Chapter 113: Different Strategies

At 7:00 PM, the final match of Group A officially began.

“Good evening, friends in the audience! Welcome to the Ya’an Esports Center! This is the venue for the fifth week of the second round of the Gods’ War Official Professional League regular season. The match between Tianhuan and Luoshendian will decide the final rankings of Group A!”

“Let’s introduce the participating players from both sides…”

The two commentators quickly introduced the team members.

Inside the soundproof booths, everyone was seizing the time to debug their computers. Coach Lin stood behind the group holding a notebook. The five members of Tianhuan didn’t look nervous; even Cheng Xing, who usually looked tense during matches, was smiling relaxedly today. They had already won 4 matches; even if they lost this one, they would still qualify. The players indeed felt no pressure.

“Both sides are ready. Let’s start the BP for the first game!”

The match screen appeared on the big screen. In the first game, Luoshendian was randomly assigned to the Blue Side, picking and banning first.

For their first ban, they directly banned [Blessing Priest]. This support was key to Tianhuan’s speed-difference macro play and Illusionist roaming lineup. Banning him was equivalent to disabling two of Tianhuan’s systems.

Coach Lin proceeded to ban the [Radiant Shield] support. The opponent immediately sent [Abyssal Lord] to the “little dark room” (ban list). Coach Lin then banned the support [Seraphim], a hard-control support who could seal people in place, preventing movement.

“In Tianhuan’s BP this season, the first phase usually bans supports to alleviate pressure on the bot lane. Interestingly, when other teams play Tianhuan, they no longer continuously ban junglers.”

“That’s right. Before, everyone frantically banned junglers against Tianhuan. This season, they started targeting Support, Mid, and Top… because everyone realized they can’t ban out all the jungler heroes. Shuoyue can still feed his mid-laner fat by picking a utility jungler. And once a reaping mage assassin like [Abyssal Lord] gets fat, they can’t be stopped!”

“Let’s see what both sides pick first.”

Luoshendian took the top laner [Black Dragon Knight]. This was a “pick-and-ban” move. Doesn’t your Qin Yizhu like this hero? I won’t ban it, but I’ll snatch it first so you still can’t pick it.

Tianhuan’s turn. Slots 1 and 2 directly took the marksman [Wind Spirit] and support [Deer Spirit].

The two commentators looked at each other in surprise: “They actually picked this combo!”
“[Deer Spirit] is a very squishy support, but has strong single-target protection. It can jump onto a teammate and provide a shield that grants crowd-control immunity.”

“However, [Deer Spirit] can’t initiate fights actively, and its CC skills are just soft slows. In this case, Tianhuan’s frontline tankiness might be insufficient. A lineup that’s too squishy is hard to manage in team fights.”

Luoshendian’s 2nd and 3rd slots immediately secured the [Forest Messenger] + [Poison Warlock] combo. The idea behind this duo was for [Poison Warlock] to build attack speed to stack poison on enemies, while [Forest Messenger] was responsible for healing. Opponents keep losing health; we keep recovering health. It was a war of attrition, forcing opponents to recall frequently and snowballing an economic advantage.

Tianhuan’s 3rd slot picked [Paladin] to tank damage.

In the first phase, both sides locked in their Top and Bot lanes, leaving Mid and Jungle for the second phase (P2).

Luoshendian’s coach unhesitatingly banned [Stealth Rogue] and [Fighter]—one jungle carry and one utility jungler. Lin Feng consecutively banned [World-Ending Mage] and [Kraken of the North Sea], two artillery mages.

“Many strong meta heroes for Mid and Jungle have been banned!”
“Now it’s time to test the hero pools of players on both sides.”

Luoshendian, on Blue Side, snatched the mid-laner [Frost Goddess] first. When it was Tianhuan’s turn, slots 4 and 5 directly locked in [Sun Wheel Mage] and [Sword Immortal]!

“Sun Wheel Mage!”

“Lieyang actually picked a melee mage this game? Is this to be used as a frontline?”

“Tianhuan’s support is relatively squishy, so taking a melee mage mid can help initiate. And regarding the jungler [Sword Immortal], this hero has many dashes and very high mechanical difficulty, requiring explosive hand speed to hit minions and stack his passive. It’s easy to crash and burn!”

“That’s right. [Sword Immortal] is a very unstable jungler. After stacking 5 layers of passive, he can dash flexibly and quickly kill enemy heroes; but if he can’t stack it, he’s just delivering a free kill from a thousand miles away.”

Luoshendian’s coach frowned and thought for a moment, then said, “Take [Demon Hunter] to counter [Sword Immortal].”

[Demon Hunter] was the jungler with the longest attack range, able to hunt enemies from a distance and chase with his ultimate. [Sword Immortal] was very mobile; a short-legged jungler wouldn’t be able to reach him, but [Demon Hunter] countered him perfectly.

The coach paused, then added, “Focus on their jungle this game. Don’t let Chi Shuo farm up!”

The match began.

Luoshendian indeed invaded the jungle, stealing Chi Shuo’s Blue Buff. [Sword Immortal] was as fragile as paper in the early game; this fight was unwinnable, so Chi Shuo gave up the Blue Buff directly and went to quickly take Red.

Luoshendian split into two groups tacitly during the opening invasion: 3 people invaded Blue side, 2 defended their own Blue. The result was Luoshendian starting with 3 Buffs, while Chi Shuo only got one.

“3-Buff start, a small advantage!”

“Yes, Luoshendian’s jungler is 1 level higher than Shuoyue. The mid-lane river crab might also be lost.”

Just as the voice fell, Luoshendian’s jungler smited the mid-lane river crab, putting him 2 levels ahead of Chi Shuo.

Tianhuan fell into a slight disadvantage at the start.

But this economic gap wasn’t enough to affect the overall battle situation. The gap was only on the jungler; as long as no one died, the economy of the Mid, Marksman, and Top positions didn’t lag behind the opponents.

When the first Elemental Dragon spawned, Chi Shuo was only level 4, while the enemy jungler was already level 6.

Ye Shaoyang asked, “Contest the dragon?”

Chi Shuo said decisively, “Give it up. I’ll go steal their Red.”

Giving up the dragon resulted in a larger economic gap.

The two commentators were a bit anxious: “Luoshendian’s team economy leads by 1000 gold! The jungler has 500 more gold than the enemy jungler!” “If Tianhuan continues like this, the gap will only widen!”

Chi Shuo calculated the buff respawn time and stole an enemy Red.

After taking the dragon, Luoshendian immediately grouped to push the bot tower.
The jungler [Demon Hunter] placed a Hunter’s Mark on Cheng Xing. [Poison Warlock] immediately followed with a rapid fire of poison arrows. Cheng Xing instantly had 3 stacks of poison on him and decisively Flashed to escape—he couldn’t afford to die right now.

Because Cheng Xing had cleared most of the minion wave before recalling, Luoshendian only managed to chip a layer of health off the tower with their sole remaining minion. Meanwhile, Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang seized the opportunity to invade the opponent’s top-side jungle, recovering some losses.

Both sides farmed steadily. Luoshendian organized another attack on Chi Shuo’s Blue Buff.

By this time, Chi Shuo was level 6, and Ye Shaoyang had reached level 6 long ago.
Chi Shuo pinged ‘Gather’ in the jungle. Old Qin and Ye Shaoyang immediately rushed over.

A 3v3 skirmish in the jungle.

Luoshendian’s 3 members had higher overall economy than Tianhuan’s 3, so naturally, they fought aggressively. The top laner [Black Dragon Knight] activated his “Black Dragon Roar” ultimate and charged straight at Chi Shuo’s face. [Demon Hunter] followed closely with a lock-on attack, crippling Chi Shuo!

Just then, a golden light erupted from Chi Shuo—it was the [Paladin] activating his “Substitute” skill.
As a protective tank, when the [Paladin] activated Substitute, he could “take all damage for a teammate for the next 3 seconds.” This meant that all subsequent skills hitting Chi Shuo would be transferred to Old Qin.

The [Paladin]’s health plummeted, but Chi Shuo’s life was saved.

Ye Shaoyang, who had been waiting for an opportunity nearby, suddenly used his E skill to dash in, smashing his giant wheel directly onto the [Frost Goddess] hiding in the bush!

Luoshendian’s mid-laner had been hiding there, ready to freeze people. Being suddenly rushed by Ye Shaoyang, her reaction was fast; she hurriedly Flashed to escape, turning back to use her W skill “Three Feet of Ice” to freeze Ye Shaoyang. However, Ye Shaoyang dodged her freeze with a clever sidestep.

The golden wheel spun rapidly, creating a halo of golden light around the Frost Goddess.
As one of the few melee mages in Gods’ War, [Sun Wheel Mage] played as brutally as a warrior. Smashing you in the face with a wheel, stacking damage with rapid basic attacks. The sun marks on the Frost Goddess shot up to 5 stacks. With magic crit maxed out, every basic attack made the squishy mage’s health bar drop drastically!

Seeing the [Frost Goddess] beaten to low health by Ye Shaoyang’s chase, Chi Shuo dashed three times from a distance and used his ultimate to take her head.

——First Blood!
——[Tianhuan Shuoyue (Sword Immortal) killed LSD-Feifei (Frost Goddess)]!

Almost simultaneously, another message popped up.
——[LSD-Luoshen (Demon Hunter) killed Tianhuan Zhuhuo (Paladin)]!

Old Qin, having tanked damage for Chi Shuo earlier, was quickly beaten to low health and killed by the combined efforts of two Luoshendian members.

This 1-for-1 trade meant Tianhuan didn’t lose out at all. Chi Shuo, who had been suppressed, got First Blood on the enemy mid-laner, allowing Ye Shaoyang to farm and snowball as well.

Luoshendian failed to steal the Blue and had to retreat helplessly.
Chi Shuo’s economy gradually picked up.

And the result of Luoshendian frantically targeting the jungle was that Cheng Xing in the bot lane farmed very comfortably. No one came to gank him—happiness came so suddenly!
During this time, he had learned [Wind Spirit]’s positioning from Xie Weiyu and was very familiar with the hero. Although the enemy [Poison Warlock] could stack poison, as long as he watched his positioning and avoided taking 3 consecutive arrows, he could tank it.
He recalled that whenever his health dropped below half, he played steadily.

Cheng Xing, having not died once, completed his core attack speed items by the 12-minute mark.

Meanwhile, Luoshendian invaded the jungle three times consecutively, only to be repelled by the combined efforts of Ye Shaoyang, Chi Shuo, and Qin Yizhu.
Old Qin was forcibly killed twice, but he was playing weakside this game anyway, so dying twice didn’t matter. The key was that the enemy mid-laner was also insta-killed twice by Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo’s coordination!

[Frost Goddess] was a relatively clumsy hero with no displacement. Ye Shaoyang charged fiercely into her face, sticking to her. Encircled by the golden sun wheel, the Frost Goddess couldn’t withstand such a violent melee mage, plus the last-hitting from the jungler waiting for his chance…

Luoshendian realized something was wrong and immediately changed strategy: “Go gank the marksman! Wind Spirit has farmed up!”

However, it was too late to gank Cheng Xing now.
Because Tianhuan’s Mid and Jungle were also going to help bot lane!

A 4v4 bot lane team fight. It looked like Tianhuan was squishier and hard to sustain, however—

Qu Jiang’s [Deer Spirit] suddenly made a nimble leap, jumping directly onto Ye Shaoyang’s [Sun Wheel Mage].
Ye Shaoyang Flashed into the crowd, smashing his giant golden wheel towards the enemy [Poison Warlock]. Luoshendian wanted to CC him, but when [Deer Spirit] supported a teammate, it granted a CC-immunity shield, increased health, and boosted crit rate.
This kind of soft support was equivalent to an equipment attachment.

Ye Shaoyang rampaged with his support, quickly scattering Luoshendian’s formation. The enemy Poison Warlock was cut to critical health and turned to run. Chi Shuo’s [Sword Immortal], having already stacked passive layers in the jungle, drifted in like an immortal in white robes. With ultra-long-range rapid displacement, he used his ultimate to take the [Poison Warlock]’s head, then instantly returned to his original position.

Truly coming without a shadow, leaving without a trace!

On the other side of the battlefield, Luoshendian’s Mid and Jungle joined forces to dive the marksman. Frost Goddess’s CC skill was dodged by Cheng Xing’s jump. Demon Hunter wanted to force a kill, but Cheng Xing activated ‘Gale’ state for rapid jumps, instantly hopping back under the tower, as agile as a lively rabbit.
The two chased him for ages but failed to kill Cheng Xing; instead, they were kited to low health by him from a distance!

Ye Shaoyang, carrying Qu Jiang as an “equipment attachment,” continued to chase down the enemy mid-laner. Chi Shuo stacked his passive again, rushed over to cripple the Frost Goddess with a combo, and assisted Ye Shaoyang in securing the kill.
Demon Hunter helplessly retreated through the jungle.

In the 4v4 bot lane fight, Tianhuan killed 2 enemies and repelled Luoshendian’s attack.

The two commentators said excitedly: “Tianhuan’s lineup is very interesting! On the surface, the support Deer Spirit is for protecting the marksman, but in actual team fights, we realize the support is sticking to the mid-laner!”

“Exactly. The support jumps directly onto the mid-laner, allowing the mid-laner to charge recklessly into the crowd to start a fight. This is the ferocity of a melee mage!”

“And the marksman [Wind Spirit], even without support protection, isn’t easy to kill if his positioning is flexible! The jungler [Sword Immortal] is the same; with multiple dashes, he’s also hard to catch.”

“The core of Tianhuan this game isn’t the jungler or the marksman, but the Mid-Support engage!”

This was lineup deception. [Sword Immortal] was an annoying jungler, and Luoshendian’s opening strategy to invade the jungle wasn’t wrong. But they overlooked that Tianhuan’s true engage point was actually the mid-laner, and the person the support really wanted to protect was also the mid-laner!

Ye Shaoyang rampaged with Qu Jiang. If Luoshendian didn’t kill him quickly, their own backline would be slaughtered by him. But if they focused fire on him, then Sword Immortal and Wind Spirit, these two extremely mobile damage dealers, could deal explosive damage without any worries.

Luoshendian’s captain had an increasing headache. He found that later on, even with an economic advantage, they were powerless in team fights. Luoshendian’s lineup was too clumsy, while Tianhuan’s was incredibly flexible.

In a crucial Baron team fight, both sides engaged in a 5v5 tug-of-war.
Ye Shaoyang’s [Sun Wheel Mage] initiated fiercely again. Relying on Qu Jiang’s close protection, he jumped into the enemy crowd with the CC-immunity shield. Using his ultimate “Radiant Glory,” golden wheels swept the surroundings like a hurricane, stunning all enemies in the path!

Qin Yizhu immediately jumped in, activating his “Divine Protection” ultimate to tank damage for Ye Shaoyang.

With Qu Jiang’s shield protection and Old Qin’s substitute tanking, Ye Shaoyang could rampage boldly. Not only did he scatter the enemy formation instantly, but the squishy [Frost Goddess] was also instantly killed by his combo!

The others from Luoshendian quickly focused fire on Ye Shaoyang. In the blink of an eye, Old Qin, who was tanking for others, fell first. The shield on Ye Shaoyang was also broken, and the enemy support immediately landed a CC, rooting Ye Shaoyang in place.
Ye Shaoyang, playing a mage like a warrior, finally quieted down, unable to move.

However…
Everyone went to focus Ye Shaoyang, leaving Cheng Xing unattended!

Xiao Xing positioned frantically on the periphery, jumping and shooting. In moments, he crippled all of Luoshendian’s frontline. Chi Shuo had already stacked his passive and initiated a raid from a distance—
The master and apprentice had trained together often, and their synergy was very high. Chi Shuo took the enemy marksman with an ultimate, then used his Q skill to stun the enemy jungler.
Cheng Xing immediately aimed two arrows at the enemy jungler.
Chi Shuo continued to stun the enemy top laner with Q, and Cheng Xing hurriedly aimed two more arrows at the top laner.

——[Tianhuan Shuoyue (Sword Immortal) killed LSD-Xiaoyin (Poison Warlock)]!
——[Tianhuan Fanying (Wind Spirit) killed LSD-Luoshen (Demon Hunter)]!
——[Tianhuan Fanying (Wind Spirit) killed LSD-Yuzhou (Black Dragon Knight)]!

Tianhuan only lost Qin Yizhu and Ye Shaoyang, while Luoshendian lost 4 people, leaving only a support.

Ye Shaoyang initiated to attract firepower, while Chi Shuo and Cheng Xing moved quickly on the periphery to clean up the battlefield. Tianhuan’s flexible lineup with a “melee mage” as the engage point caused Luoshendian’s team fight to collapse directly.

“Congratulations to Tianhuan for taking the first game!”

“The MVP of this game is Tianhuan Lieyang! Several consecutive beautiful engages directly scattered the opponent’s formation. Clearly a mage, yet fierce as a warrior—this is the terror of the [Sun Wheel Mage]!”

“Of course, the other Tianhuan players performed very well too. Old Qin’s timely tanking, Qu Jiang’s support, and the peripheral cleanup by Captain Chi and Xiao Xing. We find that Tianhuan’s entire team coordination is even more tacit and fluid than in the last match!”

“That’s right. Xiao Xing dealt 40% of the damage in team fights!”

Coach Lin sat below the stage watching this scene, his eyes heating up uncontrollably.

This lineup required the tacit cooperation of 5 people, not just relying on Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang to carry the rhythm. If the team fight became disjointed and Ye Shaoyang died too quickly after charging in, Tianhuan would collapse.

But facts proved that the five of them were becoming more and more in sync.
Especially in that last Baron fight, the 5 of them were like a single rope. Old Qin tanked the enemy ultimate damage for Ye Shaoyang at the most appropriate moment; Qu Jiang followed Ye Shaoyang’s engage with max speed; Cheng Xing and Chi Shuo hid in the distance first, waiting for the enemy to use key skills before joining forces to clean up.

Tianhuan’s 5 members were like gears connecting one after another, fitting tightly and running smoothly.
One team fight directly broke Luoshendian!

This was an excellent team!
Not relying solely on Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang, but everyone playing their role. Even Cheng Xing, once Tianhuan’s weak link, picked a flexible marksman and, without support protection, used flexible positioning to dodge skills while rapid-firing, dealing 40% of the damage in this game!

Lin Feng had underestimated Xiao Xing before, always making Qu Jiang protect him closely, which actually limited Qu Jiang’s performance. In fact, Qu Jiang’s support could try more strategies instead of just being Cheng Xing’s follower.
For example, in this game, Qu Jiang supporting Ye Shaoyang’s engage had unexpectedly good results.

From today’s match, Coach Lin truly realized—
This season, Tianhuan had the strength to compete for the regional championship.
They hadn’t been to the World Championship in a long time. This year, they must go to the World Championship to take a look