Chapter 238: A Must-Win Rematch from the Past! Sharp Blades Clash!

"Opening blood, blue side broken!" The three on the LPL commentary desk were all smiles: "Congratulations to V5 for securing the first opening victory of MSI!"

Jide said with great passion: "Although they haven't stepped onto the stage in a month, the competitive form of the entire V5 squad is incredibly reassuring; they are red-hot and haven't been affected at all! Their performance is exactly the same as it was in the Spring Split!"

Guan Zeyuan nodded as if it were a serious matter: "Especially the mid-lane Nautilus. According to the intel I have, neither the Chinese nor Korean regions had paid much attention to this hero before. This means the players must have practiced it just in the last few days!"

"I can only say, it's fortunate that we have Global Draft now, otherwise I believe this mid-lane Nautilus would definitely have become a focal point for subsequent bans!"

"This is only the first game of MSI, yet Master Ye can already be said to have personally carved out a ban slot for the team's future matches!"

Rita exclaimed with a touch of exaggeration: "To be honest, Master Ye's Nautilus is in a completely different style from everyone else's; it seems unlike anyone else's at all!"

The livestream chat, already feeling excited, was now in a heated frenzy.

【The way they say that, which of his heroes is in the same style as anyone else's?】

【Pure passerby here, if this mid-laner can play a "pig-nosed" hero like Nautilus like this, wouldn't he just take flight if he played something like LeBlanc or Akali?】

【Ye: Because they won't let me play Akali, I'm forced to play every hero as if they were Akali.】

【Reposted from Big B's stream: "Ma! Ya! I told you the streamer was right! Look, look, look, even Ye is playing it!"】

【Stop with the "soul returning" talk; the relationship between that Nautilus and this Nautilus is probably just like the relationship between me and Master Ye—we are both human!】

【It really is, one is a Deep Sea LeBlanc! And the other is a Deep Sea LeBlanc, right?】

Compared to the frenzied chat, the LPL commentary desk still gave the screen time to Jinx, who was supposed to be the "protagonist" of this match.

"Excluding the Demacia Cup, NEST, and other secondary leagues, the only two pentakills in Deft's ten-year career were both achieved during his time at EDG!" Guan Zeyuan synchronized the producer's information.

"They were the S5 Spring Split against LGD using Sivir, and the S6 Spring Split also against LGD using Jinx, but he hasn't gained anything since then..."

"After seven years, and still in the spring, Deft has finally secured the third pentakill of his career after returning to the LPL, and it's on Jinx again!"

In his two years in the LPL, Deft happened to get two pentakills, but in the six years he returned to the LCK afterward, he was unable to get another one.

Now, in his third year back in the LPL, he has just happened to get his third pentakill; one has to marvel at the wonders of fate.

And compared to the excited and agitated LPL commentators and audience.

The LCK commentary desk next door watched helplessly as the T1 base collapsed into fragments, their hearts seemingly dripping blood.

"Congratulations to V5, I suppose," despite having no other choice, the Roaring Emperor could only be the first to offer congratulations.

"It's such a pity for this game; actually, it felt like T1's team composition rhythm had completely stabilized. If not for that pentakill in the team fight, it was entirely possible to drag it to a late-game showdown..."

After Bang finished his feigned objective evaluation, he deliberately added one more point to "demonstrate" his objectivity: "However, one has to admit that Min-hyeong's performance this game was completely overshadowed by Deft; the difference in experience between the two in team fights is quite significant."

Wolf, sitting next to him, also chimed in: "I feel like Min-seok's performance this game wasn't very good either; he was suppressed by Beryl quite noticeably."

But clearly, all three were deliberately avoiding one issue.

The mid-laner!

The two on the commentary desk were both die-hard Faker fans. Although they couldn't stand behind him like their old teammate Bengi, they would subconsciously avoid the mid-lane issue.

But the viewers who could truly remain objective could very clearly see.

The real, obvious gap displayed by both sides in this game was the mid-laner!

Whether it was in terms of team rhythm support, roaming while ahead, or team fighting while behind, the impact of Nautilus was significantly greater than that of K'Sante.

The LCK livestream chat was arguing incessantly.

【Don't be so biased, commentary desk! What does this game have to do with our Min-hyeong-hee? It was clearly the mid-laner making reckless engages! The ADC is just picking up kills everywhere, who wouldn't be able to play like that?】

【As expected of the second seed that was crushed by our invincible GEN.】

【The other side just got lucky in the first game, T1 hasn't warmed up yet. Just wait for Faker-nim to teach this Ye a lesson next game!】

【Although I hate V5, this Nautilus is actually a bit cool... Oh well, it's normal for the second seed to lose to the first seed~~】

【Don't even start, who said the second seed would be beaten like this? Do you believe that JDG in the bottom half of the bracket would never be beaten like this by GEN? T1 is just a shameful team right now!】

【Sibal!! Anyone who doesn't support T1 is a traitor!!!】

Although T1 was only the second seed, it had a unique distinctiveness within the LCK region, and one could even say that in the eyes of many, it was a team with "faith."

Even though V5 came on strong before the match and was rumored to have set multiple season records in the LPL, a considerable portion of people simply did not believe T1 would lose.

And even with such a swift and crushing defeat, everyone attributed the cause to Jinx "getting lucky" and picking up a pentakill, which caused the equipment gap to widen to the point of being unplayable.

Even the members of T1 themselves felt the same way.

In all fairness, although there was indeed a very obvious disadvantage earlier, it was that team fight that truly pushed the match into a state where they could find almost no opportunities.

And if one does not look at it from a "results-oriented" perspective.

In that team fight, T1 could even be said to have found a fairly good opportunity; if not for Nautilus, they really could have killed Jinx, and the result would definitely have been very different!

"We are still on the blue side this game," Bengi was comforting his players.

"With Global Draft, we can already forget about the last game; we aren't at any disadvantage."

Although it had been implemented for half a year, Global Draft was undoubtedly still something brand new for everyone, and each team had its own interpretation.

And this understanding was clearly correct.

The biggest difference between Global Draft and the traditional format is actually that no matter how strong something was in the previous game, you don't need to spend any brainpower thinking about how to break it in the next game.

If it were the traditional format, and the 【Nautilus vs. K'Sante】 matchup had produced such an effect in the previous game, they would inevitably have to compete for that position in the second game.

Either squeeze out a ban slot to release other things, or go and fight for Nautilus themselves.

But Faker's proficiency with Nautilus was clearly not as high as his opponent's—and it just so happened that the opposing mid-laner's proficiency with K'Sante was even higher than theirs!

If they fought for Nautilus, they would very likely perform like the European and American teams did a few days ago.

It could be said that if this were the traditional format... this one point alone would have already cost T1 half their life!

It would directly become an unsolvable draft death trap!

However, with Global Draft, no matter how strong you are, it's only for this one game; the next game is a brand new and completely different draft environment.

"I feel like their jungler's strength isn't as good as mine, nor is it as good as last year's."

Oner seemed to have some thoughts as he said this.

He leaned back in his gaming chair with his fists clenched, craving a fight: "Actually, if we jump out of the meta, our mid-jungle fighting system with Sang-hyeok-hyung is still okay. As long as it's not a disadvantageous matchup like the last game, we won't fall behind."

"Compared to last year, their rhythm point is still in the mid-jungle, for example, if the ban slots don't change... Oh! Anyway, what I mean is, is it necessary for us to strictly follow the meta?"

Oner originally wanted to provide a "long-winded" analysis, but unfortunately, his brain's protein powder reserves were running low.

After stalling for a long time, he simply gave up and started with an "Oh" to throw out the conclusion.

Bengi was clearly surprised to see Oner, who was usually not good at thinking, come up with such a long segment.

However, although it was a mess, if you analyzed it carefully, it actually seemed to make some sense!

The MSI meta trend was the dual-core of ADC and jungle.

Mid-lane heroes were basically various types of utility heroes.

Current draft data showed that the top five most-picked mid-lane heroes were: Ahri, Annie, Lissandra, K'Sante, and Nautilus.

Among them, besides Ahri, which signified "absolute laning rights," the remaining four were also utility kings with "combat capability"!

In the last game, T1 banned Annie, whom Faker wasn't very good at, while V5 banned Ahri, whom Faker was very good at.

And coming to the second game, with fewer options available, the team composition construction seemed to be more variable—anyway, it was hard for them to construct a perfect "meta composition" again.

Faker nodded slightly after listening: "I have no objections."

Gumayusi immediately shouted even louder: "I have no objections either! Pick us a strong laning combination for the bot lane; we can really have an advantage in the bot lane laning phase!"

As soon as he thought about Deft getting a pentakill over his head in the last game, Gumayusi gritted his teeth, feeling extremely unhappy!

He hated Deft!

On one hand, as a die-hard warrior of the T1 club, he looked down on all Korean ADC players who hadn't been in T1, even if they were blocked from the semifinals by DRX last year, he still refused to accept it.

Gumayusi was the type of person who would rather die in T1 even if he had to sit on the bench!

Just like how he had always firmly believed that the best ADC would always be his senior, Bang!

And as Deft was defined as an "opponent" in Faker's promotional video last year, it was understandable for him to adopt the perspective of his great uncle Faker and have a slightly "enemy-oriented" mentality.

On the other hand, the most important thing was... Sibal, why is he the person my support can't forget in his heart!

This was a battle of dignity between the "ex and the current"!

He absolutely could not suffer two crushing defeats in a row!

"Actually, should we consider picking a laning hero for the top lane?" Keria, with his small frame, hugged his legs and rocked in his gaming chair, not noticing the change in his ADC's mentality.

"I feel like we should actually have an advantage in the top lane laning phase too; Woo-je played it last year."

What outsiders didn't know was.

In fact, Keria was the core of T1's draft, and many key drafts were formulated by him, very similar to Beryl during the DRX period.

It's just that Keria's personality was very different from Beryl's. Just like his appearance, he was small and spoke in a soft voice, far less tough and persistent than Beryl.

"If we want to play a strong mid-jungle plus a strong bot lane combination, the top lane draft will inevitably have to sacrifice a little... Let's see when we get to the draft stage!" Bengi didn't veto it either.

Zeus, on the far side, didn't express any opinion throughout the whole process.

In fact, from the fact that his teammates would subconsciously mention "last year" from time to time, it wasn't hard to see—last year's S12 was a significant blow to their entire team.

A crushing defeat to EDG in the group stage, and a narrow loss to DRX in the semifinals.

And Zeus was precisely considered by many to be the "culprit"!

Especially coming into this year's S13.

Zeus was still being beaten up and having "episodes" by Doran in the Spring regular season and Spring finals; the result of T1 being the second seed was absolutely inseparable from him.

This left Zeus with a somewhat "guilty" mentality for no reason.

Even though his teammates never blamed him and knew very well that his performance was excellent most of the time.

And now, he just wanted to fully refine his skills and completely accepted all the team's arrangements.

He had only one obsession in his heart: he wanted to have the ability and opportunity one day to be like Ye, who defeated him last year, to turn the tide and save the team.

The short intermission ended.

The players from both sides returned to the stage.

Seeing the two sides appear, the audience erupted into another wave of cheers and support.

The T1 fans seemed to have adjusted their state during the intermission and began shouting their support at full volume again.

Among them were even quite a few screams in Chinese: "Faker, go! Beat Ye to death! You must win! You absolutely cannot lose!"

Domestic viewers nearby saw this scene and couldn't help but secretly film it with their phones, immediately uploading it to the domestic Anti-Pressure Bar.

After filming, they quickly joined the surrounding group chants of "Master Ye, go!!"

The shouting battle between tens of thousands of people resonated through the heavens and earth, continuing until the sound of the draft beginning was drowned out.

"The draft has begun! T1 has chosen the blue side again, and they are starting off by putting Akali on the ban list!"

Jide cleared his throat and joked: "I feel like I can foresee that unless Akali receives a massive nerf later, it's truly impossible to see this hero in V5's matches again~"

Rita only looked full of regret: "It's a pity, I don't know when we'll be able to see the championship skin appear in the hands of the original owner again; the Tengshe skin is just too beautiful."

The sales of Akali's two championship skins were incredibly gratifying.

Aside from the fans, relying on an aesthetic design that appealed to both men and women, plus invincible special effects that made effect-enthusiasts pay up, it was truly total firepower coverage!

Guan Zeyuan pulled the topic back: "There isn't much change in the first round of bans from either side; neither chose to release anything too strange, so this might actually suggest that both sides have new ideas for this match!"

First round of bans————

T1: Akali, Vi, Poppy

V5: Ahri, Jayce, Galio

It looked like T1 only changed their final ban.

Besides Akali, there was Vi, a choice Oner had had an ultimate "underworld scene" with, and finally, they swapped Annie for Poppy.

And V5 also just swapped their original final ban, Xayah, for Galio.

"T1 first-picks Wukong! Despite having been nerfed, this is still the number one choice among non-'pure jungle carry' heroes in the current version!"

"V5 doesn't have Vi here."

However, while it looked like they had only changed one ban position each————in reality, the tactical intentions of both sides had changed drastically, and the focal points of the game were completely different from the previous match!

The ten default bans had already caused a massive change in the draft environment for both teams.

Just like the first match.

Why did neither team ban or pick Wukong, who was "must-ban or must-pick" in the hands of other teams, at that time?

Because T1 had to pick K'Sante first, and V5 had to counter-pick with Nautilus + Jinx.

And T1 subsequently used a pick to ban Kindred, which not only slightly countered Wukong in terms of ultimate abilities, but V5 also had Kha'Zix as a better counter-pick option, so there was naturally no need to pick it.

But coming to the second match.

Without Kindred, and with the best mutual-pick options Vi and Poppy both banned by themselves.

Wukong naturally promoted to T0 in the jungle!

"V5 first picks Sion, then picks Lee Sin; there's no problem with that, for V5, Lee Sin can be a flex pick!"

The same logic.

Without K'Sante and Gragas, Sion was promoted on the spot to a T0 top-laner with no natural enemies.

As for Lee Sin, just as the commentators said, he could not only serve as a secondary option to counter Wukong in the jungle, but could also be a flex pick for the mid lane.

"T1 directly picks Xayah and Rakan, the Phoenix Legend! Xayah can also be considered Guma's signature!"

"Let's see what V5 is going to pick first on the third floor."

It looked like T1's choice of the bottom lane for their second and third picks was fine.

But in V5's eyes, it was somewhat abnormal.

"They actually didn't pick a big carry... then it looks like they want to play early-game aggression," Ye Bo analyzed aloud.

"Yeah, they aren't following the version," Beryl agreed, stating the backup option: "Then we won't pick Zeri either, otherwise it's too passive; let's pick Kalista for Hekui."

V5's change in the first round of bans was originally intended to intentionally let Zeri go to T1.

Guma's performance on a big carry in the first game was actually not good; there were clearly significant problems with his positioning in team fights————this point could actually be seen from the fact that Nautilus was able to easily find him several times!

And more importantly, if T1 took Zeri, V5 could counter-pick with Sion + Wukong, both T0 positions, so such a trade would definitely be profitable.

But now it seemed T1 had clearly shifted their thinking for this match and wasn't following the version trend.

But.

V5 wasn't prepared to mindlessly follow the version trend either.

Second round of bans for both sides————

V5: Kennen, Gwen

T1: Leona, Sylas

"V5 picks Nidalee on the fourth floor, Xun's Nidalee! V5 is going for early-game aggressive invasions; it's like a dream back to the Spring Split!"

"Then this is still a mid-lane Lee Sin..."

"Oh, LeBlanc? Faker's LeBlanc!!"

Because there were few top-lane heroes left, they could only pick Ornn in the end.

And V5 also managed to get Thresh, who could barely counter Rakan, with their final pick.

Both lineups were confirmed.

《Blue Side: T1 vs Red Side: V5》

【Top: Ornn vs Sion】

【Jungle: Wukong vs Nidalee】

【Mid: LeBlanc vs Lee Sin】

【ADC: Xayah vs Kalista】

【Support: Rakan vs Thresh】

"T1's lineup selection is so proactive this game, and some of it doesn't quite fit the version, or rather, both sides' lineups don't quite fit the version!"

"But there is no doubt that the mid-jungle confrontation between the two sides will be the key point, especially in the mid lane! These two heroes, LeBlanc and Lee Sin, will definitely be a sharp-edged confrontation!"

"In last year's World Championship, there was a LeBlanc in the battle between Faker and Master Ye, only today the positions are swapped————but LeBlanc is also Faker's signature, this is a rematch of the past!"

"Looking at Master Ye's expression, I really feel he is quite confident today!"

The director cut to a close-up shot, letting the world focus on this.

Ye Bo was fidgeting with his fingers while talking to his teammates, his face full of a confident smile, showing no nervousness or worry despite the counter-pick in the later stage.

But regardless of T1's fans or T1 themselves, this was a critical game that could not be lost!

However, it is also worth mentioning.

The Lee Sin from the Spring Finals had earned enough "wool" with its numerous famous scenes, and combined with Ye Bo's extra practice during this period, it had recently been upgraded to level seven.

After reaching level seven.

Ye Bo realized that his previous understanding of this hero was still too superficial.

(End of chapter)