Chapter 125

Quickshot continued to read aloud:

"Zhong Lu, Perkz!"

AP walked out with his signature silly smile.

"Xia Lu, Zven!"

Zven raised his head, then lowered it, his steps a bit unsteady.

"Support, Mithy!"

Mithy had a full black beard, grinning foolishly like AP, revealing a big white tooth in the middle, a bit creepy.

Next up to the stage were coach Ka Lao Si and substitute CyanideFI.

Oh, and there's Expect. This guy hasn't played in a while; some fans only remembered him when they saw him, realizing G2 still had this player.

Tang Anna was also on the list; she would still appear in today's BP, but she didn't need to go on stage for the entrance segment.

Next was the entrance of the red side SPY player.

The audience's cheers would be much less, though not completely silent; European fans, regardless of whether they liked a player, would still give a supportive boo, and besides, SPY's underdog journey was indeed inspiring, thus also attracting many fans.

Moreover, today SPY had a female substitute player Tifa joining the team; her appearance was excellent, and as soon as she showed up, she triggered countless wolf whistles from the crowd.

SPY female player Tifa

The entrance segment ended, and the players from both sides took their seats.

The big screen started playing the pre-match promotional video and trash talk MV; when Liang Yan's line "like doing elementary school exam" came out, the venue erupted again.

The MV ended, the cut went to the commentator desk, where the two commentators and two H2K players appeared on screen, with Yang Kou Si among them.

2016 Europe Summer Finals commentator desk

……

G2 player bench

These days Zven occasionally felt like he'd forgotten something; when he sat down on the player bench, he remembered.

"Liang! You still owe me a pizza!"

Zven suddenly spoke loudly into the headset, startling everyone.

Liang Yan rubbed his nose:

"Wasn't it that Ka Lao Si took us out for a big meal that day, and we even went to karaoke?"

Ka Lao Si chimed in with a complaint:

"Why are you still holding onto that, and your reaction time is way too long."

nonono! You have to do what you promised!

Alright, then after this match I'll order you some takeout—by the way, do they have takeout here?

Yeah, yeah, I already ordered one last night!

No, you went for a walk, came back, and still ate a late-night snack?

I'm hungry!

Alright.

Who would have thought that in such a solemn finals venue, the audience would get fired up, and this bunch would actually be chatting about such things up there.

After chatting a while longer, the ban/pick phase finally began.

The camera cut away from the analyst desk, a passionate male commentator's voice replacing the desk's chatter, and at the same time, three male commentators appeared on screen:

Thank you to the four analysts for their pre-match analysis; both sides' ban/pick have begun. Today we three will bring you live commentary. In this match, the blue side is G2 and the red side is SPY in the first game, and G2 has already banned a female sheriff first……

The other commentator immediately interjected:

In the previous semifinals Bo5, G2 banned the female sheriff as their first pick in all three games—a situation I've never seen in any other team or season—so I'm curious why G2's understanding differs so greatly from other teams.

Well, from the start of the season to this moment, G2 has constantly surprised us, especially after Firrrrrre appeared—their picks are often unexpected, yet on the other hand we can see that the weirder their lineup, the faster they tend to win, which is of course due to their strong inherent strength, but being able to easily win with such lineups, I believe G2's understanding, no matter how strange, is actually sound and there's no need to try to understand them, because experience shows that no matter how we analyze, our judgments are always wrong, so I've now learned one thing:

For what G2 is doing, just believe in it, and you won't be slapped in the face.

Otherwise you'll end up like Coach Quickshot, unable to keep your face on the analyst desk and forced to become a host instead.

Ah this! Ahaha……

Alright, just kidding, let's look at the ban/pick—both sides have used all their bans and have started picking; G2's first pick snags a Nasus.

Huh? If I recall correctly, this is the first time Island has picked Nasus, right?

Yeah, probably he only recently added it to his hero pool.

He took it top lane right away—aren't you afraid of being countered? Or maybe he picked it on purpose to soak pressure?

Maybe so. But I think if SPY wants to win today's Bo5, a standard lineup and playstyle won't cut it—they need to pull off a surprise to have a chance.

SPY indeed ended up with a rather bizarre lineup, while G2's side looks far more normal by comparison.

If it weren't for the team labels clearly displayed above, the audience would think the right side is G2's pick and the left side is SPY's lineup.

The final lineups for both sides are as follows:

G2, blue side

ban: female sheriff, Karma, ember

Top lane: Island, Nasus

Jungle: Firrrrrre, spider

Mid lane: Perkz, Ornn

Bot lane: Zven, frost

Support: Mithy, Bu Long

Coach: ocelote

SPY, red side

Ban: crocodile, leopard woman, vampire

Top lane: Wunder, Lanbo

Jungle: Trashy, Qianjue

Mid lane: Sencux, Viktor

Bot lane: Kobbe, EZ

Support: Mikyx, Hammer Stone

Coach: YamatoCannon

After the new hero Rock Sparrow received buffs in several consecutive versions, it finally became hot in the playoffs; AP had actually already mastered it, but he had not been allowed to pick it by Ka Lao Si all along. Before this match's BP even started, AP strongly demanded to play Rock Sparrow, and Ka Lao Si finally agreed.

Liang Yan suggested, since the mid lane is practicing heroes, other lanes should practice too.

Thus they picked this lineup.

If SPY were to hear G2's internal voice communications, it would be hilarious.

——The opposing team is practicing heroes in the finals, who gets it, folks?

G2's lineup really has nothing to say about it, and they weren't prepared beforehand, so Liang Yan didn't make too many early-game arrangements; they just took normal positions and waited for the jungle monsters to respawn, then each returned to their lane.

As usual, the bot lane ate a group of Stone Armor Beetles before going back to lane.

Liang Yan started jungling from the upper half of the map, and with Lao Zhang's assistance first cleared the Magic Swamp Frog, then took the blue buff.

Then he skipped the three wolves and headed straight for the lower half of the map.