Chapter 791: Jiao Shen~ I'm scared~~

Liang Yan picked Frost Arrow, not because it made his own laning more comfortable, but to provide some vision assistance for his teammates.

After all, the Surpass Team isn't his VG; setting aside synergy issues, making sure everyone has fun is what matters most—no one likes having a clueless person constantly jabbering in their headset while playing, telling you where to ward and where the enemy jungler is, and where you can't go.

Liang Yan didn't want to micromanage the shot-calling, so he picked Frost Arrow; at crucial moments he fires an arrow to grant vision, pings the spot, and as long as teammates aren't blind they'll see it.

But the commentators guessed wrong; although Liang Yan indeed chose Frost Arrow for its utility, it doesn't mean he intends to give up carrying the game.

Acupuncture master?

Hmm, but Tang Sect acupuncture—Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needle!

Scraping therapy?

I'll scrape you down to the bone, skin and all!

……

After the pick/ban phase ended, both teams' lineups were fully locked.

Surpass Team, blue side.

Bans: Maokai, Shen, Jayce; Lulu, Luo.

Top lane: The Strongest on Earth·jntm (Kun Ge), Malphite.

Jungle: The Strongest on Earth·Jay (Zhou Dong), Master Yi.

Mid lane: The Strongest on Earth·White (55 Kai), Ahri.

Bot lane: The Strongest on Earth·Firrrrrre (Liang Yan), Frost Archer.

Support: The Strongest on Earth·Zhima Hu (Yu Shuang), Karma.

Coach: A Bu.

Cool Team, red side.

Bans: Kalista, Tristana, Xayah; Ezreal, Varus.

Top lane: Galaxy·PDD, Rumble.

Jungle: Galaxy·Clearlove7, Rek'Sai.

Mid lane: Galaxy·fanfan, Kassadin.

Bot lane: Galaxy·Uzi, Caitlyn.

Support: Galaxy·Pi Ji Wan, Thresh.

Coach: Weili.

The referee reminded the coach to leave the stage; Weili closed the notebook that was just for show, awkwardly rubbing his hands: "Sorry, everyone, I didn't really help either..."

Zhou Dong waved his hand: "No problem, no problem, you can go back first."

Weili awkwardly left the player bench. He walked to the center of the stage and shook hands with A Bu, who was already waiting there. Seeing A Bu's smug expression, Weili seethed and couldn't help but sneer: "You guys did a great job on bans and picks."

A Bu had been looking at the Surpass Team's bench; hearing that, he blinked slightly, then restored his smile and replied calmly: "It's fine, working over there must be tough—you're both the boss and a big shot."

Weili's face darkened, and he turned and walked away.

After the lineups were locked, the map began to load, and the live audience started shouting encouragement in a chaotic mess.

Summoner's Rift appeared on the big screen on site.

Wang Ji raised his voice: "Alright, the match has officially started; the lineups both sides picked look pretty decent..."

Danmaku:

【Not bad, forced—I wouldn't pick like that in ranked】

【Does Zhou Dong only know how to play Master Yi? He picked Master Yi in the last two events as well】

【He really likes Master Yi】

【The strongest Master Yi on earth!】

【The bot lane is gonna collapse; Caitlyn is one of Uzi's best champions】

【Actually, Frost Archer is pretty strong】

【Whether it's strong depends on the ID】

In the Surpass Team voice chat, 55 Kai opened by asking: "Hey Jiao Shen, your shot-calling is pretty strong; why don't you shot-call this game?"

Liang Yan didn't deflect, but neither did he take over completely; he smiled and said: "Let's all communicate together."

Zhou Dong cracked his knuckles: "Yeah, yeah, I know—we need to share all kinds of info, like flash cooldowns and such."

55 Kai: "Professional! We've got this locked, brothers!"

Cai Kun Kun: "I'm just here to get by; as long as I don't get solo killed, it's a win—brothers, give it your all!"

Yu Shuang: "Jiao Shen~ I'm scared~~"

Liang Yan: "How about you go top lane with Kun Ge?"

Yu Shuang: "Huh?"

Going top lane is impossible.

Although he's played in a five-man squad before, Kun Ge is a nice guy and pretty handsome, but letting Yu Shuang stay with him all the way is absolutely out of the question. The enemy top laner is PDD; although his skill has definitely dropped sharply, taking down those two platinum noobs (one of whom is basically a platinum in name only) would be a cinch—if they two versus one still got double killed, that'd be funny. Plus, Yu Shuang still has to go back to hosting for the LPL, so he needs to save face.

At 1:15, both bases began spawning minions.

When the jungle monsters respawned, Zhou Dong, with help from Liang Yan and Yu Shuang, started his jungle from the red buff in the blue side's lower half; Liang Yan also didn't ask Zhou Dong about his early-game plan, to avoid awkwardness, and certainly wouldn't boss him around just because he's the world's number one jungler.

Although Zhou Dong had indeed consulted Liang Yan about jungle mechanics over the past couple days, Liang Yan only gave him a few simple pointers—like the basic key timings—so Zhou Dong could compare himself and have a rough idea of how many monster camps a pro would clear by certain times while jungling.

As for more advanced knowledge, first, Zhou Dong isn't in this line of work, so he doesn't need it; second, he has no foundation, and starting from scratch would be too time-consuming and laborious. In short, their overlap is just these two or three days; after that, they probably won't have any further chance to collaborate.

Still, this doesn't stop Zhou Dong from really wanting to win this match.

Liang Yan wants that too.

Because the opposing side really went overboard.

……

With twenty thousand people on site and global online viewers watching, the battle officially began.

Zhou Dong finished the red buff and continued farming Stone Armor Beetle.

Around 1:50, the Xia Lu minions began to engage; Liang Yan decided on the Xia Lu lane strategy: "Support, push the lane directly, don't save mana."

Yu Shuang protested, feeling wronged: "You won't even say my name."

Liang Yan: "... Fight well."

Yu Shuang fell silent, not feeling that Liang Yan was cold-hearted, but sensing a hint of seriousness in his tone; she quickly straightened her posture, adjusted her mindset, and prepared to give 120% of her strength, at least not to hold Jiao Shen back.

The minions don't know how to position, but Yu Shuang can still cast skills to push the line.

Liang Yan grabbed the early level-two advantage, quickly pushed the minion wave forward, and used the minion advantage to press the enemy duo under their tower.

Uzi was busy clearing the lane and had no free hand to harass Liang Yan.

For now, Liang Yan's simple lane-pushing trick cleverly smoothed out his side's weakness, preventing Uzi from making use of the female police's range advantage.

"Keep pressing, throw skills at the female police's face."

Liang Yan then gave orders.

Given Yu Shuang's awareness and mechanics, it was obviously not easy for her to land a Q on Uzi, whose reactions and positioning were far above hers; Liang Yan knew this, yet he still let Yu Shuang waste mana in order to keep pressure on Uzi.

It doesn't matter if there's no damage; as long as the momentum isn't lost, otherwise Uzi will go crazy and hunt you down.