Chapter 194: Explosion on the Stage

"Congratulations to V5 for taking the first game of this best-of-three, which is also their first victory of 2023!"

The moment the WBG base exploded, Miller raised his voice slightly, though he still seemed to be holding back a bit.

Beside him, Wawa quickly chimed in: "WBG seems to still be in the exploration phase regarding the new patch, but that's normal—it's the first game of the new season! They're still slowly adjusting and finding their synergy!"

The straightforward Pyl heard the two veteran commentators pause and, thinking they were yielding the floor to him, quickly jumped in.

"Indeed! This game really ended a bit too fast; pushing to win in just over 19 minutes and 50 seconds, I feel like this might be the fastest of the season. And this 14-0—oh, wait, 14-2 scoreline—is probably a result many people didn't expect!"

The "Haier Brothers" beside him froze for a second.

Ah, no, brother, did you not notice that the two of us specifically avoided reading the "score" and the "time"?

And you went and emphasized them!

Pyl, seeing the Haier Brothers looking at him, recalled the official training before the match.

He immediately realized these two were definitely "giving him the stage"!

Having been retired for many years, Pyl had been lukewarm in the streaming industry and was eager to transition into official commentary. Seeing the two seniors being so accommodating, he quickly continued to talk incessantly.

"And speaking of which, the synergy of this V5 team is really quite good!"

"It's also a brand-new roster, also a brand-new patch, but by comparison, this V5 has absolutely no sense of dissonance. If you covered the IDs and team names, I'd believe you if you said it was last year's EDG!"

"Especially player Ye; I really feel a distinct sense that his suppression in the new season has leveled up. That probably isn't just because of the Aurelion Sol matchup."

【Bold, Pyl!! You're openly hinting, aren't you!】

【Chen Bo, stop being the Grim Reaper in real life too! Shut up! Shut up quickly!】

【Fans, let me explain: Pyl isn't actually hinting at the "God-tier Roster." He's actually Ye's own brother, just biased toward his own kin. Look at their names—one is Day, one is Night. This is purely a subjective opinion from Day about Night!】

Pyl's fans were still trying to salvage the situation.

Wawa and Miller, having regained their conscience, quickly interrupted to cut in and enter the mid-game commercial break.

But it was already too late.

The hashtag "#PylCommentary" had already instantly climbed into the top ten of Weibo trending topics!

And during the match just now, Pyl's various "objective evaluations" had actually already provided an outlet for viewers who found the game content difficult to assess.

This second explosion meant that the Weibo real-time plaza was currently surging with all sorts of pungent, critical posts.

"I'm so pissed!! Can this commentator get off the stage already!"

"Actually, I don't care which team wins, but can we change the commentator next time? I can't understand a word this guy says!"

"Classless 666, he even wanted to fountain-dive at the end! @LPLOfficialWeibo, this behavior should be fined, right!"

"Honestly, the hero Aurelion Sol is too cheap! That stealth Q should count as a bug, and they used it twice—once at level one and once in the final wave! This is unfair, unfair!"

"The main issue is the draft. I asked Baidu, and even Baidu says global draft is a huge test of a coach's strength! If the draft is bad, the players have no way to play!"

"Family, who understands? This Korean coach is such a turn-off. Why did he have to pick Sylas top for TheShy? Why not snatch K'Sante? I mean, if they played properly, wouldn't they win easily? Why draft so randomly! Speechless!!"

The near-perfect game, combined with the WBG team's performance of "closing the net" in the mid-game.

The game content was indeed hard to defend—even if you didn't really understand it, you knew it was hard to defend!

However, while the game content was hard to defend, things outside the game could be defended.

The draft!

It was definitely the coach's draft problem!!

Of course, many netizens looking for drama rushed to Weibo, shouting 【SPEAK!! UP!!】

Unfortunately, in this land of urban legends, negative comments would all be deleted.

The good news is that, apart from Weibo, which was occupied by dark forces, the vast majority of "lawless lands" were in the middle of a carnival!

The famous esports "restroom," the Kangya Bar, felt like it was truly celebrating an esports New Year; all the joy suppressed during the off-season burst forth—it was incredibly lively.

【Truly worthy of the legendary God-tier Roster! I'd been constipated for three days, and one game cleared me right out! So satisfying!!】

【God-tier Roster? A roster of gods!】

【Pity, if you ask me, this God-tier Roster isn't quite divine enough; Karsa in the jungle is still too gentle! The two in the bottom lane are also lacking a bit of flavor.】

【I have a plan! I heard Uzi wants to come out of retirement again, again, again. Why doesn't Saint Stone go to the West and invite the True God back! That way, our God-tier Roster could definitely aim straight for S13!】

【Why are Master Ye and Flandre so mean? They had to give one away at the end, insisting on saving our God-tier Roster's first perfect game for someone else! What if we get perfected by a weak team next game!】

【Don't spread hate. I saw on Weibo that WBG's win rate against V5 is nearly 99%, winning 99 out of 100 games—this just happened to be the one they lost! Don't get cocky, you fanboys!】

【Don't be in a rush. Once my God-tier Roster adjusts their state for the next game, they'll settle scores with all of these people one by one!】

This match, as the undisputed super-traffic battle to open the New Year, was also the focal point of the opening day.

The amount of attention it attracted was terrifying!

That is the current state of high-traffic teams: they explode the moment they lose!

Of course, this is understandable.

To wear the crown, one must bear its weight.

Criticism and attention are the price paid for the massive benefits that traffic brings—you can't just want the good parts!

Furthermore, such matches are also a matter of fortune and misfortune being intertwined.

If you win, you can also reap more.

It can be completely viewed as a "betting agreement" in the court of public opinion.

Just like the current status of the V5 team members on various forums.

If they had lost the first game, the situation would definitely not be any better than their opponents', and it might even be more explosive!

But at this moment, even though there was still a second half to this best-of-three, the public opinion heat for the entire V5 roster had already moved up a notch, including the two new junglers!

The livestream was also entering the post-match segment.

Everyone's performance in this game could be called eye-catching, so it would be reasonable for anyone to take the MVP.

After some hesitation, the director finally gave it to Flandre for his K'Sante, which had secured three solo kills.

"The MVP for this game is, oh my, Flandre! No problem there!" Wawa was still playing along.

"Actually, it would be reasonable for anyone to take the MVP this game. Master Ye's Aurelion Sol had explosive tempo, the jungle-support duo had great synergy, and Deft, who steadily suppressed his lane in the bottom, also had a very good team-fight performance. No one could say anyone was carried~" Miller was still balancing the scales.

"Brother Gun's performance this game was indeed solid! He solo-killed TheShy's Sylas three times! Three times!" Pyl was still courting death.

The screen displayed the stats for K'Sante this game.

Aside from a 4/1/3 KDA and a kill-death ratio of only 7, which wasn't great.

All other stats were top-notch!

The kill participation looked low, mainly because in the final team fight, K'Sante just went in to tank the tower, while Aurelion Sol's breath combined with Varus's long-range snipe cleared the field instantly, leaving him with only one assist in the final wave.

【In the past, we could only say Old Li was an exception, but now Flandre has proven once again: what age? At the end of the day, it's just not working hard enough! If you keep your rank training volume up, even a 28-year-old veteran can play!】

【It really is true; I just checked the OP. G data, and Flandre's rank volume is ranked first among top laners during the off-season! He's actually quite diligent.】

【Alpaca's training volume is also ranked first among ADs; even the rank volume of the 'Genshin' player isn't in the single digits! This is the importance of teammates. If you sit next to a slacker versus sitting next to a diligent freak, the impact is huge!】

【Xun is right! Xun is right!】

【If they lose another game like this, I don't even dare to imagine... something big is coming!】

【I can only say that matches between these two teams are definitely the favorite episodes for trolls; whoever loses is a top-tier treat!】

"Yo-ho! Flandre is going to treat us to a meal!"

The V5 staff in the backroom looked quite happy upon seeing the result.

Flandre, on the other hand, looked helpless: "Hey, how was this judged? Can this not go to Aurelion Sol?"

"I seriously suspect Master Ye bribed the referee!"

He Youjun, who was there in the backroom to support, couldn't stop smiling and quickly spoke up: "I'm treating everyone tonight! Everyone play well in the next game; let's strive to take down WBG 2-0!"

He Youjun truly felt that his investment this time was going to pay off big.

Frankly speaking, Flandre's cost-performance ratio in the transfer market was indeed not high; his main idea when approaching him was to use him as a bargaining chip to attract Ye Bo.

He hadn't expected Flandre's performance to actually be this good!

This veteran still had plenty of oil left in the tank.

"Should we try a different system for the next game? I feel like their synergy is very average; they were completely playing their own games last round..." Xun, who had just regained control of his brain, shook his head and raised his hand toward the two head coaches.

V5 was also exploring the new patch, with several different ideas and approaches that needed to be practiced and proven.

Beryl turned his head and locked eyes with Ye Bo.

"I feel like they really haven't found their synergy yet. For new systems, it's better if we experiment against strong teams," Ye Bo expressed his opinion.

"That's what I think too!" Beryl nodded immediately.

Deft also smiled and said, "Mm, and we still have plenty of room for improvement from our last game."

In terms of proficiency, they trained enough; they didn't need to worry about this one game.

The WBG roster's performance in actual combat gave them the feeling that they hadn't found their synergy at all; it could be said they hadn't even unleashed the strength the players should have.

To test new lineups and systems, only higher-intensity matches could reveal the results.

This point was exactly the lesson learned from DRX's dark horse journey last year.

And the person who had the same thought as them—was Danny in the neighboring backroom.

As a mature, veteran coach, Danny didn't scold everyone on the spot; instead, he comforted them, saying this was just the start of the season, a small game in the regular season.

But Danny was indeed somewhat restless.

He had previously suggested that WBG's Weibo Cup should try to attract as many strong teams as possible to participate, as only then could they accelerate the team's synergy.

The problem was that the WBG upper management, including Shi Tou and Gan Lu, seemed unable to accept the possibility that this high-traffic team could have a "first loss."

Especially since it was a tournament hosted by themselves!

When they played against that brand-new BLG team, Danny had already felt that his team had many invisible problems, but they ended up winning 3-2, so many issues remained undiscovered.

Today, once they hit a tough nut, everything was exposed in an instant!

"Jungler, go down and take a rest, let Weiwei come up and try a game."

"Changing the system on the fly won't work; we'll keep the general strategy the same for the next game. You all just need to learn from the problems and play freely."

Danny shouted to the translator, conveying his meaning.

Karsa was easygoing, and knowing this coach never blinked when swapping players, he had been prepared in his heart.

Karsa and Weiwei had distinctly different playstyles.

The former was relatively more inclined toward offense; even if his mechanics had slipped, "Radar Brother" was not a name earned in vain.

While the latter, Weiwei's playstyle, was more team-oriented and required fewer resources.

In Danny's view, Weiwei was actually better suited for their team.

If not for that Manager Shi insisting on chasing that traffic...

The WBG team was full of battle-hardened veterans; apart from Weiwei being a bit nervously excited, no one else's expression changed much, and they wouldn't have any psychological fluctuations due to a single loss.

Both sides took the stage again.

The three commentators also adjusted their states after the short break, though PYL's expression looked somewhat constipated.

One look and it was clear he knew about being blasted during the intermission.

"Alright! Welcome back to the match site. Coming up next is WBG facing off against V5 in the second game!" Miller's voice appeared in the broadcast room.

"In the first game, Ye pulled out the Dragon King, which hadn't been seen in a long time! The support even picked Jhin, a black-tech pick that left a deep impression on us!"

"That's right, I wonder what adjustments WBG will make this game..." Wawa was still full of anticipation, "However, they are on the red side for the second game, so the draft might face some difficulties."

"I think the most important thing is the early-game tempo issue. WBG collapsed too quickly in the early game last time, especially in a few key skirmishes; it was a bit of a landslide toward the end."

The commentary desk went through a round of analysis.

PYL was cautious with his words this time, still analyzing the potential advantages WBG might have on the red side due to "burning heroes" in the first game.

With a crisp sound, the draft panel appeared before everyone's eyes.

"Here we go! V5 is on the blue side, starting off by sending Ryze to the ban list."

"Hmm, it seems Ye might not like this hero, but it's actually quite reasonable. After all, no matter how strong Ryze is, his early-game combat power is still lacking, which doesn't quite fit the early-game aggression V5 employs!"

"But this global draft mode is going to be a bit of a brain-burner starting from the second game."

Global draft is like the coaching staff playing chess from a distance.

The reason WBG picked a seemingly strange lineup in the first game was clearly to prepare for this second game.

At this point, the variables were already multiplied several times over.

Any shift in the thinking of either coaching staff could lead to a different result.

First round of bans—

V5: Ryze, Poppy, Sejuani

WBG: Akali, Renata Glasc, Renekton

"Eh? WBG's strategy, they actually didn't continue to ban mid-laners?" Wawa asked in confusion, "I thought we'd see five mid-laners banned again this game."

"However, V5's intent is quite obvious; they are still targeting the jungle position. They must be following the logic from the last game!"

The commentary desk's understanding remained superficial.

But Danny had his own understanding of the global draft.

Could he not know the depth of the opposing mid-laner's hero pool?

If this were a best-of-five and a "loser's choice" format, then going all-out to burn mid-lane heroes would be reasonable.

After all, even if you only burned them until the third game, the mid-lane would likely have 8 options pressed out at the start.

Even if your hero pool is deep, there might not even be 8 meta-strong heroes to begin with!

But this was a best-of-three.

No matter how much they burned in the first game of a best-of-three, they could burn at most 3+3, which clearly wasn't enough.

And since 3 mid-laners had already been burned in the first round, it meant the mid-lane "food chain" had reset—this allowed Danny to avoid being "kidnapped by the draft" regarding mid-laners in the second round and shift the focus to other lanes to seize advantages.

"V5 first-picks Wukong; this is also one of the three strongest junglers in the current meta!"

"Wow, WBG doesn't seem to have many jungle choices left either; the situation isn't much better than V5's mid-lane."

V5's draft was also changed on the fly.

It was a fine-tuning made after hearing Karsa was swapped out, targeting Weiwei's specific strengths.

"Giving me a problem, huh," Danny frowned.

There were plenty of jungle heroes outside.

But with Vi and Viego burned, Sejuani and Poppy banned, and Wukong taken.

The remaining strong heroes were basically Lee Sin, Xin Zhao, Elise, and other aggressive junglers.

Functional junglers were almost down to just Maokai, and due to the S13 changes favoring the "AP sapling-tossing" playstyle, it wasn't considered too strong in the current meta.

No one had bothered to ban or pick it in the last game either.

And the red side's last two picks were very precious; if you didn't grab those meta heroes, the blue side could grab three meta heroes in return!

Wasting a spot on a sacrificial jungler... Danny felt it was a huge loss.

"Let's go with Jax and Syndra."

Danny made his decision, sticking to their original deployment for this game.

Jax and Syndra were both heroes that had been reworked recently, and both were strong, must-ban-or-pick choices in the current meta.

And here, Danny's deeper meaning was hidden.

Rookie's proficiency on Syndra went without saying.

The reason they grabbed Azir and Sylas last game was, in a sense, because both heroes were "good at handling" the new version of Syndra.

As mentioned before, Syndra had gone from an early-game hero to a scaling mid-to-late-game hero.

The game structure was similar to Azir.

Except Azir not only had longer range than Syndra during the laning phase, but also lacked the pressure of being weak early—and Azir was clearly stronger in the mid-to-late game!

As for Sylas, it was because that thing had such strong early-game fighting ability, wasn't easy to suppress in lane, and was also Ye Bo's signature.

And why was LeBlanc banned last game but not this one?

—Because LeBlanc's core damage skill, W, could be easily interrupted by Syndra's E at point-blank range!

LeBlanc didn't match up well against Syndra!

This was the chain reaction of the draft caused by the so-called "food chain reset," which could free up many ban slots that would otherwise be needed.

And if V5 first-picked Syndra.

Danny would immediately shift the draft focus to the top or bottom lane, picking Lissandra or Galio for Rookie, turning him into a purely functional roaming mid-laner to break the game open from the sidelines!

"Rookie's Syndra! The big ball from the 'two balls and a chicken' combo is here!"

"V5 counters by picking Maokai and Ashe; this must be Maokai top. Maokai seems perfectly capable of holding up against Jax; at least until Divine Sunderer is finished, there shouldn't be any pressure!"

"Ashe goes without saying; not only can she flex, but she's also Beryl's super signature!"

"The jungle really is running out of heroes; WBG picks Xin Zhao on the third rotation to supplement the early-game curve for the top and mid heroes!"

The first round of the draft for both sides didn't seem to show much of an advantage or disadvantage.

But entering the second round of bans, the clues began to show.

V5 not only had a matchup advantage in the top and jungle.

This Ashe pick showed even greater deterrent value for the draft!

Due to Ashe's flex potential, WBG couldn't confirm the opponent's position and had to worry about the immense pressure of Ashe combined with a strong laning AD, forcing them to make some potentially "wasted" bans.

The second round of bans, red side bans first.

"Red side bans Deft's Caitlyn first, blue side bans Sivir!"

"Red continues to target and bans Kalista, blue also continues to ban Zeri."

"Wait! How come there are almost no AD heroes left?"

Only then.

Did the commentary desk finally realize something.

"Burning, burning, burning! WBG is burning V5's mid-lane heroes, but V5 is actually silently burning jungle and bottom-lane heroes too!"

"The ones burned last game weren't just Varus and Aphelios; there was actually a Jhin too!"

"Good heavens, the global draft in the hands of strong teams is indeed a completely different experience; both sides seem to be setting traps for each other! Every step is a counter-move!"

In fact, when Danny saw that the opponent's first ban in the second round was also an AD, he had instantly reacted.

But, it was too late!

Because these two ban slots were actually an "open-hand conspiracy."

If they didn't ban Caitlyn or Kalista, the opponent would definitely take them, and combined with Ashe, they would have shameless lane priority.

But Gala couldn't play Caitlyn, and Kalista couldn't beat Ashe, so they couldn't grab them first in the second round!

They had no choice but to ban them!

But, the problem was, what happens after the ban?

The only strong ADs left that could still play the lane were Lucian, Xayah, and Draven.

Otherwise, they would have to go against the meta and pick Ezreal, Jinx, or Kai'Sa... heroes that would be "beaten to death" in lane!

If they picked such heroes, they might end up with no lane priority in all three lanes!

Danny seemed to already know what would happen next.

But, he just couldn't do anything about it.

"Xayah or Lucian, pick one, but you definitely won't be able to get the combo."

Logically speaking, Xayah would be a better choice when facing a dive-heavy team composition.

But Danny had already seen through it.

After four bans, this Ashe would only be the AD carry.

Whether it was the double engage of Ashe and Rakan, or the strong laning of Ashe and Nami, V5 would be very comfortable.

They would absolutely never be able to get the "Lu Na" or "Phoenix Legend" combinations—it could also be said that the bottom lane would definitely be at a laning disadvantage.

And if there were no combinations at all.

Looking at the individual heroes, Lucian was clearly stronger in lane; at least with a tanky support, he would have the ability to fight back.

Just as Danny had thought.

Sure enough, after V5 confidently picked Zoe for the mid lane, they snatched up Nami on the fifth pick, taking Ashe for the AD position and dismantling the combination.

Both sides confirmed their team compositions.

《Blue Side: V5 || Red Side: WBG》

【Top: Twisted Treant vs. Grandmaster at Arms】

【Jungle: Great Sage, Equal of Heaven vs. Demacia's Steward】

【Mid: Aspect of Twilight vs. Dark Sovereign】

【ADC: Frost Archer vs. Purifier】

【Support: Tidecaller vs. Titan of the Depths】

At first glance at the compositions, it seemed there wasn't much of a gap on paper between the two sides.

But Danny always felt.

That he had stepped into the opponent's trap once again.

Before leaving the stage, he was still giving his final instructions, telling everyone to "play freely."

Only then did he go to shake hands, his mind heavy with worries.

Approaching the player area, Danny watched Beryl, his good protégé, who was sitting in his chair, acting nonchalant, grinning, and muttering to himself; for a moment, he even felt a bit sentimental.

"Haven't seen you in a few months, have you grown this much?"

"Or is it..."

Thinking of this.

His gaze couldn't help but leap over the two of them, looking at the person in the middle, the one with an excited expression whose mouth was moving even faster.

Ye Bo was indeed very excited.

Because this was also his first time picking her after communicating with "Zoe."

(End of this chapter)