"Welcome to the live broadcast of the 2018 LPL Spring Season. This is Zhengda Plaza!"
Saturday night, 7 pm. On the 9th floor of Zhengda Plaza, the LPL stadium was packed with people. The audience waved the support items they had received from the staff of the club, cheering for the teams they supported. Their momentum was as great as the tide.
The number of viewers in the live broadcast channels of the major competitions had also broken the season record. Even though the competition had not yet started, the audience was very active. The comments on the chat channel were replaced in the next second. It was impossible to see the specific content clearly.
The attraction of a high-quality prime-time competition could only be described as terrifying.
RNG's current results were not as good as IG's, but in terms of fan numbers, they were only behind YM in the entire Alliance.
The concept of Quan Hua Class and Ouze was really well understood by RNG's management. Their marketing skills were obvious to all. In addition to their good results, it was reasonable for their fan numbers to increase rapidly.
"This competition between the two sides, how do I put it …" Mille paused, then looked at his partner Doll. "It's really important for RNG."
The director also showed the results of both sides.
RNG had won 7 and lost 4, with 17 wins and 10 losses in small matches. YM had won 11 and lost 0, with 22 wins and 3 losses in small matches.
"That's right." Doll nodded seriously. "After YM won 2: 1 against IG, they also played all three rounds against SN and BLG. However, this did not affect their dominance in the group."
Mille agreed. "That's true. The gap between the teams in the Eastern Division is very obvious …"
In the Eastern Division, YM was unquestionably first. After them, EDG and TOP both had 7 wins. The difference of 4 wins was especially exaggerated at the end of the season.
As long as YM did not play any tricks, they would basically take first place in the Eastern Division.
In the Western Division, IG was now first with 10 wins and 1 loss. They had only lost one game to YM, and the rest were easy victories. Their second place was out of the expectations of many before the start of the competition.
RW。
The team led by Dean Doinb shone brightly this year. There was a wonderful chemistry between them. Everyone played their roles, and with the middle and lower ranks as the core, they successfully took second place in the division with 9 wins and 2 losses.
After Ouze's return, RNG went on a winning streak. They went from 2-3 to 7-4 and climbed all the way to third place in the division.
They proved to the audience one thing — sometimes, a team's problems could be solved by an ADC.
However, this result was clearly not enough to satisfy RNG. With the current Alliance competition system, the third place in the playoffs would have to play one more BO5 than the second place.
Every additional BO5 would expose a little more of their tactics and increase the possibility of failure.
After all, there was no such thing as a revival match in this day and age. There was very little room for error for teams in the playoffs. A loss was a loss, and all their hard work in the spring would go down the drain.
"If RNG wants to compete for second place in the group, this match against YM will be their whetstone!"
In the eyes of most people, YM's recent form was not as hot as it was before the year. If they had shown tenacity when they were chasing two players in a 1v1 match against IG, then their performance against SN and BLG after that was a struggle.
Three consecutive BO3 matches, all of which were chasing two players in a 1v1 match, taught YM fans a good lesson. Every time they started a live broadcast, they would first watch their home team lose a match, then repeatedly jump on the edge of defeat. The excitement level would be maxed out, and they would no longer be invincible like last year.
The audience felt that the continuous strengthening of Fist's Teleport and the weakening of the stopwatch had affected YM's strength in the new version to a certain extent. Moreover, they had let Lin Weixiang start for the past two weeks, so their coordination was definitely not as good as before.
Lin Weixiang's performance in the past two weeks could only be described with four words.
Unfathomable.
Sometimes he could poke his nose into the bushes and make mistakes. Sometimes he could be so steady that it was as if he was possessed by a bang, not dying once in the entire game.
Before the start of YM's match, no one knew whether Lin Weixiang would be a C or a gift. Even the players on the field and the backstage coach, Red Rice, did not know the situation. Lin Weixiang was known as Schrodinger.
Last night, YM's official Weibo had announced the lineup list. Jack had returned to the starting lineup, and many people were looking forward to this match.
After all, all the experience books in the esports forums had been gathered. No matter the outcome of today's match, there would definitely be endless posts about fishing and meetings. Everyone would be full of experience.
The players of the two teams were already in their seats. Shi Senming smiled and greeted his old teammates in the chat channel.
[Jack Love, later you use Draven and I'll take Hammer Stone. Let's copy a wave of S6 skins.]
[In the beginning, we'll stand face to face in the river and return to the city. These two skins also have the movement to return to the city. What do you think?]
Liu Qingsong and Ouze were adjusting the height of their seats. When they saw this sentence, the first thing they did was to touch the top of their heads. They felt that the color was not right.
After waiting for two weeks, Jack, who had finally succeeded in taking back the position of YM's prince, twisted his neck. The corner of his mouth was crooked, and the keyboard was slanted.
[Who are you?
Oh, this is Brother Ming. I didn't recognize you. I've never seen you before!]
Shi Senming did not spoil him. The two of them only took five seconds to change the atmosphere from reminiscing about the glory of winning the championship to watching them bicker in the streets.
"Referee, referee." Lin Yan could not stand it anymore. "If I report this, can you ban both of them?"
Phyllostachys Pubescens immediately clapped. "Yay!"
"Anyway, we have a substitute, Edisi. RNG doesn't have a substitute support. They can't let Posture play support, can they?"
The female referee came over and looked at the chat content in the custom room. She pondered for two seconds before saying:
"It's no use even if you report it … It's not against the rules at all."
In her opinion, the words used by Jack and Shi Senming to bicker were quite childish. Even elementary school students were better at bickering than them.
YM JackeyLove: [I can ride on YM's coattails and get skins. Can you?]
RNG Ming: [Riding on someone's coattails and you still have the face to call me that. I really didn't expect this. If I were you, I wouldn't be able to bring myself to do this.]
Jack replied confidently: [What's wrong with riding on someone's coattails?
Don't you have Ouze next to you? Why don't you ride on him?
Are you implying that Ouze can't do it?]
[This year, there's a Xialuo champion skin. As a father, I'll give my son a set. Don't be shy.]
There were no insulting words or personal attacks. How could they be punished?
Were they going to rely on Jack to "give his son a set of skins as a father" or "Ouze can't do it?"
If this chat history was released, the fans of both teams would probably clamor for them to hurry up. They liked to watch this kind of thing.
"Are you ready?" The referee could not stand it anymore. After confirming the process with the director, he shouted at the players.
"Okay, okay." Lin Yan arranged the heat packs and looked excited. "Brothers Alliance, let's go!"
With a clang, the curtains of the game were drawn!
"In this game, YM got the priority to choose the side. They chose the blue side for themselves and blocked Xialuo first!"
Now that all the major ADCs had been weakened, the Xialuo couple had once again returned to the professional scene. Together, they were at the top of the food chain in the bottom lane. From the laning stage to the team battle stage, they had good strength.
If it had been last year, Ni Yu Xia's ban could have been saved. After all, it was Ouze from S7.
However, this year, Ouze, who had returned from recuperation, seemed to have opened up his conception and governor vessels. After a period of practice, Xialuo became his unique hero.
As long as Ouze got Xialuo in the competition after the New Year, RNG would always win the game. So far, his Xialuo had not lost a single game in the 2018 LPL Spring Season. It was ridiculous.
"RNG chose to ban Qing Gang Yin." Mille approved of this ban choice. "Camille also escaped the designer's nerf and was not affected in Version 8.3 and 8.4. Now, she is gradually becoming a frequent top laner."
"And in YM, Qing Gang Yin can be swung up," Doll added. "After all, Brother Ran's Qing Gang Yin is a unique skill."
Red Mi gave the second ban to Boulogne, while Heart blocked Princes.
"YM banned Bull's Head, and RNG sent Olaf to the ban position!"
Red Mi, who was wearing a white shirt, paced behind the players' seats. She took two notes with a black pen in her notebook.
"Let's take Hammer Stone first." She discussed with her team members. "They should take … Verus and Pig. Then let's take Vampire and Troll. This can limit the top laners. What do you think?"
Due to the rise of Vampire, Yellow Chicken, and other team heroes, the top laners and junglers' ecological environment had also changed.
Since they were going to fight the top laners, Cheyenne, Aoun, Big Bug, and Shen, the four stable tanks in the front row, began to dominate the top laners. As a result, the top laner Vampire, who could bully the short laners, appeared.
At the same time, the top laner tank's dominance was a sign of the popularity of the top laner. After all, a solo hero like Naar's Qing Gang Yin specialized in dealing with the tank.
As for the junglers, the dominance of Pig and Princes had not declined. In the early game, Olaf began to appear again. This led to the emergence of the King of Troll, a character who could restrain both Olaf and tank, on the professional stage.
The baptism of the two versions was enough to reshuffle the cards of the popular heroes in the professional arena.
The YM team members had no objections. Red Mi had given them excellent choices in their respective hero pools that matched the version.
"Let's first pick Hammer Stone for Liu Qingsong, a support hero who is very good at cooperating with his teammates," Mille said. "YM is still the same. Pick a hard support with control and cooperate with the mid laner and jungler to set the pace."
"RNG here … took down Verus and Saucepan's favorite, Pig!"
Seeing that the opponent's choice was exactly the same as Red Mi's prediction, the YM team members' expressions did not change at all.
Having worked with top coaches for three months, Lin Yan and the others had long been accustomed to this. Usually, doing BP was like seeing through the opponent's cards. There was no suspense at all.
Numb, numb.
Lin Yan and Phyllostachys Pubescens took down Vampire and Troll according to the plan.
RNG hesitated for a long time in the last selection of the first round. Heart wanted to pick a tank for The Emperor, but he was afraid that YM would roll Vampire to the top lane.
If the tank lined up in the front lane to fight Vampire, he would be trampled by others and would not be able to stop his development. In the team battle, he would be hit by Troll's big move, [Might Is Right]. At that time, his health and defense would fall like a cliff, and it would be a gift to YM.
YM's first three moves were clearly telling RNG: If you dare to pick the tank top lane, I'll have Vampire as the top laner and Troll as the jungler. From the line to the team battle, I'll completely crush you. In this game, you can just pretend that Letme doesn't exist.
Heart scratched his head. He was very upset because of Red Rice.
"Let's take Shen first." He finally came up with a solution during the BP countdown. "Let's roll the top laner and support too."
Shen support was also considered popular nowadays. First, it could swing with the top laner and was flexible and flexible. Second, it had a control ability to support, which was also considered to meet the requirements of a support position.
The disadvantage of this hero was that it was not very flexible. It was easy for soft supports like Wind Girl Lulu to walk the dog. However, with the weakening of Censer, it was difficult for these soft supports to appear in the professional arena.
In the second round of BP, Heart chose to ban Jack's Draven and Policewoman, while Red Mi banned Zooey and Ryze, the two midlaners who countered Vampire in the front lane.
"Looks like this Vampire is for Brother Ran …" Mille thought about it and felt that his guess was more reliable. After all, YM had put in a lot of effort to ban him in the second round.
However, he did not expect that Red Mi was still playing a trick. Next, they would see what RNG picked in the fourth round and then react. They would let Vampire put enough pressure on the opponent by swinging.
As long as the mid and top lane had an advantage, and with the difference in strength between their own jungler Troll, YM's top lane would be unbeatable no matter how they looked at it.
As for the bottom lane, it would be fine. Red Mi did not plan to raise Jack when they were fighting RNG. After the game ended in 20 minutes, Ouze would not be ready yet. How could he fight against YM's top, mid, and bottom laners?
Heart thought for a long time and decided to first pick the top laner, LETME. This hero could not only be responsible for the solo carry, but also take on a certain role in the mid and late game team battles.
"Choosing Gnar … Then RNG's Shen is confirmed to be used as a support for Xiao Ming." Doll thought for a moment. "Then it depends on how YM decides on the lineup. Vampire will have a hard time against Gnar."
Red Mi was prepared for this Gnar. After all, LETME's hero was easy to guess. If they did not want to pick the sheep, then there was only Gnar left.
"Take Kenan." He patted the Siberian's shoulder. "Wait for the opponent's lineup to be revealed, then decide whether to pick the AD or AP."
But no matter what, Kenan would be able to suppress Gnar in the early game.
Jin Gong's current individual ability was not as good as The Shy's, but he had no problem fighting a top laner like The Emperor.
Then, Red Mi picked Jack in the last round. It was not bad to go with Hammer Stone in the bottom lane.
The choice was once again given to RNG. The head coach, Heart, touched his forehead. He did not even know what to give to Cancel in the last round.
Zoe was all gone. The only one left was Kassadin, who could fight Vampire, and was not suitable for RNG's system …
"Yellow Chicken Mouth." After thinking for a while, he found a pretty good character in his hero pool.
"… Okay." Heart thought for a long time and finally nodded.
"Tsar!"
Mille was not surprised to see RNG's choice. After all, there were very few options left for Cancel. "This way, RNG's team is a little stronger in a head-on team battle."
Partner Doll looked at the lineups of both teams.
Blue YM: Top Laner Kenan, Jungler Troll, Mid Laner Vampire, Bottom Laner Big Mouth + Hammer Stone.
Red RNG: Top Laner Gnar, Wild Boar Girl, Mid Laner Tsar, Bottom Laner Verus + Shen.
"That's true …" He also thought that Mille was right. "I think it's better for Kenan to be the AD in this round. At least we can guarantee that he can crush Gnar in the mid to late game."
Mille continued to analyze the lineups. "RNG's only weakness is that they are too weak in the mid to early game. Saucepan has to avoid Xiao Tian in this round. If they act rashly, they might get into trouble."
In the packed stands, the supporters of both teams were already making a ruckus with the support items in their hands. They couldn't wait for this showdown!
It was the weekend, so Su Cheng sat in the front row. Like the rest of the audience, she waved the support banner in her hands vigorously.
However, the banner in her hands was of a special design. Lin Yan had signed it, and then he had specially drawn a delicate little Cheng Zi above the flowery words as a symbol.
"How did you get this signature?"
Her university roommate, who had come to watch the match with her, also noticed that Su Cheng's banner was different from the rest. After asking this question, she suddenly remembered that her classmate who didn't usually live in the dorm had an esports celebrity boyfriend.
However, it was too late. Su Cheng was waiting for this sentence.
She had a smug look on her face. "… Something like this, you can't buy it!
How hateful do you think it is? "
Her roommate allowed Su Cheng to show off her boyfriend, and grabbed onto Su Cheng's slender arm.
"I just want a signed banner of Jin Gong. Can you help me?"
Her roommate was petite and had a young face. She looked quite cute when she twisted her body and acted spoiled.
Su Cheng sighed in her heart. If she twisted her body in front of Lin Yan, it would only look weird. There was no feeling of cuteness at all.
However, thinking about it carefully, Lin Yan seemed to have praised her for the way she twisted her body. However, that was under special circumstances, so it didn't count …
Thinking of this, her fingers couldn't help but tighten. Lin Yan's face on the banner wrinkled.
"Okay, okay, okay. I'll help you ask."
Su Cheng's ears turned red as she answered. Previously, she had given her roommate Jin Gong's autographed photo. Now, it seemed that she would have to trouble the Sheba again.
"Good luck, YM!" Summoner's Canyon descended, and the noise increased once again. It was like thunder that resounded through the entire arena!
In this match, Lin Ran's main attribute was Phase Rush. The small runes were [Ultimate Skill Cap], [Transcendence], and [Water Walk], which reduced the cooldown of ultimate skills. His secondary attributes were Soldier Refinement and Astral Insight.
This set of runes would reduce the cooldown of Lin Yan's skills by 15% when he reached level 10. It was very suitable for someone like Vampire who relied heavily on cooldowns.
The opposing team's cancel runes were also standard runes. Arcane Comet and Precision's secondary attributes were probably Calm, Composed, and Joyful.
"A fight in the early game?"
Lin Yan asked for Xiao Tian's opinion. After receiving an affirmative answer, he bought Doran's Shield and Potions, left the spring, and walked towards the river.
This round, he brought Ignite instead of Teleport. This way, the time required to return to the city to resupply was very strict. Doran's Shield could deal with Comet Tsar while still providing a certain amount of regeneration. Other than the lack of magic power, it was good.
"Both teams will be in a standard Level 1 formation along the river to defend their own jungle." Mille was not surprised by the decisions of both teams.
It couldn't be helped. The two teams' Level 1 formations were equally bad. Level 1 Vampire and Level 1 Tsar could be said to be the weakest heroes in the middle unit. They had no damage output or crowd control, and their strength was comparable to that of Artillery Troopers.
In this situation, no one wanted to fight, so it was better for them to develop their own jungle.
"Saucepan Piggy is in the bottom half of the map. Like Xiao Tian, she's farming upwards. It seems that the two junglers won't be in the wrong positions in the early game. There's definitely going to be a clash!"
Lin Yan went online and controlled Petroleum Overlord to attack the minions. After all, Tsar was as weak as he was at Level 1.
Vampire versus Tsar. There was no way to say who had the upper hand in this match.
Tsar had two advantages, which were fast lane pushing and high attrition. Most of the time, he controlled the lane. On the other hand, Vampire was more active in the middle and late game. His 1v1 burst and endurance were better than Tsar's.
It was fifty-fifty.
Canceler also knew that he had to control the lane advantage. He tried to move forward and force Lin Yan to retreat.
Lin Yan wasn't afraid at all. He had brought Doran's Shield to ensure his endurance. Who was afraid of who?
He also took a step toward canceler.
Come here!
Mi De Tiger naturally wouldn't give up this opportunity. He raised his Sand Soldier and stabbed it at Lin Yan.
Arcane Comet was activated. The dark blue comet went straight to Vampire's feet.
However, without slowing or other skills, the comet's hit rate couldn't be guaranteed. Lin Yan continued to move forward. He dodged the comet and closed the distance.
Tsar, who had canceled his account, was forced to pause for a moment in order to stab Lin Yan. This time, he was directly within range of Lin Yan's normal attack.
A + Q [Blood Conversion], shaving off a chunk of Tsar's HP!
The three ranged soldiers immediately aimed at Lin Yan. With the help of the minions, Canceler controlled his Sand Soldier to stab him again.
However, something went wrong with this stab.
Lin Yan used a normal attack and successfully activated Phase Rush. He accelerated and chased after Lin Yan!
"What's Brother Ran doing?"
Loud shouts echoed throughout the stadium through the sound effects. "Does he have to fight so fiercely at level one?"
Xiao Hu was terrified.
He had teleported this round. If he turned around and fought with Lin Yan, there was basically no chance of him winning.
He quickly summoned another Sand Soldier to stab him. Lin Yan responded with a normal attack and immediately used Phase Rush's acceleration to retreat.
In this round of exchange of HP, Lin Yan took three Stab attacks and two rounds of focused fire from the ranged soldiers. However, he responded with three normal attacks and a Q.
In the end, both sides lost almost the same amount of HP. However, Xiao Hu had the Doran's Ring and didn't have any HP regeneration effect. On the other hand, Lin Yan had the Doran's Shield.
Moreover, he was a Vampire. As the level of Q [Blood Conversion] increased, his HP would slowly recover.
Overall, Mi De Hu was on the losing end.
He also knew that he had made a mistake in exchanging HP. He drank a bottle of health potion and hid at the back.
Just now, he had used up the two Sand Soldiers he had stored. Now, he could only wait for the Sand Soldiers to finish recharging.
However, this meant that he had completely lost the initiative of the minions. Lin Yan stood at the side of the melee soldiers and firmly blocked the pass.
Seeing that Lin Yan's HP bar had reached half, Xiao Hu knew that this person's Q skill had changed.
Previously, because Lin Yan was standing at the front when exchanging HP, he attracted the aggro of two waves of ranged soldiers. On the other hand, the YM soldiers were still attacking the RNG minions as usual.
This caused the RNG's three melee soldiers to have low HP.
Xiao Hu was full of anticipation. In his opinion, Vampire's two normal attacks and a Q would be just enough to finish off the three low HP soldiers.
On the screen, the vampire unleashed another normal attack, and another normal attack!
He finished off two of the minions.
The third melee soldier with low HP had already been hit by a small soldier's light bullet and turned into a corpse in the middle lane.
Where's the Q?
Xiao Hu was flustered and exasperated.
Why are you holding the Q?
Aren't you going to finish them off?
If Ouze saw that, his face would turn red with anger!
At this moment, he saw that the three YM soldiers were about to be reduced to low HP. He could only bite the bullet and go up to finish them off. Lin Yan hit him with another AQ!
He lost another 100 HP. Mi De Hu, whose accent had been assimilated with Kasa's recently, couldn't help but curse in a low voice.
Sob, what are you trying to do when you're at level 1?
Is there any justice in this world? Is this how you play the game, Vampire?
However, he didn't dare to fight back. After all, he only had one Sand Soldier. Three low HP melee soldiers would be more valuable.
He stood up his Sand Soldier and put the three soldiers into his pocket. Then, he took another normal attack from Vampire.
Saucepan changed the screen and saw that Lin Yan was attacking Xiao Hu!
"I can only move when I'm at level 3. Don't be so fierce when you're changing HP. Be more stable." He saw that Tsar only had slightly more than 60% HP left. He couldn't help but say.
"I know, I know …" Xiao Hu took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.
Lin Ran, this vampire who did not play by the rules, made him very uncomfortable.
After 9 seconds, Lin Yan's skill changed again. This time, it was the Scarlet Dash version of the Enhanced Q with additional damage and recovery effects!
Xiao Hu didn't dare to fight head-on. He could only retreat again.
Lin Yan was right in front. When the Scarlet Dash effect was about to disappear, he spat at the ranged soldier.
This time, his HP recovered to around 80%. Xiao Hu's face turned green.
If this continued, even if he had two more health potions, it wouldn't be enough!
However, the good news was that he could take advantage of Lin Yan's cooldown period to occupy an advantageous position and force Lin Yan to retreat.
However, that was all. Tsar's level 1 deterrence was very average.
Both sides steadily developed until the second wave of soldiers arrived. Lin Yan went up to AQ and was ready to snatch the second wave.
This time, the account wasn't afraid. He raised his sand soldier and started to poke the small soldiers.
Both sides leveled up to level 2 almost at the same time.
"Xiao Hu learned Q [Wild Sand Storm] instantly. Summon Sand Soldier Q to wear down Vampire!"
The slow effect allowed the Arcane Comet to hit successfully. Lin Yan's HP instantly decreased by one bar!
However, Lin Yan didn't retreat. Instead, he advanced and took another step forward!
Before the account holder could understand what this meant, a thick pillar suddenly appeared from the ground and pushed him forward by half a body's length!
"Xiao Tian, level 2 pillar, come straight to me. I'm going to use slow on Xiao Hu!"
Lin Yan charged up [Blood Tide]. Xiao Hu looked at the Troll charging at him with a club. In order to maintain his status, he could only use Blink!
"Come and protect me. They're going to push into the jungle!" Mi De Hu hurriedly called for help.
However, he was still a step too late. Lin Yan and Xiao Tian managed to push through the second wave of soldiers before the Saucepan arrived. They plunged into the top half of the jungle!