Very quickly, both teams’ players and coaches returned to the stage. On the massive main screen suspended high above the arena, the constantly ticking countdown finally reached zero.
Worlds Season 6
Game 2
“Hoo…” Chao Mi let out a long breath and pulled himself together. “Welcome back, summoners! We’re about to begin Game 2 of this BO5. PNG is currently slightly behind in score. As the losing side, they’ve chosen red side this time, meaning second ban phase and second pick—”
“UG made PNG suffer a lot during the draft in Game 1!” Da Ju raised his voice. “Hopefully after fifteen minutes of adjustments, PNG can change up their approach! Let’s first take a look at the first round of bans from both sides—”
“Are we playing the same way as last game? Should we ban Treant?”
“No, no. Treant’s too weak. I can beat it with basically any fighter or marksman. Don’t bother with it.”
“Then ban mages?”
“…Mm…”
“Which one? Which one? Seniors, decide already!”
“Ban Soulreaper,” Kim Seok-chan said over voice comms. “I think we absolutely can’t let them have Soulreaper King. Wind’s comeback potential on that hero is too strong. He’s way too good at forcing miracle teamfights.”
Last game, UG had been massively ahead the entire time, yet the match still got dragged all the way to 37 minutes. In the end, it all came down to Sui Ning’s Soulreaper King repeatedly forcing perfect engages through sheer individual skill!
The Baron fight had been the most dangerous one. UG had almost gotten teamwiped and reverse-swept right there.
At the time, Kim Seok-chan had been so nervous his heart nearly jumped out of his throat! Fortunately, Cheng Su’s Goblin Engineer had been severely restricted in teamfights, leaving PNG without a key core axis in their composition. That was the only reason their later pushes kept stalling.
And that was with PNG playing from behind. Even then, they’d struggled to contain Sui Ning. Better to just ban it outright and completely cut off PNG’s hopes.
Coach Yoonsoo nodded, agreeing with Kim Seok-chan’s assessment. He tapped Park Se-woo’s screen with his finger, pointing at Soulreaper King’s portrait. “Mm. Ban this.”
Chao Mi glanced at PNG’s ban box, concern showing on his face.
UG Ban — [Soulreaper King]
PNG Ban — [Holy Light Warrior]
“UG immediately bans the impressive Soulreaper performance from last game. No surprise there,” the commentators commented calmly.
“PNG still chooses to lock down Holy Light Warrior. Mm… the champion definitely deserves a ban, but how exactly are they planning to deal with Shadowmoon Gun? If Myerii gets stuck playing Verdant Treant and getting bullied again, then top lane is basically doomed from level one.”
“And what about Bombardier? Shouldn’t that maybe eat a ban too?”
But after saying that, Chao Mi quickly rejected his own idea. “—No no no, PNG’s bans just aren’t enough!”
At this point, even ban slots had to be distributed based on seniority. UG had far too many champions worth targeting, and Bombardier still hadn’t earned enough status for that!
“I do have an idea though. Since both teams value Herald so highly, maybe PNG should consider picking stronger lane-dominant top laners?”
Qing Ci pondered for a while, trying hard to work through it. “Shadowmoon Gun mainly relies on range advantage and mobility to bully tanks like Treant who can’t really fight back. There are still plenty of oppressive top lane champions that can deal with him.”
Then with their second ban, UG continued the same strategy from Game 1 and removed [Shadow of Vengeance].
It was PNG’s turn again. Wei Ye spoke first. “Ban Shadow Hawk?”
“Ban it. Don’t risk it!” Chen Chen answered decisively. “We absolutely cannot let them have it.”
“We’re not picking it ourselves?”
Hearing that question, Cheng Su replied calmly: “If they keep running Bombardier, Shadow Hawk doesn’t feel good into it. It’s one of those heroes where they’re happy if they get it, but we feel awkward if we take it ourselves.”
In pro play, regardless of raw strength, those “hurts your own side, pleases the enemy” champions almost always ended up banned.
PNG Ban — [Shadow Hawk]
“Next one… uh, keep baiting out Arcanist?”
“Sure, let’s see what they do with their third ban. Most likely they continue banning Aeria, then either first-pick marksman or first-pick mid.”
“Then what do we pick first?” Wei Ye scratched his head, his mouse cursor rapidly sweeping across the champion portraits on the draft screen before looking toward Sui Ning. “First-pick for Wind?”
Sui Ning blinked. “I’m fine with anything.”
After all, he wasn’t afraid of being targeted. There were too many viable mid laners to ban them all.
“Just first-pick top lane, then! Don’t be scared!”
Lin Zhaoxu grinned like a smug little gremlin and immediately started stirring trouble. “Mye-chan’s scared?! Don’t be scared, come on! Show them your invincible Blade Demon! Start 0/10 and make world’s best top laner Leave question his entire life!”
“Halfway through the game Leave’s gonna ask if you’re secretly match-fixing!”
“????”
Being provoked by his “son,” Wei Ye’s eyes widened in rage, immediately losing all verbal restraint. “You little brat Mior dares speak such arrogance? Damn it, Chen Chen, give me Blade Demon!”
Chen Chen: ??? Calling the coach by name directly? The audacity!
Also, was there perhaps even the slightest possibility… that they still couldn’t pick champions yet?!
Ignoring the shock in the coach’s eyes, Wei Ye got increasingly worked up, practically foaming at the mouth. “Just lie down and watch, this game I’m gonna hard carry out of my mind! Do you even understand the weight behind ‘forsake the body, become the demon—what can even Buddha do to me’? Blade Demon possesses me, AQWAQQA into ult annihilation, I’ll kill everyone I see! World’s best top laner my ass—even Leave only deserves to get chopped into hero fragments by my demonic blade [Soulrend]!”
As he got more and more fired up, his booming voice left his teammates’ ears ringing. Then, with a raised fist, he slammed the desk with a fully charged haymaker— BANG! A deafening crash echoed through the room.
Sui Ning cautiously glanced at the long five-man gaming desk. …The table wasn’t about to crack open, was it?
With that amount of force, were they about to become the first team in Worlds history to literally smash the stage desk apart…?
Speechless, Sui Ning silently tapped a few keys on his keyboard.
[PNG_Wind]: (Team) 6.
[PNG_Cloud]: (Team) ……
[PNG_Mior]: (Team) 66666666
“…Fine.”
Trembling slightly, Chen Chen took a deep breath and made the final call. “—We’ll stick to what we discussed earlier. If possible, first-pick Blade Demon for top lane.”
“Transform! Heavenly Demon Descends! WOOOOOOO! WE’RE FIRED UP NOW!”
Chen Chen: “……” The damn champion hadn’t even been picked yet, and this guy was already spontaneously combusting?!
Cheng Su, who had been silent the entire time, finally snapped. He also punched the table and roared: “Stop barking already, you’re interrupting my thinking!!”
“Oh.” Wei Ye immediately shut up and obediently shrank his neck. “…Okay.”
Sui Ning secretly glanced at the desk again.
The match hadn’t even started yet, and the support already looked ready to pack up the team’s top laner and marksman whole and eat them alive.
Chen Chen fell silent for two seconds before turning toward the referee, who was on the verge of laughing himself insane. “Referee, please make sure this recording gets saved.”
The referee nodded while desperately holding back laughter. “Don’t worry, Coach.” Absolutely saving this. Hahahahaha!
——
While one side was discussing world-shaking tactical warfare, UG was also carefully considering their third ban.
After thinking for a moment, Park Se-woo lightly clicked on Blade Demon’s portrait. “They might pick Blade Demon top. Should we ban it? Or should I just first-pick it?”
UG was on blue side and had first pick. Shadowmoon Gun was still available, and Park Se-woo didn’t think PNG would be dumb enough to keep playing top lane Treant.
“I feel like banning mages is okay too. Holy Light Warrior’s gone already, so maybe continue banning Stellar Sprite?” Kim Seok-chan pondered for a while. “Their third ban should probably be Arcanist, so we can first-pick a mage.”
“If we do that… what about the brother combo? Fan’en nn and Fanlei? We’re just ignoring them?”
“Ah, damn it, we only have this many ban slots! Why doesn’t Glory just give us 100 bans? I guarantee they wouldn’t even get to play the game!”
After complaining a few times, Kim Seok-chan smacked his lips and turned toward the coach. “Coach?”
Yoonsoo: “Mm…”
While the players discussed among themselves, Yoonsoo didn’t rush to interrupt them. His habit was always to listen to the players’ opinions first, then combine them with his own considerations before making the final decision.
After all, once the draft ended, the players were the ones actually executing it. A coach needed to keep his thought process synchronized with his team at all times.
After thinking for a while, Yoonsoo shifted his gaze toward Choi Hyun-woo and Ahn Seung-soo. “—I’m leaning toward banning Stellar Sprite. What do you guys think? Fan’en will be left open. If they pick Fan’en and Fanlei, their mid-jungle 2v2 becomes extremely strong. Can we still play Blade of Dawn plus Phantom Trickster into that?”
Choi Hyun-woo thought seriously for a moment. “I think we can. That combo’s hard engage isn’t as strong as Shadow of Vengeance plus Soulreaper King, and Fan’en isn’t as good at deleting targets as Phantom Trickster is. Our teamfight strength mainly comes from poke anyway. As long as we don’t get force-engaged on, we can fight. Plus we still have lane priority, so it’s fine.”
Bombardier was simply too perfect for teamfighting. Its ultimate’s explosion radius just happened to cover nearly ninety percent of the upper and lower dragon pits. If the designers said that wasn’t intentional, who would believe them?
Back when the champion was played mid lane, its strength hadn’t been nearly this obvious. But once it moved to bot lane, the team responsibilities changed, the gold income changed… Everything became completely different! Choi Hyun-woo couldn’t help but think: Who was the genius who came up with putting this champion bot lane as a marksman?
UG Ban — [Stellar Sprite]
PNG Ban — [Rune Arcanist]
The instant UG’s third ban appeared, Da Ju’s eyes lit up immediately. Both commentators subconsciously straightened in their seats. Before they could even speak, UG instantly locked in their first pick: [Phantom Trickster].
Chao Mi’s entire body shook. “——UG chooses to leave Fan’en open during the first draft rotation, while giving False Phantom Trickster! The meaning here is extremely obvious—they’re forcing PNG into openly drafting the Fan’en + Fanlei mid-jungle combo! But honestly, I think PNG can take it! The brother combo is absolutely strong enough!”
“UG probably thinks these mages—” Da Ju gestured in a circle around the mage portraits on the draft screen while analyzing one by one, “—are all more dangerous than Fan’en. And honestly, that makes sense. Seventy percent of Fan’en’s strength comes from Fanlei, and vice versa—seventy percent of Fanlei’s strength comes from Fan’en. If they’re not playing 2v2 together, they’re only around Tier 2 level! Compared to that, Phantom Trickster is obviously a much bigger threat to carries!”
“So… will PNG take it?”
PNG Pick — [Specter of Shadow]
The silver-haired mage in white robes was instantly locked in. His champion projection simultaneously appeared in the center of the stage, while his enormous name materialized beneath his feet—as though the officials were worried that after being absent from competitive play for so long, the audience might have forgotten him—
As if that were even possible?!
“Woooooo——!!!”
“Fan’en!!”
“Holy shit, holy shit, I thought this champion was gonna stay imprisoned in the ban list forever!!”
“Fan’en!! Winnnnnnd!!”
There was no way the audience could forget the shadow-controlling mage. Back then, the way the officials had panicked and released an emergency nerf announcement remained vividly etched into everyone’s memory to this very day!
It was precisely because of that one battle that Sui Ning first shot to fame on the international server, introducing foreign players to the ID “Wind” with his godlike Glory play on Fan'en and [R-Shadow Upon Shadow]!
His Fan'en had left an incredibly deep impression on international players, and his brilliant coordination with Ji Yunyu’s Fanlei was turned into countless highlight compilations, racking up over a billion views overseas long ago!
He himself had even been mass-reported by clueless solo queue players and pros alike for using hacks and scripts while climbing ranked!
As for the domestic audience, there was even less need to mention it.
Ever since TL got brutalized by this brother combo during the regular season, no HPL team had dared let the duo through again—not even in the Summer Finals—
Back then, countless HPL coaches had practically sworn an oath: as long as Fan'en wasn’t nerfed, he would never leave the ban list! That ban slot was locked for life!
“—They locked it in!!” Chao Mi shouted at the top of his lungs. “No problem! This is pure confidence!”
Almost instinctively, Sui Ning lifted his eyes and met Fan'en’s gaze through the screen.
The monocle obscured the emotions in Fan'en’s eyes, but there seemed to be a faint half-smile on his lips, as though saying, “Long time no see.”
“Fan'en—a hero that used to rot on the bench—was brought from obscurity to fame by PNG’s mid-jungle system. From a hero ignored for hundreds of days, to getting emergency nerfed by the developers within 24 hours!”
Qing Ci sighed emotionally. “The journey of this hero since release is just as legendary as player Wind himself!”
[Holy shit, I’m fired up!!]
[Fan'en: At eighteen years old, standing on the pro stage like a nobody!]
[ LMAO before Wind played him, aside from one for-fun match, Fan'en literally had zero pro appearances. He wasn’t even a nobody!!]
[Who still remembers the devs waking up overnight to rewrite code? I still have the announcement saved!]
[At first, he slaughtered top 1000 international server players and solo queue pros; later, he slaughtered HPL powerhouse Tayloo; and now, he’s slaughtering—]
[Understood. Our Fan'en does not kill nameless nobodies!!]
“But this also makes PNG’s jungle pick pretty obvious.” Da Ju suppressed his excitement and analyzed rationally, “UG probably won’t steal Fanlei. That would basically be…”
Da Ju suddenly choked on his words. What he wanted to say was, “forcing yourself to share a pile of shit,” but that sounded way too crude.
Beside him, Chao Mi cleverly filled in the blank: “More trouble than it’s worth?”
“Yes! Exactly!” Da Ju nodded vigorously. “Completely meaningless, and it could even ruin UG’s own mid-jungle strength! So I think we can look forward to PNG’s second pick. There’s no need to lock Fanlei that early—maybe pick from marksman or support first—”
“Pick it,” Chen Chen said. “If we don’t pick it second, they’ll definitely take it.”
“OK! I’m fucking transforming!!!” Wei Ye viciously slammed his left mouse button down!
PNG Pick — [Soul-Sealing Blade Demon]
Da Ju nearly choked.
The commenting desk—and even the entire livestream—fell silent for two whole seconds.
[…?]
[Huh?]
[??????]
[HOLY SHIT?]
[Wait, hold on—WHAT?? Brother Ye??]
After the brief freeze, the barrage exploded into a flood of question marks like runaway horses!
Some rich viewers even started spamming a dozen 9,999-yuan gifts in a row. Little shark rockets shot across the screen one after another, each with only a single attached message: ?
What the hell was going on?!
[LMAO even the whales are stunned!!]
[?? What is this, Worlds Treant Transformation Arc??]
[I was JUST about to say Wind locking Fan'en meant this game was stable, and then Brother Ye smacks me in the face with Blade Demon. What the fuck is happening??]
[Flashbacks to Summer Split, HTG vs Yu Cai, top lane Sword Demon going 0/8! PLEASE NO!!!]
[I have PTSD from Brother Ye’s Blade Demon. Can we switch to something else?? Can Blade Demon jungle? Or maybe marksman??]
[Mye-chan, I need your old Treant!]
[Don’t do this to us, Brother Ye, we’re scared!!]
The moment Soul-Sealing Blade Demon was locked in, and viewers saw the ID beside it—PNG_Myerii—the audience collectively blacked out from lack of oxygen!
Then they looked at UG’s follow-up picks: Marksman [Bombardier] as expected, top lane [Broken King]…
The instant that hero appeared, PNG fans mentally shattered on the spot!
Goddammit!! Wasn’t this exactly like that game against HTG where Guesz completely massacred them?!
Yu Cai! Why the hell are you on the enemy team now?!
“…My god?”
Even Chao Mi felt dizzy watching this unfold. He took several deep breaths before managing to speak again. Staring wide-eyed at the Blade Demon portrait, his voice trembled: “Th-th-this… Myerii is actually playing Sword Demon in this game??”
This really isn’t some bizarre PNG cheese strategy?!
“It looks like it! UG has also picked the Broken King to counter Blade Demon!” Da Ju swallowed nervously. “Giving up Shadowmoon Gun was the right choice. Against a fighter like Blade Demon—who can tank, deal damage, lifesteal, and outputs absurd numbers—Shadowmoon Gun gets chopped to pieces in two swings! And Broken King has always had a bit of a lane counter advantage against Blade Demon—”
After a pause, Da Ju also remembered Wei Ye’s infamous “breakout match,” the one where his Sword Demon got smashed so hard it was effectively deleted from PNG’s hero pool…
But at a time like this, Da Ju obviously wasn’t going to bring up painful memories.
He cleared his throat. “Actually, Myerii’s pick is really good. Blade Demon can secure lane priority, and its strength is definitely there. If PNG wants to play around the upper side and fight for Rift Herald, Blade Demon is undoubtedly an excellent choice!”
[…As long as he doesn’t explode on his own]
[As long as he doesn’t explode on his own +1, sigh]
[Why are you sighing already?! The game hasn’t even started yet, can’t you trust our anime top laner a little??]
[Seriously, that HTG game was ages ago. You can’t expect Brother Ye to have made zero improvement this whole time, right??]
[I heard rumors that Mye-chan often shares a room at night with several other top laners, and Guesz is there too. Learning some Blade Demon tricks from him makes total sense, right?]
[ I believe it. The other teams definitely passed secret techniques to PNG!!]
“But UG’s draft core is also shaping up to be terrifying!”
Chao Mi picked up the conversation, voicing his concerns: “Last game, we already saw how oppressive Bombardier’s poke plus the assassin mage cleanup was. Meanwhile, Shadowmoon Gun mostly focused on pushing towers, taking objectives, and shredding the frontline.”
“Leave rarely dashed into the backline to assassinate carries. His playstyle is completely different from mid-lane Shadowmoon Gun! So in actual teamfights, UG’s engage wasn’t fully all-in.”
“But this game they’ve added a top-lane fighter. Broken King can charge straight into PNG’s formation together with the mid and jungle!”
The more Chao Mi spoke, the less confident he sounded. “—Last game Mior already had no room to survive. This game PNG’s mid, jungle, and marksman are all squishy. How are they supposed to live? Surely PNG isn’t going to abandon the marksman role entirely and give Mior a tank, right?!”
[Damn, he’s got a point. Why does PNG’s comp feel so squishy?]
[It really is squishy. Without Treant frontlining, I don’t feel safe!]
[Day 0 without Treant. Miss him already QAQ.]
[Anyone can just dive and murder the squishy marksman. Son Xu is suffering for real. If it were me, my agony mask would already be welded onto my face]
[Too squishy too squishy too squishy, get some frontline!!]
“It still depends on what support they pick. Right now PNG’s requirements for the support role are incredibly demanding,” Da Ju said. “Either they need someone who can engage, or someone who can kite and disengage, while also being able to protect the carries against this kind of dive comp, and at the same time keep up with Key’s roaming and XP-leeching tempo—”
They wanted everything at once. Why not just ascend to heaven while they were at it?!
Qing Ci said, “Now that Coach put it that way, I’m actually really curious what PNG’s final support pick will be. I’ve gone through the entire support roster in my head, and honestly, I can’t think of a single hero that fits all those conditions!”
The chat was exploding with discussion. After already being hit by the double shock of Sword Demon plus Myerii’s ID attached to it, the audience’s emotional state had stabilized considerably. It was as though no matter how outrageous the following draft picks became, nothing could surprise them anymore—
[PNG] vs [UG]
Top: Soul-Sealing Blade Demon vs Broken King
Jungle: Shadowbane vs Blade of Dawn
Mid: Specter of Shadow vs Phantom Trickster
Marksman: Void Ranger vs Bombardier
Support: Astromancer Prophet vs Spirit of the Forest
…Wait, what the hell?
Prophet support?! What kind of abomination was that???
Wasn’t this hero traditionally a mandatory class for every mid-core player??
TL’s Cheng Wensheng used to love this hero, so what now—did the older brother take over and start playing in his younger brother’s place? Did Cheng Wensheng physically carry his brother and chair off the stage??
The audience was utterly shaken. People instinctively narrowed their eyes and leaned toward their screens, carefully examining the close-up player cam in the lower-right corner. And then they realized—
Nope. That deadpan expression was definitely Cheng Su. No body double involved.
“You’re really picking it? Once I lock it in, no regrets?”
“Pick it.” Cheng Su’s tone was unwavering. “Trust me.”
“—Alright.”
Hero locked.
Coach Yoonsoo’s face instantly darkened.
Meanwhile, Da Ju—who had still been deep in thought a moment ago—suddenly lit up, straightening in his seat with excitement. “—They’re alive!”
[??? Huh?]
[Prophet just cast resurrection on PNG?!]
[What? WHAT?!]
“PNG’s composition just came alive! This Prophet pick brings the whole draft to life!” Da Ju was practically glowing with excitement, his voice rising. “They’ve got resurrection, movement speed, damage, crowd control! They can engage or disengage, waveclear fast, rotate fast, and teamfight well! Aside from being another squishy mage, this hero fits PNG’s composition almost perfectly!!”
Without waiting for the other commentators to respond, Da Ju excitedly continued: “Who came up with this?! Is this the new tech PNG figured out during the halftime break? My god, this is the finishing touch! I was just wondering what kind of support could possibly revitalize PNG’s composition, and it turns out the answer wasn’t even in the support category at all!”
“Previously, PNG’s teamfight power was entirely concentrated in their mid-jungle. Once the mid-jungle got shut down, PNG couldn’t engage and would get endlessly poked and kited—that’s incredibly dangerous! But Prophet changes everything—this is a transformation at the tactical philosophy level!”
Da Ju took a deep breath, unable to hide the joy on his face. “I have no idea what happened inside PNG’s lounge during those fifteen minutes, but this draft has reached an entirely new level. PNG has the draft advantage!! Earlier I said UG’s understanding of the game felt like they’d time-traveled back from Season 7 and were playing dimensionality-reduction warfare. I take that back. Our first seed, PNG, loses to nobody when it comes to learning and adapting!”
“So what if your understanding is ahead of the meta? Give us fifteen minutes—we’ll catch up anyway!”
[666666!]
[PNG actually WON draft?? Holy shit??]
[Do you understand the value of the Golden Fifteen Minutes??]
[Seriously?? If Da Ju’s saying this, I’m starting to get hyped!]
[Seeing Blade Demon shattered my mental state, but after hearing Da Ju explain it, I feel hope again. Damn it!]
[The oxygen tank is connected. PNG, charge forward for me!!]
[Heart medication already taken. We’re winning today!!]
----------
No comments:
Post a Comment