ARML CH65

At 6:30 PM, the two teams in the S9 season China region grand finals finally appeared on the main stage.

Thunderous applause erupted in the venue.

Sitting in the 2nd-floor viewing area, Ye Shaoyang could clearly feel the enthusiasm of the live audience. Various support posters in the back rows rolled like ocean waves, and the fans’ screams almost pierced the clouds.

The Jingzhe team, wearing dark purple team uniforms, and the ICE Binghun team, wearing white team uniforms, stood on the left and right sides of the main stage, bowed to the audience, and then walked back to their soundproof booths.

The cameras zoomed in on the players’ faces on the screen one by one, and the official casters began to introduce the participating members.

“I believe everyone is familiar with this next player! The captain of the Binghun team, Chen Qianhua. A veteran player who debuted in the S6 season, he has played professionally for four years and has very rich tournament experience!”

Chen Qianhua’s face was enlarged on the screen. He smiled and waved at the camera in front of him. Excited screams rang out again in the venue, and a fan shouted, “Captain Chen, I want to have your babies!” causing a burst of laughter.

This was Ye Shaoyang’s first time seeing Chen Qianhua in person.

“Modest gentleman, gentle as jade” was the most fitting description for him. There were many handsome players in the league, but Chen Qianhua was the kind of “good-looking over time” guy who might look ordinary at first glance but becomes more pleasing the longer you look at him, with a very gentle smile.

However, for him to be able to bring the Binghun team, which was on the verge of elimination, back to the grand finals stage, this person was definitely not as gentle and easy to bully as he looked on the surface. The fact that the 4 Alpha players of the Binghun team obediently listened to his shotcalling showed that this Beta captain’s charismatic charm far exceeded many people’s imaginations.

The two official casters continued, “Binghun’s team fight coordination is incredibly tacit, and they are very good at hard-engage compositions. This is the first time the Binghun team has made it to the SPL grand finals.”

“This is Jingzhe’s second time in the grand finals, right? They just won the championship last year in S8.”

“Yes. Will the Jingzhe team be able to defend their championship throne, or will the Binghun team set their best historical record and take the S9 championship? Let’s wait and see!”

“Viewers, the players from both sides are ready. We are now entering the BP (Ban/Pick) of the first game.”

The game match screen appeared on the big screen, starting the first round of BP.

Jingzhe was randomly assigned to the blue side, giving them ban/pick priority.

Coach Chen unhesitatingly banned the hard-engage Support [Destruction Hammer]. Binghun banned Fang Zhengqing’s signature hero [Cobra King]. Jingzhe used their second ban on the Support [Radiant Shield], and Binghun banned the Marksman [Holy Spirit Archer].

Jingzhe’s entire first-phase BP targeted the Support role. The two Supports on the ban list were both hard-engage heroes that Chen Qianhua was very proficient with. Meanwhile, Binghun first banned the Poison Comp system and then banned Xie Yuan’s Marksman, whose late-game damage output was terrifying.

Both sides rapidly selected their heroes. Binghun snatched up the [Mechanical Expert] and [Machine Gun Hunter] bottom lane duo first. Seeing this, Ye Shaoyang couldn’t help but discuss quietly with Chi Shuo, “They want to play a tower-pushing composition?”

Chi Shuo said softly, “The Binghun team’s tower-pushing composition is very strong. Under Chen Qianhua’s protection, it’s very difficult to kill their Marksman. As long as [Machine Gun Hunter] completes 2 attack speed items, the outer towers will be hard to defend.”

Facts proved this to be true. The first match centered around the bottom lane.

Binghun’s bottom lane had Chen Qianhua as Support; Jingzhe’s bottom lane featured the star duo of Support Li Yunmo and Marksman Xie Yuan. In a 2v2 matchup, neither side could gain an advantage. The Junglers on both sides frequently visited the bottom lane to gank, but with Chen Qianhua’s protection, it was very hard to kill Binghun’s Marksman.

During the first dragon team fight, Binghun unexpectedly executed a 0-for-2 trade directly!

Support Chen Qianhua placed his mechanical soldiers quite ingeniously. He used them to perfectly stun Fang Zhengqing and Xie Yuan, the two core damage dealers.

With the Marksman and Mage stunned in the team fight, the result was that Binghun’s Jungler found the opportunity to secure a Double Kill in one breath!

Ye Shaoyang watched with trepidation, “Binghun is indeed strong in team fights!”

Chi Shuo said, “Xiao Chen’s ability to seize opportunities is truly strong. His crowd control skill hit rate is extremely high.”

After the dragon team fight, Binghun’s economy quickly snowballed. The Marksman built his attack speed items and began frantically pushing towers with Chen Qianhua. After holding on for 25 minutes, Jingzhe had all their outer towers pushed down by Binghun’s tower-pushing system. Binghun steadily secured the Baron and pushed down the crystal in one wave.

“Congratulations to Binghun for taking the first game!”

“On Jingzhe’s side, although they banned Binghun’s two strongest hard-engage Supports, Captain Chen’s Support hero pool is extremely deep, making it hard to ban him out completely.”

“The grand finals use a Global BP format. Let’s look forward to how Jingzhe will respond in the second game!”

Hearing this, Ye Shaoyang couldn’t help but ask Chi Shuo softly, “Global BP?”

Chi Shuo replied, “En. Regional finals are best-of-5, and the World Championship finals are also BO5. The rules are Global BP: heroes used in the previous game cannot be used again in the next. If the score is tied at 2:2, the final deciding game will be a Blind Pick with no bans. This is also a huge test for the coaches’ drafting strategies.”

Ye Shaoyang looked thoughtful, “In that case, a player’s hero pool needs to be sufficiently deep.”

Global BP was equivalent to putting over 100 heroes into the same pool. At the start of each match, the coaches of both sides would ban a few, and the players would select heroes from the remaining pool.

Heroes picked in the first game could not be picked again in the second.

For example, Binghun’s tower-pushing composition was very strong, but since Chen Qianhua had already used [Mechanical Expert] in the first game, he couldn’t reuse it in the second game, even if the opposing coach didn’t ban it.

No repetitions allowed. This rule elevated the excitement of the grand finals to another level—over five games, both sides would bring out five completely different composition systems.

Ye Shaoyang sat up straight in anticipation, focusing intently on the big screen.

In the second game, Jingzhe continued to ban Supports, while Binghun still targeted the Mid-laner.

The final selected compositions showed Binghun leaning towards a team-fight system, while Jingzhe’s side had Fang Zhengqing picking the one-shot burst assassin mage [Illusionist], coordinating with the Jungler [Stealth Rogue].

Chi Shuo said thoughtfully, “It seems Old Fang wants to use mid-jungle synergy to heavily gank the bottom lane.”

Facts proved that Chi Shuo and Fang Zhengqing indeed had zero synergy in their thinking.

Fang Zhengqing completely ignored the bottom lane. Once he hit level 6, he surprisingly went to gank the top lane?

Chi Shuo: “…”

Ye Shaoyang quickly understood. The mid-jungle synergy system Jingzhe drafted was actually a smokescreen. On the surface, they intended to use mid-jungle synergy against the bottom lane, but in reality, it was a “mid-top synergy.” Fang Zhengqing frequently roamed to the top lane, teaming up with Jingzhe’s Top Laner to completely blow up Binghun’s top lane.

Meanwhile, in the bottom lane, under the protection of the calm Support Li Yunmo, Xie Yuan, as a world-class Marksman, could withstand the combined assault of Chen Qianhua’s duo and the Jungler.

Thus, Jingzhe’s bottom lane endured pressure 2v3, their Jungler farmed freely, and Fang Zhengqing assisted the Top Laner, rapidly blowing up the enemy’s top lane. Using the top jungle as a breakthrough point, they tore open a gap in Binghun’s defense.

Jingzhe won the second game, winning unexpectedly.

Ye Shaoyang praised, “Captain Fang’s strategy is pretty good. Since Chen Qianhua’s bottom lane duo is a hard bone to chew, he simply didn’t chew it. You gotta pick the soft persimmons to squeeze; blow up the top lane first.”

He looked at Chi Shuo and joked, “If it were Captain Chi, you’d probably force kills in the bottom lane.”

Chi Shuo’s expression was serious, “En. Fang Zhengqing and I do have very different ideas on many tactical aspects, so we can’t be teammates.”

Xu Zhuo in the row behind them heard this and couldn’t help laughing out loud, “I remember back at the Star City youth base, when the five of us grouped up for scrims, Chi Shuo would be pressing [Initiate Attack], while Fang Zhengqing would be pressing [Retreat]. Then, I charged in with Chi Shuo, while Xie Yuan followed Fang Zhengqing and Flashed away to escape.”

Ye Shaoyang: “…”

That scene was hilarious just to think about. The Jungler and Top Laner charging into the crowd to start a team fight, while the Mid-laner and Marksman Flashed away to escape. The Support Chen Qianhua’s expression at the time must have been very bewildered—should I go in, or should I retreat?

Chi Shuo recalled the past from his youth, a faint smile surfacing in his eyes, “That was a long time ago.”

Xu Zhuo sighed emotionally, “Yeah, it’s been four years.”

They were still young then, and they could argue endlessly over every match they played. Fang Zhengqing and Chi Shuo refused to yield to each other, always having to review and debate the theories. Xie Yuan would hide to the side and watch TV dramas, Xu Zhuo would eat sunflower seeds and watch the show, and Chen Qianhua, looking very panicked, would earnestly try to break up their fights.

Friendships from youth are actually very pure. Even though they later went to different teams, they still maintained contact. Of course, when they met in the arena, no one would be polite; fighting to the death was the only option.

In this match, the captains of both sides were old friends, and who would win or lose was still unknown.

The first two games were tied 1:1, and the intermission was relatively long. Chi Shuo turned and went to the restroom. Xu Zhuo also happened to go to the toilet, and the two bumped into each other in the corridor. Xu Zhuo patted Chi Shuo’s shoulder and jokingly teased, “That rookie on your team… Xiao Ye, right? Are you very close to him?”

Chi Shuo stopped walking, “What do you mean?”

“The other members of your Tianhuan team all hold an attitude of awe and respect towards you. Rookies like Cheng Xing and Xie Xiaotian are especially afraid of you and don’t even dare to speak to you.” Xu Zhuo smiled, raising an eyebrow as he asked, “How come Xiao Ye isn’t afraid of you at all? He was even leaning in by your ear joking with you just now.”

Although Chi Shuo wasn’t the ferocious type, he was usually quite serious, so everyone in the Tianhuan team treated him with respect. Even though Qu Jiang and Qin Yizhu had played matches with him for three years, they wouldn’t look him directly in the eyes when chatting with him, let alone joke around with him.

Ye Shaoyang was completely unafraid of him.
Leaning in by his ear to whisper, joking with him…
Even, even asking him to give him a supplementary mark?

Thinking of this, Chi Shuo’s heartbeat suddenly accelerated. A wave of heat rose from deep within his chest, burning his ears until they were slightly hot. Xu Zhuo, worthy of being an old friend who had known him for four years, instantly noticed something was wrong.

Chi Shuo coughed lightly, feigning calmness as he said, “Xiao Ye has an outgoing personality and can chat with everyone on the team. I’m also not the kind of strict captain who keeps a straight face and scolds people every day. What’s so strange about him not being afraid of me?”

Xu Zhuo blinked, a half-smile on his face, “Is that so? Why do I feel like you letting him sit beside you is you protecting him? You don’t even pay this much attention to your own disciple, Cheng Xing.”

Chi Shuo stiffly looked away, “You’re overthinking it.”

Xu Zhuo laughed heartily, patting his buddy’s shoulder, “Just a joke, why so serious!”

Chi Shuo ignored him, turned, and walked forward rapidly. Xu Zhuo didn’t pursue the topic either. After finishing up in the restroom, the two returned to their seats together, only to see Zhao Xin’an running up to Ye Shaoyang with familiar ease, pulling out his phone and saying, “Tianhuan’s rookie, let’s add each other as friends. We can play ranked or something together in the future!”

Ye Shaoyang: “…”
We are already friends. That [Streamer Xiao Bai] in your friend list is me.
Frontline Reporter No. 18, I still haven’t deleted that string of intro text you sent pulling me into the Beimu team.

Seeing this scene, Chi Shuo frowned slightly, walked over quickly, sat beside Ye Shaoyang, and said to Zhao Xin’an, “What ranked? Is your stream unbanned yet?”

Zhao Xin’an scratched his head, “It won’t be unbanned until next season. The league’s punishment this time is really fucking ruthless.”

Zhou Jiawen turned around and smiled, “Xiao Zhao, after you’re unbanned, don’t publicly curse people again. The League Disciplinary Committee has people specifically patrolling professional players’ streams.”

Zhao Xin’an looked miserable, “I know! I’ll definitely block the bullet screen when I stream from now on.”

The third game was about to begin. Zhao Xin’an returned to his seat and didn’t mention adding Ye Shaoyang as a friend again. Ye Shaoyang breathed a sigh of relief. Good thing Captain Chi helped him out of that situation. Otherwise, if the two scanned each other’s WeChat, only to find out “He is already your friend,” Streamer Xiao Bai? His cover would be blown on the spot, which would be very awkward.

Ye Shaoyang turned back and said softly to Chi Shuo, “Thank you.”

Chi Shuo: “Cough, it’s nothing.”

The match quickly resumed.

In the third game, both sides drafted conventional compositions. The Binghun team gained some advantages through meticulous macro play. However, in the critical Baron team fight, Fang Zhengqing’s [Lord of the Forest] executed a wave of vine crowd control, directly binding three Binghun players.

Xie Yuan’s positioning was wretched as he frantically shot from a distance. The damage output of a geared-up Marksman was terrifying, killing 2 Binghun players in the blink of an eye. Jingzhe stole the Baron, turned defeat into victory, and secured match point first.

In the fourth game, Jingzhe chose their most proficient “Double Carry System.” The entire team’s economy fed the two core Carry positions: Mid-laner Fang Zhengqing and Marksman Xie Yuan. They held an economic advantage from the early game and continuously snowballed.

But in the crucial high ground team fight, the Binghun Support used Flash to initiate the fight, once again stunning the distantly positioned Marksman! The Jungler immediately followed up, directly one-shotting the Marksman and repelling Jingzhe’s offensive!

The two sides engaged in a tug-of-war for 40 minutes. Ultimately, Binghun staged a comeback against the wind, tying the score at 2:2.

Ye Shaoyang couldn’t help but applaud, “Well played!”

The Binghun team’s high ground defense battle was indeed worth learning from for everyone. All 5 players were incredibly calm. Under the captain’s shotcalling, they repeatedly repelled Jingzhe’s fierce offensives. This team’s pressure resistance was among the best in the league; being able to turn around a massive disadvantage truly made people want to cheer.

Chen Qianhua being able to twist 5 people together into a single rope—this was the power of a team-fight-oriented team.

For the final deciding game, Ye Shaoyang sat up straight in anticipation, “Will Jingzhe’s Poison Comp appear?”

Chi Shuo replied, “Probably.”

Ye Shaoyang smiled and looked at him, “Then it definitely won’t, since you and Captain Fang have no synergy.”

Chi Shuo: “…”