Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Xiao Bei felt resentment and hatred building up in his heart, the call from Sun Liang had completely angered him. Sitting on the chair in front of the competition gaming console, he became increasingly agitated on Yu Luocheng’s behalf.
The final round was about to begin. They couldn’t let Team Sky win, no matter what! A scummy team like them was not worthy of representing the Republic of China at Worlds!
***
Coming from a mobile phone, Sun Liang’s voice echoed through the waiting room, “Boss… Xiao Bei didn’t agree to the deal.”
Though his call was connected, Sun Liang could hear that his boss was on another call with the Samsung representative, so he stayed on the line and waited.
Holding another mobile phone in his hand, Xu Pingyang was speaking into it, while keeping a humble smile on his face.
“Don’t worry. Relax. As a sort of coach myself, I understand what they’re doing. Team Skycrown is not weak and they have good tactics. They were just testing their strength during the earlier rounds, as they’re likely to encounter them in future competitions. In this fifth round, our Team Sky will not hold anything back and give it their all. You don’t have to worry,” he said.
“Yes, yes…thank you for your constant interest in our Team Sky. Of course, it’s been a pleasure working with you…”
As soon as his call with Samsung was over, he immediately picked up the other mobile phone to talk to Sun Liang.
“What did you say just now?” asked Xu Pingyang coldly.
“Xiao Bei didn’t take the deal,” replied Sun Liang.
Xu Pingyang screamed into the phone, “Motherf*cker, you couldn’t even do something small like that properly!”
Sun Liang didn’t dare defend himself or even say anything in response to the scolding. He just kept his resentment to himself. Just a few seconds ago, his boss was talking so nicely to someone else on the phone, and now here he was, scolding the sh*t out of Sun Liang!
“I can’t save him anymore. Just f*ck off and do as I instructed earlier. D*mn you, making me do all the work myself,” said Xu Pingyang angrily.
“Understood,” replied Sun Liang.
***
“Now, players from both sides have taken their places and we’re heading into the banning phase. Looks like everyone present here can’t wait to know the outcome of this game,” said Hei Hei.
Xi Ling continued, saying, “I’m curious, which champions will Team Sky ban for this round? Firstly, definitely Jax. Team Skycrown’s Lone Gull is simply a boss at using Jax, and Team Sky can’t bring him down, no matter how strong they are.
“Xiao Bei cannot be allowed to use Vayne either, the last match was filled with screams because of him. This is the first time I’ve seen a player being able to use Vayne so skillfully, from the damage output and repositioning, to the dodging and pinning to the wall. It was all like a fantastic dance between enemies.”
“That’s right, I was really stunned speechless… oh, as expected, Jax is the first champion to be banned by Team Sky, closely followed by Vayne. It’s obvious that their lineup selection doesn’t include a champion that can control Vayne. If they were to let Xiao Bei use Vayne under these circumstances, this match will end the same way as the previous round,” said Hei Hei as he watched the screen.
After banning Jax and Vayne, Team Sky still had one ban left, and they decided to use it to remove the only threat left to their lineup—Lee Sin.
***
“Team Sky seems to be going all out with their most powerful lineup.”
“Their first pick is actually Kennen!”
“After Kennen was buffed and played at top lane, he is so loved by countless players in our country, and his golden partner… ah, we just said that and Team Sky has already proceeded to pick her—Scorn of the Moon, Diana!”
When Diana was first released, she was a very popular champion because her Q damage was super high. After they nerfed her, Diana’s pick rate had decreased.
But the Koreans had developed a new way to play her, which is by building Abyssal Scepter and Zhonya’s Hourglass. With such a build, Diana’s magic resistance and armor were very high. Adding on a barrier, she was basically a very tank melee mage.
First, use Diana’s Lunar Rush to rush in, followed by her E to pull the enemies to her. Then, when all fire is on her, activate Zhonya’s. And finally, use Lunar Rush again to disengage. When coupled together with Kennen’s ulti that’s full of CC, the burst damage would be terrifying!
Team Sky had already worked on perfecting this tactical lineup for some time.
At first, they wanted to keep this secret weapon for a little longer, but seeing how they were currently two to two against Team Skycrown, they had to pull out all the stops!
The key of this lineup was not Kennen, but in fact Diana. Her skill release to pull in their enemies required very precise timing and accurate control. With such an important role being played by Xie Yang, Team Sky would be able to completely become monsters at level six.
Meanwhile, since most of their best champions had been banned, Team Skycrown wasn’t making their picks based on synergy.
Xiao Bei picked Ezreal, as they couldn’t afford to let their opponents take such a champion. Facing so many gap closure skills, only Ezreal would be able to get himself out of any sticky situations.
More importantly, the combination of Kennen and Diana was already terrifying. If they added on Ezreal’s ulti, Team Skycrown would be destroyed.
Team Skycown’s lineup was also focused on team fights. Da Luo at the top lane had picked Kha’zix, and Lin Dong had taken Karthus. Jungler was Jarvan and Support was Sona.
The key in this lineup was Kha’zix.
Either Sona or Jarvan would initiate the fight, letting Karthus rush in to sucide and activate his ulti. Once a sufficient damage output was reached, Kha’zix would come in to clean up everything, taking the bounties.
At the same time, there was another reason why they picked Ezreal as their ADC. With this kind of lineup, there wasn’t really any champion who was able to protect the ADC. The ADC would need to find his own position to shoot, and the expected precision in controlling the ADC was also very high.
***
Entering the loading screen, each team’s lineup showed their attitude to some extent.
It was kill or be killed!
At level one, there was high tension on both sides when they met in the jungle, their skills were flying everywhere. The players of both teams were very aware of their health and damage, they used Flash in a timely manner to escape.
“What a bloody battle, yet no one has died!”
“It’s clear that they want to kill each other, but they’re also still trying to maintain the vigour that they’ll need for the final game.”
“Team Sky has some sense of accomplishment, they are after all the top team in our country. What astounds me is that Team Skycrown—who was formed just a little over half a year ago—can in fact hold their own against such a top-tier team. To be honest, I can’t believe that they really are a bunch of scattered non-professional amateurs who came together to form a team,” said Hei Hei.
In a professional competition, it wasn’t just all about strength, it was also an ongoing psychological game.
Team Skycrown was mentally strong, they were in no way inferior to any of the top professional teams in that sense. If you didn’t know for a fact that they were a new team, watching these two teams on stage almost felt like watching Team Daemons playing against Team Sky!
Is it possible that Team Skycrown will completely stand out this year and join the ranks of the top teams? China would now have three top teams, instead of two.
***
Both teams have entered into their laning phase.
This time, neither side swapped lanes, and the host kept focusing the camera onto the bottom lane.
As usual, the bottom lane was peaceful, as it was a lane that seldom had fights breaking out. The vision at the bottom lane was bright, and the Jungler didn’t have a reason to waste his time trying to gank it.
The ADC farm was also important for both sides, no mistakes could be tolerated. Battles between ADCs have always been more cautious than other battles.
In a situation where you still have Flash and Barrier, it wasn’t so simple for a fellow professional player to be able to kill their opponent in the beginning or secure a flashy kill.
However, compared to the previous games, the bottom lane was not as peaceful as usual.
The laning phase had long-since started, and the ADC and Support on both sides were constantly at each other’s throats. You could see that Xiao Bei’s Ezreal didn’t hesitate to go past the minion line as long as his AQ could land a hit on his opponent Graves.
Was he being so aggressive because Sona had the skill to recover health? In that case, a strong ADC should first calculate how much health Sona would be able to recover for him before attacking, not try to fight his opponent to the death before even getting to level two!
Both Supports have already used Exhaust, and with the next minion wave being cleared, Xiao Bei’s Ezreal once again jumped in.
He was just asking for a fight!
Guan Langjie, Team Sky’s ADC, was also getting frustrated. His Graves wasn’t at all afraid of Xiao Bei’s Ezreal.
Both sides had only half their health bars left, and they launched their skills at the same time.
The difference was that Xiao Bei pressed E the moment he launched a basic attack, activating his Arcane Shift into the bush beside him.
Boom!
The three bullets from Graves’ Q missed completely, and Xiao Bei’s homing bolt from his E landed on Graves.
Graves was standing in between the minions. What made him flustered was the fact that this Ezreal’s Arcane Shift was so accurate, the homing bolt had gone right between the two minions and landed directly on him!
Guan Langjie knew that in terms of skills, he had lost. Looking at his barely remaining health, he hurriedly beat a retreat.
Xiao Bei didn’t intend to let Graves go and sloppily chased after him.
Once!
Twice!
The opponent Zyra was also consistently bringing down Xiao Bei’s health with her basic attacks, and even the minions were attacking his Ezreal.
However, Xiao Bei remained indifferent to these matters and only had eyes for Graves!
Graves didn’t dare to turn his back so easily. Seeing that his health was already very low, he hurriedly pressed Flash.
Guan Lanjie knew very well that both sides had already used Barrier during the previous level one team fight. He didn’t understand where this Ezreal found the fire in him to chase after him so crazily, all while bearing the damage from minions and Zyra’s basic attacks.
Bamf!
Graves Flashed behind the minion line.
And at the same moment that Graves pressed Flash, it seemed like Xiao Bei pressed his at the same time too.
You can’t tell whether it was a coincidence or planned, but this Flash not only beautifully avoided Zyra’s Q, but also repositioned Ezreal so that there were no minions in between him and Graves!
Pew!
His arms stretched out and a bolt of energy shot out in a line.
Mystic Shot!
The bolt of energy flew straight ahead, towards the position where Graves Flashed into.
Graves was stunned, he didn’t imagine that this guy could follow up with a Flash so quickly. He unconsciously moved to avoid this forty five degree angle shot.
However, this Mystic Shot was a little devious. As though it had calculated the fact that he would want to move back to avoid it, the bolt was instead aimed at one step behind Graves, which is where he was headed!
First Blood!
Immediately after killing Graves, Xiao Bei was set on fire by the minions surrounding him.
In order to keep up with Xiao Bei, Wu Sen had also Flashed forward to heal him as best he could. He then attacked Zyra zealously, taking the aggro by the minions away from Xiao Bei.
Xiao Bei managed to escape with the little health he had left!
The entire audience was enthralled and captured by this thrilling performance.
