LOL: My talent is top-tier, my professional skills are unparalleled.

Chapter 608 The engine is running! We're ready to depart at any time!

at the same time.

Off the field, deafening shouts erupted from the stands!
"T1!! T1!!"

"Faker!! Faker!!"

Various support items were constantly shaking; it was a scene of madness!
have to say.

Despite two consecutive years of losses, T1 and Faker's popularity still sits at the top of the league's esports scene!
"Next up is—"

The host spoke again, drawing everyone's attention back, and pointed to the other side of the stage: "From the LPL region, EDG!!!"

boom--

His words were like a heavy deep-sea bomb dropped on the ocean.

The entire scene erupted in chaos!
Under the gaze of countless people, six boys dressed in black and white team uniforms appeared one by one in the smoke.

Like T1, Wang Yao also walked to the flagpole in the center of the stage and planted the black flag in his hand.

In an instant, two distinctive flags crossed each other, creating an incredibly strong sense of déjà vu!
Off the field, the screams that belonged to EDG were already deafening!

"EDG!!! EDG!!!"

"Yao-ge!! Charge!!!"

Banners and flags were waved.

Judging by the atmosphere, it's even more frenzied than when T1 made their debut!

Especially some of the guys in the front row, shouting until their faces turned red and their necks bulged, made people wonder if they would shout until they suffocated from lack of oxygen.

"It's clear that everyone is very enthusiastic."

The host, with a smile, announced: "Then, I hereby declare!"

As he spoke, he raised his hand and then swung it down hard!
"The 2020 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) semifinals are now beginning!!"

……

Our attention now turns to the official LPL livestream.

The three official commentators were already in place, facing the camera with high spirits and smiles.

"This is Hangzhou, China, the venue for the 2020 League of Legends MSI semifinals. Hello everyone, I'm Miller, your commentator for this match."

"I'm the commentator doll."

"I'm commentator Zeyuan!"

"The match between EDG and T1 is definitely another peak showdown between our two regions. I believe many viewers have been looking forward to it for a long time, and so have we."

"To be honest, I was so excited last night that I couldn't sleep until midnight!" Colonel Guan said with a smile.

"Regardless of who the final winner is, I hope that both teams can continue to bring us surprises in today's match, just like always."

Just as they were talking, Miller suddenly pressed his earpiece, looked up, and said, "It's here! The starting lineups for both sides are out, let's take a look!"

At this moment, the starting lineups for both teams appeared below their names on the big screen!

There are no changes on T1.

It's still the same familiar group of players: Faker, Gumayushi, Kuri, and others.

However, just like in the first match of the group stage, an ID appeared on EDG's side that captivated countless people's attention!

EDG-Kshine!

"As expected! Yao-ge still went for it!"

Miller's voice rang out, his expression clearly becoming excited: "We can see that it's still the support position!"

At this moment, Wawa couldn't help but say, "Last time, his support Thresh pick brought us a huge surprise. I wonder if it will be the same this time?"

Beside him, Colonel Guan chuckled and made a joke: "Anyway, let's believe it first?"

Miller pushed up his glasses, his smile meaningful: "Whether others believe it or not is another matter, but Ze Yuan certainly wouldn't dare to explicitly say he believes it!"

Colonel Guan smiled and changed the subject: "The players from both sides have now entered the arena and are preparing. The match is about to begin!"

Immediately, the Haier brothers' expressions also became serious.

They still cannot afford to lose their professional competence!

The footage from the players' seats on both sides was displayed on the big screen.

You can clearly see that both teams' players and coaches are communicating, mainly about tactical arrangements.

soon.

The equipment has been debugged.

Both players enter the ban/pick screen together!

At the same time, the commentator's voice rang out: "Both players are ready. Let's turn our attention to the big screen and move on to the draft phase of this semi-final!"

T1 is on the blue side and has the right to ban and pick first, while EDG is on the red side and has the final counter pick.

Just as EDG had worried during their internal communication, T1, as the blue side, immediately banned Thresh, which Wang Yao had performed very well with last time!

Kshine's Thresh has been banned!!!

T1 didn't want him to continue playing his favorite heroes.

Seeing this, Colonel Guan gave a bitter smile.

This is clearly a targeted ban!
Usually, when a player's bans are targeted, it means their skill has been recognized by their opponent, which is something to be happy about.

However, as an LPL commentator, Guan Daxiao is similar to Clearlove in that he knows Wang Yao is quite good at hook heroes.

Last season, Wang Yao used Pyke as a jungler, and his accuracy was quite good!

Last time, Wang Yao was on fire with Thresh, so it's very likely he'll pick it again.

Who knew the opponent would ban it right away without even trying, and then ban it again on the third pick.

Miller, who was standing nearby, chimed in after hearing this.

"The main reason is that Kshine's Thresh performance was really good, which helped JackeyLove's Draven gain a great advantage in the bottom lane."

"T1 probably doesn't want him to keep playing Thresh, because Thresh is a good support not only for Draven, but also for other AD carries."

"Now that Thresh is gone, I wonder what champion he'll pick in this game."

On the EDG player bench.

"As expected, Thresh was banned by them."

Jiejie's voice came through the team's voice chat.

Wang Yao, who was sitting at the very edge of the team, immediately smiled when he saw Thresh being banned.

Don't think that just because Thresh is gone, he has no other champions to play, right?

Achieving mastery of all heroes is no joke!
At this moment, the on-site director also understood and gave Wang Yao a special close-up shot.

The three-time champion appeared on the big screen, and his upturned smile drew sighs from many viewers in the live stream.

"To be fair, my brother Yao is really good-looking, second only to me and Daniel Wu!"

"How about we play Pyke this game and show the enemy what a versatile support is?"

"The opponent is going to use Thresh now? They are still afraid!"

"Stop joking around, banning Thresh just means you're scared, right?"

"Brothers, stop arguing, I have something urgent. Does anyone with a dick know the answer to this fill-in-the-blank question on www.___.com?"

……

When the audience in the live broadcast room made fun of him.

The factory manager's brows were furrowed in worry. Thresh was still banned. So, what hero should Wang Yao pick?

He decided to wait and see what the opponent's hero would do.

After all, as a support, he doesn't have a big impact on the team. At worst, you can just pick a team-initiating type like Titan or Diana. You don't need him to be the carry, as long as he can initiate the team.

Furthermore, with Thresh banned, other champions will have more options available.

Both sides completed the first three moves quickly.

Besides banning Thresh in the first pick, T1 also banned Syndra, which Scout played very well last time, and Ornn, which Flandre played.

In contrast, EDG's bans were similar to before, with targeted bans. After the first round of bans, T1 first picked Graves for their jungler Canna.

As a popular jungle carry champion in S10, Graves wasn't banned, so they definitely wouldn't let EDG have him, even though Jiejie isn't a particularly outstanding jungle carry player.

However, because T1 banned Thresh in this game compared to the previous one, EDG had more options.

After a brief discussion, the factory manager gave Jiejie a Nidalee, and then locked in Jayce.

Seeing EDG's picks, T1 hesitated for a moment, but finally made their decision just before the second and third picks were about to end.

They picked Kennen for the top lane and Ashe for Xiao Lu Bu, a champion he played very well in the group stage and even managed to kill JackeyLove in lane.

When Kennen took it, the factory manager finally showed a slight smile.

Because this Jayce was given to Scout!

This means that T1's idea of ​​using Kennen in the laning phase has failed, and they no longer need to reserve their last counter pick for Flandre.

Because T1's Kennen can't possibly go mid lane, right?

In this way, the fifth-hand counter position can be given to other positions!
After thinking it over, the factory manager finally picked Renekton for Flandre instead of Ornn, so as not to let Kennen develop without pressure.

After the first round of player selection ended, the second round of player bans began.

Since T1 revealed their top laner, jungler, and AD carry, EDG focused all their bans on the opponent's mid laner in the second round, banning Nightmare and Twisted Fate.

On the other hand, T1, because EDG's bot lane hadn't been revealed yet, gave all their ban slots to JackeyLove, banning Senna and Kai'Sa.

As for Wang Yao's support, they didn't target him much.

After the second round of bans, when it was EDG's turn to make their fourth pick, Clearlove consulted with Wang Yao.

"Old Wang, what kind of support hero do you want to pick this game?" "Let Ah Shui pick it first, I'll think about it later."

Factory manager: "Alright!"

After thinking it over, the factory manager agreed. After all, it wouldn't be bad to leave the counter-position for Wang Yao to counter, so it wasn't a bad idea to check out the other side first.

So, for the fourth pick, the factory manager gave JackeyLove an Ezreal, which is flexible and can form a three-poke system with Jayce and Nidalee.

"Did EDG ultimately reserve their counter pick for the support?"

Colonel Guan was somewhat surprised. "To be honest, this is extremely rare in competitions."

"It seems that the factory manager and coach have high hopes for Kshine!"

When it was T1's turn to pick, they discussed it and finally picked Galio, and gave Rakan to their support player Kuri.

This time they already have enough output, what they lack is the ability to initiate a team fight.

Luo Ke is the best in initiating team fights among supports, and Galio can be paired with Luo Ke.

When necessary, Galio can even sacrifice himself to help the jungler Graves, so that he doesn't have to go through the same situation as in the previous game!

"I wonder what kind of champion EDG will give Kshine."

"I think we need to pick a team-initiating weapon. Their lineup doesn't have one. How about Titan or Diana?"

During the routine analysis and speculation by Colonel Guan and Miller.

in the big screen.

On the fifth floor of EDG's map, a long-awaited hero has appeared!
[The engine is running, and we're ready to go!]

As the hero's lines were spoken, the support hero chosen by Wang Yao was revealed.

"Assistive robot?"

"This hero is alright, but the hook accuracy requirement is quite high!"

"Because if Blitzcrank gets the job, it means that EDG's team fight initiation will almost entirely rely on Blitzcrank's hook."

Looking at the robot appearing on the big screen, Colonel Guan's voice was filled with anticipation.

Because strictly speaking, the hero Robot is not very dependent on the version.

As long as you can tick it correctly, you are God!!!

……

"Brother Yao really only plays hook heroes?"

"You know what, Yao's Pyke at last year's MSI was really good. Yao's talent with hook champions is really impressive!"

"Looking forward to Scout's Nautilus, Yao's Blitzcrank, Jiejie's Pyke in the jungle, and JackeyLove adding Thresh as AD. This lineup is guaranteed to win!"

"..."

The moment the robot appeared, the barrage of comments in the live broadcast room started rolling instantly.

Once the robot is confirmed, judging from EDG's first four picks, they have almost completely placed the initiative in the hands of the robot.

If the robot fails to hook the target, then it’s not as simple as missing a person.

At other times, if the robot fails to hook a person, then at most it just means there's one less person.

But if the robot misses its hook, it means that EDG has almost no means to decisively initiate a team fight.

at the same time.

The factory manager stared at the robot that Wang Yao had shown, and a black line appeared on his forehead.

You asked me for a special seat, and this is what you get? You've really gotten cocky, Lao Wang!

"Our lineup lacks initiation, so I think you should pick Leona."

The factory manager offered his suggestions.

No matter what, Diana is still much stronger than Robot. Even if her E skill Zenith Blade cannot target anyone, she can still use her ultimate to start a team fight.

Moreover, the hero Diana can also restrict Luo's entry into the field.

Unlike robots, if you miss a hook, there's nothing you can do; you can't just flash in and hammer them, can you?

What's the difference between that and a level 1 Malphite flashing and slamming the ground to initiate a team fight?
"It's enough to beat their robots."

Hearing Wang Yao's confident voice, the factory manager suddenly wanted to ask a question.

Is it genuine confidence, or do you just know a few support heroes? He's never seen Wang Yao practice other support heroes before.

However, since things had already come to this point, the factory manager couldn't say anything. Besides, robots weren't necessarily a bad thing.

What if Wang Yao's robot performs the same way as Thresh last time?

“Okay, Yao-ge, let’s not worry about anything else for now. At the very least, we can’t be weak in terms of momentum. We have to have that kind of confidence.”

Ah Shui, who was standing to the side, said with a smile.

It has to be said that this guy's mentality has always been on point.

Even when trailing 0-2, he wouldn't get angry; he would still chat and laugh with his teammates to ease the tension, showing his great personality!
"In that case, take it."

After hearing the factory manager's agreement, Wang Yao finally made his decision.

He's a coach, after all. Even if he doesn't know much about drafting, we still have to give him some face.

With Wang Yao's team locking onto the robot, the lineups for both sides were now finalized!

EDG's top laner is Renekton, jungler is Nidalee, mid laner is Jayce, and bot lane consists of Blitzcrank and Ezreal.

T1's top laner is Kennen, jungler is Graves, mid laner is Galio, bot lane support is Rakan, and the "scratching queen" Ashe is also there.

……

When leaving and shaking hands with the opposing coach, the factory manager patted Wang Yao on the shoulder.

Although he didn't say anything, the meaning of this action was self-evident.

Whether EDG can win this game mainly depends on Wang Yao's robot.

If they can't land their hooks, no matter how well EDG plays in the early game, they won't be able to end the game quickly. In the later stages, T1's lineup will naturally have an advantage over EDG.

On the LPL commentary booth.

While both sides were in the game, Guan Daxiao, the commentator, couldn't help but offer a simple analysis at Miller's urging.

"To be honest, EDG's lineup is a bit too extreme."

"Their poke ability is very strong. When Jayce, Renekton, and Ezreal have two items in the mid-game, T1 will have almost no chance and will be under a lot of pressure."

"But their lineup relies too much on the robot's hook accuracy. This game will be a huge test for Kshine."

"The good news is that T1 doesn't have a true front line. If EDG's mid and jungle are accurate enough and can poke a bit more, even if the Blitzcrank misses the hook, they can still fight in team fights."

"What about T1? What do you think of it?"

Miller asked another question.

"I feel their lineup is quite reasonable. Apart from lacking a true front line, they have the ability to initiate team fights, deal damage, and finish off enemies."

"So I think if EDG wants to win, they must do what they did in the last game: use resources to get the pace of the game as soon as possible, and absolutely not give T1 a chance to drag it out."

"Otherwise, their chances of winning are very small."

The two of them were arguing back and forth, which directly confused the audience in the live broadcast room.

"Bad news, the colonel has started casting spells again. Good news, the target is T1."

"When I heard the colonel say that the chances of winning were slim, I knew that the battle song would most likely be remembered!"

"It's not just a high probability, it's a certainty! We must trust the Colonel's divine whisper!"

"..."

Both sides quickly entered the game.

After entering, Wang Yao maintained his good habit of buying equipment and was the first to leave the spring.

As he walked, he marked the path ahead and called out to Jiejie and the others.

Earlier, while watching the game, he noticed a problem: Canna liked to roam around the top lane when the minion waves weren't touching.

When on the red side, they stay in the three bushes; when on the blue side, they like to stay in the bush by the river.

Not to mention this game where Kennen plays against Renekton; this guy will definitely take advantage of his long range to bully Flandre.

So Wang Yao decided to give it a try and see if he could arrest the other party on the spot.

Anyway, if you hit it, you will shoot it. If you miss it, you won’t lose anything.

"Hmm? What are EDG's five players planning to do..."

As Miller watched the movements of the five EDG players on the big screen, his voice rang out:

"Are they planning to capture Canna's Kennen?"

"I think it's worth a try. If we don't succeed, we can just back off."

"That's what the doll said."

At this moment, Canna was unaware of the danger that was approaching, and his face still showed a very relaxed expression.

Be careful on the road.

Ellim, the jungler, spoke up to remind him.

Because EDG's top and jungle are the Crocodile and Nidalee duo, their fighting power is very strong, especially after Crocodile reaches level three, his red-rage W stun combined with Nidalee's spear.

Kennen, with his small stature, is basically destined to be instantly killed.

"Don't worry, I've been pressuring the enemy crocodile so much since level one that he can't farm the lane and won't give him a chance to get his red fury."

As Canna spoke, she controlled Kennen to walk out of the river bushes and head towards the bushes on the upper path.

He planned to wait until the Renekton was online, then use the bushes to draw minion aggro, thus severely suppressing Flandre's Renekton.
But as he was speaking, his voice suddenly stopped.

(End of this chapter)