Luo Yiming didnât think that after he banned his own lifeline, the opponent would further hurl a rock into the well theyâve leapt into by banning Ye Hongâs Scarlet Fury.
(**hurl a rock into the well theyâre in (fallen into, leapt into in this case) č˝äşä¸çł: exacerbate matters)
Upon hearing Ye Hongâs howl, he shrinks back, scared witless: âGe, I was wrong! I know Iâm in the wrong now!â
Ye Hong opts for silence.
Seated by his side, Jing Yu doesnât say a word. Itâs not that he canât be bothered to scold them. Rather, compared to a scolding, what heâs more interested in is â What should they do now?
In contrast, Qin Fei takes the opposite stand and remarks, totally chill: âWhat are you panicking for? Ye Zi, I recall your card poolâs still pretty deep ah. If push comes to shove, youâve still got Faar on your hands.â
Faar, the fire spirit â The Starter Demon Pack, you deserve the best!
Ye Hong will rather die.
Candy: ăBlink assigns their last ban to Scarlet Fury. This is also within our range of expectations.ă
Halfling: ăYes. Those who have watched the 3rd PGL all know PGâs mid-laner Ye Zi has two demons which he frequently uses: The first is Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, the second is Scarlet Fury.ă
Candy: ăThey all seem to be big-chested babes oh? I seem to have found out something⌠Haha, just kidding!ă
Halfling: ăLet us observe their Pick section now. Alright, PG instalocks Centaur off the bat.ă
Candy: ăTheyâre actually not snatching the solo-laner but the marksman? In that case, Iâm very curious as to why PG banned Dark Cupid?ă
âWhat a good question. Even the audience member Fang Luofan wants to know what this bunch of bastards from his family is thinking.
Candy: ăBlink hesitates for a long time. We can clearly see this new team is facing a lot of pressure going up against PG, a team which went up against the Top 8⌠En, Blink selects Peacock Plume and Burial Sword. Letâs see whether this is their final choice.ă
Halfling: ăThey locked them!ă
Candy: ăYes, they locked them! We see that after a moment of hesitation, Blink locked both Peacock Plume and Burial Sword. With a team comprising of an OP mage and the Top Jungler, how will PG counteract this?ă
Halfling: ăPG instalocks Lilith and Merman! PG this team, theyâre really⌠They always make their decisions so spontaneously! Although timeâs short, let me give a quick explanation â Lilith does not have high mana. Although her advantage is prevalent in the first half, the second half is quite a bit tougher on her. By choosing Lilith, PG intends to focus on the first half. However, this is also PGâs usual style. Moreover, the Centaur-Merman pairing is an advantageous tag-team. Therefore, theyâre usually the first pick for many teams.ă
Candy: ăTo think PG would actually lock their support first⌠I wonder what they will choose for their mage and jungler. Blink now locks True Arrow. The other position is also⌠locked! Death God! He can be considered an OP Top solo-laner, right?ă
Halfling : ăYup. He can definitely be considered to be in the top echelon of the solo-laners. A very OP kind of warrior-type demon, weâll now take a look at PGâs last picks⌠Huan?! ă
Halfling doesnât dare to believe his own eyes â PG actually instalocked Frozen Heart?!
Thankfully, heâd done his homework before he stepped up to the task today. He quickly recovers his composure:
ăBased on what I understand, PGâs new jungler, GF, was a game anchor before he joined PG. Frozen Heart is the demon he played the longest⌠But to think heâll actually use it in a formal match!ă
ăFrozen HeartâŚăCandy draws a blank. ăErm, this demon rarely appears in a pro-match ne. Halfling, what do you think of this?ă
Halfling expresses he doesnât want to receive this question at all! Because he also DK ah!
But as a professional commentator, he can only bite the bullet and share what he can: ăIf weâre talking about Frozen Heart⌠He is an assassin-type demon. Low HP and high AD are common traits of assassin-type demons. However, Frozen Heart has the title of ăDemon Lordăâs squishiest, and his blood count is on a whole other level of low.ă
With a pause: ăBeing an assassin, Frozen Heartâs abilities canât be considered adaptable. He also doesnât have any defences. Heâs easily ganked, so he is also titled ăDemon Lordăâs Top Flower Vase. In my opinion, this demon should not be used in a pro-match. However, since PG has chosen him, Iâm sure they must have their own reasons. Perhaps GF, this player, has some cards up his sleeve ne?ă
Despite saying this, Halfling doesnât have a good impression of GF at all.
Afterall, the impression which PG gives off to everyone is âAggressiveâ. As for Frozen Heart, he canât remotely be connected to the word âAggressiveâ. This is because he only has one fate when he tries aggressive play â That is, to be ganked.
Having wrapped up on Frozen Heart, Halfling is just about to let out a sigh of relief when a shocked yelp comes from beside him!
Candy stares at the mid-laner PG has picked. After crying out in surprise, sheâs stunned speechless for a long time.
Halfling gazes at this demon which should definitely not appear in a professional match with a pounding headache.
PG this team is really⌠They always catch people off guard!
âTheir last pick is Faar.
Moreover, itâs an instalock!
ăTo think PGâs final picks are Frozen Heart and Faar. This is out of the realm of expectationsâŚăAccording to the procedure, Halfling should give a short briefing on Faar. Yet, to introduce a demon from the Starter Demon PackâŚâŚ Why does it feel like theyâve gone off track somewhere?
Thankfully, he has Candy by his side.
Upon hearing his voice, Candy finally snaps back to herself, automatically sharing the task of Faarâs introduction: ăIf weâre talking about Faar, there shouldnât be any mid-laners who are unfamiliar with her. Afterall, she is the first mid-laner you encounter when you first begin playing ăDemon Lordă. Her base stats are all fair. Amongst the many mid-laners, she can be considered the lowest of the lowâŚ. That said, she also has a few advantages. That is â She is stable.ă
Candy says that so somberly, Halfling canât help but chuckle: ăTruly, sheâs very stable⌠Faarâs HP is high for a mage. Her defences are also quite high.ă
ăBut she drains mana faster than light.ăCandy adds.
ăIndeed. However, player Ye Zi is one whoâs fond of taking risks. It might just be a good call to pick a stable demon for once.ăHalfling makes a stab in the dark, guessing PGâs intentions.
Just like that, both commentators manage to co-op and wrap up Faarâs introduction. They share a sigh of relief.
Yet, was Faar really chosen for her stability?
PG expresses, this thought never occurred to them.
The reality is like this:
Luo Yiming: âFuck! Ye Zi, are you out of your mind?!â
Ye Hong: âFuck! My hand slipped!â
Han Leng: âFuck! Youâre the best!â
Jing Yu: ââŚâŚâ Can he hit his teammates? Can he???
Only Qin Fei takes the opposite stand and remarks, totally chill: âFaar ah? Not bad. The other sideâs probably gotten a heart attack from our line-up already.â
Han Leng: âHow can they not be celebrating?!â
Qin Fei: âAll the better like this. The more they underestimate us, the higher our chances of winning.â
Ye Hong: âThis is all Fei Geâs fault. Itâs all because you mentioned Faar just nowâŚâ
Qin Fei: âEn?â
Ye Hong: ââŚItâs all my fault! If we lose this match, dinner on the 31st of this month will be on me!â
âYou say that as though thereâs a 31st in this month.â Luo Yiming scoffs through the nose.
While they were chatting, Blink already made their last selection â Jinghua Shuiyue.
To have a CC-type support to back up their rigid line-up, this is indeed the best pick.
With this, the Ban & Pick session has ended. The âgame loadingâ interface takes over the screens. Yet on PGâs side, they are all chatting without the slightest care in the worldâŚ
Ye Hong: âIf the 31st of this month is impossible, the 8th day of this week is also fine by me!â
Han Leng: âYe Zi, thatâs enough from you! Youâre this insincere even when youâre treating others to meals. time you go out, donât you dare say youâre a member of our team!â
Ye Hong: âReally though, I didnât intend to instalock Faar just now. I only wanted to select her to scare the opponentâŚâ
âThe gameâs starting.â Jing Yuâs simple words puts an end to the teamâs pointless chatter.
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Ye Hong originally still wants to say something. He had just opened his mouth but was glared by Qin Fei by his side before he could make a peep, making him feel wronged to the extent of shutting up.
Fei Ge was never like that in the past!
Although heâs ultra-fierce when heâs commanding and does not allow anyone to go against him, when heâs out of the command mode, he used to be careless to the point of falling asleep. In fact, heâll even fool around and drop a few meaningless remarks.
But today, he actually glared at him?
Ye Hong seriously suspects this might have something to do with Jing Yu.
Jing Yu is totally oblivious to this matter. He seriously looks at his own screen, floating his Frozen Heart down to the Bottom Jungle.
Whenever he is gaming, he is always single-mindedly focused, as though his entire world has shrunken down to just the screen before his eyes, the keyboard and mouse under his hands.
Qin Fei glances at his face out of his peripheral vision. The edges of his lips subconsciously turn up.
Itâs said that a person looks best when theyâre focused on their work⌠Indeed. Jing Yuâs appearance when heâs gaming is so pleasing to the eyes.
After Luo Yiming takes down the Red Demonâs head and races down to the Bottom Lane, Jing Yu also quickly slaughters all the monsters in the Bottom Jungle, obtaining his Flash ability.
Eyeing the mini-map, he calmly asks: âYe Zi. Mid-laner and Jungler co-op, you game?â
âAh?â Ye Hong doesnât get it at that moment. This is because Jing Yu rarely ever calls them by name during a match. Usually, itâs all âMageâ and âMarksmanâ. Additionally, his orders have always been clear-cut. Take for instance how he said âMid-Laner and Jungler co-opâ. If he means to gank the mid-laner, he will definitely specify when and how theyâll do it.
But now, heâs just throwing him the line âMid-laner and Jungler Co-op, you game?â Whatâs that supposed to mean?
Ye Hong truly has the highest EQ amongst PG. Within a short space of time, he gets what Jing Yuâs hinting: âYou want to sync up for the whole match?â
âEn.â Jing Yu doesnât even hesitate before nodding. Then, he follows it up with a slight simper, âDonât they all look down on Frozen Heart and Faar? In that case, if we use Frozen Heart and Faar to crush them under our feet, it should become very interesting ba?â
These words give Ye Hong a shudder. Before he gets to reply, Han Leng whoâs seated at the end of the line beats him to the chase: âTsk, tsk. Goldfish, youâre truly as black hearted as we took you to be!â
Luo Yiming also canât resist teasing: âAfter getting used to us, Goldfishâs gradually revealing his true nature!â
Jing Yu coughs lightly, not wanting to banter.
He secretly peeks at Qin Fei by his side. Seeing him pay no attention to their words, even looking the slightest bit sleepy, he mentally heaves a sigh of relief.
After retracting his line of sight, he orders evenly: âYe Zi, kite via mana depletion. Iâll give the final blow.â
âWeâre acting this early on?â Despite that, Ye Hong still gets Faar to back up post-haste.
Still, being a member of PG, he naturally lacks all affinity for backing down. After retreating by two steps, Faar whirls back and lunges close, releasing a Slo-mo* ability on the enemy Peacock Plume. Immediately thereafter, a barrage of attacks launches out post-haste, meeting Peacock Plume with nary the slightest concern for the mana expenditure.
(*Slo-mo: Slowing down the targetâs motion)
Faarâs AD isnât high, but her 2nd abilityâs cooldown time is short. It lasts only 0.1 of a second. Nevertheless, it is also this reason which causes this barrage of attacks to be mana-intensive.
If Frozen Heart isnât around, such a concentrated hail of attacks will purely spell death thereafter. The moment his manaâs depleted, he will be counter-killed by the enemy, not allowed even the slightest chance to retaliate.
With that said⌠Isnât Frozen Heart already here?
Just as Faarâs mana hits zero, in the same instant as where the barrage of attacks abruptly cuts off, a flash of frosty light suddenly links up to Peacock Plume.
A snow-white silhouette radiating chilly air closes in with a hissing sound, a frosty ice blade piercing through without the slightest falter.
ăSystemăFrozen Heart, First Kill!
ăSystemăThe enemy Peacock Plume has been slain!
The first blood is made! The success of the mid-laner-jungler co-op is announced!
And with this, Blinkâs nightmare has only just begun.
******
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