Chapter 234

The 13.5 version used for the playoffs and the 13.8 version used for MSI have a time gap of three whole versions.

The overall situation can be described as another earth-shaking change.

And the teams from various regions preparing to head to London to compete also immediately started intense preparations after the 13.8 version update, which went live on April 19th along with the championship skins.

"It seems the environment of this version has indeed changed a lot..."

Ye Bo and his teammates finish training and conduct a review discussion.

"Fortunately, this new hero can't appear; this determines that the changes in the bot lane won't be too big."

The new hero 【Milio】 was unable to appear because he didn't make it in time for the playoffs and was defaulted to disabled.

This point can definitely be considered a major burden-reliever for all teams heading to MSI!

Anyone who understands this hero knows very clearly—his appearance will subvert the ecology of the bot lane, and might even subvert the game of composition chess!

The core reason lies in his heaven-defying ultimate, which can apply a Quicksilver effect to all friendly units within a huge range nearby.

The combined effect of {group cleanse of all crowd control} + {group 65% tenacity} + {group health restoration} is like helping all teammates become clean and pure, making it difficult to be hard-CC'd!

The power of this skill can easily neutralize certain heroes 1-on-1—imagine Amumu R-flashing into a crowd to stun five people, and Milio counter-casting an ultimate to instantly cleanse everyone!

Or, for example, the "Full-CC" system V5 once used with Cho'Gath in the bot lane would immediately be in trouble if they encountered this hero!

And Milio's Q skill, like Thresh's E, can interrupt displacement, W can increase {attack range}, and E combined with the passive can create {damage increase + shield}.

Simply worthy of being called the new king of enchanter supports!

It can be anticipated that in the hard-support environment that had already formed a dominant trend in the Spring Split, this hero has the potential to reverse the environment single-handedly.

"So who on earth gave this thing its nickname..." Flandre can't help but raise the corners of his mouth whenever he thinks of the nickname for this hero he recently saw.

Beryl, hearing this, subconsciously blurts out a standard-to-the-point-of-absurdity: "Cheese Snow Leopard!"

Xun, with even more tacit understanding, immediately follows up with: "Snow Leopard, shut up!"

Ye Bo is also a bit unable to hold back from these two.

However, Deft, who rarely surfs the internet, is full of question marks and doesn't understand what these people are talking about at all...

Everyone reclines their gaming chairs and continues chatting about the training insights they just had.

"Then this version really feels like Xun's version," Ye Bo tilts his head slightly and says: "Keep it up, Xun, play well at MSI, maybe you'll have a chance to compete for a spot in the Asian Games."

"Mm-hmm!" Xun nods very solemnly: "Yesterday, Chuan and I practiced together all night, I told you I was right!"

In these three versions from 13.6 to 13.8, the jungle position has the biggest ecological change.

Almost all the strong jungle heroes from the Spring Split have been nerfed, including Vi, Wukong, Sejuani, Maokai, Lee Sin, Viego...

And at the same time, "jungle carry heroes" including Nidalee, Kha'Zix, Kindred, Lillia, Talon, etc., have been buffed!

The benefits of V5 having two junglers are highlighted.

Although the two are in a competitive relationship, they have known each other for many years and have a deep personal friendship; the two haven't practiced and communicated less than usual, which can be considered a process of learning from each other.

The jungle position is the most fragmented compared to the other four positions.

Just like someone playing mid, they can likely understand top—the vast majority of supports or ADs can likely understand the other position in the bot lane.

These four positions are all interconnected.

Only the jungle has no laning time, and both the thought process and content are completely different from the other four positions.

Ye Bo and Beryl, these two brains, although they can often provide some help with overall situation, vision, operation, and tactical command, it is clearly still somewhat difficult to say how deep their research into this position is.

It just so happens that Xun and Beichuan have very similar playstyles; both like offensive playstyles based on individual operation.

Flandre agrees, but then thinks: "But come to think of it, it seems this is also Kanavi's version! JDG should also be quite strong in this version."

"Does it feel like this version is beneficial to our region?"

"Can't draw a conclusion yet, but at least, the mid lane is quite uncomfortable..." Beryl doesn't particularly agree.

The jungle has gained the version dividend, but the mid lane has been precisely hit.

Sylas has had some stats nerfed, Aurelion Sol has been nerfed twice, K'Sante has been nerfed again, and even Akshan has been hit once...

However, Ye Bo doesn't feel this is "targeting" him.

Because Akali wasn't nerfed!

And these heroes are indeed strong heroes in the version; except for Akshan, who has to have some directional focus, the others can only be said to be normal version balancing.

And for Ye Bo, this version has an unexpected "challenge".

Or rather, a "surprise".

Neeko!

CT, who is responsible for the Neeko update project, had a burst of inspiration and completed the work two versions ahead of schedule, successfully going live one version before MSI!

And because this time Neeko is only considered a "small-to-medium update"—strictly speaking, only the passive skill was changed, QWER are almost the same, only some stats were adjusted.

Therefore, the designer announcement clearly stated.

The new version of Neeko can appear at this MSI!

There have been precedents for this kind of measure—for example, in the version before the S11 World Championship, Lucian's passive skill and stats were reworked, which didn't affect Lucian from appearing on the World Championship stage as an "updated hero".

The reason is that designers believe this level of update didn't change the "core gameplay" of this hero, unlike the completely subversive changes of Udyr and Aurelion Sol.

It's just that they didn't expect that Lucian would be developed by players into the "Lu-Na" system one week before the S11 World Championship started, and eventually shine brightly at the S11 World Championship!

And this time, no one knows if Neeko will once again...

However, regarding this point.

There is another voice on the internet at home and abroad: "The designer must have seen Ye's interview!"

In the post-match interview of the game where Ye Bo picked Neeko against BLG in the semi-finals, he specifically mentioned "I really hope to see Neeko before MSI".

Finishing the training game review.

Ye Bo yawns and goes to a video website to browse around comfortably.

And the push on the Bilibili homepage is: "V-speak V-words—Great V Dragon Spring Split Microphone Highlights Review!"

Looking closely, it had only been released for two days, and the video view count had already broken the million mark!

V5, having just won the Silver Dragon Cup, can only be described as being at the height of their popularity; their popularity in the LPL region has already surpassed several traffic-heavy teams, especially on the eve of preparing to set off for MSI, which is when their reputation is best!

Ye Bo just clicks on the video and sees colorful bullet comments filling the interface.

Most of them are celebrating V5 winning the Spring Championship, while also spamming "MSI charge!" bullet comments.

And as his own match voice from that time comes through in the video, Ye Bo can immediately recall the approximate time point without needing post-editing labels.

The first to start are the early fragments of V5's Spring Split.

Beryl's Chinese wasn't that fluent at the time, and his speech in the voice chat was still stumbling.

"Xun, uh, that, next wave I go there!"

"Huh??"

"Xun, I think God Beryl means for you to follow him to the top half to camp the opponent~"

"Flandre! Can you do that thing! Just that thing, that thing, that thing!"

"What??"

"Flandre, I think God Beryl wants you to TP to that ward behind! We can flank this wave! I'm there too!"

【Holy crap, so Master Ye is the translator!? I thought it was Alpaca translating】

【Alpaca would like to translate... the problem is that what the God Beryl says isn't Korean either!】

【Don't even talk about Alpaca, I'm a pure native speaker and I don't understand what "that thing, that thing, that thing" is either!】

【Fortunately, Beryl's Chinese is getting better now, otherwise with this verbal tic situation, he's about to go to Europe and America, it would be like Da Zhangwei going to a botanical garden to hold a tour!】

【You don't understand, it's actually that only these two brains that can match brainwaves can complete communication!】

【Suspected Equilibrium Sect linking to the World Tree Void Terminal, my sect leader and the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata conducting forbidden knowledge exchange, precious video data leaked...】

Seeing the review of these few fragments, the bullet comment audience suddenly realizes.

So, in the early stage of the team's integration, the real "lubricant" was actually the mid laner!

Come to think of it, the reason Ye Bo can understand is also very simple—because many times, the two of them "thought of the same thing".

Ye Bo doesn't even need to put himself in the other person's perspective; he just feels that he would make the same decision, and then combined with some signals from the other person on the map, he can naturally complete the "translation" easily.

The microphone video is very long, but it doesn't seem dragged out, and the bullet comments are high-energy throughout.

The real-time communication behind the brilliant performance in every team fight allows one to deeply understand the players' state of mind and thoughts at the time, which is also a different kind of novel experience for the audience.

And in the voice chat, every player also shows their special side.

For example, every time Xun pulls off a brilliant operation, he will immediately shout in the voice chat to claim credit: "Brothers, look at how cool I am!"

Because the team atmosphere is sufficiently harmonious and comfortable, Xun, as a player with no seniority, can still fully release his nature within the team.

The post-editing genius even specially spliced the team's responses from various fragments together.

However, because there is a genuine "operation monster" in this V5 team...

The final video effect presented is: one can clearly see the whole process of everyone going from initial excitement and agitation to later perfunctory and echoing...

And Deft, who has no emotion throughout, but is always the first to respond the fastest, as if he were a robot customer service keyword {auto-reply}: "So cool, so cool".

The program effect is maxed out!

The bullet comments are full of laughter.

But the most effective one is still the fragment of the pentakill Akali in the semi-finals.

In the chaotic voice environment, Xun's shout of "Don't K!!!!" made the audience spirited.

Besides that.

From the voice chat, it can actually be seen that although V5 is incredibly harmonious within the team—there is definitely only one true team core!

In the scattered fragments, it is almost everywhere:

"Master Ye, there's a wave in the top lane."

"Master Ye, the jungle camp is alive, eat, eat, eat."

"Master Ye! Take the cat and run!"

"Flandre, R now!! Master Ye is going to die!!!"

Among them, Xun's shouting can be said to be the most genuine, making the bullet comments unable to help but tease 【Filial piety is the most important】.

Ye Bo happily shares the video to the V5 group chat.

And when the person involved, little Xun, finishes watching, he is clearly still extremely proud, sending an "arms akimbo" emoji.

April 28th.

The V5 members board the flight to London.

The tickets provided by the official are economy class again, fortunately, He Youjun is not stingy and pays for the upgrade for several people at the club's expense.

The 12-hour flight, although shorter than the trip to Iceland last year, is also a quite painful journey.

MSI actually doesn't officially start until May 2nd, and until May 7th, it is the play-in stage—the overall process is highly aligned with the World Championship process.

And as the number one seed, V5 will go straight to the "Bracket Stage", and won't have their first match until May 9th, so the time is actually quite ample.

The reason for setting off so early.

Besides needing to shoot pre-match promotional videos later, it is also so that everyone can adjust their jet lag in advance and maintain their best state.

And thanks to the LPL region being the championship region of the previous year.

The number two seed, JDG, will also go straight to the bracket stage!

By comparison, LCK's number two seed, T1, can only go to the play-in stage, competing with the number two seeds from the European and American regions, as well as teams from the wildcard, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian regions for a chance to enter the group stage...

Of course.

The result is definitely without suspense.

Riot went to great lengths to create a double-elimination Swiss system, and the play-in stage was played for a whole week, with the goal of giving wildcard regions more opportunities and wanting to increase the gold content.

But facts have proven that the four major regions are still a tier higher.

There were no upsets, and the wildcards were wiped out!

T1, G2, and GG entered the top eight group stage.

And immediately following that is the group stage draw session that "determines fate".

It is still the "seed pool" mechanism.

In the number one seed pool, there are V5, Gen. G, European number one G2, and North American champion C9.

It is worth mentioning.

This year, I don't know if it's because of the first reform or out of experimental considerations—the "regional isolation" mechanism was not adopted.

And today, the guest responsible for the draw, Perkz, although he seems to walk onto the stage laughing and joking, when everyone looks at him, they inexplicably have a feeling of "finding joy in sorrow"...

This person definitely has a bit of a cursed constitution.

The year before last, S11, after he left G2, G2 took off immediately the next year and re-entered the World Championship in S12.

Last year, S12, after he left C9, C9 also took off immediately this year, entering MSI as the North American number one.

Now he can only be unemployed at home, paying tribute to a certain champion mid laner.

Perkz first draws V5 from the number one pool and places it at the very top of the upper bracket.

Immediately after, he continues to draw from the number one pool, needing to first place the four number one seeds into the upper and lower two brackets.

"Do something, Perkz!"

Flandre rubs his palms somewhat nervously.

"Oh~ don't be so nervous, Flandre~" Xun is all relaxed: "There's no pressure in this number one pool at all, let's be nervous when we get to the number two pool~"

"And you say, we have three people who are participating in MSI for the first time, this kind of draw should have a beginner protection mechanism... you're right, God Beryl!"

V5's top, mid, and jungle are all participating in MSI for the first time.

The bot lane duo has quite a lot of experience.

However, Beryl is muttering at this moment: "That's hard to say, usually the system identifies 'big spenders' and will mess with people; my new account missed seven small guarantees in a row..."

Ye Bo stares intently at the other number one seed opponent in his bracket.

And Perkz continues to fiddle with the number one pool, takes out a colored ball, and immediately reveals a strange smile after uncovering it...

He turns the banner of the colored ball in his hand toward the camera.

It is clearly Gen. G!

(End of chapter)