"Congratulations to YM for defeating the European champions, FNC, with a score of 3-0!"
Getting off work early made Zeyuan very happy. "Our LPL division has also successfully obtained the first ticket to the finals!"
The YM fans below the stage were all overjoyed. They kept waving the support items for the players they supported. The sound of the glow sticks hitting each other echoed throughout the stadium!
The FNC fans in the stadium were naturally disappointed when they saw that their home team's journey to the mid-season championship had ended.
However, after a moment of silence, someone took the lead. Scattered applause sounded from a certain corner and quickly spread throughout the stadium. The sound was like thunder!
After three games, they were completely convinced. They had nothing but respect for the mighty YM.
Lin Yan finished the water in his paper cup and stood up with his teammates to find the FNC players.
Caps was waiting there and extended his right hand in advance.
"It's an honor to play against you," Caps said in a low voice as the two shook hands. "You're just like Luca said, very good."
Luca?
Lin Yan was stunned for a moment. He then realized that Caps was referring to Perkz's real name.
Were they that close?
However, he didn't think too much about it. He only said encouragingly, "You played well too. Try harder next time."
Caps knew that Lin Yan was just being polite. However, he had a sincere smile on his face. "Good luck, beat KZ and win the finals!"
"We will..." Lin Yan agreed. Bwipo was still talking to Mongoose in front of him. He had no choice but to wait.
However, he was a little surprised that Caps was encouraging him to beat KZ. "Do you have a grudge against KZ?"
"No, no, no, why would you think that?" Caps shook his head. "I just want you to win."
"This way, FNC will lose to the champion team in the semifinals. It's better than losing to the runner-up team." Caps started talking non-stop. "If you can beat KZ with a score of 3-0, I'll even think that I'm the runner-up."
Lin Yan didn't think that there would be such a train of thought, and was immediately stunned.
After Jack and Ou Cheng finished exchanging fitness tips, they turned their heads and saw that Lin Yan was still in a daze. Jack raised his elbow and hit him. "What did he say?"
At this time, Mongoose had already settled Bwipo. Lin Yan followed the crowd and walked out, repeating Caps' original words to Jack.
"What is this?
European Ah Q? "Shiba Inu's mouth was wide open." Spiritual victory, right? "
The five of them came to the center of the stage and bowed to the audience.
"Jack and Liu Qingsong, please stay behind. There's a live interview!"
Winston was waiting for them at the backstage entrance, holding two microphones in his hands as he intercepted YM's duo at the bottom lane.
Seeing that there was nothing else for him to do, Lin Yan sauntered back to the lounge with the two brothers.
Guo Hao and the coaching staff had just finished celebrating their victory. When they saw their teammate push open the door and come in, Guo Hao grabbed Lin Yan and laughed happily while hugging his ten million yuan.
"Alright, alright … Can't you be a little more mature like me?!
We'll celebrate after the finals the day after tomorrow. "Although Hong Mi said this, the smile on his face wasn't any less than Guo Hao's.
After all, this was his first trip to the MSI. He, who had never picked up the mid-season championship trophy, naturally felt excited when he saw that the team he was coaching was only one step away from the final victory.
Lin Yan sat down on the eSports chair and waited for his duo to rush back to the lounge before gathering for the team interview.
He took out his phone and glanced at the time. After confirming that it was nine in the evening in China, he made a video call.
Su Cheng waited for a while before picking up. It was noisy around her. Her hair was tied up in a single ponytail, and her face was flushed. Sweat dripped from her forehead, wetting the few strands of black hair by her temples. Behind her was the deep night sky and a few dim street lamps.
"What are you doing?" Lin Yan asked.
Su Cheng plugged in her earphones. "I had nothing to do today, so I came to the field for a night run."
She turned on the rear camera and showed Lin Yan the South Side Stadium. The field was full of people, and many parents had brought their children in to play. It looked very lively.
"Ah …" He looked disappointed. "You didn't watch my game?"
Lin Yan had seen his girlfriend's schedule and knew that she would be relatively relaxed for the next three days. He thought that she would be at home watching him beat FNC.
Su Cheng cut to the outer circle of the field and was about to walk outside. She looked down and saw Lin Yan's expression. She quickly comforted him. "I watched, I watched. But Zooey was so badly beaten … I didn't have the heart to continue watching, so I came out for a run to relieve my boredom."
Lin Yan didn't say anything.
When he heard this, he made a mental note of FNC. He regretted being so nice to Caps on stage.
Just you wait, Caps. Let's see if I beat you in the international competition!
"I used it in the last round …"
Before he could finish, Su Cheng said, "I know. It's a Succubus."
"Huh?" Lin Yan didn't understand.
Su Cheng moved the camera again so that he could look at the inner circle of the field beside her. A few boys were running in a group, yelling YMNB. They looked very excited.
"When we were running at night, there was a classmate who was broadcasting the whole process, and someone was talking about your Nightmare R + TP skills …" Su Cheng left the field, opened the locker door, and took out her bag. She carried it on her left shoulder, took out a bottle of mineral water, and walked out.
"Cheng Zi, why do you have double standards?" Lin Yan suddenly exclaimed.
Su Cheng was drinking water with her neck raised. She had an Adam's apple on her fair, slender neck. She widened her eyes in confusion when she heard what her boyfriend said.
"What do you mean?"
Lin Yan pointed at her left shoulder. "Didn't you tell me that I can't carry my backpack with one shoulder?
It's easy to carry it with high or low shoulders. Look at what you're doing now. "
Su Cheng followed her boyfriend's gaze and saw the strap of her backpack on her left shoulder. She was so angry that she laughed.
"Hey," she immediately countered. "I just finished running and my back is still sweaty. I can't carry my backpack with one hand. Besides, I'm very thirsty now. It's reasonable that I'm holding a bottle of water in my other hand …"
"Then I can't video call you with my phone." Su Cheng smiled sweetly. She walked to a remote corner and put the bottle on the ground. "Mr. Lin, to stop your girlfriend from having double standards, you should sacrifice yourself."
Lin Yan looked at the video call that was hung up. He didn't expect that he would be buried in the hole he dug!
He wanted to make up for it, but Shiba Inu had just returned from an interview and saw Lin Yan ending the video call.
Jack sat down next to Lin Yan. "What did Sister Su say?"
"Oh, it's nothing," Lin Ran said without batting an eyelid. "She said I played well today."
Guo Hao clapped his hands and signaled the team members in the room to pack up. "Let's go. There's still a team interview!"
Lin Yan yawned and sent two messages to Su Cheng. Then he picked up his backpack and rushed to the interview room.
...
"Next question, contestant Ran." A Korean reporter in the audience asked, "What do you think of the other semifinal tomorrow, KZ versus Lightning Wolves?"
Lin Yan, who was sitting behind a long black table with his teammates, picked up the microphone on the table. "I think … KZ will be our opponent in the final."
He originally wanted to say something fierce, but then he thought about Jack's EZ and the team's hidden moves. If he was too confident now, KZ would be suspicious.
The veteran actor Lin Yan was very professional. Even though he couldn't earn 208 Da Bu in a day, he still decided to act until the end.
"They're too strong. Even though we swept FNC with a score of 3: 0, it doesn't mean anything. KZ also double killed FNC in the group stage …"
At this time, in the eyes of the Korean reporter, Lin Yan's face was three points of excitement for winning the semifinal, two points of anticipation for the final, and five points of seriousness for facing a strong opponent like KZ.
Even though there was no pie on his face, the emotions on his face were like a pie chart cut.
It could only be said that Lin Yan's acting was very layered.
He was very satisfied with Lin Yan's answer. He sat down and typed — Shocking!
The final is coming, and the Ran player claimed that KZ's strength made them feel afraid!
Phyllostachys Pubescens knew what Lin Yan wanted to do. He immediately turned his head and whispered, "It's a pity that you didn't win an Oscar with this level of skill."
Jack, who was next to him, also laughed out loud. Before he could speak, another Korean reporter threw a question at him.
"Contestant JackeyLove, how do you rank the popular ADC heroes in this season's championship?"
Shiba Inu panicked.
Jack looked back at the black advertising board with the logo of Fist Company and MSI. He took the opportunity to wipe the smile off his face and tried to make himself look more serious.
"In terms of ranking, Izreal is the strongest," he said after thinking for a moment. "I personally like this hero very much. He's even more suitable for me than Kesha, Xia, and Verus. After that, there are heroes like Big Mouth and Policewoman. They can also play."
"You're acting too deliberately," Liu Qingsong couldn't help but whisper, "What do you mean by 'I personally like this hero'? Who says that?
It's so fake. "
"What do you know," Jack glared at him, "It's to make him think I'm lying. That way, KZ will think I'm acting tough …"
He was speechless.
"Tough on the outside but weak on the inside," Lin Ran added.
"That's right, acting tough." Although Jack's score was a little better than Zhuo Ding's 100 points, there was a limit to it. When he heard Lin Yan's words, he continued, "KZ will know that I'm lying after hearing my words and looking at EZ's record in the qualifiers and the official competition. I want to trick them into sending EZ to the banned position in the finals."
"Won't they let down their guard?
Maybe they'll really let EZ out. "
Liu Qingsong licked his lips. He didn't expect there to be so many twists and turns. "But is acting like this really going to work … I don't think KZ will even watch an interview like this."
"To be able to ask a question like this, I can only say that you're too young too simple." Red Rice was still answering questions about the preparation for the finals. Lin Yan and the other four looked at each other and laughed in unison, "When we get off the stage later, we'll have to let Hao tell us the story of how S6 made the other teams think that Xiao Tian was the Panther Girl."
Liu Qingsong was confused. S6 was still working hard with Lin Weixiang to demote Gluttonous Samurai. He had no idea what was going on.
When he heard that the group interview was over, Liu Qingsong immediately got off the stage and ran to Guo Hao's cubicle to ask him about what happened back then.
"Panther Girl," Guo Hao leaned back on the spot, "Then I'll have to tell you about the value of S6 …"
Liu Qingsong was still in a daze even when the team got into the car and rushed back to the hotel.
Clearly, Guo Hao's words had a big impact on his young mind.
Lin Yan was still poking at his girlfriend on WeChat. He sent two emojis and then a video call was picked up.
However, this time the camera was on, so Lin Yan couldn't see his girlfriend's face. He could only see the floor tiles and Su Cheng's slender legs peeking out from under her loose sweatpants.
The tiles were so white.
"What?" Su Cheng's voice was fierce. Lin Yan immediately knew she was faking it.
"You're home?"
Lin Yan chose to start another topic. He saw that the layout of the corridor on both sides was exactly the same as Jibei Court.
"Yeah, don't tell me I still have to stay in school?"
Su Cheng's voice softened quite a bit. She waved her fair arm in front of the camera so that Lin Yan could see the bread and milk in her hands. "I bought some breakfast for tomorrow."
"… Cheng Zi, turn the camera back. I feel dizzy just looking at it."
Su Cheng wasn't walking slowly. In the rear camera, the tiles on the floor kept shaking. It looked very uncomfortable.
Su Cheng thought for two seconds and turned the camera back.
"Where's your bag?" Lin Yan was surprised to see that her other hand was empty.
"I left it in the dormitory." Su Cheng took out her keys from her pocket and unlocked the door of the rental apartment. "It's nothing important anyway."
She put her phone and breakfast on the shoe cabinet at the entrance and bent down to take off her shoes.
The shoe rack was neither tall nor short, and Su Cheng's short-sleeved shirt was neither loose nor tight. At this moment, when she bent down slightly, Lin Ran happened to catch a glimpse of snowy white through the gap of the shirt collar.
He hurriedly leaned against the car window to avoid being seen by the people next to him.
Lin Yan glanced at the phone camera and felt that this wasn't a good idea.
He looked away.
He endured it for two seconds.
He moved back again.
He still didn't have enough self-control.
Fortunately, Su Cheng had already changed into her slippers and stood up, successfully covering her body.
"Where are you going?" Lin Yan saw that Su Cheng had no intention of picking up her phone, so he quickly asked.
"I'm taking a shower. I just finished running and I'm covered in sweat," Su Cheng answered matter-of-factly.
Lin Yan said implicitly, "Do you want to bring me along?"
"Bring your head!" Su Cheng threw down such a sentence and ran to the bathroom in the bedroom.
Jack was restlessly twisting around in his seat. When he heard Lin Yan's words, he leaned over and asked, "Bring what?"
"Oh, we were just talking … bring Big Brother," Lin Yan replied expressionlessly.
…
The night they returned to the hotel after defeating FNC, YM held an emergency meeting before the finals.
"Tomorrow, our coaching team will be watching KZ's match against Lightning Wolves. Also, you have to rehearse for the opening ceremony and record a promotional video, so we can only use everyone's practice time for the meeting tonight …"
Red Rice explained the objective situation clearly. "I think the probability of Lightning Wolves winning the small game tomorrow is very high, but it's not realistic to want to defeat KZ in the entire BO5, so we set the imaginary opponent for the finals as KZ."
"At present, their tactics haven't been exposed much." Red Rice turned on the projector and analyzed the data on his computer. "At the BP level, from the beginning of the LCK playoffs until now, they haven't shown a fixed lineup. Their overall style is very changeable, especially their top laners."
"Khan used eight different top laners in the ten MSI Group Stages, and each character performed well. This can only be described as a sea of heroes."
Qing Gang Yin, Captain, Big Bug, Orloy, Thain, Gnar, Vampire, Jax …
"Not bad!" Jack couldn't help but sigh. "This hero pool isn't any worse than Brother Ran's."
"If you want to praise him, then praise him. Why are you dragging me in?" Lin Yan was a little dissatisfied.
He had to admit that since last summer, Khan's performance had been top-notch. Even if S7 was stopped by YM in the top eight, it didn't affect his evaluation much. Khan was still one of the best top laners in the world.
"We don't need to target the top laners in the BP segment," Gou Ba continued. "No matter how we ban them, he can find a replacement hero."
Red Rice nodded. "That's right. We'll target Little Peanut in the finals. He'll be a good choice."
He moved the mouse and pulled up a video from the folder he named "MSIKZ."
"This is the second round of the Group Stages, a video of the match between YM and KZ. After this match, we were studying our opponents in the semi-finals and didn't have time to review it. Today, I'll show it to everyone."
"Everyone should still remember. Starting in the middle of the game, KZ changed their tactical strategy. They let Grace follow Little Peanut and Khan, and the three of them worked together to invade the jungle. While protecting the top laner, they could also help plunder resources in the jungle," Red Rice recalled. "The disadvantage was that they let the ADC loose, but this was very compatible with Pray's own playstyle."
Only four days had passed since the first place battle in the Group Stages, and the players present easily recalled the situation at the time.
Red Rice nodded in satisfaction at everyone's reaction and continued, "KZ's strategy in the middle of the game was very obvious. I don't need to elaborate too much. The key to the problem was in the early stages.
"I've reverse engineered KZ's early stage tactical execution based on the video, but because the sample size is too small and KZ didn't have a rhythm in the early stages of the game, I can't guarantee that what I've said is completely correct."
He pressed the fast-forward button and played the video directly from the level 1 team.
The red team YM invaded the lower half of the blue team KZ's zone. KZ didn't want to fight at first, but a series of "on the way" signals in the OB view directly kicked off the level 1 team!
The top laners on both sides handed over Flash. In the end, YM successfully invaded the red zone and chased Little Peanut to the top half of the blue team to activate the blue buff.
"Right here." Red Rice pressed the pause button. "KZ clearly didn't want to fight at first. It's obvious that they beat us at our own game. They deliberately wanted to compete with us in a level 1 team. In the end, the top laner handed over Flash."
"Was it to get Little Peanut to level 3 to catch me?" Jin Gong rubbed his chin and guessed.
"You guessed right." Red Rice nodded. "But not completely."
"I'll draw Little Peanut's route in the jungle on the whiteboard. Pay attention."
He pulled over a whiteboard in the training room with a map of Summoner's Canyon printed on it and marked it with a marker.
A circle was drawn on KZ's blue buff camp with the number 1: 30 written in the circle. A short line connected the circle to the nearby Magical Swamp Frog camp with the number 1: 45 written in the Magical Swamp Frog camp.
"After killing these two groups of monsters, he directly crossed the river and came to our red buff camp. The time is …" He dragged the video progress bar. "Two minutes and twenty seconds."
"It took him two minutes and thirty-nine seconds to reach level 3. He rushed to the top lane just in time to catch Jin Gong, who didn't Flash." Red Rice drew an arc from the red buff camp to the top lane. "But we were fully prepared before the game. Jin Gong wasn't caught dead this time, and the minions were pushed back. Little Peanut came for nothing this time."
Lin Yan interjected. "Wasn't this our plan before the game? We had Jin Gong lure Little Peanut up and interfere with his farming speed. This gave Mongoose five minutes to reach the KZ jungle one step ahead of him and kill Peanut."
"That's our strategy," Gou Ba explained. "But Homme and I studied it. It was just a coincidence that our strategies collided at the intersection of the top lane."
Lin Yan didn't say anything else. He sat in his chair and stared at the screen with his chin propped up in his hand.
"After Little Peanut caught the top lane, he moved down and killed our red Stone Beetle and F6." Red Rice used the marker again to draw Little Peanut's route to YM's Beak Bird camp. "It took him three minutes and fifty-eight seconds to finish killing the six birds."
"Remember this time."
Homme drew a circle with a darker red pen.
"It took him four minutes and twenty-five seconds to reach level four after killing his own top lane's Three Wolves." Red Rice tapped on the screen. "Let's turn our attention to the bottom lane."
"Since we invaded the jungle at level one, Mongoose started in the KZ red zone. After killing his opponent's monsters, he crossed the river to kill his own three groups of monsters in the bottom lane … Don't worry about anything else. Let's just look at the group of Stone Beetles and Beak Birds in the bottom lane of the KZ."
Red Rice had a lot to say. His mouth was dry from all the talking, but when he saw Jiang Chenglu conscientiously translating next to him and the YM players around him also attentive, he felt gratified and continued to speak.
"With 150 seconds of respawn time for monsters, the KZ Stone Beetles respawn in four minutes and forty-three seconds, and the Beak Birds respawn in about five minutes." He did a rough calculation. "In this game, Little Peanut was suppressed in the bottom lane and middle lane. Plus, he wasted a lot of time catching people in the top lane. He wanted to protect his own jungle, so he didn't return to the city to resupply. After killing the Three Wolves, he went straight to the bottom lane.
"If he went back to the city to resupply, he would've waited about five minutes and forty seconds to kill the Stone Beetles. This is also a critical time."
Lin Yan sensed something. He straightened up and stared thoughtfully at the Summoner's Canyon whiteboard that Red Rice had scribbled so messily.
But before he could speak, he heard Jack murmur, "Artillery Troopers?"
When Red Rice heard Jiang Chenglu's translation, he gave Jack a thumbs up. "That's right."
"Little Peanut took 3 minutes and 58 seconds to kill our Beak Birds' camp. Coincidentally, the sixth wave of troops arrived in the middle lane with a Artillery Trooper." When Red Rice saw that someone had exposed the answer, he sped up his speech. "When he finished killing the Stone Beetles in five minutes and forty seconds, the ninth wave of Artillery Troopers arrived at the bottom lane.
"The Artillery Troopers are the key to our early attack and execution of our strategy — 3 minutes and 58 seconds of Artillery Troopers in the middle lane. Little Peanut was waiting at the Beak Birds' camp. If Lin Yan or Mongoose dared to kill BDD, he would cross the wall and rush to the middle lane in time to provide support."
Lin Yan's eyes flickered. He still remembered that he had set up an eye in the Beak Birds' camp in advance. He had seen Little Peanut's movements and even snatched four birds.
However, if he had not made that eye accessory, nobody knew what would have happened.
"3 minutes and 58 seconds in the middle lane. This wave of Artillery Troopers will affect Lin Yan to a certain extent, but it's still acceptable," Red Rice said. "The key is the bottom lane.
"Jack used Policewoman at that time, so he must've used the Artillery Troopers at the bottom lane in five minutes and forty seconds to push forward …"
Shiba Inu nodded without hesitation. For a rapid pushing system, the Artillery Troopers with thick HP were crucial. Since they could withstand seven attacks from the defense tower, there was no reason for Policewoman not to use them to destroy the tower.
"But Little Peanut just happened to be at the Stone Beetles' camp. If you push too far at the bottom lane, he can come over and try to catch you. If he can't catch you, he can also help clear the Artillery Troopers at the bottom lane."
Red Rice knocked on the whiteboard. "If that's the case, our duo's pushing speed will definitely be affected."
"Tsk …" Liu Qingsong sighed. "You're something."
"There's one more thing," Gou Ba added. "Pay attention to the refresh time of KZ's second red buff."
"6 minutes and 50 seconds."
"If Little Peanut clears at his normal speed, he'll probably reach the bottom lane in 7 minutes and 10 seconds …"
Liu Qingsong reacted quickly this time. "There's another wave of Artillery Troopers at the bottom lane!"
"Yes, there's another wave of Artillery Troopers," Gou Ba said in a deep voice. "As long as Little Peanut reaches the bottom lane, your turret pushing rhythm will stagnate again."
Jack and Liu Qingsong fell into deep thought.
If two waves of Artillery Troopers didn't make any progress in pushing down the tower, as Pray's level and equipment continued to improve, they would be able to clear the bottom lane without Artillery Troopers faster and faster. It would be very difficult for them to remove KZ's bottom lane tower during the laning period.
If they couldn't push down a tower, Policewoman's rhythm would show signs of being interrupted, and she might even drag down the entire team.
"We can see that Little Peanut's entire farming path is still more inclined towards the top half of the map," Red Rice concluded. "But his jungle plan is very reasonable. Every time he reaches the bottom half of the map, he can rush to the bottom lane to relieve the duo of pressure while farming."
"Through this perfect planning, he can even protect the bottom lane's defense tower while protecting the top lane's assault!"
Lin Yan pondered for a moment and felt a little scared.
KZ's tactics in the closing battle of the group stage were quite mature.
In the early stage, they had Little Peanut switch to the jungle. After catching him, they would take advantage of every wave of Artillery Troopers to head to the bottom lane to help the Rat King develop steadily and delay YM's advance.
In the middle of the game, Little Peanut would pull Gera into the jungle with him to build an advantage for Khan and also make up for his own development.
If YM hadn't come up with a strategy that had accidentally slowed down Little Peanut's farming efficiency in the early stages, allowing Little Sleepy to catch him in the nick of time and completely cut off the rhythm of the jungle, YM really wouldn't have been the final winner of this battle for first place in the group.
"Isn't there any way to deal with it?" Phyllostachys Pubescens asked the key question.
The others also sat up straight.
After listening to Red Rice's long review, they were concerned about what they could do to break KZ's trap.
"Of course there are ways to deal with it." Red Rice had a card up his sleeve. "Although KZ is known to be the team that most resembles LPL in LCK and is famous for its high frequency of fights and bloodiness, they still have the blood of Korean operations flowing in their veins."
"You can see their tactical style from the tactics they tried to use in the closing battle of the group stage. There are very few LPL teams that can execute their tactics accurately to the second."
Red Rice took a sip of hot tea to moisten his throat and continued, "This kind of Korean operation is very precise in its calculation of time and control of resources. This is its strength, but it's also its weakness.
"It's very afraid of variables."
He was one of the representatives of Korean operations, so he didn't shy away from talking about this kind of operation style.
"Because the calculation is too precise and strict, if there's an unexpected battle during the execution of the tactics and time is delayed, the rhythm will deviate …"
Red Rice even gave a chestnut as an example. "It's like the gears in a machine. Under normal circumstances, the machine will run smoothly, but once a problem occurs in a certain segment and one of the gears' rhythm is disrupted, a series of chain reactions will follow."
Seeing that his team members understood, he continued, "Our way of dealing with this is to disrupt the rhythm of the gears so that the Korean operation machine can't run smoothly!"
The specific strategy after that made the eyes of the YM members shine. Originally, they were a little flustered when they saw KZ's complete strategy, but now they felt much more at ease.
…
"Khan cut in from the side, activated Counter Storm, and jumped to Betty's face!"
Jax waved the street lamp in his hand fiercely, stunning Verus. At the same time, his teammates behind him stepped forward and killed him with a series of skills!
"Lightning Wolf has been wiped out!" Roaring Emperor Quan Suan Si roared angrily. "KZ is about to end this semi-final!"
From God's perspective, the score next to the economic panel of both teams showed 2: 1. The three KZ members who survived the team battle pushed Lightning Wolf to the high ground.
"Twenty-five seconds of resurrection time is enough to destroy the main Crystal!"
Buildings fell one by one under Jax's street lamp. The moment the FW Crystal Hub was destroyed, the three Korean commentators shouted GG in unison!
"Congratulations to KZ for defeating LMS team Lightning Wolf with a score of 3 to 1. They will start the final battle with the defending champion YM tomorrow!"