Nirvana Top Laner, Reborn Tokyo Girl

Chapter 179, Section 176: Shimamura Yuna's Flawless Deception

Meanwhile, on the other side...

Doran also felt the real, almost tangible pressure that this match brought him.

For him, being able to enter T1 is an opportunity.

It is a very, very important opportunity.

Despite being a well-known top laner in the LCK, and despite being someone who wouldn't have trouble finding a job.

However, the feelings he evokes in people are often quite subtle.

'Friend of LPL' 'Worst Korean Top Laner in World Championship' 'Salary Thief in Strong Teams'

He has always been aware of this public opinion.

Among the players who came from the former GRF, he was almost the least recognized and least favored.

Therefore, he cherishes this opportunity to come to T1 very much.

In his view, this was a turning point in his life, a crucial moment in his struggle to emerge from the trough.

He wants to be recognized and liked by fans.

He wants to truly integrate into the T1 team, replace Zeus, and become the "right person" in the hearts of T1's huge fans.

But
From the very first stage, a series of bad news followed.

His performance was inferior to Zeus'.

Zeus also won the first stage of the HLE race, becoming the runner-up in the Pioneer Race.

Despite Zeus's reputation seemingly improving after his loss, and despite many T1 fans mocking him.

However, as the person involved, he knew that these so-called mockery were meaningless.

T1 fans don't really think Zeus is bad.

They were simply annoyed by the unpleasant farewell and afterwards harbored a hopeful, albeit negative, attitude towards Zeus.

If Zeus were truly willing to return, they would obviously be happy to accept him.

In fact, the more they slander Zeus, the more it reflects their dissatisfaction and resentment at his departure.

ZOFGK is still the best group in the world.

No matter what, I can never replace Zeus.

This feeling made Doran feel inferior for a long time.

His poor performance in the first stage also fueled this mindset.

The rumors circulating within the team that they "hope Shimamura Yuna will join to replace Dolan" also put him under considerable pressure.

He realized that he was never the only one for T1.

I am a substitute.

A substitute before Zeus arrived.

A substitute who would replace herself if Shimamura Yuna were willing to come.

He felt a sense of crisis, unease, and dissatisfaction because of this.

He wanted to prove himself.

Prove that you are stronger than anyone else, and that you are no weaker than anyone else.

The moment he defeated Zeus in the playoffs, he realized that he might have delivered the best performance of his life at that moment.

He firmly believes that as long as he performs well enough at MSI, he can easily defeat even Shimamura Yuna, who is considered by both the audience and management to be his replacement.

But
why.

It's not like that at all.

'This guy is no match for me at all.'

He didn't know how to describe his feelings, he didn't know how to describe his experience of going up against Shimamura Yuna.

However, feelings of helplessness and powerlessness must be overwhelmingly dominant.

He didn't know it was because his performance had declined compared to the playoffs.
Or is it that Shimamura Yuna was indeed that strong, so strong that he could defeat Zeus, but not Shimamura Yuna?

he does not know.

However, judging from the pressure on the laning phase, compared to Zeus's slightly aggressive and masterful aura, Shimamura Yuna exudes more of a meticulous and watertight sense of precision.

Zeus is like a warrior with 99% strength, but he still has weaknesses.

However, Shimamura Yuna's technique was almost flawless.

She is an unprecedented and absolutely formidable opponent.

She didn't seem to be in a hurry to attack in the laning phase, nor did she seem to be putting too much pressure on herself.

However, in many normal laning exchanges, I always perform slightly worse than her.

My skill casting isn't as accurate as hers, my kiting isn't as good as hers, and I always feel like I'm being led around by the nose when it comes to minion waves.

He couldn't pinpoint exactly what made Shimamura Yuna so strong, or what made her superior to him.

But perhaps they are better than me in every way.

自己
I always felt that it was completely impossible for me to surpass Shimamura Yuna.

No hope in sight.

Zeus is a player with great strengths, but he is not without weaknesses.

This gives a player like Dolan, who is essentially mediocre, the opportunity to defeat Zeus by breaking through his strengths.

Yuna Shimamura, however, is a player with strengths everywhere and almost no weaknesses.

When Shimamura Yuna faced off against her, her most direct feeling was that she simply couldn't find a way to break through.

This kind of laning phase is the most despair-inducing.

Because if your opponent's actions completely overwhelm you, or if they gain a huge advantage through a particular move, you'll regret thinking, "If I had handled that move better, I might have won."

You might develop a fantasy because of this.

I feel that I'm not that different from others, and that if I'm just more cautious, the outcome will be different.

Although, given the difference in strength, sometimes so-called mistakes are not temporary, but inevitable.

But that's how it feels.

However, the psychological damage caused by Shimamura Yuna's approach to playing games is enormous.

She didn't gain an advantage of 50 points in one go.

Instead, they gain an advantage of 5 points in each wave.

I accumulated a small amount of money and ended up with a 50-point discount.

In that case, you won't even have room for fantasy.

Even if we win that round, what difference will it make?

If you lose ten consecutive rounds of small-scale gambles, what good is winning this one round?
There was absolutely no hope of winning.

You can only accept that you're at a disadvantage, accept that you can't win in lane, and then try your best to minimize the losses given the reality of being at a disadvantage.

This kind of laning phase caused most of the confidence he had built up since the playoffs, which exceeded his own ability limit, to be worn down in just ten minutes of laning.

'I guess I'm still that average player.'

'I seem to have truly let anyone down.'

Dolan's heart is being rapidly eroded.

And so, the gap between him and Shimamura Yuna widened little by little.

Of course, Doran's situation is actually irrelevant to T1.

Doran's ability to carry in the playoffs was just an anomaly.

But from the moment Dolan arrived, the team didn't have high hopes for this player.

As Dolan said, he was merely a substitute for Zeus, and his arrival was an accident.

This was true for T1, and it was also true for him.

Therefore, the current situation, where they are somewhat suppressed and abused by Shimamura Yuna, but not completely crushed in their individual lanes, is within the expectations of the T1 team as a whole.

However, the problem wasn't with Doran. The problem was that not only was Doran being suppressed, but the entire team was being suppressed.

That would be a big problem.

A team always needs someone to step up.

It's like when Doran couldn't step up, T1 really wanted to replace the bot lane with Smash so that Smash could step up.

When others couldn't step forward, Dolan did.

So it was T1 that came to MSI, not HLE.

In any team, someone always needs to step up.

The problem now is that no one in T1 can step up.

No one can.

then
The first game was almost a complete rout.

Yuna Shimamura's Rambo is just a standard, unremarkable playstyle, throwing harpoons and using his ultimate in team fights.

It's true that she won her lane against Zeus.

But this game actually has little to do with the top lane, that's true.

Doran watched helplessly as the game spiraled out of his control in the top lane.

He tried to go and provide support, and tried to join the team fight.

However, given the economic disparity between himself and Shimamura Yuna, his meager equipment was simply insufficient to provide any useful assistance to the team.

All he did was roll down with the giant snowball and die in the massive avalanche along with the rest of T1.

Thanks to Nakano's huge snowball advantage, the game ended in just 27 minutes.

The final score was 27:9.

Seeing this score, Longshen couldn't hold back his emotions in the live stream.

"Haha, this T1 team is really getting crushed by wildcard teams."

"Sigh, Brother Li is finished. It seems like Brother Li is really finished this year."

After a brief exchange of jokes, the Dragon God fell into deep thought again.

He had considered the possibility that the CFO could win a game or two, and he even thought it would be normal for the CFO to win the entire best-of-five series.

But after seeing the current situation, he still felt that the reality was not entirely the same as what he had initially imagined.

So he sighed.

"No, do you know what the key point is? The key point is that the current CFO is not only great at the top lane, but he is great at the entire team."

"Take this mid laner for example, can you say he's not awesome?"

"I think many people have a stereotype that this team can't do without the top laner, right? Actually, that's not true. I feel that even if you replaced them with that Rest guy or that Driver guy, they might not be that great, but this team would still be considered a strong team."

"However, with Shimamura-san on board, this team has undergone a qualitative change, you know?"

In response, the comments section surprisingly expressed its approval of him.

【It really is】

[That's absolutely right. In the first stage, it felt like Shimamura was dragging the whole team down. If Shimamura didn't carry, the team was doomed. Now it feels like Shimamura is farming Doran's Gyro in the top lane, and they just keep farming until they win.]

[Tears welling up, Shimamura-san is truly liberated now.]

To be honest, T1 is really not good right now. Although the CFO's improvement is partly to blame, it's just too embarrassing to see them get beaten like this.

There's nothing we can do about it. The breakup between T1 and Zeus is undoubtedly a lose-lose situation for both sides; neither is happy about it. Let's see how they fare against GENG; beating GENG is the only real victory.

Like the Dragon God, most viewers were somewhat surprised by this result.

I think it's acceptable for the CFO to win, but to win like this is unbelievable.

While lamenting the decline of T1, one can also marvel at the genuine progress made by the CFO.

It was also at this moment.

The 'rumor' has been confirmed.

Previously, most people probably didn't really grasp the reality of how strong or highly ranked CFOs were.

To put it bluntly
This is just a wildcard team.

No matter how you look at it, they are still a wildcard team.

Wildcard teams, that's all.

Does anyone believe that a wildcard team can consistently outperform T1 without any upsets?

There should be no precedent for this before; it is truly unprecedented.

So everyone found it unbelievable.

Even if people rationally analyze the situation and think that a CFO does indeed have that level of competence, it's still hard for them to believe this fact emotionally.

But in this very moment, the CFO demonstrated genuine competence, solidifying rationality and completely shattering any emotional biases.

Of course, this is only the first game.

Even if the CFO wins this game, and by a large margin, everyone will still feel...
'What if it's just that T1 is having a bad day?'

Right?

Quite a few Korean teams have suffered defeats in BO1 matches.

However, the number drops significantly once it reaches BO5.

The BO5 format is designed to reduce unpredictability and allow for more matches to test the players' strength and the team's tactical depth and hero pool depth.

Who knows, T1 might turn things around in the next match?

With similar thoughts in mind, many people choose not to draw conclusions so early, but instead observe further.

And so, the match moved into the second game.

At the start of the second match, T1's expressions visibly became much more serious.

On the other hand, almost everyone on the CFO's side seemed very relaxed.

The mid laner and jungler were chatting and laughing.

The two players in the bottom lane also seemed quite relaxed.

Only Shimamura Yuna was relatively quiet, with a calm expression.

But to say that he was nervous was completely unfounded.

One side was solemn, the other relaxed.

It is clear who is in power and who is being challenged.

Soon, the second round of ban/pick began.

In this match, T1 chose the blue side.

This also freed up their BP to some extent.

They can stop blindly banning Yuna Shimamura's heroes.

Instead, it can be done by snatching or acting as a substitute.

T1 banned Yorick immediately.

On the CFO's side, in order to prevent them from picking Gwen and directly using up the hero on the blue side, they chose to ban the hero themselves as a counter-strategy.

In fact, in the current version, tank heroes including Quesant, Sion, and Ornn are very popular. They are basically banned or picked in the first two games in other matches.

However, for some reason, anyone who plays against Shimamura Yuna feels that "you absolutely cannot choose a tank to fight against her, or you're doomed if you choose a tank to fight against Shimamura Yuna."

And Shimamura Yuna herself wouldn't choose these heroes.

This leads to a very strange scene.

These popular heroes seem to vanish into thin air whenever they face the CFO, disappearing from the hero pool entirely.

In just the second game, the top laners from CFO and T1 had already chosen Jax as their main champion against Jayce.

These two heroes are clearly not that high in the current version.

(End of this chapter)