From Pokémon to The International, Dota 2

"Wow, impressive, streamer!"

"So cool!"

"That was an incredibly close dodge."

The chat in Gu Ran's live stream became lively, the number of viewers in the live stream surged again, and various special effects of small gifts kept appearing.

[A user has achieved remarkable success by becoming a Diamond member within a month!]

"Thank you to Brother Yimingjing for your diamond fan! Thank you, Brother! I wish you happiness every day and that you live forever."

Gu Ran continued to deliver the finishing blow while expressing his gratitude. This time, he only spent about a minute in first-person mode, and the side effects were relatively minor.

The game continued, and Puck, who got the first blood, took off in gold. The opposing Purple Cat was already slightly weaker, and with the gold disadvantage, he became even more hesitant to last hit. In the end, Gu Ran reached level six first and used his ultimate, Dream Entanglement, along with subsequent damage to kill Puck. The Techies was unable to find an opportunity to roam around Puck afterward.

Fourteen minutes into the game, the economic difference between the two sides had reached 5,000. AXX commanded the team to use smoke to attack the enemy's experience shrine, and a team fight broke out. Axe made a precise first move and found the enemy's core position. Puck cut off the backline, and the enemy collapsed. The economic difference widened to 7,000, and the subsequent situation was one-sided. The game ended in 30 minutes.

Despite having an economic advantage, Gu Ran made two crucial mistakes and died twice. Fortunately, with captain axx supporting him, they still managed to win the game.

"We are the champions!"

The five brothers in the team exchanged compliments in the voice chat, and everyone received a bunch of gifts. They then started thanking their respective viewers.

In YYF's live stream, several top streamers began discussing Gu Ran's abilities:

"Firefly's performance in the mid lane was really impressive; I feel like he's worth more than 10,000 points."

Brother Tai started praising it right away.

"But he still gave away two more kills later on. I feel like he's a bit unpredictable; he can be incredibly strong when he's at his best, but he can also be terrible at times."

fg (YYF's nickname, Feng Ge) gave a rational analysis.

"It's already quite remarkable for a Pokémon. If he could stay a top-tier Pokémon, he wouldn't only have 10,000 points."

Gu Ran's live stream.

Having won the Pokémon Advanced Tournament championship for two consecutive days, he felt like he was in better shape than ever before, and the number of viewers in his live stream was increasing. Today, for the first time, someone even gave him a diamond membership.

Diamond fans are similar to captains on Bilibili. Once activated, they have a special mark in the streamer's live broadcast room for a month. Generally, the number of diamonds is used to measure a streamer's popularity.

He opened his own live stream interface and checked the visit history of the user "一鸣惊惊" (Yi Ming Jing Ren). He found that the user had been watching his live stream from yesterday to today. In addition, the user had become a VIP fan, so he could be considered a loyal fan. Therefore, he made him a moderator.

After thanking everyone for the gifts he hadn't been able to thank during the match, Gu Ran opened the Dota 2 interface to prepare for solo queue. Suddenly, a message popped up on the screen:

Shikamaru has sent you a friend request.

Gu Ran naturally accepted the application and received a message after a while.

[Want to queue together?]

Gu Ran gave a wry smile and replied...

I only have around 10,000 points; I'm afraid we won't even be able to get a table with someone else in the queue.

[It's okay, I'll use a different account, you can add me later.]

【OK】

So Gu Ran added a user with the ID Shika, and the two of them started queuing up in the ranked ladder together.

Meanwhile, on China's two major video websites, Bilibili and Douyin, a video clip of Pokémon from the Dota 2 section, uploaded by an ID named "一鸣惊人," has gradually gained popularity, especially the recently uploaded video of "Puck dodging ganks without vision," which has seen a surge in views.

This video is very detailed. First, it shows the first-person perspective of streamer Firefly, then it shows several big streamers watching the game and giving their comments, allowing viewers to repeatedly savor this move. The video also includes a complete clip of the entire match.

The comments section was filled with enthusiastic viewers from the Dota 2 community, who commented on Puck's actions.

[This was definitely a case of dodging bombs without any line of sight; the reaction time was incredibly fast. I think this video should be sent to Mao Shen for him to learn from; Mao Pa would have died in this situation.]

[Upstairs, you're a total idiot. This streamer's MMR is only around 10,000, and he dares to try and take advantage of my god?]

Mao Shen, whose ID is XM, is the top mid-laner in China this year. Although he was often criticized for being too soft in the early stages of his career, he made a strong comeback in the later stages of his career and won the runner-up title at TI14.

I watched the late game, and Puck's two sudden deaths really reminded me of my god Mao Shen.

[Flap your wings, and one punch blows them to pieces~ (Search "Brother Mao, Brother Mao" on Bilibili to listen to the full version)]

[I can tell, this content creator is a fan of this streamer. They even made a video of the streamer's Shadow Fiend solo kill against axx's Tiny yesterday.]

I watched that montage yesterday; Shadow Fiend's mechanics were incredibly detailed. Just looking at his laning phase, he'd be worth at least 15000 points.

[My god, 15,000 points? Who rated that? What score do you have to give someone 15,000 points?]

[The unworthy one who declined, with 17000 points on the ladder]

While the comments section was buzzing with heated arguments, Gu Ran and Shikamaru were also successfully matched at the same table in the ranked match, where Shikamaru picked Gu Ran first.

In this match, Gu Ran chose Plague Mage for mid lane and Shikamaru for position 4 Earth Spirit. The two coordinated their attacks and dominated the entire game.

Strangely, the two players didn't communicate with each other at all during the game; the only communication was in-game text and some voice prompts from the game wheel.

Several comments floated across Gu Ran's live stream.

"You two have a grudge? You won and then stayed silent?"

"What's the point of you duo queuing without using voice chat? Invite him into YY (a voice chat platform)!"

Gu Ran smiled slightly and explained to the viewers in the live stream:

"This Shikamaru guy is rather introverted and doesn't stream. I watched the clips of their team's game yesterday and he didn't talk much. Basically, another person was directing the team, and he only made key decisions. When roaming, he just pinged signals on the map."

After finishing that game, the two continued playing, and the viewers in the live stream continued to enjoy the two's very comfortable and dominant rhythm. After playing several games like this, Shikamaru finally sent a message.

Did you anticipate I'd come after all that dodging the bombs today?

"Holy crap, the map of the Yan Kingdom across the way is really long."

"Here comes the real show: the pro player will carry you through a few rounds. I want to hear the truth from you."

The comments section was buzzing with discussion, but Gu Ran didn't pay any attention. After considering his words carefully, he replied with a single sentence.

[I was somewhat on guard, but I couldn't really predict what would happen because I was standing inside the tower in that position, and I felt relatively safe. If you bombed me and I dodged, I would inevitably be hit by the tower and die.]

[I blew this up while you were finishing me off. If you're just relying on reflexes to dodge it, the only person I've ever met who can do that is Malr1ne.]

"Holy crap, Malr1ne! Is the streamer already comparable to Malr1ne?"

"You're overpraising him! The streamer is just a lowly 10,000-point streamer."

Malr1ne, currently the mid laner for the international powerhouse Falcons, has a MMR of 17235 in ranked play. Puck is his signature champion.

Gu Ran understood the significance of that play. Without a first-person perspective, he absolutely couldn't have focused on last-hitting minions while simultaneously reacting at the last second to dodge the unseen demolition attack. But that wasn't his normal skill level, so he had no choice but to retreat.

[That play was probably an exceptional performance. I usually can't dodge those ganks, but I was in better form today.]

Shikamaru didn't reply, and the two of them started arranging the ladder together again.

"This Firefly is indeed a bit unpredictable. In the few games I played with him today, his skill level was generally around 10,000 points, but he occasionally made some really brilliant plays. I might pick him next time I have the chance."