Backstage, Red Mi watched as YM easily flattened the RNG base. He smiled and nodded in satisfaction.
"Gou Ba, this is the team we want …" he murmured. "Perfect."
Jiang Chenglu translated this sentence to his analyst. Gou Ba smiled and replied, "The players are still the best. The teams we've been in before weren't this good."
Red Mi smiled and shook his head.
Gou Ba stared at the broadcast in the lounge. Through the screen, he could feel the frustration of the RNG players as they left the stage.
He saw these contestants who were a few years younger than him looking listless and dispirited, and his heart was filled with mixed feelings.
In all fairness, Gou Ba and the RNG players had been together for a year, so their relationship was naturally deep.
But that didn't mean he liked RNG.
There was no contradiction. The players were the players, and the management was the management.
His good brother Brother Feng's non-compete agreement was the fuse that triggered his dissatisfaction. Because of this non-compete agreement, after leaving RNG, Firefox couldn't get a teaching position in another team. He could only take 30% of his previous salary and stay at home until the end of the 2020 season.
Under Jack's guidance, Gou Ba was also a good surfer. He often went to the esports forums to understand the situation.
There was no wall in the world that didn't have a crack. The non-compete agreement spread on the major esports forums and attracted a lot of attention. But the netizens' replies made Gou Ba angry.
[RNG didn't force you to sign it with a gun], [Is there no light in the RNG base?
You don't even know the contract?]
Non-compete agreements were a standard in today's major companies. The original purpose was to prevent core employees from jumping ship to rival companies.
But the problem was that such a clause had never been seen in the League of Legends esports circle. RNG was unique, so Gou Ba felt that it was ridiculous.
Wasn't it normal for coaches and players to jump ship in the sports market?
In the esports circle, the golden age of a game was only a few years. The non-compete agreement stuck for him for nearly three years. It almost destroyed half of Firefox's coaching career.
Even though he could get 30% of his salary as compensation every month, even if he let go of Steel Man and Gario, it wasn't difficult for Firefox, who had just led the team to the top four in the world, to find a job in the LPL.
He didn't get much money and couldn't continue his coaching career to satisfy his personal sense of accomplishment. This disgusted Firefox.
However, this agreement was indeed signed by him, and there was no way to refute it.
But Gouba stood on his good friend Firefox's side. When this kind of thing was mixed with personal feelings, it didn't matter who was right or wrong.
Moreover, it was only when he left RNG that he understood.
The club signed a non-competition agreement with Firefox, but not with me. What do you mean by this?
Looking down on others?
This made Gou Ba even more unhappy with his RNG. Now that his team's player had won the first round, he immediately felt refreshed.
"Well played, Brother Ran!" He got up to greet the YM contestant who had just entered the door and patted Lin Yan's shoulder hard.
"What about me?
I didn't play well? "Jack asked shamelessly.
The manager, Guo Hao, replied, "You can't even get a simple lantern. Do you think you're good at it?"
Jack's face was flushed red, and the veins on his forehead were bulging. He argued, "The other side has a pair of eyes, how can you say that Jane can't find the lantern?"
What followed was a string of words that were difficult to understand, such as not talking about martial arts ethics and so on, causing everyone to roar with laughter. The lounge was suddenly filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
It was Red Mi who stood up and redirected the topic back to the game.
"You guys played well in the previous round. We'll still use this tactic in the next round." His tone was calm. "RNG can't solve it."
"We lost a small game in the previous two regular season games, so there's still something to be gained." Lin Yan couldn't help but smile as he thought of this.
Previously, when YM had faced Suning and BLG, they'd let them catch up to two to win the game. They hadn't lost because they'd underestimated their opponents, nor because they were weak.
It was purely to test out their tactics.
Red Mi and Gouba together were like a tactical treasure chest. They were both professional players, so they naturally knew which tactics could be implemented on the field, and which could only be floated on paper. The players couldn't implement them at all.
Against Suning, YM used a lineup of Gnar, Pig Sis, Sindra, EZ, and Tam. Xiao Tian dominated the top half in the early and mid stages, trying to make an issue out of the top lane's first blood tower.
Once this kind of lineup had a great advantage in the early stages, it would be a smooth journey. Sindra and EZ had enough equipment advantage to casually ride on their faces. There were also high-quality tanks like Tam and Pig Sis in the early stages, providing the team with stability, first-mover control, and protection.
The only drawback was that the bottom half's early combat ability was too weak. The duo of EZ and Tam represented shrinking the tower to resist pressure.
Lin Weixiang's EZ and Jack's were about the same, so it was hard to say whose bottom line was lower.
In the end, Brainless and Unhappy didn't handle it well at the first and second levels, and the Artillery Soldier was caught by Suning's jungler three times in a row. There was no way to continue the lane.
On the other hand, Lin Yan and Xiao Tian frequently visited the top lane, and Suning's Old Dean Wolverine resisted the pressure. Although there was a disadvantage, it was far from the point of collapse.
As time went on, Lin Weixiang's EZ didn't have equipment support, and YM was lacking in damage output in the main battle. They were crushed by Suning's high-quality team battles one after another.
When facing BLG, Red Rice gave YM a convenient lineup, but he let the team members develop steadily in the early stages, and wait for the mid and late stages to switch to operations. They would fight BLG through field battles and the key neutral resources — Dragon and Ancient Dragon.
BLG was best at this kind of late stage operations. When they were still in the secondary league, they relied on operations and field of view offensive and defensive battles to start. Their other opponents fought with them in the early and mid stages. They didn't expect the league's leader, YM, to drag it out with them.
As a result, the two sides fought for 49 minutes. AmazingJ's Cheyenne teleported to the back and drove, and cooperated with the jungler Princes to successfully limit YM's damage output. When Lin Yan and Da Mei escaped from the opponent's jungle, Liu Qingsong and Xiao Tian in the front row were already dead.
They had damage output but no one to help attract the firepower. YM lost the team battle in the end, and their base was pushed by BLG.
Red Rice and Gouba were testing YM through various tactics and lineups to see what style they were suitable for.
However, every time there was a new tactic, YM would try a small game first. If they lost, they would change to the early stage attack they were best at in the next game. If they won, they would continue to try the lineups. However, they weren't very lucky. They lost every time they tried the lineups.
Fortunately, it was only a small game, so they didn't have to worry about it. They just needed to start the next game.
This kind of loss wasn't meaningless. YM's coaching team eliminated options through different tactical lineups, and finally found the most suitable tactical choice for the team.
In the pre-game meeting against RNG, Red Rice and Gouba proposed another new idea.
From an overall strategic point of view, YM's match was divided into two stages: before the Dragon and after the Dragon.
Before Baron Nash was born, YM, as usual, used their best early stage attack to crush their opponents.
From the 19th minute onwards, YM's field assistant began to set up a vision near the Dragon pit. They waited for the top, middle, and AD to get the two completed items, and prepared to force the Dragon team.
Whether they got the Dragon or lost it, YM would switch lanes in the seven minutes that Baron Nash disappeared from Summoner's Canyon.
After they got the Dragon, they would split up and use the buff to loot all the resources in the jungles and defense towers. After they lost the Dragon, they would retreat to their own jungles and set up a vision. While their opponents were returning to the city after finishing off the Dragon, they would first loot all the jungles they could eat, and then begin to shrink back to defend.
The tactic sounded simple, but it was very troublesome to implement in a match.
Fortunately, Red Rice used to coach WE, and Gouba used to be an analyst for EDE. Both teams were mainly passive at that time, so they knew the details and arranged for YM's team members clearly.
In terms of lineups, since all the strategies revolved around the Dragon, the match would end around the 28-minute mark. That meant YM had to choose a mid-game hero, so that the lineups and strategies could complement each other.
Among them, Jin Gong wanted a character with damage output. This was the playstyle that Siberians were good at. Even if they were pressured in the early stages, they could still rely on their understanding of team battles to play a good role in the mid-game.
The field assistant was more of a team opening tool. His positioning was to take damage and provide crowd control, which corresponded to Aftershock's buff from before. This kind of team opening tool was more and more popular among professional teams.
As for the two carries, as the main damage output of the team, it was best to choose a mid-game hero that could be used in a two-piece set.
This would form a double frontline (field assistant), a double damage output (mid and ADC) in the mid-game, and a flexible character (top laner) that could make up for the damage output or crowd control.
In the last match, this tactic was a great success. The combination of top laner Kenan, jungler Troll, mid laner Vampire, bottom laner Big Mouth and Hammer Stone crushed the RNG in the mid-game Dragon.
Overall, Red Rice and Gouba's tactic was to let the players play freely in the early stages. Their wild imagination and adaptability ensured that the team would gain an early advantage in most matches.
After entering the mid-game, there was more emphasis on standardized and rational operations. This was because at this point in time, both sides of the competition were making an issue of Baron Nash, a neutral resource. How to use the Dragon to maximize their own profits was a problem that YM's coaches focused on solving.
This was completely different from last year's EDG. EDG's coaches only taught tactics in the early and mid-game. When the Dragon descended, it would depend on each player's own ability. Without mature tactics and command, it was not unusual for the players to be overturned by a ten-thousand-dollar economy.
Originally, YM's method of suppressing their opponents was simple and crude. After taking the Dragon, they used the buff provided to open a team and end the game. Now, Red Rice wanted the entire team to win the game based on economic 'momentum'. Everything was based on the economy and the gap in equipment created by the economy.
This method was undoubtedly more scientific and reasonable.
Red Rice felt that he had found a suitable path for YM.
…
"Welcome back to the live broadcast of the 2018 LPL Spring Season … RNG has chosen to change their jungler in this game. Karsa has replaced Saucepan. Let's see if there will be any unique chemistry after RNG's lineup change!"
Doll warmed up the scene as usual. Before he and Mille could say a few words, the two teams that had returned to the stage started the BP segment again!
Mille calmed down and looked at the BP panel given by the director. "In this game, RNG has chosen the blue side for themselves. They will be the first to ban Vampire!"
Seeing this ban position, the audience below the stage burst into laughter. Doll said, "Brother Ran, Vampire is hot. RNG still has to be targeted. Otherwise, they might repeat the script of the previous game."
"Indeed," Mille agreed with his partner. "This Vampire has obviously gotten the hang of it. It's not worth it to let him out."
Red Rice saw Vampire in the ban position. He, who was usually well-trained, could not help but laugh out loud.
Lin Yan shook the heat pack in his hand helplessly. Vampire was really not his usual hero. The main reason why he was targeted like this was because Vladimir was too popular in the face of RNG.
Xiao Hu's suppression in the middle lane was quite average. Most of the time, he was a hero who could mix in. If Saucepan went up, he would do things with the jungler's rhythm. If Saucepan was also blocked, then it would be over.
Lin Yan, on the other hand, had Vampire. In the early stages, he could safely fill in the gaps when facing Xiao Hu. He might even be able to complete a solo kill. Mi De Hu had no way to stop his development. In the middle and late stages, Vampire could easily threaten RNG's core output, Ouze.
The RNG coaching team obviously saw this point. They had no choice but to choose to ban him.
Red Rice, who had restrained his smile, obediently put Xia in the ban position. After Heart blocked Qing Gang Yin, he banned Shi Senming's Bull's Head, Chieftain.
The two bans were clearly telling RNG, "I know you're good at the bottom lane, but don't even think about playing in this game."
RNG's head coach, Heart, frowned and thought hard. He had given the last ban position to Troll King in the first round.
"They're going to send out Aoun," Red Rice said without hesitation. "There's still Zooey outside. Do you think it's okay to release them all?"
Lin Yan thought for a moment. "I think we can try releasing them all."
Zooey and Uncle Yang's Aoun were two special cases. The latter had been strengthened several times in a row after logging into the Alliance. Aoun's ban rate in the All-Star Game was as high as 95%.
Zooey, on the other hand, was very strong when she first came out. She had been taking hits and had never been strengthened.
Especially W's [Skillful Hand]. Now that minions could not be dropped and teleported, it was very disadvantageous for Zooey's ability to drive the rhythm of the game.
However, Aoun had also been focused on by the designers in the last two versions. Now W's [Bellows Flame Breath] had no unstoppable effect, and the cooldown of R's [Summoning of the Smelting God] had been increased.
However, this was not necessarily a bad thing for Emperor Rang.
When Aoun was strong to the point of being bugged, he even bought a house in all the red team's ban positions. Now that he had been weakened twice, he no longer had the strength to dominate, and his ban rate was gradually decreasing.
This way, he could play Aoun.
"That's fine." Red Rice thought of a plan and agreed with Lin Yan's idea. "But you have to withstand pressure in the early stages of this game."
No matter how much the game was nerfed, Zooey was still a rhythm hero in the early stages of the game. There were almost no heroes in the game that could compete with her in the early stages.
"No problem." Lin Yan was very confident.
He knew Xiao Hu well and felt that the opponent could not give him much pressure.
"YM's last ban position is given to Princes!"
Mille raised his eyebrows. "This way, we'll release both Zooey and Aoun. Let's see who RNG will pick first."
Heart did not hesitate. He first took Zooey for Kobayashi and prepared to let RNG's jungler and YM wrestle.
"We'll take Olaf and Hammer Stone first." Red Rice gave them a preset choice for RNG. "The opponent's second and third picks are most likely Verus and Aoun. This way, we'll choose Shen."
"Is that okay?" He looked at the Siberian.
Jin Gong pulled his helmet-like hair and nodded in agreement with the coach's arrangement.
This way, they had a high probability of getting junglers and top laners in the early stages of the game. Even if they used Zooey in the mid laner, there was only one person after all. There was nothing he could do if all the junglers took his place.
Everything was as Red Rice expected. After YM took down Olaf and Hammerstone, the two strong supports, Heart took down Aoun and gave Uzi the strong marksman, Verus.
After that, Jin Gong successfully took Shen and tried to suppress Emperor Rang in the early stages.
In the second round of BP, Heart aimed at Jack. Since he had already given Ouze Verus, it was natural for him to target Shiba Inu's hero pool.
Big Mouth and Callista, who were very good at laning with Hammer Stone, were both banned by him.
On the other hand, Red Rice targeted Xiao Ming and blocked Boulogne and Robot.
"YM's fourth pick should be an ADC for Jack …" Doll looked at the BP panel. "I think Policewoman is a good choice."
The Shiba Inu rested his elbows on the table and pointed at the screen with his fingers. He kept muttering something, and with his swollen face, he looked like a bully. He looked like he was going to turn off someone's heater.
Red Rice paced behind the player's seat. He was still listening to Jiang Chenglu's translation. After a long time, he nodded in agreement.
Jack grinned and easily found the hero he wanted to use.
The moment the character was selected, the deafening cheers from the audience rang through the stadium.
Welcome to the Delai Alliance!
"Draven!" Mille was also excited. "Jack is going to start!"
Shiba Inu hadn't played his unique skill in a long time, so he was a little excited.
He rubbed the heating pad in his hand and looked at his big brother.
"Brother Ran, how about you be my dog?"
Lin Yan looked at the support hero on the opposite side and smiled at Big Head Shiba Inu. "Are you sure?"
"Hmm …" Jack looked at the Fallen Angel Morgana in Shi Senming's hero selection box and felt a little guilty. However, he did not want to admit defeat. The words that were about to come out of his mouth surged. "Come, let me have some fun!"
"How about this?"
Liu Qingsong smiled and clicked the mouse. The familiar Purple Garlic appeared on his selection screen again.
"… Lulu is good." Lin Yan thought for a while. "But I think Karma is better."
This time, it was Liu Qingsong who was stunned. "Really?"
Red Rice was also encouraging. "Go ahead, this lineup is good."
Open Wounds saw that his teammates didn't seem to have any objections. He licked his lips and selected.
"Karma?"
Doll thought YM's lineup was ridiculous. "How are they going to kill Scorpion and Aoun in the front row?"
The audience also glanced at the lineup of both sides.
Blue RNG: Top Tank Aoun, Jungler Scorpion, Mid Tank Zooey, Bottom Tank Verus + Morgana.
Red YM: Top Tank Shen, Jungler Olaf, Mid Tank Karma, Bottom Tank Draven + Hammer Stone.
At first glance, YM didn't have any DPS in the middle of the game.
Expecting a hero like Draven to kill the tanks in the front row?
The audience wasn't happy. They criticized Red Rice's BP in the game's live broadcast room.
[Hohoho, does this count as a 4-for-1?]
[With Olaf, it's not a pure 4-for-1 … But it's ridiculous that YM can choose such a lineup.]
[I'm dying of laughter. Playing a 4-for-1 in front of RNG. Isn't that just showing off in front of an expert?]
[Letting the boss in the team play Karma. Who can think of this lineup without ten years of brain hemorrhage?]
However, Red Rice's expression was normal on the stage. On the other side, Heart's face turned red again.
"You're really ruthless." He looked at Red Rice as they shook hands. His tone was indescribably angry.
Although Red Rice and Heart had never been teammates, they both played for MVP and the Samsung Club back in the day. They lived in the same building and were quite familiar with each other. Red Rice smiled and replied, "I think it's okay. I gave you guys Zooey and Aoun. What else do you want me to do?"
Heart puffed up his cheeks and didn't say anything.
RNG's lineup looked like a top-notch team battle. They dragged it to 25 minutes. With Aoun and Scorpion in hand, as long as their economy didn't fall too far behind, it was basically impossible to lose in a head-on team battle.
However, a match didn't only have mid-to-late team battles. There was also the previous match-up period.
Aoun played Shen in the top lane, Scorpion played Olaf in the jungle, Zooey played Karma in the middle lane, and Verus and Morgana played Draven and Hammer Stone in the bottom lane.
In the three-lane jungle, only Zooey in the middle lane had a slight advantage over Karma. The other lanes were all suppressed.
How could they resist YM's aggressive attacks in the match-up period?
Professional matches still depended on the ID. If YM's lineup was chosen by EDG, Heart felt that he could open champagne halfway through the game to celebrate the victory in advance.
However, this was YM, who was famous for their aggressive early game attacks!
This early game lineup would only make them more powerful!
However, the YM fans below the stage didn't know that the coach's judgment of the lineup was completely different from theirs.
When the audience saw the arrival of the Summoner's Canyon, they temporarily restrained their dissatisfaction with the coach's BP and cheered for the home team!
When Lin Yan heard the cheers for YM from below the stage, the fountain gate had already opened. He bought a Corruption Potion and rushed to the river in the middle of the map.
"Go straight to the opponent's blue buff and find them to fight!" Lin Yan signaled to the blue buff mark in the bottom half of the RNG area.
Their first-level lineup was quite strong, and the opponent had almost no crowd control. This meant that Jack's axe could be used continuously, and the continuous damage was very impressive.
"RNG guessed the opponent's intention. Casa is already preparing to change to the blue buff!" Mille watched as Scorpion led Aoun into the top half of YM's jungle.
Lin Yan and his teammates circled the RNG jungle and also realized that the opponent wanted to avoid the battle.
"Brother Lin Yan, accompany me to take a look at our own blue buff. Try to stop Scorpion as much as possible." Karma and Shen were also very strong at level 1, so Lin Yan was very confident.
They stuck at 1 minute and 28 seconds and walked to their own blue buff camp.
"Jin Gong set up an eye and saw Casa and Letme!"
The wild monsters had already respawned. If Casa turned back to his own jungle, not only would he waste time, Phyllostachys Pubescens' Olaf would finish farming the RNG blue buff, but it was very likely that he would cross the middle lane and return to his own jungle to complete the third buff.
"We have to fight, we have to fight. Junze, help tank for a while." Casa still decided to take this blue buff.
At this time, the minions had already gathered in the middle lane and were preparing to go up against Scorpion. Unexpectedly, Lin Yan didn't even need the minions and stayed in the jungle to harass Scorpion!
"I'm coming!"
Seeing this, Scorpion didn't care about the minions, but YM's blue buff's HP was still decreasing.
"Brother Ran and Jin Gong have reduced Casa's HP to less than half. Xiao Hu has finally arrived on the battlefield!"
Lin Yan hurriedly retreated, but he sinisterly kept a big move. He was prepared to wait for the wild monsters to have low HP and use his RQ to try and snatch them.
"Casa was forced to hand over Discipline and successfully received the blue buff!"
However, this was all within YM's vision detection range.
15 seconds later, Xiao Tian rushed from the jungle to the middle lane with his axe. He started to clear the minions with his Q [Countercurrent Throw]!
"Casa also rushed to the middle lane to try and clear the minions, but the combat power of both sides is not on the same level!"
Lin Yan's RQ and Xiao Tian's axe pushed the second wave of minions away. The two of them headed towards the top half of the RNG jungle!