Chapter 374: A Counter-Strategy Exclusive to

During the short post-match interview in the intermission, Gen.G's mid laner Chovy and marksman Viper were invited.

The host specifically asked the two for their thoughts and expectations regarding the upcoming matches.

Viper didn't intend to be objective and spoke his true thoughts directly: "Although there are a few of my old teammates on V5, to be fair, the gap in strength between the two sides is very obvious, especially in the mid lane, where I feel there is no chance of winning."

"I personally hope they can win, because there was no chance to meet at this year's Asian Games, and I really want to see them on the field again."

Among the LPL audience, there were naturally many fans of last year's EDG, and upon hearing this, they cheered one after another.

However, many European fans supporting G2 were also in the audience today, and hearing this, they were immediately displeased.

People from other regions might not know Caps' status in the European region.

But those familiar with the European region all know—Caps is undoubtedly the "GOAT of history" in the European region!

In terms of regional status alone, Caps' dominance in his region is even more exaggerated than the IDs of Faker and Ye in their respective regions!

This is mainly because one cannot even find a competitor who can be mentioned in the same breath.

After all, Caps possesses ten league titles, a feat only Faker has achieved worldwide, and he is also the only player in the world to achieve the "six consecutive league titles" milestone; he also has an MSI title, and the only thing missing is an S-championship.

He even has an S8 solo tournament championship!

He is simply the god of Europe!

Hearing their own region's god being belittled like this by the opponent, especially as a team that is also 2-0, it was practically a slap in the face, which naturally made these European fans quite unhappy, and they booed Viper one by one from the audience.

But what was even more infuriating was Chovy, who was next to him.

Throughout the entire interview, he didn't even mention G2!

"We will definitely draw V5 in the subsequent rounds."

"Wait for us; this time, we will defeat them on Korean soil!"

Chovy looked at the camera with an incomparably firm gaze, and the Korean home crowd immediately erupted into waves of cheers, instantly drowning out the boos from the European fans.

The interview ended, and soon the two sides for the next match walked onto the player stage.

Looking at each other from a distance, the G2 members seemed to be chatting and laughing; after all, there was no pressure at 2-0—yet Ye Bo, among the V5 members, actually seemed somewhat inexplicably expectant.

This all goes back to yesterday, when the European region's "mole," Adam, quietly told Ye Bo.

He said that G2 told him they would let out their Akali in this match.

"The final match of the day will also be the game that decides the second ticket to the quarterfinals!"

"It is worth mentioning that G2, having the side selection rights for the first game, proactively chose the red side; this is an extremely rare strategy in the Swiss stage!"

Wang Duo took a deep breath at the commentary desk and looked seriously at the pick-and-ban panel.

But he immediately noticed something carefully.

"V5 first bans Renekton, while G2 bans LeBlanc... wait? G2 isn't banning Akali!?"

"They didn't even ban Neeko!"

Gu Gu took over the conversation and began to analyze: "And V5's second ban was proactively used on K'Sante, and the third ban was even given to Galio. To be honest, it looks a bit like they knew the opponent was going to let Akali through!"

"Could they have 'pre-match intelligence'?"

This analysis sounded quite plausible and even made some sense.

Only if V5 assumed they would mindlessly first-pick Akali would they have a reason to proactively ban Renekton and K'Sante on the blue side, clearly to alleviate the laning difficulty of having their top laner's champion stolen by the opponent.

But in the very last second before the countdown ended.

On the third ban slot that G2 had hovered over for a long time, that familiar figure still appeared!

First round of bans for both sides—

V5: Renekton, K'Sante, Galio

G2: LeBlanc, Orianna, Akali

"Oh my, it ended up being banned after all. I thought G2 would really let Akali through~" Gu Gu said with a very regretful tone.

And when the camera panned to the G2 player area, one could only see several people grinning, as if some scheme had succeeded.

What was funny was.

When the director gave the perspective of the other side, V5, one could see the five members of V5 all tilting their heads in unison to look at the G2 player area, all five of them appearing to have a comical "face full of question marks" expression.

"Ha, this..." Wang Duo couldn't hold it together: "Looking at this, why does it feel like both sides did have some communication before the match, but the right side didn't play by the rules!"

"So G2 is playing the Art of War, is that it?"

V5 had clearly been tricked.

Just as the commentary desk analyzed—it was because V5 assumed they would first-pick Akali that they proactively banned the top laner they intended to first-pick on the blue side, and even self-banned Galio.

Backstage, Adam was on his seat, anxiously reaching out and shouting: "Liar! Liar!"

And when BB originally saw Adam's fanatical star-chasing expression, he guessed that this kid was likely to be a "mole," so he said that on purpose, not expecting it to actually have some effect!

"So that's how you want to play."

Ye Bo, who had been full of expectations, gritted his teeth and hissed.

Without Akali, there was no suspense in the pick-and-ban, and V5 directly snatched up Neeko, who had been a must-ban or must-pick in this World Championship until now.

G2 countered by grabbing the Yone and Azir top-mid combination.

"G2's strategy of proactively choosing the red side still seems very strange?" Wang Duo looked puzzled: "They banned a mid laner in the first three, let Neeko through, and didn't pick up an AD or jungler later; what is the point of choosing the red side?"

"Although the appearance rate of Yone and Azir isn't low, these two aren't T0 champions in the current version; the point of picking them first in the opening game doesn't seem significant!"

V5 also didn't understand what the opponent was trying to do.

Seeing them proactively choose red, they thought there was some trick, but it turned out to be such a seemingly disadvantaged pick-and-ban.

But since the opponent had conceded all the positions, there was naturally no reason not to take them.

"V5 directly takes Jarvan IV and Jax! They got T0 champions for their top, jungle, and support positions; this pick-and-ban is too comfortable!"

"G2 still doesn't care and picks Tristana."

Both sides entered the second round of picks and bans—

G2: Taliyah, Zoe

V5: Poppy, Rell

And when G2 picked their next champion in the fourth slot, a confused "Huh?" sound came from all over the venue simultaneously.

"Sylas? Which lane is this G2 Sylas going to!" Gu Gu asked in confusion: "Jungle?"

Wang Duo nodded and followed up: "It can only be jungle; it can't be support Sylas, that would be too strange."

"Come to think of it, jungle Sylas really had a hot period during the previous summer split, and players from all major regions used it. I remember V5 used it too, but because Sylas would burn through their own mid laner's champion pool, they used it very rarely."

The commentary desk was still analyzing.

But the two people in the middle and on the side of the V5 player area, upon seeing this Sylas.

Almost simultaneously, strange expressions appeared on their already suspicious faces.

After all, the reason Sylas could be played in the jungle during the previous summer split was that the version at the time was full of aggressive junglers, which is completely the opposite of the current World Championship version.

Given the current jungle environment, plus the pattern of "unstable jungles caused by lane swaps" already demonstrated by JDG and Gen.G in the previous game—this kind of high-risk jungle champion that "can only gank people but not farm the jungle" should not have had a chance to appear.

Looking at the opponent's current lineup.

No matter how you look at it, it feels like there is only one goal.

"Master Ye, do you feel like the opponent's lineup is trying to mess with you!"