From Pokémon to The International, Dota 2

When Gu Ran pushed open the door to the lounge, his fingers were still trembling slightly—every frame of the key team fights from the two matches was still replaying in his mind, and his body hadn't fully recovered from that state of extreme reaction. Adrenaline was still surging in his veins, like a shaken can of cola, the cap tightened, but the bubbles still rising.

Before the door was even fully opened, a cacophony of noise erupted from inside. Lu Chen's booming voice boomed from the deepest part of the room—"Holy crap, those two critical hits by Brother Yu at the Little Fountain entrance took that guy from full health to near death! I felt the pain just watching the damage on the screen!"

Then came the laughter of the other team members. Who wouldn't want to go up and play with such a small car themselves?

As Gu Ran watched all this, he suddenly felt his fingers stop trembling. The bottle of cola that had been shaken had its cap slightly unscrewed. He walked in, naturally blending into the noise, like a raindrop merging into the ocean.

Lu Chen saw him and grabbed him, saying, "You're just in time! Fire Cat King! You were shut down by Chao Ge in the first game, and Karl's skills in the second game were so smooth. How did you develop such a powerful fireman? I often can't control myself when I'm controlling the werewolf cubs."

Gu Ran opened his mouth, but before he could answer, Lao Fang spoke up for him: "It's reward for hard work, what else could it be? Look at Gu Ran's enthusiasm for solo queue these past few days, second only to Lao Wang. I've seen him play a lot of Invoker games, and I can clearly feel his proficiency increasing." His tone carried the expectation of a ten-year veteran support player for a genius mid laner.

The excitement lingered in the lounge for about ten minutes until Lao Fang clapped his hands, stood up, walked to the whiteboard, and picked up a marker. He didn't tap the whiteboard or clear his throat; he just stood there, waiting for everyone to quiet down on their own.

Lu Chen picked up his team uniform from the sofa armrest and put it on; Su Xiaoman moved her tactical notebook from her lap to the coffee table and opened the opponent's data document; Jiang Xia sent a screenshot to the group chat on his phone, then took out his laptop from his backpack; XS placed his teacup on the windowsill and sat up straight. Gu Ran leaned back in the middle of the sofa, his fingers finally completely stopped trembling.

[We won the first game before we even got to use Vengeful Spirit's level 20 effect. The guys set the pace so well in the early game.]

[The top lane matchup went very well, Axe is very fed, the mid laner is also fed, and the opposing team is the kind that doesn't know how to manage their economy and just wants to fight us head-on, so it feels like the snowball is going to be pretty easy to snowball.]

[Gu Ran's wind-blowing technique is really clever; he used it to kill Parker several times. Once Chao Ge was pinned down, they basically couldn't win.]

The first game was a physical battle in the early and mid-game, so there's not much to review. The only thing to talk about in the draft was the carry Vengeful Spirit versus the offlane Doom. The game was indeed quite good, but Vengeful Spirit's late-game potential was not fully realized before the game ended.

[We played exceptionally well in the second game, effectively utilizing the strengths of this lineup. Our summoned units pushed lanes, forcing the opponent to send their units to farm, which allowed us to find opportunities to gank, secure kills, and then create chances for outnumbered engagements, slowly snowballing our advantage.]

Old Fang looked excited. From an operational point of view, there was not much to analyze in the first game, but the second game was different. In fact, this game was the first time that he imitated the playing style of the recent European powerhouses on the field, and he basically achieved the effect they wanted.

[This playstyle requires a high level of micro-management and the ability to switch screens to gather information. Lu Chen, your werewolf play is really good; it feels like it's become your new signature move. Gu Ran's Invoker is also awesome, and his Fire Spirit lane-pushing is superb.]

Jiang Xia watched the replay on his laptop and gave his comments. Su Xiaoman then helped him connect his laptop to the big screen so that everyone could watch the replay on the big screen.

However, we shouldn't be too happy yet. The difficulty of this lineup is also related to the strength of the opponent. Whether we can maintain this smooth lane-pushing, split-pushing, and ganking rhythm when facing strong opponents remains to be seen.

Su Xiaoman promptly gave her teammates a heads-up. This lineup was actually something she learned from watching the strong Eastern European team Yandex. They won the last Tier 1 tournament, and their midlaner chira_junior is a master Invoker. Their offlaner, DM, was often criticized for being weak in the early game, but has been performing quite well recently. His signature Lycan is so impressive that he's almost always banned and respected by the opposing team.

Of course, their core player should be Saksa, the TI11 champion position 4 player and their shot-caller in the early and mid-game. Before Saksa arrived, the team's performance was not ideal. However, after Saksa arrived, the team seemed to have a backbone. On the one hand, he has rich competition experience, and on the other hand, he has the TI championship, which makes his teammates trust his shot-calling, which is very important.

[The Werewolf is a strong hero in the current meta, especially as a carry like Drow Ranger. He's great at taking down supports, and most importantly, he has summoned units that can hold the lane. We should keep an eye on this hero; as long as the meta doesn't change, he'll likely become more and more popular. Lu Chen, you should try playing him more in solo queue.]

Lu Chen nodded. He could also sense the strength of this hero, but this hero was very team-oriented, and it might not be easy to rank up in solo queue.

Once the review and summary are almost done, we can look at the next matches. Currently, the loser's bracket semifinals are underway, with FG team playing against Charles team. They can enjoy the match first, since one of these two teams will be eliminated first. After they finish their match, we can do a quick review of the winner's strategy.

Wang Chunyu watched one game and then went back to the hotel to play solo. The remaining guys enjoyed three exciting matches under the pretext of watching their opponents play. In the end, FG's Immortal Sword Demon Tower team won. While watching the game, everyone summarized their drafting patterns and gameplay strategies, and they basically had a general idea of ​​what to expect. As for more detailed information, Su Xiaoman would download their game recordings after the match to analyze their ward placement and item choices.

After enjoying the game, the brothers returned to the hotel and had dinner at the free buffet provided by the organizers.

The restaurant is on the third floor, with the event's logo affixed to the double glass doors. Pushing the door open, warm yellow lights shine on the stainless steel plates in the hot food area, causing a fine mist of steam to rise.

The food counters were lined up in a row. Braised pork belly was served in a deep stainless steel dish, with a heat lamp shining directly above it. The dark brown skin of the pork trembled slightly in the light, and it would shake every time someone passed by. Next to it were salt and pepper shrimp, their shells fried until crispy, piled up into a small, steaming mountain.

Further on were garlic broccoli and oyster sauce lettuce, their green color appearing even more vibrant under the warm light, glistening with oil. The main course section offered white rice and fried noodles; the noodles had a soy sauce base with shredded carrots and cabbage, still retaining their wok-fried aroma. In the soup section, there was a pot of hot and sour soup and a pot of pork rib soup. The pork rib soup contained corn pieces and carrot chunks, simmered until the broth was milky white, with a thin layer of oil floating on top, glistening under the heat lamp.

The dessert table was against the wall, with egg tarts and small cakes arranged on stainless steel trays. Sliced ​​watermelon and cantaloupe were placed on an ice platter, their flesh glistening red under the cool lights. The beverage machine hummed, offering a wide variety of drinks and fruit teas. Next to it was a bucket of ice, with an ice shovel stuck in the ice, its handle covered in frost.

I don't know how the other brothers feel, but for Gu Ran, who usually eats takeout every day, this hotel buffet is simply divine. Plus, he didn't eat much at noon because he had to play a game, so he can finally feast tonight.