All-Round Mid Laner

At half past six in the evening, the two teams competing in the S9 playoffs finals finally took the stage.

Thunderous applause roared through the stands.

Ye Shaoyang was sitting in a spectating area up on the second level.
He could clearly feel the passion of everyone in the stands.
Huge, billowing banners of support were unfurled in the back rows.
The piercing shrieks of the fans could practically split open the sky.

Team Jingzhe, dressed in deep purple uniforms, and Team Binghun, dressed in white, took the stage from the left and right.
They stood on the grand stage and bowed to the crowd, then immediately filed into their respective soundproofed rooms.

The cameras captured the faces of each player and splashed them onto the big screens while the official commentators began to introduce the players competing that night.

“Next up, we have a player who definitely isn't a stranger to any of you! Team Binghun's captain Chen Qianhua—a veteran player who debuted in S6.
With four years of experience in the league, he has a wealth of experience in major games!”

The big screens displayed a close-up of Chen Qianhua's face.
He looked at the camera in front of him with a faint smile, and waved a hand.
Shrieks rippled through the stands again, and this time there were also fans who shouted, “Captain Chen, I want to have your babies!”

Those shouts elicited a wave of laughter.

This was Ye Shaoyang's first time seeing Chen Qianhua in person.

Graceful, handsome, and as warm as jade—there was no better way to describe this man.
There were lots of handsome players in the professional league.
Chen Qianhua was the type who looked plain at first glance, but the more you looked at him, the more pleasing to the eye he became.
His smile was extremely warm and gentle.

However, when Team Binghun had been on the brink of elimination from the GPL, he had dragged them all the way back up to the stage of the finals.
This person definitely wasn't as gentle or as much of a pushover as he appeared.
The other players of Binghun, four alphas, were all willing to obediently listen to his commands.
It was clear that this beta's charisma vastly exceeded that of what most people could imagine.

The two official commentators continued to talk.

“Binghun is a team with a high degree of tacit understanding, and they're very good at playing comps that can initiate team fights.
This is Binghun's first time reaching the finals of the GPL.”

“And it's Jingzhe's second time, isn't it? Last year, they just took the S8 championship title.”

“That's right.
Will Team Jingzhe be able to keep their spot on the throne, or will Team Binghun make history as the team to become the S9 champions with the highest ever point score? Let's look forward to finding out!”

“Friends of the audience, our players have finished making their preparations.
We'll be entering the picks and bans stage of the first game right now.”

The game interface popped up on the big screens.
Both sides entered the picks and bans phase.

Jingzhe was randomly assigned to play as the blue team.
They had the first ban.

Coach Chen banned the support Doomhammer without any hesitation.
Binghun followed up by banning Fang Zhengqing's signature hero, the Cobra King.
Jingzhe used their second ban on another support hero, the Radiant Shield.
Then Binghun banned the marksman, the Divine Archer.

Jingzhe devoted all their first bans to targeting support heroes.
The two support heroes they'd put onto the ban list were both heroes that Chen Qianhua was very good at playing.
As for Binghun, they focused on sealing the poison comp first, before banning a marksman that Xie Yuan could do terrifying amounts of damage with in late-game.

Both sides swiftly chose their heroes.
Binghun took a bottom lane duo first—the Master Machinist and the Machine Gun Huntsman.
Seeing that, Ye Shaoyang couldn't help but turn to Chi Shuo to discuss.

“They want to run a tower-pushing comp?” he asked quietly.

Chi Shuo also answered quietly, “Binghun is very good at destroying towers quickly.
With Chen Qianhua's protection, it's very difficult for the enemy to kill their marksman.
If their enemies allow the Machine Gun Huntsman to get even two pieces of attack speed gear, it'll become very hard for them to protect their outer tower.”

The ensuing events proved that this was true.
The first game was entirely focused on the bottom lane.

Binghun had Chen Qianhua as their support on the bottom lane; Jingzhe had the famed bottom lane duo of the support Li Yunmo and the marksman Xie Yuan.
In a 2v2 between these duos, it was very hard for anyone to get a decisive advantage.
The junglers on the two teams frequently drifted down to the bottom lane to gank, but with Chen Qianhua acting as support, it was very difficult to kill Binghun's marksman.

During the first team fight around a minor dragon, Binghun blew away everyone's expectations and took two kills while losing none of their own heroes!

The support Chen Qianhua had dispatched his mechanical soldiers in rather exceptional places.
He used those soldiers to stun Fang Zhengqing and Xie Yuan at the perfect moment, immobilizing the two carries of Jingzhe's two-core comp.

After Xie Yuan and Jingzhe's mage were stunned, Binghun's jungler found an opportunity to take a decisive double kill!

Ye Shaoyang was practically scared witless.
“Binghun really is strong in team fights!”

Chi Shuo said, “Little Chen's ability to seize the right opportunities is indeed powerful.
His hit rate with his control skills is extremely high.”

After the minor dragon fight, Binghun's economic advantage began to snowball.
Their marksman geared up with attack speed boosting equipment.
Along with Chen Qianhua, the marksman started to push Jingzhe's tower with abandon.
Jingzhe held out until the twenty-five-minute mark of the game, until Binghun used their tower-focused comp to destroy all of Jingzhe's outer towers.
Then, Binghun calmly took down the grand dragon and destroyed Jingzhe's base crystal in one push.

“Congratulations to Team Binghun for taking the first game!”

“Although Jingzhe sealed off two supports that Binghun can initiate team fights with, Captain Chen's support hero pool is extremely deep.
It's very difficult for them to completely seal him off.”

“The finals use a cumulative picks and bans format, so let's look forward to seeing how Jingzhe will make a comeback in the second round!”

Hearing that, Ye Shaoyang couldn't help but whisper to Chi Shuo, “Cumulative picks and bans?”

“Mm,” Chi Shuo said.
“Division finals are best of five matches.
You'll need to take three rounds to win.
The world finals are best of seven matches.
Four rounds to win.
Both follow a cumulative picks and bans format.
The heroes you use in one match can't be used again in the next match.
It's a major test of the coach's ability to construct viable teams.”

Ye Shaoyang understood now.
“If it's like that, then players need to have deep enough hero pools.”

The cumulative picks and bans format was akin to placing all of the heroes in the game, more than one hundred in total, in a large pool.
At the beginning of every round, the two coaches would ban a few, and players would be able to pick from the remaining heroes in the pool.

The heroes used in the first round wouldn't be able to be used again in the second round.
For example, Binghun's tower-pushing comp was very powerful.
But Chen Qianhua had already used the Master Machinist in the first round.
Even if Jingzhe's coach didn't ban the Master Machinist in the second round, Chen Qianhua wouldn't be able to select that hero again.

Not being able to reuse heroes was a format that took the thrill of the finals to a brand new level—in five games, the two teams would have to bring out five completely different comps!

Ye Shaoyang sat up straight, eagerly focusing on the big screen.

At the start of the second game, Jingzhe continued to ban supports while Binghun continued to target mid laners.

When their team comps were finalized, Binghun wound up with a lineup that was well-suited for team fights.
As for Jingzhe, Fang Zhengqing had taken the Illusionist, a top-tier assassin mage, and paired up with the Stealthy Rogue as their jungler.

Chi Shuo thoughtfully mused, “Looks like Old Fang wants to try a mid/jungle duo to aggressively attack the bottom lane.”

Soon enough, it was proven that Chi Shuo and Fang Zhengqing really didn't have the slightest bit of tacit understanding between them.

Fang Zhengqing didn't pay any attention to the bottom lane at all.
As soon as he hit Level 6, he ran up to gank the top laner!

Chi Shuo was silent.

Ye Shaoyang very quickly understood that Jingzhe had chosen a mid/jungle duo as a sort of diversion.
On the surface, they looked like they were running a mid/jungle duo that was well-suited for ganking in the bottom lane.
But in reality, they were running a 'mid/top duo'—Fang Zhengqing routinely visited the top lane, linking up with Jingzhe's top laner and absolutely obliterating Binghun's top lane!

As for the bottom lane, Jingzhe had the protection of the calm and collected support, Li Yunmo, as well as the skills of the world-class marksman, Xie Yuan.
They were able to withstand the attacks from Chen Qianhua's bottom lane duo and Binghun's jungler.

And so, Jingzhe held their ground in a 2v3 on the bottom lane.
Their jungler was free to develop on his own, and Fang Zhengqing helped out in the top lane.
They swiftly broke through the enemy's forces on the top lane, turning the upper jungle into their breakthrough point and tearing open the weak spot in Binghun's defense.

Jingzhe won the second game, seizing an unexpected victory.

Ye Shaoyang praised, “Captain Fang's tactics are pretty good.
Since Chen Qianhua's bottom lane duo is like an immovable object, he simply decided not to try to move them.
He knows to pick on soft persimmons, so he figured he'd target the top lane first.”

Ye Shaoyang looked towards Chi Shuo and joked, “If it were Captain Chi, I bet we would have been dead set on killing the bottom laners.”

Chi Shuo's expression was grave.
“Mm.
When it comes to tactics, Fang Zhengqing and I have a lot of differing thoughts.
So we couldn't possibly be teammates.”

Xu Zhuo, hearing this from the row behind them, couldn't help but laugh out loud.
“I remember, back when we were at Star City's rookie training camp, the five of us teamed up to play in practice games.
Whenever Chi Shuo would hit the command to 'attack', Fang Zhengqing would hit the command to 'retreat'.
Then I would charge into the fray with Chi Shuo, while Xie Yuan would flash away and run with Fang Zhengqing.”

Ye Shaoyang was silent.

Just the mental image of that situation was hilarious.
With the jungler and top laner jumping in to start a fight while the mid laner and marksman flashed away and retreated, the support Chen Qianhua must have been baffedly thinking—

Am I supposed to fight? Or am I supposed to retreat?

When Chi Shuo thought of those memories of their younger years, a faint hint of a smile rose in his eyes.
“That was a long time ago.”

Xu Zhuo nostalgically said, “Yeah.
It's already been four years.”

Back then, the five of them had still been young.
Every time they played a game, they could bicker enough to raise hell on earth.
Fang Zhengqing and Chi Shuo could never convince each other of anything.
They would always argue while reviewing games.
Xie Yuan would sneak away to watch TV dramas.
Xu Zhuo would sit around and enjoy the fight.
And a panicked Chen Qianhua would do his best to help mediate the dispute.

The friendships forged in youth were really quite pure.
Even though they'd split up and gone to separate teams in the end, they still kept in touch with one another.
Of course, when they faced off in games, no one would be polite—they would fight to the death.

In this current match, the captains of the two teams were old friends.
It was still unknown which one would come out as the victor.

The first two games left the two teams at a 1-1 tie.
The ensuing break was fairly long, so Chi Shuo made a trip to the restroom.
Xu Zhuo just so happened to visit the restroom too, so the two of them ran into each other in the hallway.
Xu Zhuo patted Chi Shuo's shoulder and grinned as he teased, “That new player on your team is called Little Ye, right? Seems like you two are pretty close?”

Chi Shuo paused for a moment.
“What are you talking about?”

“The other players on your team all treat you with reverence,” Xu Zhuo said.
“Newbies like Cheng Xing and Xie Xiaotian are especially afraid of you.
They're too afraid to even talk to you.
How come Little Ye isn't afraid of you at all? He was even talking right in your ear and cracking jokes with you earlier.”

Although Chi Shuo didn't have a fiercely demonic personality, he usually wore a serious and severe expression, so all of Tianhuan's players treated him with respect.
Even players like Qu Jiang and Qin Yizhu, who had played with him for three years already, wouldn't make direct eye contact with him when they talked.
Cracking jokes with him was even more out of the question.

But Ye Shaoyang wasn't afraid of him at all.

He would lean in and whisper in his ear, he would joke with him…

And… and ask him for a mark.

When he thought of that, Chi Shuo's pulse suddenly quickened.
A flush of heat rose from somewhere deep in his chest, making his face burn with a faint shade of warmth.
Xu Zhuo wasn't Chi Shuo's old friend of four years for nothing; he could tell with just one glance that something was up.

Chi Shuo coughed lightly, feigning calm as he said, “Little Ye has a very open disposition.
He can start a conversation with anyone in the team.
I'm not the sort of strict captain who glowers and scolds people every day, either.
Is it really that weird that he isn't afraid of me?”

Xu Zhuo blinked a few times.
“Really? Why do I feel like you're letting him sit next to you to protect him? You don't even show that much concern for your apprentice, Cheng Xing.”

Chi Shuo stiffly averted his gaze.
“You're overthinking it.”

Xu Zhuo laughed boisterously.
“Just messing with you.
What are you getting so serious for?”

Chi Shuo ignored him, turning and swiftly continuing down the hall.
Xu Zhuo didn't continue pursuing the topic either.
After using the restroom, the two of them returned to their seats together.

When they got back, they were just in time to see Zhao Xin'an cozying up to Ye Shaoyang.
He had his cell phone out, and he was saying, “Tianhuan's newbie, let's add each other on WeChat! We can play ranked together in the future!”

Ye Shaoyang was silent.

We're already friends on WeChat.
The streamer Xiao Bai on your friends list is me.

Frontline Reporter #18, I still haven't deleted all those messages you sent when you tried to recruit me to Team Beimu.

When he saw all this, Chi Shuo lightly furrowed his brow and swiftly returned to his seat beside Ye Shaoyang.
He said to Zhao Xin'an, “What are you talking about, playing ranked? Has the ban on your streaming room been lifted?”

Zhao Xin'an scratched his head.
“Not until next season.
The league's really coming down on me hard this time.”

Zhou Jiawen turned back and smiled.
“Little Zhao, once you get your room back, you'd better not publicly cuss people out.
The league's official disciplinary committee will be sending people to keep an eye on the streams of professional players.”

Zhao Xin'an scowled.
“I know! I'm definitely going to mute the bullet comments when I stream again.”

The third game was about to begin.
Zhao Xin'an returned to his seat, not bringing up the matter of adding Ye Shaoyang as a friend again.
Ye Shaoyang let out a breath of relief.
It was a good thing Captain Chi had helped him out.
Otherwise, if the two of them scanned each other's WeChat codes and a message saying 'you are already friends with this person' popped up, what would happen? The streamer Xiao Bai would immediately be exposed.

That would have been awkward.

Ye Shaoyang turned to Chi Shuo and whispered, “Thank you.”

Chi Shuo coughed and said, “Least I could do.”

The game swiftly began.

Both teams played very conventional team comps in the third round.
Binghun relied on micromanaging the finer details of their operation to establish an advantage, but in a critical team fight around the grand dragon, Fang Zhengqing's Forest Druid summoned a sea of vines that immobilized three of Binghun's players.

Xie Yuan moved unpredictably, firing at their enemies from afar.
The damage output of a marksman with good gear was extremely terrifying.
In the blink of an eye, he'd killed off two of Binghun's heroes.
Jingzhe stole the grand dragon and turned things around to claim victory, becoming the first team to reach match point.

In the fourth game, Jingzhe ran their strongest type of lineup—a double-core comp.
The whole team dedicated all their resources to fattening up the mid laner Fang Zhengqing and the support Xie Yuan, turning them into the two carries of the team.
They kept the upper hand throughout early-game, endlessly snowballing their advantage.

But in a critical fight outside Binghun's base, Binghun's support flashed in to initiate—and once again stunned Jingzhe's marksman from afar! Binghun's jungler instantly followed up, taking Jingzhe's marksman down in an instant—they fended off Jingzhe's attack!

The two teams dragged this game out to the forty-minute mark.
Ultimately, Binghun managed to turn the tables, evening out the match score at 2-2.

Ye Shaoyang couldn't help but applaud.
“That was incredible!”

Everyone could learn from the way Team Binghun had protected their base when the fight was brought to their front doors.
The five players remained extremely calm.
Under their captain's command, they repeatedly warded off Jingzhe's fast and furious attacks.
This team's ability to withstand pressure was one of the best in the professional league.
They could turn things around even when fighting at a huge disadvantage.
People couldn't help but cheer for them.

Chen Qianhua could form a strong chain with his team of five.
That was what made them excel in team fights.

As the deciding game approached, Ye Shaoyang sat up straight with anticipation.
“Will Jingzhe's poison comp make an appearance?”

“It should,” Chi Shuo said.

Ye Shaoyang grinned over at him.
“Then it definitely won't.
You and Captain Fang don't ever agree, after all.”

Chi Shuo was silent.