“Congratulations to PNG for taking the first game, 1–0! As expected, the MVP of Game 1 has unanimously been awarded to Wind!”
Chao Mi clapped along with the audience, still clearly wanting more. “Wind’s performance this game was obvious to everyone—mechanics, execution, game sense, everything was outstanding. He led his team to build a huge advantage even during their weaker phase! This MVP is absolutely well deserved!”
“Exactly! But I have to add—PNG also had a very impressive showing this game, especially Myerii. Holding off four players alone in that crucial fight was eye-catching! Everyone already knows how strong PNG’s mid-jungle is, but it’s rare to see their top lane shine like this…”
Qing Ci said, “In contrast, Navic has been much quieter. They invested a lot of resources into playing around top lane, but the results weren’t ideal. That led to them getting more and more anxious as the game went on, and their decision-making became chaotic. From strategy to execution, they were completely suppressed. Hopefully they can reset during the break—there’s still a chance in the next games!”
Chao Mi nodded. “The first game is like a proving ground, a whetstone. Even a small win is important for building momentum—PNG’s players have clearly gained confidence! After this game, both coaching staffs will have a new understanding of each other. They’ll probably need to rethink their BP priorities, and overall strategy—maybe put more focus on bot lane and jungle?”
“Especially Navic—they also tried to play a ‘mid-lane advantage radiating outward’ style. But when mid can’t open up the map, how do you manage the game from behind?”
“Based on the early to mid game, I think they were completely suppressed by PNG. Their late game wasn’t bad, but by then the deficit was already too big. To come back, they’d basically need a miracle teamfight.”
The commentators continued their post-game analysis nonstop, and fans on both sides were doing the same.
PNG fans, after celebrating, forcibly calmed themselves down—after all, popping champagne at halftime isn’t a good tradition. It was only the first game, and their team had still shown some issues.
Navic fans, on the other hand, had stronger hearts. Having followed their team through many matches, losing one game didn’t shake them much—they stayed outwardly calm.
The team fans were all “rationally” analyzing.
[First of all, anyone who starts flaming after one loss isn’t a real fan. Second, let’s discuss calmly—should they make a substitution?]
[I think so. The opponent is basically a human cheat code—Xiao Jin is just a mortal genius…]
[Jin was only recently promoted from the academy team, and this is his first time in the HPL. In just two or three months, he went from bench substitute to a qualified starter, then to a core mid for a top team—that already proves his talent. He is a genius mid, but unfortunately… someone on the other side is about to become a god.]
[What a pity. If Wind hadn’t appeared first, Xiao Jin would definitely be this season’s dark horse]
[Why is it that when Jin exists, Wind must also exist? Even non-Fiw fans feel like crying now]
[This suddenly feels so sad. Fiw is already incredibly inspiring—he plays more ranked and scrims than double the league average, and he’s a top-tier solo queue prodigy. But once he reaches the stage, his opponent tells him it’s still not enough QAQ]
[No way around it—this is the pro league, where even geniuses are ranked. 99% effort is just the baseline, 1% talent is the ticket in—and to reach the peak, you have to be the 0.000001% within that 1%. It’s just too brutal]
It really was that brutal.
Xiang Jin thought to himself: it was like a tycoon going bankrupt or a top student failing—falling from the peak is painful for others, but for him, it felt more like confusion. Because he suddenly realized, clearly and deeply, that he had never truly stood at the peak. Among players his age, also attending HPL for the first time, there were those who had always been looking at even higher scenery.
As the team left the stage, Xiang Jin followed with his head lowered, dazed. After a long while, he murmured softly:
“…So that’s what ‘living up to the reputation’ really means.”
Back in the lounge, Navic had a precious 15-minute break. As the coach, Panpan was extremely busy. He first pulled Xiang Jin aside for a one-on-one talk, spending quite a while calming him down before handing him over to other staff and the team psychologist. Then he turned around and gathered the remaining five players together.
Meng Xiyue sat among the four players, quietly listening to the coach’s instructions.
“I won’t say too much—you’re not new to playing together.”
Panpan’s gaze swept across them from left to right, speaking rapidly. “Let’s go over the issues from that game…”
He first highlighted several key turning points in the game’s tempo, reviewing them one by one, then called on each player to identify their own problems.
Many things that confused the players in-game were crystal clear to the coach watching from the sidelines. Panpan knew the core issue lay in the draft—the moment they picked Stone Sentinel, it was destined to be the team’s tempo engine. The team had placed significant trust in Xiang Jin, but this game, he had been heavily suppressed by PNG’s mid-jungle.
Once the central pillar collapsed, it was only natural for the rest of the team to start falling apart. Analyzing minor details at that point wasn’t very meaningful.
Panpan quickly finished his breakdown, then shifted focus to the next round’s draft.
——
The commentator soon received news that Navic had requested a substitution.
Navic had made substitutions before, such as in their match against HTG—but this time was completely different. This was the grand finals, a direct clash between the old and new kings. Just thinking about it made Qing Ci’s scalp tingle. Sitting upright, barely containing his excitement, his voice trembled slightly as he announced, word by word:
“Summoners, please welcome—”
“Meng Xiyue!!”
“Meng Xiyue—!!”
“Cpy, Cpy—Crispy Duck, charge!!!”
“Navic Navic—Panpan, you’re my god!!”
It was as if a torch had been thrown into boiling oil—the previously quiet Navic fans suddenly erupted into thunderous cheers, louder than ever before.
No matter whether they were personal fans of Meng Xiyue or not, as long as they wore the [NatusVincere] badge, they joined in the overwhelming wave of support—
The arena lights dimmed, and the long-waiting fans began lighting up their glow signs.
Across the audience stands, scattered points of warm, soft moonlit gold began to glow. From left to right, they first merged into a surging pale-gold ocean, gradually spreading toward the edges before dimming again. This repeated several times, and upon the “surface” of that sea, the words [NAVIC] and [Born to Be Kings] appeared in sequence. In the end, a single crescent moon remained at the very center of the crowd, and along the curve of that moon were the words [Cpyhc Meng Xiyue].
The commentators were left completely stunned by this well-trained, almost artistic “performance.”
“Th-this…” Qing Ci blinked his dry eyes, his voice hoarse. “This kind of fan support… I can only describe it as art…”
Chao Mi also said in a daze, “From today onward, if anyone asks me how much God Yue’s fans love him, I’ll just show them this moment… Back when we were in school, even getting one or two hundred people to rehearse something like this would take weeks. Just now, there were at least tens of thousands of spectators in sections A to G—reaching this level without genuine love? That’s impossible.”
With such a huge display, Meng Xiyue naturally saw it. His hand froze mid-air as he held his headset, unable to speak for a long moment.
Pei Xingyi leaned over to help him roughly put on his headset, teasing, “So? Big star? God Yue? Your fans are insane, huh?”
“…Yeah.”
Meng Xiyue lowered his gaze, took a deep breath, and chuckled softly. “All the more reason we can’t lose now.”
He lifted his eyes—and happened to meet Sui Ning’s gaze from afar.
A playful thought suddenly struck him. Curling his lips into a smile, he quickly winked his left eye at Sui Ning, tossing him a mischievous wink.
Sui Ning: …
Sui Ning froze for a moment. Before he could react, a familiar hand blocked his view.
Ji Yunyu expressionlessly raised his left hand and covered Sui Ning’s eyes.
[What the hell????]
[This…?? What are these three doing??]
[Damn, isn’t this basically going public??]
[Help, does anyone remember this is the finals??]
[The cameraman deserves a bonus tonight! God Yun’s expression change had me dying—what kind of instant switch from dumb smile to poker face was that?]
[Help, Feng-bao’s ears are red, right? They have to be red hahaha—Yue, please stop radiating charm]
[Can this mid laner not flirt across 800 meters just because he has good eyesight (lol)]
[Forget everything else—I just want to hear Cloud explain after the match why he reached out, hehe^^]
Navic’s players were also confused.
Pei Xingyi glanced sideways at Meng Xiyue, suspicious. “…Did someone just do something again?”
“Nope.” Meng Xiyue calmly withdrew his gaze. “Just greeting a friend. Not allowed?”
“Heh.”
“Heh.”
“Everyone seems to be in a great mood. I was worried you’d be under pressure after losing the last game.”
Jiang Yin couldn’t hold back. “Is it possible that they were actually mocking—”
Meng Xiyue turned his head with a gentle smile, and Jiang Yin immediately swallowed the last word, “you.”
Jiang Yin: “Mocking me. Yeah, me. My bad.”
“Good that you know.”
Meng Xiyue’s expression remained calm, his tone soft. “This game, don’t let me see those laning mistakes again. Okay?”
Jiang Yin trembled slightly. “O-okay—no problem, absolutely no problem.”
“Xiao Yi.”
“Uh—I’m here.”
“Do you remember the dragon spawn timings?”
“…Five minutes, and then every five minutes after it’s killed.”
“Is that so? I saw you camping top all game, not controlling vision or jungle resources—I thought you’d forgotten.”
Pei Xingyi shuddered.
Coach Panpan stood behind them, rubbing his thinning hair, not daring to speak.
…Which fan started the rumor that Meng Xiyue was as gentle as the moon??
What “gentle bunny” could possibly survive in pro play—let alone a top-tier team captain and a mid-lane carry known for killing? Damn it—this guy… uh, this god—sure, he’s mild-tempered off the stage, but in-game he’s a full-on final boss!!
The Navic players swallowed hard, afraid they’d be the next to get called out. Meng Xiyue didn’t raise his voice and spoke softly—but it was like being cut by a dull blade—it hurt all the more. One glare from him felt like losing half your life!!
——
BO5 – PNG 1:0 Navic – Game 2
“Alright—Game 2 draft begins now! Navic, as the losing side, chooses blue side with first ban and first pick!”
As soon as the draft music started, the commentators snapped back into focus. “Navic brings in Cpyhc, which immediately opens up more possibilities in the draft! We all know God Yue has an incredibly deep hero pool—he can fit into all kinds of strategies. This significantly reduces Navic’s pressure when it comes to mid-lane planning.”
“Exactly—but that’s definitely not good news for PNG,” Qing Ci added. “The question is—which lane will Navic prioritize in this draft?”
Navic answered that question very quickly.
Navic – Bans: [Stellar Sprite], [Specter of Shadow], [Shadow of Vengeance]
PNG – Bans: [Shadowmoon Gun], [White Bird], [Void Ranger]
Navic – Pick: Support [Shadow Hawk]
PNG – Picks: Marksman [Soul-Stealing Spear], Top [Verdant Tree]
Navic – Picks: Top [Peerless Swordsman], Marksman [Explorer]
PNG – Pick: Support [Radiant Goddess]
Both sides made their first three picks and bans almost without hesitation.
The main broadcast casters looked like they wanted to pause the game just to analyze it slowly, while on the secondary stream, Tofu was talking so much his throat was going dry.
“This BP mind game—if you want me to explain it in detail, I could go on for ten thousand words, and you still wouldn’t understand!”
Tofu first roasted the audience, then continued, “It’s actually simple. Let’s start with the bans—Navic added a ban on Fan’en, who was on fire last game. Totally reasonable! At the same time, they predicted PNG wouldn’t take mid-jungle in the first phase—there’s just no time!”
“Bot lane is definitely first priority—both sides are fighting for picks there, and if you mess up this lane, it’s the easiest place to collapse! Then comes top lane—the tree, honestly, I even think you could consider banning it. Now that it’s left open, will PNG take it? Of course they will! When would they even have time to pick mid-jungle otherwise?”
“PNG’s bans are very standard. Shadowmoon Gun has ‘moon’ in the name—if you don’t ban it, that’s just unreasonable. The other two bans target bot lane—whether you ban White Bird or Shadow Hawk, both make sense. As for picks, everyone is just taking what they can. One thing worth noting is the [Peerless Swordsman]—I think Navic has a plan here, trying to break open top lane with a fighter. But PNG also has an advantage: they pick first in the second phase. Let’s see if Fran gets left open—if it does, Wind can still grab a strong assassin mage.”
Second phase.
Navic – Bans: [Phantom Trickster], [Dragon Monk]
PNG – Bans: [Astromacer Prophet], [Electromancer]
Tofu sucked in a breath. “Six mid-lane bans out of ten—do I even need to explain how insane that is?? There aren’t many good picks left… Winter Queen? That’s still open. True, it’s one of Wind’s comfort picks—but compared to the ones that got banned, it’s definitely a tier lower. Not easy to work with!”
PNG – Picks: Mid [Winter Queen], Jungle [Void Devourer]
Navic – Picks: Mid [Soulreaper King], Jungle [Phantom Assassin]
[Doubting the #1 Winter Queen in both national and international servers? Tofu deserves to be deep-fried for that!!]
[PNG’s draft actually looks better than last game—support has CC, I feel safer already]
[Tree top lane—rock solid]
[ Is it really that stable… Mistake is also a fighter specialist. His Peerless Swordsman is on par with Guesz. Brother Ye has to hold the pressure QAQ!!]
[Bot lane—I don’t get it. Liome actually picked Explorer, that “coasting” hero…]
Catching that comment, Tofu immediately refuted it righteously: “First of all, Explorer is not a low-effort hero. His early damage is insanely high—if you can’t output damage, don’t blame the champion. He has over 60% pick rate in pro play and absolutely crushes top-tier marksmen like Sheriff and Frost Crystal in lower ranks! His weakness is that he relies on abilities for damage—his sustained DPS isn’t as good as traditional auto-attack marksmen. But this game, Navic has a late-game powerhouse mid. Haven’t you seen Soulreaper King one-shotting frontlines with a single Q at full build? Their damage is more than enough!”
“Looking at the overall comps… Navic has more flexibility. With a fighter top, they can play 1-3-1 or 4-1 split push. In teamfights, Shadow Hawk still enables them—but they need to kite and maneuver, not just brute-force engage. Also, their scaling phase is relatively long.”
“As for PNG, it’s hard for them to split push unless Wind does it. Otherwise, comparing the tree to Peerless Swordsman in side lanes is wishful thinking. Bot lane, PNG got their highly practiced Sun-Spear combo, plus strong CC from mid and top. This comp is unbeatable at initiating fights. So PNG just needs to find engages—once they start a fight, they’re favored to win.”
Tofu concluded, “One side is a classic kite-and-poke comp, the other is a classic hard-engage comp. On paper… I’d say it’s 50-50, purely down to mechanics. But one thing—PNG is very reliant on Wind right now. He’s great on Winter Queen, but this champ isn’t as capable of solo carrying compared to Fran or Aeria. She usually relies on strong CC and burst to create openings for teammates. So Navic will likely look for breakthroughs on the side lanes—especially bot. If they can shut down Mir, PNG might lack damage in late-game teamfights!”
That was exactly what Sui Ning was worried about.
During draft, he and Chen Chen had hesitated for a long time between a tempo pick and a hyper-carry, ultimately choosing the more team-oriented Winter Queen, Yuna.
The team had already invested heavily into bot lane during draft, and Soulreaper Spear was also a resource-hungry carry. Raising two late-game carries would put all the early and mid-game pressure on Ji Yunyu alone—and he’d also be facing targeted bans. Sui Ning didn’t want that situation.
…In any case, just do their best.
Sui Ning gathered his thoughts and guided Yuna to lane.
Not far away, under the tower, the Soulreaper King appeared and walked up to the minion wave to farm.
Sui Ning focused intently on his opponent’s movements. The more he watched, the tighter his brows furrowed. About a minute later, he pressed his lips together—he knew things weren’t looking good.
Meng Xiyue in-game was completely different from any mid laner he’d faced before. He had no bad positioning habits whatsoever, and his understanding of wave control was exceptionally deep—there were simply no openings. Sui Ning had noticed this while watching replays before, but actually laning against such a player felt entirely different.
It was like fighting another version of himself.
As if sensing it, Meng Xiyue’s lips curved slightly.
For the moment, Sui Ning had no solution. He could only farm normally and wait for an opportunity. Maybe after 4–5 minutes, once the jungler finished a full clear, things would change?
What he didn’t realize was that this kind of even, deadlocked laning was actually the normal state—those previous games where he constantly dominated lane were the abnormal ones…
Unfortunately, before Ji Yunyu could finish his jungle clear, Navic struck first and delivered an early warning.
[Nv_Liome (Explorer) has slain PNG_Erllit (Radiant Goddess)!]
[First Blood!]
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