Chapter 220: 《The Grudge of a Defeat》! Unexpected Achievement Reward!

The moment the Nexus exploded.

A figure on the player stage stood up uncontrollably, face flushed, holding their small fists high as if cosplaying the guest on stage!

The cheers erupting from the audience were deafening, quickly flooding into the headphones where the white noise had dissipated.

"Master Ye is so happy this game!" Guan Zeyuan shouted, his own emotions still running high.

"He's secured the first pentakill of his professional career, while leading his team to take a crucial game and reaching match point in the winner's bracket semifinals!"

Remember joked: "What he should be even happier about is finally getting to play his signature hero, right? Throughout the entire Spring Split, aside from that one time it was let through against Xiaonaiyou, Akali has been almost permanently locked away in the opponent's ban slots."

"This is the passion of a signature-hero specialist; other heroes are work, but Akali is life~"

"And this game was truly too overwhelming; Akali was like a god of war from another world. BLG lost even more hopelessly than in the first game."

【Hatred! It's pure hatred! Win one game, and I'll make you pay with ten deaths!】

【Alright brothers, say goodbye to Akali in your next life. Let's see who dares to let Akali through again.】

【So why was BLG able to win a game in the regular season? They feel completely inferior to our Jingdong!】

【You don't get it, do you? If they didn't win one game, how could my Brother Bin be beaten into a turtle shell so easily? Look, isn't the fun starting now~】

【It really is! Brother Bin is a big liar! He promised to teach Master Ye how to play Jax and K'Sante, so how did he get crushed for two games!】

【Don't be malicious; Brother Bin vividly taught us how to switch these two heroes into 'Spinning Top Form' these past two games. I ask you, could he have learned that if Ye didn't come!】

On the commentary desk, only Uzi remained silent.

He was trying hard to recall some sad things, wanting to keep his facial expression in check.

Now Uzi finally understood why Wushang had that expression when he was at the commentary desk during the S8 match against G2.

It really is hard to keep a straight face!

The director even provided a shot of the player stage, where Yagao's dejected look was particularly prominent.

On the other side of the player stage, the laughter and joy of the five teammates seemed to be overflowing from the screen.

"Awesome!" Xun leaned over enthusiastically to help him knead his shoulders: "That pentakill was just too cool!"

"Thinking back to how many pentakills Master Ye had stolen from him last year, he finally got one this year," Holy Gun Brother teased with a grin: "Speaking of which, we really have a connection."

Several times last year while at EDG, he had quadrakills, only to fall short at the final step.

Either a teammate accidentally took the kill, the opponent luckily escaped, or he couldn't chain it in time.

Getting a pentakill in a chaotic team fight really requires the right time, place, and people, because most of the time it's impossible to even consider holding back to give away a kill!

Just looking at Ye Bo's performance on stage, among his commonly used heroes there are so many that are relatively easy to get pentakills with, yet he only succeeded in getting his first one today, which shows how rare it is!

The excited Ye Bo listened to his brothers' praise and generously struck a pose with his hands on his hips, showing off.

"Hey, as expected of me!"

Ye Bo was indeed very happy.

Although in his tens of thousands of Akali matches, thanks to the hero's reaping ability, the number of pentakills wasn't small, but the professional stage is clearly a different concept!

The first time is always the most memorable.

Just like most players find it hard to remember how many pentakills they've had—but if you ask them who their "first pentakill" was, many can blurt it out!

And for his first professional career pentakill record to be taken by his favorite hero, Ye Bo felt it was the most perfect result!

Furthermore.

The prompt box that suddenly popped up before his eyes showed that the surprise was not just one-fold.

【Achievement Unlocked: 'Pentakill Ascent'!】

【Achievement Description: As the most elusive achievement in the Canyon, for a hero who successfully completes a pentakill in a professional match, mastery will be increased to Level 7!】

【Note: If the hero has already reached this level, it will be converted into a random 'Pentakill Series' skin hero (prioritizing heroes within that match).】

Ye Bo hadn't paid too much attention to the first sentence.

Although it seemed very nice, based on his own experience with the difficulty of pentakills, this is indeed something that can be met but not sought.

But the latter part piqued his interest.

With Ye Bo's love and knowledge of skins, he quickly recalled the Pentakill series skins, as well as the ten heroes from the previous match... and quickly thought of a target!

As expected.

On the way back to the backstage, Ye Bo checked the hero gallery—and saw that the previously gray 'Viego' avatar had now turned gold!

Although Viego mid doesn't seem to have much of a meta presence right now.

But since it was an unexpected gain for free, the sense of fulfillment still made Ye Bo quite happy.

"Aiya, what a pity, what a pity," BeryL was the only one among them sighing.

"The latter part of this game had no reference value at all; we hadn't even tested our lineup, and the opponents basically gave up resistance!"

"Master Ye, in the future when we practice lineups, we can't pick Akali anymore!"

The V5 lineup this game actually had a brand new system.

It was just obvious that under those circumstances, the tactical aspects couldn't be tested for effect at all.

And since it couldn't be picked again in the next game due to Global BP, they would just have to find another opportunity later.

Ye Bo made a shrug gesture: "I guess it'll be a long time before I can play Akali again."

Deft, on the other side, had a rather peculiar focus.

He rarely asked with such curiosity: "That wave, why were you able to fly like that?"

Deft had an Akali master on his team last year, so logically, he had seen more strange operations than the average person.

But even for his own teammates, seeing that wave actually left them completely bewildered.

"That one?"

On the commentary desk.

The director was also providing highlights and MVP selection.

And in the highlight replay, the bizarre operation that had just attracted everyone's attention due to the pentakill was instantly being discussed heatedly.

"I still can't understand this E even after watching it again!"

"E-flashing outside the dragon pit wall, and then the E retreated and vaulted over two walls! That's at least a 1500-yard outrageous retreat distance! The displacement range of this E was expanded by at least three times the normal situation!"

"This must be another creative operation newly developed by Master Ye, right? No one has ever seen this!"

"I think the specific principle can only wait for him to teach everyone himself."

An operation logic that completely exceeded cognition.

Even when the director pressed for a super slow-motion replay, it was completely baffling.

It was only because it was Ye Bo who used it, and there had been many similar outrageous operations before, that everyone was a bit accustomed to it and didn't think it was a bug.

In fact, it really wasn't a bug.

And the MVP was clearly without any controversy.

"The MVP is undoubtedly taken by the pentakill Akali, by unanimous vote!"

The data man Guan Zeyuan started showing off the information he had just looked up on Baidu under the table.

"Does everyone know who the last player to get a pentakill with Akali in the LPL was... It turns out it was Holy Gun Brother!"

"This is fate; ever since the new Akali rework, the only two Akali pentakill players in the LPL region are now on the same team!"

Uzi on the other side felt more and more familiar: "Pentakill Akali..."

Guan Zeyuan chuckled: "Ah! Familiar, right, Little Dog? Holy Gun Brother got that pentakill right in front of you, in the 2019 Summer Split!"

Holy Gun Brother only had two pentakills in his 9-year career: one was Jace in an NEST match when he first debuted, and the other was Akali in 2019.

Uzi finally had his memory awakened, his little face turning slightly green.

It was normal not to remember.

After all, who would want to remember being pentakilled by someone!

"Then let's take a short break and wait for the third crucial match-point battle!"

BLG backstage.

Chen Zebin was trimming his nails with his teeth, his expression changing drastically from the pre-match promotional video and his entrance, as if he were thinking about something.

Maybe he was thinking about what to post on Weibo after the match.

And Yagao was like a Leaning Tower of Pisa, half-slumped powerlessly in his gaming chair.

The other three were also silent, each bowing their heads in quiet.

Tabe tried to awaken their fighting spirit, wanting to embody Kenbe: "Think about it, we have beaten them before! This proves that our overall strength is not weaker than theirs!"

"Everyone must believe in themselves!"

"And taking a step back, this game is just the winner's bracket final, it's not like we're eliminated if we lose, right? At worst, we go to the loser's bracket final and fight our way back!"

"Play with your hands and feet untied; anyway, there's no hero anxiety for the third game. This game, let's all take our most proficient heroes!"

"Isn't it just signature heroes? Our signature heroes are no worse than theirs!"

During the short break.

Most of Tabe's energy was focused on encouraging the players.

If BLG had one biggest "shortcoming," it might be the mental adjustment of several players.

For example, the top, jungle, and support all had some problems when facing adversity.

Some were too eager to prove themselves, some didn't want to take the blame and simply learned to hide, and some went straight to red-faced autism.

And before this.

Mid-laner Yagao would generally act as the big brother figure, serving as the key man to regulate the atmosphere at such moments.

The most classic ones were "Do you think you'll have such teammates next year?" and "Is this performance worthy of your salary and your teammates?"

Often, one sentence would wake up the dreamer, fiercely whipping and educating the players, and it actually had quite a significant effect!

But now.

Yagao, perhaps, is the one who most needs someone to give him a wake-up call!

In the first game, it was a complete blowout in terms of positional counter-play.

In the second game, it was an even greater positional blowout under the circumstances of a massive counter-pick.

Fortunately, the traits of the Pingxiang Duo are not shared; Yagao's ability to regulate his mentality is still very strong, and he won't be "scared" by one miserable match to the point of not daring to fight back.

Until the referee announced the start of the match.

The members of BLG walked onto the stage with somber faces, looking as if they had recovered their classic, determined expressions.

The pick-and-ban panel appeared, and the audience erupted into a clamor!

The fans hoped their home team could regroup and pull off a satisfying reverse sweep, screaming with all their might toward the stage.

Unfortunately, they were quickly drowned out by the overwhelming momentum of the V5 fans.

The V5 fans only wanted their home team to finish the fight quickly and not give BLG any chance to strike back!

To ruthlessly avenge the "grudge of one defeat" from the regular season!

"We've arrived at the third game, the match point! Both sides are entering a contest of champion pool depth!"

"We can see BLG is still heavily targeting the mid lane! Choosing to ban three mid laners, banning Aurelion Sol, LeBlanc, and Sylas—this is certainly the best response to the mid lane performance of the first two games!"

"And V5's bans haven't changed much; they just gave a ban to Vi and let Sejuani through."

V5 continued to carry out their strategy; there was no reason to change their pick-and-ban after successfully practicing it for two games, only minor adjustments were needed.

As for BLG, they occupied too much time during the break comforting their players.

Coupled with the crushing defeat of the second game, even Tabe, the coach sitting backstage, was somewhat affected.

He only felt that the opponent's "tactical reserve pool" was truly a bit too terrifying!

Simply put, BLG didn't want to try any radical changes.

They would just stick to what they prepared before the match, wanting to "replicate" the success they had in that regular season game.

And as for the selection of other champions, they would leave no regrets!

"BLG first-picks Zoe, Brother Yagao's Zoe!"

"Perhaps everyone's impression of Zoe is Master Ye's various high-energy moments and the skin belonging to the junior."

"But in reality, Yagao's Zoe pick count is number one among all LPL players! This is definitely his trump card champion!"

"V5 counters by grabbing Renekton and Kindred. BLG immediately takes Sejuani and Camille!"

"It can be seen that the pick-and-ban strategy for both sides in the third game has shifted to 'signature champion priority,' just like Camille and Zoe, which are actually not very strong champions in this meta!"

With the global pick-and-ban format as it is now, actually, only these few playoff games are best-of-fives.

Everyone has very little practical experience.

Including V5, almost all teams have the same understanding of the later pick-and-ban phases: since there are plenty of bans, try to take the champions the players are most proficient with.

————After all, with 10+10+10 champions burned, there isn't much of a power gap between the meta-defining monsters!

Besides that, Tabe was also very clear.

His team's morale was a bit low at the moment, and perhaps only by trusting the players' signature champions could they possibly turn the situation around!

V5 picks Caitlyn on the third floor; it can be said that both sides' current boards are "signature champion duels."

Entering the second round of pick-and-ban.

BLG did not go to ban mid laners again.

Because the remaining mainstream mid laners outside are Ryze, Azir, Kassadin, Syndra, and Orianna.

Although under the ID of Ye, it seems these champions have all had brilliant performances, BLG just wanted to let him pick these; this was also the ultimate foreshadowing purpose of the three games of pick-and-ban.

"The red side chooses Bard first on the fourth floor; Caitlyn and Bard are also the signature duo for V5's bottom lane!"

"Because the bottom lane was targeted in the second round of bans, there weren't many options left. BLG finally picked Ezreal + Rakan, both of which are champions Elk and On use often!"

"Now it's just a matter of seeing what Master Ye will pick to play against Zoe. He must be incredibly familiar with this matchup, but BLG has done their best to lock down the mid lane; it feels like only a few mage carries are left..."

But by comparison.

V5's mid lane seems to have something novel again.

"Huh? Neeko!?"

"Locked in! Neeko! Master Ye has another strange trick!"

Both lineups confirmed————

《Blue Side: BLG vs Red Side: V5》

【Top: Camille vs Renekton】

【Jungle: Sejuani vs Kindred】

【Mid: Zoe vs Neeko】

【ADC: Ezreal vs Caitlyn】

【Support: Rakan vs Bard】

"After two years! Mid lane Neeko appears on the competitive stage once again!"

"And I heard Neeko's rework is coming soon... wait, wasn't it the same for Aurelion Sol last time? Why does it feel like Master Ye just wants to give these champions a 'last chance' to appear!"

Ye Bo picking Neeko was clearly not a whim.

Like Aurelion Sol, Riot has already announced and confirmed that Neeko will be reworked in future patches, it's just not yet certain which patch it will go live on.

And the off-season between the playoffs and MSI will have 4-5 patch updates.

This means it is very likely that the patch Neeko goes live on will be during the off-season when there are no matches to play, which would make it impossible to complete the inheritance requirement for "Echo of Glory."

Of course.

Ye Bo would never risk the team's victory just to "farm rewards."

Although the V5 players are not yet at the point where they have a "grudge of one defeat" against BLG like the fans do.

But clearly, none of them want any unexpected trouble to arise!

(End of chapter)