Chapter 343: Wildcard! A Match That Traversed Time!

"Congratulations to the China national team!!!" Wang Duo on the commentary stand was extremely excited: "They lead one-to-zero for now, securing a crucial opening victory!"

"Both sides brought out unique strategies in the first game, but in the end, it was the CN national team's lane-swap tactic that played the key role, crushing the opponent's strongest firepower point from the top lane!"

"This is simply a textbook example of an ultimate single-lane combat match!"

The live stream chat was flooded with celebratory voices from domestic netizens.

[Pure bullying! Watching this makes Zhang Shunhui from Class 3 of the Computer Science Department go completely insane!]

[To be fair, Zeus bears full responsibility for this game, right?]

[Anyway, Danny is definitely loyal to the LPL. This KR lineup looks exactly the same as WBG to me; either way, the top lane collapses, the bottom lane goes invisible, and then they just wait for the GG!]

[Wrong! It’s actually Redmi exerting force—pop quiz! Who is the mid-laner this game!]

[Bad, Right Hand has been possessed by Left Hand!]

[Hahahahahahaha, what kind of expression is that on Zeus? Too perverted.]

The live broadcast camera cut to the players' stage.

Looking at the scarlet defeat screen before him, Zeus only felt a sudden tightness in his chest and shortness of breath; his eyelids were slightly upturned, and his tongue even poked out, looking extremely abstract.

It was a strange expression resulting from the superposition of two emotions: the sudden relaxation of nerves that had been extremely tense for a long time, and the realization that the outcome was not very pleasant.

However, Zeus did not notice the director's camera watching him.

At this moment, he only felt that the whole team had pinned their hopes on him, yet not only did he fail to deliver the expected results, but he had even become a burden, his heart full of guilt.

Of course, this game couldn't be blamed entirely on the top laner.

If it weren't for the fact that the other lanes were tightly restricted, Jayce wouldn't have needed to rush for an advantage later on, and perhaps the side lanes wouldn't have been breached so quickly.

When it comes down to it.

The CN national team brought out a bit too much in the first game.

The peculiar bottom lane combination and the top-mid lane-swap strategy could be said to have perfectly countered the KR national team's lineup.

Meanwhile, Beryl in the back room looked at Ye Bo, who was standing up and chatting happily with his teammates, with a clearly complex expression.

"They have developed new tactics."

The reason for his complex expression.

Was because Beryl saw that it was something related to "his own V5."

To others, the top-mid lane swap was a stopgap measure, used only to compensate for the disparity in top lane laning ability.

But in Beryl's eyes—it was as if V5 had a brand-new tactical system!

Before this.

Everyone's "stereotype" of V5 was that they attacked fiercely in the early game, fought for resources once they gained an advantage, and then won team fights and closed out games by relying on the team's excellent synergy and the brilliant individual performances that often erupted.

The Anti-League Bar once had a troll comment: "V5 only knows this one formulaic playstyle; it's actually no different from Gen.G only knowing the turtle formation!"

It's just that one is offense and the other is defense.

But in fact.

As long as a team can perfectly master one playstyle, it is enough to reach the pinnacle of the World Championship!

S6 SKT, wasn't it just a formulaic process relying on the mid lane always having a laning advantage and the mid-jungle duo suppressing the tempo?

S7 SSG, wasn't it just the infamous "Korean-style operations," a super formulaic game style starting from the 50-minute mark?

S8 IG, wasn't it just a "reckless brawler" style, forcing fights mindlessly and not giving the opponent any time or space to enter their operational phase—a "formulaic solution"?

S9 FPX, wasn't it just the four-man dive on the bottom lane seen in every single game, as punctual as clocking in for work—the formula of formulas!

These teams could all be said to rely on one specialty.

If you insist on making S6 SKT play a jungle-carry style, S7 SSG play a reckless brawler style, S8 IG play a four-man dive, or S9 FPX play mid-jungle synergy... that's just pure nonsense!

They were not all-powerful; they just played to the extreme within their respective fields—and the current patch just happened to be the comfort zone for that playstyle.

Therefore, the shortcomings were also very obvious.

Once the patch changed significantly, the team's strength could suffer a cliff-like decline—which is why, in this world, the record for most consecutive championships is still only two, and the "three-championship dynasty" is just a myth.

It is because the vast majority of players cannot adapt to patch changes, or even if they do, it is difficult to practice another system to a top-tier level.

And V5, before this, had more or less a bit of this situation.

It was just that because there was more than one person on the team who could "innovate," often picking unexpected, bizarre heroes or combinations, the audience couldn't really tell.

But there was no help for it.

Take the traditional system of "split-push operations," for example; the previous V5 almost couldn't play it.

Single-lane containment requires extremely high demands on the split-pusher's hero pool and individual ability—most of which are "split-push heroes" in the top lane, which is why the person doing the split-push containment is usually the top laner.

Why can't mid-lane heroes split-push?

Because most mid-lane heroes are either assassins who are very strong in the early-to-mid game—if they don't fight when they have an advantage and go split-pushing, their power spike will pass, and it's an instant GG!

Or they are grand mages who, although strong in the late game and team fights, have weak or even non-existent 1v1 ability—facing a true split-push hero, they are at a huge disadvantage in a side lane, and if they aren't in the front line, their team will have no power to engage in team fights.

And at this time, Li Xuanjun had long since changed from the mechanical player of his youth to a team-oriented player, and it was clearly difficult for him to be competent in this position.

But Beryl had already realized something.

He discovered.

This CN national team was simply using their mid-laner as a "wildcard"!

As mentioned earlier, another key strategy prepared by the KR national team today was the top lane Zeus's split-push operational system—Beryl, who understood his teammates, believed this was the best way to solve the problem.

That is, no matter what the other four positions picked, the top lane should try to pick a hero capable of split-pushing as a backup guarantee.

Even if they were accidentally at a disadvantage in the early game, as long as they could hold the front line, it could still become the final bargaining chip for the KR national team to win the game!

But now.

The opponent could also play this system!

Don't forget, Ye Bo had also once picked Camille in the mid lane.

Beryl was naturally mostly happy in his heart—because if the CN national team could use it, their V5 could naturally use it too.

But at the moment, he had to face the situation before him first.

"If this is the case, our plan for today might have to be scrapped and redone."

Danny turned his head to look at his beloved student, somewhat puzzled: "What do you mean?"

Beryl briefly explained his thoughts.

And after listening to his analysis, the expressions of the several KR coaches in the back room seemed somewhat heavy.

"In that case..." Kkoma had just opened his mouth when the door to the back room was pushed open.

Seeing the KR national team members walk in, Kkoma immediately resumed his smile, and the other coaches also put away their serious expressions.

All of them were veteran coaches, so they naturally knew what the players needed most at this moment.

Danny walked up with a smile, saying with an indifferent face: "Yeah, everyone worked hard!"

"No need to take it to heart. We didn't actually lose anything in the first game; the tactical objective was executed successfully, and we even forced out a lot of their things!"

"Everyone should have felt it, right? Our overall strength is definitely stronger than theirs!"

"So what is there to be sad about?"

The KR national team members remained silent.

But thinking about it carefully, it did indeed seem to be the case.

At the very least, the bottom and mid lanes didn't feel any resistance in the last game, and even felt they had an advantage.

Only Zeus, whose entire state seemed wrong at this moment, his face flushed red as if he were about to enter "red-heat mode," preparing to downgrade from a God-King to a God.

Fortunately, the substitute Li Xianghe noticed this younger brother, stood up, walked to his side, and offered some slightly clumsy comfort.

"Don't mind losing to him; it's not a shameful thing."

"I also often lose to him."

The usually introverted Faker was rarely talkative, and after saying this, he added: "But this doesn't mean you are weaker than him. I believe in you."

Zeus raised his head and asked a somewhat questioning inquiry: "...Really?"

"Of course," Faker responded without hesitation.

Although there was a clear suspicion of feeding him chicken soup.

But this encouragement still caused the blood in Zeus's cheeks to recede, instantly returning him from a God back to the form of a God-King.