From Pokémon to The International, Dota 2

"The upcoming match is the best-of-three (BO3) upper bracket final between Sora's Soul Stone team and Maybe's Super Saiyan Pikachu team!"

The Super Saiyan Pikachu team's logo is a Pikachu in Super Saiyan form, which looks cute and cool.

This is the second official match between Zhenhunshi and Chaoge. Unlike the first match where Chaoge was overwhelmingly predicted to win, this time the predicted win rates for both sides on the Perfect World eSports app are close to 50%, with Zhenhunshi even having a slight advantage.

As the match entered the ban/pick phase, the main stage displayed the ban/pick screen at the bottom of the screen, and then the cameras began searching for interesting things in the audience—such as attractive cosplayers, sweet couples, and various random signs made by fans:

[I really miss the five guys from back then: Brother, Wei Ge, Sen Ge, Zhu Ge, and all those guys.] This netizen is clearly a hater.

[Brother is too supermodel-worthy to play the old man's cup!] I don't know if this person is a fan or a troll.

[I want to lick the host's legs until they break!] This... is probably a netizen making a joke.

By the time the audience shifted their attention from the live broadcast to the drafting screen, both teams had essentially finalized their lineups. Commentator Feng Zhuiyi first announced the Radiant's lineup:

"Alright, both sides have finished selecting their lineups. We can see that the Radiant team is the Soul Stone team: position 1 Vengeful Spirit, position 2 Ember Spirit, position 3 Axe, position 4 Skywrath Mage, and position 5 Witch Doctor."

YUNO then took over the lineup from the other team:

"The Dire team is Super Saiyan Pikachu: Tiny as carry, Puck as mid, Doom as offlane, Tusk as support, and Wyvern as support. The Radiant team has picked an unconventional carry, Vengeful Spirit. Could you two please explain your thoughts on this Vengeful Spirit pick?"

Commentary continues by Freeagain:

"This position Vengeful Spirit was picked as the 24th hero after the Super Saiyan Pikachu team picked the 3rd position Doom. It is actually similar to the previous strategy of using the position 1 Skeleton King to fight Doom. After Vengeful Spirit gets Aghanim's Scepter, he can have two lives, which is similar to Skeleton King's ultimate ability Rebirth."

Of course, the most crucial change is the talent change for Vengeful Spirit in this version – the level 20 talent has a terrifying wave that steals 20% of attack damage, which can be said to be a monster in terms of stats in this version.

Against high-damage carries like Tiny, a single Terror Surge can steal over 100 attack damage. Not to mention, if it steals from multiple heroes, the attack damage increase becomes incomprehensible.

"In fact, in recent international competitions, we have seen some teams trying to use Vengeful Spirit as the carry and Doom as the offlaner. Our Soul Stone team can be said to be very much in line with the trend of international competitions."

Freeagain, a commentator, is quite familiar with various lineups because he frequently commentates on international tournaments.

At the start of the game, no battles occurred while contesting the gold rune. At 2 minutes and 30 seconds into the game, qyqx's Winter Dragon in the top lane activated Frostbite and chased Skywrath Mage. However, he accidentally positioned himself too far back and was slowed down by Axe's Ignite. As he turned to escape under the tower, he was hit by a Bloodthirster, ultimately giving up the first blood.

First blood!

Huaqiang killed qyqx, gaining 322 gold coins + 46 gold coins and 1 hero.

The audience cheered enthusiastically, and several young people in Lin Yiming's private box stood up and shouted "nice!" The brothers of the Zhenhunshi team could faintly hear the cheers from the audience in the battle room.

Two minutes later, taking advantage of the minion wave pushing into the tower, Axe roared at the Ice Dragon, followed by Skywrath Mage's damage, and killed the Ice Dragon again. However, Axe then chose to continue cutting off the next wave of minions, but the resurrected Ice Dragon used a Bloodthirst Grenade, combined with the double slow from Frostbite, and caught Axe once.

Good kill!

[Awesome!]

This time, it was the Super Saiyan Pikachu's fans' turn to cheer.

I don’t know if it’s because it’s an offline tournament, but the two sides fought very fiercely from the early stages, going back and forth. When the game reached the sixteen-minute mark, the kill score was 11:11, with Radiant’s economic lead being less than a thousand. The economics of the three cores on both sides were also very close, and the gap could not be widened at all.

At 17 minutes and 30 seconds, Skywrath Mage, with Gu Ran's Ember Spirit, opened the Smoke of Deceit and found a Puck in the ruins of the Dire's Tier 1 tower. Skywrath Mage initiated with Silencer, followed by Ember Spirit's Sleight of Hand and Solar Flare, and then Skywrath Mage's Mystic Blade instantly melted Puck.

[Shikamaru kills Maybe, gaining 411 gold + 190 gold and 1 hero.]

[Baldy, kneel down!]

[Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!]

The audience was enthusiastic, and the commentator provided timely explanations:

"It can be seen that Skywrath Mage's silence is still very effective against heroes like Puck who rely on skills. Moreover, this time, Chao didn't choose to build a Cyclone after Power Treads and Wizard's Blade for survival, but went straight for Blink Dagger. He successfully bought Blink Dagger before dying, so he didn't lose money."

The director shifted the focus to Puck's equipment inventory, and Feng Zhuiyi provided timely commentary.

"Building Blink Dagger directly is a responsible move, showing a desire to attack more rather than focus on survival. However, Puck should consider building a defensive item next, such as Eul's Scepter or Linken's Sphere."

At 19 minutes and 30 seconds, the Radiant team grouped up and pushed the Dire's bottom lane tower, clearly preparing to take the tower and then fight the enemy's nexus. Meanwhile, the Dire team activated Smoke of Deceit at their own second tower, with Tiny leading Ancient Apparition and Tusk from the triangle area towards the bottom tower, leaving a Puck in the mid lane, and a Doom in the top lane to confuse the enemy.

Gu Ran sensed that the other side might be approaching, so he took the initiative to stand guard at the mysterious merchant's location. As soon as he walked over, he encountered a Seafowl who had broken through the fog. Gu Ran immediately used a Shadowless Fist and a Flaming Sun Rope to bind the Seafowl, and then attached a large ash to it. The Seafowl tried to use a Walrus Fist to lift Firecat, but was silenced by an Ancient Seal from the Skywrath Mage next to him. The Seafowl, who had already raised his fist, was forced to put it back down.

"Skywrath Mage unleashed his ultimate! Winter Wyvern also used his ultimate on Ember Spirit, but Winter Wyvern's ultimate didn't hit anyone else, so it didn't have much effect, and Tusk was about to be killed by Mystic Radiance! The Binding skill's duration ended, a teammate gave him Glimmer of Light, Tusk moved back, Winter Wyvern used Ice Block, but Witch Doctor came over and used Powder! Can we escape? But at that moment, Axe jumped over and slammed it in!"

Huaqiang kills Kaka, earning 249 gold + 208 gold, split equally among 4 heroes.

"Tidehunter immediately bought back! But the front line had already collapsed, and the Ancient Apparition was also killed by Axe's Roar. On the Dire side, Doom and Tusk teleported to the outpost together, while Chao's Puck waited behind the ancient camp for the right moment to engage."

"Look at the back row, Tiny just entered with Shadow Blade trying to find the Radiant's support, but it seems he got splashed with dust. Witch Doctor used Bouncing Ball, Curse, and then his ultimate. Ember Spirit also came over and followed up with a Bind. Sai can't withstand this damage and is about to fall!"

OldFang kills Sylar, earning 417 gold + 360 gold split among 3 heroes.

Sylar's rampage has come to an end.

"Looking back at the front, Axe was blocked by Tusk who bought back, and Puck followed up with damage. Axe activated Blade Mail but was still going to die. Doom also came over and gave him a Blade of Despair."

But the Radiant forces, having killed Tiny, arrived. Puck, under the Ancient Seal, quickly fled across the river. Ember Spirit and Tirion Fordring locked down Doom, and Witch Doctor rushed over to heal Axe. Could they save him? Ultimately, Puck was burned to death by Pyroblast, but Doom was spared.

OldFang killed yang and received 306 gold coins + 340 gold coins, which were split equally among the four heroes.

[Kill Huaqiang, get 541 gold + 414 gold split among 3 heroes]

Huaqiang's ruthless killing spree comes to an end.