Chapter 159: 【Project: CODE】! The Hidden Variation!

"Congratulations to EDG!" Wawa's face was flushed red with excitement: "A flying start! In the very first game, they achieved a red-side victory over the blue side, seizing the first win of the semifinals!"

"Ye's signature Sylas created countless crazy, ingenious ideas in this match!" Miller echoed passionately from the side.

"In contrast, GEN's strongest defensive shield, Chovy, was completely silenced in this game!"

Guan Zeyuan paused for a moment, then quickly recovered with a smile and followed up: "Actually, it feels like the result was already set from the moment the first tower fell before nine minutes. This first tower is just too important for a scaling lineup like GEN's."

The cheers and screams in the State Farm Arena were deafening.

Spectators carrying the EDG black-and-white knight team flags were waving them vigorously in the stands to cheer them on!

Many domestic fans had traveled thousands of miles across the ocean today to come to the venue and watch this semifinal.

And EDG had started off with such a hearty and refreshing debut, taking the lead from the widely recognized title favorite, GEN, with an unstoppable momentum!

Winning the game brilliantly is the best reward for the fans!

Before leaving the stage, Ye Bo heard the overwhelming shouts from the audience, smiled and waved to them, and left the stage alongside his teammates.

They walked into the backstage corridor.

Ming Kai, who had been waiting for a long time, was beaming with unstoppable joy, hugging each teammate very enthusiastically.

"Great! Great, well played, brothers!"

Ming Kai was so happy, and it wasn't just because his team had taken the first game.

Seeing Peanut, who had been in the first game, actually end up in such a miserable state at the hands of "EDG's Jungler," he couldn't help but feel a secret, inexplicable thrill—what was that about!

"Holy cow! Buddy, I stole the MVP!"

Jie Jie jumped up, pointing at the screen broadcasting in the backstage area.

"Oh my, Jie-ge, you really are the true Bandit Saint; even Master Ye's game, you managed to steal!" Saint Gun Brother flicked his wrists to relax them and teased.

"What are you talking about! Isn't mine just Master Ye's~"

In fact, looking at the selection results below, the Graves only had one more vote than the Sylas.

But the World Championship broadcast directors always prioritize stats, and this game, the Graves' stats were undoubtedly more luxurious.

After all, throughout the entire jungle for this game, the Graves was basically running rampant, as if "bullying" the opponent.

Of course, even without looking at the stats, the Graves was present and involved in several key tempo plays, and coupled with the critical level-one invasion design, creating that outrageous jungle matchup gap, getting the MVP wasn't too unreasonable.

However, the main thing is—the foreign broadcast directors don't know the specific designs and other orientations within the match.

The live comments, however, had the experts.

【Is this director a poet? How could they not give it to Sylas?】

【Purely a dark curtain!】

【Indeed, not giving it to Sylas this game just confirms the director only looks at stats. After watching those plays, anyone who can resist playing two games of Sylas is a god!】

【I don't even need to guess about that level-one design; it's definitely "Azir" pulling the strings behind the scenes—can only say it doesn't matter, giving it to the sand soldiers or Azir is the same!】

【MVP doesn't matter, hurry, hurry! I want to see the post-game stats! Show me the post-game stats!】

The sensitive live comments had already guessed something.

Everyone knew that in a game with such an obvious gap, especially with such an outrageous matchup disparity, some very outrageous numbers were bound to appear.

That was how the legendary classics of the past were born!

Sure enough.

When the overall post-game stat panel was revealed, the live comments exploded, instantly filling up with a string of mysterious numbers!

Sejuani's stats, unsurprisingly, became the focus of the entire audience.

The bright red 【2198】 number stood out behind Sejuani's damage column!

The Sejuani had been driven out of the jungle the entire game, with only a few confrontations in the early stages. From the mid-game on, it was basically a turtle game, and a piggie with terrible development naturally couldn't deal any damage.

And it was as if it were destined by fate—it was exactly half of that number that he had played against that man six years ago!

【Peanut? Little Peanut! 4396 looks higher the more you look at it!】

【Don't force the hype, it's just exactly half, at most I can only give you a "Dagger".】

【Why is everyone focused on the jungler? Did no one notice how useless this Azir is? Damn, in a game like this, he could still farm 200 creeps in 24 minutes, but looking at the damage, he only dealt one Ming Kai more than Peanut! Combined, they aren't even worth a hair of the Sylas!】

【Can only say, if the mid-laner in that game years ago had been Master Ye, the legendary classic would have become the opponent's!】

【Hehe ^. So the question is, who was the EDG mid-laner six years ago?】

【#Querying Scout's facial expression】

On the GEN team damage chart, it wasn't just the jungler who looked bad.

A small problem with the "turtle" system is that before reaching the power spike, it's destined to have no damage, not to mention there was someone always drifting on the edge of the world.

The Sejuani with double-digit farm dealt 2000+ damage.

But that 200-creep Azir actually only dealt 6000+!

Conversely, the Sylas on the other side was in a league of his own, even higher than the Graves, who clearly had an easier time dealing damage.

The two people on the LCK commentary desk both looked away, unable to bear looking at the chart.

"GEN needs to adjust their tempo quickly. EDG's early-game offensive is too fierce. If they continue to take early-game weak lineups, it will be very difficult to cope!"

"But EDG's level-one design, this must be defended against! Really, really cannot let them do what they did in the last game again!"

The Roaring Emperor changed the subject and began to look forward to the next game.

He spoke to Ambition, who was sitting next to him with a gloomy face and furrowed brows.

"Ambition, do you think GEN should consider picking some early-game lineups for the next game?"

Ambition adjusted his mood before slowly saying: "I don't think so."

"Change is definitely necessary, but to abandon what you are best at to pick what the opponent is best at and go head-to-head with them, this kind of on-the-spot response is definitely the worst strategy."

The GEN members backstage were thinking the same thing.

Until they walked back to the backstage lounge, everyone still hadn't recovered, all of them looking miserable.

Chovy, immediately after the game ended, did not stand up like the other teammates, but remained sitting in his seat, staring at the screen, not knowing what he was looking at.

Peanut, meanwhile, still had pale lower lips at this moment.

Ruler, on the other hand, had a dark complexion, scaring Lehends, who was beside him, into being timid and not daring to speak, for fear of bringing disaster upon himself.

Being so easily defeated by a red-side victory over the blue side, and in a game that was clearly "abnormal," was hard for anyone to accept!

There was silence backstage for a long time.

Until the extremely frustrated head coach, Score, spoke in an unpleasant tone.

"What should we talk about first?"

Score only felt he had lost face.

As the head coach in charge of such a "Galactic Battleship," everything had been smooth sailing from the start of this year's Summer Split until the World Championship before this match.

Who would have thought that in the first highly anticipated key semifinal, they would be hit with a blow to the head and beaten so miserably!

Score didn't think it was a problem with their system.

In his view, it was all a problem with the content of the match on the field!

The GEN members were silent as cicadas in winter, not a single person daring to speak up.

Score stood up, pacing back and forth backstage with his hands behind his back like an officer lecturing, his eyes glancing at the players who were all bowing their heads in silence.

"Park Jae-hyuk!"

"Here!!"

Ruler, who had been called by name, responded as if triggering a racial instinct.

But he didn't know where to start.

After all, looking at the last game, it seemed like it had nothing to do with his bot lane!

The laning phase was going fine, then the jungle was gone, the mid tower was gone, and the mid-laner was missing... who is an AD carry supposed to reason with?

However, having been called out, Ruler still bit the bullet and respectfully said a few words; at the very least, his attitude had to be perfect.

"If I have to say, the problem in the last game was that the mid-lane issue happened too quickly, and maybe our bot lane needs to pick some heroes that can fight early..."

After listening, although Score's face remained displeased, he nodded with satisfaction.

Although it was all nonsense, at least the attitude was good; this kid really knew how to handle things.

The others on the team were too young and lacked experience in dealing with people!

"We are still on the blue side for the next game, so the pick-and-ban shouldn't be a big problem."

"Now there is only one question: this Sylas, should we let it through or not."

GEN had been prepared for this game to leave at most one ban for Akali in the mid-lane—after all, DK had already proven to them that banning more mid-lane champions was useless.

But the problem was that the impact this Sylas had on them in the first game was truly impossible to ignore!

You say such a hero, continuing to let it out for Ye Bo, who is in such hot form, to take, it just feels wrong.

The key is that Chovy's Sylas can only be described as average, especially after seeing the opponent's performance in the last game; it's hard to say his mentality wouldn't be affected.

This is a bit of a dilemma.

Fortunately, GEN wasn't without capable people.

Assistant coach Mafa stepped forward.

As the actual person in charge of pick-and-ban for S8 IG, Mafa's pick-and-ban ability was clearly not weak.

It's just a pity that he went to serve in the military after that and only returned to the competitive scene at the end of last year, so he could only temporarily settle for the position of GEN assistant coach, acting as an assistant to the "highly respected" Score.

"Everyone doesn't need to take the first game too much to heart. In the first game, the main thing was that we suffered from a misjudgment."

"Looking at it now, the quarterfinals weren't them suddenly finding a new system; it was just an expedient measure for the team's state at the time, or perhaps a system they practiced temporarily."

Yes.

In fact, GEN had always thought before the match that today's EDG would still play like they did in the quarterfinals, using that system centered around a farming hyper-carry mid-laner.

After all, EDG's performance in the quarterfinals was eye-catching enough; no matter how you look at it, it didn't look like something thrown together at the last minute.

But thinking about it now.

That system wasn't special at all; in terms of operations, it was actually quite different from their turtle formation—it was entirely just that Ye Bo's performance in those three games was high-profile enough.

So, it ultimately caused the "Turtle Race" they were expecting to inexplicably turn into a "Tortoise and the Hare" race!

And an ultimate rocket hare at that!

But if this judgment is reached now, some changes can be made in the draft.

"Xuan Zhun, if there's a next game, we'll have you challenge the Aatrox; if not, we'll snatch the Renekton. Anyway, you can definitely do it, right?"

"Don't forget, you're the man who crushed Zeus!"

Hearing this, Doran immediately raised his head, understanding the assistant coach's meaning.

Just like the opinion of most other people.

With the mid-jungle duo as the twin pillars and the bot lane as the kings of laning, it seemed the "weakest" link on this EDG team was the aging top laner, Flandre.

GEN wanted to find a point of leverage in the early game, and after thinking it over, the top lane was the most likely place to achieve it!

But Doran actually felt a slight hesitation in his heart.

After the laning phase of the first game, he had already felt the steadiness of Flandre's laning style; even Nuguri wasn't confident about it, so he didn't dare say how much confidence he had himself.

But at this moment.

Doran keenly caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye—instantly receiving the dual gaze of the head coach and Ruler!

His posture straightened instantly, his honest, blank face filled with seriousness: "No problem! Leave it to me!"

Score nodded very satisfied, stood up, and put his hands on his hips.

"Good! Very spirited!"

He signaled everyone to come to the center.

"As the LCK's first seed, we cannot accept falling here! You must win back the score in the second game!"

"Whether it's for the glory of our LCK, for the development of your careers, to prove yourselves, or for your first world championship... even if it's just thinking about your former teammates!"

"Now, go take this game!"

Although Score's drafting ability was average.

But as someone who had also just finished his military service, he clearly had learned quite a few motivational speaking techniques in addition to the core "cultural essence."

A passionate speech accurately hit the inner needs of everyone on GEN.

Instantly raising the morale of the entire team!

Especially the last sentence, "think about your former teammates."

It is worth mentioning that the top, mid, and support players on this GEN team were all players and teammates who debuted together on that Griffin team in 2019!

And the Viper on the opposite side was also their former teammate from their debut.

Of the original Griffin debut five, one was now a world champion, and even charging toward a second title!

It was naturally difficult for the other four to calm their hearts.

And for Chovy, beyond what the other two felt, he also carried the massive expectations of everyone outside, a driving force to urgently prove himself!

Thinking of this, Chovy's fists tightened.

He raised his head, revealing a gaze as resolute as Xu Xiu's!

"Welcome back to this semifinal match! Currently, EDG leads one to zero!"

"Coming to the second game, GEN still has the side selection rights, and having taken the blue side again, they start by sending Akali to the ban list!"

The draft screen appeared on the big screen.

Both sides made some changes to their draft this game, especially GEN, whose changes were not small.

First round of bans for both sides—

GEN: Akali, Sylas, Fiora

EDG: Yuumi, Caitlyn, Lucian

"In the second game, GEN really chose to ban Sylas! This is what you call showing respect!" Wawa said happily.

"The blue side banned Fiora last; could they be looking to... really want to first-pick Aatrox?" Guan Zeyuan frowned: "Doran's Aatrox, he did play one game in the group stage, but the performance could only be described as average."

Miller watched the first and second picks on the red side: "This way, Azir has been released. Let's see if EDG wants to pick it for Master Ye; the Azir performance in the last best-of-five was truly stunning, it's definitely worth trusting!"

"Oh, EDG didn't pick it... they snatched Sejuani and Renata!"

"Sejuani can be used as a flex between top and jungle; this pick is also a very comfortable red-side draft for EDG!"

This is the consequence of the blue side being occupied by two bans for "signature champions."

It is also why GEN was dead set on not giving the mid lane extra bans at the beginning.

If the blue side doesn't have extra bans and cannot seal off the highest-priority picks of the patch, too many are left outside.

Then the red side's counter-pick opportunity might even result in a draft advantage!

But fortunately, the GEN coaching staff guessed one thing right—EDG really didn't have any intention of picking Azir today!

Just as Ambition said on the commentary desk just now.

It's not a question of whether they can beat it or not, but that there's no need to force a fight using the opponent's most proficient weapon, especially when there are better solutions available.

"GEN counters by picking Azir for Chovy, then picks Varus!"

"But on EDG's side, why ban Lucian and not Varus? Could it be that they felt the Varus from the last game didn't provide much deterrence?"

"Ah, Draven!?"

"EDG locked in Draven on the third pick! Looking at the lineup, we know EDG is once again running an extremely aggressive half-map fighting composition, still the same offensive tempo as the last game!"

Entering the second round of bans—

GEN: Viego, LeBlanc

EDG: Braum, Tahm Kench

Because EDG's Sejuani has always been a top-jungle flex, and with Viego still available to synergize, the second round of bans remained a bit tight.

"GEN chooses to ban the mid-jungle signature heroes, while EDG bans Braum, who counters Draven somewhat." Miller analyzed thoughtfully.

"But as for Tahm Kench, actually the last game's performance..."

"Oh! Camille picked on the fourth slot to lock down targets; then there's absolutely no problem with that!"

"GEN responds by picking Poppy, but there aren't many support choices left, and they finally pick Nami!"

GEN has also become honest, knowing the bot lane cannot just take a beating for no reason and must pick a support with laning ability.

And Nami's buffing ability is different from Lulu's; it has good returns for both of Varus's playstyles and doesn't bind the strategy, which can be considered the most versatile soft support choice in the current patch.

Coming to the final pick on the fifth slot.

A relatively rare hero appeared in EDG's portrait frame.

"Yone!!"

"Here it is, the classic Sejuani-Yone combo! Player Ye's Yone, dreaming back to the summer season!"

Ye Bo's Yone had left quite an impression on everyone during the summer season.

So when everyone saw this Yone, their first reaction was naturally to assume it was for the mid lane.

However.

When the positions were swapped.

Until both lineups were confirmed, everyone finally discovered something shocking!

"Top lane Yone!? Wait, this is Flandre's Yone!"

Both lineups confirmed.

《Blue Side: GEN. | Red Side: EDG》

【Top: Aatrox vs Yone】

【Jungle: Poppy vs Sejuani】

【Mid: Azir vs Camille】

【ADC: Varus vs Draven】

【Support: Nami vs Renata Glasc】

Flandre on camera seemed to be taking a deep breath.

"Relax, Flandre~~ Just play like we practiced; you can definitely beat this Aatrox!"

Ye Bo, hearing the breathing sounds through the microphone, said boldly, as if he had full confidence in him.

Flandre heard this voice and also smiled: "I'm not nervous, the Yone you taught me will definitely work!"

"Hey, that's right! My Flandre taking a month of beatings couldn't have been for nothing!" Jiejie took the opportunity to tease back about the MVP steal earlier.

In fact.

Although Flandre's mechanical level had declined quite a bit with age and injury, as one of the top laners with the deepest champion pools in the LPL, he really did know how to play Yone.

It was just that, originally, it was limited to "knowing how to play."

Practicing this hero is definitely not a simple matter; otherwise, throughout this entire month of the World Championship, there wouldn't still be only one Zeus who could bring out a top lane Yone.

But... what if he had started practicing it over a month ago?

Aatrox vs Yone, Yone vs Aatrox, practicing both heroes together...

Don't forget, EDG had a Yone master on the team!

GEN's raw strength was definitely not weak, and as the red side, EDG couldn't avoid exposing their cards entirely, which is why they specifically released Aatrox this game.

But at the same time, these things also needed to be verified on the competitive stage.

After finishing the rune setup.

Ye Bo then began to carefully select a skin—this had nothing to do with wanting to trigger a mission; it was just a little "sense of ritual" he performed before the start of every match.

However, Steel Shadow only had four skins at the moment.

After picking and choosing, he finally selected the launch skin he used less often: 【Source Code】.

Unexpectedly, this time, the 【Skin Vision】—which did not have a very high trigger frequency—finally triggered once again.

And this time, the mission.

Seemed to be a big one!

【Skin Easter Egg for this match has been triggered!】

【Project: Code】

【Mission Hint: Use this hero to pull off 3 【Limit Operations】 in this match, and obtain a total reward of no less than 30, 00 experience points to be considered mission complete.】

【Mission Reward: If the mission is completed, the experience points will not be counted into the experience pool, but will instead be converted into obtaining Level 5 Mastery for all heroes that possess a 【Project】 skin, and will significantly increase the upgrade efficiency for practicing those heroes—if the mission fails, the operation rewards will be settled normally.】

【Hint: You must use the 【Project】 skin during practice to obtain the efficiency boost; it will automatically update in sync with the version for the heroes.】

"Oh my goodness!"

Seeing this Easter Egg mission clearly, Ye Bo's eyes instantly shone with golden light.

If he remembered correctly.

There were at least twenty-something heroes who possessed 【Project】 skins!

Although there certainly weren't many among them that he could use, it was obvious that if he could complete this, it would allow him to rapidly expand his mastery of a large wave of heroes.

The actual cost of this alone was far beyond the value of 30, 00 experience points!

Do not think that just because it is only Level 5 Mastery, it seems useless.

Just like the Graves from the previous match, the little trick of using the recoil of his R under the tower to forcefully resist the root and dodge the Toad's W was something Ye Bo didn't know at the time, and Level 5 Mastery could have exactly made up for that!

Every hero had countless such little details!

Similar utility was seen when Ye Bo had just stolen Renata's R with Sylas, and immediately used Gragas's R to predict and interrupt Renata's R-Flash, changing a team fight that turned the game around.

Of course, the real point was actually the "significantly increase the upgrade efficiency for practicing those heroes"!

This might be a rare opportunity for improvement in the future!

Full of excitement, Ye Bo straightened his back.

He was determined to win this Easter Egg mission!

(End of chapter)