From Pokémon to The International, Dota 2

Twenty minutes is a very important time point in the current version of DOTA2, because the map will spawn an important neutral resource - the Cube of Pain.

The team that destroys the cube will draw one of the two players with the lowest economy in the team and give him an Aghanim's Crystal worth 1400 gold. Then each player in the team will receive a reward of 175 gold. That is to say, the team's economy will increase by about 2000 after destroying the cube. Generally speaking, a team fight will break out over the cube.

However, given the current situation, Xie Bin's DD team has an 8,000 gold lead over YYF's team. If YYF's team were to force their way into the Magic Crystal team, they would most likely lose due to the significant gold disparity.

Inside Brother Diao's live stream, several streamers began analyzing the situation.

"Xie Bin is calling for people to attack the Rubik's Cube. Look at the position of his ping points. Except for Blue Cat, a few people are moving towards the Rubik's Cube. Blue Cat also has TP. If Brother Feng comes over to take the hit head-on, he will definitely be wiped out."

The main perspective of the spectator is on Xie Bin DD.

"Brother Feng, you can't go this wave. How about we try to take the shield while the enemy is attacking the magic crystal?"

Yanzi came up with a solution for Feng Ge, which resulted in a barrage of comments like "Loyal!" and "A loyal warrior deserves a reward, Bones.jpg".

The shield, also known as the Immortal Guardian, is another neutral resource on the map—the equipment dropped by Roshan. Roshan spawns at the start of the game and grows stronger over time. After being killed, Roshan will respawn after a period of time, and the items dropped increase with each respawn. The first generation of Roshan dropped a shield, the second generation dropped a shield and a banner, and the third generation and later generations of Roshan dropped a shield, a banner, cheese, and refresh orb fragments.

Feng Ge did think so too. He stole the shield while the opponent was fighting the cube. After all, taking the shield would give him experience and gold, and more importantly, it would prevent the opponent from having the shield. In this situation, if Blue Cat had another shield, he could roam the whole map freely.

Ember Spirit and Luna slowly approached Roshan. They dropped a scanner at the location of the cube, which detected enemy units. This confirmed that the enemy was indeed attacking the cube and not just feinting with Smoke of Deceit to gank them. So they entered the Roshan pit and began attacking Roshan.

Gu Ran was jungling in his own jungle at the moment—there were already four people fighting the Magic Cube and they didn't need him anymore. Just then, he suddenly heard Sora's voice in the team voice chat.

"I have a feeling they might attack Roshan while we're working on the Rubik's Cube. I'll try throwing a missile."

The Clockwerk threw a Flare into the Roshan pit, just in time to see that the Aegis of the Mountain had less than 10% health left.

Gu Ran happened to be not far from the meat mountain pit. He was going to try a move with a very low success rate, but it would be very cool if he succeeded.

Just as he was thinking this, the first-person perspective mode was activated again, and he transformed into the Storm Spirit and stood in the main jungle area.

He felt as if he were the storm itself, blue sparks of electricity flashing constantly in his hands, and terrifying power contained within his body. He sensed that he could create afterimages to attack his opponents, and also use electronic vortices to control them.

A few seconds later, he suddenly sensed an opportunity, so he activated his ultimate ability, transforming into lightning and heading towards the triangle opposite the Roshan pit. His ball lightning could pass right through Roshan on this path.

The Dire team defeated Roshan and gained 200 gold.

Just as Feng Ge's Ember Spirit was about to pick up the Aegis of the Roshan, a blue lightning bolt shot out from the side, rolled past him, and flew out of the Roshan pit.

In a flash, the Aegis of the Roshan in front of him vanished...

Gu Ran transformed into lightning and passed by the flesh mountain pit at the perfect moment. He reached out and took the Immortal Guardian from the ground into his pocket.

Firefly has seized the Guardian of Immortality!

"Holy crap, he got it!"

"fgsb!"

"General anesthesia! General anesthesia!"

Similar comments flooded the chat room of Brother Diao. They had already seen from the perspective of watching the game from above that the Storm Spirit was eager to try his luck near the Roshan pit, but the success rate of stealing the Aegis was too low - firstly, it was difficult for him to accurately predict when Roshan would die, since he had no vision inside the Roshan pit.

Furthermore, even if Roshan dies just as he flies in, the shield might be blocked by other characters' models. He can only grab the shield by clicking on it with the mouse the instant the ball lightning rolls past, which requires a high level of hand speed and timing.

"This wave... can only be described as a combination of luck and skill."

Brother Diao commented.

"His teammate gave him vision once, but I guess he'll have to decide when Roshan dies on his own. Also, the mouse needs to be on the shield the moment he flies over. That kind of maneuver is basically impossible for us older players. I wouldn't be able to fly in."

Brother Jia watched Gu Ran's first-person perspective replay several times, and then sincerely admitted that he definitely couldn't do it.

"Damn it, we've just been doing Roshan work for the enemy team. I guess we can call GG now."

Yanzi looked utterly dejected.

Inside Gu Ran's live stream.

That was awesome!

[Is the streamer on? Is it even possible to get one?]

[The Invincible Blue Cat Show!]

The live stream's popularity skyrocketed, with the number of VIPs exceeding 10,000 for the first time, and various gift effects flooding the screen.

After Gu Ran secured the Aegis of Champions, the outcome of the match was no longer in doubt. With the Aegis, Storm Spirit led the team in a strong push, destroying one high ground tower in just 25 minutes, and the match ended in 32 minutes.

After winning the first game, Sora continued to lead the draft in the next two games, and they were able to gain a significant advantage in the draft each time, which led to their victory.

"Brothers who are awesome."

"We are the champions!"

"Sora's BP is so comfortable."

After exchanging compliments in the voice chat, everyone logged off. Just as Gu Ran was about to leave as well, he suddenly heard a voice say:

"I think there's an HG match later, anyone want to watch it together?"

It's Sora's voice; it seems she also enjoys watching the game.

Gu Ran had originally planned to watch HG's match after finishing his Pokémon game today. HG is currently the only Chinese team that can compete abroad, and they are currently playing in the Dream League in Birmingham.

"How about we explain it together?"

"Great, mid lane god."

The two of them didn't log out of YY and opened the live streaming platform together.

Gu Ran sent a friend request, which was accepted quickly.

"Thanks to the mid-lane god for carrying me today."

The match was still waiting to start, so the two chatted idly.

"No, it's because your draft was good that we crushed them in lane. How did you practice your drafting skills? I see your MMR isn't particularly high, but your understanding of the game is very strong."

Gu Ran was very curious about Sora's understanding, and not only was her understanding good, but she also had a deep understanding of the players' hero pools.

"I enjoy watching matches, and when I have free time, I made a draft simulator using AI to play around with. Today, I used the simulator to do the draft, putting in the strong heroes of the current version and each player's hero pool, and it can automatically generate a recommended draft order."

"However, this simulator is still not smart enough because it cannot predict the opponent's thoughts and cannot give them full control over the draft. Predicting the opponent's psychology still requires human expertise. But if you can input the opponent's draft strategy, then you can completely follow this draft simulator to do the draft."

When Sora heard someone ask about her proudest BP simulator, she instantly became a chatterbox, talking endlessly about the uses of her simulator.

"Isn't inputting the bridge (BP) strategy also difficult?"

Gu Ran was very interested in the simulator, so they continued the conversation.

"Indeed, so this one is currently for my own exclusive use. I know how to input the other party's thought process, but it wouldn't work well if someone else used it..."

After listening, Gu Ran roughly understood that the simulator only borrowed the AI's computing power and was mainly used for data analysis. Without Sora herself, the simulator would not be of much use.