Chapter 69
Playing against weak teams and fielding rookies for practice was a common practice among powerhouse clubs.
It sounded quite disrespectful, but there was no helping it; esports was a world where strength reigned supreme.
HG wasn’t a powerhouse; it was a weak team. Therefore, Shen Yanjin had never been the one practicing; he had only ever been the one practiced upon. When playing against rookies, winning was expected, but losing would truly get you mocked as “pig skin.”
However, strictly speaking, he wasn’t a rookie, but a veteran. SYG’s condition wasn’t great to begin with, and as a new team, not many people would mock them if they lost, so they didn’t have that psychological burden.
Shen Yanjin, on the other hand, would be mocked for “hugging thighs” if he won, and if he lost, it would be even more miserableāhis entire household register might be cursed until it smoked.
Logically speaking, he didn’t have many Weibo followers, nor were his results particularly outstanding, but the anti-fans just had a special fondness for him. Whenever something related to him came up, they would absolutely flame him onto the trending search.
Shen Yanjin seriously suspected that his handful of fans might not care about him as much as this group of anti-fans did.
The interview with the previous team ended, and the host went on stage to introduce the teams for the next match.
SYG was introduced first. The reaction from below the stage was lukewarm, and these team members were evidently used to such a reaction. After bowing, they walked into their competition booth with their coach.
“Next up isā” Having sent off SYG, the female host began introducing the next team, her voice pitching up a few degrees, the smile on her face becoming even more sincere. “KW!”
Instantly, screams and cheers rose and fell like a tidal wave. The camera panned to the audience below; many peopleās faces were flushed red as they desperately waved the light-up signs in their hands.
It wasn’t much different from a celebrity holding a concert.
Holding the microphone, the female host began announcing the names of KW’s starting players for the first match one by one. With every name mentioned, the audience gave face by raising a crest of cheers.
Judging by the volume of cheers and the number of light boards, Duan Mingyue was the most popular, Kai and Lu Yuan were evenly matched, while Tans and Song Yuan were the lowest.
But even the lowest was still much stronger than the highest of other teams.
Comparison really kills people.
Even when Mao Qiude was introduced, there were people screaming for him.
But SYG had none.
How desolate.
It made Shen Yanjin involuntarily recall when he first entered the industry. It was the same then: the cheers for the enemy team were loud, but when it came to his side, it was as quiet as a library.
However, he didn’t feel much pity or sympathy in his heart. This was a path every esports player had to cross. If they couldn’t even withstand this bit of trouble, how could they handle the internet-wide blackening and endless ridicule after losing matches in the future?
Just a threshold, that’s all.
Clearly, in the eyes of KW fans and even passersby, SYG was just a small snack to KWāsomething to be eaten whenever, however they wanted. It was already in the bag.
But the situation in the first game slapped them hard in the face.
The members of SYG really had some tricks up their sleeves, especially their Mid laner and Jungler. Even placed in other powerhouse teams, they wouldn’t appear inferior in the slightest. Clearly, SYG’s condition wasn’t affected by others bad-mouthing them.
Shen Yanjin had watched videos of four games played by this new team last night. Although they lost all of them, there was improvement in every single game.
In terms of hard power, they couldn’t beat Kai and Duan Mingyue.
So they changed their strategy and started targeting the bot lane. To be more precise, they targeted Lu Yuan’s support position.
Lu Yuan took a character called “Vine” this game. The vines released could help teammates escape danger or bind enemies, but the character itself had extremely poor mobility and was very squishy. In a disadvantageous game, it was basically an ATM machine.
Generally speaking, Lu Yuan wouldn’t use this type of character. She preferred tank supportsādoing nothing, taking no blame.
But the opponent was SYG, a new team with little experience.
Always slacking and “not sticking to the pan” (taking no blame) would also attract criticism. Meeting a weak team, she still had to bring out a character she could show off with to prove her strength. Lu Yuan’s ability was average, yet she had been the “First Sister” in this circle for so long not just because of that face, but also because she had a natural sensitivity regarding public opinion.
If this could be counted as an art, then Lu Yuan was obviously a master of it.
But she definitely didn’t expect that SYG would play a targeting strategy.
They weren’t playing Jungle-Support, but Mid-Jungle. The Mid laner took a strong pushing character, willing to lose minions just to find space to roam. Every time they went bot, it was a four-man dive on two.
Generally, when teams dive bot lane, they choose to prioritize killing the AD to limit the carry’s growth.
But SYG set their primary target on Lu Yuan’s Vine. As long as Lu Yuan made a positioning error, the Jungler and Mid laner would jump out of the grass like ghosts.
Helplessly, Duan Mingyue was confined to the bot lane for most of the time. Vision in the river was fought over again and again. Kai frantically pinged “Miss” the moment he saw the opposing Mid was missing.
But SYG didn’t reason with you. Regardless of whether you knew I was bot, I was squatting here anyway. If you have the guts, don’t ever come out.
Lu Yuan and Tans contributed five deathsāthree from Lu Yuan, two from Tans. The opposing Jungler took one head, the Support took two.
However, the opposing Jungle and Support were blue-collar tools; it didn’t matter if they died. Moreover, the five kills they took were distributed perfectly, concentrated in the hands of their carries.
The Jungler rarely went top. SYG’s Top laner couldn’t beat Song Yuan, but it didn’t matter; he could eat jungle monsters to supplement his farm.
On the contrary, Kai was in a bit of a dilemma. Bot lane was constantly being dived, forcing him to roam bot continuously as well, causing him to lose quite a few minions.
By the mid-game team fights, Lu Yuan’s Vine was too poorly developed to initiate. She would be instantly deleted if she went in. SYG’s Jungle and Support willingly acted as tools, their Top lane was tanky enough, and their Mid and Bot were much fatter than Kai and Tans. After the team fight, KW actually fell into a disadvantage.
This development exceeded everyone’s expectations.
The camera panned to Lu Yuan. She couldn’t keep up the act anymore; her face was pale, and there was anger between her brows.
Shen Yanjin raised an eyebrow.
SYG could be considered a blind cat meeting a dead mouse. Lu Yuan hadn’t recovered from the blow dealt by Duan Mingyue and Shen Yanjin yet. Who knows, she might be stabbing voodoo dolls and cursing every night, or maybe she had already called her parents but was persuaded to give up instead.
She was feeling bad inside, and her condition had declined severely along with it. Now being targeted like this, it would be strange if her mentality didn’t collapse.
The more her mentality collapsed, the worse her mechanics became, and the easier she was to kill.
The more she was killed, the more her mentality collapsed.
A vicious cycle.
After seeing Lu Yuan die in the jungle for the eighth time, Shen Yanjin felt there was no need to watch anymore. He lowered his head and opened Weibo.
Uniform cursing.
The top-rated comment: [With this gameplay, was Lucida infected by Sliver? Straight into the hospital, she belongs.]
Shen Yanjin: [ . ]
Sitting at home, yet the pot (blame) comes from the sky.
Although I didn’t play, it doesn’t stop me from being flamed.
Used to it.
But Lu Yuan was clearly not used to it.
The kill score came to SYG 21 to KW 10. At twenty-seven minutes, this was considered quite a bloody match.
Lu Yuan’s mentality had completely collapsed, to the point where even the commentators could tell.
However, she had too many fans, and speaking carelessly would lead to being blasted. Therefore, Commentator A just smiled and said, “Oh my, no one could have expected such a situation during the pre-match predictions, right? Could it be that SYG, this new team, is going to pull an upset and take their first victory from the Champion KW?”
Commentator B analyzed the data: “The gold difference between the two teams has reached six thousand seven. As far as I know, it’s not like KW hasn’t turned the tables under such a deficit. It’s just that now, with both the tier-2 mid and bot towers down, vision can’t be established, and they dare not enter the jungle. Resources have been stripped clean by SYG. Letting SYG continue to snowball like this will only widen the gap.”
“That’s right. Oh my, KW’s support Vine was killed again passing through the mid-lane bush,” Commentator A said. “The opposing Mid laner Lily, having eaten her fill of gold, has virtually turned into a support killer. Any support will be melted instantly in her hands.”
“Kai has also been killedālooks like this Baron is gone.”
“Not necessarily. Don’t forget Moon God is still on the field,” Commentator A laughed. “Moon God has a nickname at Worlds: Dragon Tamer. KW has turned around many disadvantageous games relying on a Baron or Elder Dragon steal.”
But Lu Yuan’s condition was too poor, and the situation for the others wasn’t optimistic either. Even if they got the Baron, the chances of turning the tables were very slim.
Both commentators knew this in their hearts, they just didn’t say it out loud.
Commentator B said, “Moon God is already waiting outside the dragon pit. He has Flash. If this Baron is stolen, KW’s dual carries still have a chance to stall for penetration items. In that case, they would have the strength to fight, and a comeback is really possible.”
“Two thousand, one thousandāah! Smite falls, whose is it?”
“Oh my god, Moon God really stole it! As expected of the Dragon Tamer! And he didn’t Flash over the wall; he used a skill to cross the wall and Flashed to escape! He even got away, can you believe it?”
“Wow, SYG’s mentality has exploded. Working as laborers for someone else, and that person ate it all clean without payingāthat’s just too much. Okay, let’s watch the replay of this play.”
In the replay, Duan Mingyue’s character lightly vaulted over the dragon pit wall, auto-attacked with Smite, easily secured the Baron, and before SYG could react, Flashed into the jungle and ran away.
Even through the TV, Shen Yanjin could hear the overwhelming cheers in the venue.
This play was indeed spectacular.
But…
“Too late,” Mao Qiude sighed.
Yes, this Baron was taken too late.
If the first Baron had been stolen, the situation would have been completely different.
But in the first Baron fight, Lu Yuan’s Vine made a huge mistake, failing to release skills to help Duan Mingyue escape the encirclement, and died herself.
With both Jungle and Support gone, they naturally lost the ability to engage and steal the dragon.
That wave gave SYG too much gold. Now with the equipment advantage, it had reached a point almost impossible to bridge with mechanics.
And it didn’t matter that this Baron was lost; SYG could turn around and take the Elder Dragon. This time, Duan Mingyue naturally couldn’t steal it again.
With the Elder Dragon buff, SYG pushed down KW’s nexus towers. In the final team fight, KW tried their best and traded for three SYG members, but SYG still had their Mid and Top left to demolish KW’s base.
A huge upset.
KW actually lost to SYG.
The camera panned to KW’s expressionless captain. Shen Yanjin’s hand unconsciously gripped the hem of his uniform tightly.
He had a hunch.
Duan Mingyue knew long ago that this game would be lost.
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