Chapter 153 (3)
It was obvious to onlookers that in the second round, ZGDX had made some changes to their core strategy. In the early game, their mid stayed low while the jungler focused on top and bot– –However, ZGDX seldom used this method to play games whenever Tong Yao was in the line up and Tong Yao wasn’t used to playing like this either. She would still find chances to counter attack Ai Jia. She failed in some of the attempts and was successful some of the other times. Yet, facing a weasel like Ai Jia, she had more failed attempts than successful ones…… YQCB wasn’t a weak team to begin with and ZGDX ended up losing the match at the 45 minute mark.
After the round, the commentators were still talking about it.
Commentator B: [Actually, it kind of feels weird to me. We obviously could see that Smiling was playing like her hands and feet were bound. If that’s their strategy, then why not let Lu play? His playstyle is more suited for that.]
Commentator A said after considering it for a moment: [ZGDX always has more than two sets of game plans. We can only say that this one is generally better suited for Lu to play…… I feel the reason why ZGDX insisted on not switching players is probably for Smiling to learn how to face a player whose play style is something she can’t counter– –It’s possible that a player can’t learn how to play against the wind or deal with being under a clampdown, no matter how hard they try. Yet they have to experience it in person so they aren’t thrown into disarray when they encounter the situation again. It’s as simple as that, you can’t win, but you have to stay there.
Wait till they’re at the world tournament, they’ll meet even more types of professional players. As far as I know, just within the Korean and European regions, there are two more highly skilled players whose play styles are a combination of both Smiling and Ai Jia. What would ZGDX do then? Which player should they use, Smiling or Lu? They can’t simply rotate the players to get enough of an advantage at mid to carry the game.
I think this match today clearly shows that ZGDX’s management and captain are very aware about this and that is a good thing.]
Commentator B: [Oh. So it’s just to prepare for the world tournament afterall.]
Commentator A: [Right, it’s just to prepare for the world tournament afterall– –Smiling has lost way too few matches! For some truths, there’s no use talking about it nor is there a way to mentally prepare for it. You have to truly experience it on your own, then you can understand what it is.]
Commentator B laughed: [It’s a bit overboard to use the finals of summer competition to get their player prepared mentally.]
Commentator A patted his shoulder and said with a laughter: [It’s all worth it for the world tournament one month later.]
— –Sometimes, the commentators could be very positive as well.
— –Sometimes, one sentence from them could make public opinion go against a certain player or a certain team. Sometimes, they could also use a simple sentence to ease the emotions of the fans.
At least after the commentators’ discussion, many fans who had posted right after the round under the ZGDX official Weibo site went on again to delete comments like “if Smiling isn’t playing as the team’s core strategy, why not let Lu play”. They had calmed down a bit.
The third round began.
In comparison to the restlessness she felt after the first round, Tong Yao had calmed down quite a bit after losing the second round– –She had used the ten minutes break time to calmly sum up the problems of the last round. She didn’t assume all the mistakes were hers. Instead, she remembered to recall the overall situation of the last game and found out that they had lost the round because of some minor details and mistakes.
As long as they could avoid them, they would be fine.
Tong Yao took a deep breath, put on her headphones, and the third round started with the ban & pick phase– —
As she had promised her teammates, in this match, she would try to find chances to carry the game, but if unable to do so, she would stay low to make sure mid lane remained intact…… Certainly she wasn’t used to the latter, yet she would try her best to do so. This was probably the necessary method of survival when facing a strong team. She had to be flexible.
Comment