From Pokémon to The International, Dota 2

After the match, the team members gathered at Tencent Meeting and set up a live stream with a video feed for viewers. After discussion, they decided not to stream the debriefing meeting.

On the one hand, live-streamed debriefing makes it easier to get into the rhythm; on the other hand, behind closed doors, everyone can speak more frankly about each other's problems.

After more losses than wins over the past two days, we finally had a triumphant victory today, and it was a win in an official competition, earning us a prize of 1000. Everyone's morale is high.

Lu Chen had actually wanted to talk to Jiang Xia about their communication during the laning phase on the first day, but since they had just started playing together and weren't very familiar with each other, he brought it up today while everyone was happy after the win and more receptive to advice.

I feel like we played better this game when we communicated more in the offlane. Xiao Jiang, we need to communicate more in the future.

Jiangxia responded quickly:

[Okay, mainly because I wasn't quite familiar with your rhythm in the first few games, and it wasn't easy for me to force you to follow my ideas...]

It's okay, just keep giving directions. We can discuss any issues during the debriefing. Even if you make a mistake while giving directions online, it's much better than having nothing to say.

In professional matches, it's common for supports to give a lot of command in the early game. This is because supports are usually the ones who roam and influence the game in the early stages. Meanwhile, core players may need to focus on last-hitting minions and have a better sense of when to kill the opponent or when the opponent might roam. However, as the game progresses into the mid-to-late stages, the core players will take the lead in commanding the game, because the situation on the field can change very easily due to their key items or key skills.

[Our Viper pick was good this game. If the enemy doesn't switch lanes, Viper becomes incredibly farmed; if they do switch lanes, Windranger becomes incredibly farmed. We should stick to this kind of lane-advantage draft. The teamfight composition we picked a few days ago didn't even make it to the late game before we lost.]

[Well, the main issue is that we're not quite on the same wavelength yet, so in the early game we need to focus on snowballing with lane dominance. We'll consider teamfight compositions later when our synergy is much better.]

Lao Fang and Su Xiaoman began to discuss the gains and losses in the draft phase.

……

Since this was a winning game, there wasn't much to reflect on. After the replay, everyone went to solo queue, while those who wanted to rest stayed in the YY channel to watch the upcoming training matches live.

Gu Ran continued to solo queue. He had gained a lot from the training matches in the Immortal Cup these past few days, and he was also playing better and better on the ladder, currently reaching 12100 points.

The atmosphere in the live stream was a bit off a few days ago because we kept losing matches. But today we won a winning start, and the viewers' enthusiasm returned. We passed the live stream task with three stars, gained several new diamond fans, and even had a few returning old fans.

Unfortunately, in the following official training matches, they encountered both Feng Ge's team and Charles' team and lost both games, with a record of 1-2.

Today's practice match was the last one we played, and we didn't start reviewing it until after 11 PM, but everyone still made it.

[They seem to have figured out our plan to pick a lane bully in the mid lane. These past few games they've been banning those few overpowered champions, and then when the mid laner picks a normal matchup, it's very difficult for us to win.]

It's really difficult to fight when the mid lane is being bombed so badly...

These two games also showed significant problems in the mid lane, as both teams have strong mid laners and pay close attention to protecting the mid lane during the draft phase. Their winning formula is simple: gain an advantage in the mid lane, then radiate it to the two side lanes, and snowball the advantage to win. Both supports like to help the mid lane.

Gu Ran's predicament is that even if two supports come to help, he still can't win. If they don't help, he'll die even more miserably, losing one person by the mid-game. If he adopts the strategy of waiting for the enemy supports to leave before killing the enemy side lane, the enemy will usually play cautiously and not give him the opportunity to kill the side lane. Or sometimes what seems like an opportunity is actually the enemy mid laner bringing the supports to use Smoke of Deceit.

Helpless, Gu Ran could only continue to take the blame, and then expressed...

Brothers, give me a little more time. I feel like my skills are constantly improving, and I'm steadily climbing the ranks. I feel like if I get a few more days, I'll be able to compete with them.

Fortunately, the team atmosphere in their team has always been good. Although Gu Ran lost several games, no teammates criticized him. It may also be because the players in positions 3 and 4 are familiar with each other. The player in position 1 is used to this kind of solo carry game, and the veteran player in position 5 has seen all kinds of situations and will not be harsh on his teammates.

Team leader Su Xiaoman also stepped in to cheer everyone on:

These two teams were probably the toughest for us. Before the matches, no one had high hopes; we treated them as practice games. I could clearly feel our teamwork improving and we were getting better with each game. The results of the first round of practice matches don't affect our advancement; we still have time to improve.

After the debriefing session ended, just as everyone was preparing to leave Tencent Meeting, Lu Chen suddenly said:

[It seems a team has exploded! Go watch Jia Ge's livestream if you want to see!]

Now the guys who wanted to watch the drama got excited, and Gu Ran went back to his live stream, turned off the video, and switched to Brother Jia's live stream.

At this moment, the live stream room was already flooded with a barrage of comments, including various high-energy comments, some free and some paid.

[You're giving him too much credit!]

[Kneel down! Turtle! Kneel down! Turtle!]

This guy is really putting on a show; maybe we should just bombard him with criticism on Weibo.

Gu Ran scrolled through the live stream replay and roughly understood what had just happened: It turned out that during the training match, Brother Jia was facing off against Boboka, his "enemy" from the previous tournament. He was solo killed in lane and then Boboka gave him a reward. Later, during the replay, someone brought this up again, and the emotions in the chat were completely ignited.

Regarding the enemy – this is because during the second Immortal Cup, ZSMJ and boboka, who were teammates, had a verbal altercation during a training session, which escalated into a full-blown argument that erupted on Weibo. As a result, the two were never to be on the same team again, which can be considered one of the reasons for the defeat of the Diao Ge team in the second Immortal Cup.

"Guys, this is just a practice match, it has nothing to do with advancing, why are you all in such a hurry? Some people even think I didn't play well. I admit I didn't play well, but I really tried my best. You can't expect me to dominate a pro player in lane, can you?"

Brother Jia is a bit clumsy with words, but he still tried his best to calm the emotions of the viewers in the live chat.

[Exploded!]

[This is a traditional event in every Immortal Cup; it's always going to be a big event, the only question is how and with whom it will be a big event.]

[What's going on? Anyone who just arrived and has a big dick can explain what happened?]

Gu Ran's live stream was filled with amusing comments. Watching training matches every day was getting a bit boring, so they needed something else to break the ice, like watching other teams pull off some amazing plays.

Because the Immortal Cup involves both professional players and streamers, there are bound to be some frictions. In addition, they have to play every day. Winning is fine, but losing always leaves resentment. At this point, even the slightest spark can ignite all sorts of mutual attacks, which is what many viewers want to see.

Fortunately, Gu Ran's team conducts their debriefings privately, and everyone gets along quite well. At least for now, even when they lose, the debriefings are amicable, and there's no sign of things getting out of hand.