Chapter 28: This Kind of Hero Can Go on Stage? Not Going 0-10 Would Be Good Enough…
“So that’s how it is. Logically, the work of selecting second-team sub players should be left to an assistant coach, but our team…” Manager Li sighed with emotion. “It’s also troublesome for Coach Zuo to have to act as both father and mother—”
Zuo Chi was just about to say “the cubs are all quite well-behaved,” when he suddenly heard Ning Luzhao speak: “How about I be the one to contact him.”
“You?” Zuo Chi was confused. “You have to train all the time; where would you find the time to handle this…”
“Isn’t Coach even busier? Not only do you have to lead our training, but you also have to study every team’s playstyle to explain it to us.”
He couldn’t find words to refute for a moment. Ning Luzhao naturally handed him his phone: “Coach, push his contact to me. I’ll be responsible for contacting him in the future.”
He emphasized those last few words slightly.
Leave it to Ning Luzhao… the other party was indeed quite a suitable candidate. For one, he was serious in his work and wouldn’t be the type to take on a task only to neglect it. Secondly, he had stage experience and could even teach that trainee some things during their daily communication.
He nodded in agreement: “Alright… let’s not talk about that for now; supplementing the second team is something for much later. Our priority now is to properly handle tonight’s match against LTY.”
“Mm.”
Fugui patted his chest: “Coach Zuo, just leave it to us! We’re fine!”
Finishing the styling, waiting for entry in the backstage lounge, the players going to the match venue in sequence to check equipment…
Zuo Chi stood in the waiting area, looking through a wooden door at the players’ backs and the corner of the spectator stands that appeared in his vision—even though it was just a corner, the seats were packed with people. The wave of sound cheering for the teams made his ears almost unable to hear anything else.
The last time he came here, he was still a spectator, queuing for ticket checks among the crowd, looking for his seat number in the massive stadium. He was one of those thousands of spectators.
But now, he was standing in the waiting area, wearing VEX’s team uniform, waiting for the match to officially start to go up to the players’ side to do the BP and early-game deployment.
Commentator A: “Welcome everyone to the match venue of the Arena Professional League Twentieth Spring Split Group Stage!!!”
“Today is the match for Group Six, LTY vs. VEX. LTY stayed in the Top-8 throughout last year and is still the same five-man squad this year, with no roster changes. As for VEX, although they didn’t advance to the knockout stages last year, they have a new head coach this year and have undergone a roster rebuild around their jungler, Land.”
Commentator B: “Yes! Wall and Beyond from the original ZAP second team joined VEX during the transfer period, along with two new rookies, Million and Sea. I wonder what kind of chemical reaction will be produced at VEX.”
“We are also very much looking forward to LTY presenting a more outstanding side than in the Autumn Split after this period of training!” The commentator’s voice gradually grew excited. “Without further ado, let’s enter the first game of LTY vs. VEX! Please, coaches of both sides, enter the stage!!!”
Zuo Chi took a deep breath and slowly walked out of the waiting area toward the match venue where the players were.
The match venue was at the front of the spectator stands, consisting of two rooms, one on the left and one on the right, surrounded by transparent soundproof glass. A long table was placed inside each room, and the players sat in a row before the table, facing the spectator stands.
Behind the match venue was the stadium’s big screen, where the match footage would be projected in real-time.
“LTY’s coach is someone I believe everyone is already very familiar with. VEX’s Coach Zuo Chi is leading a team for the first time; he looks very young—Eh? Coach Zuo Chi, you seem to have gone the wrong way. The match venue is up the stairs, but you’re heading toward the spectator stands!”
Walking along the corridor, Zuo Chi was stunned to hear the voice coming from the speakers, and he instinctively looked up toward the match venue where the players were.
It was a bit far, and the players were shielded by their computers, so he could barely see anything, but the big screen in the back was perfectly clear.
He went the wrong way? He was wondering why he’d been walking for so long and still hadn’t reached the match venue.
He thick-headedly turned around and caught a glimpse of the cubs’ faces projected on the big screen.
The sound inside the match venue wouldn’t carry outside, so only the cubs’ mouth movements and hand gestures could be seen.
Fugui’s mouth was moving extremely fast, as if he were trying hard to give him directions.
Wall was checking equipment nearby and hadn’t noticed him.
Beyond was covering his mouth and snickering.
Wu Yang stood up, his hand pointing relentlessly.
Zuo Chi walked while looking seriously—he couldn’t read the lip movements, nor could he understand where Wu Yang was pointing. Finally, he looked at Ning Luzhao.
Ning Luzhao was turned sideways, seemingly communicating with the match referee behind him. After a few words, the referee left the match venue, and in less than half a minute, he saw the youth’s silhouette not far ahead in the corridor.
[This new VEX coach is too unreliable. To go the wrong way while going up for the BP—in all the years the league has been running, he’s the first!]
[Did you guys hear what the commentator said? ‘Rebuilt around Land.’ In my view, the fact that this coach didn’t sell Land during the transfer period already shows he has no skill.]
[There’s a reason Land could stay as a starter. Look, only he knew to go out and pick up his lost coach. If his skill were even half as high as his skill in ‘bootlicking’ the coach, VEX wouldn’t have gone out in the first round every time last year.]
[Are you guys still watching this match? There’s no suspense at all. The prediction ratio in the livestream is already dozens to one, all predicting LTY will win.]
[There’s no suspense, but you can guess the score. I guess a clean sweep, 2:0.]
[Then I’ll give VEX’s Wall some face; 2:1.]
[Wall is old too. Do you think he’s still in his peak from two years ago?]
Zuo Chi quickened his pace and followed Ning Luzhao into the match venue. Fortunately, there was a reserved period before entering the BP, so it wouldn’t cause a match delay just because he got lost.
“Coach Zuo, how did you even walk toward the spectator stands?”
“I walked for a bit after leaving the waiting area, and I saw two forks in front of me…”
“Is Coach nervous because it’s your first time at a match venue?” Ning Luzhao returned to his seat, his slender fingers picking up the headset on the desk to put it back on.
During a match, they all needed to communicate through headsets. The voices of the fans on-site and the commentators couldn’t be heard.
Zuo Chi also picked up the coach’s headset and said honestly: “I am a bit nervous—Fugui, what are you laughing at? I can see the number displayed on your heart rate monitor on your wrist; your heart rate is already at 140.”
Fugui: “…That’s because I’m excited!”
Wu Yang: “I’m d-d-efinitely n-n-ot e-e-xcited. I’m n-n-ervous.”
The heart rates of the few rookies were very fast, basically none were below 120. Beyond’s hands were slightly shaking as he adjusted his keyboard.
There had been cases on the stage before where players fainted because their emotions fluctuated too much. Since then, professional first-aid equipment had been arranged at the match venues.
“We’re about to enter the BP. If you’re nervous, think about the scenes from our training these past few days—deploy for dragon fights in advance, don’t panic during ‘macro’ play in a losing game, don’t get over-excited while pushing high ground in a winning game, and the support and solo-lane should check brushes and keep an eye on flanks.”
Wall reached out and patted the shoulders of the marksman and mid-laner beside him: “It’s fine. Just listen to the commands from Land and me in-game. Actually, a match is about the same as a training match; there are just more people on-site. Don’t think of the spectators as people; just think of them as minions or siege minions in the game.”
Zuo Chi gave a few more reminders, and a minute later, the first game officially entered the BP interface.
Team LTY could consistently stay in the Top-8 because they were very good at the “Four-Protect-One” hyper-carry marksman system. However, they could only stop at Top-8 because other than that system, they played everything else quite poorly.
In a BO3, there were many systems that could be used. Zuo Chi first banned one of the hyper-carry marksmen LTY’s marksman was best at, then banned a currently meta-strong protective support hero.
They were a newly formed team, and other teams had nothing to study about them except for training matches. LTY likely wasn’t clear about what system they were going to take, so they first banned two assassin junglers that easily threatened the backline.
Fugui picked the hero at slot one: “Coach Zuo, what do we pick first?”
“For the first game, play what you’re best at. First, pick ‘Moon Phase’ for Wu Yang.”
“Moon Phase,” an assassin-mage with gap-closers, was one of the mid-lane heroes Wu Yang had the highest proficiency with.
LTY locked in a strong late-game marksman-support combination.
Zuo Chi then picked “Skeleton Duke” for Fugui: “Ban mid-laners with fast wave-clear and good rotations—the remaining three bans all go to mid-lane.”
As three mid-lane heroes were banned, it became very difficult for LTY’s mid to choose a hero that paired well with the marksman-support duo.
The commentator’s tone was somewhat surprised: “It seems Coach Zuo Chi’s research on LTY was very thorough. LTY’s mid doesn’t have many good choices now and can only turn to picking strong side-laners and junglers.”
Commentator B added: “True. LTY’s mid likes to rotate to the bottom lane to support the marksman and support. If the mid-lane hero is counter-picked, supporting will become very difficult—however, VEX should be careful. LTY might fiercely target Land’s hero pool.”
Just as the commentator finished speaking, LTY sent three more assassin junglers to the ban list.
[When an opponent uses five bans all on the same position, then that position is either the ‘thigh’ (carry) of the team or the ‘weak link.’]
[Which one is Land? It’s really hard to guess~]
[VEX looks like they want to take a gap-closing initiation comp to crush LTY in the early-to-mid game. The idea is beautiful, but the problem is that LTY’s specialty is using ‘Four-Protect-One’ to handle gap-closing comps. Once it drags to the late game, LTY’s marksman will be invincible.]
“Land, they’re targeting you a bit.” Zuo Chi looked at the five greyed-out assassin junglers on the ban list and raised an eyebrow.
Even though he had considered what hero could be taken if the opponent used all five bans on one position…
He truly hadn’t expected to encounter such a situation in the very first game of the group stage.
After picking an initiation support for Wall and an anti-pressure marksman who could survive on his own for Beyond, only the position for Land’s hero was left unlocked.
The countdown for the BP phase appeared on the screen.
“What kind of jungler hero will Coach Zuo Chi give to Land? All the common junglers good at shutting down marksmen are already on the ban list!”
A few seconds later, on the last empty slot for VEX on the screen, a hero’s avatar was displayed.
[????]
[Can this kind of ‘bottom-tier/underworld’ hero go on professional matches now?]
[The coach who picked this jungler must be off his rocker.]
[Land is going to be beaten until he’s ‘0-10’ (over-ghost) this game by LTY. If VEX can win this game, I’ll become their fan!]
[Holy crap! The sacrifice from the person above is too big! But with this hero out, VEX can’t win even a little bit.]
Translator’s Note:
Hey guys! Hope you’re enjoying the story. Things are getting intense as we head into the first official match! Here are some terms from these chapters:
- Non-salable / Not for Sale (非賣品): This is a term used in sports/esports to describe a “franchise player” who is core to the team and won’t be traded.
- State Banquet (國宴) & Downing Rice (下飯): In Chinese gaming slang, a “dish-serving play” (xiafan) is a play so bad it’s funny. A match between two bad teams is jokingly called a “state banquet” of these plays because you’ll be “fed full” of them.
- Rituals (做法): Gamers sometimes joke about “casting spells” or performing rituals for good RNG luck.
- Woodfish (木魚): You might have seen the “Virtual Woodfish” memes. It’s used to “accumulate merit” and is a joke about praying for better luck in games.
- Underworld / Bottom-tier Hero (下水道英雄): Literally “sewer hero.” It refers to heroes that are currently very weak in the game meta, often having low win rates or being easily countered.
- Over-ghost (超鬼): This refers to a player dying many times (usually 8 or 10) without getting a single kill, effectively making them “worse than a ghost” for their team.
See you in the next one!
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