Chapter 84: Season 13 Winning Streak! Learning the Emperor of the Sands from the

"Congratulations to EDG! A 2-0 victory over FPX! Without dragging the suspense into a final game, the winning streak in major matches remains intact!"

"FPX was just a bit short in this final game. Ultimately, EDG showed better coordination in their 40-minute operations and rotations, destroying the team fight with their more robust dual-carry core!"

"Player Ye can even operate the Emperor of the Sands like this; he truly lives up to his reputation!"

"Although there were a few slightly aggressive moments in the mid-game that almost backfired, that final perfect push to knock back LWX and Clid proved himself! Come to think of it, this is exactly why we like this player."

The casters were passionate and high-spirited in the booth.

As the on-site referee behind them nodded, the members of EDG took off their headsets, signed in toward the event camera placed in the bottom-left corner, and received confirmation that the signal had been cut.

Ever since that high-traffic war ended, due to the recurring pandemic, offline matches could not be held because of crowd gatherings, and the latter half of the LPL Summer Split had to be moved online.

However, at this moment, the advantages of esports events were reflected.

Compared to the predicament where almost all traditional sports were suspended, esports events simply switched to online when encountering such issues!

Except for the lack of a dazzling stage and live audience, the viewing experience was actually no different from usual.

Even the hosts and casters set up a backdrop; as long as they pretended to be on-site, one couldn't tell at all.

Seeing the camera turn off, Ye Bo let out a long sigh of relief and leaned back in his gaming chair, saying with a hint of apology: "Sorry brothers, I shouldn't have gone in to engage those few times, I had a few brain-fart moments."

Because after RNG stumbled and lost a game to V5, EDG's "Guardian Angel" (playoff spot) was basically set in stone.

Therefore, the coaching staff unanimously decided to make good use of this second half of the schedule, which had no great pressure, to conduct "drills."

That is, the first game would be a normal system, and after winning, they would start practicing new ideas and systems.

If they could win the second game, everyone would be happy; if they lost, they would return to normal for the third game to ensure a steady BO3 victory.

Ye Bo also chose the Emperor of the Sands, which he had only recently started practicing, in today's second game.

The mechanics were generally fine, but it was clear that he had many decision-making errors in actual combat.

For example, in a mid-game dragon fight, he only thought about using his body to engage and push back the dual carries. Although that high-speed E-Q-R revolving push was beautiful and did indeed push the opponents' dual carries back,

he himself was interrupted by the physical collision, which canceled his E displacement, leaving him stranded in place without being able to return!

The result was that the opponents' dual carries immediately flashed back, and the five of them surrounded the Emperor of the Sands and killed him instantly, ultimately losing that dragon fight.

Fortunately, they managed to save face in the final team fight.

Ye Bo was not "scared" by that mistake, nor did he follow what "the Xiaohu in his memories" said—that he would rather do nothing than make a mistake.

He still chose to bravely step forward and engage with his body in the 40-minute decisive team fight, ultimately pulling off a desperate, life-or-death push on the perfect terrain to kill the game!

"Master Ye is being humble again; that last move was so cool!" JieJie pushed his gaming chair over.

"I think it was flawless! This Emperor of the Sands is at least worth a 77.77 score!" SaintGun-ge said with a smile.

"Ye Bo, don't have such high standards. Actually, we all made quite a few mistakes this game. Your few moments don't count as big mistakes; if you say that, us brothers are going to feel the pressure!" Meiko cleverly spoke up to comfort him.

"Indeed." Viper added briefly.

"You've only been practicing this Emperor of the Sands for a few days, right? Playing like this is quite good," the head coach Maokai leaned over and patted Ye Bo's shoulder. "However, after this test, it really feels like big-core systems like Emperor of the Sands, Corki, and Orianna are not as easy to win with as roaming systems."

"Is the environment between our LPL and LCK really that different? In the LCK, all the data for the Emperor of the Sands is top-tier, while the win rate in the LPL is quite pathetic. The same goes for Corki; the win rate is actually inverted by an outrageous ten percent."

Maokai bit his pen cap, scribbling on his notebook, having already decided to remove this system from their reserves.

"I feel like it's still my problem. I'll go back and practice more."

Although the teammates' comfort was sincere, the actual data did indeed prove that the win rates of the Emperor of the Sands and Corki in the LPL region were very low, both at a pitifully low level below 45%.

However, Ye Bo always felt that there was something strange about how he played.

Speaking of which, after the battle with Xiaohu and finishing that diary.

Ye Bo had a new understanding of his "Training Plan."

He hadn't fully shifted his mindset before, always worrying about his next level-7 hero, focusing on practicing the next "signature hero," and agonizing over how many more heroes he could practice in the two months before the World Championship.

But actually, thinking about it carefully, the cost-effectiveness of doing this was not high.

Because it is not hard to find that the experience required for level 6 is one order of magnitude higher than level 5, and level 7 is another order of magnitude higher than level 6.

Therefore, the time spent trying to practice a level-7 hero is very long.

But if he only wanted to practice a level-5 hero, the "real-world time" required for Ye Bo was quite fast!

This might be the biggest advantage!

The previous battle with Knight had already proven that the reason Ye Bo was so handy in dealing with Knight's Galio was because he had a level-5 Galio obtained from the "minimum guarantee," giving him a comprehensive basic understanding of this hero.

Including the duel with Xiaohu's Renekton, it was also because he had a deep understanding of Renekton's laning phase in his ranked matches during the first half of the year.

These practical examples all proved it.

Even if Ye Bo didn't play them in matches, being able to practice more level-5 heroes would have unexpected effects when he went to lane against those heroes!

Because of this, during this recent period, Ye Bo had been practicing various "frequent visitors" of the competitive scene that he didn't originally "like" to play.

Such as Twisted Fate, Orianna, Viktor, Corki, Emperor of the Sands...

Ye Bo was not prepared to add these heroes to his training schedule; he only planned to practice them to level 5 and stop. The reason he practiced the Emperor of the Sands deeply was because this hero had eye-catching data in the LCK league, and it was a suggestion he received after asking Maokai.

However, although he was dissatisfied with the results of his Emperor of the Sands practice,

he also had unexpected gains!

"JieJie, in this game just now, did you feel any changes compared to before?" Ye Bo leaned over to ask.

"Hmm? What are you referring to?" JieJie didn't understand at first.

"Probably our mid-jungle synergy? I can't really put my finger on it."

"When I play the Emperor of the Sands... it might also be because I was playing against Corki in the mid-lane this game, and the laning pressure wasn't high, so I felt I could observe the other lanes more."

Before JieJie could reply, SaintGun-ge next to him suddenly answered: "Yes! You remember that wave at level 8, right? You reminded me that the opponent's minion was about to level up but didn't, and the opposing jungler might be camping, and it turned out they really were! It was the same problem we talked about when we first met!"

"I was just saying, while you were laning, how did you still have the heart to switch screens to look at me? Are you a supervisor or what!"

After hearing SaintGun-ge's words, JieJie also suddenly realized: "If you put it that way, there really is. I clearly felt Master Ye talked a bit more this game."

"Meaning, you can do more shot-calling when playing the Emperor of the Sands? But it's very strange, shouldn't you be able to do more shot-calling when playing roaming heroes like Taliyah?"

Ye Bo didn't know how to answer either.

After all, he had just started practicing the Emperor of the Sands, and his understanding wasn't enough.

He also didn't know why he could have more "desire to command" with such a hero that should be focused on farming than when he was playing Taliyah.

Exiting the tournament server, he logged into the Korean server client.

Ye Bo prepared to play a few more games of the Emperor of the Sands in the training camp to find the feel.

But just as he saw the friend list on the client,

he suddenly saw an ID, and at the same time, he slapped his forehead, remembering something.

If you want to practice the Emperor of the Sands, shouldn't you learn from the "Emperor of the Sands"!?

He clicked on the chat box of [Hide on bush].

Because Viper had gone to the cafeteria and wasn't there, and seeing that the other party wasn't in a queue, Ye Bo was worried that they would go offline and he wouldn't be able to wait, so he had to communicate himself.

It's just that he didn't know where the problem lay, and he didn't know how to start.

After thinking about it, he decided to just ask simply and directly.

"Hi Faker! Excuse me, can I ask you an Azir question 0.0?"

Using all the English he had learned in his life, Ye Bo successfully squeezed out the opening question.

Lee Sang-hyeok on the other side had just closed his stream and was preparing to log off when he suddenly saw the chat box light up.

And when he saw the ID [ChineseKungFu], he instantly remembered this person.

Lee Sang-hyeok had a very good impression of this person because he later went to test the technique the other party mentioned in actual combat, and it indeed produced quite good results, proving that it was a better solution for that situation.

Although he hadn't used Akshan in a match yet.

But that day's exchange left Lee Sang-hyeok with a deep impression of this player who had replaced Scout.

Soon, a reply flashed in the chat box.

"Of course."

Ye Bo continued to use all the English he had learned in his life: "Play Azir, why can good conductor team?"

Lee Sang-hyeok was able to perfectly receive this grammatically incorrect English; it hit the mark.

"Can I Korean?"

"Yes! I can wait Viper help me."

If it weren't for the last exchange, Lee Sang-hyeok might not have paid attention to such a question.

But it was precisely because of that interaction that he could feel that the other party had a very pure attitude of discussion, just wanting to know how to play the game better.

Lee Sang-hyeok liked communicating with such people.

Because he felt that he was also such a person.

Lee Sang-hyeok thought for a moment and expressed his thoughts in the chat box.

A very long paragraph of text was sent over.

Although Ye Bo couldn't understand it, just looking at the length of the text, he could feel that the other party was also speaking very seriously.

"Thank you!!"

"Learn from each other."

Ye Bo's life-long learning was squeezed dry; he couldn't understand the English sentence the other party sent at the end at all.

But when he used translation software, the result he got was—"Learn from each other."

Ye Bo was suddenly a little moved.

Although this was obviously just a polite remark, regardless, the other party was the most powerful player in the history of League mid-laners, and even if his form this year didn't seem to be at his peak, it clearly didn't affect anything.

"Viper-ge, come quickly! Help me translate this!"

Viper, who was walking in, heard Ye Bo's urgent voice and walked over quickly, sitting down to carefully read that long paragraph of colloquial Korean.

He summarized it and then described it with as short a sentence as possible.

"He said that compared to other hyper-carry heroes, the Emperor of the Sands' greatest characteristics are his 'longest hands,' 'farthest legs,' and 'safest position,' but his drawback is that his stats in the early and mid-game are too low."

"The 'longest hands' refers to the roughly 1000-yard auto-attack range he can maintain normally when last-hitting with his sand soldiers."

"The 'farthest legs' refers to the theoretical limit of nearly 2000 yards of displacement distance from his E-Q combo, as well as the dual survival utility of his R."

"As for the 'safest position'... should this actually be translated into Chinese as 'sense of security'?"

Because Li Xianghe spoke in a lot of colloquialisms, many direct translations could not be completed.

But when Ye Bo finished listening to Viper's half-guessed, half-translated original words, the moment he heard the three words "sense of security," his brain suddenly went *clunk*!

That was it.

It was a sense of security!

Why, when playing a hyper-carry like the Emperor of the Sands that seemingly requires farming, could Ye Bo be more distracted to command and observe information than when playing other roaming-style heroes?

It was because of that damn sense of security the Emperor of the Sands has during the laning phase!

Although due to years of being overpowered, the Emperor of the Sands' early-game stats are currently abysmal, meaning it is also hard to pressure others during the laning phase.

But his long reach, long legs, long displacement, and Emperor's Divide all make him extremely difficult to gank.

Compared to Corki, Twisted Fate, Galio, and Taliyah—

These are either "extremely weak in lane," requiring full concentration to play the lane.

Or they "lack displacement and extra survival abilities," requiring full concentration to prevent ganks.

Compared to these heroes, the current version of the Emperor of the Sands only needs to farm from a distance, has no great pressure to prevent ganks, and because of his own late-game magic-carry nature, has not the slightest "offensive pressure."

That naturally allows him to spare a large amount of energy to perform "commanding"!

Ye Bo seemed to suddenly understand.

This is perhaps why the win rate of the Emperor of the Sands in the LPL is far inferior to the LCK, and the same is true for other similar major magic carries.

Because in fact, if the Emperor of the Sands cannot utilize this "spare commanding ability,"

Then the Emperor of the Sands will become a weak-laning, weak-fighting, invisible-all-game, must-farm-to-death-for-thirty-or-forty-minutes, only-then-able-to-stand-out kind of hard-farmer!

And in the LPL region,

There really aren't many teams that are commanded entirely by the mid-laner.

There are even many teams where the mid-laner doesn't talk at all!

"If that's the case, then shouldn't playing against the Emperor of the Sands be..."

Ye Bo's thought process has always been different from others.

Having figured this out, his first reaction was not that he needed to practice the Emperor of the Sands immediately.

After all, even with this trait, the hero mechanics of the Emperor of the Sands themselves cannot be changed; he is still not very suitable for EDG's current tactics, and at most, he can be kept as a system reserve.

What Ye Bo was thinking was whether he could use this characteristic of the Emperor of the Sands to formulate a way to play against this hero.

Or even, to formulate some tactics that could break those who are good at utilizing this hero's characteristics.

[Congratulations! Triggered an epiphany of understanding!]

[(Emperor of the Sands) Proficiency EXP +10000]

Ye Bo stared blankly at the prompt box in front of him.

This works too?

"Master Ye, come have an egg tart. This master bakes them really well; it wouldn't be someone poached from JDG, would it? The crust is so flaky!"

The dazed Ye Bo took out the foil tray, feeling that besides the EXP reward, he had grasped something else.

However, that seemed to be still some distance away from him; for now, he should focus on the match at hand.

After all, within the LPL region, there really doesn't seem to be anyone who is good at using this characteristic.

"Holy crap! Delicious, give me another one!" Emerging from his deep thought, Ye Bo suddenly savored the delicious taste in his mouth.

"It's gone, even this one I snatched for you. The two little fatties next door have crazy combat power; it's thanks to me snatching food from the tiger's mouth!" Jiejie shrugged his shoulders.

Flandre gave a big thumbs up on the side, and even turned to ask behind him with a sense of crisis: "Clearlove, how long are we being locked down this time? Are our base supplies enough? We won't be eating feasts at the start of the month and gnawing on steamed buns at the end, right?"

"Supplies? Fine!" Ming Kai roared back super loudly for no reason.

EDG's remaining six matches were all against opponents in the East, who were struggling to even make the playoffs.

Among them, EDG only lost one small game while experimenting with a new lineup.

But throughout the whole process, they maintained an undefeated streak in high-energy series!

In that lost small game, Ye Bo used mid-lane Karma, originally wanting to experiment with a "protect-the-one" bot-lane breakthrough system.

But it ultimately proved that it didn't fit EDG's rhythm, and because they had to pick an AD hyper-carry, it somewhat wasted the bot lane's own laning ability.

In the end, it was completely removed from the tactical reserves by the coaching staff.

"Congratulations to EDG! Defeating TT 2-0! Securing their thirteenth consecutive win!"

"It's hard to imagine, this EDG has gone through adjustments in the spring and early summer. If not for the two slumps at the beginning of the summer, they might have even had a chance to once again break the LPL summer undefeated record they set in the S6 season!"

"Three days later, the LPL summer regular season will reach its finale. They will face BLG, who have regrouped and currently climbed to fifth place in the standings!"

"Let us all look forward to this highly anticipated final battle!"

EDG ultimately achieved a 14-game winning streak; both the team atmosphere and the praise from the outside world had reached their peak.

And for the final battle, there was one last opponent standing in front of them.

BLG's situation was not bad either.

Although they only looked like they were fifth in the standings, don't forget, this BLG was a team that was initially ranked outside the top ten!

Being able to dive into fifth place from the halfway point already proved that their recent performance was indeed quite good.

When it comes down to it, one reason is that the hard strength of the lineup is right there.

Except for the jungler Weiwei, almost everyone on this BLG is a first-tier star player; just relying on hard strength, they could already head-on crush the vast majority of mid-to-lower-tier teams.

The second reason is that BLG seems to have indeed found a style that suits them, and Scout also has the opportunity to play his favorite magic hyper-carries; everything seems to be developing in a flourishing direction.

The season rankings won't change much anymore, and the placements of the teams entering the playoffs are almost determined.

But everyone was still extremely enthusiastic about that match, which was deliberately scheduled for the last day!

On the eve of the match, Weibo hot searches dominated the list one after another.

All related topics had exploding traffic, fully displaying the hype surrounding the two teams!

The regular season finale.

EDG vs BLG — coming soon!

No apology today!

I'll write the match tomorrow, will try my best to write more, qaq

Thanks to the big boss Lianhua ED for the 100-coin tip!

Thanks to the brothers for the monthly tickets!

Thanks to the brothers for the support!

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(End of this chapter)