Chapter 147: Six bans on the mid laner! A

"Congratulations to EDG! They draw first blood in this elimination match, taking the first victory of the quarterfinals!" Guan Zeyuan raised his arms high.

"Actually, once the Emperor secured a triple kill, the Deceiver was already unable to suppress the opponent due to the massive equipment gap. With the entire EDG squad giving no openings afterward, the result of the match was already sealed!"

He continued to hold court: "They handle this composition too well; perhaps this is the system they prepared specifically for the quarterfinals!"

Hearing this, Wang Duoduo suddenly recalled that sense of déjà vu he had just felt: "That's not right. Come to think of it, isn't this EDG composition actually the style they've always been best at? This is 'EDG' at its core!"

Beside him, Rita was also struck by the realization upon this reminder: "Oh, right, it really is. The previous study—"

Due to the long summer season's influence.

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

Even DK believed this to be the case.

That was why, in this game, they hadn't even considered that EDG would pick the "Emperor protecting one" system.

One must know, the previous EDG had always been the "Brush Main Carry" system centered around Scout!

It was just that they had performed terribly throughout the first half of 2022, until the appearance of Ye Bo changed everything, and it had been used ever since.

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

And he was 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 clear. It's the same "protect one" strategy, but one was frantically sucking the life out of teammates! The other is carrying teammates on his shoulders!】

【Wait, 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 semifinals!?】

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

【I'm measuring—sheer dominance! Can the director cut to Scout's perspective? Oh, he's not here. Never mind then~】

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

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

Xu Xiu took off his headset, hearing the clamor inside the theater.

Unfortunately, the cheers were not for him.

In this game, he felt he had made no mistakes; he had even pressured the Emperor in the early lane phase, and his Deceiver had been present for several key rhythm shifts!

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

If it were a collapse due to his own poor laning, he would have nothing to say, but this inexplicable collapse only left him feeling stifled, while simultaneously harboring a sense of unwillingness.

Canyon, with his round face, was clearly in a bad mood, and he quickly stood up alongside Nuguri, whose back was slightly hunched.

And on the other side of the player stage.

Ye Bo was still doing as he usually did: after the nexus exploded, he first checked the post-match data before excitedly and happily throwing down his headset.

"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 doll was looking at him diagonally.

Ye Bo walked up cautiously and straightened the Little Defeated King doll.

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 pushed the lens 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, fading into shadow, gradually swallowed the youth's back.

The on-site Western commentators were also infected by the atmosphere of the audience: "It is obvious, even though there is only one person on stage, 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 crucial first victory!"

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

Ye Bo, having returned to the lounge alone, celebrated briefly with Ming Kai, who was there to greet him.

But the backstage, usually bustling with activity, 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.

Brother Shengqiang Ge was the one who had recovered the best, though his throat was still uncomfortable.

The bot lane duo 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 remained pale, clearly looking very listless.

"Well played, brothers, everyone's performance in 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 become "rare" over the past few days.

To be honest, before the match started today, everyone was very anxious.

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

Over the 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 suffer double the pain.

They weren't sad for themselves, but for Ye Bo, a teammate stepping onto the S-series stage for the first time, who, despite having such performance and strength, would stop here because of such factors.

"Master Ye is the most badass!" Brother Shengqiang Ge said with a grin, his voice hoarse.

"Their bot 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 bot lane advantage in a level state!

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

"No big deal, we just need to stay steady today, wait for Master Ye to carry us~" Meiko said, comforting his partner across the screen.

"Master Ye... what are we picking next game?" Jie Jie, still unable to speak clearly, asked listlessly.

Ye Bo opened his notebook.

"Hmm, let me briefly explain the BP for the next game."

"Currently, it seems to be within our expectations, as long as they don't have those secret weapons we don't know about..."

In-match BP actually doesn't allow for major changes; these things have to 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 could win the first game so smoothly had a lot to do with the BP and the composition!

Not only were the version-strong and system-defining heroes like the Emperor, the Cat, and the Tree all secured, but the opponent's choices in other positions were also basically predicted.

Every step was within the design and expectation.

And from this, it was confirmed that there were loopholes in the opponent's top lane hero pool!

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

Ye Bo, who was well-prepared, remained full of confidence.

After giving brief instructions, Ye Bo hurried his teammates to rest.

After being hit by the illness, the biggest problem was actually feeling easily fatigued.

In the scrims over the past few days, everyone basically had to rest for a while after each game to regain their focus.

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

So Ye Bo knew very clearly that they had to do their best and not let the match be dragged into a fifth game!

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

He began to review the OB footage by himself.

Especially reviewing the few key waves, while thinking about and guessing the combat decision-making habits of the DK players.

"I feel like I didn't command that wave well, it seems like it could have been done better..." Ye Bo muttered to himself, looking at the group brittle-effect combo of "Imperial Army, Come!"

"Huh!? That wasn't good enough!?" Ming Kai, who was bringing water over, screamed in surprise: "When I watched that wave backstage, I jumped up; it was so cool!"

Ye Bo explained seriously to him.

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

"So at that time, if I had let Brother Shengqiang Ge R, and then after the Emperor R pushed them back, Ornn sprayed W in the air, then I could have followed up with an E knock-up upon landing, and I could have dealt group triple brittle effect in the air!"

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

After all, the Deceiver and the Blind Monk had already died after taking the double brittle effect, and the result was the same as with triple brittle effect; at most, the Sejuani might not have landed 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 was actually very simple.

It was one word: practice!

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

That way, when playing in a match, he didn't need to use his brain to think repeatedly, allowing him to execute it at will and reduce the error rate.

Of course, it was such a simple method, yet few people could do it.

After all, wanting those "clock-in, clock-out" players to repeatedly practice a small operation in a training camp that might not necessarily be used, and to have it "practiced into the muscles"—

That was too difficult~

"Hmm? This?"

As Ye Bo continued to review and saw one of the operations, he discovered another "strange" point.

He immediately opened the training camp to try it out.

Ming Kai watched Ye Bo, who was engrossed in his research, and even his movements of pouring water became smaller, fearing to disturb him.

At this time, the LCK broadcast room was silent.

The broadcast screen already showed the MVP selection result—the result was naturally without suspense; the player who protected one was almost guaranteed to take the MVP.

In the 30-minute match, the Emperor dealt a staggering 34,967 damage, with damage per minute breaking the one-thousand mark!

Damage conversion rate: 190.6%.

He ate a lot, and dealt even more!

And the damage output share was even approaching a terrifying 49.7%!

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

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

CT Ge discovered the key point: "Wait, why is this Cat's damage so high?"

What was unexpected was that the one lowering the Emperor's damage share wasn't anyone else.

It was exactly the Cat!

The "Magic Cat" style Cat not only provided the mount with a higher amount of {Adaptive Force}, but at the same time, the poke benefit it could deal in a team fight completely exceeded conventional cognition!

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 be let go..."

"Now that DK is behind, they must adjust as soon as possible; they must strive to take it down when they come to the blue side next!"

The short halftime passed.

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

"The second showdown between the two sides begins!"

"Blue side DK, red side EDG, let's enter the BP phase!"

Danny, standing behind the DK player station, looked serious.

But their thinking for this game wasn't complicated.

In the first game, it was partly because of the Emperor's information loophole, and partly because of the Aatrox's surprise.

And coming to the blue side in this game, they, who had obtained the BP advantage, should enjoy the initiative.

After deliberation, Danny decided to continue to implement the thinking of the first game, using the blue side's BP advantage to fully increase the stakes!

To put it bluntly, he hadn't prepared any "hidden moves."

Danny's consideration was—if they won this game, EDG would return to the blue side in the next game, and that would be the key to their winning this BO5!

There was no way around it.

Due to the shortcomings of the bot lane duo, this DK team couldn't use many tactics and systems, so DK didn't actually have many "secret weapons" hidden up their sleeves.

And if they were in a hurry to reveal their trump cards in this game, where they already enjoyed the blue side BP advantage.

Even if they won this game, in the next game, the opponent would go to the blue side to target them, and this BO5 would still be difficult to win!

The first three bans for both sides—

DK: Akali, Sylas, Deceiver

EDG: Defeated King, Cat, Fiora

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

"Not only that, DK also took the Emperor, who performed well in the last game, in the first pick!"

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

According to Ye Bo's logical understanding, DK's bot lane wasn't strong, so if the Cat was given to the opponent, it would greatly make up for the strength gap in the support position.

Not to mention there was Canyon, the jungle carry; the Cat naturally couldn't be let go.

But Danny had also studied it.

In Ye Bo's hero pool, there was only one hero left that was good against the Emperor: Yone.

But what kind of hero was Yone?

Once this hero was picked, it was essentially in the same power spike phase as the Emperor, and in the late game, it might not even be as good as the Emperor, and it was also very difficult to get lane priority against the Emperor in the early lane phase!

All of Danny's actions were to protect the jungle.

But EDG, as the red side, didn't ban Caitlyn.

Yes, DK was the only one of the four LCK teams that couldn't take Caitlyn.

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

However, not being able to take Caitlyn didn't have much to do with the egg itself.

It was mainly because Canyon, as the jungle carry and rhythm core, couldn't focus on playing around his own weakest bot lane—it was precisely by understanding this point that Ye Bo was completely certain that the opponent couldn't take Caitlyn.

In other words, even if he guessed wrong and DK really took Caitlyn, choosing to tie Canyon to the bot lane—that was also completely acceptable!

But Danny was equally shrewd.

He was convinced that EDG, having come to the red side, would no longer have enough ban spots to target the jungler, and at least today, the opponent wouldn't dare to let the jungler take an operation-heavy hero.

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

"EDG backhands and takes Caitlyn + Tree!"

"DK chooses to grab the Lux, dismantling the push combination, and then grabs the version-strong Graves for Canyon!"

The two strongest jungle carries in the current version were the Defeated King and Graves.

Relatively speaking, the Defeated King had a higher operation ceiling and fit more compositions, which was also the reason why EDG banned it.

EDG picked Aatrox in the third round.

And when Aatrox was locked in, the breathing in Brother Shengqiang Ge'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 against this hero.

But to really lane against Nuguri, especially in his current state with the debuff not yet gone... nervousness was inevitable.

"Relax, Brother Shengqiang Ge, absolutely no problem!"

Ye Bo sent an encouraging, confident message in time, ending with a light tongue-click to ease the atmosphere.

And that inexplicable confidence seemed to really carry some kind of magic, indeed making Brother Shengqiang Ge's nervousness ease quite a bit.

Second round of bans—

DK: Yone, Taliyah

EDG: Renekton, Jayce

"Five bans on the mid laner! No, this is six bans on the mid laner! DK even took the Emperor in place of a ban!"

"This is no longer targeting; it's simply clearly wanting to use the strength of the entire team to press down your only power point!"

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

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

Six bans on the mid laner indeed blocked the hero pool of the mid lane.

Of course, there were still many heroes Ye Bo could play.

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

But contributing all ban spots to the mid lane naturally meant that EDG, as the red side, could still pick a set of heroes that were strong in all positions in the current version!

Of course, being able to do this, besides the mid lane bearing the main firepower of the BP.

It was also because Ye Bo had been gradually clearing out "BP tumors" like Aatrox and Caitlyn in the previous rounds.

And besides the sacrificed AD position, DK also picked version-strong heroes, and the power of the composition didn't fall behind at all.

But everyone knew that in this version where BP was unbalanced.

The composition ability of the red side and the blue side being equivalent—was in itself a disadvantage!

EDG picked Renata.

DK chose Camille for Nuguri to play the solo lane, and then picked Ezreal to cooperate with Lux to deal with the Caitlyn bot lane push system.

Coming to the fifth position.

EDG pulled out the answer they had prepared for this second game.

"Pyke!?"

The compositions of both sides were determined.

《Blue side: DK || Red side: EDG》

【Top: Camille vs Aatrox】

【Jungle: Graves vs Maokai】

【Mid: Emperor vs Pyke】

【ADC: Ezreal vs Caitlyn】

【Support: Lux vs Renata】

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

"This, can it work?"

This selection clearly received a lot of questioning.

However.

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

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

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

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 148 =====