All-Round Mid Laner

After the first game ended, Team FNO's training room fell into a deep, strange silence.

A few seconds passed. Coach Tom came back to his senses first. He sent Lin Feng a message in the game's team chat: [I'm going to get a cup of coffee. Can we pause for a few minutes?]

Lin Feng answered: [Okay, okay. I'll get some tea too.]

Both coaches agreed to a temporary truce.

Tom turned back and asked, "What happened? Mitchell, how could you get solo killed?"

Mitchell's whole head was full of question marks. "I also want to ask that question?"

He lifted his head and looked at the coach. "Coach, you said Qu Jiang only knows how to play control-type heroes and doesn't know assassin mages. You said Tianhuan was a jungler-core team?"

Tom lowered his head and took a sip of water to hide his embarrassment. "That's what my intel said."

Their top laner Clement earnestly asked, "Could it be that the news from the Chinese division was wrong?"

Mitchell scratched a hand through his hair. He swiftly watched the replay of the other mid laner getting a solo kill on him from earlier.

The Sun Mage was, to an extent, countered by the Abyssal Lord. Because the Sun Mage was a close-combat hero whose skills had very short ranges. Not only was the Abyssal Lord a long-range mage, he relied on his shadows to attack. When these two heroes faced off, the Abyssal Lord would be able to strike the Sun Mage before the Sun Mage even reached him.

But even if his hero was countered, Mitchell was still a world-class professional mid laner who had twice been named the best in the world!

Could someone solo kill him so easily just because they wanted to?

In that confrontation, Mitchell had just used up his skills. His hero was locked in place for 0.1 seconds, and his shield just so happened to be down as well. That was why his enemy had been able to take his life in just one flurry of blows.

This was no coincidence.

His opponent had long since calculated every last detail.

That seemingly cautious and timid mid laner who'd cowered under his tower hadn't just calculated the cooldown and post-cast delay times of Mitchell's skills. That mid laner had also perfectly calculated Mitchell's defense and HP—80% had been the key number, and Mitchell's protective shield had been down. The Abyssal Lord had used up all his skills to kill Mitchell in one go!

A cold shiver climbed up Mitchell's spine.

This terrifying coolheadedness, this precision, and that sharp grasp of timing…

The enemy mid laner was no ordinary mid laner!

Mitchell swiftly sat up straight in his seat. He fixed his gaze on the monitor and said, "Coach, your information was definitely wrong. Tianhuan's mid laner is world class. When I face off against him, I don't feel the same kind of pressure as when I face off against Fang Zhengqing. But if I make even one tiny mistake, he'll immediately seize the opportunity to instakill me. His ability to take stock of the situation and make instantaneous decisions is superb!"

Coach Tom fell deep into thought.

A world-class mid laner? Could Tianhuan have spent a huge sum on recruiting a top-tier mid laner?

He had felt it was a bit unexpected for Coach Lin to suddenly reach out to him for a practice game. The two teams hadn't clashed in three years already, after all. Rumor had it Tianhuan's marksman and support had retired. Their FNO's marksman and support had just retired as well. Tom originally assumed Tianhuan was mostly reaching out in order to test out their new bottom laners.

He couldn't have imagined that Tianhuan's middle lane would have changed so much too.

An Abyssal Lord team comp with the mid laner as their core… they had completely wrecked FNO.

Mitchell came out with a kill-death-assist stat of 0-3-3. This was downright inconceivable!

Tom instantly got himself pumped up again and said, "For the next game, Mitchell—don't be too brazen. Pack up your short-range Sun Mage, be good and play a long-range cannon for me!"

Mitchell had originally wanted to continue using his Sun Mage to face off against the Abyssal Lord, in order to earn back the dignity he'd lost earlier. But when he saw that serious expression on his coach's face, he silently packed away his original intentions and said, "Then I'll take the Destruction Mage."

Tom spent his fake coffee break holding an emergency strategy meeting to talk about countermeasures against Tianhuan.

Coach Lin was also taking a fake break. He was actually reviewing the game they'd just played. He looked towards Ye Shaoyang and said in disbelief, "Shaoyang, you can actually beat Mitchell?"

Ye Shaoyang smiled and said, "In the last game, it was mostly that I had good luck, I think? Mitchell made a positioning error, and he was caught by me. He carelessly underestimated me a bit and didn't see me as a real threat."

Lin Feng was silent.

Underestimating your opponent could truly be a grave mistake in a game. Shaoyang's explanation made sense. From the eagle eye spectator's view of the game, Coach Lin could see that Mitchell had indeed made a positioning error due to his carelessness. Shaoyang seemed very timid, but he actually played very calmly.

Lin Feng temporarily suppressed the perplexed feelings in his heart and said, "In the second game, they probably won't underestimate us. So what comp should we run?"

Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang looked at each other.

For the time being, they didn't plan on pulling out the double flight or double wolves comp. These were the aces up their sleeves. They would definitely be exposed if they took them out now.

Ye Shaoyang had just played the Abyssal Lord as a mid lane core. Playing the same thing again wouldn't be very interesting. He thought for a while, then asked Chi Shuo, "What if Captain Chi plays a jungler core? I can take a support mid laner in the next game and roam the map with you."

Chi Shuo gave it some thought, then said, "Okay. I'll take the King of Fighters. We can surround the bottom lane and focus the fights there."

Hearing that, Cheng Xing anxiously sat up straight in his seat.

If they came down to the bottom lane… this game would turn into a war of the gods down there!

The second game began very quickly.

Both sides swiftly chose their heroes.

FNO took the Vampiric Duke for their top lane, the Enchanting Demon for their jungle, the Prince of the Blood Clan and the Bride of the Blood Clan for their bottom lane, and the Destruction Mage for their middle lane.

Tianhuan took the Black Dragon Knight, the King of Fighters, the Radiant Shield and the Cannon Master, and for the middle lane—they took the Holy Mage.

After the two team comps were finalized, both sides fell silent for a few seconds.

Chi Shuo offered his analysis in the team channel. "FNO is running a classic 'blood-sucking' comp. Their top laner and two bottom laners can all drain HP, and their mid laner's ult can instakill our heroes. Their jungler is nimble and can control the field. This comp is very strong in team fights."

At the same time, Mitchell said in FNO's team chat, "Tianhuan is really running a jungler-core comp this time! The mid lane Holy Mage is a support mid laner. Isn't he very good at assassin mages? Why is he coming out with a support-type hero?"

The top laner Clement said, "With him taking the Holy Mage, it'll be very hard for you to instakill him, captain."

In the lore of the fantasy game Gods War, the Destruction Mage was aligned with evil and drew power from darkness. Meanwhile, the Holy Mage was aligned with light and divinity. These two heroes had been of the same class and school of training, before they each walked down a different path. They were friends who became enemies.

The Destruction Mage could unleash six cursed blades of black mist, which were considered black magic. If he positioned them well, he could instantly kill off a glass cannon.

The Holy Mage's purifying shield, on the other hand, was considered white magic. It could fully fend off all magical damage.

So, when these two heroes faced off, that meant…

You can't kill me, and I can't kill you either.

Michell had originally thought that he would be able to use his powerful artillery mage to teach his opponent a lesson in this game. He wanted to show the other party how powerful he really was! But his enemy had actually chosen… a magic tank?

Mitchell was speechless.

Could he climb through the internet cables and make it to China to smack this guy?

The game began.

Once again, FNO grouped up and invaded Tianhuan's jungle and steal Chi Shuo's blue buff. Chi Shuo was always being counter-jungled by people. He'd smartened up about this ages ago. He simply took Ye Shaoyang and Qu Jiang straight to the other side, to steal the enemy's blue buff.

Both sides collected a pair of buffs to start the game, then started to develop steadily.

In the middle lane, Mitchell was much more cautious. He was very careful about where he moved. Ye Shaoyang continued to play by the 'I won't leave my tower' tactic, slowly using his Holy Mage's orbs of light to farm minions.

The Holy Mage was considered a magic tank. Of all mages, his attack power was the lowest and his defense was the highest. His key features were—

One, his E skill. The Holy Shield. The Holy Mage could choose a player to shield with this skill, granting that player a thick barrier which also increased magic resistance. It was the equivalent of granting one teammate a piece of defense-boosting armor that would have cost 2,000 gold.

Two, his ult. The Holy Seal. This ult could seal away an enemy in a transparent sphere, making it so that the enemy had no ability to move or attack at all. The skill lasted for 2.5 seconds.

The Holy Seal was considered a 'dominant' control skill; it couldn't be dispelled. It was one of the strongest control abilities in the game. But this skill did have a drawback—while trapping an enemy, the Holy Mage himself couldn't move either, essentially becoming a sitting duck.

So, this hero was more suitable for a 'support mage' role.

In team fights, he would go up and immobilize the enemy team's core. If he was also killed after the enemy was taken down, then that wouldn't be much of a loss.

In early-game, the Holy Mage always kept his shield on himself. The dazzling gold shield was extremely beautiful. It granted the Holy Mage additional defense and HP. Mitchell didn't have the slightest bit of patience for this. He didn't even want to use his skills to try to hit this magic tank.

Very quickly, both junglers reached Level 6.

Mitchell immediately signaled, "Enemy jungler's at Level 6, bottom lane be careful!"

Chi Shuo also paused near the lower river to notify his bottom laners.

The two bottom lane duos swiftly farmed minions and stayed alert, making sure they were ready to retreat at any second.

At just that moment, FNO's jungler—the Enchanting Demon—appeared like a demon indeed, popping up behind Cheng Xing without any warning. With one use of the skill 'Charm', the Demon stunned Cheng Xing in place. Angus's marksman, the Bride of the Blood Clan, immediately used her ult. The arrows his hero shot out were tipped with blood, and in the blink of an eye, Cheng Xing had taken five stacks of the 'bleed' status!

Seeing that Cheng Xing would very soon be shot to death by the enemy, Chi Shuo's King of Fighters hastily used two movement skills to dash through the woods. With one blow, he hammered the Bride into a wall.

[King of Fighters] killed [The Bride of the Blood Clan]!

[The Enchanting Demon] killed [The Cannon Master]!

Both marksmen fell to the ground, dead, at the same time. The two junglers had each taken a head.

Chi Shuo retreated, and the enemy jungler Kevin tactfully retreated as well.

In this exchange of marksmen, neither team gained much of an advantage. Since their marksmen weren't present, neither team rushed to get into a team fight around the first minor dragon. They continued to farm minions in their own lanes.

The game reached the six-minute mark.

Mitchell realized that the opposing mid laner was gone. He instantly signaled: [Mid laner MISSING!]

He swiftly gave chase.

In the bottom lane, Cheng Xing and Qu Jiang were engaged in a 2v2 against Allen and Angus. They all soon saw that their own junglers and mid laners were circling through the jungle to reach them. A small group fight could break out at any moment!

This time, Tianhuan struck first.

Ye Shaoyang hid in the woods to the side. When the enemy Angus stuck his head out, Ye Shaoyang instantly flashed in and used the Holy Seal to immobilize Angus in place!

With a duration of 2.5 seconds on this seal, Chi Shuo could decisively follow Ye Shaoyang forward and instakill the enemy marksman in one breath.

At the same time, Mitchell emerged from the woods and unleashed—the Curse of Destruction!

Six blades of black mist flew through the sky like vipers, accurately striking the marksman that was hiding in the back line. The Destruction Mage's ult was extremely powerful. It was enough to instantly slay Cheng Xing, who had been hiding under his tower and carefully sneaking out some attacks.

Angus: [T_T]

Cheng Xing: [T_T]

Once again, the two marksmen were sent back to their bases together.

This 4v4 was fiercer than the previous fight. After the marksmen died, the mid laners, junglers, and supports engaged in a 3v3. Ye Shaoyang diligently played the part of a support mage, casting his own shield onto Chi Shuo's body.

With that protective shield boosting his defense stat, Chi Shuo would show you what it meant to be a jungler core!

He charged straight in, taking down the mid laner Mitchell with one swift skill combo.

Of course, when Ye Shaoyang gave his shield to Chi Shuo, it meant that Ye Shaoyang was left in a vulnerable state. He didn't have any skills up at that time, and he'd used up his flash as well. The enemy jungler, Kevin, very swiftly took Ye Shaoyang's head.

This fight resulted in two deaths for each side. On the surface, it looked like the two teams had drawn a tie.

But in reality, Tianhuan had won big!

Chi Shuo, as their jungler core, had taken two kills. Meanwhile, FNO's Mitchell and Kevin had each taken one kill.

Mitchell had killed Tianhuan's marksman, which certainly wasn't bad. But killing Tianhuan's mid laner? In this game, Tianhuan's mid laner was firmly playing the role of a support mage. He was giving all his resources to the jungler. There was no point in killing him.

FNO had let Tianhuan's jungler power up!

Mitchell realized that something had gone wrong. He immediately changed their plans and said, "Go to the jungle, we can't let their jungler get too comfortable!"

After FNO's heroes respawned, four of them grouped up to steal Tianhuan's red buff. Ye Shaoyang swiftly rushed over to assist.

Mitchell was undoubtedly very intelligent. He knew that the Holy Mage's ult had a rather long cooldown time. If they went over to counter-jungle while the Holy Mage had no skills up, they could think of a way to kill Chi Shuo.

However, though Mitchell's plans were very nice in his head, reality wouldn't unfold that way…

Nearly as soon as the four FNO players appeared in the jungle, Ye Shaoyang cast his glimmering shield onto Chi Shuo. With that shield, Chi Shuo could handle a 1v2 fight. Plus, the Holy Mage didn't only have that shield—his Q skill could also slow the enemy.

Ye Shaoyang was playing his mage like a tank. He planted himself in front of the enemy team and continuously disrupted their range of movement.

He swayed back and forth before their eyes, endlessly using his Q skill to reduce his opponents' speed…

Mitchell couldn't resist. He bellowed, "Kill that mage!"

The four people took aim at Ye Shaoyang and ganged up on him, swiftly killing him dead.

But Chi Shuo used a well-timed smite to take the red buff, after which he casually made his way over to the middle lane to farm a wave of minions too.

Mitchell's attempt to harass the enemy jungler was a complete fail.

He opened up the game stats and realized that at some point, Chi Shuo had somehow gained a 1,500 gold lead over FNO's jungler Kevin. That was nearly enough for one additional piece of damage-boosting equipment.

Although Tianhuan as a team had been on the decline in recent years, this jungler wasn't the S6 Individuals champion at worlds for nothing—the Tianhuan captain absolutely couldn't be underestimated!

Mitchell immediately changed their plans again. "Kill those bottom laners, push the outer tower!"

While Ye Shaoyang was respawning back at Tianhuan's base, four of FNO's players swarmed down to the bottom lane.

Mitchell's Destruction Mage was no less powerful than any hero Zhou Jiawen played, and his hit rate with his skills was alarmingly high. He unleashed his ult from very far away, and—forget about Cheng Xing. Not even world-class marksmen could necessarily escape that assault.

Cheng Xing was sent back to their base to respawn yet again. The four FNO players aggressively pushed onwards, swiftly destroying Tianhuan's outer tower before turning to the middle lane.

FNO had done very well in this bout. They'd swiftly reclaimed the rhythm of the game. Plus, FNO was running a blood-sucking comp. They were actually strongest in team fights.

The two teams had spent their time around the bottom lane until that point. Both marksmen had been killed several times.

Now, FNO went up to push the middle lane. The two 'orphaned' top laners simultaneously came down to join the fight.

When the team fight broke out, the two top laners and supports struck at the same time!

Qu Jiang leapt into the fray and used a 'stun', while Qin Yizhu immediately followed up with the Black Dragon's Roar. These two players hadn't played together for three years for nothing. They were very much in sync, creating a nearly seamless period of immobilization for their enemies.

However, FNO was being very careful with their positioning in this round. Tianhuan wasn't able to control their back line.

Mitchell used an ult, once more aiming it at Cheng Xing in Tianhuan's back line. But Cheng Xing had already been killed by him twice in a row; one way or another, he had to grow some brains. When that black mist appeared, he instantly used his flash to hide out in the woods near the tower, narrowly avoiding Mitchell's ult!

The opposing marksman Angus was also cautiously hiding under FNO's tower, swiftly firing out a barrage of blood-tipped arrows.

Suddenly, a flash of golden light descended from above—

At some point, Ye Shaoyang had popped up. He immediately used the Holy Seal to immobilize Angus under the tower.

Angus, sealed once more, seriously wanted to cry.

Chi Shuo had been hidden nearby the whole time. The instant Ye Shaoyang acted, Chi Shuo swiftly dashed in. His King of Fighters was the most well-equipped hero on the field now. In two hits, he took down that fragile marksman.

Angus, who had been taken down in two hits: [T_T]

From his hiding spot in the woods, Cheng Xing saw the enemy marksman taken down. His heart jolted with excitement, and he hastily fired a cannon into the cluster of heroes duking it out. The boom of the cannon sounded out, taking the enemy heroes down to critically low health.

But immediately afterwards, the Vampiric Duke zeroed in on his position and hacked him to death with two sweeps of his blade.

Cheng Xing was silent.

The footage from today's match could be edited into a highlights reel titled: 100 Ways to Kill a Marksman.

The game continued to the thirty-five-minute mark. Both sides remained locked in a fierce push and pull.

Cheng Xing was killed five times. FNO's marksman Angus suffered a similarly tragic fate, being killed by Tianhuan's mid/jungle duo six times.

These two youths were on the verge of breaking down. It was their first time experiencing the terror of being dominated by world-class players!

The two sides finished destroying each other's outer towers and inner towers, then entered the stage of protecting their respective bases.

At this stage, the importance of the two supports became very obvious. Qu Jiang had three years of professional experience, which was objectively a great deal more than what FNO's new support Allen possessed. Qu Jiang worked together with Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang to establish a comprehensive field of vision for their team in the jungle.

When the grand dragon fight arrived, Tianhuan's visibility in the jungle was far superior to that of Team FNO.

Both teams started to attack the grand dragon. They would fight it for a while, before being disrupted by the enemy team.

You take a shot, I take a shot.

This back-and-forth lasted for more than a minute. If the grand dragon could speak, it would definitely snap irritably, Are you guys fighting me or not?!

The third time Tianhuan shifted their attacks to the dragon, Ye Shaoyang found an opportunity. He suddenly flashed into the woods above the dragon pit and unleashed his ult, sealing the enemy marksman Angus!

Chi Shuo instantly sped up to match Ye Shaoyang's rhythm. He lashed out and took Angus down in an instant.

Mitchell furrowed his brow and used his ult, intending to salvage the situation by killing Chi Shuo…

However, Chi Shuo had Ye Shaoyang's protection.

A golden, glowing shield surrounded his body, giving him 3,000 additional points of health.

Chi Shuo, wearing that golden shield and a top-tier set of gear, could rule the rift as he pleased. He could go toe-to-toe with Michell in terms of damage output. After enduring Mitchell's ult, he moved in and crushed Mitchell into the ground.

Mitchell was silent.

This is a 2v1! You guys are too much!

Chi Shuo also successfully took down the grand dragon.

FNO held out and protected their base for ten minutes. The game broke the forty-minute mark before coming to a close. FNO did everything in their power, but they still had no way to turn things around.

This wasn't like the last round, when they'd been blindsided and hadn't even been able to react. This game was a push-and-pull between both teams. The final headcount came out to be 18-16, not a huge difference. However, in the critical team fight, it was still Tianhuan's mid laner who'd controlled the situation, flashing into the woods above the dragon pit and sealing FNO's marksman.

This person's game sense was too scary!

Mitchell lifted both hands from the keyboard, gravely gazing at the screen.

Next to him, the curly-haired Angus was sporting a pair of reddened eyes, filled up with tears.

Coach Tom speechlessly pressed a hand to his own forehead.

Where did this demon king come from? He beat our new marksman to tears!

Allen quietly consoled, "It's okay. It's just a practice game. Don't feel bad."

Angus hoarsely mumbled, "I was killed seven times…"

His voice was full of aggrievement.

Coach Tom coughed lightly and walked over to pat him on the shoulder. "The next season hasn't started yet. Think of this as getting a preview of how cruel the season will be. It's a good thing to experience it."

Angus was quiet for a second. "…that was too cruel."

Mitchell drew a deep breath, then summarized, "Tianhuan isn't a jungler-core team, they're a mid/jungle dual core team. In the first round, their jungler gave the blue buff to the mid laner at the start of the game. The mid laner set the rhythm. In the second round, the mid laner played a support mage and stuck to the jungler to protect him. The two of them roamed together to gank us, and the jungler set the rhythm. Their team… has two world-class players!"

Tom exhaled sharply. "How is that possible? Wasn't Tianhuan eliminated in the first round of their domestic playoffs this year?"

"That was S9," Mitchell said.

Everyone's faces filled up with doubt.

"It's still S9 now. The world championships don't start until December."

Mitchell shrugged. He feigned a relaxed tone and said, "To teams that made it into the world championships, this season won't end until December, that's true. But to Tianhuan, and to us… S9 ended a long time ago."

Everyone caught on to what he was saying very quickly.

It was true. To teams that hadn't made it into the world championships, S9 was over.

They were already in the preparations stage for S10!

So, the Tianhuan they encountered today wasn't the Tianhuan that had been eliminated in the first round of the S9 Chinese division playoffs—this was a Tianhuan that was quietly changing.

Coach Tom took a deep breath and confidently declared, "Tianhuan has definitely switched their mid laner! We're probably the first to know. Today's practice games have given me a dreamlike flashback to how I felt in S6. The mid/jungle duo is back!"

Tianhuan's jungler had always been very strong. If they had a world-class mid laner now, then… it would be difficult to imagine how terrifying next season's Team Tianhuan would be.

Tom remorsefully said, "Through these practice games, I trust we've all noticed that the weak spots on our teams are the same—the bottom lane. So, when we meet Tianhuan again, we can't play like this."

"When we meet them again?" Clement echoed gravely. "Coach, do you plan on scheduling more practice games with them?"

Tom laughed softly and wagged one finger. "No, no. Not a practice game."

He looked out the window and pensively said, "The next time we meet should be at the world championships."

It was late autumn in North America as well. Yellowed leaves blanketed the ground.

At one in the morning, the wind was strong enough to rustle those fallen leaves, causing them to emit a faint sound.

Next spring, when the trees sprouted new greens, when S10 began in earnest…

Would the remolded Tianhuan make it into the world championships?

Would FNO meet their old foes at the world championships once more?

When the time came, they absolutely couldn't lose 0-2!

Tom lightly breathed out, then turned to look at the young man with reddened eyes. "Angus, wipe your tears! Starting tomorrow, add two hours of training per day. Have Mitchell and Kevin work together to gank you. Let's see how many times you can die in a day."

Angus was silent.

He wanted to cry even more now!

Can I apply to not play marksman?

In a 5v5 game, why did there even have to be a marksman?

Being ganked by the jungler daddy, instakilled by the mid laner daddy, hacked to death by the top laner daddy, stunned by the support daddy…

How exactly was a marksman supposed to play this game?

Author's Notes:

Being able to defeat FNO this time was expected. FNO's marksman + support are both clueless newbies, and their jungler isn't as powerful as Chi Shuo.

However, things won't be the same when they meet at worlds.