Chapter 280: Ripe! The Patch Answer and the Real Patch Answer?

Under the director's lens, Uzi sat dazed at the player station, staring at the shattered crystal on his black-and-white screen.

He was thinking about that last skirmish, where he had been knocked up by Gragas outside the Kindred ultimate; it seemed there might have been a chance to flash into the circle at a tricky angle to maneuver within the ultimate, potentially avoiding being insta-killed by the Big Dog and perhaps even turning the fight around.

Uzi shook his head helplessly, forcing a bitter smile.

While lamenting that he was getting old, he was even more astonished in his heart by the opposing mid-laner.

Come on, this new hero had been live for no more than seven days, tops!

Even if Ye Bo had playtested it at Riot headquarters, it was impossible to truly master anything in that closed beta environment, not to mention it had been reworked once since then and was completely different after going live.

Those previous niche heroes were just rare, and one could speculate that the person had practiced them a lot in private and was simply using them in a tournament for the first time.

Uzi's intense focus on this matter was actually because his own speed at learning heroes was incredibly slow, making it hard for him to empathize, and especially hard to understand how the opponent had managed it.

Not to mention anything else.

Just the effort Uzi had spent in an emergency to pick back up Aphelios, a hero he had put down for a long time, had been immense!

He steadied himself.

After standing up, Uzi even leaned over to pat Ale and Fofo, who both had zombie-like expressions, trying to offer comfort with the demeanor of a big brother.

However, this scene in the secondary broadcast room, DYS, triggered a screen full of question marks and "Who are you?" spam.

"Holy crap, is that Uzi?" Xika widened his eyes: "He's cooked! He's absolutely cooked!"

"Cooked how?" Sun Ye gave no face, cackling: "You can't hear the voice chat, maybe he's just lecturing his juniors~"

"Well, it's normal to lecture them after this game; Fofo is a lost cause since he can't beat Ye Wen, but what was Ale playing?"

After Sun Yalong finished speaking, he pretended to stir the pot again: "But I have to say a word for Uzi too; Ye Wen winning this game doesn't count at all!"

Kid sincerely asked: "Why doesn't it count?"

"It definitely doesn't count! Puppy meets Big Dog; Ye Wen specifically picked it to counter Uzi, it's unfair! And have you forgotten? Last year, Big Dog was the one who benched Uzi!"

"This game was a double counter, inside and out! Losing is the same as winning!"

The chat was sent into a frenzy by this casual stirring.

【No cap, this is the LPL's latest priest stationed in Shenzhen, Master Ye; it's normal to have a counter!】

【Sun Hates Uzi!】

【I'm a lip-reading expert; Uzi just said to Fofo: "Little brother Fofo, let me give you a piece of advice: a man should be broad-minded, don't be jealous, and don't play with emotions."】

【You're a hook-line lip-reading expert; the guy said less than five words, and you wrote fifty!】

【I'm the microphone, I can confirm he really said that.】

【Only looking for Fofo? 50 was a human this game, he was pure Zimbabwean dollars!】

As the EDG team returned to the backstage area, Zhu Kai instantly changed his face, walking up with a relaxed smile.

"Good work, good work. The opponents played really well this game... but we actually played pretty well too!"

As soon as these words were out, all five EDG members were stunned.

Pretty well where?

They didn't even have the face to say that themselves.

Zhu Kai, however, explained righteously: "Look, they brought out their secret weapon in the first game of the new patch, even using a new hero; they value us so much! What pressure!"

"And we're on the blue side next game, the advantage is huge!"

"It looks like a loss, but it doesn't really count as a loss; it won't affect the global ban-pick on the red side in the third game!"

Although anyone could hear it was a lie.

But the key was, the lie sounded so good!

After cooking the big pot of rice, Zhu Kai wasn't finished; he had to go for 1-on-1 private catering.

"Ale, you were a bit rushed last game, but mainly because Ornn is hard to play; I'll let you show your stuff next game!"

After finding Ale, who had the worst mentality, he went to the most miserable victim, Fofo: "Little Zhu, there was nothing to be done last game, we hadn't played against the new hero! And I just chatted with Clearlove, we'll change our tactics next game..."

The three beside them were all experienced, so they clearly didn't need much comfort.

And Jiejie, watching Zhu Kai—who wasn't talking about ban-pick at all but was immersed in heart-to-hearts with the players—felt his eyes fill with "nostalgia."

He and Meiko exchanged a look for no reason.

Clearly, both saw the same feeling in each other's eyes and shared a strange smile.

The two, bored, could only look at the livestream on the backstage screen.

Because at 22 minutes, they hadn't even reached the poking phase of a front-line team fight, and the assassin mid-laner who had been attacking and picking people off had the highest damage.

The damage of the Hundred-Cracking Hell Dog stood like a pillar!

Deft was second in formulaic damage—although he didn't seem to have much screen time, his damage was not low at all, which only proved he hadn't missed a beat when it was time to fight.

The MVP that followed was a foregone conclusion.

Ye Bo's brand-new season promotional photo for "Great Desolation Prisoner Heaven Finger" appeared, with the red-skinned Big Dog behind him baring its fangs, looking majestic!

A stat line of 13/0/4—how could it be described as anything but exaggerated!

The livestream chat scrolled by at high speed.

【Broken! This hero is absolutely broken! The designer is creating monsters again!】

【If it's so broken, why didn't the opponent ban or pick it? Then release the other five banned heroes! Especially that Akali no one plays, let me show you what not broken looks like!】

【Hehe, then the question is, how much credit does my favorite Mr. ADC get in these 13 kills?】

【Dog-haters are having another climax; can you blame my Dog for this game? Are you even watching the match!?】

【It's not blaming, it's that the first pick is given to you, and the lineup is built around you. Four-protect-one, as long as you don't carry, the loss is the biggest pit!】

Uzi was also silently watching the big screen.

Although he couldn't see the chat, he knew what was up.

Although the chat was mostly trolls looking to stir up trouble, one sentence was correct:

In a four-protect-one lineup, as long as the "one" doesn't carry—it's the "one's" fault!

But in reality, Uzi didn't want to play four-protect-one either.

He knew his current strength had declined, and the pressure of bearing the responsibility of four-protect-one was immense; it was just his first game at EDG, and he thought he should listen to the coach.

But looking at Zhu Kai, who was still grinning and even telling cold jokes to Fofo.

Uzi hesitated for a moment.

In the end, he took the initiative to speak up to him.

A short halftime.

The players from both sides returned to the stage, and the ban-pick screen was quickly raised again.

"EDG chooses to stay on the blue side this game, and they immediately put Sylas on the ban list!"

"Eh? Is EDG changing their ban list this game?"

Miller had just gotten into the zone when he suddenly felt something was wrong.

What about Akali?

Because no matter if the ban-pick strategy changed or not, EDG's first ban was almost a default, and there was no reason to ban it later—after all, the opponent wouldn't ban it, and a late ban would be meaningless.

Wawa subconsciously said: "Could it be that Akali is going to be released? Can we finally see Master Ye's Akali!!"

Beside him, Mlxg pointed it out: "That's unlikely, it's probably that EDG wants to grab it themselves; maybe they're thinking of burning a hero?"

The opposing V5 also quickly noticed the anomaly.

And the problem was.

Ban-pick is a game of wits, a gamble on the unknown.

No matter how different the coaches' levels are, there are only so many heroes and so many cards to choose from.

The point is: which one is less likely to be countered if picked first, which ban can disrupt the opponent's lineup construction, and which one picked later can provide the "finishing touch" when options are limited.

The greatest strategic depth is that you don't know what the other side is thinking.

But now... even the commentary desk, which was outside the game of wits, could directly see EDG's thoughts!

This meant there was no longer a game of wits; they just needed to solve the problem.