Chapter 105: They're Not Playing One Game

"What!!"

The venue instantly erupted in an uproar.

"Yes, it's rumored that someone discovered that G2's members play mahjong in the hotel every night; many people might not know what that is, you can think of it as something like Texas Hold'em, it's a card game, but the tiles are made of stone, and playing it goes like this—swish, swish, swish (with flailing arms and legs)."

Quickshot vividly mimicked the motions of playing mahjong, and the two commentators beside him stared agape.

In the livestream room, a heavy snowfall made of question marks fell.

Everyone was stunned.

"While G2 is playing, what are the Unicorns (UOL) doing? They've been preparing since the end of the regular season, doing at least fifteen scrims a day, and their practice opponents range from our region to North America to Ba Xi, all top-tier teams in their respective regions!"

"So I say the outcome of this match is truly a 50-50 prediction!"

The direction of the barrage comments suddenly changed.

Quickshot is a veteran of the region; he has no reason to spread rumors about G2.

Europe's most popular LOL streamer (aside from active players), GrossGore, exploded in his own livestream room:

"Fuck!! Squid!!!"

"This is G2! I knew it! They're all fucking liars!"

"I shouldn't have believed him!"

In the barrage, someone immediately joked, "How much did you buy? Surely you didn't mortgage your house and go all-in on G2?"

Old viewers, however, know this is GrossGore's performative persona showing up; the streamer originally became famous for exaggerated show effects, his skill and game understanding are actually quite average—just a card-game tragic figure, most of the time he's fishing in streams, and occasionally playing high-ranked games on the European server, where he can always be seen getting crushed by various professional gods.

But he is indeed one of the representatives of European streamers, with very high popularity, and he has gathered a large batch of brainless fans; his influence is truly not small.

Adding to the rhythm set by Quickshot in the official livestream, G2 instantly found itself again at the forefront of public condemnation, even its die-hard fans fell silent.

But perhaps the director felt the show effect was too much; the three commentators quickly stopped the topic of G2's travels and began to discuss the version.

Discussing the version still inevitably involves training; finally the three commentators reached a consensus:

A more fully prepared UOL will necessarily have a deeper understanding of the version, and it is highly likely that they will unleash hidden trump cards in this Bo5, whereas the last-minute cramming G2 can only rely on its own raw strength to hold out; if it holds, it wins; if it doesn't, it overturns.

Just as they finished talking, the ban/pick phase began.

"OK! After all that talk, let's see what answer G2 will give in this version. In this match, the blue side is G2 and the red side is UOL. G2 first bans a female cop, wow, an unexpected decision, while UOL gives its first ban to Vladimir (the Vampire)..."

"Banning the female cop who excels at long-range tower takedowns in the first-blood tower version seems like a very reasonable choice, but the problem is that G2 is the blue side."

"It seems they really have no preparation at all."

"Let's keep watching; G2 then banned Karma, okay, another choice that defies our expectations—UOL must have lost their minds."

"Hahaha, G2 looks like they're not playing the same game as us!"

"That's right."

"Hahaha..."

The commentator's desk was filled with joy, while downstairs the G2 fans had sour faces.

"After hesitating for a long time, UOL finally decided to stick to its own routine, banning a top-lane champion that is very popular in postseason play across all regions, Shen!"

"Alright, G2 has only one ban left; let's see whether they will ban Taliyah (Rock Bird) or Malzahar."

Rock Bird and Grasshopper are the two popular mid-lane champions in the current version; the former is popular because of its excellent wave-clearing and roaming support abilities, which fit the current strategy of prioritizing first-blood tower as an early-game core tactic; the latter is popular due to its stronger wave-clearing and single-point breakthrough abilities, and Grasshopper's head-lock ultimate can pose a huge threat to the explosively fed carry in team fights.

Furthermore, both champions come online quickly, can join fights fast, and are adapted to the fast-paced version environment.

However, according to Tang Anna's information and research, UOL's mid-laner has no ranked usage records for these two champions in the past month.

We cannot rule out that they might be secretly practicing in scrims, but if they only practice in scrims, their proficiency would be worrying; to become proficient and thoroughly understand a champion, one must accumulate a large amount of practical practice, and ranked practice is an indispensable part.

Therefore, in this ban/pick phase led by Ka Lao Si with assistance from Tang Anna, G2 never intended to ban Rock Bird or Malzahar.

A few players, however, were giggling and betting on whether UOL would ban the Captain next, because the opposing side's ban/pick looked like it was copying the LCK or LPL postseason.

The camera frequently panned to the G2 players' bench, unintentionally lingering on Tang Anna's face for a few seconds each time, causing both the livestream and on-site audience to exclaim in amazement.

At this moment, Quickshot finally revealed the reason for reciting those two lines at the opening; his quote "After a thousand calls, she finally appears, still holding her lute half-hidden" is meant to describe Tang Anna, meaning that the much-discussed beautiful female analyst of G2 has finally appeared before the public, but in the appearance segment she did not show up.

However, by now everyone's focus had shifted to the match itself, and they weren't very interested in his answer to the poem; facing a lukewarm live audience, Quickshot seemed a bit embarrassed, so he deliberately used a startling twist to cover up:

"Wow! G2 actually gave the last ban slot to Nasus!"

Beside him, Sjokz was startled:

"Nasus is also considered a popular top-lane champion in the current version; why are you so surprised, sir?"

"Um... I mean... aren't there more worthy champions to ban? Like Captain, Troll, Rock Bird, Malzahar... I could list a bunch of champions more deserving of a ban than Nasus, yet G2 specifically banned Nasus, so I'm very surprised."

"It seems Teacher Quickshot watched every LCK postseason game; the champions you mentioned are regular ban picks in the LCK and LPL postseasons."

"Each to each."

"Haha."

"But we just can't understand G2's ban/pick."

"It must be that G2's understanding of the version is far ahead of everyone else, which is why no one can comprehend their ban/pick."