All-Round Mid Laner

On April 3rd, Tianhuan's players collectively made their way out to Glacier City.

Their first Group B match had also been scheduled to take place in Glacier City. At that time, it was still winter there. The whole city had been decorated with outdoor ice sculptures, and snow had fallen heavily on the day of their match.

Now, it was already April. A warm spring and blooming flowers had spread across the city. New leaves were sprouting on the trees lining the streets. The city seemed to be coming back to life.

Every time he traveled to another city for a game, Cheng Xing had to excitedly take pictures and videos. Ye Shaoyang didn't have any interest in the sights that passed outside their car window. He sat in his seat and nearly dozed off.

He rested until their car reached the hotel, at which point Chi Shuo whispered in his ear, "We're here. Wake up."

Ye Shaoyang blearily rubbed his eyes to wake himself up. Chi Shuo helped him grab his backpack from the luggage rack. He slung the backpack over his shoulder before Ye Shaoyang climbed to his feet and followed him out of the car.

When they traveled for away games, they only ever stayed at their destination for two or three days. They packed very light, only taking a change of clothes, pajamas, and some basic necessities with them. This time, they'd also packed their new keyboards and mice.

Ye Shaoyang couldn't be bothered to lug around a suitcase. Every time he traveled, he just packed everything into a backpack.

Chi Shuo often took the initiative to help him carry his things. Ye Shaoyang assumed this was just what a captain did to help their teammates, so he didn't give much thought to Chi Shuo's 'assistance'.

The team trooped into the hotel. Just as they were checking in at the front desk, they heard a bright burst of laughter from nearby.

"Chi Shuo, what a coincidence. You guys just arrived too?"

It was Team Yueying's captain, Xu Zhuo.

Chi Shuo turned around and saw the members of Team Yueying coming in with their luggage.

Xu Zhuo was walking at the head of the pack. He swiftly approached Chi Shuo and gave Chi Shuo a hug.

The two captains were old friends, but their other teammates weren't actually all that familiar with one another. They just waved politely from afar.

Ye Shaoyang cast his gaze upon Xie Weiyu, and the other party just so happened to be looking at him as well. Their eyes met, and Xie Weiyu flashed a slight smile at him. He took the initiative to offer his hand to Ye Shaoyang as he said, "Hello, Lieyang."

Ye Shaoyang shook his hand. "Hello."

This was Ye Shaoyang's first time meeting Xie Weiyu in person. Xie Weiyu was a male beta, and he was actually a lot more attractive than he looked in his official promo photos. His facial features were rather warm and gentle, giving off the sense that he was very polite. He seemed to have a rather reserved disposition as well. After shaking hands with Ye Shaoyang, he didn't say another word before quietly going to stand behind his teammates.

Team Yaoguang had traded him away and replaced him with a new marksman… mostly because they thought Xie Weiyu wasn't the type of person who could get famous, right?

He would get nervous when he was interviewed after games. Whenever the reporter asked him anything, he would just say 'mm' or 'yes' or 'right'.

But actually, in the esports industry, there were quite a lot of introverted, socially awkward young men like Xie Weiyu.

Xu Zhuo asked from the side, "What comps are you guys going to run tomorrow? Tell me in advance, I'll be sure to ban them."

Chi Shuo said, "You guys can continue to ban my junglers."

Xu Zhuo laughed boisterously. "How about you guess who our coach wants to ban the most?"

Chi Shuo curiously asked, "Who?"

Xu Zhuo glanced at Ye Shaoyang before he answered, "Tianhuan-Lieyang. Our coach wants to put your mid laner on the ban list, hahaha!"

Ye Shaoyang was silent.

This Captain Xu was a bit crass.

But it was obvious that he and Chi Shuo were truly on good terms. They could even joke around amicably before a big match.

The coordinators of the two teams swiftly finished helping the players check in. Before they could make their way upstairs, they saw some more familiar faces appear at the entrance of the hotel.

It was Team Jingzhe—Fang Zhengqing, Xie Yuan, and the others.

Xu Zhuo greeted, "Old Fang! You guys are here too!"

Fang Zhengqing was wearing sunglasses and walking with a bit of a swagger, like a bona fide celebrity.

Xie Yuan approached with a small smile, greeting Xu Zhuo and Chi Shuo. "Our Jingzhe has a match in Glacier City this week too. It'll be the match right after yours."

Fang Zhengqing took off his sunglasses and put on his glasses. While yawning, he said, "You guys are starting at seven tonight, right? Make it fast, don't challenge our bladders with a waiting game."

For the second round of the regular season, three matches were played every Saturday and Sunday—the games started at three, seven, and nine in the afternoon and evening.

These were best-of-three matches, which could be wrapped up in just two games if one team took a clean 2-0 win. If two teams went 1-1 in the first two games they played, they would need to determine a winner with a third game. Under normal circumstances, a game took around half an hour to play, which meant a three-game match would wrap up in around an hour and a half. A match which started at seven in the evening would end before nine. Fang Zhengqing and the others, playing in the match that started at nine, could be playing until nearly eleven at night.

However… unexpected things happened once in a while, during days with consecutive matches. For example, if Tianhuan and Yueying's match dragged on in a stalemate for too long, it was possible that they wouldn't finish three games in two hours. Then Jingzhe's following match would be delayed as well…

Xu Zhuo lowered his voice and said, "If I'm remembering correctly, Jingzhe is facing off against Yaoguang this week, right?"

Fang Zhengqing lifted his brows. "Is there something you want to say about that?"

Xu Zhuo joked, "Just that you absolutely can't lose. If you lose, you'll be dissed up the trending topics list."

Fang Zhengqing cryptically pushed up the bridge of his glasses. "Do you think there's a possibility of us losing?"

Ye Shaoyang wasn't too far away from them. He just so happened to hear their exchange.

Team Yaoguang was pulling all sorts of weird and shady tricks this season. All other players were perfectly aware of the fact that Yaoguang had paid trolls to diss Xie Weiyu and Ye Shaoyang online.

Chi Shuo looked towards Ye Shaoyang and said, "Let's go."

Xu Zhuo called out from the side, "What are you in a rush for? Why not stay and chat some more?"

Chi Shuo mildly answered, "We'll chat at the stadium."

Xu Zhuo said, "Then you run along and go wash your neck. Get ready for me to cut off your head!"

Old Xu had a very outspoken disposition, and he always liked to joke around. Chi Shuo didn't mind. He simply waved at his old friend, then led his teammates to their hotel rooms.

Ye Shaoyang's room, a single, was right across the hall from Chi Shuo's room.

Chi Shuo passed the backpack he was holding to Ye Shaoyang and warmly said, "Rest well tonight."

Ye Shaoyang accepted the backpack and casually said, "The Group S match between Jingzhe and Yaoguang is right after ours. Can we stay at the venue to watch?"

"You want to watch?" Chi Shuo asked.

"Mm," Ye Shaoyang confirmed. "That new marksman on Team Yaoguang is pretty alright. I want to see how he faces off against Jingzhe's bottom lane, and if he can handle the pressure."

Chi Shuo thought for a moment, then said, "Okay. I'll talk to our coordinator and coaches. We can stay backstage after our games, and we'll return to the hotel after watching Jingzhe's match."

If Chi Shuo was the one asking, the coaches would definitely agree to this request very easily. Ye Shaoyang smiled slightly and said, "Thank you, Captain Chi."

Chi Shuo curved up the corners of his lips. "No need for thanks. I want to watch this match too. Go rest up now, don't go to sleep too late."

Ye Shaoyang turned to open the door to his room. "Good night, Captain Chi."

The next day, everyone rested until noon. Once they were feeling refreshed, they met up in a meeting room at the hotel and got on their laptops to play a few casual rounds of ranked games, in order to warm up their hands.

After eating dinner, they made their way out to the nearby Glacier City Esports Center.

The stadium was packed to the gills with spectators. There were virtually no empty seats.

Ye Shaoyang still remembered the venue from the first official game he played with Tianhuan. Around fifty percent of the seats had been filled. Today, they'd actually packed the stands. All sorts of banners and posters were being waved by fans in the crowd. It looked almost like a famous singer was about to take the stage.

The teams playing that night were very popular, especially the teams playing in the last two matches. Tianhuan, Yueying, Jingzhe, and Yaoguang had all ranked in the Top Eight last season. It was no wonder the stadium was packed.

Ye Shaoyang made his way backstage to get ready with his teammates.

Very quickly, two familiar commentators appeared on the big screens.

"Friends of the audience, we're coming to you live from the Glacier City Esports Center. Welcome to the Gods War professional league! This is Round Two, Week One of the regular season! Tonight, we'll be witnessing two more matches. At seven, Tianhuan and Yueying of Group A will clash. And at nine, Jingzhe and Yaoguang of Group S will face off!"

"The players of Tianhuan and Yueying have already finished making their preparations. Let's give them a big round of applause as they take the stage!"

Team Yueying's five players took the stage first. They entered their soundproofed room, and Tianhuan soon followed suit.

Fans noticed very quickly that Tianhuan's players were all carrying new keyboards. Old Qin's was blue, the jungler and mid laner had one black and one white, and the bottom laners had red ones.

The comments section in the livestreaming room instantly blew up—

[Such flashy keyboards, and they don't even have matching colors?]

[They probably have a new sponsor daddy. Their keyboards are different.]

[Those are the SilverDragon-77 keyboards. I just bought the black one that Captain Chi is carrying. It actually feels pretty good.]

[The top laner is lonely and blue, the mid laner and jungler are a fearsome black/white duo, and the bottom laners are just flashy-flashy?]

[Hahaha, Tianhuan's funny little family names and rainbow keyboards are really making me laugh out loud.]

While the fans in the livestream teased them, Tianhuan's players remained calm and collected. They connected their new peripherals to their computers, then—

Everyone saw Qu Jiang and Cheng Xing's keyboards light up with rainbow lights.

The viewers were speechless.

That was blindingly flashy!

In order to avoid distracting their teammates, the two players took the initiative to turn off those lights.

While the players inside the soundproofed rooms started to adjust their equipment, the commentators swiftly introduced the two teams.

During second round matches, each player's introduction would be accompanied by some stats. Their achievements would be displayed alongside their photos on the big screens at the venue. These were like 'player information cards' which displayed stats such as kill-death-assist averages, kill count, MVP title count, victory rate, hero pool, and so on.

When it was Ye Shaoyang's turn, his stats received a wave of shrill cheers from the crowd.

"Tianhuan-Lieyang, a newbie debuting in S10. His stats really are beautiful!"

"That's right, his kill-death-assist average is rated at over eight points. He's taken sixty-eight kills so far, and he's been named the MVP of nine games. Currently, he tops our MVP of the Season ranking list. He has a 100% victory rate, but of course—Tianhuan hasn't lost a single game yet. All five of their players have a 100% victory rate. Lieyang's hero pool is also very deep. He's shown us heroes like the Abyssal Lord, the Illusionist, the Frost Goddess, the Tidal Goddess, the Flower Dryad…"

"It seems like he uses a different hero with every game? I wonder what we'll see from him today?"

The player introductions concluded, and the players finished setting up their equipment inside their soundproofed rooms.

The game referee signaled to the stage director, and one of the commentators excitedly exclaimed, "Both teams are ready now. Let's enter the picks and bans stage of the first round!"

In the first round, Tianhuan was assigned to the blue side. They would receive the first ban.

Coach Lin picked up a notebook and started to make some notes as he said, "Ban the Radiant Shield."

Qin Yizhu, who was sitting at the first computer, followed his instructions.

When Yueying's turn came up, everyone assumed they would ban a mid laner or a jungler. But everyone was shocked when Yueying actually gave their first ban to a top laner—they immediately banned Old Qin's favored Black Dragon Knight.

As expected… they planned to target the top lane?

Tianhuan continued to target supports with their second ban. They got rid of another support that was good at initiating team fights—Doomhammer. Yueying used their next ban on the Holy Knight.

The Holy Knight could be a top laner, or a support. Chi Shuo had also used this hero in the jungle before, when he played as a support jungler dedicated to protecting his teammates. By banning the Holy Knight, Yueying was sealing away a lot of Tianhuan's comps that were focused on protecting the mid laner core. However, with these bans…

All of Tianhuan's mid/jungle duos were left open!

One commentator exclaimed in surprise, "Yueying is really bold. All the mid laner cores and jungler cores… are free!"

"They probably have some special battle tactics planned out, right? In the first phase of the picks and bans, they've only targeted the top lane. Old Qin might become their breakthrough point."

"That's right. Captain Xu is an extremely powerful top laner, after all. It looks like, in this game, Yueying plans to focus on the top lane."

In the first round of the picks and bans, each team would ban two heroes, and then each team would pick three. There was a factor of chance in the picks that each coach made during the first phase as well. Because the heroes you didn't choose in the first phase… could be banned in the second phase.

Lin Feng thought for a while, then said, "Let's take our top and bottom laners first. We'll pick our mid/jungle duo last."

He had complete faith in the hero pools of Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang. Even if Yueying started to ban mid laners and junglers in the second phase of bans, Tianhuan wouldn't need to worry. But if Tianhuan couldn't grab a good top laner, then Old Qin could be targeted to death.

For their first pick, Tianhuan took the Man of Steel.

This was a hero Old Qin was quite familiar with. He had high defense and could really take a beating; at the very least, he wouldn't be the victim of a solo kill.

Yueying's turn came up. They immediately locked in the powerful bottom lane tower-pushing duo—the Machine Gun Huntsman and the Master Machinist.

Right after that, Tianhuan locked in the bottom lane duo of the Forest Envoy and the Divine Archer. For Yueying's third pick, they took the Kung-Fu Master.

"The Kung-Fu Master!" one commentator exclaimed. "This is one of Xu Zhuo's most famed heroes. He's incredibly good at pushing in his lane, he has many movement skills, and he can self-heal with his ult. This hero is very difficult to kill."

"Both sides have left their mid/jungle duo to be selected in the second phase of the picks and bans. Let's see how the two coaches will react to these picks."

In the first phase, the two sides had both tacitly agreed to pick their top and bottom laners. No one had chosen a mid laner or jungler yet.

In the second phase of the picks and bans, the coaches would definitely target mid laners and junglers like crazy.

Tianhuan banned the Frost Goddess and the Holy Mage, both of whom could be played as support mid laners.

Yueying banned the Stealthy Rogue and the Abyssal Lord—one jungler, one mid laner.

Very quickly, Tianhuan locked in their final picks—

For their fourth pick, they took the Enchantress as their jungler. And for their fifth pick, they took the Nightmare as their mid laner.

The two commentators excitedly exchanged a look.

"A mid/jungle duo?!"

"That's right. This is a mid/jungle duo that was once popular for a while in S6. A mid/jungle double assassin comp. Although this composition makes the team a little fragile, the two of them are extremely, extremely fierce when they fight together!"

"Does this mean Tianhuan plans to destroy the enemy in early-game?"

The viewers in the livestream were getting worked up as well.

[OMG, Captain Chi's assassin is out! He's finally not playing a support jungler! Crying.jpg]

[These two heroes have both been nerfed before, they aren't as strong as they were in S6. But if the players have a deep tacit understanding with each other, they can be played very well.]

[A mid/jungle duo! I said a long time ago that Tianhuan wouldn't take out their strongest comps in Group B. Looks like I was right!]

Yueying took a moment to mull over their options. Then they took the Brawler as a support jungler and the Storm Goddess as a support mid laner.

Both sides had finalized their lineups.

Tianhuan's Enchantress and Nightmare were well-suited to setting the rhythm of the game. Their bottom lane had a healing support and a marksman who would flourish in late-game. And their top laner could withstand a good amount of pressure.

Yueying would have the Kung-Fu Master pushing the top lane while their mid laner and jungler used control skills to provide support. Their bottom laners would be focused on destroying towers.

One side was determined to pick a fight, and the other side was focused on swiftly pushing towers.

In this Group A match, after the picks and bans of the very first round—the fiery scent of gunpowder could already be detected in the air, crackling between these two teams.

Author's Notes:

The earlier games weren't written in much detail. Tianhuan could cleanly sweep Group B.

Group A games will be written in greater detail. The picks and bans, team comps and strategies, stalemates, team fights, and so on will be written out. Tianhuan won't win so easily~