“That was refreshing!” Da Ming could not help but exclaim when the door to their room closed. “The feeling of picking any heroes to play is simply too awesome!”

“Be softer,” Da Qing quickly slapped a hand over his mouth, looking around for Lian before remembering Lian was not around as he got banned for fighting. “Lian’s not here? But isn’t he supposed to be here even though he’s not playing?”

Xiao Ruo nodded, a little gloomy, “Yeah, but he was unwilling to spectate, I can’t tie him up either. Speaking of which, you only realized he’s not here after two games?”

Ling Chen was embarrassed, “I really didn’t. When we came, we were busy discussing hero comps with the missy. Today’s hero comps were all because she enlightened us.”

It was Yu Yue who told them that LZ did not like to use heroes who were released half a year ago. She recommended using the new heroes to catch them off guard if possible.

Hence, the birth of the Chang’e core.

Before today, everyone, including Ling Chen, did not know that Lu Qi knew how to play Chang’e.

But when Lu Qi picked her, they unconditionally believed he could play her well.

Just like believing that Yu Yue could play Shieldun well.

“Today’s two games seem to be going smoothly?” Xiao Ruo smiled, “It’s been a long time since you came back being this happy.”

“It’s really smooth!” Da Ming was unusually excited. “Did you know it is our first time playing so carefreely? We can pick any heroes to play with!”

Outsiders always said JK’s mid laner had a shallow hero pool, limiting JK’s overall strength. However, those who fought in the previous season like Da Qing and Da Ming all knew that the one with a shallow hero pool did not just include the mid laner, it also included the support. In fact, compared to the mid laner, the support had a much bigger problem.

If Lu Qi’s hero pool decided the upper limit of JK, then Lian’s hero pool decided the lower limit of JK.

Lu Qi knew how to play fortress mages, but lost all the matches in the previous when he took them out. It was not that he could not play, it was that there was no one protecting him. A squishy fortress mage with no protection and vision would be targeted by the enemy, just like today’s Chang’e, dying before even joining the team fight.

Damage? 

Under these conditions, who could still deal damage? Having a good support is too important.

Ten minutes of rest time passed in an instant, and soon someone came to knock on JK’s door, asking them to get ready for the next game.

Xiao Ruo did not have time to say much and patted Lu Qi’s shoulder, saying, “You’ve worked hard.”

“Not hard at all.” Lu Qi did not even blink, looking lazy in the vibrant afternoon sunlight. “I had a great time playing. I finally don’t have to rely on mage assassins to carry the game.”

People always say that Lu Qi’s mage assassins were incredibly strong, shining on the stage with the support of Lian’s Gui Guzi. But to Lu Qi personally, he did not just know how to play mage assassins.

He just needed protection when playing other mages. However, Lian could not provide that kind of protection at all.

“The current meta favors the side laners, and the difficulty of carrying as a mage has increased significantly compared to before,” Lu Qi said slowly. “That’s why we lost all the way during the regular season. Everyone’s gameplay was fine, it’s just clear that Eden is more suitable for our team than Lian.”

“The most suitable is the best,” Da Qing also chimed in. “Well then, let’s go!”

Putting aside personal factors, Eden was really more suitable for this team.

As they sat back on the competition stage, Yu Yue clearly heard the louder cheers from the audience, chanting “Go, JK!”

Captain Lu opened a water bottle while saying, “Let’s try to win and end this round quickly and go eat hot pot. Let’s not drag it for one more round..”

The BO5 format was a huge test for someone like him who lacked patience.

The coach who had not come out during the break came out at this time and gave Lu Qi a fierce glare, “LZ is a veteran and experienced team with much more experience in matches. You’ve already fooled them in two rounds, it would be strange if you beat them again. Underestimating the enemy like this, be careful of losing too ugly later.”

The people from JK mischievously smiled and focused with difficulty.

The match will be recorded once it starts, and if they say something bad now, they have to be careful not to become the star of the Exploding Mic.

At the end of the second round, the commentators seemed to have padded the duration by using the Exploding Mic, broadcasting the segment of the relegation match between JK and PS, which was why some of JK’s fans are now going crazy, shouting Yu Yue’s name and cheering for Eden.

“I finally got to play a match after so long, I can’t lose!”

That was what Yu Yue had said at that time.

During the match, the young lady spoke very little, even her expressions were minimal, just like Lu Qi. This was probably the most emotional sentence she said in that round, and it still lingered in Da Qing and Da Ming’s minds.

Once again, they had to draw lots.

LZ banned first again.

When Lu Qi came back, there were whispers in the team’s voice chat, “Did you wash your face today, Qi Ge? The other side has been picking heroes first for three rounds.”

“Winners don’t care about who picks heroes first,” Lu Qi said. “Anyway, with our current hero pool, even if they had eight ban slots, it wouldn’t be enough for them.”

After personally experiencing a defeat using Chang’e core, LZ no longer thought Chang’e was strong. They banned two mage assassins: Shangguan Wan’er and Mai Shiranui.

They really could not afford to let Shangguan Wan’er out, as for Mai Shiranui — —

“If it’s to target Qi Ge, then they really wasted a ban slot. Qi Ge plays Mai Shiranui like someone who doesn’t know any better^[1]A word play:不知火舞 & 不知好歹, very trashy,” Da Qing said.

Yu Yue could not help but chuckle, but when Lu Qi glared at her, she immediately pretended to be serious, with a look of ‘I don’t know anything’.

It soon came to JK’s turn to ban heroes. Da Qing asked, “What should we ban? What do you think LZ is going to play?”

“When in doubt, ban Shieldun,” Da Ming said.

This hero was really unfriendly to marksmen, blocking projectiles from them, it was very annoying.

“Da Qiao is also very strong. Should I request eight ban slots for you guys to ban all the strong heroes?” Lu Qi lazily said.

“It would be better to have eighty ban slots,” Da Ming thought seriously, “Pick our favorite heroes and ban everything else, so they have no heroes to choose from.”

The captain’s trademark knock-on-the-head appeared on Da Ming’s forehead, followed by Lu Qi’s gnashing his teeth, “If you have that ability, why don’t you ascend to heaven and stand shoulder to shoulder with the sun?”

Da Ming covered his forehead and aggrievedly said, “Okay, stop hitting me, I’ll become stupid if you keep doing this.”

Da Qing looked at the time and said, “What should we play? Jungle core? Side shooter? or Mid-Jungle-Support comp?”

“Don’t ban any of the new heroes,” Ling Chen calmly said, “This year’s heroes, Zhu Bajie, Chang’e, and Yao, are not worth wasting ban slots, they don’t know how to play them.”

Yu Yue: “They already picked Chang’e in the last round and got destroyed, so it’s highly likely they won’t pick her again.”

“We can try taking them,” Da Qing said, “Zhu Bajie’s very strong right now.”

“Ban Shieldun,” Lu Qi said, “This hero is too annoying.”

“Okay.” Da Qing swiftly banned Shieldun, “Then?”

“Pan Gu.” Da Ming said, “How about we try side shooter this round? It is strong in this meta, Qi Ge, don’t play mage assassins this round, try Jungler Core or side shooter.”

Both Jungler Core and side shooter were afraid of Pan Gu.

His disarming skill often caused headaches for others.

Unsure if their opponents knew how to play him, they’ll just ban him anyway.

In the first round of picking, LZ chose Jiang Ziya. JK responded with Marco Polo and Lu Bu.

It seemed like they had no intention of countering LZ.

Pekingese’s heart was pounding, “What are they planning?”

The bizarre BP from JK in the previous two rounds left a deep impression on him, and now when he saw JK picking all sorts of heroes, he felt anxious, as if their own jungle had already been raided by JK.

“Pick Luna and Gui Guzi,” He Jian said. “Luna can jungle, plus Gu Guzi is very strong. During team fights, a pull from him can help Luna quickly mark the enemies.”

“Nakoruru would be better, right? For jungle core, this meta Nakoruru would be better, coordinating with Gui Guzi can kill off squishies with one combo,” Their coach suggested.

After flashing several times, JK’s third hero finally settled on a very familiar hero:

Chang’e.

He Jian took a sharp breath, while the young man next to him, Xi Xi, could not help but blurt out, “Damn!”

Arrogant! Too arrogant! 

They had already learned how to deal with Chang’e in the previous match!

The spectators in the stands also went crazy and quickly took pictures of the BP on the big screen to post online:

[Has JK gone mad? They just taught the opponents how to counter Chang’e core and now they dared to pick Chang’e again. Afraid that the opponents didn’t consolidate their knowledge enough?]

[I also find this round confusing… What if the opponents bring out Garo later?]

Garo fighting against Chang’e was like a father fighting his son. Unless there is a significant gold difference between the two sides, Chang’e has no chance to suppress her. The problem was that both sides were professional players, so how could they give such a big opportunity for a gold advantage?

[Don’t worry, don’t worry] someone quickly stood up to stabilize the morale. [JK will be banning earlier than LZ in the next phase, they will definitely ban her.]

Sure enough, in the second ban phase, Garo appeared as the first ban, followed closely by Baili Shouyue.

LZ: !!!

How familiar! Isn’t this the combination of mid-jungle-support synergy with Chang’e as the core?! Isn’t this the same as the first match? Everyone revolving around Chang’e, making her the daddy.

If JK succeeded again, they would be too embarrassed.

“We can pick Diao Chan!” Distant said. “Chang’e is afraid of true damage!”

“Let’s pick another side lane hero!” Xi Xi also got excited.

Diao Chan and Liu Bang.

These two heroes came to their minds.

Diao Chan was afraid of control, so LZ banned Zhang Liang and Donghuang Taiyi. 

JK chose to use Mi Yue. LZ readily picked Diao Chan and Liu Bang.

Liu Bang was the originator of solo laning and could also smoothly join team fights, effectively restraining JK.

The commentator got excited, “It seems that LZ has learned something new! They have picked Diao Chan and Liu Bang to counter, I wonder what JK’s final pick will be?”

All eyes in the arena focused on JK’s last pick.

Finally, in that highly anticipated position, a figure with pink hair and small antlers appeared.

Everyone present, including the commentators, had a moment of stupefaction.

JK’s last hero was the most infamous hoodlum support — —

Yaria???