She chose the strategy with the most bullet comments.

The match will start two hours after the update is complete, which is 2 PM.

Such a tight schedule meant that neither WLD nor ESG had much time to study the new version and could only conduct cloud testing in the limited time before the match.

Even if some heroes or strategies become powerful in the cloud, people might not dare to use them, since they haven't actually tried them.

Of course, that applies to ordinary teams.

For WLD, it doesn't matter whether they dare to use it or not; they just want to know what they would use.

WLD isn't worried about the match coinciding with the version update; ESG, on the other hand, is having some trouble. They already need to put in a lot of effort to play against WLD, and now they have to pay extra attention to the version update.

Hopefully, there won't be too many major changes...

With various differing thoughts, each party clicked on the version announcement to check.

The amount of updated content is not small, but surprisingly small.

No new hero.

No equipment update.

There have been no changes to the runes.

There are only two heroes with varying degrees of rework and a few minor data adjustments. The section with the most text is the bug fixes section, and there isn't even a new skin.

The update announcement, which could be scrolled to the top in just a few minutes, truly shocked countless people.

It seems like this is the version with the fewest changes since League of Legends' public beta launch, right?

The minor reworks are for Neeko and Master Yi.

Neeko's passive ability used to transform her into the appearance of the champion on the right, which could be used to confuse opponents in certain situations. However, after the update, she is no longer limited to transforming into the champion on the right and can transform into most interactive units in Summoner's Rift.

From large and medium-sized monsters and minions to small interactive plants on the map, such as Exploding Fruit, Divination Flower, and Honey Plates growing in the river.

You can even choose to transform into an eye to confuse your opponent, focusing on a horror game and thrills, which is more exciting than casting a W clone while the main body dives into a crowd.

As for Master Yi, to put it bluntly, he has been picked 0 times in the LPL professional league so far.

This goes beyond being benched; it's a case of "no such person exists."

Neeko's minor rework is somewhat well-intentioned, and you can easily imagine a lot of fun with her. However, Master Yi's skill mechanics remain largely unchanged, with only his W skill undergoing significant modifications.

With such a significant overhaul, he'll still be benched if he's not going to be on the court.

In many people's eyes, Juggernaut has neither good stats nor good mechanics, and no one thought he would appear in professional matches. Instead, people are wondering which game WLD will pick the new Neeko, or whether ESG will ban her.

Neeko is a veteran champion; her skill mechanics haven't changed much and she doesn't require extra practice, so she'll definitely have a significant chance of being played.

“Interesting…” Su Mu closed the update page.

She thinks of many more things than the average person.

Neeko needs no introduction. This champion's wave clear efficiency has been buffed, which is probably designed by the designers to counter Yone and Akali in the early to mid-game. The passive rework has increased her utility and playability.

As for the Sword Saint, I wonder which level the designer is on.

Honestly, the new version of Master Yi's W has a pretty high value. In certain team compositions, using weird builds to fight Akali can be incredibly painful in a solo lane. Even if you can't kill Akali, you can still annoy her so much that you never want to encounter her again.

ESG head coach Nightbird couldn't help but feel uneasy when he saw the version changes.

That damned designer, isn't the game's ecosystem already chaotic enough?

Whether the game is chaotic or not now depends on the mid laner.

The two mid-lane champions that were a headache in patch 2.13 were nerfed in patch 2.14 with barely a scratch; they're still T0.

That's fine, but what's the point of adding Nico here?

248. Playoffs

In any case, the pre-planned schedule will not be delayed due to version updates.

"Welcome to the League of Legends Pro League, LPL Summer Split, Playoffs! First, let's welcome—Shanghai Eternal Star Gaming!"

"Top laner: Reiter, Jungler: Mengnan, Mid laner: Xique, Bot laner: Shushu, Support: Huamao, Head coach: Yan Xuezhen."

"Next, let's welcome Wuhan Wild Dream!"

"Top Laner: Yanhua, Jungler: Xiaowei, Mid Laner: Sumu, Bot Laner: Lian, Support: Ayu, Head Coach: Coco!"

"The LPL Summer Season semifinals, ESG vs WLD, are about to begin. Go forward and create the peak together."

Both the audience at the venue and those watching the live stream were full of anticipation for today's best-of-five series.

As it turns out, the dynamic version of the competition is not lacking in appeal. Compared to other MOBA esports games that use a lagging version, LOL esports has undoubtedly become the leader in terms of viewership and attendance.

Of course, it must be acknowledged that the high viewership is inseparable from WLD and the team's popular hero player, Su Mu.

She's really good at creating drama.

Some tech-savvy netizens have analyzed the live streaming data of some streaming websites and found that the peak popularity of WLD's matches was even higher than that of traditional powerhouse RT. Even if both meaningful and meaningless comments are counted separately, WLD's number of comments is still higher.

As for the actual number of viewers watching the live stream, WLD also came out on top. Putting aside Su Mu's high popularity, we cannot ignore the fact that her playing style is indeed deeply loved by the audience.

A surprise is something the audience hasn't seen before, not the same old lineup and formula.

The commentators were all focused on version 2.14, speculating on the strategies or priorities that both sides might employ.

Since there aren't many changes compared to version 2.13, relying solely on guesswork won't lead to wildly inaccurate results. The game had only been under maintenance for two hours when the match started, so no one should laugh at anyone for having a poor understanding of the new version.

"Based on all the information gathered, I personally believe that both sides will most likely follow the general tone of version 2.13 in their drafting and banning. There are no variables to discuss; if there are, it will be something to look forward to; if not, it will be the normal situation."

"Wow, you're practically hinting that Su Mu might mess with the Sword Saint mid laner. Let's be frank, it's impossible."

"Did the audience hear that? If WLD really creates a Sword Saint, then it's assumed that Shengxi has become Ming Ge's apprentice and learned his true skills," Lanling teased.

"..."

After both teams finished their adjustments, the draft phase officially began. In the first game, WLD was on the blue side and ESG was on the red side.

The same approach used against BRS cannot be applied to ESG.

ESG's bot laner, Shushu, whose real name is Shushu and who is nicknamed "Uncle" by fans, is a prodigy AD carry who is only 18 years old. It can be said that there is no ADC she can't play, and most viewers recognize her as the strongest ADC in the LPL.

If you ask what makes a player strong, different people might give different answers.

Some might say that the player's signature hero has a 100% ban rate, and there are even 2-4 ban slots against him in every game.

Generally speaking, most viewers would think that if an opponent is exceptionally respectful, doesn't that mean they are highly skilled?

This evaluation method isn't inherently problematic, however—

Those players who are so strong that it seems pointless to target them are actually the more terrifying ones.

Su Mu is a recognized player of this type. Coaches of teams with some skill understand this to some extent. Targeting Su Mu is far too costly. Who knows what kind of weird thing she might pull out? So they simply ignore her and deal with her moves as they come.

Similarly, Shushu, despite having a full AD champion pool, doesn't offer much value for her in this meta where utility AD champions are prevalent and carry AD champions also have room to shine.

Liu Keke glanced at the BP countdown and said, "Xiao Mu, do you have any last-minute ideas? If not, just follow my pace."

As the backbone of the team, Su Mu often comes up with some ingenious ideas during the draft phase.

Over time, Liu Keke would often ask this question.

“I actually have an idea.” Su Mu’s eyes darted around. “The Sword Saint has been buffed, so it might be worth using him to test the limits of ESG.”

"Uh…"

Liu Keke really didn't expect Su Mu to bring up the Sword Saint.

This champion is too easy to counter. In patch 2.14, the mainstream popular mid laners are Yone, Akali, and Neeko. None of them are afraid of Master Yi, especially Neeko and Akali.

"So you mean we still don't need to worry about mid-lane heroes?"

"Don't worry about it, just leave the ban or not ban problem to the other side," Su Mu said nonchalantly.

Although, ESG probably won't care about the mid-lane champion...

Liu Keke understood Su Mu's meaning and began to work on the support role.

If the enemy ADC is more skilled than yours, the best strategy is for the support to counter the enemy's weaknesses with their own strengths.

Seeing that Huamao's best-performing Titan with a 100% win rate was banned, Yan Xuezhen retaliated without hesitation by picking Bai Wei's Lilia, who also had a 100% win rate despite only having played a few games with her.

In the third and fourth rounds, after both sides banned heroes they didn't want to let go, Yan Xuezhen frowned slightly when she saw that WLD still didn't care about the mid lane in the current meta in the third round.

As expected...

Since everyone is so confident, let's unleash all our strategies. There are so many useful heroes that we can't possibly counter them all. Let's ban Sion and wait for WLD to show their moves.

"Ornn... Is there a problem with Reiter Gnar? If not, just take him."

"Row."

Following the confirmation of Gnar, ESG has also confirmed Diana as their jungler, suggesting a possible move to acquire Yone or even Yasuo to create a powerful top-mid-jungle ultimate combo system for team fights.

Liu Keke was not surprised that ESG was hiding their bot lane duo, after all, she also wanted to hide their mid and jungle duo until the second round. The players have the ability to do so, and their wide champion pool is that confident.

Two entrance lines were uttered in quick succession, much to the surprise of the two commentators in the commentary booth.

"They locked in Kalista and Gem in a second! It's been a long time since I've seen this combination."

"The 'Tower Combo' is currently only ranked T3 in terms of strength. Its pick/ban rate in competitive play is zero, and it's not a popular choice in ranked games either. I really didn't expect that." - Wu

"But then again, neither Ashe nor Jhin are particularly afraid of Kalista."

"Whether you're afraid or not doesn't matter. With the AD carry fully engaged, Shushu has a lot of options. If you want a guaranteed counter, go for Tristana, plus a support with some crowd control. For a safer pick, you can go for Xayah or Rakan."

249. Abstract Choice Bar

The WLD-locked pagoda combination also greatly surprised everyone at ESG.

With all ADCs active outside, you can pick any of the good champions like Ashe, Jhin, Varus, or even Miss Fortune; the results will be roughly the same.

The tower's stats aren't high enough right now; if it encounters someone like Ashebron, its head will probably get smashed. (Flag)

"Could they be trying to lure us into picking a utility-focused bot lane?" Huamao guessed.

"It can't be ruled out." Yan Xuezhen couldn't quite figure out WLD's intentions for the time being, but she wasn't too worried. "Does the Magpie want Akali, Neeko, or perhaps the Yone brothers?"

“Either is fine. I haven’t played Neeko in a long time, so I prefer Yasuo. I’m not afraid that Su Mu will pick Yone or Neeko; maybe we can catch the opponent off guard,” Xique replied.

Yasuo rarely appears on the field, and most teams don't take him into account.

In reality, Yasuo is not afraid of Yone or even Akali.

While it's highly unlikely that you can beat Su Mu, it's still okay to survive and develop. As long as you don't get blown up by a single enemy, there's always a way to turn the tide in the mid-to-late game in a team game.

Hmm, feel free to pressure us, as long as we don't collapse, we'll dominate your teammates in the mid-to-late game.

"Yasuo, huh? Sure."

WLD also happens to have Ornn, whose Wind Wall can really annoy the opponent.

If Ashe and Braum join the bot lane, Ornn might not be able to use his ultimate for the entire game in team fights, unless WLD bans Braum in the second round.

Whatever comes to mind comes to life.

WLD really shut down Braum in the second round, and didn't even spare Rakan.

"Flower Cat, you've got some serious connections, managing to get WLD to ban four support champions, wow..."

"Don't make baseless accusations. It's just that it didn't work on my uncle, so he chose to annoy me and her at the same time while playing the support role."

Huamao, however, saw things very clearly. He knew WLD's real intention in banning four supports: to force Shushu to pick supports that weren't as good as some ADCs.

"Stop the chit-chat. Right now, top, mid, and jungle are all carry champions. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to pick a late-game AD carry; it would slow down the game too much. If Rakan is out of the meta, how about Miss Fortune?"

“That’s feasible.” Yan Xuezhen nodded. “But we still need to reserve the counter-pick slot for you. Let’s build a healer for Hua Mao first, to ensure some survivability and strengthen team fights.”

As the nanny locked up, causing a commotion, WLD revealed all his cards.

Viewers were curious: with ESG having already revealed their top, mid, and jungle players in the first round, what big move was WLD keeping secret?

The camera pans to WLD, showing Liu Keke standing between Su Mubai and Wei, bending down to communicate with them.

Not long after, as Liu Keke straightened up, two heroes were instantly locked down.

Upon seeing those two profile pictures, the atmosphere at the scene exploded once again.

Shocking, absolutely explosive.

The live stream chat was filled with a dense barrage of questions, interspersed with some expressions of astonishment.

WTF?! Master Yi and Karthus?!

I'm dumbfounded, does it have to be so abstract?