Chapter 838: Plain as day

Players finished adjusting equipment, the camera switched to the commentator desk.

Three commentators stood before the LPL backdrop, faintly hearing the crowd's noise. The commentator lineup could be said to be LPL's top tier, consisting of Guan Zeyuan, Miller, and Su Xiao Yan.

The camera panned around the venue; the LPL commentator desk occupied the best central spot, to its left was the Europe commentator desk, to its right the LPL Official English Stream commentator desk, further back were the LPL Route 2 commentator desk, LMS commentator desk, LCK commentator desk, North America commentator desk… About a hundred meters away, the commentator desks of the major regions gathered around the stage like stars surrounding the moon.

Even the Southeast Asia Region had a live commentator seat.

The Brazil Region naturally came as well.

Guan Zeyuan's loud voice rang across the venue: 'Okay, thanks to the two... three analysts on the commentary bench! So let's cut the small talk, both sides' BP has begun!'

The BP interface appeared on the big on-site screen, triggering a wave of cheers and whistles from the audience, with various whistles flying everywhere, mixed with female fans' screams, very lively.

Guan Zeyuan spoke at lightning speed, like beans spilling from a bamboo tube—pop-pop-pop:

"The blue side is AHQ, the red side is our VG. AHQ right off the bat decisively banned Ezreal; it's obvious that the recent buff to Ezreal makes AHQ very wary, while VG's first ban went to Kalista."

After all, it's the World Championship, needing to face a global audience, so Guan Zeyuan standardized many hero name pronunciations. A couple days ago he even posted a Weibo, practicing the script late into the night, very professional.

It's just hard on Aunt Yu Shuang, who's alone in an empty bed… oh no, sister.

The blue side's second ban slot flickered, AHQ's second ban still undecided; Su Xiao Yan smoothly took over: 'Boots can be said to be a must-ban for the red side this patch—even though VG placed three Boots against EDG in the LPL summer finals and won all three, on the World Championship stage they've become much more cautious.'

Guan Zeyuan smirked: 'That's right, AHQ has beaten EDG before, not just once, and all in crucial games.'

Miller smiled wryly: 'If you want to say AHQ is stronger than EDG, just say it straight; no need to beat around the bush, nobody will blame you.'

In today's LPL commentator circle, Guan Zeyuan's meme-playing is truly one of a kind.

Su Xiao Yan also snorted a laugh, thinking she wouldn't be scolded but rather praised.

Indeed, the barrage was wildly praising Guan Zeyuan.

EDG's taking a commercial deal to participate in the Huludao Carnival event before a major tournament really hurt its reputation; from that day to today, its Weibo followers dropped over a million. Public opinion worsened as well, not much different from when RNG was 0-3 swept by G2 in the S6 quarterfinals and had its face rubbed in; even if A Bu posted daily on EDG's official Weibo of players hard at work training, it couldn't be salvaged.

AHQ deliberated long and gave its second ban to Luo.

"If the blue side aims to snag a strong T0 champion, Xayah and Rakan must be banned; they definitely shouldn't be left for the red side to take outright. But banning Luo this early, I think AHQ's hand reveals its intention a bit."

"This is also to give some respect to Duan Wangye, ranked eighteenth in the top twenty."

"Yes. The question is, what does AHQ want to snatch?"

"Galio, Prince, Pig Girl, or Syndra are all possible. The blue side only has one ban left; there are too many choices."

"What does VG say?"

"VG definitely won't voluntarily ban Galio; they're very good at playing Galio, and their own Galio system is also very strong, so this point is something AHQ must handle no matter what—either contest it or ban it; giving it away is basically surrender."

Something the commentators can see, the two coaches standing behind VG's player bench naturally see it too. Moreover, AHQ likewise has two coaches on stage doing BP.

"It looks like the enemy wants to snatch Galio,' Tabe gave his opinion.

Zhu Xiaolong nodded, pondered a moment, still somewhat hesitant, finally decided to ask Liang Yan's opinion: 'Shall we ban Prince?'

Galio-Prince combo is the current version's hottest top-mid-jungle system.

Although before the tournament some predicted that after the nerf Galio's priority would plummet at the World Championship, many teams thought so too.

Then a rumor spread in the training hotel that LPL's Third Seed RNG was still frantically practicing the Galio system, likely having learned a new understanding from VG.

Thus, many teams picked up the Galio system they had prepared to discard.

The play-in stage began; many teams picked Galio, performing extremely strongly, especially when paired with Prince—this top-jungle combo's mid-game strength is off the charts.

After validation in the play-ins, at this stage of the main event Galio could very well retake the T0 throne; in strong teams' understanding, its priority is second only to Boots.

Although the opponent is merely LMS's Second Seed, Zhu Xiaolong felt they still deserved some respect, planning to ban Prince to dismantle the Galio-Prince combo.

As for banning Galio, even Zhu Xiaolong knows it's completely unnecessary.

But Liang Yan merely shook his head slightly: 'Let's see first.'

"See what?"

Naturally, to see how AHQ's third ban goes.

Zhu Xiaolong and Tabe discussed briefly, then placed Wind Girl on our side's second ban slot.

As a result, the blue side's third ban hesitated not, directly sending Galio's counter—Jayce—to the final ban slot of the blue side's first-round BP.

The commentators got excited:

"AHQ's intention is plain as day—they're just trying to snatch Galio!"

"Indeed, it's very clear."

Jayce hasn't received any major buffs in these patches; if banning, it's either to counter a player's signature play, or to remove threats to Galio's lane.

Fu Lan Duo's Jayce has had a few notable performances, but to call it a representative champion or signature move is still far off; his Jayce's threat level is far below that of LCK's Jayce aces—Khan, Smeb, Huni, etc., who are top Jayce users, among whom Smeb could be called a Jayce pillar of manpower; sadly KT didn't even qualify, so Smeb naturally couldn't appear on the S7 stage, which is regrettable.

Since it's not targeting a signature move, AHQ's banning Jayce naturally clears the way for snatching Galio.

The choice right has been given to VG, what do you say, two coaches!