Chapter 829: They wished they could rush up and grab the mouse to play themselves

In the two days before the qualifiers, the average match length was under 30 minutes; there were indeed many matches where the skill gap between the two sides was too large—for example, the shortest match was the one where B‑group's top team C9 faced Oceania's DW, a game that could be called a bot‑versus‑human match, with C9 completely dominating; but looking at the line‑ups the winning side picked over the two‑day schedule, you can see a pattern, or rather two identical elements: strong team‑fight initiation plus sufficient front‑line tankiness. This matches VG's understanding of the 7.18 patch perfectly.

HKA's lineup has enough tankiness, but lacks a strong, reliable team‑fight initiation tool.

It's not that they can't play, but they lack sufficient intimidation; even if they have an early‑mid game advantage, it's not easy to close out the game.

Of course, Liang Yan trusts that CNB can gain an advantage in the early‑mid game, since during the recent three‑team bootcamp at VG Ji Di, CNB learned the most about early‑mid game content.

But what Liang Yan didn't expect was that Fu Lan Duo was actually right—CNB probably had a mindset issue, completely failing to show the bootcamp's effects, appearing hesitant in the early‑mid game and sticking to a relatively passive defensive playstyle.

It's not that a defensive playstyle is bad; with extremely strong discipline and execution, a defensive macro approach is extremely strong in this patch, and could even be called one of the patch's answers.

CNB has been learning from VG for over half a year, and their macro ability is actually on par with many strong teams from major regions; the problem is that CNB comes from the relatively weak Wildcard Region, and that region's environment is what it is. Although VG and G2's coaching emphasized "discipline" over and over, CNB still struggles here, because habits are the hardest to change.

This means that although CNB chose a defensive playstyle, they still occasionally get caught by opportunities the enemy creates, while HAK grows more confident the longer they play.

Around the 15‑minute mark, HAK secured an economic lead of nearly 4,000 gold.

By then, almost everyone thought CNB had no hope left.

【Dead dead】

【VG taught them in vain~】

【HKA is so fierce!】

【Master's watching live, and the apprentice embarrasses the master like this?】

【The bigwigs sitting downstairs wish they could rush up and snatch the mouse to play themselves】

【VG, hurry up and save your apprentice, hahaha】

【The play is terrible; can only say the wildcard is still a wildcard】

【Too many mistakes, laughing till my stomach hurts】

【Director, give us more live shots—I want to see Jiao Shen's expression!】

【Their faces must be green by now, hahaha】

The VG members sitting downstairs really felt a bit awkward.

And the director knows what's up—whenever a big play unfolds on stage and the result is a CNB loss, the camera sweeps over the scene, intentionally or not lingering on the VG members' faces for a moment.

Many chat comments demanded a fixed camera on VG, so they could watch VG's expressions while watching the match—basically treating VG as side‑dish entertainment.

The chat was just teasing CNB, with hardly any mockery aimed at VG and G2.

Netizens felt that a wildcard is still a wildcard—no matter how hard VG and G2, two top gods, try to carry them, they just can't be lifted.

The good news is that the CNB players on stage can't see the real‑time gold gap, and HKA's lead is fairly spread out—no lane has a particularly clear advantage. This lets CNB keep holding on in the game.

In CNB's team voice channel, tense chatter kept coming back and forth, the five members encouraging each other, their focus growing sharper.

When there's no time to overthink, their mindset naturally steadied.

CNB began to gradually perform up to their expected level.

But HKA grew more reckless the longer they played; several of their carries adopted the same attitude as the viewers, thinking a wildcard is just a wildcard and that their strength is weak.

Then, at a certain moment, the situation in the canyon shifted suddenly.

At first, the commentators' voices were relatively calm, carrying a teasing smile.

"…HKA took the second dragon, the jungler followed the duo down lane, but GodKwai was bringing the support around the back… huh? Are they trying to dive again?"

"Uh… the CNB duo just went back to lane after leaving base; the chance isn't big, right?"

"The Prince is nearby; if CNB can stall long enough for the Prince to arrive, that'll be a big play."

"And Pig Sis has no ultimate or flash."

"Normally this dive isn't possible, but HKA seems to have gained confidence—last time they only wounded the CNB duo without finishing them, so let's try again!"

"I think it's fine—HKA definitely needs to play better here, and CNB's marksman has no flash or heal; if this gank succeeds, HKA can take the first‑tower blood and completely open up the gold gap, basically securing the game."

"GodKwai walked out of the brush, the CNB duo got a bit nervous and started to retreat, but their positioning was interesting—they spread out to avoid…"

"Got it! Pig Sis lunged forward with an Extreme Cold Assault, launching Xia into the air!"

"Little Cannon jumped in and started dealing damage!"

"Luo Qingwu popped a double shield Q on Pig Sis, then lifted her up just in time to launch the Little Cannon that had landed from its Rocket Jump! Moreover, with the incense burner's buff, Luo's shield was quite thick—Pig Sis's full combo could only barely break the shield!"

"Xia unleashed Sky‑Falling Feathers, becoming untargetable so Pig Sis couldn't trigger her passive to freeze herself; upon landing she immediately hooked, countless feathers pierced Pig Sis, and combined with the defense tower's second shot it instantly killed Pig Sis."

"Hey, support, where's your heal?!"

"Little Cannon has a red glow…"

"No way—this heal isn't for tower diving, just to boost Little Cannon's damage?!"

"The front line fell and Little Cannon didn't dare to auto‑attack; they hurried back out, Xia activated Deadly Feather Cloak and chased the auto‑attack, nice positioning— they dodged a support meteor fall and kept chasing."

"Little Cannon left the tower with less than half health and didn't dare to fight back; since they had no A‑type explosive to reset Rocket Jump, they couldn't create distance either—health kept dropping, what to do? It feels like they flashed—indeed they flashed."

"They flashed too late—why not flash earlier if they had to flash eventually?"

"And then the Prince appeared! From the river mouth he instantly landed a super‑long‑range EQR, burying Little Cannon, followed by a basic attack to take the kill!!"

"The support tried to flee to the river, but Galio came in from the other side!"

"Mission's Fox Spirit is following behind!"

"Can they be saved?"

"Galio hits them with a Justice Charge Punch on contact!"

"Support flashes!"

"Fox Spirit throws a chain!"

"The support still gets sucked in by Galio's fully charged Durand Shield!"

"The Prince follows up with another EQ combo!"

"They can't get away!!"