She chose the strategy with the most bullet comments.

[Why are all the comments talking about Step by Step to Victory? Their opponent, Feng Lanye, is also very strong. She has dominated the entire Anhui province and is unbeatable. Her matches last an average of 24 minutes, which is much better than Step by Step to Victory.]

The average playing time doesn't represent the whole picture; it's only about four minutes. Besides, no one said that Feng Lanye wasn't strong.

The main reason no one mentions "Wind Embraces Leaves" is that the lineups they use are too high-level and game-oriented. People are already tired of watching professional players stream on the international server, so naturally there's not much buzz about it.

Just because no one mentions it doesn't mean no one has high hopes. To be honest, I don't think Step by Step can make it to the top four. Their mid and jungle are relatively strong, but their top laner is a gatekeeper for Master rank, and his skill level is even lower. How can they compete with a team of three Challenger players?

What does Feng Lan Ye Qiang have to do with a shut-in like me? I'm here to see beautiful women. The five beauties in Step by Step to Victory are much more interesting than the five rough men in Feng Lan Ye Qiang.

[So, esports is all about looks, right? Part 1]

Well, it's true, otherwise why would professional players with better looks be more popular? Although I'm a girl, I actually prefer Xiao Mu who wins step by step.

Qi Ersan Lin Shijiu Qi San Private Group [Real...Ling]

Hurry up, hurry up! Why is there so much pre-game talk even though there are no sponsors yet?

In fact, not only the audience, but also Su Mu knew from online community discussions that many more people were optimistic about Feng Lan Ye.

All members of Feng Lan Ye have shown off their international server rank, with three of them being Challenger. Even if they are the only three Challengers in their school, their combined strength is still quite intimidating.

In contrast, those who are virtually unknown outside of competitions rely on outsiders to guess their abilities based on their match performances, naturally attracting fewer supporters. II

"Contestants who are determined to win, please get ready, you are about to take the stage." - Mio

Hearing the voices from outside, Su Mu smiled at his teammates and extended his hand.

Four hands were placed on top, then suddenly swung downwards.

"rush!"

"With Brother Mu and Xiao Wei here, I have nothing to fear!"

So what if there are three kings? Xiao Mu and Xiao Wei, who are among the top 100, are no weaker than them.

……

"Welcome to the quarterfinals of the National College League. I am your host, Jiu Su."

"First of all, welcome to the Step-by-Step Victory Team!"

Su Mu and his five friends took to the stage one after another, eliciting cheers from the audience, especially from the girls. When Su Mu smiled at the camera, many girls screamed.

Oh my god... How can a girl be so unusually cool?!

"Top Laner: Xiaoyu, Jungler: Xiaowei, Mid Laner: Xiaomu, Bot Laner: Xiaoli, Support: Xiaomin, Let's welcome the Step by Step Winning Team once again!"

"Next up, please welcome Team Fenglanye—Top: Z1, Jungle: X2, Mid: C3, Bot: V4, Support: B5. Welcome Team Fenglanye!"

"The match is about to begin. We look forward to a wonderful and intense showdown between the two sides."

The camera pans to the commentary booth, where the two commentators are no longer the same two from the Shenzhen event, but have been replaced by two mature and sophisticated women dressed in formal women's suits.

During the pre-match setup, the commentators analyzed the performances of the two teams in previous matches and provided reasonable predictions about the strengths and weaknesses of their respective positions.

It's easy to tell that they had done their homework; they discussed the highlights of both teams' past matches with great expertise.

"Objectively speaking, we don't know the specific skill level of the five players in Step by Step to Victory, but we believe that the audience can also see that Step by Step to Victory's top laner, Xiaoyu, has a relatively fixed hero pool, which is an easy point for the opponent to seize and exploit."

"That's right. Many viewers may have heard that Z1, the top laner for Fenglanye, is ranked 756th in the international server. He is a very skilled and talented player, and he is extremely good at offensive heroes. This BO5 top lane match should be very intense."

"Of course, our analysis is based on objective observations from previous matches and may contain subjective elements. The specific outcome depends on the performance of both players during the match."

"Speaking of which, Shengxi, have you noticed that the players' match IDs on both teams are very simple, neat, and easy to remember?"

"Haha, that's true..."

The audience laughed; they were indeed quite simple and unpretentious.

Many viewers didn't feel anything special; they had already seen the list of the top eight and discovered a coincidence.

Those are the five teams that performed better in the competition, and their player IDs are all consistent and easy to remember.

For example, the team called "Digital Miracles" had player IDs that were all plural Chinese characters, like "three three," "five five," "six six," etc.

"Alright, let's move on to the ban/pick phase. The blue side, Feng Lan Ye, has already banned Lucian and Ezreal. Not to be outdone, they've countered by targeting Fiora and Kennen in the top lane..."

"Also, for those viewers who may not know, the format has changed since the BO5 season started. It's no longer a blind ban of ten heroes by both sides at once, but a rotating open ban system."

"This means that not only the pick phase requires competition, but the ban phase also requires intrigue and strategy. This increases the excitement while avoiding duplicate bans. It also puts a lot of pressure on the players' understanding, requiring them to consider the meta and the opponent's hero pool to make reasonable bans and picks."

"Both sides picked strong heroes in the first six rounds, it seems that they both wanted to play it safe and test each other's weaknesses in the first game, and neither side targeted the heroes that had performed well in the previous games."

"Feng Lanye is very confident, instantly locking in Ekko, a champion that both their mid and jungle players use, currently boasting a 100% win rate! They seem completely unconcerned about being countered by Step by Step Win."

"If they dare to let a champion with a 100% win rate pass, then they definitely dare to pick it. Oh my, Step by Step to Victory, they've picked Irelia!"

"Irelia can also be played in the top or mid lane, but Xiaoyu has no precedent for using Irelia, so she will most likely go mid..."

96. I'm more optimistic about the wind catching the leaves.

The audience understood that the commentator implied that Xiao Mu would most likely use Irelia, aiming to be fearless against the opponent.

Irelia's passive grants her tenacity, which increases with the number of enemies. With Mercury's Treads, she's virtually immune to crowd control. If she unlocks the tenacity talent, she becomes even more formidable.

Even if the resilience effect is multiplicative, with multiple sources, it can render Ekko's W's extremely long stun control ineffective.

In the team's internal chat, C3 raised an eyebrow upon seeing this.

I thought they would continue to pick some weird and unpopular mid-lane champions.

That makes sense. Choosing a normal mid laner shows that Step by Step Win felt the pressure against them, and the team's core player had to take on the carry role instead of letting the seemingly average bot laner do it.

As for the possibility of using Irelia in the top lane, neither C3 nor top laner Z1 had considered this possibility.

Seeing that Step by Step had secured the Yeti in their second move, jungler X2, who had been rubbing his chin, immediately paused.

"What do you mean? Should I fill in as a jungler or a mid laner?"

"With the Yeti appearing, it's hard to say whether Irelia will go mid..."

"The probability of Irelia leaving for mid lane is relatively low, unless their top laners are constantly throwing the game and hiding their true skill level." Z1 shook his head.

If they had such good acting skills and could perfectly blend into the desired segment, they would accept defeat wholeheartedly.

"Ekko's W cast animation is too obvious in lane, he should go jungle and help me get Renekton first."

"Oh dear? It's not a good idea for C to use his ultimate at the start. You can take the Crocodile yourself. It's on the third floor anyway. Let's lock the weapon for the top lane first."

"The crocodile isn't my ultimate ability; it's just a minor Q skill at best."

"There's not much difference. The core of Step by Step to Victory is the midfielder, who is the best. We'll have to see if he can withstand our attack."

"..."

Feng Lan Ye secured the weapon and the crocodile in two or three moves, essentially setting the tone for the match.

As long as you're not at a huge disadvantage and can't manage the minion waves when facing the Baron buff, you have a chance to win. Ekko and Jax ensure strength in mid-to-late game team fights and split pushing, while Renekton ensures strength in early-to-mid game skirmishes.

Even without Su Mu saying anything, Zhao Lisi and Zhang Xiaoyu, who had gained a lot of experience, could tell that Feng Lanye wanted to focus on the mid-jungle duo.

The wider your field of vision, the broader your view.

Knowing full well that the top 1 in the international server are mostly professional players or freelance streamers, Zhao Lisi and the other two were very clear about the true value of Su Mu and his companion, who consistently ranked in the top 50.

Well… anyway, from their perspective, Feng Lanye's courage was commendable…

"Is Xiaoyu going to connect to the global Moffett Universal Network this time?" Su Mu asked with a smile.

"I want it!"

Golems are relatively easy to kill weapons in the early game, but they become difficult to kill once the weapons have Divine Split or Ruined King.

The newbie's task is simple: survive in the early game and don't cause trouble for the team; in team fights, it's enough to engage the enemy's core carry.

Thinking of this, Zhang Xiaoyu felt quite sad.

Sigh... Thinking back to the international server, even a Diamond player is considered a high-level player with considerable skill, but compared to anyone else in the team, I'm still the worst.

As the first round of Banpick ended, Shengxi's voice echoed throughout the venue.

"Both sides are playing aggressively in the top, mid, and jungle. Let's see how the bot lane can strengthen their lineup. Several ADCs have already been banned, and the rest are about the same, but they are still adding more bans. Caitlyn and Varus are no longer available."

The second round of bans lasted less than 20 seconds. Including the Ezreal and Lucian targeted in the first round, six out of the ten ban slots were allocated to ADCs, which is quite rare in the current version.

After losing a large number of useful ADCs, the possible team compositions are very limited.

The pick phase was equally swift, and ultimately, the two teams formed the following lineups:

Blue team's lineup: Top lane Jax, Jungle Ekko, Mid lane Renekton, Bot lane Jinx, Support Janna.

Red team's strategy: Top lane Malphite, Jungle Nunu, Mid lane Irelia, Bot lane Sivir, Support Yuumi.

"What does Shengxi think of the lineups on both sides?"

"They all fight hard, and they fight even harder to win every step of the way. If their lineup falls behind, they don't even have the right to provide vision. None of them have short-cooldown, unconditional mobility or hard survival tools. The Malphite can't just use his ultimate to escape, otherwise team fights will be too difficult."

Sheng Xi looked puzzled and continued to analyze, "However, Step by Step to Victory has won with even the most bizarre lineups. What we can see now is only the surface. In short, judging from the lineup composition, I am more optimistic about Feng Lan Ye."

"Very fair, good. Let's enter Summoner's Rift. This BO5 between Step by Step and Wind and Leaf is officially starting! Lanling and Shengxi will provide live commentary for you."

"Let's take a look at the players' runes. Oh? The Yeti isn't using Dark Harvest, but Predator, which was quite rare in previous versions."

"After all, version 1.9 was buffed, and the cooldowns were reduced a lot in the early game."

As the players bought their starting gear and left the fountain, cheers for the two teams could be heard intermittently, though it was rather noisy because no one took the lead.

"Thank you to the fans and audience for their enthusiastic support for both teams. Snowman tried to push the ball to initiate a level 1 team fight but it didn't work. Wind Leaf was obviously on guard, and their positioning in the jungle, including the opening ward, was very conservative."

"..."

Su Mu stood in the upper half of the F6I (three) phosphorus Jiuling Qijiu Wu I-Kunkouzi, and soon discovered that Ekko appeared in the river with the crocodile, and it seemed that he wanted to come in and place a ward to scout the jungler's movements.

She didn't stop them, and signaled her teammates in the bottom lane to push forward and leave wards in the enemy's red buff area.

The enemy mid and jungle are in the top half of the map, and their top laner is likely nearby as well. The bottom half of the map is relatively short of manpower.

"Vivi, wait a minute, it's best to push the ball in to establish vision, to prevent the weapon-wielding cat from camping in the lower half of the map."

If you get caught by a weapon or Janna's first move, you'll have to use your Flash to escape, so it's better to be careful.

Bai Wei lightly tapped her chin, pushing the ball forward in coordination with the cat's playful, cat-like movements.

"Someone's in the bushes." The "Fish-Snatching Missile" hit the bushes, triggering the support item's stealth effect, and Zhou Xuemin immediately sent a signal.

Bai Wei released W and, under the cover of the snowball, placed a ward in front of the F6 pit.

The Yeti jungler doesn't really benefit from double buffs, so it's fine to start in either half of the map, but it's definitely better to start in the blue buff area before you level up.

"It seems like the other team wants to trade jungle areas with us?"

“No, Ekko will most likely return to his own red zone and start with a fast-4 strategy,” Su Mu said.

Bai Wei rolled her eyes in thought, glanced at the defensive wards Su Mu had placed in the F6 bush in the upper half of the jungle, and had a jungle route in mind.

There were no conflicts at the start, and both the top and bottom lanes were filled with farming heroes, with the camera focusing more on the mid lane.

Two minutes passed, and Su Mu tried to proc his health several times but failed to draw out Renekton's poke. Clearly, the opponent knew that you can't lower Irelia's health too early in lane, otherwise her E skill would stun her instead of slowing her down.

97. She's so cool!

"There's no opportunity in the middle; the opponent is being very cautious."

"Then I'll focus on farming in the first round." Bai Wei nodded.

The "first round" refers to clearing all jungle monsters. While Yeti is a tempo-based champion, it doesn't mean he's weak on a farming path; his high base damage and AP scaling are undeniable. (Shan)

While farming jungle monsters, Bai Wei constantly switched screens to observe the side lanes. She noticed that the enemy's top and bottom lanes were positioned cautiously, and Jinx, despite having a pushing advantage, was controlling the wave, clearly not wanting to give them any opportunities.

For the first few minutes everything was fine, but just as the audience's attention was diverted, the camera suddenly switched to the top lane.

"Ekko's ganks with vision control were quite good; Malphite was forced to use Flash to escape. We need to be even more careful in the laning phase from now on. Crossing the river before level 6 makes it too easy to get killed by Jax and Ekko." - Fin

Zhang Xiaoyu used Flash decisively, only taking the first hit of Ekko's Q, and her health remained at a relatively healthy level, so she didn't need to return to base to heal for the time being. *Hiss*

However, if the minion wave can't be controlled in front of the tower, you'll have to switch to a cautious approach, focusing on gaining experience and intentionally giving up some last-hitting minions.

"Feng Lan Ye has a stronger initiative in the early game and is very stable in the laning phase. Xue Ren is a hero with relatively average anti-ganking ability. Xiao Wei has to make a choice to help her teammates."

"The top and bottom lane teammates don't have hard crowd control, so they can't coordinate well. As for the mid lane... because Renekton also has good control over his health, Irelia can't stun him, which means Xiaowei is a bit bored right now."

"When it comes to farming, Ekko, as a mid-to-late game champion, is no match for Nunu."

"It's still the same problem. When we pick the 'Step by Step to Victory' lineup, this situation arises: Feng Lanye clearly anticipated that 'Step by Step to Victory' would strengthen their bot lane with crowd control, so they banned most of the utility ADCs, leaving only the less effective ones."

"Taking it step by step is not an option, and not taking it is also not an option. In the end, I can only choose the Wheel Mom Cat combination, which is not bad when combined."

"With a top, mid, and jungle pairing like this, it's really tough to get past level 6. In the early game, you have to rely entirely on Nunu to initiate, and you might not even be able to hold them off."