"Welcome to the live broadcast of the 2017 League of Legends Demacia Cup in Qingdao!"
Ze Yuan and Rita appeared in front of the live broadcast camera.
At this time, the Qingdao Guoxin Diamond Stadium was full of people. Like its name, the stadium looked like a diamond. When night fell, the lights and moonlight poured down together to make it even more dazzling.
"In today's match, RW, a new force from S8 that is about to enter the LPL, will face off against YM, the two-time global champion!"
After Ze Yuan joined the commentary work, his skill grew day by day. He gradually became the mainstay of the LPL commentary post after the Haier brothers. At this time, his voice was even louder, transmitting his passion to every corner of the stadium.
"That's right, today's BO3 will test the strength of RW's new team." Rita took over the topic. "A team that was formed less than a month ago is going to challenge the current strongest team in the world. For them, this is pressure and also motivation."
The reaction of the audience in the stadium was enough to explain everything. When the YM members appeared, they were greeted with a tsunami of cheers and screams. The support sticks and banners vibrated in the air, creating a huge sound wave!
On the other side, when the RW players appeared, there were very few responses. The most popular among them were the support prophet who had left YM, and doinb who had led his team back to LPL after Nakano had broken off all ties with him.
The number of fans of the two added together was not even enough for Phyllostachys Pubescens, let alone Lin Yan and Jack, the famous duo of trolls.
Even though Doinb's girlfriend came to the stadium to lead the crowd and cheer for RW, the core fans were nothing in front of YM's vast momentum. They could not make a single ripple in the Guoxin Diamond Stadium.
...
"Are you ready?" The female referee standing behind the YM players seemed to be in a good mood. Her tone was quite lively.
Jack began to grin again. He imitated the referee's accent and asked his teammates, "Are you ready? Are you ready?"
The female referee's cheeks turned red. She racked her brain but did not think that there was a rule that "players are not allowed to imitate the referee's speech".
If Liu Qingsong had not held Jack down, Shiba Inu could have made up a song with this sentence.
"It's ready. Let's go," Lin Yan said as he swung the heat pack.
Red Rice, who was wearing a dark blue suit, flexed his wrists and smoothed out the slight creases on his suit. Finally, he adjusted the angle of his glasses with both hands, looking very ritualistic.
This was his first game as YM's coach. Furthermore, RW's head coach was Hanyi, so the Red Rice team placed a lot of importance on this.
He knew that as a newcomer, he did not have enough prestige to face this group of world champions. This match against the former and former head coach of YM was a chance to prove his worth.
The one-year contract he signed with YM had a base salary of four million. If he performed well in the international competition, there would be additional performance bonuses.
This amount of money could buy four Lin Weixiang, which was the highest salary in the coaching circle. Naturally, the Red Rice would not take the money and not do anything.
With a crisp clang, everyone entered the BP image!
"YM has the priority to pick sides. In the first round, they will be the first to send the yellow chicken to the ban position!"
Lin Yan played this hero well and had created many famous situations. The GIF of G2's defeat by Sand Soldiers in the mid-season competition was still used by their official Weibo as a joke every day.
However, the Red Rice did not want to give Lin Yan a choice. He and Gouba were very efficient. In the past few days, they had completed the handover with Su Cheng and cleaned up Lin Yan's hero pool and main playstyle.
Normally, Yellow Chicken was a standard mid-late game hero. Master Hou was the representative of Yellow Chicken on the professional stage.
The team battle after 25 minutes would be the stage for it to shine.
Lin Yan could use Yellow Chicken to provide support, not because Yellow Chicken was suitable for roaming, but because he was strong enough.
The Red Rice thought that Yellow Chicken was extremely incompatible with Lin Yan. As the absolute core of YM, he should choose a hero that matched the team's tactical style.
Red Rice knew how to make the best use of things and play to their strengths.
On the other side, Hanyi was still a little nervous facing YM and the Red Rice. He took two deep breaths and banned the biggest bug in the version, Uncle Goat.
After leaving IG, he knew that his championship bonus period was coming to an end.
S6 led YM to win the first championship. In the eyes of the audience, he was the unparalleled champion coach. However, when he came to IG with The Sh and Broiler, who were full of talent, they did not even make it to the international competition.
Because the coach was half behind the scenes and did not play, the number of fans was almost zero.
Once the team's performance was not good, it was always the more fans who pushed the blame to the less fans.
The coach became the target of public criticism. The fans of the team and the players all scolded him.
Why are you always thinking about giving Broiler Galio?
Aren't two balls and one girl better?
What kind of big bug did you give The Sh?
Is Qing Gang Yin not strong enough or is Crocodile not fierce enough?
You gave Bao Lan … Oh.
The management of IG was one of the few teams in the Alliance that paid too much attention to the opinions of the fans. Su Xiaoluo was the mouthpiece every day, talking about the opinions of the fans in front of Hanyi.
Hanyi was dumbfounded. He knew that he sometimes made mistakes in his BP, but it was not to this extent, right?
Also, Manager Su, you were just in charge of the operations. What was the meaning of you meddling in the BP of the coaches?
Are you teaching me how to do things?
Because of Su Xiaoluo, Hanyi's good impression of Fudan University's Su disappeared completely.
Look at Su Cheng, and then look at you.
Both of you are from Fudan University. Why is the difference so big?
She didn't even instruct me to do BP. What are you doing?
The difference between the audience and the coaches' information was fully displayed by Su Xiaoluo. Hanyi almost had a mental breakdown.
Su Xiaoluo also felt that he had bought a fake. This champion coach was like a pewter spear that looked like silver, but was useless!
Hanyi, who had been kicked out, could only switch to RW. He knew that this was his last chance to turn things around.
If he could not achieve good results in two consecutive years, his reputation as a champion coach would be ruined.
"Jack, do you use EZ?" Jiang Chenglu translated Red Rice's words.
Red Rice and Gouba had only joined YM for two days. Although they were extremely efficient, they had only done some research on the core of the team, Lin Yan. They had not thoroughly explored the hero pools and tactical styles of the other four players in the starting lineup.
Shiba Inu hesitated for a moment. "No."
His EZ was not bad. He could only say that it was a little green.
The essence of EZ in team battles was the E [Arcane Transition]. How to use the short cooldown period of the skill to deal the highest damage in team battles was a skill that required knowledge.
Bang and Deft, who were good at EZ, could always maximize the damage output in a safe situation. However, Jack was not so good at this time.
His E was always used to cover his face. Normally, this was indeed one of the essences of EZ. However, he had to be aware of the situation. Shiba Inu often rushed to the opponent's face without distinguishing between right and wrong.
This also had something to do with his personal style. Jack played all the same heroes. Even if he covered his ID, he could still be recognized at a glance.
He was also aware of this. Fortunately, from S6 to S7, Izreal was not particularly popular, and Shiba Inu was able to pick up the slack.
Red Rice frowned. "You don't know how to use it?"
He looked at the Shiba at the edge of the player's seat. "Jin Gong, if the opponent is not a banEZ, you can choose directly."
"Ah?" Jack frowned. His fat and swollen face looked like a squash in Plants vs. Zombies.
"The German Cup is the place to find fault with you. If you don't practice now, the whole team will have to pay for your hero pool." Red Rice looked serious.
Jack suddenly thought of another dog in the same position.
He could not help but shiver. He quickly compromised. "Okay, okay."
In the end, Red Rice targeted Ah Guang, who came from EDG. Ancestral Tree and Shen, who had strong support abilities, were all banned.
Hanyi blocked the two heroes, Princes and Zooey.
"F * ck!" Mongoose was very dissatisfied. "Why did she ban Princes?"
"My helmet, my helmet, wuwuwu …"
However, the price was to release EZ, which Red Rice decisively took. In exchange, Hanyi chose the two heroes, Big Bug and Pig Girl.
"RW is very stable in these two hands. It looks like he wants to focus on the team battle," Zeyuan said from the commentator's seat. "YM got Mantis for the second choice. Not bad."
The Voidreavers relied on the high explosive power of the new Electrocution rune and the enhancement of their fixed armor to make a strong comeback. Although they weren't as ferocious as the tyrannical Piggirl and Prince from the S7 World Championship, their strength was still guaranteed.
"YM has one spot left in the first round …"
Lin Yan's spot on the third floor of YM was instantly locked. Malzahar!
The audience was in an uproar.
[It's starting again?]
[They've been using Grasshopper since All-Stars. Is this hero that strong?]
[I don't know what they're up to. I can understand why White Crescent used Grasshopper in All-Stars, but they're still using it now that Red Rice is here?]
[BSYY:???
Are you looking down on us?]
Hanyi and Doinb were wearing headphones. They could vaguely hear the noise from the audience, but it did not stop them from looking gloomy.
Rita in the commentator's seat did not understand. "Isn't this hero a little too stable for Brother Ran?"
She had the same thought as many of the audience. After Grasshopper was promoted by Crown in the S7 World Championship, everyone thought it was a hooligan who was chosen purely to disgust people.
But Red Mi had instructed them to choose Malzahar, making it difficult for Han Yi and Doinb to back down.
This was because Doinb's current specialty was Ryze and Victor.
Ryze was countered by Grasshopper. Before returning to the city for the first time, he was unable to suppress Malzahar due to his lack of mana. After reaching level 6, Grasshopper could easily threaten Ryze's life with its 700-yard attack range, Grasp of the Underworld.
After all, Ryze's EW only had a range of slightly more than 600 yards. This meant that if Ryze wanted to bring Grasshopper into his casting range, he would have to bear the risk of being hit by the opponent's attack at any time.
As for the other specialty, Victor, he relied on the strength of Arcane Comet to have a certain advantage against Grasshopper. However, the problem was that he was of no help to the overall situation in the early game.
In a situation where their own jungler was already Pig Girl, Victor's choice was a disaster.
Pig Girl + Victor's jungler combination. It would be fine if they met a team with average early game offensive ability, but the opponent was YM, who relied on their early game tempo!
How could they play?
Hanyi could only lower Doinb's priority in a short period of time. She chose Hammer Stone first in the first round to try and get a mid game tempo point.
However, this support fell right into YM's trap. In the second round, Red Rice bared his fangs.
Female Gunner and Victor were both banned!
Hanyi's forehead was sweating in the cold weather, and her heart was beating so violently that it felt like it was going to jump out of her chest.
Due to the strength of Comet, other than the money-stealing weirdo EZ, the popular heroes in the bottom lane were Female Gunner, Armor Piercing Verus, and Armor Piercing Ash. These types of heroes had extremely high attrition abilities.
Among them, other than Female Gunner, the other two ADCs had armor piercing equipment, and their damage output in the team battle was limited.
Verus was strong because of his poke before the start of the team battle. If it was really a one-wave team battle, the cooldown of his Q's Piercing Arrow was a bit too long.
He was good at dealing with squishies, but once the opponent had a front row of tanks, there was little room for him to play in the team battle. In the past, he was famous for taking down Jin Gong's Cheyenne 41 with one shot.
In other words, Red Rice's ban of Female Gunner meant that RW's bottom lane was destined to be unable to get the core ADCs that could decide the team's victory.
Hanyi had previously targeted the three utility heroes, Big Bug, Pig Girl, and Hammer Stone. It was obvious that she wanted the two ADCs to play the key role of damage output in the team battle.
Since they couldn't count on the ADCs, they could only give the pressure of damage output to Doinb.
But the problem was that his specialty, Victor, had been banned. Against Grasshopper, it was difficult for Doinb to bring out the core mid laner that he was good at!
No matter what choice they made, RW was destined to be unable to get a lineup that could match YM's strength.
Hanyi's brows were tightly furrowed.
The top-notch coach and YM's vast pool of heroes complemented each other, and the BP skills they displayed were much stronger than Red Rice's in WE!
Hanyi still hadn't found a solution until the countdown was about to end.
"Let's choose Clockwork."
If you couldn't solve a problem, you could just choose Clockwork.
Doinb was so nervous that his legs began to shake.
After cutting ties with Swift, he was under a lot of pressure.
Although there was a group of old fans who hadn't left yet, results spoke for themselves in professional competitions. If they didn't do well for years, the number of fans would only decrease.
Not to mention, he had a stain on him.
Last year, Doinb had been the dean of JD for a year. He had come to RW to achieve results and accumulate some popularity to pave the way for the future.
In this Demacia Cup, many clubs were trying out new lineups and new tactical systems. It was undoubtedly a great opportunity for Doinb to make a name for himself.
But he didn't expect Red Rice to put so much pressure on him.
Hanyi's every move was calculated. Just a small mistake in the third pick in the first round was enough for Red Rice to force him to choose a lineup that was far from what he had expected before the competition.
Blue YM: top laner Nar, jungler Mantis, mid laner Malzahar, bottom laner EZ + Bull's Head Chieftain.
Red RW: top laner Kegas, jungler Boar Girl, mid laner Clockwork Devil, bottom laner Verus + Hammer Stone.
At first glance, RW's lineup looked okay, and their frontal team fighting ability wasn't weak.
But it was difficult for them to deal with Jin Gong's solo carry. The top, middle, and bottom three positions didn't even have a displacement skill, and they would be pulled by YM Mantis and EZ.
Moreover, the top, middle, and mid laner didn't do any damage at all, and were quite passive.
Overall, RW's lineup looked good, but the fact was that they exposed their weaknesses completely in front of YM's strengths.
Lin Yan was very satisfied with Red Rice's BP. He could restrict the opponent and play to his strengths at the same time.
It could only be said that there was a gap between the champion coaches.
"Mongoose, you take the lead more and make the mid laner more comfortable." Jiang Chenglu was still translating Red Rice's words before he left.
Phyllostachys Pubescens smoothed his bangs and nodded to show that he understood.
"Brother Ran, you really went to take the driver's license test?" He saw Red Rice take off his headphones and immediately started a conversation with Lin Yan.
"I'm done with the first subject." Lin Yan took a sip of the chrysanthemum wolfberry tea in the paper cup and let out a long sigh. He adjusted the angle of the back of his seat so that he could face the game more comfortably. "After the German Cup, I'll go back and learn how to reverse the car into the garage."
"Aren't you going to play two rounds of Ke Lie to get a feel for it?" Jack curled his lips like the Dragon King's son-in-law.
"Ah Guang is still on the other side. What are you doing?" As soon as Lin Yan finished speaking, the referee behind him could not help but smile.
They had undergone strict training and generally did not smile.
However, the scene where Ah Guang controlled Ke Lie to reverse the car into the garage this year was really funny. Together with Lan Bo's burning of the mountain, it was the two highlight moments of Mouse's career.
Before he could say anything else, the Summoner's Canyon appeared in front of them. Lin Yan bought the Doran Ring and a health potion and waited for the door to open by the spring.
"Let's shrink a little. It's a little weak." Lin Yan tried to keep his attention focused. "It doesn't matter if the route is seen. Don't let anyone die."
Jack stood in the Stone Beetle Camp in the lower half of his own territory. He inserted an accessory eye into the red buff grass through the wall and prepared to use Q [Secret Shooting] to steal money.
"I …" Xiao Tian shook his head and thought about the plan for the beginning of the game.
According to the instructions before the Red Rice Game, they were going to use the jungler to drive the rhythm of the mid laner. In this case, Mongoose would have a lot of room to play.
"There's a high chance that the other side will invade the red buff. This way, I'll open the blue in the upper half." Phyllostachys Pubescens made up his mind. "Come to the mid lane at level 3. I'll help you push the line in and you'll go to the red buff with me. How about that?"
Instead of starting with the red buff, they would first clear the three groups of junglers in the upper half of their own territory before crossing the river to invade. First, they could determine the location of the other side and ensure their own safety. Second, the junglers in their own territory would respawn early if they died first. This gave Xiao Tian a few extra seconds to clear the junglers.
"No problem," Lin Ran agreed. "Just come here as soon as you can."
"RW's group went to the lower half of YM, but Jack's accessory eye saw them!"
Azriel's white turbid liquid hit the pig girl. The pig called Steel Mane under Sejuani let out a few dissatisfied roars.
"What a pity." Jack didn't manage to steal anything this time. All he got was a lonely five gold coins.
However, he didn't give up. He continued to stand in place, planning to wait for the cooldown to be over before he continued to freeload.
However, the precise draw just now had revealed that there was an eye in the grass. The Prophet had brought a scanner with him when he went out, and it came in handy now. The RW team successfully split the experience from the eye.
"The mid laner on the other side got an eye, but I'm not sure if he can level up to level 2!" Jack reminded Lin Yan. At the same time, he threw a Q and stole a fake eye this time.
The three of them shared the experience from the eye position equally. A solo hero could level up to level 2 in the first wave of troops. The key to the problem was that the eye position was blocked just now. Lin Yan didn't know how many RW's players got the experience.
He was afraid that he would be robbed. He hid behind at level 1 and didn't give the opponent a chance to exhaust him.
The frequency of Doinb changing health was very low. Lin Yan purposely went up to him several times to trick him into QW, but he didn't succeed.
When it was close to three minutes, Xiao Tian decisively rushed to the middle lane and used his skill to help push the line.
Doinb didn't expect Lin Yan and Phyllostachys Pubescens to be conjoined so early. He wanted to call for help, but he was one step too late.
Lin Yan's E [Malefic Phantasm] didn't have high damage in the early stages, but as long as a teammate came to help push the line, killing a small soldier would infect other units.
In this way, the damage was completely increased. Lin Yan ate all the troops in the third wave and successfully leveled up to level 3.
Doinb stayed under the tower and could only watch as Lin Yan and Xiao Tian walked to the top lane.
"Oh no, oh no." He suddenly realized that something was wrong. "Ah Guang, run!"
Doinb had always been good at learning Chinese. In this aspect, he could crush many Korean foreign players.
He had communicated with his teammates in time. Ah Guang retreated as soon as he heard the warning, but the top lane was too long. Jin Gong used a boomerang to slow him down, so Ah Guang's big bug could only hide under the tower.
"This is bad," Ze Yuan shouted from the commentator's seat. "Ah Guang is only level 2!"
The top lane was 10 seconds slower than the middle lane. Plus, Gnar had to push the big bug's line in the early stages, so Ah Guang didn't eat many troops at all.
At this time, he was hiding under the tower, pitiful, weak, and helpless.
Ever since Doinb was inspired by the battle with Lin Yan this spring, his wandering awareness was quite sharp.
The moment he leveled up to level 3, he went to the top lane with Gnar.
There was only a five-second difference. This fleeting moment cost Ah Guang his life.
"Brother Ran used the silence effect of Gnar's Q [Void Summon] to lure out the big bug's flash," Ze Yuan said quickly. "But then he was controlled by Gnar who grew bigger!"
Xiao Tian jumped up and tore at Gnar with his claws. Although Ah Guang used his Q [Laceration] to knock Xiao Tian away, he wasn't the one who was tanking the tower.
The three of them killed Ah Guang, but RW's jungler was too late!
"Ran healed faster, Mongoose used his flash to dodge Pig's Rush, and successfully escaped!"
Phyllostachys Pubescens was unhappy. "Disgusting, he had to use his flash …"
He felt that he should smash the jungler's head. That way, Gnar would be Xiao Tian like him.
However, the next few invasions didn't succeed. The main reason was that Gnar's pigskin provided too much resistance, and Lin Yan hadn't reached level 6, so he didn't have the ability to control people.
In addition, Doinb was guarding the jungler from time to time. He would rather miss out on a kill than take care of Gnar.
It was indeed difficult to kill.
Phyllostachys Pubescens gritted his teeth as he watched Doinb's Clockwork once again protect Gnar.
"Although he didn't get the kill, Mongoose's mantis is still very aggressive." Rita was still analyzing. "The piggy girl's range of movement is very limited, and her condition is very bad …"
At this moment, Lin Yan reached level 6 and learned an ultimate skill. He flashed forward!
The 400-yard flash and the 700-yard Grip of the Underworld were a total of 1,100 yards. No matter how hard Doinb tried to defend, he didn't expect Lin Yan to be so decisive!
"Mongoose jumped out of camp F6, AQA used Electrocution!"
Gnar, who had just fled in panic, wanted to come back to rescue him, but Doinb's HP was dropping too fast.
Without the runes to provide any extra resistance and HP, Clockwork was so fragile that it couldn't take any damage at all!
The parts of Clockwork Daemon fell to the ground!
"You're the one I'm going to kill!" Xiao Tian sneered.