Chapter 658: Superior Horse vs Inferior Horse

"Let's discuss, let's discuss!"

RNG coach FireFox quickly agreed, and WE coach Homme also nodded.

"Little Liang, why don't you analyze the situation?"

Gao Jun suddenly turned around and asked Liang Yan.

Liang Yan was lowering his head to look at his phone——the Intercontinental Tournament's format is special; players' phones are not confiscated as soon as they enter the backstage, but are handed over only when they are about to go on stage——he was browsing the tieba, wanting to join the fun and see how everyone was evaluating EDG at the moment, never expecting Gao Jun would kick the ball to him; upon hearing that, he somewhat surprisedly lifted his head.

Of course, Liang Yan also understood Gao Jun's intention.

Under everyone's gaze, Liang Yan thought for a moment, his plain gaze sweeping over the RNG and WE side, then spoke:

"There's nothing to analyze; we lost the first game, we definitely can't lose the second, otherwise the opponent would have three match points, the pressure would be too great, there'd be no fun."

"So if we want to secure a win in the second game, we have to be the ones to go up."

FireFox hurriedly interjected: "But..."

"But the opponent can also think of this; naturally they'd guess that in the second game LPL would send VG up to tie the score, so they'd likely let M17 come up to clash with us and give away points."

Liang Yan interrupted FireFox, saying, then shrugged his shoulders,

"But besides that, do you guys have any other good ideas?"

Everyone in the restroom fell silent.

Where else is there any good idea?

Although LMS is indeed very likely to send M17 up in the second game to clash with VG and give away points, LPL also has the option of using reverse psychology to not send VG, instead sending another team to take down M17. But this is merely LPL's speculation, not a settled fact.

What if LMS, on the third level, anticipates LPL's reverse psychology, so they don't send M17 but instead send Thunder Wolf?

EDG losing to AHQ is right before our eyes; as RNG and WE, whose levels are comparable to EDG's, who dares to pat their chest and guarantee they can definitely defeat Thunder Wolf, which is stronger than AHQ?

Even if we step back, even if LMS really does send M17 up……

This is a Bo1, after all—what if RNG or WE crashes?

Then that would truly be the apocalypse for LPL.

Although they say the Intercontinental Tournament has nothing to do with personal honor, if LPL loses to LMS in the semifinals, those teams that gave points to LMS will definitely be nailed to LMS's pillar of shame, becoming eternal sinners, forever "sung".

RNG dares not take this responsibility.

WE also dares not.

Therefore, under these circumstances, there is actually no second option left.

VG goes up, wins a game to tie the score.

After that, if things go smoothly, RNG and WE win two games in a row, the match ends directly, LPL advances to the finals with a 3-1 victory over LMS.

If not smooth, RNG and WE only need to win any one game, the match will go to a decisive game, and VG will get a second chance to appear—because each region has only four participating teams total; after four games, if no winner is decided, the fifth game can field any team.

If the worst case happens, RNG and WE both lose, LMS leads 3-1 over LPL; then there's nothing more to say—LPL admits they're inferior, and will be flooded with abuse from the whole net.

All of the above is obvious at a glance, so the RNG folks say nothing, and the WE side also has nothing to say, effectively accepting Liang Yan's opinion.

Gao Jun then made the decision: "Alright then, we'll go up in the second game."

Over there, they hemmed and hawed, which counted as agreement.

Gao Jun looked at Liang Yan, then at Zhu Xiaolong, and said: "Coach, who should we send up for this game?"

Zitai was an emergency substitute player, but now that Liang Yan has returned to the team, according to competition rules Zitai automatically loses eligibility to continue playing. Therefore Zhu Xiaolong only needs to consider which of the two ADs to send up—actually there's no need to agonize over it.

Zhu Xiaolong looked at Sima Laozei and Gangzi, smiling, and asked:

"Who among you will go up?"

"Either is fine." Gangzi said.

"Then I'll go up." Sima Laozei is truly the epitome of a straight man.

Zhu Xiaolong nodded, and the lineup was thus decided.

After a while, the EDG players came back to get their stuff, silently slung their bags and left without pausing, and A Bu also never appeared again.

Then the break ended, and the VG members prepared to appear.

"Ha~~~"

Fu Lan Duo yawned, stood up and stretched, arms behind her head, following behind Liang Yan as they walked out. Leaving the restroom, Fu Lan Duo impolitely complained:

"Always bullying noobs is boring, bro."

Liang Yan couldn't be bothered to respond to him.

However, as Fu Lan Duo was speaking, everyone just happened to walk past the corridor corner, where the EDG squad stood on both sides, seemingly waiting for someone going to the restroom.

They obviously heard Fu Lan Duo's remark above.

But he, without changing expression, leisurely walked through the crowd.

The EDG folks all looked resentful.

……

After going on stage, Liang Yan first looked toward the opposing players' bench.

As expected, it was indeed M17.

Over there, a few people raised their heads to look this way, chatting and laughing; if they were cannon fodder, they'd still be optimistic cannon fodder.

To be honest, Liang Yan felt rather annoyed.

You know the opponent will lose, and the opponent knows they will lose, but they don't care, because they traded a cheap little motorcycle worth a few thousand for your interceptor missile that costs over ten times as much; you don't lose, because you preserved something more valuable, but the opponent profits handsomely.

Liang Yan sat down in his seat, plugged in his peripherals, adjusted them, then launched the game client to enter training mode for warm-up.

His hands moved by strong instinct, while his mind pondered what surprise to give the opponent later.

The large screen above, however, was playing pre-match trash talk, and it happened to show a recorded clip of M17's bottom lane duo.

The two sat in their chairs, occasionally glancing at each other, their smiles ambiguous yet brilliant.

M17's ADC Dee said: "Which team do you most want to meet in the Intercontinental Tournament? VG, huh."

M17 Assistant Dreamer: "VG, of course VG."

Voice-over: "Why, VG is the champion of this year's mid-season championship, the champion among champions, isn't it the strongest?"

Dee: "It's precisely because they're the strongest that I want to fight them."

Dreamer: "Well, because we're weak, losing doesn't matter; nobody expected us to win anyway, and we can drain one of their strongest players, and besides, all matches in the Intercontinental Tournament are Bo1, so we might even win."

Dee: "Exactly, if we somehow win, we'd really make a killing, and speaking of that, it would feel incredibly satisfying~"

Dreamer blushed and pushed Dee: "Hahaha, you're really good at writing scripts, you're dreaming too big~"

Yi——!

The straight guys in the audience felt a sudden chill.

But really, VG fans were pissed off.