Chapter 263: V5's trump card? The death of

"Congratulations to V5 for taking the first blood in this civil war. This mid-lane performance was truly excellent."

Guan Zeyuan, who was leading the commentary, felt down, but he didn't dare to show it too much, trying his best to make his tone sound festive.

"Although JDG played all their cards in the first game, V5's composition advantage on the blue side was huge, and they pulled off a counter-pick in the mid-lane. In the end, they still took the first game on the blue side!"

The active Doinb chimed in at the right moment: "Oh my, V5 really has a lot of experience playing against JDG. They are worthy of being the opponent that won an entire spring. They understand JDG's playstyle and power spikes too well; targeting them is just second nature!"

"Of course, the most stunning part is still the mid-lane. JDG hid their trump card, but it still got countered by Sylas against Cassiopeia—a super counter-pick! Maya, this is the charm of a signature hero!"

【Did Big B change his personality today? He's licking them so hard.】

【Ye's character is too bad! Cassiopeia is already miserable without legs, and it's only Knight; Ye is purely bullying a disabled person!】

【You all misunderstood Knight! Actually, it's all the draft's fault! How dare they pick Bai Suzhen against V5? Don't you know V5's nickname? Great Wei Heaven Dragon specializes in beating snake demons!】

【Doesn't matter, I'm just amazed that LCK didn't even force out JDG's trump cards, and V5 definitely has trump cards that haven't been forced out either. This feeling is just too refreshing!】

【Damn, Sylas still needs a nerf! This hero is just wrong! I suggest changing it so that stealing all hero ultimates only has effects and no damage. After all, he can pull off special effects with any hero in his hands; he's already too broken!】

【The person above is definitely a hater of Knight. Let me ask you, how is Knight supposed to play Sylas with your suggestion? Just roleplay as Ding Zhen and herd sheep and eat grass in Summoner's Rift every day?】

Guan Zeyuan was still muttering, his tone full of regret: "Ruler was such a pity this game. He played so well in the early game, just a little bit away from taking off and taking over the game, and Jin Kesi is just like that..."

In the current version, Jin Kesi, along with Aphelios and Zeri, are undoubtedly the three major carries.

But the differences between these three major carry heroes are also very obvious.

The essence of Aphelios is a "skill-based AD." His strength lies in throwing a QR from a distance in the late game, which is terrifying—the downside is that he has zero mobility, is the easiest of the three to die instantly, and is the weakest in the early game.

Zeri's advantage is her strong mobility, making her relatively the hardest of the three to die, but she is also the weakest in lane.

As for Jin Kesi, besides her relatively strong laning ability, her advantage is that once she starts snowballing in team fights, her output and mobility surpass the other two heroes. She is also the strongest major carry AD in an advantageous game.

In the last game, JDG originally hoped that the mid-laner would gain an advantage, assist the jungler in exploding the tempo, and after gaining the advantage, let Ruler's Jin Kesi unleash in team fights.

But at this moment, everyone looked at the scarlet "Defeat" on the monitor, all speechless.

Even when leaving the stage, they looked burdened with worries.

"This game, my problem," as soon as they entered the room, Homme expressed the main point through the translator.

"It was my judgment error. I didn't expect Cassiopeia to be not that good against Sylas... This, Knight."

Homme affectionately hugged Knight, with no anger or annoyance on his face, full of comfort: "Don't take it to heart. It was indeed a draft problem, my judgment error. My research on heroes is still not enough."

To be fair.

Although Homme is slightly inferior to serious former first-line team players like Tabe in terms of extremely deep game content.

But Cassiopeia being good against Sylas, that point is definitely correct!

Just didn't expect.

In their pre-match expectations and tests, they thought it was a 9-1 matchup, but with Sylas having the "100% back-turned dodge of petrification" buff, Cassiopeia was directly equivalent to missing half an ultimate.

Resulting in at most a 6-4 split!

And Knight's Cassiopeia was temporarily practiced specifically for this final. Although he had the foundation, his proficiency was not high, and compared to his commonly used heroes, it was naturally not on the same level.

Facing Ye Bo's Sylas, this gap in proficiency and understanding simply couldn't be made up by a 6-4 split!

Homme's comfort played a little role.

Knight, who had been keeping his head down like an ostrich, managed to lift it slightly and responded in a low voice: "Mm-hmm."

Seeing this, Homme was immediately overjoyed: "Don't worry, this game we are on the blue side, the hero pool is very wide, you can get whatever you want to play!"

It was still what Homme thought before the match.

Playing against this V5 team, what he values most is the mid-lane confrontation—because that will directly affect the jungle confrontation!

JDG relies heavily on the jungler's tempo.

But to have a good jungler tempo, the mid-lane must have lane priority and an advantage.

The last game was a bloody fact. Sylas managed to find an opportunity by putting himself into the game during the early game's disadvantageous laning, which allowed him to help Wukong crush Nautilus in one wave, and that's why there were subsequent events.

To win today, the mid-lane's state cannot be lost!

On the other side, Ruler leaned on the sofa, chugging mineral water, his eyes occasionally glancing at Knight, his fists hidden in the sofa crevices feeling tighter, enduring not to explode.

Originally, as a top-tier mercenary, he always had a great mentality. Anyway, he was just here to work; if he lost, he lost, and he didn't take it to heart at all.

That was how he was when he lost to V5 in the Spring Split.

But at this moment, even his head was obviously turning a bit red, looking anxious to death. If it weren't for the fear of affecting the next few games, he would have already lost his temper.

Kanavi on the other side was the same, also occasionally glancing at Knight.

By picking Nautilus, he was thinking about the overall draft, which could be considered "sacrificing" himself, but the result was still a collapse in the jungle due to the mid-lane's slip-up!

Speaking of which.

The reason why these two were so anxious wasn't because MSI is an international event at this moment, or that they cared about any regional glory.

Simply, it was because these two had received information from "home" privately after defeating GEN 3-0 a few days ago!

Although the date hadn't arrived, and there was no explicit promise.

But the implication was to let them consider it, and at that time, it was possible to let them come back to participate in the selection as candidates representing the KR region in the Asian Games.

The temptation of exemption from military service goes without saying.

As players working in foreign regions, the two naturally had a disadvantage in competing for spots. If it weren't for the 3-0 victory over GEN earlier, no one would have even approached them.

And the best way for them to stand out is naturally to win the MSI championship!

Knight had just recovered a bit, but the corner of his eye noticed the gazes from both sides, and he immediately lowered his head again with a physiological reaction.

Fortunately, Homme stood up in time, clapping his hands to attract everyone's attention, continuing to encourage and comfort them.

"Everyone, don't take the last game too much to heart. The opponent winning the first game on the blue side is not a big deal!"

"Having come this far, I think everyone wants to take revenge and defeat them. Actually, everyone played well last game; there was completely an opportunity!"

"This version is so suitable for us, we must prove that JDG is the strongest LPL team this year!"

After the pep talk, seeing that the teammates' expressions had basically returned to normal, Homme quickly made the arrangements for the second game.

When they stepped onto the stage again.

The commentary desk was still discussing the trend of this BO5.

"It can be seen that perhaps because JDG entered the final with a 3-0, they have quite a lot of preparation," Guan Zeyuan analyzed rationally.

"And in the last game, most of JDG's players' operations were very good. Nautilus and Jin Kesi both had eye-catching performances, their state is completely online, and coming to the blue side this game is still advantageous!"

"That's how it's said~" Doinb mentioned roundly: "However, V5 also came here with a 3-0. I feel they should also have trump cards. It's just that I don't know how many, and whether they will take them out in this game..."

Guan Zeyuan also nodded. After all, today is a civil war, and he doesn't want to show too much bias to avoid being scolded.

But he turned his head and cued Scout.

"What does Scout think? You seemed to be very optimistic about JDG in the last game!"

Scout coughed lightly, but in his heart, he was scolding this guy for being so annoying!

He clearly knew that at this moment: if he praised Ye Bo, he would be mocked for a boomerang face-turn at light speed; if he praised JDG, he was worried about being slapped in the face again. It was purely a lose-lose situation!

Thinking that he would be scolded anyway, he stuck to his initial statement: "Well, generally speaking, Cassiopeia and Nautilus are ultimately experimental things. JDG players' proficiency is not high, and it's more of a consideration to burn heroes on the red side."

"Coming to the blue side this game, and having burned so many heroes last game, I am still optimistic about JDG."

Guan Zeyuan, having received a satisfactory answer, became happy.

At this time, the draft panel was pulled up. "The second game begins! Both sides swapped sides this game!"

The biggest disadvantage of the red side is when there are heroes in the version that must be banned, and if released, there will be a fatal risk.

Before entering MSI, it was K'Sante, but in fact, this hero has been nerfed many rounds, and someone developed Nautilus to limit him, so relatively speaking, it's not completely impossible to release.

But now, Neeko has undoubtedly replaced this position!

And everyone doesn't know enough about this hero yet, the stats are high, and the ultimate mechanism is still in its full state. Even if V5 themselves come to the red side, they must put her on the ban list.

JDG: Akali, Lee Sin, Azir

V5: Neeko, Sion, Xayah

"The ideas of both sides haven't changed much, basically fine-tuning, and JDG is still banning three mid-laners including Lee Sin!"

Due to the extra fixed ban position for Neeko, V5 must vacate one position.

Considering that the jungle position has the most choices, while the top and AD strong heroes have been burned quite a bit, they chose to release Vi.

JDG also predictably snatched Vi directly.

"Kanavi's signature is here! V5 then picks Gragas, and Tristana!"

"Gragas goes without saying. In V5, there is a three-lane or even four-lane flex! And Tristana also has a two-lane flex. It's just that I don't know if it will be Master Ye's Tristana!"

Homme's eyes narrowed.

He couldn't guess the opponent's hero selection, but he could guess the general type.

The main reason why V5 can repeatedly gain advantages in the draft is that the players' hero pools are deep enough, leading to a deep tactical reserve pool, and various flex and niche heroes are simply difficult to predict.

And this draft characteristic also requires opponents to first make "assumptions"—they must assume what position the opponent's chosen hero is roughly in before they can arrange subsequent drafts.

"First count him as top Gragas and mid Tristana, then we'll pick normally!"

Homme made the final decision.

"JDG picks Ahri and Rakan! Both are also JDG's signatures. It's said that they must be taking their signature heroes this game!"

"These three are all top-tier signature heroes!"

"V5 then directly picks Alistar, which can be considered a bit of a counter-pick to Rakan, but the problem is not big. Missing's Rakan is definitely trustworthy!"

Entering the second round of drafting.

V5: Kennen, Renekton

JDG: Kindred, Poppy

"V5 picked Diana on the fourth floor?"

"Diana jungle, what's the logic against Vi? Could it be mid Diana? This hero hasn't been seen in the mid-lane for a long time!"

"However, could this be the trump card V5 hid!"

Everyone was a bit confused for a moment.

But Homme on the opposite side suddenly remembered something.

Diana jungle is actually not a niche existence. It was once popular after the passive skill's jungle efficiency was enhanced in S11, and its appearance rate was far higher than mid Diana.

And Diana jungle in that period had a "Best Duo" combination.

Actually, it was precisely because of this partner that Diana jungle only became popular for a while, and soon disappeared again.

—It's not Diana's problem, it's the problem of her partner hero!

Compared to version-strong heroes with more than 1.2 points, Diana alone might only have 0.8 points... but combined with that partner, it can soar to 1.5 points!

Unfortunately, that hero is not something anyone can take out in the mid-lane position in the competition.

At least this best duo combination showed great power in the S11 MSI version, and the slow-to-react commentary desk soon remembered.

"Wait! Diana jungle, in my impression, it seems to be paired with Yasuo!?"

"JDG has already picked Ahri and can't flex. Now even if they guess the opponent wants Yasuo, there's no way to counter it, and Yasuo also somewhat counters Aphelios. Will they give up Aphelios because they are worried the opponent will pick Yasuo?"

What the commentary desk can think of, Homme can naturally think of.

Aphelios's pick rate is No. 1 in this version. If it weren't for both sides having their own tactical needs in the last game, it wouldn't have been left to the second game normally.

Homme was just wondering why the opponent didn't ban or pick Aphelios in the second round.

But as soon as Diana lit up, Yasuo immediately appeared in his mind!

Homme only then realized the brilliance of the opponent's draft.

After thinking for a long time—finally, JDG still picked Aphelios.

The reason is simple.

There is no ADC who is not afraid of that wind wall!

Aphelios is afraid, if other weaker version ADs are swapped in, how much better can it be?

It's just that Homme originally planned to let the top-laner pick a late-game tank to support the composition.

But after thinking about it, considering that if Yasuo is picked, the opponent's "strong engage ability" will be very strong, and a counter-engage choice is needed, he finally picked Gnar.

—Actually, Jax is a better candidate for this composition, but he would be countered by Gragas, and it's 369's Jax...

A faint flute sound came out.

On V5's fifth floor, the hero everyone expected was indeed lit up and locked in!

"Death is like the wind, always by my side!"

Both sides' compositions are confirmed:

"Blue Side: JDG vs Red Side: V5"

【Top: Gnar vs Gragas】

【Jungle: Vi vs Diana】

【Mid: Ahri vs Yasuo】

【ADC: Aphelios vs Tristana】

【Support: Rakan vs Alistar】

The moment the avatar was locked, a surprised uproar broke out at the scene.

This avatar seems to have "magic." Even if it's already a ten-year-old hero, every time it appears on the field, it always draws cheers from the audience.

Not to mention this time it appeared on this ID!

"Yasuo! It's really Yasuo! Looking at the flex, it should be mid Yasuo!"

"And this seems to be Master Ye's first Yasuo in his professional career! This is definitely worth looking forward to... And V5's composition is obviously built entirely around Yasuo! It's all knock-ups!"

"The mid-lane is the absolute carry this game, the absolute core!"

"They really hid something!"

In fact, Ye Bo's Yasuo had already been practiced when he was at EDG last year.

It's just that there was no opportunity or version to use it.

And this MSI major carry AD version is exactly where this strong engage combination can show its power.

Of course, facing Ahri, this is also a very excellent counter-pick choice.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 264 =====