Currently, JK’s lineup consists of two sidelaners: Lu Bu and Fuzi; jungler Cirrus; mid laner Diaochan; and support Yaria.

Among them, Lu Bu and Diaochan form a duo, while Fuzi can split push and his damage reduction makes him somewhat tanky.

Cirrus is a recently released hero, and many strategies involving him have yet to be developed. However, it’s known that this hero is paired with Yaria.

Da Qing whistled: “Please send our team’s jungler and support to the wedding chamber.”

“Bro, according to your logic, you and Qi Ge should get married on the spot,” Da Ming said mercilessly, “After all, Lu Bu and Diaochan are also a pair.”

Ling Chen: “Stop talking nonsense, Missy is Qi Ge’s biological daughter.”

Lu Qi: “…”

Lu Qi: “You guys talk too much, can we just focus on the game?”

“Yes, yes, of course,” Da Qing and Da Ming, the two brothers, shut their mouths and obediently went to their lanes.

Ling Chen, who had been the little brother since picking Cirrus, didn’t dare to say much and directly stated his plan: “Let’s go and invade the enemy jungle.”

The enemy support, Donghuang Taiyi, is very strong in the early game. Without a doubt, this match will involve swapping the jungle.

After securing the blue buff from ARE’s side, Ling Chen flew back to his own red zone: “Qi Ge, the second blue buff is yours.”

There aren’t many jungle cores available now, and even fewer that don’t need the blue buff.

Cirrus is one of them; he doesn’t have a mana bar and relies on the so-called “breath” to stay airborne.

Lu Qi hummed, “Look for an opportunity to gank Princess Frost.”

Ling Chen: “Understood. Call me when it’s about time.”

Both sides swapped jungle areas, starting the game peacefully.

Neither side gained the upper hand.

The commentators, familiar with the nature of these players, knew they could take a break for quite some time. So, they shifted the topic to JK’s draft phase.

“Didn’t expect Cirrus to hit the competitive scene so quickly. JK is really bold.”

Commentator B smiled and said, “Ling Chen is a talented player, probably mastering new heroes faster than others, and there’s also the test server. What I find strange is why JK picked Yaria. If I remember correctly, this isn’t the first time JK has used Yaria in a match.”

“Right, in the last match against LZ, JK also picked the Spirited Doe,” Commentator C recalled, “There were some standout plays, but after that, Yaria’s pick rate didn’t increase. The forums say this hero is relatively weak and not very supportive.”

This commentator was being very polite. The actual forum comments were:

Yaria is just trash.

What if her passive turns her into a deer and makes her untargetable? You turn into a deer and run away, leaving your teammates to get beaten up. Is that what a support does?

[I don’t acknowledge a hero with such a shameless passive as a support]

[What can such a small shield do?]

—That’s the original wording.

Perhaps the hero is genuinely weak, or maybe everyone thinks Yaria is a freeloader, or other teams haven’t developed strategies to synergize with Yaria. Even though they won that match with Yaria, no one used her in subsequent games.

JK was the first to use Yaria in KPL and the only one to do so.

And now, they’ve chosen Yaria for the second time.

“As the playoffs have progressed, only JK has used Yaria, possibly because other teams lack the relevant strategies. But I have a serious question—”

“What is it?” Commentator B asked, playing along.

Commentator A looked puzzled: “Didn’t Cirrus just appear on the official server yesterday? Even if they could practice his skills on the test server, does JK already have a jungle core strategy for Cirrus?”

“…” Both commentators fell silent for several seconds before reluctantly saying, “These guys are really bold. Director, I want to see the BP footage.”

Actually, there wasn’t much to see.

It started normally, but when it came to Diaochan, things got out of hand. JK’s mid, jungle, and support were unusually overconfident.

……

Lu Qi: “Coach, I want to play Diaochan!”

Coach: “Are you out of your mind? The enemy support is Donghuang! Haven’t you been schooled by Donghuang enough?”

Lu Qi: “It’s fine! The textbook tells us to get up from where we fall.”

The coach was stunned: “What textbook?”

Lu Qi: “Lu Qi’s Dictionary.”

‧

Coach: “The three major jungle cores, Nakoruru is taken, Xuance and Pei were banned. Why don’t you pick something more traditional like Han Xin or Li Bai?”

“Cirrus!” If he didn’t have to sit in his chair, Ling Chen would have jumped up by now, “I’ve played him on the test server, he’s super strong!”

Coach: “…”

Da Ming was the first to speak, “I don’t believe it at all. He was just released yesterday, and you’re picking him today? You’re so full of yourself, are you trying to fly us to the trash bin?”

Despite his complaints, he still picked Cirrus, fully showcasing his troublemaking spirit.

‧

Coach: “…”

Under the relentless assault from the mid and jungle duo, the coach had pretty much given up on controlling what Yu Yue would pick.

These pro players all have their own ideas.

Yu Yue: “Can I pick Yaria? When I duo-queued with Ling Chen, we played Yaria and Cirrus a few times, and the ganking was really effective. The birdman can fly over terrains, and only Yaria can keep up with his pace.”

The coach waved his hand.

Go ahead.

At least Yu Yue was polite and asked for permission. Look at the mid laner and jungler, they didn’t even bother to come up with a decent reason.

‧

With that, the replay of JK’s draft phase ended.

The commentators once again felt that heart-stopping sensation.

These guys are really bold.

Commentator A: “…Ha, ha.”

Meanwhile, the audience had already been amused by these audacious players, and so were the live-stream viewers:

[Oh my god hahahahaha]

[Your salary is gone.jpg]

[You guys really have your own ideas]

[I declare, I’m going to start being a fan of JK today]

[Tonight’s match is really a source of joy hhhhh]

[Haven’t seen such an interesting match in a long time. If this is what they call a clown fiesta, I hope there are more clown fiestas]

[I don’t care, I’m posting on Weibo and Moments^[1]朋友圈: WeChat function for sharing stuff with your contacts, I’m telling the whole world how good tonight’s match is!]

[Sis, wake up, you’ve already posted a hundred Weibo updates today.]

[Picking heroes is fun, but playing the match is a disaster?]

However, JK didn’t end up in a disaster.

At this point, the match reached one and a half minutes, with both the jungler and mid laner reaching level 4, but Yaria was still level 3 without her ultimate.

JK attempted a mid-jungle-support gank, but it failed. The enemy Shi Nian was a veteran Princess Frost player and knew very well that she was a short-legged mage without any dashes, so he played very cautiously.

At two minutes, Li Qiu and Qing Guang, who were taking the first dragon, were spotted by Yu Yue. JK’s four members gathered to contest the dragon, and the first team fight broke out at the dragon pit with no casualties.

JK secured the dragon thanks to Cirrus’s bleed effect on his attacks.

The entire team gained experience, and Yaria, who was slightly behind, reached level 4.

Then—

From the moment Yaria got her ultimate ‘Verdent Protector’ and attached herself to Ling Chen’s Cirrus, the commentators couldn’t stop talking!

“Ling Chen ganked mid!”

“Ling Chen is invading the jungle!”

“He’s going to the top! You have to admit, Cirrus’s passive of flying over terrain is really broken! And he’s so fast! Relying on an eagle to fly is unreliable; you need your own wings. I now declare Cirrus the true birdman.”

“Cirrus is heading to the bot.”

“Is the shield Yaria gave Cirrus a true damage shield or the confidence to 1v5?”

Whatever it is, for ARE, the Cirrus wandering around with Yaria has become the biggest threat on the map, and no one can catch him.

For a moment, it felt like they were back in the first game, being ambushed and picked off by JK.

The difference is that JK is no longer satisfied with just ambushing; they prefer having the jungler and support roam all three lanes and turret dive with their teammates.

Huo Lang: “I’m so tilted, it’s not even safe under our own turrets. I’m starting to think I’m standing under the enemy’s turret!”

Shi Nian: “Help! They’re diving! They’re diving again! I can’t freeze them! Cirrus has crowd control immunity and untargetability!”

“And there’s Yaria’s shield!” Yang, who was also tilted, added, “He has crowd control immunity, untargetability, can’t dash but runs super fast, and the worst part is Yaria sticking to him like glue! Two true damage shields plus Redemption and Heal, have you ever seen a squishy jungler suddenly gain 5000 HP?!”

“Look at his clearing speed! How can a hero be this broken!” Li Qiu said, “If I knew Cirrus was this strong, I would’ve banned him immediately!”

Shi Nian: “…We didn’t know they’d dare to pick him either.”

Yang: “It’s mainly this combo, right? I almost got Ling Chen killed under our turret a few times, but then Yaria suddenly shielded him, it’s so frustrating!”

Shi Nian: “I’m just a humble mid laner shivering under my own turret.”

Qing Guang checked the economy panel, “Cheer up, don’t forget JK has two cores, and now Diaochan is ready to come online.”

Qing Guang: “And she has the blue buff.”

Shi Nian added, “Which happens to be our blue buff.”

In the end, ARE chose to play safe, farm, and wait for the late game. Sun Ce would use his boat to crowd control, Donghuang would suppress Diaochan, and they would focus fire to kill Diaochan first, then Kaizer would dive in and kill Cirrus with one strike, thus eliminating both carries.

Kaizer isn’t called “Daddy” for nothing; he can one-shot any squishy.

ARE is indeed a strong team in terms of macro play. They chose to protect their carries and farm safely, and Ling Chen couldn’t do much about it. After a few unsuccessful ganks, Ling Chen gave up on the idea of ganking

ARE slowly closed the gold gap, and eventually, the two teams met in the mid lane, where a fierce team fight broke out.

Ling Chen had been eyeing Shi Nian’ Princess Frost from the start. Poor Princess Frost had just come out to cast her freeze when a big bird with crowd control immunity and untargetability dove in and took her out.

Ling Chen: “Princess Frost is dead!”

“Nakoruru is rooted!” Da Ming said, “Watch out for Donghuang!”

“I used my ultimate too early!” Da Qing’s Lu Bu every hit was critical, dealing true damage, and Kaizer instantly died. “Protect the captain!”

“Donghuang! Donghuang!”

“Sun Ce is using his boat!” Ling Chen called out, “Da Ming, go intercept him.”

“Donghuang! Donghuang!”

The team’s voice chat was in chaos. If Nakoruru wasn’t dead yet and Donghuang suppressed Diaochan, Nakoruru could just land on Lu Qi and kill him.

Qing Guang’s Donghuang had a clear target: Diaochan.

He rushed straight for Diaochan. With one flash, he could suppress Lu Qi.

At this point, Ling Chen, who was low on health, had flown to the enemy jungle to split push. Lu Bu’s short legs couldn’t keep up, and Da Ming’s Fuzi was already tangled up with Sun Ce.

The only one left by Lu Qi’s side was the seemingly innocent little deer—Yaria.

Nakoruru’s burst damage is significant. If Donghuang suppressed Diaochan, there would be no way to avoid the burst, and not even Redemption, Heal, or true damage shields could save her.

“No resurrectl! No more resurrect!”

As Donghuang and Nakoruru got closer and closer, in a moment of desperation, Lu Qi inexplicably shouted: “Yu Yue!!”

Donghuang’s flash came off cooldown, and he flashed in with his ultimate, while Nakoruru also slammed down.

Lu Qi instinctively used his second skill to dash away, only to realize that he hadn’t been suppressed by Donghuang, but instead had Yaria’s green figure above his head.

The Donghuang, shrouded in black light not far away, indicated that Donghuang had indeed used his ultimate, but it was used on Yaria, who had attached herself to Diaochan at the last moment, avoiding Donghuang’s suppression with an untargetable state.

“—I’m here.”

The voice was soft as if the girl was staring intently into his eyes, saying.

I’m here.

The surrounding noise faded like a receding tide, and Lu Qi’s heart suddenly calmed down.