From Pokémon to The International, Dota 2

Pokémon Day 5, High-Level Team.

Lu Chen (ID Huaqiang) sat in his 40-square-meter e-sports room. The main screen was the Pokémon horse selection interface, and the secondary screen was playing a video clip of a Pokémon competition uploaded to Bilibili by an ID named "Yimingjingren".

It's been five days already, and Lu Chen, as a Pokémon mentor, is still struggling to win a championship. In the first few days, it could be said that he wasn't quite used to the competition format, but after four days without a championship, he has to reflect on where he went wrong.

He felt that as a mentor, he wasn't very talkative, and many Pokémon players needed someone who could constantly guide them and teach them how to play the game. Also, because Pokémon games use a captain's mode for drafting and banning (BAN), similar to competitive play, and he usually plays ranked matches with all heroes selected, he needed someone skilled at BAN.

In the Pokémon tournament clip he was watching, the player with the ID "sora" seemed quite suitable; her drafting was very insightful.

Because he hadn't won any championships in the past few days, while other mentors' points had increased to varying degrees, his pick order kept getting higher and higher. Today, he became the first to pick a Pokémon, which allowed him to easily get the most popular first-pick Pokémon this time—Firefly. He then grabbed Sora on his third pick, which made OldChicken, who was picking the Pokémon right after him, slam his fist on the table in anger—he had also wanted to pick Sora.

After the horse selection was over, the five people entered the YY channel, where several Pokémon started greeting each other.

"I'm on Ran-ge's team again today, can you help me win another championship?"

A vibrant female voice—that's Sora's voice.

"Don't use that word. Our win against your draft last time was also crucial."

Gu Ran immediately started exchanging compliments.

Lu Chen seized the opportunity to speak:

"Let's have Sora do the draft later. You know my three main strategies. I'm pretty proficient with the other offlane heroes. You can decide what to do."

"Yes, mentor! I guarantee I'll complete the task! (｀･ω･´)ゞ"

Two hours later, in YYF's live stream room

"I saw Diao Ge again in the finals today, and it seems like Huaqiang on the other side is making his first appearance in the finals."

Feng Ge's voice rang out first on YY, and several familiar big streamers had already gathered on the same YY platform.

"This Huaqiang is a bit like ATF from the Falcons team. He has three signature heroes with Grandmaster level proficiency, but his other heroes are just average. The teams that played against him a few days ago all knew to just ban his signature heroes."

Brother Jia also enjoys watching international Dota 2 matches. After watching Huaqiang's matches for a few days, he noticed the similarities between him and ATF.

"So, which side are you supporting in today's match, Brother Eye? Is it Team China?"

Xie Bin dd started stirring things up directly. Their tradition is to treat whichever OB streamer makes it to the finals as a foreign team, just in case their brother wins the championship and makes them lose face.

"Then I'll definitely support my brother Tai! Please don't kill my brother Tai later~"

The chat in Yanzi's live stream room was already flooded with comments saying "Don't kill Brother Diao," and the viewers were very enthusiastic.

The match begins, the draft phase.

"What's going on? How come Huaqiang only banned two of his three signature moves, but let Doomsday be released?"

While raising his questions, Feng Ge switched to Diao Ge's live stream to eavesdrop on their discussion.

"firefly's Storm Spirit is too awesome. I watched a few games and he controlled the tempo with his Storm Spirit. Our mid laner doesn't know how to play it, so we have to ban it. Huaqiang, save a Doom for him. I have a few heroes that can counter him."

Diao Ge's ban/pick strategy was to let Doom play and ban Gu Ran's signature hero.

Sora saw that the opponent hadn't banned Doom, so he immediately picked Doom. The opponent picked Winter Wyvern, which is considered their position 5's signature pick.

The subsequent lineup has been finalized: Gu Ran's team consists of Gun Gun in the mid lane, Rubick in the fourth position, Lich in the fifth position, and Qiong Ying and Bi Ling in the first position.

The opposing team consists of Terrorblade in position 1, Puck in position 2, Lang in position 3, Lion in position 4, and Winter Wyvern in position 5.

Inside Brother Feng's live stream.

"Brother Diao let the opponent's signature Doom prepare to counter with Terrorblade. Brother Diao's Terrorblade is also his signature move. This game will see which side's signature move is tougher."

Brother Feng ordered a milk tea and explained things while drinking it.

"I feel like Brother Diao is in trouble. I've watched Huaqiang's Doomsday match on the ladder, and I think his skill level is around 15,000 MMR. Giving up Doomsday this time was unwise!"

While Yanzi claimed to be worried about Taige, he secretly hoped Taige would be destroyed by the apocalypse. However, the real mastermind knew how to play hard to get; he would first pretend to help Taige think of a solution, so that he could then pretend even more to beg for Taige not to be killed.

"This is a head-to-head battle between mentors. Basically, the early game situation depends on this lane. If the mentor can suppress the opposing mentor, then they have basically won half the battle."

The remaining streamers shared similar views, and everyone focused their attention on the bottom lane.

However, the first wave of the game occurred on the lane between NaiLv and Lich. At 4 minutes and 45 seconds, NaiLv was farming minions in a safe position just a few steps away from his own turret when the enemy Lion suddenly launched an attack, stabbing up with a Ground Spike. The enemy Lang immediately followed up with a Frog Force at NaiLv's feet.

The Lich immediately cast Frost Shield on his own Milk Green. Milk Green moved step by step towards the tower under the shock of the little frog. Just as he was about to leave the range of the frog's mighty force, Lango pulled him back with a touching kiss. At this moment, the ice dragon from the opposite side of the top left portal emerged from the shadows. The severe cold and shattering impact made it difficult for Milk Green to move. In the end, he was killed under the defensive tower.

First Blood!

OG.GXG kills the Delicious Maggot and receives 358 gold + 114 gold, split between two heroes.

"The Ice Dragon is on the other side!"

Talia, the user of Qiong Ying Bi Ling, immediately reported the information to her teammates.

So Lu Chen in the bottom lane also made his move, and as soon as he activated Scorched Earth, he walked towards Terrorblade's face. Meanwhile, Rubick in the fourth position used Telekinesis to throw Terrorblade towards Doom. At this moment, the three enemy players were killing their own carry in the top lane, and no one could save Terrorblade.

Several streamers in the live broadcast rooms had just seen Milk Green die outside their own defensive tower, and a few seconds later they saw a line of text on the system interface.

Huaqiang killed ZHOU and received 240 gold coins + 104 gold coins split among 1 hero.

"Ah, Brother Tai is out of danger, he's in trouble, don't kill Brother Tai!"

Yanzi's voice was full of regret because he didn't see the scene of Diao Ge being killed right away, so his line "Don't kill Diao Ge" felt a bit off.

Only a few comments like "Don't kill Brother Diao" appeared in the live chat, while others posted things like "Dog shit screen cut" and "Director gets his chicken leg deducted, another character's head is missing."

After Doombringer killed Terrorblade, he had both Bracers and was close to level 5. At this time, a wave of his own creeps approached the enemy's defensive tower. The enemy's Ice Dragon teleported back to defend the tower. Lu Chen immediately commanded the Lich to use the portal, preparing to rush the tower and kill the Ice Dragon who was licking experience.

After Terrorblade respawned, he teleported back to the tower, but Lu Chen's team had three players, giving them a numerical advantage. Doom, equipped with Frost Shield and Scorched Earth, walked straight towards the enemy Ice Dragon. Terrorblade's Demonic Strike damage was barely noticeable against the Frost Shield. Ice Dragon used Arctic Embrace to try and delay his death, but the Lich and Rubick's abilities dealt high damage, and Ice Dragon was ultimately burned to death by Scorched Earth.

Huaqiang kills OG.GXG, earning 212 gold + 98 gold which are split between the two heroes.