Chapter 147: Six-Ban Mid Laner! A

"Congratulations to EDG! They draw first blood in this knockout series, securing the victory in the first game of the quarterfinals!" Guan Zeyuan raised his arms high.

"Actually, once the Emperor secured a triple kill, the LeBlanc couldn't suppress the opponent anymore due to the massive equipment gap. With the entire EDG squad giving them no opportunities afterward, the result of the match was already set in stone!"

He continued to hold forth: "They handle this lineup so well; perhaps this is the system they prepared specifically for the quarterfinals!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Duo suddenly recalled that feeling of déjà vu he had just experienced: "Wait, that's not right. Come to think of it, isn't this EDG lineup actually the style they've always been most proficient in? This is 'EDG' through and through!"

Beside him, Rita was also enlightened by this reminder: "Oh, right, it really is. The previous..."

Due to the long, formative summer season.

Everyone's impression of EDG had shifted to the labels of "aggressive offense" and "fast-paced" led by the mid lane.

Even DK thought so.

That was why, in this game, they never expected EDG to pull out an "Emperor protecting one" system.

You have to realize, the previous EDG had always been a "farming core" system with Scout as the center!

It was just that they had terrible performances throughout the first half of 2022, until the later appearance of Ye Bo changed everything, and they had been using it ever since.

And now, Ye Bo seemed to have successfully taken up this baton.

Even doing it better!

【Who said the Emperor couldn't save EDG? It's always been a human problem!】

【The contrast in this game is really obvious. It's both "protect the one," but one is frantically sucking the blood of teammates! The other is carrying teammates on his shoulders!】

【Damn, now that you mention it, I suddenly realize, this year is different from last year, right? If EDG can win this game, wouldn't it be another 1v3 in the quarterfinals!?】

【Haha, if this happens again, it really would be: "What you could do last year, I can do now!"】

【I'm measuring, sheer gauze! Can the director cut to a Scout perspective? Oh, he's not here, then never mind~】

【Don't pop the champagne randomly, this is only the first game!】

At the competition venue, the cheers from the two-tiered theater audience converged, the three-dimensional sound as massive as a tide!

Xu Xiu took off his headset and heard the clamor inside the theater.

Unfortunately, the cheers were not for him.

He felt he hadn't made any mistakes this game; he had suppressed the Emperor in the early laning phase to some extent, and his LeBlanc had even been present for several key rhythmic plays!

The result was that in a mere eight minutes, the laning phase was unplayable!

If it were a collapse because he hadn't played the lane well, he would have nothing to say, but this inexplicable collapse only made him feel pent-up, while simultaneously feeling some unwillingness.

The bun-faced Canyon was clearly in a bad mood, and he stood up quickly along with Nuguri, whose back was slightly hunched.

And on the other side of the player stage.

Ye Bo was still doing as usual; after the base exploded, he first checked the post-game data, then threw off his headset with excitement and joy.

"Invincible, brothers, this Emperor of mine..."

Just as he subconsciously stood up and turned his head to celebrate, he suddenly realized that both sides of him were empty.

Only the slightly tilted figurine was looking at him diagonally.

Ye Bo walked up cautiously and straightened the little Viego figurine.

Only then did he walk back to the stairs of the player tunnel by himself.

This scene was clearly captured and broadcast by the on-site cameras, and the director quickly zoomed in for a close-up of his back!

The audience erupted into waves of screams and cheers, one higher than the last, until the long stairs where the light and shadow gradually dimmed swallowed the boy's back.

The Western commentators on site were also infected by the atmosphere of the audience: "It's obvious, even though there is only one person on site, even though Ye has no teammates by his side, just by himself, he can still blow up Madison Square Garden!"

"This is what he deserves! Ye undoubtedly carried the team on his shoulders in this match, beautifully winning a very critical first victory!"

"Let's take a short break and wait for the second showdown between the two sides!"

Ye Bo, who returned to the lounge alone, celebrated briefly with Ming Kai, who was waiting for him.

But the originally lively backstage now appeared very quiet.

Ye Bo couldn't wait to open his phone and start a video call with his teammates.

This was the first time he had seen his teammates' faces today.

Flandre was the one who had recovered the best, though his throat was still uncomfortable.

The two in the bottom lane also showed signs of improvement, their complexions a bit rosier, but they still covered their mouths to cough from time to time.

Only the jungler brother still had a pale face, clearly looking very listless.

"Well played, brothers, everyone's performance this game was great!"

Facing Ye Bo's full emotional value.

The four people on the other side of the screen also revealed smiles that had been somewhat "rare" these past few days.

To tell the truth, before the match started today, everyone was very anxious inside.

No one knew how much of their strength they could exert in their current state; after all, their performance in training matches hadn't been very satisfactory.

For these past few days, they had been worried about whether they would stop at the quarterfinals again because of this episode...

And if they really stopped at the quarterfinals, the hearts of these four EDG members would likely be doubly painful.

What they were sad about wasn't themselves, but Ye Bo, a teammate who had stepped onto the S-series for the first time; if he were to stop here because of such factors, despite having such performance and strength...

"Master Ye is the most awesome!" Flandre said with a grin, his voice hoarse.

"Their bottom lane really isn't good, it's really..." Viper's tone was clearly a bit unconvinced.

If he weren't still feeling a bit dizzy and lightheaded, he would definitely have the confidence to gain a laning advantage in the bottom lane under equal conditions!

That way, they wouldn't have to put all the burden on the shoulders of this little mid-laner teammate.

"No big problem, we just need to stay steady today, wait for Master Ye to carry us~" Meiko voiced his comfort to his partner through the screen.

"Master Ye... next... what should we pick?" Jiejie, who still couldn't speak clearly, asked listlessly.

Ye Bo opened his notebook.

"Hmm, then let me briefly talk about the BP for the next game."

"It seems to be within our expectations for now, as long as they don't have any secret weapons we don't know about..."

In-game BP actually can't have any major changes; these are things that must be prepared the day before, and at most, one can only make minor adjustments based on the performance of the previous game.

And it was very obvious.

The fact that EDG was able to win the first game so smoothly had a lot to do with the BP and the lineup!

Not only were the version-strong and system heroes like the Emperor, Yuumi, and Maokai all secured, but the choices for the opponent's other positions were also basically pushed according to deduction.

Every step was within the design and expectation.

And because of this, it confirmed the loopholes in the opponent's top-laner hero pool!

Even though they had to go to the red side in the next game.

But the well-prepared Ye Bo was still full of confidence.

After giving simple instructions, Ye Bo quickly let his teammates go to rest.

After being infected, the biggest problem is actually feeling tired very easily.

In the training matches over the past few days, everyone basically had to rest for a long while after each game before they could refocus their attention.

And the high-intensity operations and mental pressure of the competition were undoubtedly incomparable to training matches—in fact, this was the biggest test of this BO5!

So Ye Bo knew very well that they had to do their best and couldn't let the match be dragged into a fifth game!

Of course, Ye Bo wasn't idle during the remaining time between games.

He started reviewing the OB recording by himself.

Especially reviewing several key waves, and incidentally thinking about and guessing the decision-making habits of the DK generals...

"I feel like I didn't command this wave well; it seems like it could have been done better..." Ye Bo muttered to himself while watching the group brittle-proc coordination of "Emperor's Command."

"Huh!? This wave isn't good enough!?" Ming Kai, who was pouring water nearby, screamed in surprise: "When I watched that wave backstage, I jumped up; it was so cool!"

Ye Bo explained to him seriously.

"Look, Factory Manager, actually Ornn's W brittle effect only takes effect at the last stage of the W."

"So at that time, if I let brother Flandre finish his R, then wait for the Emperor to R and push them back, Ornn could spray W in the air, and then he could land and connect with E to knock them up, which would trigger the group triple brittle in the air!"

Although the outcome of that wave wouldn't have changed.

After all, LeBlanc and Lee Sin had already died after taking the double brittle, which was the same result as the triple brittle; at most, Sejuani might not have been able to land with a whole corpse.

But Ye Bo was very serious about "operations."

Whenever he discovered an operation that could be refined and improved, he would seriously repeat the study and practice, and he was completely tireless in doing so.

So—why could Ye Bo often successfully pull off those seemingly high-risk, dangerous operations on the field?

The answer is actually very simple.

It's one word: practice!

He had performed a large amount of training in advance, often even using the time dilation of the {Trial Grounds} to practice—it was equivalent to carving the operation into his muscles.

This way, when playing in a match, he didn't need to repeat the brain work to think, so he could do it at will and reduce the error rate.

Of course, such a simple method, but few people can do it.

After all, wanting those "clock-in" players to go to the training camp to repeatedly practice a small operation that might not even be used, and it has to be "practiced into the muscles."

That's too hard~

"Hmm? This?"

When Ye Bo continued to look back and review one of the operations, he discovered another "strange" place.

He immediately opened the training camp to try it out.

Ming Kai watched Ye Bo, who was fascinated by his research, and even his movements of pouring water became smaller, for fear of disturbing him.

At this moment, the LCK event live broadcast room was silent.

The live broadcast screen already displayed the MVP selection results—the outcome was naturally without suspense; a player who receives all the resources in a "protect the one" strategy is almost guaranteed to take the MVP.

In a 30-minute game, the Emperor of the Sands managed to dish out 34, 67 damage, with damage per minute breaking the one-thousand mark!

A damage conversion rate of 190. %.

Consuming the most resources, and dealing even more damage!

And the share of total damage output was even approaching a terrifying 49. %!

"This Emperor of the Sands alone dealt nearly half of the team's damage," the Roaring Emperor couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.

"This data must be close to breaking a record, right? I estimate that even if it didn't break it, it's not far off."

CT noticed a key point: "Wait, why is this Cat dealing so much damage?"

What was unexpected was that the one lowering the Emperor of the Sands' damage share was none other than someone else.

It was exactly the Cat!

The "Spell-Cat" style Cat not only provides the mount with a higher amount of {Adaptive Force}, but the poke value it can output in a single team fight completely exceeds conventional understanding!

In several team fights, the damage was almost no different from the carry!

"Looking at it this way, it feels like the Cat still can't really be left open."

"Now that DK is behind, they must adjust as soon as possible; they must strive to win the next game after coming to the blue side!"

The brief halftime break passed.

The players from both sides returned to the stage, and Ye Bo once again walked onto the stage alone to take his seat at the player station.

"The second battle between the two sides begins!"

"Blue side DK, red side EDG, let us enter the pick-and-ban phase!"

Standing behind the DK player station, Danny looked solemn.

But their thinking for this game was not complicated.

In the first game, it was partly due to the information gap regarding the Emperor of the Sands, and partly due to the unexpected nature of the Aatrox.

And coming to the blue side for this game, having gained the pick-and-ban advantage, they should rightfully enjoy the initiative.

After careful consideration, Danny decided to continue implementing the strategy from the first game, using the blue side's pick-and-ban advantage to go all in!

To put it bluntly, they weren't prepared to "pull out new tricks."

Danny's consideration was—win this game, and in the next game EDG would return to the blue side; that would be the key to winning this best-of-five!

There was no other way.

Because of the shortcomings of their bottom lane duo, this DK team could not use many tactics and systems, so DK actually did not have many "secret weapons" hidden up their sleeves.

And if they were to rush to reveal their trump cards in this game, where they already enjoyed a pick-and-ban advantage on the blue side.

Even if they won this game, the next game the opponent would go to the blue side to target them, and this best-of-five would still be difficult to win!

The first three bans for both sides—

DK: Akali, Sylas, LeBlanc

EDG: Viego, Yuumi, Fiora

"DK has come to the blue side this game and is still targeting the mid lane, and it's an even more targeted three-ban mid laner strategy!"

"Not only that, DK also took the initiative to first-pick the Emperor of the Sands, who performed well in the last game!"

"Is this an attempt to limit Ye's champion pool to the extreme!?"

According to Ye Bo's logic, DK's bottom lane is not strong, so leaving the Cat for the opponent would greatly compensate for the skill gap in the support position.

Not to mention there is Canyon, the jungle carry; the Cat naturally cannot be left open.

But Danny had also studied this.

In Ye Bo's champion pool, there is only one left that matches up well against the Emperor of the Sands: Yone.

But what kind of champion is Yone?

Once this champion is picked, its power spike is essentially the same as the Emperor of the Sands, and in the late game, it might not even be as good as the Emperor of the Sands, plus it is very difficult to gain lane priority over the Emperor of the Sands during the laning phase!

All of Danny's actions were intended to escort the jungle.

But EDG, as the red side, did not ban Caitlyn.

Yes, DK is the only one of the four LCK teams that cannot play Caitlyn.

This can be seen from the three duels between DK and RNG in the group stage, where neither side picked or banned her in any of the games.

However, not being able to play Caitlyn doesn't have much to do with the player himself.

It is mainly because Canyon, as a jungle carry and the core of their tempo, cannot play around their weakest lane—the bottom lane. It was precisely realizing this point that made Ye Bo completely certain that the opponent could not play Caitlyn.

In other words, even if he guessed wrong and DK really did pick Caitlyn and chose to tie Canyon to the bottom lane—that would also be completely acceptable!

But Danny was equally shrewd.

He was certain that EDG, having come to the red side, would no longer have enough bans to target the jungler, and at least today, the opponent was unlikely to dare to give the jungler an operation-heavy champion.

Even if they really did pick one, Canyon had the confidence to counter it!

"EDG counters by picking Caitlyn + Maokai!"

"DK chooses to snatch Lux to dismantle the push-lane combo, and then snatches the meta-strong Graves for Canyon!"

The two strongest jungle carries in the current meta are Viego and Graves.

Relatively speaking, Viego has a higher skill ceiling and fits more team compositions, which is why EDG banned him.

EDG picks Aatrox on the third floor.

And when Aatrox was locked in, the breathing in Flandre's voice clearly became heavier.

Although he had been practicing Aatrox intensively long before the World Championship, and Ye Bo had been accompanying him to practice laning with this champion.

But to actually lane against Nuguri, especially today with the debuff not yet gone, nervousness was inevitable.

"Relax, Flandre, it'll be absolutely fine!"

Ye Bo sent timely, confident encouragement, ending with a light trill to ease the atmosphere.

And that inexplicable confidence seemed to carry some kind of magic, which indeed eased Flandre's nervousness quite a bit.

Second round of bans—

DK: Yone, Taliyah

EDG: Renekton, Jayce

"Five bans on mid laners! No, this is six bans on mid laners! DK even used a pick to ban the Emperor of the Sands!"

"This is no longer just targeting; it's clearly an attempt to use the strength of the entire team to crush your only power spike!"

"But this is not without a price; everyone can see that EDG's composition as the red side seems quite good..."

"The only question now is what exactly is left that can be given to Ye to deal with ShowMaker's Emperor of the Sands!"

Six bans on mid laners really did block the champion pool for the mid lane.

Of course, there were still quite a few champions Ye Bo could play.

But those, at least in Danny's view, were all choices that could be targeted and countered.

But by contributing all ban slots to the mid lane, the price was naturally that EDG, as the red side, could actually pick a set of champions that were strong in every position in the current meta!

Of course, being able to do this was not only because the mid lane bore the main brunt of the pick-and-ban fire.

It was also because "pick-and-ban tumors" like Aatrox and Caitlyn had already been gradually cleared by Ye Bo in the previous rounds.

And besides the sacrificed AD position, DK also picked meta-strong champions, so their team strength did not fall behind in the slightest.

But everyone knew that in this unbalanced pick-and-ban meta.

The fact that the red side and blue side's team capabilities were equal—was in itself a disadvantage!

EDG picks Renata Glasc.

DK picks Camille for Nuguri to play a solo lane, and then picks Ezreal to pair with Lux to deal with the Caitlyn bottom lane push system.

Coming to the fifth floor.

EDG brings out the answer they prepared for this second game.

"Pyke!?"

The team compositions for both sides were confirmed.

《Blue Side: DK || Red Side: EDG》

【Top: Camille vs Aatrox】

【Jungle: Graves vs Maokai】

【Mid: Emperor of the Sands vs Pyke】

【ADC: Ezreal vs Caitlyn】

【Support: Lux vs Renata Glasc】

"Ye actually chose to use Pyke mid... to deal with the Emperor of the Sands!?"

"This, can it work?"

This pick clearly received quite a bit of skepticism.

However.

This was actually a "big gift" Ye Bo had prepared for his opponent.

It was after the games on the last day of the group stage, thanks to Pyke suddenly reaching level seven, that he gained a brand-new understanding—a system he had recently figured out!

A system specifically targeted at this DK team and this game.

(End of chapter)