Chapter 69: Pattern

After H2K's base exploded, the camera stayed on Liang Yan's face, then followed him off the player bench until his back vanished into the backstage passage entrance.

In the official livestream, the screen was flooded with "monster" comments, and only after a while could some different comments be seen.

【What a strong G2!】

【Just arrived, what happened?】

【Feels like beating up a kid】

【21:2, could this be the strength of the Civil War Phantom God?】

【They're back, the invincible G2 from the spring split is back!】

【I really hate G2; they're unstoppable when playing against their own, but in foreign matches they keep giving away points—so annoying!】

【I think even if we sent another team to MSI, they'd still get crushed.】

【Does H2K still have a chance?】

【EUISDED】

……

"Congratulations to G2, they take the first game!"

The feed cut back to the analyst desk.

After finishing her hosting duties, Sjokz came to the analyst desk as a guest commentator; there she removed her glamorous makeup, took off her flamboyant long dress, put on ordinary clothes, put on black-rimmed glasses, and looked the part.

EU official analyst desk

"Wow, an unexpected but incredibly exciting match!"

"OK, O, K, we now have to admit we were wrong, Drakos—our judgment of Firrrrrre was a huge mistake; we must accept the fact that this player's champion pool may be deeper than we imagined! He doesn't look like a newcomer at all; he plays that marksman incredibly well!"

"Well, even the professional coach—I mean H2K's pr0lly—made an absurd mistake; obviously, as non-professional commentators, we can be forgiven for some small errors."

Sjokz watched the two clowns justify themselves and couldn't help covering her mouth to laugh.

PiraTechnics immediately turned their head to look at her:

"Alright, Sjokz, I heard your laugh. Now I have a task for you: please describe this match and Firrrrrre's performance in it each with a single word. Okay, start the timer!"

"What? It's a timed task?"

"Talking, talking counts as time too! Hurry up, hurry up—9, 8, 7…"

"Uh…"

"6, 5…"

"Abuse!"

"Good! One more, 3, 2…"

"Strong!"

"Congratulations, you passed."

……

H2K locker room.

The atmosphere was a bit gloomy.

"Don't stay silent."

Coach pr0lly sat in front of everyone, looking at a bunch of dejected kids,

"Let's not review the reasons for losing the last game now; it's not the time to assign blame. Everyone, share your thoughts—how should we handle the next game? Of course, that's my job, but I want to hear your opinions."

Odoamne, who had been suffering from the military training, spoke first:

"As long as we don't pick a late-game composition again, I have no other objections. His early-game tempo is too strong; without enough early power we can't survive to the late game."

"Okay, no late-game comp. What about the rest of you?"

Someone spoke up, easing everyone's worries, and various opinions followed:

"I think… banning jungle over and over is useless; his champion pool is too deep to ban completely."

"Alright, we'll do normal bans/picks next game. But keep in mind we'll be on the red side."

"Playing normally will be hard to win; why don't we try a surprise tactic?"

"Like what?"

"Uh… I'm just making a suggestion."

"That's a viable option to consider. Anything else? Jankos, what do you think?"

"I agree with Andrei's (top lane big brother) opinion; we need a lineup with early-game fighting power, my jungle matchup can't be too disadvantaged, and we must be able to push the lanes."

"That's not hard; since we're on the red side, we can do a counter-pick bans/picks."

"That's all I have to say."

……

The G2 team was also doing pre-match discussion.

But here, everyone was in high spirits from the happy event, all smiles.

Ka Lao Si is usually constantly hyped up, as if he's always on stimulants; now he's even more excited, and he speaks only by shouting:

"Guys, we crushed the last game beautifully! The enemy's already beaten down! My plan for the next game is to keep pushing forward with a strong early-game lineup and smash them in one go……"

"Wait a minute."

Liang Yan raised his hand.

Ka Lao Si laughed and looked around at everyone:

"Look, our big contributor has another idea. Speak!"

"I think we should play more steadily next game."

"What do you mean?"

After all, they're all top-tier teams; who knows, we might have to cooperate during the World Championships — I mean S6. If we can't scrim later, at least we can practice with our sister teams from the same region. So there's a Chinese saying: 'Leave a line when dealing with people, so you can meet again in the future.'

Ka Lao Si, no wonder he's a sharp one — he instantly grasped Liang Yan's intent, raising his eyebrows.

"You're thinking big, and what you say makes some sense, but I think there's no need to worry about that. As long as we show enough strength, by then every team will be scrambling to scrim with us."

That's not necessarily true — since last year's World Championship, many teams that made it to Worlds have teamed up with their regional counterparts, especially the LCK teams.

— This is also recorded in Sanshao's Diary.

But Liang Yan didn't continue arguing with Ka Lao Si, mainly because it's only June now; even if we're preparing ahead, it's indeed a bit early. The summer split is far from over, and G2 and H2K will definitely have more clashes — we can't keep yielding to them every time. By bringing this up now, Liang Yan just wants Ka Lao Si to have a mental heads‑up, to lay the groundwork.

Ka Lao Si, however, added himself:

"But if the situation calls for it, we don't really have to burn bridges — we're all in the same circle, and giving others some face is indeed necessary... Exactly, thanks for the reminder; I'll seriously consider your advice."

……

The break ended.

Both sides' players took the stage again.

The camera swept over the stands; the venue, which had just quieted down a moment ago, erupted again with loud cheers.

After the players quickly checked their equipment, the ban/pick phase began shortly.

This game, G2 switched to the blue side, but the player seating remained unchanged.

Both sides' bans changed significantly compared to the previous game.

G2's three bans: Shah, Viktor, Wheel Mom.

H2K's three bans: Leopard Woman, Ryze, Spider.

As the tournament entered its third week, each team's understanding of the meta shifted, and the priority order of hero bans/picks on stage changed as well—for example, with two patch‑strong supports and Zed's nerf, the bans/picks in this game seem less targeted; they're basically banning based on overall patch strength rather than aiming at specific player champion pools.

Next up was champion select; before Ka Lao Si locked in his first pick, Lao Zhang's mouse hovered between Graves and Kindred, causing the two hero icons to keep switching in G2's selection box on the big screen, prompting the audience and commentators to exclaim repeatedly.

No way, Firrrrrre isn't really going to pick Kindred, is he?!

Not... possibly?