LOL: What does "mid-lane hybrid expert" mean?

6 month 3 day.

Demacia Cup Final!

The temperature along the Xiangjiang River had already climbed to 30 degrees Celsius, but compared to the sweltering heat of the crowded International Convention and Exhibition Center, it was actually quite cool outside.

Inside the stadium, a giant screen is playing highlights of both teams so far in this Demacia Cup.

The camera only cut to the two players getting off the buses as they arrived at the venue entrance. They waved to the camera and interacted with the support signs that stretched out from both sides of the passage.

Someone shouted it out.

The fans on both sides immediately got into a fierce competition, shouting and yelling as if they wanted to determine a winner before the contestants even took the stage.

The popularity of watching the games online is even more astonishing.

Major live streaming platforms featured the poster for this final match on their opening promotional covers. Many viewers who only watched the Spring Split and didn't follow the Demacia Cup initially thought that the two teams fielded substitutes Ai Luoli and Wuxin.

Now look at the poster.

Holy crap? Clearlove and Uzi are both back?

Even passing dogs have to click in and take a look!

In the commentary booth, the commentator adjusted his headset and glanced at his partner Rita beside him.

"Are you ready?" Remember asked the female commentator who had just taken the LPL stage, in a low voice.

Rita gave an OK sign and then cleared her throat.

"Summoners, both at the venue and watching on screen, welcome to the finals of the 2017 Demacia Cup Changsha Station. I'm your commentator, Remember!" Wang Lao Er enthusiastically began.

"I'm commentator Rita."

The camera panned to Sister Tazi on the side, and many viewers were immediately struck by her appearance. Was this the newly appointed commentator?

Remember to glance down at the audience: "Our audience here is incredibly enthusiastic!"

"That's right. I believe that long-time viewers familiar with League of Legends know that the 'Pig vs. Dog' match can definitely be called the e-sports Spring Festival Gala of our LPL." Rita nodded in agreement.

"Summoners watching on the screen can also scan the QR code at the bottom of the screen to participate in the finals prediction... Remember, as a veteran of the LPL, what are your thoughts on the outcome of this finals?"

The camera focused on the commentator, Jide, and the whiteboard in his hand that read "3 to 1".

"I think RNG will win 3-1."

  

"The reason is quite simple." Ji pushed up his glasses.

"RNG's record against EDG in the Spring Split was five wins and one loss. With the mid-season patch update, we can see that the focus of the game is shifting to the bottom lane, which is exactly the rhythm that Uzi is best at."

"Well, my opinion might be a little different."

Rita smiled and held up the whiteboard in her hand: "I think EDG will win 3-2 against RNG."

As a female commentator who has just been promoted from LSPL, Rita has actually commentated on quite a few matches of EDG's second team.

The player who impressed him the most was LeeE, the mid laner.

Compared to Knight, another mid-laner who dominated the secondary league during the same period, although both have extremely high win rates, their playstyles are completely opposite.

Therefore, while Knight rose to fame with his impressive stats, only Rita kept an eye on LeeE, an unknown player.

Now, seeing this player become a starter and even reach the finals... even though it's just a small Demacia Cup, it still gives Rita a strange feeling.

This is like...

You start by following a new Level 1 author on a small website, watching them update each chapter and gradually polish their work until they eventually become a platinum-level author; or you stand out among a group of talent shows for that unremarkable rookie, whom everyone says has mediocre talent, but he makes a comeback step by step and becomes a superstar under the spotlight.

Is this what they call a nurturing system?

Just as Rita was about to say something more, the director prompted her: "Okay, both players are ready. Let's watch the draft for the first game of the finals!"

The camera switched back to the BP (Ban/Pick) screen, and the hero icons on both sides of the screen lit up one by one. I remember reading and adjusting my posture, and resuming my commentary-style speaking pace.

"EDG chose the blue side to start, and their first three bans were Caitlyn, Kog'Maw, and Syndra."

"Looking at RNG's side, Coach Firefox directly banned Galio, Twisted Fate, and Elise!"

"EDG's rookie mid laner LeeE is very good at these global champions. In the first two rounds of the competition, his Galio and Twisted Fate were very prominent."

Remember paused for a moment, then explained to viewers who hadn't watched the first two rounds of the knockout stage: "RNG chose to ban those two heroes right from the start, clearly because they didn't want LeeE to revive the side lanes."

"Let's get back to EDG."

"Actually, EDG's ban slots are a bit insufficient. They not only need to limit the heroes that Uzi can carry with, but also need to protect the traditional mage hero pool that the mid-laner lacks..."

"I think EDG on the blue side will pick Kalista first, in exchange for Orianna, another champion that has been released in the current patch."

Just as I remember saying.

EDG's first pick revealed Kalista's icon, but it wasn't locked until the countdown started.

"Aren't you going to steal Kalista?"

I remember the voice was noticeably raised a few decibels, tinged with a hint of doubt.

"EDG has locked in Orianna on the first floor?!"

"Um?"

On the RNG players' side, everyone was stunned, clearly taken aback by EDG's sudden change of tactics.

"Don't panic, don't panic."

"My data shows that LeeE hasn't used Orianna even once since the secondary league started." Coach Feng, however, remained calm, flipping through his notebook to confirm that EDG was bluffing.

Feng Ge is no stranger to this practice of forcibly picking heroes he has never played before in order to bypass bans when there are not enough ban slots.

In this way...

On the contrary, it solved the problem of LeeE constantly harassing the side lanes.

"If they won't pick Kalista, we will. For jungle... let's choose Jarvan IV, which is Mlxg's best pick."

On the first floor, Letme locked in Kalista and joked with Uzi, "Hey Uzi, I remember you were matched with LeeE in ranked games before, right? Wasn't he playing Lulu mid?"

Uzi curled his lip: "This guy only plays Malzahar and Galio to get ranked points, and occasionally he'll play Lulu to annoy people."

He gets angry just thinking about that game!

Even though Li Yi teleported to the bottom lane to help several times, he was still able to steadily suppress Imp in the bottom lane and had a lead of more than ten CS, which goes without saying.

Then came the team fight.

I thought it would be a fair match where neither side's hard supports would build Ardent Censer, but the enemy Lulu pulled out an Ardent Censer, and the shield was only on Imp.

Uzi tried to flash forward several times, and even though he had calculated the damage accurately, Li Yi's Lulu turned him into a little animal.

In addition, the live stream chat was always filled with comments like "Father Imp", "You know Uzi doesn't know I Imp? I've never lost a best-of-five series against him", and "Uzi did his best, his teammates are terrible".

The temperature bar visibly increased dramatically.

Not to mention that their own midfielders started arguing within three minutes; they're obviously actors.

Why?

Why isn't League of Legends just a game about laning?

Thinking of this, Uzi said fiercely, "Xiaoming is picking Thresh this game, let's speedrun the enemy bot lane."

Mid laner Xiaohu observed his teammate's expression and, after confirming that he was in a state of high alert, said, "Pick Ryze for me, so I can roam and help the bot lane more."