Chapter 82: The Factory Manager Wasn’t Like This Before!
In the EDG backstage lounge, when the screen showed WE’s base exploding, at that moment Abu and Kuaisu Xing were both extremely emotional.
“Nice! Well played, brothers!” Abu suddenly jumped up from his seat, vigorously waving his arms, his face beaming with a smile, then he quickly walked to the door, ready to welcome the triumphant players.
Kuaisu Xing the coach rubbed his hands vigorously, his face full of excitement and a smug “I knew it” expression, muttering nonstop: “I knew it! I knew it would have this effect when he picked Taliyah, he won’t let me down, Perfect!! Flawless!”
In the central settlement screen, Taliyah’s stats were 7-0-5, with an economy lead of over three thousand in the matchup, undoubtedly the MVP with no suspense at all!
“Did you see that, Abu manager!” Kuaisu Xing excitedly ran out with Abu, “This is why I insisted on him trying more roles, even heroes he hasn’t picked before, mainly his game understanding and rhythm-leading ability are phenomenal!”
“Truly phenomenal, this game’s rhythm, from laning to roaming, to skill releases in team fights, too perfect, I love this match so much!”
Abu nodded repeatedly, unable to stop the smile on his face, “Your vision is right, I was too conservative before, Li Fan is truly a treasure, because of his performance Ming Kai evolved, today’s Kha’Zix has that old flavor!”
After saying this, Abu’s thoughts seemed to drift back a few years, to the era when Clearlove dominated the jungle.
Through this match just now, he seemed to see again that infallible No Dao with perfect synergy in mid-jungle linkups.
At that moment, the players who won the match had already arrived at the lounge door through the player tunnel, and seeing the coach and Abu manager standing outside, they wondered why the two were standing there.
“Awesome, Li Fan, that mid lane positioning to dodge the skill and get double kill just now.” Abu first gave Clearlove, who was walking in front, a hug, then casually put his arm around Li Fan’s shoulder.
“Well played, everyone played well!” Kuaisu Xing immediately went up to greet them, patting each player’s back, “Especially mid-jungle, rhythm flying high, bot lane holding steady, top lane resilience also done very well.”
Then he walked directly to Li Fan’s side and said in accented Chinese: “Li, Very Good!”
Li Fan smiled and replied in English: “It’s because you did well in BP, coach, giving me space to perform.”
After a round of commercial mutual praise, the atmosphere in the lounge became even more harmonious.
He realized that practicing this English was not only good preparation for playing CS on EU servers, but also very useful for communicating with the coach like this.
“Alright alright, first game played beautifully, but BO3 we’ve only won one game, everyone calm down.” Abu clapped his hands to draw everyone’s attention.
“Kuaisu Xing coach, let’s simply prepare BP for the next game, WE will definitely adjust in the next one, especially mid lane, Xi Ye won’t be beaten down so easily, we can celebrate after securing the match victory.”
Hearing this, everyone restrained their smiles and got serious.
As Abu said, WE is a team with extremely strong resilience, they won’t collapse because of one loss.
Especially at this stage, this match also relates to the competition for first in group B next.
If EDG wins, first in group is still somewhat dependent on WE’s face, but if they lose, they won’t even have that.
Kuaisu Xing picked up the tactical board, his expression returning to seriousness: “Yes, next game we’re on red side, BP will be somewhat passive…”
Meanwhile, in WE’s lounge, the atmosphere was somewhat gloomy.
The crushing defeat in the first game weighed like a huge stone on everyone’s heart, especially Xi Ye whose mid lane collapsed, he was hanging his head with very low emotions.
Hong Mi the coach looked at the players and didn’t immediately lash out or do a harsh tactical review.
He knew that what the players needed most right now was confidence rebuilding, then he walked to Xi Ye’s side and patted his shoulder.
“Xi Ye, lift your head.” Hong Mi’s voice was gentle “The loss in the last game wasn’t your problem, we all underestimated the Unreal player.”
Then he looked at the other players: “His Taliyah proficiency far exceeded our expectations, our intel was wrong, that’s my responsibility, but in a BO3 match, losing the first game doesn’t mean it’s over.”
“Believe me, and believe in yourself, Su Hanwei! You’re one of the best mid laners in LPL, your laning ability, your carry ability, we’ve witnessed countless times.”
“What does just one game mean, next game, pick your most confident hero, show your due style, we will still win, because we are WE!”
Hong Mi’s tone was full of trust.
These words were like a warm current, Xi Ye’s complexion improved a lot, he took a deep breath, lifted his head, his eyes firm again: “I got it, next game, I’ll fight back.”
“Good!” Hong Mi nodded in satisfaction, then began arranging tactics, “Next game we’re on blue side, advantage in BP…”
“We can grab version strong picks, or target their standout points from last game, Kang Di, next game pay more attention to mid lane vision and protection, after helping Xi Ye establish advantage, we roll the snowball…”
“We are first in group now, holding it proves we have that strength.”
The brief rest time passed, both teams’ players returned to their seats.
“Welcome back, about to begin is the second game of EDG vs WE, currently EDG leads 1-0 temporarily!” Wa Wa’s voice echoed through the venue speakers.
“Yes, after a short break, let’s see what adjustments WE makes in the second game, especially mid laner Xi Ye, can he face the Unreal in top form? Unreal is absolutely the biggest surprise this season, the ability shown is extremely exaggerated.” Miller analyzed.
Rita continued Miller’s words: “And this game WE is back on blue side, with first pick rights, BP will be easier to handle, wonder if WE will change their initial tactical setup?”
The big screen showed the BP interface.
“Alright, second game BP officially begins, blue side WE, red side EDG!”
“WE first ban directly takes Taliyah who Unreal performed extremely well on last game! This choice isn’t surprising at all, after all the performance was just too good.”
“EDG this game bans Camille, sure enough EDG on red side has different tactics, didn’t let Camille through.”
“Indeed, when WE is on blue side, they also give top lane quite a bit of tactical tilt, I think banning Camille is no big issue.”
WE’s second and third ban positions went to Clearlove’s Jarvan IV and Li Fan’s Lucian.
In fact WE here also plays mid Lucian, paired with Maokai’s Ardent Censer system, this is their hidden trump card.
The idea is actually simple, planning to use it in more important matches.
But WE originally thought it might be used in the spring finals.
The result they didn’t expect… RNG was invincible in regular season for a whole season, yet got 3:0’d by them.
In the end this routine was pulled out in Mid-Season Invitational.
EDG’s second and third picks ban Kang Di’s Rengar and 957’s Kled.
WE first pick grabs jungler Lee Sin, sort of grab-ban.
EDG directly takes mid-jungle, Excavator and Ryze.
“Another new hero?” Wa Wa sounded shocked.
“Unreal is indeed an unfathomable professional player.”
Clearly no training records, yet keeps pulling out heroes from the champion pool.
You ban a Lucian and it doesn’t seem useful, his champion pool is really deep, hard to target.
WE continues grab-ban, Ashe Karma bot duo comes out first.
Confirm absolute suppression on bot lane, then leave top and mid positions.
Can see WE’s targeting is very obvious.
In this situation Kuaisu Xing doesn’t dare to gamble, hurriedly gives Zet Varus again.
If bot doesn’t come out first, second round BP bans it then no heroes left, bot lane pressure is still huge.
After all this is Mystic… Zet already had huge laning pressure last game, if not for Tahm Kench’s strong protection plus Taliyah occasionally pressuring bot, bot would have collapsed long ago.
This game clearly won’t be that simple.
WE definitely won’t give up this match easily.
Second round EDG first picks support Maokai…
Bot lane already totally shaped like it’s getting beaten, no choice, WE targeted bot in second round banning all resilient supports, Lulu, Tahm Kench.
So had to pick the tallest dwarf, Maokai.
Counter pick left for top laner Mouse…
But WE comes aggressively.
Locks in Card, top pulls out Fizz! This is top-tier operations and support play.
EDG hesitates a bit but picks Maokai to resilient against Fizz.
But honestly top Fizz still has a lot of threat.
After all ignite early game can easily kill Maokai whose tankiness isn’t enough yet.
Of course top Fizz and Ekko in LPL, only 957, Jin Gong, Long can pick them.
Others don’t have that tactical status.
This also shows from the side that these three have great mechanics.
Thus both lineups are confirmed.
Blue side WE: Top Fizz, jungler Lee Sin, mid Card, bot duo Ashe plus Karma.
Red side EDG: Top Maokai, jungler Excavator, mid Ryze, bot duo Varus with Maokai.
Of course, if EDG’s lineup gets ahead, the ability to end the game is very strong.
And in this game, Xi Ye’s summoner spell is Cleanse.
This patch Ryze W isn’t nerfed, direct use has 0.75 seconds of binding time, with E it can reach 2 seconds.
Afraid of Excavator and Ryze cooperation, if it disrupts their rhythm, that would be big trouble.
Bringing Cleanse is steady, might play a key role.
Level 1 Clearlove and Kang Di messing around in the river.
Karma and Ashe come to support, Clearlove turns and runs without looking back.
After all jungle 1v1 not scared, but if bot duo comes definitely can’t.
Thus both sides smoothly transition to laning phase.
But Li Fan has no ideas against Card with Cleanse.
Ryze unlikely to solo kill Card, but can take lane priority.
So now just need to push the wave, free up time to gank other lanes.
After all Card has long hands, not much pressure against Ryze.
Time to 3+ minutes, Clearlove’s Excavator after clearing bottom jungle, quietly arrives near mid lane.
“Chance? He has Cleanse, but can force it.” Clearlove said in voice chat.
Card has Cleanse, direct kill very hard, but if can force key skills, next wave easy.
“He’s positioning very carefully, always behind minion wave, hard to land W binding first.” Li Fan responded.
“Let’s try! I can force skill trades too.”
In the past Clearlove wouldn’t think like this…
It’s just recently Li Fan changed a lot of his ideas.
Excavator bursts from river bush, directly approaches Card.
Xi Ye sees Excavator appear, not panicked at first, because distance kept well, Excavator walking normally can’t reach him, retreats while preparing to swap cards.
This kind of coming from open sight is more deterrence, good thing he brought Cleanse.
But at this moment, Clearlove makes an unconventional move!
Excavator without warning directly flashes E tunnel into Flash.
Knocks up Card!
“Clearlove Flash Knock-up!” Miller’s voice instantly rises.
Xi Ye completely didn’t expect Clearlove to decisively Flash Knock-up him.
He has no desire to get knocked up.
Almost at the same time Clearlove knocks up Card, Li Fan’s Ryze moves!
Flash into EW!
Runes surge around Ryze, spell surge into Runic Binding instantly roots the just-landed Card in place again!
Although Xi Ye Cleanse’d instantly when controlled, removing the binding, but Ryze E attached effects and W initial damage already landed!
Li Fan follows with Overload, blue orb precisely hits Card!
Xi Ye breaks out in cold sweat, flashes back without looking back.
However, the instant he lands Flash, a burn damage number pops up!
It’s Excavator’s red buff slow and continuous burn!
Clearlove after knocking up maxes damage, auto attack applies red buff burn.
When both Ryze and Excavator max damage, this red buff burn is extremely lethal.
It’s this negligible burn damage that clears Card’s last sliver of health.
First Blood!
First Blood announcement echoes through the canyon again!
“Dead, Card burned to death by red buff… My god, Clearlove and Unreal’s cooperation, this mid-jungle linkup actually killed Card with Cleanse and Flash!” Wa Wa shouted excitedly.
“Xi Ye used Cleanse and Flash but still died, this hurts so much!” Miller’s tone full of regret.
On WE player bench, Xi Ye stared at his gray screen, mouth agape, speechless for a long time.
He thought bringing Cleanse was steady enough, didn’t expect opponent to initiate so aggressively.
Kang Di’s Lee Sin only then arrives mid, can only watch Excavator and Ryze leave, tearfully eats the mid minion wave.
“My bad… I didn’t expect him to E-Flash directly.” Xi Ye’s voice was low.
“No worries, hold steady, our lineup stronger late, and Ryze has no Flash now, I’ll gank soon, he’ll die for sure.” Kang Di though anxious inside, still comforted.
But this possibility actually isn’t high, because without Flash Ryze won’t push up aggressively, then Card’s yellow card can’t stun, his Lee Sin has no control, coming mid is purely to scare.
Mid lane has a crack again…
This game start isn’t going smoothly, Card’s rhythm broken.
But one thing is true, they are indeed stronger late.
