All-Round Mid Laner

As expected, various online articles popped up after Team Yaoguang's victory.
Headlines included—

New marksman Yang Jingyu takes pentakill in debut game, ascends to godhood! S10's new god is about to be born!

YG-Yu'mao takes pentakill in debut game, instantly making a name for himself!

Anyone could tell with just one glance that these articles had been written in advance. Chi Shuo and Coach Lin had guessed correctly that Yaoguang intended to promote a new god from within their own team.

Yaoguang was a very wealthy team with plenty of financial backing.
They must have spent quite a lot to buy themselves these media headlines.
The newbie they wanted to promote was also genuinely strong.
Since he'd taken a pentakill, they could take the opportunity to stir up some hype around him now.

Before long, the official Gods War social media accounts posted the highlights reels from the games of the day.

Gods War posted these highlights reels whenever there was a match, but the reel from that day was circulated very quickly.
Within half an hour, it gained tens of thousands of shares, and the topic trended instantly.

A very peculiar atmosphere consumed the comments section.

[No wonder Xie Weiyu switched teams.
The new marksman is way stronger than him!]

[The new marksman is hotter than him too.]

[Good luck to the new little gege! When Xie Weiyu was the captain, the best Yaoguang did was second place.
I'm waiting for you guys to take the championship title this year!]

These comments were all targeting Yaoguang's former captain Xie Weiyu.
Some random passersby and Xie Weiyu's anti-fans were definitely fanning the flames, but Ye Shaoyang suspected most of the comments were still from paid trolls—in order to let this newbie replace Xie Weiyu, the team had to make their fans believe that the newbie was more powerful than their former captain.

After Qu Jiang scrolled through the comments section, he couldn't help but mutter, “Little Yu worked hard when he was on their team.
He played cautiously, and he played well.
He never made any big mistakes, did he? Is there any need to treat him in such an ugly way?”

Qin Yizhu grinned and said, “If I remember correctly, Yueying is in Group S this season, right? The two teams won't run into each other for the time being.
They're probably taking advantage of this time to promote the new guy, so that they can entice some of Xie Weiyu's fans to switch over to their newbie.”

Xie Weiyu had debuted two years ago, and his looks were just average.
He only had a moderate number of diehard fans.
His casual fans would see that the new marksman on Team Yaoguang was both handsome and powerful, so many of them would bail and switch over to supporting the new player.
It could only be said that Team Yaoguang was very good at employing the tricks of the entertainment industry.

However… their dirty tricks simultaneously offended two of the most renowned teams in the league.

Did they really think they could just take the championship title this year? Wouldn't it be very humiliating when they were completely destroyed?

At just that time, Chi Shuo's cell phone suddenly chimed.
He took a look and saw that it was a message from Xu Zhuo, which said: [Did you watch Yaoguang's game from today?]

Chi Shuo answered: [Just finished.]

Xu Zhuo wrote: [Lots of the people dissing Little Yu on Weibo are hired trolls from Yaoguang.
I suspect Ye Shaoyang's anti-fans from yesterday were these people too.
Ye Shaoyang has been making too much of a splash lately, so they're trying to spin some negative stories about him in order to let their own marksman shine more brightly than Ye Shaoyang.]

Chi Shuo: [You guessed it.]

Xu Zhuo: [That dumbass boss.
Is he trying to form a fucking male idol group in the esports industry?]

The Yaoguang boss with a background in the entertainment industry did have a very distinctive style; his dirty tricks came one after another.
Yaoguang's five players in this season were indeed all quite attractive, and they were all around eighteen years old, which meant they were in peak condition for esports players.
If they were good players who were also attractive, if they were a group who could please people's eyes and warm their hearts—then wouldn't they really become a 'male idol group' of the esports industry?

Soon enough, they might even find some variety show they could participate in as a group.

And after that, maybe they would write a group song and have their fans sing it before every match, to 'interfere' with their opponents' mental states?

Chi Shuo couldn't help but find that funny.
He answered casually: [Forget about it.
Just focus on the game.]

Xu Zhuo wrote: [You guys do the same.
Hurry up and make it to Group S.
We can't wait to duke it out with you!]

After that game, Yaoguang-Yu'mao's new Weibo page swiftly gained over three million followers.
Their other players also gained a few hundreds of thousands.
This marketing campaign was truly very effective.

Unfortunately for them, no matter how they promoted their new player, they couldn't catch up to Ye Shaoyang's popularity.

Ye Shaoyang had started as a streamer.
Before he even debuted as a pro player, he'd already had five million followers.
Who could possibly beat him now?

Among his fans, there were plenty of people who didn't care about esports.
They were only fans of him as a streamer.
There were also those who just liked the cat Xiao Bai.
These were all fans Ye Shaoyang had accumulated after tireless days of streaming ranked games.
They wouldn't abandon him for a shiny new marksman so easily.

After watching that game, Tianhuan's players went downstairs for dinner.

Chi Shuo stayed back with Ye Shaoyang and exchanged a few private words with him.

“Most players in the esports industry are still very focused on playing the game,” he said.
“But every few years, some eccentric boss pops up.
They don't understand esports at all, and they think they can win championships just by spending money.
They're just messing around blindly.
You don't need to pay any attention to them.
We'll keep training as usual.”

Ye Shaoyang smiled and said, “Mm.
We still have three games in Group B, right? Let's try to keep our winning streak?”

It was already early February, and the regular season was in the middle of its second week.

During Week Three, Tianhuan was off.
In Weeks Four, Five, and Six, Tianhuan would have one match per week.
After those three matches were complete, this round of the group stage would be finished.
The top two teams in Group B at that time would be promoted to Group A.

Chi Shuo said, “For our next three matches, I recommend you choose more mid lane cores.
I'll continue to leave resources for you.”

Ye Shaoyang felt a bit surprised.
“Captain Chi, you mean to say… you want to keep letting me take MVP titles?”

Chi Shuo nodded.
“Mm.
Playing against Group B teams is a relatively relaxed thing for us.
You can use mid laners to set the rhythm.
Pick powerful mages, ones that are good at producing outstanding stats and taking MVP titles.
Once we get to Group A, we definitely won't be able to rely on a mid lane core alone.
And once we get to Group S, even our mid/jungle duo might not be enough to secure a win.
Your chances at taking MVP titles will diminish.”

Ye Shaoyang couldn't help but say, “Captain Chi actually has the ability to try to take the MVP of the Season award.
If you take assassin-type heroes and play a jungler core, wouldn't you do even better than me?”

Many people had been doubting Chi Shuo's condition for the past few years.
This season, their enemies couldn't target him and only him.
If he could take the grand MVP prize now, he could prove that his own condition wasn't declining, and he could make all his anti-fans shut their mouths.

But he wanted to give this chance to Ye Shaoyang.

There was only one MVP of the Season per year, and there was only one MVP per game.

Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang were both good enough to try for the MVP of the Season award.
However, if two players fought over MVP titles within Team Tianhuan, then ultimately neither of those players would be able to take the MVP of the Season award in the end.

They could play ten games, and Ye Shaoyang could get ten MVP titles.
Or they could play those same ten games, and Ye Shaoyang could get five MVP titles while Chi Shuo got the other five.
Which situation would make it easier for one of them to be named MVP of the Season?

The answer was obvious.

“I've already won this award in S6, there's no need for me to fight over it with you,” Chi Shuo said.
He paused for a moment, casting his warm gaze upon Ye Shaoyang.
“Plus, in my heart, you have the ability to be the MVP of the Season.”

“I understand.” Ye Shaoyang smiled mildly as he looked towards Chi Shuo.
“Thank you for letting me have this, Captain Chi.”

Chi Shuo met his gaze.
His heart seemed to skip a beat, and he quickly averted his gaze again.
“You don't need to keep thanking me.
We're teammates.
What's mine is yours.”

Ye Shaoyang nodded happily.
“Then I won't be shy!”

Chi Shuo hummed his approval.
“Let's go eat.
There's a Group S match that we can watch later tonight.”

This season, the teams that made it to Group S with their preseason results were Jingzhe, Binghun, Yueying, Beimu, Huowen, and Luoshendian.
In order to attain high viewership numbers, Group S games were usually scheduled for Saturdays and Sundays.

Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo returned to their room after dinner.
They sat back down on the couch in the living room to watch the Group S match.

Group S teams were extremely powerful.
If Tianhuan spent too much time in Group B, there was a chance they wouldn't be able to keep up with the rhythm of Group S teams once they were promoted.
So, during the regular season, it was important for them to watch all of the Group S games, in order to study up on the team comps and strategies of these powerful teams.

After watching the game, Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang each returned to their own room to sleep.
The next day, training resumed.

Since Tianhuan wasn't scheduled for a Week Three game, they essentially had two weeks to prepare for their next match.
Their opponents would be Team CYC, which was a team that had done very well in Group B.
Coach Lin agreed with Chi Shuo's suggestion to let Ye Shaoyang continue picking mid lane cores.

Coach Lin said, “CYC is an old, long-established team.
Although they've never won the championship trophy, their players have an extremely deep pool of experience in major games.
Besides us, they are the most powerful team in Group B.
As long as we can defeat this team, we won't have much to worry about in our following Group B games.”

He opened up a webpage with the league's most recent rankings.
“Tianhuan and CYC currently have four points each.
We won two matches with a 2-0 score, while CYC won one with a 2-0 and one with a 2-1.
We have more shutouts than CYC, so in theory, as long as we defeat CYC, we'll be a lock for a promotion to Group A.”

Cheng Xing, who wasn't very good at math, couldn't really get a handle for exactly how the scores were calculated.

He just knew that Tianhuan would play a total of five matches in Group B, and they'd already won two of them with a 2-0 result.
If they took another 2-0 win, then they would easily make it into Group A!

So, the next match was very important to them.
He definitely couldn't fudge it.

Cheng Xing excitedly rubbed his hands together and looked towards Ye Shaoyang.
“I believe in Yang-ge's ability to carry me to victory.”

Ye Shaoyang smiled at him and said, “Just don't die too many times.”

Cheng Xing said, “Don't worry, I'm super fast at using my flash these days! You guys killed me so much that it's a conditioned response now!”

 

Two weeks passed very quickly, and the league rankings changed again.

Since CYC had a Week Three game, which they won, they climbed up to six points, while Tianhuan remained at four points.

Everyone could tell that the clash between these two teams would determine who would rise to Group A.

Tianhuan's Week Four game was set to take place in the flourishing Banyan City, on Friday night at seven.

At the start of the match, one commentator excitedly announced, “Friends and viewers, welcome to Banyan City's Esports Center! We're coming to you live from the venue of the Gods War S10 Round One, Week Four games!”

“The teams participating in today's game are Group B's CYC and Tianhuan!”

“Let's take a look at where these two teams stand today.
CYC has currently played three games, their results are 2-0, 2-0, and 2-1.
They have a total of six points, with five points for 'clean' wins.
Right now, they're the top-ranked team in Group B.
Tianhuan has played two games so far, winning both with a 2-0 result.
They have four points for clean wins, and they're currently ranked in second.”

“So, today's game is actually a deciding match between the two strongest teams in Group B.
They'll be duking it out for who places first in Group B!”

After their two previous games, Tianhuan had become quite popular.
More than 70% of the seats at the stadium were filled that night.
The number of posters, banners, and glowing lights in the audience had obviously increased again.

Before the game began, some little jiejie with a megaphone enthusiastically screamed, “Tianhuan, good luck!”

The fans surrounding her screamed along with her.
Many of these fans were so excited that their voices were breaking.

The two commentators laughed together.
One said, “Let's thank all our passionate fans for their support! The first round is about to begin.
Let's take a look at the picks and bans.
Tianhuan has been assigned to the red team first, so they'll be going second.
Which hero will CYC's coach ban first?”

CYC immediately used up their first ban on the Abyssal Lord.

As expected, Ye Shaoyang's pentakill with the Abyssal Lord had left a very deep impression on the league.

Tianhuan started by banning supports as usual, in order to take some pressure off their marksman Cheng Xing.

CYC didn't give their second ban to the Illusionist.
Instead, they used it on a support hero—the Blessed Priest.

This ban was actually very clever.
The Illusionist could be a thoroughly horrifying hero to play against, but the reason for that wasn't because of the Illusionist himself—it was because of the 'four-wheel drive' provided by his support's speed buffs!

When banning heroes, coaches had to be very clear on exactly who the heart of a comp was.
They couldn't just focus on the fact that Ye Shaoyang's Illusionist had gotten twelve assists.
If it weren't for Qu Jiang's 'four-wheel drive', Tianhuan wouldn't have been able to set such a quick pace with their guerrilla warfare tactics.

Similarly, Tianhuan's macro strategies with the Tidal Goddess and the Blessed Priest also relied on speed.
So, by banning the Blessed Priest and his speed buffs, CYC could seal off two of Tianhuan's team comps at once.

It seemed that the enemy had really studied up on Tianhuan.
They'd come prepared!

Coach Lin, naturally, hadn't just been twiddling his thumbs either.

Tianhuan had long since prepared for the inevitability of not being able to take out their powerful team comps twice in a row.

CYC used their first pick on the Frost Goddess, a well-rounded and traditional mid laner.
She could control her enemies with freezing skills, and she had a burst AoE ult.
She could help her teammates push a tower swiftly, and she could also protect her own territory.

One commentator said, “CYC has taken the Frost Goddess first.
The Illusionist is a fairly strong counter to the Frost Goddess, and he's been left unbanned in this game.
Lieyang took twelve assists with the Illusionist in his last game.
He was very terrifying.
Will Tianhuan take this hero out again in this game?”

Tianhuan did not.

They wouldn't use the same tricks twice in a row, and their speed-boosting support had already been banned.
There was no way for them to use their guerrilla warfare tactics with the Illusionist now.

Tianhuan used their first pick on an artillery mage—the Destruction Mage.
And with their second pick, they took the Trapper as their jungler.

Both commentators were a bit stunned.

“Is the Trapper going to be their jungler? What kind of comp is this?”

“We all know that the Trapper is usually paired with the Flame Goddess, to play a game of controlling the terrain.
It's our first time seeing this jungler paired with the Destruction Mage!”

“Ahem, Tianhuan has quite a lot of new comps in this season.
Let's all eagerly await their performance in this game!”