Chapter 144: Even if ten thousand mountains block the way, watch the long wind break the clouds and sails!

On the 23rd, as the sunset gilded Madison Square Garden, the third day of the quarterfinals officially began.

A bearded European/American man came to the center of the stage.

"First, let us welcome! 2020 World Championship Champion, 2021 World Championship Runner-up—DWG KIA!"

"Top laner Nuguri, jungler Canyon, mid laner ShowMaker, bot laner Deokdam, support Kellin, and head coach Daeny!"

The five DK members stepped onto the stage one by one from the backstage player passage, waving to the audience, looking full of spirit.

The host then changed the subject, pointing to the other side: "Next, is the 2021 World Championship Champion! Returning to this arena again this year—EDWARD GAMING!"

"Top laner Flandre!"

"Jungler Barrier!"

Two names were called out in succession, but no one walked out.

The host ignored it and continued to shout the next name.

"Mid laner! YE!"

Accompanied by the host's voice disappearing, the cheers from the audience erupted again, even far exceeding the previous volume!

In addition to a large number of fans, many local European and American viewers were spontaneously cheering for Ye Bo!

After the baptism of six games in the group stage, Ye Bo has already conquered and accumulated a considerable number of supporters!

Fierce playstyle, gorgeous operations, and defeating T1 and solo-killing Faker itself is a big news, everything is making his popularity expand rapidly.

"Won, won, let's win half first."

Ye Bo subconsciously wanted to joke with the person beside him, only to remember that he was alone.

And when Ye Bo walked out of the passage alone, compared to the fully staffed DK, his figure seemed a bit thin.

The bearded host finished the last two air announcements and finally shouted: "And head coach, Clearlove!"

When Mingkai walked onto the stage with a smile and waved,

A chorus of "Clearlove! Clearlove! Clearlove!" immediately erupted from the audience.

In terms of popularity, although Mingkai has retired, he is still unique abroad.

"Here to inform everyone, due to epidemic prevention regulations, EDG team's top laner Flandre, jungler Barrier, bot laner Viper, and support Meiko need to 'participate online'..."

"At the pinnacle of the finals, reunited in the quarterfinals!"

"A battle between two world champions, let us wait and see!"

The rules of this World Championship state that if someone on the team is tested positive, they can only enter a single-person isolation room designated by the official to play online.

Of course, to avoid gossip, the official almost equipped one-on-one supervisory referees, and there is absolutely no room for suspicion, and it is even stricter.

This is not the first time there has been an online match.

Including RNG and the opposing DK, there have been similar situations before.

But like today... the scene of only one person coming to the whole team looks a bit weird.

The discussions in the theater are endless.

Just when there were many voices of singing down in the livestream,

The director cut the camera to the player seats—the funny scene instantly made people unable to help but laugh!

I saw that EDG's player seats were not empty like other teams, but had four teddy bears wearing EDG uniforms waiting there for Ye Bo in advance.

The scene looks a bit strange, but also a bit warm.

Clearly, this was something EDG actively requested and manipulated.

It doesn't violate the competition rules, so the organizer naturally has no opinion.

However, when Ye Bo walked into the player seats, he didn't sit down directly.

From the peripheral bag he was holding, he carefully took out four small items and placed them in front of the four bears in order.

Those are EDG's Q-version skin figurines.

They are the sharp-eyed Graves, the Viego with his sword pointing to the sky, the Aphelios with dual guns, and the Yuumi standing in the flowing light of the magic book.

【Tearing up, family members t. t, a bit tragic, what's going on? If this game is really won, it will definitely be a famous scene recorded in history!】

【Good! This doesn't count as 1v5 anymore!】

【Don't blacken it, there is still a Coach behind, this wave is 1v6!】

【Brother Kai, I clicked it, you initiated it?】

【A multi-person duel of the uninfected!】

【This organizer is really not wanting to be a curry person, even like this, they don't let players wear masks to play, just have to let the last person get infected too, right?】

【Anyway, I've already prepared my mentality today, sigh, really no way.】

After placing the figurines, Ye Bo sat back in his seat in the middle.

Silently glanced at the teammates on his left and right, put on his headset, and connected to the small team voice channel of the other members in the hotel isolation room.

The commentary desk at the scene was also full of emotion about this scene.

"This World Championship is really bumpy, first TES was eliminated in an upset, then RNG and JDG, whom we had high hopes for, both fell in the quarterfinals..." Guan Zeyuan said with some regret.

"But now, we can only believe in the last seedling of the region, looking forward to the miracle of Iceland reappearing, please cheer for them, all LPL viewers!"

Rita nodded forcefully: "Believe in our No. 1 seed EDG, and also believe in the Ye player who has brought us countless miraculous performances! Today he also carries the strength of his teammates!"

Wang Duoduo felt poetic about this scene.

"That's right, even if ten thousand mountains block the way, watch the new wind break the clouds and sails!"

"Let's cheer for EDG! Let's enter this game together!"

As the last shout came out, the atmosphere at the scene and the livestream were pulled to the top.

The clanging sound rang out, and the BP screen was pulled.

The first round of bans from both sides was fast—

EDG: Graves, Viego, Fiora

DK: Akali, Sylas, Caitlyn

"The BP intentions of both sides seem very clear, they are all targeting the core players of the other side!" Guan Zeyuan saw the clues.

Clearly, the DK members who had just recovered their state were very clear about how much impact the infection had.

So their tactical purpose in the first game was very simple and direct—target the mid lane!

The reason why LeBlanc was not banned was that if Ye Bo first-picked LeBlanc, they could counter-pick Lissandra to confront the mid-jungle, which was exactly what they wanted.

As for, therefore, on the red side, they had to choose between releasing Yuumi or Caitlyn.

This was also the result of DK's serious thinking.

EDG's Caitlyn system in the first game against T1 was too successful. Even though everyone knew that it had the huge advantage of LeBlanc, the rhythm of almost pushing flat in 23 minutes relying on the Caitlyn system in the mid-game was still very deterrent.

On the contrary, Yuumi, who was originally thought by everyone to be absolutely un-releasable, has now suffered three consecutive losses!

And the three defeats were verified by T1 and DRX, two strong teams that have already entered the semifinals.

Looking at it this way, anyone would feel that Yuumi doesn't seem as strong as imagined.

It even has a bit of a "version trap" flavor.

As for this DK team, whether from the DWG period or the present, it is still built with the jungler as the absolute core.

So EDG's BP targeting is also a very reasonable choice.

However,

Ye Bo's preparation for these days is naturally not that simple.

"EDG directly first-picked Maokai! They didn't grab Yuumi!"

"Looking at it this way, perhaps EDG wants to use grabbing instead of banning to hit the jungler's selection, and at the same time, maybe even they feel that the strength of this hero Yuumi is problematic, which might have a considerable impact on the subsequent games..."

DK's championship coach Daeny's expression is a bit wrong when looking at this Maokai.

Why grab Maokai?

In his BP expectation, EDG first-picking Yuumi, first-picking Aatrox, first-picking LeBlanc, are all very reasonable.

Even if EDG also feels that Yuumi is a trap, and also guessed that LeBlanc is a choice they deliberately released.

But Aatrox...

A ripple of panic suddenly rose in Daeny's heart.

"Could it be that they discovered it..."

"Take it as we thought."

DK turns to grab Sejuani + LeBlanc.

In contrast, they are not worried that Ye Bo will pick Lissandra to catch ShowMaker's LeBlanc.

It can even be said that they are happy to do so.

If Ye Bo picks Lissandra, it is equivalent to actively pulling the battle line to mid-jungle confrontation, and this is exactly the matchup DK wants to grab.

"Because the jungle position has been targeted too much in the first round, DK grabbed Sejuani to avoid being targeted in the second round!" Guan Zeyuan expressed his understanding.

"And DK's respect is full! ShowMaker's LeBlanc is also using grabbing instead of banning, they are fully targeting the Ye player's hero pool, and LeBlanc is also ShowMaker's specialty!"

Wang Duoduo noticed Ye Bo, who was rubbing his chin and thinking in the player seats, and said with a smile: "'Coach Ye' seems to be thinking about something..."

Mingkai is still standing behind, and as usual, he hasn't moved his lips much.

And Ye Bo looks at his notebook and finally decides: "Their Sejuani is 80% top lane, let's take Yuumi and Ornn directly."

When EDG's first round of selection ends, the commentary desk is also quite surprised.

"EDG actually didn't pick Aatrox! Is this worrying about Flandre's state?"

"But in this way, isn't this handing Aatrox to DK... Aatrox is a bit of a counter to Ornn!"

No one noticed.

Daeny couldn't help but pull his curly hair when he saw that Ornn, his face clearly looking a bit ugly.

He knows, it must have been exposed.

But, it shouldn't be!

DK has never exposed this matter in any training match, how could EDG discover it!?

In fact,

This DK team has a very fatal flaw in this version, which is at the same level as LPL teams not playing Caitlyn—

Nuguri's Aatrox has a big problem!

Nuguri's Aatrox career win rate is as high as 35.7%, more accurately, he hasn't won a game since S9, and hasn't even played a positive record game!

But if it were just like this, clearly, it's not just Ye Bo who would do data analysis.

That would be easily exposed.

You know, Aatrox is a big hit hero in the current World Championship version. If it is discovered that they can't play this thing, BP will be extremely difficult to do!

And this really can't be solved temporarily.

After all, some players just can't play certain heroes, for example, some people can't play Ashe, some people can't play Draven, some people can't play Gnar...

So, Daeny played a trick.

In order not to expose this problem, they deliberately grabbed an Aatrox for Nuguri with a very high priority ban order during the group stage—hitting the wild-card top laner from CFO.

And that's not all.

In order to cover up this flaw to the end, they even continued this BP strategy when facing RNG, making subsequent enemies think that Aatrox was a hero with a very high tactical status for them, always in a must-ban-or-pick position.

Even, in fact, DK losing to RNG in the second tiebreaker also had a small part of this reason.

Daeny thought he did it seamlessly, at least he successfully deceived all other opponents in the group stage!

But he absolutely didn't expect...

It was because of that game, where he forced Nuguri to pick a confusing game, that Ye Bo discovered the flaw.

Admittedly, Nuguri's hard strength is absolutely crushing the opponent, plus Canyon's deliberate help.

That game Aatrox accumulated an advantage quickly in the early stage, crossed the laning phase early, and relied on equipment advantage to perform several operations.

If you only look at the record, or roughly review the game, no one would suspect anything.

Daeny couldn't imagine that someone could be so "idle" as to take a magnifying glass to the "first-person" laning situation of the five DK members and conduct a "one-on-one" review—just to "make up lessons" for his teammates.

You know, they were playing against a wild-card team.

Even if someone really wanted to study DK, they would consider the strength gap between the two sides and couldn't possibly study it so carefully!

Yet, Ye Bo did just that.

Anyway, the teammates needed rest during these five days, and there was no time to play training matches.

He didn't waste a second.

It just so happened that Ye Bo often accompanied Flandre to practice laning before, especially about Aatrox's laning, so he was influenced by it.

So Ye Bo quickly discovered.

Nuguri's understanding of Aatrox's laning is simply miserable!

It feels like even Flandre, who has only been practicing for a short time, is better than him!

With this level of Aatrox, how could DK possibly fight for a first-pick like that?

Combined with the fact that DK later obviously deliberately raised Aatrox's BP position, and combined the two to make a guess—you will find the huge contradiction point.

Facts have proven that Ye Bo bet right.

The time he spent also paid off.

"DK didn't pick Aatrox either!!"

"They picked Lee Sin to form a strong fighting mid-jungle, this is no problem, but Canyon's hero pool should have other heroes, right?"

"And this should have rocked Sejuani to the top lane. It really doesn't make sense!"

"The opponent's top laner is already out, and Aatrox is a counter to Ornn, no matter how you look at it, it must be Aatrox, right?"

Picking Lee Sin is a helpless move, because the jungle position is the key point targeted in the first round of BP. Heroes that are good against Maokai in "aggressive junglers" have all been banned or grabbed, and Canyon can only choose from tanky heroes like Trundle/Poppy or strong-opening heroes like Lee Sin/Vi.

And even if the outside world hasn't understood it yet,

But clearly, at least between the two sides of the game, they already know it well.

This Bo5, the first tear in the BP game, has already quietly appeared.

Entering the second round of bans—

EDG: Renata, Lucian

DK: Taliyah, Nunu

Because EDG dismantled the two evergreen combinations in the bot lane, it makes no sense for Deokdam, whose hero pool is already shallow, to chase and ban the bot lane.

DK simply poured all their ban spots on the mid lane.

"DK banned four mid laners! And they are all Ye player's specialty heroes!"

"DK turns to pick Aphelios for the AD, this is the hero Deokdam has used the most, but in this way, it should only be able to match Lulu, who has been greatly weakened by the version..."

"EDG picks Sivir, and Azir!"

"Ye player's Azir..."

The three people on the LPL commentary desk paused slightly, trying hard to recall in their brains.

Able to clearly recall the "double-wall push" of the top-lane gank, and the ultra-long-distance displacement of "sand soldier pushing sand soldier" in the mid-lane river—there seems to be nothing else.

Even, it seems there are quite a few "underworld scenes."

In contrast,

This is definitely the hero Ye Bo has chosen that has left the shallowest impression on everyone.

This is also very normal.

After all,

The "true effect" of Azir is not easy to see on the surface.

DK has no more options and can only pull out Lulu in the last pick.

Both sides' lineups are determined.

<>

【Top: Ornn vs. Sejuani】

【Jungle: Maokai vs. Lee Sin】

【Mid: Azir vs. LeBlanc】

【ADC: Sivir vs. Aphelios】

【Support: Yuumi vs. Lulu】

"The lineups of both sides in the first game are biased towards tradition and convention, and they are all the most popular style of the current version." Guan Zeyuan commented sharply on the lineup.

"Well, it feels like EDG choosing this kind of lineup is still relatively rare," Rita said after thinking for a while.

"Haha, maybe it's because of Ye player's Azir, after all, his Azir selection count is indeed relatively small, and this hero will make the lineup relatively slow." Wang Duoduo said his thoughts.

"Of course, it doesn't exclude that this is EDG's brand-new BP idea, after all, coming to the middle of the quarterfinals, everything should change!"

Ye Bo did make changes.

He has quite a lot of preparations for this Bo5.

And one of the most basic purposes is—to choose "simple and brainless" heroes for his teammates as much as possible to reduce the chance of everyone making mistakes.

So if you look closely, you will find that these heroes of EDG all belong to this type.

As for another key point...

It is Maokai.

This is also the reason why Ye Bo wants to take a risk in the first game to test out the Aatrox loophole hidden by the opponent and make way for BP.

Because for these days,

Ye Bo has been learning Maokai.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 145 =====