851 Knocked Out!

That was because ordinary keyboard warriors had to at least catch the "war criminals" in the competition when they expressed their opinions about the competition, right? Someone had to play badly or the entire lineup was not reasonable enough to fire.

However, there were no "war criminals" among the ten people in the finals this time. There were no major problems with the performance of the FRY team members. Other than criticizing them for being "cowardly", "sleepwalking", and "zero effect of the entire game", there was no point in criticizing them.

It did not seem like the line up that FRY chose could work out in the future. However, it did not seem like they would not be able to win after choosing this lineup.

This was especially so for the second round. If FV Team had not changed their lineup, who would have guessed that the script would be like this?

They naturally could not correct it since they could not find the key problem.

Even the keyboard warriors could not think of ways to win with their imagination. This was ridiculous enough.

Zhao Xuming sighed silently and closed the page on his cell phone. However, the competition had not started yet.

The break time this time seemed to be especially long. After all, they were already at the competition point. The officials also hoped to give the FRY team more time to adjust. Whether it was to stabilize their mentality or to discuss tactics, at least it would make the competition more suspenseful.

Zhao Xuming looked at Chrétien. "Do you think… FRY Team still has a chance?"

Chrétien's expression was not very good. After a long silence, he said, "I hope they have some trump cards."

Zhao Xuming fell silent.

He could tell that Chrétien was obviously at his wit's end. Finger Games had even specially sent two statisticians to help with the strategy, but the strategy was still crushed by FV Team. What could he do?

Both of them knew very well what would happen if they lost this round at 3: 0. Thus, both of them tacitly did not mention it.

He was a key figure in the game and had control over the entire game therefore it was quite ridiculous for him to pin all his hopes on FRY Team.

…

Finally, after a break that was obviously longer than the previous round, the competition began again.

This time, FV Team took the initiative to choose the blue side, the red and blue side did not change.

FRY's coach could not help but heave a sigh of relief. Obviously, this was because after FV Team realized that FRY could not solve the hero Chaos Misfortune, they took the initiative to choose the blue side and forcefully occupied one of FRY's Ban positions.

However, it did not matter since FRY had already decided to ban the two heroes Chaos Misfortune and Wings of the Blade. What's more, if they were on the red side, they could observe the heroes that the other party snatched, analyze their lineup, and target them.

For FRY, who had already decided to play hardball, their current goal was not to choose the best lineup, but the least bad lineup. FRY could accept it as long as FV Team did not get the "IQ crushing" lineup of the first two rounds.

"Coach, how are we to ban?" The team member asked.

FRY's coach thought for a moment. There had to be Chaos Misfortune and Wings of the Blade in the Ban position. Then, he had to release two of the three heroes that Ban had dropped previously.

After some consideration, he decided to release two heroes that no teams were playing in the current version.

"Release the Storm Swordsman and the Specter Blacksmith. Ban the Chaos Misfortune and the Wings of the Blade."

The Storm Swordsman was an assassin-type hero with multiple slots. In IOI, it could be said to be a godly weapon to torture noobs.

However, the problem was that the initial value of this hero was not very high. He would be beaten up by the opponent whether he walked on the road or jungled. Only when experts were used to torture the noobs would they be able to farm a large amount of money and equipment until he was ahead of the opponent. Only then would this hero have a gaming experience.

On the other hand, Specter Blacksmith was a rather unpopular support. It could switch between specter and physical forms. It could passively add money and experience to a teammate. Its ultimate move was to temporarily allow a teammate to enter a specter state, immune to physical damage, reduce the time that they were controlled, and increase their movement speed.

However, the problem was that this hero was relatively cumbersome. He did not have any displacement skills nor did he consume any skills. His hands were especially short. As a support, it would be very difficult for him to go to the bottom line in the early stage since he might die.

These two heroes were quite common in the game of passerby. However, in the professional arena, because the intensity of the early stages was worrying, choosing them would mean losing all the tempo in the early stages, so basically no one played it.

FRY's coach had also known about FV Team before and knew that these two heroes were FV Team's unique skills. That was why he had always eliminated them.

Now that he thought about it, it would be too difficult to play the game if the version of the hero was taken away. He might as well play the other two.

FRY's coach estimated that the other party would not be able to take both. That was because if they took both, they would not be able to play the game anymore since the bottom lane and the early stages of the jungle would be completely destroyed. Even if they wanted to complete the job, they would have to wait until the later stages.

Even if the other party took one, FRY would at least be able to obtain an advantage along the way. As long as they had the advantage in the early stages and the lineup was not too problematic, they could only say that they were not as good as the other party. There was nothing to be depressed about.

Thus, after some consideration, he decided to release these two heroes.

As FRY had predicted, FV Team did not snatch any of the two heroes. Instead, they took the Ancient Lava Tree.

This hero had appeared before. He was very straightforward and had control skills. However, no matter how one looked at it, it was not worth snatching it. After all, it was just an accessory. It was impossible to match its lineup.

"Did you choose a jack-of-all-trades top laner first because you don't want to expose your tactical intentions?"

"Or is it because Wings of the Blade and Chaos Misfortune have been eliminated, so there are no heroes worth snatching?"

FRY's coach did not understand what it meant to snatch an Ancient Lava Tree because the priority of choosing such a hero was not high.

This meant that FRY would be able to get two of the heroes they wanted since FV snatched this hero.

FRY's coach immediately directed the opponent to lock down the mid-laner and bottom-laner heroes that they are very confident with. These two heroes were rather valuable and had decent stats. The players' proficiency was also very high. They basically had no natural enemies.

On FV Team's side, they chose the more functional shooter, as well as the living hero, Specter Blacksmith.

When the first three heroes were selected, they felt like they were three tools. They did not know who to make as the lead.

What's more, the selection of this bottom lane team made people feel that it would be very difficult whether it was the right line or the team playing. While they should respect this unique skill, to put it bluntly, the current numerical strength of Specter Blacksmith was indeed not worthy of appearing at the bottom lane.

The FRY coach frowned slightly. He was optimistic but also worried.

"Are they planning to hide the jungler until the end?"

"It doesn't matter. With our current lineup, no matter what they choose, the early stages will definitely not be a problem. As long as both sides develop steadily, our chances of winning are at least fifty-fifty."

"We'll take the jungler first and ensure that our own lineup is complete. We'll choose the Fierce Gale Martial God on the top lane and chase after the Ancient Lava Tree on the front line. We can still split them later on. It'll be very difficult for them to deal with. We'll choose a strong jungler and not be afraid of being targeted by the opponents."

"Leave the last position to the support. With the strength of the opponent's bottom lane, we can use the strong support to play against the line. We can also choose the Wanderer to cooperate with the jungler to put pressure."

"The former can directly cross the line, the latter can help the jungler establish an advantage, no matter how they choose, our lineup is better."

FRY's coach suddenly became confident.

The main reason was that FV Team had forcefully chosen the team's ultimate hero, Specter Blacksmith, causing the strength of the bottom lane to be too low. On FRY's side, they could play very comfortably whether they played against the line or wanderers.

What's more, the archer of FV Team was a tool, not the kind that could be carried in the later stages. Even if Specter Blacksmith added money and experience to it, it could not end the competition.

After this round of selection, FRY's coach was filled with confidence and felt that he had already won half of the game.

On the other hand, FV Team did not hesitate much. They directly locked onto a strong support at the bottom lane and the Storm Swordsman!

The FRY team's coach was still gloating a second ago, but in the next second, his eyes widened as he looked at the screen, thinking that he had seen wrongly.

FV Team actually chose two support heroes?

The Storm Swordsman was definitely a jungler, one of the two support heroes would definitely go to the middle lane, but no matter how one looked at it, these two support heroes going to the middle lane was very ridiculous!

One of them had control all, but it was not very tanky nor did it cause much damage. It would be useless even if he ate resources. However, it was even more ridiculous for Specter Blacksmith to take the mid-laner because it was useless even if he ate resources. The most important thing was that the passive effect of raising money was wasted.

FRY's coach paused for five seconds.

On one hand, he was at a loss. He felt like the script was suddenly out of his control. On the other hand, he was waiting for the other party to call for a pause.

FV Team's lineup was probably wrong, right? Their hand slipped and locked onto it too quickly?

However, the other party had no intention of pausing even after waiting for five seconds.

Coach FRY was very confused. After some thought, he realized that he only had one support left. There were no more tricks to play.

He could either choose a strong support to play against them or a wanderer support to lead the tempo.

After much consideration, Coach FRY felt that FV's Ghost Blacksmith could only be a support player.

He made a prompt decision. "Choose a wanderer support. We have the advantage in the early stages of the middle, lower, and wild paths. Assist and do more work. Try to destroy them in the early stages. Archer, you have to take care of your own life. If you really can't do it, hang yourself under the tower. Anyway, the other party is a Specter Blacksmith. They can't do anything to you."

Both sides had chosen their heroes.

At that moment, the bullet screen comments in the domestic live-stream were filled with question marks because no one could understand what FV Team was trying to do.

This lineup would not be able to defeat the opponents at the same time. It would be a waste to do a team fight too. They would only be able to show their ignorance.

The domestic commentators were still forcefully explaining to FV Team.

"I think this lineup would put the support hero in the middle lane to eat resources. It would be able to move around more and play more rhythm. It has many control skills, and with the Storm Swordsman, it would be very effective as long as it was smooth sailing. On the other hand, Specter Blacksmith's mixing in the bottom lane would allow their own archer to develop better, and it would also be a good late-stage guarantee…"

Obviously, the domestic commentators did not understand how this lineup was going to be played. They could only rely on their own game to forcefully explain it.

However, the commentator was slapped in the face in the next second.

That was because FV Team had directly moved Specter Blacksmith to the mid-laner!

What's more, there was no exchange of heroes until the start of the game. FV obviously intended to use the combination of Ghost Blacksmith and Storm Swordsman!

This time, all the commentators were silenced.

That was because Specter Blacksmith had been an absolute support hero ever since he was designed. He was not meant for the mid-lane. Even if he tried to force his way, he would definitely be smashed by the opposing mid-laner.

This had nothing to do with the players' skills or operations. It was just that the mechanism of this hero would not allow it.

However, since FV had selected them and had not called for a pause, it was obvious that they felt that they could play.

The audience who had been on the FRY team's side, hoping that they would be able to turn the tables around, had unknowingly shifted to FV team's side.

That was because everyone was very curious about how Specter Blacksmith would be used in the mid-laner!

…

The competition soon began.

FV Team was very cautious when they left the house. They made contact at the river to prevent the other party from invading.

The Storm Swordsman might be a hero with multiple displacements and was not considered very strong in solo battles, but if they were both level one, they would still be very powerful. In addition, the Ancient Lava Tree had control of the tower in the early stages, so FRY team did not dare to invade rashly. Both sides were farming.

FRY team had already been tricked twice in the beginning. Naturally, they did not dare to take the risk in this round. Their only wish was to start the game steadily and play a normal game.

However, FRY's mid-laner quickly discovered the problem.

"Where's the Specter Blacksmith?"

He had originally wanted to trample on the other party's Specter Blacksmith. However, after stabilizing himself a few times, he suddenly realized that the other party was not online at all.

He waited for a while and realized that no one was coming, so he did not stand on ceremony. He directly pushed the line and pushed the little soldier under the defense tower.

However, he saw the Specter Blacksmith and the Storm Swordsman coming out of the jungle just as the soldier entered the tower. They used a set of skills to clear the wave of soldiers before turning around and entering the jungle.

FRY's mid-laner could not help but be filled with question marks.

???

What was going on?

Obviously, these two people had no intention of paying attention to him. They just used their skills to clear the line and then left.

The Storm Swordsman moved in multiple stages, shuttling through the wilderness at lightning speed. On the other hand, the Specter Blacksmith followed behind him obediently and helped him fight monsters and small soldiers. He then gave the Storm Swordsman the experience and money obediently.

FRY's mid-laner stood in the middle lane, lost.

No one was going against him, so he had nothing else to do other than to deal the last hit. However, every time he pushed the little soldier under the tower, FV Team's Storm Swordsman would come out of the jungle and eat this wave of soldiers.

FRY's mid-laner also wanted to control the line, but it was useless. The Storm Swordsman would come to the mid lane after he ate in the jungle. He would attack the small soldiers and then run after eating. He would not stay for long no matter what.

He did not even care that some of his HP had been depleted in the middle tower. It was as if he only cared about the small soldiers and monsters!