the game, WE wanted to take the opportunity to catch the opponent off guard. However, Casa's Wine Barrel's ultimate was perfect. He blew up WE's two tanks and successfully dragged them down until Mimi's egg teleported to the ground.
WE, who used most of their skills but did not lose any members, were naturally not a match for the Lightning Wolf. They were chased all the way and lost their Dragon.
Today, the Lightning Wolf was unusually steady. After they gained the advantage, they fought steadily and steadily.
Two Dragon, one Primordial Dragon. In 41 minutes, the Lightning Wolf won the match.
(Life-saving Tip: Don't say that I purposely made things difficult. In the real 2017 Continental Championship, LPL and LMS played five rounds before the winner was decided. At that time, the Wan division was obviously more prepared than the LPL. I'll post the BP chart in this chapter.)
The audience was dumbfounded.
What happened to being abused?
Didn't they say that it would be 3-0? What happened to me?
Lightning Wolf, you're so good. You're making it difficult for us.
When they saw the dawn of victory, deafening cheers erupted from the audience.
In the LPL lounge, the atmosphere suddenly became tense.
No one expected that the LMS division, which everyone thought was no match for them before the game, would suddenly rise to prominence.
The LMS division's coaches did not sit still. Instead, they carefully prepared a lot of tactics for LPL.
They obviously came prepared.
"Shall we go next?" Lin Yan suggested, "Let's give everyone some confidence."
"Okay, let's go." White Crescent frowned and agreed with Lin Yan's suggestion. "I'll leave the last two matches to you guys."
The latter half of his sentence was directed at Hanyi and Brother Feng.
The two coaches nodded to show that they understood.
"The two teams in the second semifinal match are …" Ze Yuan on the commentary platform pressed his headset to receive the information from the director. "YM and AHQ!"
"Our Spring Season champion, LPL's number one seed, YM, is finally going on stage." As usual, Su Xiaoyan had a notebook in front of her desk. "I hope they can take the first victory of this BO5 for the LPL division!"
The loss of the last match made the audience in the live broadcast room unable to sit still.
[Stop causing trouble. You won't lose to Wan Wan, right?]
[You're still dreaming of winning LCK. Don't even make it to the finals. That'll be a slap in the face.]
[Don't lose, don't lose, don't lose. Don't provoke Wan Wan. Otherwise, Wan Wan will start to disgust people tonight!]
"What do we do for this match?" Jack yawned and swung his legs. "Should we use more force?"
Lin Yan saw that the audience was beginning to stir. It seemed that they had not given up on their evil intentions. The victory of Lightning Wolf in the last match had caused waves in the hearts of the audience who had originally decided not to cause trouble.
"Just kill them and be done with it." Lin Yan knew that if he did not go all out, these people would never learn their lesson.
"Roger that!" Phyllostachys Pubescens pretended to salute.
"The BP segment of the second semifinal match of the Asia League has officially begun. For this match, LMS, who is ranked lower in the group stage, will choose a side. They have chosen the red side!"
Half a year after the 10-ban system was implemented in the League, it was widely believed that the blue side had a slight advantage. However, when facing YM, AHQ's coach, Green Tea, still chose the red side.
This was because he knew how scary YM was when they were in the red side. Even if they were in the red side, they would not be able to defend against their four-pack strategy.
"YM banned Galio first." Su Xiaoyan frowned. She flipped through her notebook before the director's camera could reach her. "YM rarely bans this hero in the blue side. They only did so in a small match before …"
Green Tea sent Zach to the ban position.
White Crescent banned Rock Sparrow.
"Talia?"
Ze Yuan was also confused. "YM banned roaming heroes with high proficiency in Ran. Isn't this a bit …"
It felt like he was trapped in a trap of his own making.
Ze Yuan did not dare to finish his sentence.
AHQ's coach, Green Tea, thought the same. He frowned as he pondered over the second ban position.
His coaching skills as a coach were the same as his professional career as a player. They were mediocre and had few highlights.
If not for the S4 global finals, where EDG's Nami ate beef noodles and caught Hammer Stone's bait, Green Tea's career would not have had any highlights.
Standing on the stage, he didn't have much of an effect. Last night, the joint coaching team had already prepared all the BP. Green Tea only needed to follow the notes in the notebook and it would be fine.
It was just like how Guan Yu dismantled Zhuge Liang's brocade pouch.
However, he did not expect White Crescent to not follow the routine.
Galio, Rock Sparrow … You banned your own mid laner!
Could it be that you, White Crescent, are a spy here?
Green Tea looked at the notes in his notebook. The second ban position in the first round was given to Talia Galio.
What am I supposed to do now that you've finished my path?
Green Tea did not even have a plan B.
In his opinion, YM would not be able to ban these two heroes.
He did not expect White Crescent to do the same today. It was as if he had worn Metersbonwe.
"Banned?" The jungler, Old Mountain, turned around and asked.
It was five seconds to the end of the countdown. Green Tea was sweating profusely in the summer.
"Lucien … No, Ziles- Ziles-!" Green Tea panicked.
(Taiwan's Lucien = Lucian, Ziles- Ziles-)
Old Mountain was confused.
What was banned?
"The countdown is over. AHQ did not ban any hero!" Ze Yuan shouted in an exaggerated tone. "What do you mean?!"
"Wow, this …" Su Xiaoyan did not know what to say.
The comments in the live broadcast room exploded.
[Are you looking down on us?]
[Did you become arrogant after winning one match?]
[YM, kill them all!
For every hero you kill, I'll give them a card in the live broadcast room!]
YM's side looked at each other.
"What a joke …" Xiao Tian clenched his fingers and said in a low voice, "You've never been bullied before?"
Lin Yan was also surprised.
He did not expect AHQ to be so arrogant.
It was rare to see an empty ban in the professional scene. It was either a deliberate provocation, a tactical requirement, or a hero that could not be found.
Lin Yan automatically rejected the first two possibilities.
The main reason was that in this Intercontinental Championship, the local audience had been very unfriendly and had left a bad impression on Lin Yan.
He sat up straight and adjusted the position of the keyboard, ready to make his opponent feel pain.
He would not be satisfied if he did not give his opponent a good beating in this match.
"Can we restart BP?" Green Tea hurriedly asked the referee behind him.
The female referee said coldly, "According to the rules, BP cannot be restarted unless there is a problem with the system."
"YM's third ban goes to Ximen's Master Card Master!"
"Ban Lucien." Green Tea finally adjusted and signaled to Ximen Yeshui to ban heroes.
"YM's first pick is Nakano Swing Princes …" Su Xiaoyan flipped through her notebook again. "Ever since the 7.12 update, YM has been using Princes and Rambo as swing heroes."
As soon as she finished speaking, AHQ immediately picked Airplane and Rambo.
In fact, there was still Charlo outside, but the strength of this cheating couple was not that high yet. In the eyes of the LMS team, they were not as strong as the other versions' heroes.
Green Tea licked his lips nervously. The LMS team had already planned this move.
Rambo, as an important swing system in YM and the River War God, would definitely not be given to them. Airplane, on the other hand, was a mid-late game core that Lin Ran was good at. He could play the role of a substitute ban.
Now there was only one question. Would the opponent choose Kassadin, who countered Airplane and Rambo?
"Should we just pick Kassadin?"
White Crescent asked for Lin Yan's opinion. "If we don't, we probably won't get this hero in the second round."
"Take it, take it." Lin Yan did not have any objections.
"Kassadin and Luo. YM's lock on them is very fast. Looks like they're prepared."
Green Tea saw Kassadin's face appear in YM's selection box. He was relieved.
He was afraid that White Crescent would not play by the rules.
He flipped through the notebook. It was like opening a brocade pouch. The contents were very reassuring.
"Pick Boulogne."
Both sides decided on the first three picks.
The second round began. Green Tea banned Dusk and Verus, while White Crescent banned Pig Girl and Wine Barrel.
"It's obvious. Callista and Verus. Everyone gets one. No one fights," Ze Yuan said with a smile.
Green Tea did the opposite and picked the jungler first.
Most of the junglers were banned. Only Spider and Blind Monk were left.
He did not pick Spider, who was more powerful in the current version. He had Rambo + Airplane. His AP output was already overflowing. If he picked Spider, he would be countered to death by Kassadin.
"Callista + Spider!" Su Xiaoyan could not help but exclaim, "YM's lineup looks very fierce!"
"It's just that Kassadin looks a little out of place in the middle of a group of hot-tempered early game big brothers …" Ze Yuan analyzed. "You know, although Kassadin counters Airplane, he definitely has no lane control in the early game."
"The mid lane's influence on the sidelines and jungles is so strong. I'm now a little worried about whether Kassadin can help his teammates in the early game."
AHQ chose Verus in the end.
Both sides' lineups were confirmed.
Blue YM: Top Lane Princes, Jungler Spider, Mid Lane Kassadin, Bottom Lane Callista + Luo.
Red AHQ: Top Lane Rambo, Jungler Blind Monk, Mid Lane Airplane, Bottom Lane Verus + Boulogne. "
As the BP ended and the loading screen entered, the live audience erupted into loud cheers. They were cheering for their own team!
Lin Yan noticed that Airplane and Boulogne were both Weakened.
They were obviously targeting Kassadin.
Lin Yan vaguely understood the moment he saw the lineup.
His opponent deliberately wanted him to pick Kassadin.
Then they would use Boulogne's backhand control and continuous Weakened to finish off Kassadin.
However, Lin Yan did not think it would be difficult. He used Kassadin, who was only strong in the late game, but he did not plan to do nothing in the early game.
He went out and bought a Corruption Potion. He and his teammates formed a long line along the river, trying to protect their own jungles.
But they did not succeed.
"AHQ wants to force their way into YM's jungles just because they have Boulogne!"
However, this time, AHQ did not invade the bottom half of YM's jungles. Instead, they went to the top half of YM's jungles.
Logically speaking, this was to force Xiao Tian's Spider to the bottom lane and create a 4v2 for him.
However, in this game, AHQ's support was Boulogne, who had Weakened, and Lin Yan used Kassadin, who was not good at roaming before Lv 6.
To a certain extent, they were not afraid that YM would try to kill their bottom lane.
There was another crucial point.
YM's jungles were Princes and Spider, while AHQ's top laner was Rambo.
If this game was played in the LPL, which focused on crushing the top laner's Rambo experience, Rambo would be killed at least three or four times in the first 15 minutes.
With all these factors combined, AHQ naturally wanted to invade the top half of YM's jungles and push Xiao Tian to the bottom half.
However, Lin Yan was smart. When he noticed AHQ's movements, he noticed that Boulogne was wearing a Level 1 Scan.
Therefore, when he retreated, he first took two steps toward the blue buff camp, then retreated into the tower.
It looked like he had inserted an accessory into his own blue buff.
This small detail successfully fooled his opponents.
"Boulogne and his teammates entered YM's blue zone. Scan activated, but nothing was found!"
Ze Yuan, who was watching from God's perspective, did not know the details of the game. He thought it was just a routine scan for AHQ.
"Should we use it?" Lin Yan asked Phyllostachys Pubescens.
"I don't want to use it. Otherwise, the early game will be very bad." Xiao Tian was a little reluctant.
Mid laner Kassadin could not help much in the early game. If he was forced to run, then the early and mid game would be very difficult.
"Then let's fight. They won't be able to land," Lin Yan suggested.
"Won't that delay you?" Xiao Tian was happy at first, but then he asked considerately.
The blue buff refreshed every 1 minute and 38 seconds. If the mid laner helped, they would definitely lose troops.
"It doesn't matter." Lin Yan did not care. "If you think we can fight, I don't mind losing some troops. After all, I can get some kills."
"Then let's do it!" Xiao Tian gritted his teeth and made up his mind.
"The AHQ duo has returned to the bottom lane. Ximen Yeshui has also returned to the middle lane. Now they only have one player left to help with the buff!"
"YM's mid and jungler have not left. It looks like they want to hold the jungle!" Su Xiaoyan was also excited.
After Ximen Yeshui came online, he found that Lin Yan was nowhere to be seen.
He immediately realized what YM wanted to do.
He signaled as he ran toward the jungle.
But it was too late.
Blind Monk's Q [Heaven Sound Wave] had been used. The blue buff did not have much HP left, and his skill was still on cooldown.
"YM's mid and jungler are rushing in. They want to take over!" Ze Yuan looked at the battle that was about to break out on the screen and could not help but raise his voice.
Xiao Tian, who was in his spider form, attacked when the blue buff had almost 500 HP left.
He used his Q to bite the monsters, and at the same time, Punishment fell from the sky!
The spider's Q had a killing effect, and together with Punishment, it did not give Blind Monk a chance to snatch the buff!
With the blue buff in hand, Xiao Tian successfully reached level two!
AHQ's jungler Old Hillman was stunned. He did not expect YM to dare to come to the jungle.
"Retreat retreat retreat!" he hurriedly shouted.
Even if Ximen Yeshui came, it would be useless. A level two spider's combat ability was far superior to a level one small fry like them.
But Xiao Tian would not let him go. He used his E to fly up to Blind Monk's face, not giving him any time to react. He transformed back into his human form and struck!
"Jin Gong, Princes, go up and use Giant Dragon Strike and a normal attack to take away Blind Monk's HP!"
Lin Yan also went up. The moment he blocked Lambo's harpoon, he noticed that his E [Energy Pulse] had lit up after being charged by the people around him.
The fan-shaped void energy once again slowed down the Blind Monk!
The level one Blind Monk did not have much HP left when he came out of the jungle. In addition, he had lost a bit of HP when he ate the monsters. He could not withstand the damage from YM's jungler!
He looked at his HP and knew that the three people on the other side did not use Flash. He did not want to continue running, so he might as well end the fight.
"Give me your head!" Lin Yan shouted.
The power of the team boss was undeniable. The two teammates stopped and watched as Lin Yan took down the first HP with one strike!