You actually want me to...

"So... what should we be careful about when fighting them?" After listening to White Crescent's vague explanation for a long time, not to mention the others, even Roland was a little confused.

"Oh, so you mean they play a more conservative style, but we are stronger overall, so if we beat them... you and Ah Shui just need to play it safe a little."

"???"

The Battle for Supremacy: Chapter Thirty-Eight: A Tribute to Your Predecessors

Just before going on stage, Roland was still stuffing all sorts of snacks into his mouth. This scene also left his group of male teammates in the room somewhat puzzled. Even Knight, who wasn't particularly interested in food, suddenly became curious and asked, "Don't you guys who work out usually avoid eating these high-calorie things?"

"Oh? Yes, one high-calorie meal can negate two days of exercise, that's true."

"Then what about you..."

"Oh, it's okay. I already threw away the outer packaging beforehand. It doesn't say anything on it now, which means it's zero calories, so it doesn't matter."

"???"

While munching on the energy bar in his hand, Roland remembered that his coach's instruction for this game was to avoid causing trouble if possible. So why was he still taking it so seriously? See all those delicious treats?

That's it.

Of course, he also felt that the white crescent moon was really too much of a compliment.

It is well known that a PhD's abilities generally increase negatively over time.

A year ago, he was a genius, adept at using mechanics and manipulating health bars, effortlessly conquering all kinds of events and levels with the lowest possible resources. Now, he's useless; he can't see health bars, doesn't understand mechanics, gets ganked by drones, backstabbed by rocket launchers, and instantly killed by guards.

Roland estimated that if he were to face the peak DWG team from last year, he wouldn't be confident that he could continue to dominate Genshin Impact.

clam?

How do you explain MSI?

The Genshin Impact player was so bad at meditation training that he almost got overtaken by MAD. It's not that both of them got stronger over time; it's clearly that both of them got weaker over time.

"Is this okay? You just ate so much?"

"No problem. A person's mental state has little to do with how much they eat, but a lot to do with what kind of talent they have before going to bed at night."

"for example?"

"For example, Ah Shui and I both have girlfriends, so we wear Unyielding Grip at night, and our performance won't be too bad. But you guys... maybe wear less Unyielding Grip."

"??????"

Since 11 a.m. in Iceland is already broad daylight in China, the number of viewers for this match was not less than usual; in fact, the number of people staying overnight was even higher than at night.

It's actually quite easy to understand.

The three happiest things for working people are having paid breakfast, paid time to slack off, and paid time to take a dump. How could the vast majority of working people possibly miss this rare opportunity to openly slack off at work and watch the game?

Turn off the sound, save the file, and the happy time begins!

Soon, a round of bans:

MAD: Weapons, Udyr, Gragas

TES: Senna, Varus, Rumble

The bans were mostly implemented by the blue side in response to the red side's bans, and the draft phase didn't have any particularly outstanding aspects.

One round of PICK:

MAD: Morgana (first-shot), Jinx, Tahm Kench

TES: Thresh, Aphelios (first and second tier) + Olaf

Since the pace of MSI matches is generally over 30 minutes, and the current meta is increasingly favoring late-game team fights with late-game compositions, the big carry AD carry has made a comeback. The simplest example is Samira, who plays early game, which hasn't been mentioned in a long time because it doesn't fit the current meta.

AD carries who can dominate the late game in this patch: Aphelios, Jinx

AD carries in the mid-to-late game: Kai'Sa, Xayah, Senna

POKE AD build: Varus, Ezreal

AD carries for fast pushes: Tristana, Caitlyn

Kalista and Draven are two outliers, while other AD carries rarely appear in matches. If they do, they are usually considered to be using some kind of "black technology" (or "unconventional" or "high-tech" strategies).

Second round bans: Jayce, Syndra, Lucian, Viktor

Upon seeing this, White Crescent and Roland realized almost simultaneously what MAD was doing.

They weren't banning Twisted Fate; they were testing TES's champion pool.

In the current version, Twisted Fate is a very core and crucial hero in the mid lane. Whether the bot lane is a carry AD or a fast-push AD, Twisted Fate can play a vital role. Knight has actually played this hero before.

But the problem is... they don't know if Knight is still able to lift it now.

for example.

Maple is considered a bottom-tier player in the LPL, but a top-tier player in the wildcard regions. It's the same person, but the same skill level will be evaluated differently in two different places.

The same applies to cards.

Just because you can play Twisted Fate well in the LPL doesn't mean you can play it well in the World Championship. Knight's poor map reading ability is a fact that is almost universally acknowledged by players worldwide, making Twisted Fate a very difficult champion for him to master.

Since he hasn't shown his card proficiency at MSI so far, it's unclear whether Knight is actually skilled or just capable of playing the game.

A certain top laner on a certain transfer platform is a good example. He knows how to play the current meta top laners, but he only knows four, like Pokémon. Every time he tries to learn a new top laner, a prompt pops up asking him to forget one of the skills.

Having a large pool of heroes is easy, but having a high level of proficiency with every hero in that pool is extremely difficult.

The support role is different. At least the AD carry helps to share the pressure, so the support doesn't have to carry it all by themselves. Otherwise, with Roland's split-second mentality, he would have been crushed by others long ago if he played a solo lane.

"I thought it would be DK coming to test us." JKL smiled, his eyes involuntarily glancing at the coach beside him.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Do you think I'll let them get away with this?"

"understood."

For their fourth pick, TES reluctantly chose the Monkey King.

If Ale knew how to play Gnar, they would definitely pick Gnar, but Ale is still practicing, so they have to let the opponent have that hero and pick a counter-hero in advance.

In the fourth or fifth round, MAD pulled out Gnar's Clockwork.

The current MAD lineup is: Top lane Gnar, Jungle Morgana, Mid lane Orianna, Bot lane Jinx + Tahm Kench.

"Morgana + Tahm Kench, the cards aren't really a good match."

"Cards are only good for macro play. This kind of lineup doesn't have enough damage in the early game. Knight, activate your super transformation form. It's time to pay homage to your predecessors!"

"what?"

I have already deciphered the runes.

TES's final pick, Ryze, the Wanderer, was successfully locked in.

The Battle of the Deer: Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Spirit of Amusing Mischief Never Ceases!

[Hmm? Why are the hero picks so normal today?]

Something's wrong. Something's very wrong.

[Generally speaking, the weirder the hero, the more ruthless they are. Is this standard lineup some kind of legendary esports diplomacy?]

[Sigh, we're all adults here, can't we be a little more aggressive in our draft picks?]

Nothing.

Both teams fielded lineups that were so conventional they couldn't be more so—companies that had been seen countless times in their own regions. Under normal circumstances, they would have turned off the game long ago because it was such a boring stomp.

But then I thought about Banhuang and Ashui.

Umm ...

Well, let's see. What if they start offering it?

The players on the field couldn't hear the grudges from outside, but through some kind of mystical means, the more sensitive Roland managed to receive them. So... he glanced at his teammates and asked in the in-game voice chat, "Brothers, do you believe in this kind of precognitive ability?"

"If you were in Saint Seiya, would you also need to be given an eighth sense or something?"

"No, I feel my eyelid twitching a little."

"Just tell me whether you believe it or not."

"Do not believe."

"That solves it."

As the saying goes, if your left eyelid twitches, something good is about to happen; if your right eyelid twitches, screw that feudal superstition.

Unlike foreigners who are superstitious and religious, people in China generally live a more realistic life. Before exams, they might pray to gods and Buddhas for something to look forward to, but after the exams...

If you don't pass the exam, it means your shrine is useless; they'll smash your temple in the future.

Passing the exam is due to one's own efforts; praying to gods is just for peace of mind.

In short, the gods in China have to do the most work, endure the most criticism, and receive no benefits whatsoever. In this environment, feng shui is just for fun. If people really believed in this stuff, everyone could find a feng shui master and become a successful vegetable seller in some place, instead of suffering the hardships of life.

At the start of the game, TES's bot lane duo immediately chose to push the lane.

cowardly?

nonexistent.

Who are you playing in the bot lane?

Jinx + Tahm Kench: Jinx is notoriously low in damage in the early game, and her two forms barely scratch anyone. Tahm Kench is even worse. Although there was a trend of top lane Tahm Kench dominating everything, you're facing Thresh.

Unable to get close or run far, Thresh perfectly controlled their advances and retreats, rendering them virtually threatening.

Roland wasn't going to let him get away with it. With one grab... cough cough, one E + auto-attack, he took a significant chunk off Tahm Kench's health bar. Another auto-attack, and when a red lightning bolt appeared on Tahm Kench, MAD's bot lane finally realized something was wrong.

"Electro... electrocution!? Is this guy out of his mind?!"

The moment Kaiser saw the opponent's talent, even though most European and American players were in good spirits, he still couldn't help but feel a bit frustrated. One E, one fully passive auto-attack, two auto-attacks and one Electrocute, instantly took away half of his health. Keep in mind that Tahm Kench at level one hadn't even learned the E skill yet, so that half of his health was real health he lost.

You need to take drugs!

Didn't you see it when you entered the game?

"When I saw it was Thresh, my first instinct was that it would be Aftershock, but who knew this guy would be so weak."