On the way to the airport, Lin Jing opened the live broadcast and watched the finals.
History often repeats itself, and the first match of the finals was similar to the first practice match between yLs and gdt when she stayed at Sheng Kuang's house during the summer.
gdt chose to prioritize the pick and ban phase, and their marksman was stronger than Qin Yu's, putting him at a slight disadvantage in lane. Although Chen Jing and mid laner He Wang were always there to support and protect Qin Yu, Qin Yu's weakness was still exploited and continuously targeted by gdt. As a result, the development lane quickly became somewhat of a disaster, with the opposing jungler Yang Sinian, along with the marksman and support, ganking it relentlessly, putting yLs in a progressively unfavorable position.
When the match reached eight minutes, Sheng Kuang managed to salvage some of the situation. However, in this team fight, even though Yang Sinian lost the fight, he desperately used his life to trade for Qin Yu's.
For the next five minutes, Qin Yu died in every team fight.
Without a doubt, this was gdt's strategy, specifically targeting Qin Yu to collapse his mentality.
Although this strategy had been used once in practice with good results and hadn't been used much since, it proved that sometimes the simpler the strategy, the more effective it is.
In the first game, at the seventeenth minute, Qin Yu's mentality had clearly broken.
On camera, he spoke little, his lips tightly pursed as he stared at the screen, a thin layer of sweat on his forehead, looking very tense and under immense pressure.
It was evident that the other members of yLs were trying their best to play well, but this was a team game. With one player faltering, the other four, no matter how dedicated, were powerless to turn the tide. At twenty-two minutes and thirty-seven seconds, yLs lost the first game.
In crucial matches, it's not just skill that counts, but mindset.
Despite yLs' poor start, the players appeared to be in good spirits and unfazed. Chen Jing kept approaching Qin Yu, chatting and laughing with him.
The second game started quickly. Qin Yu seemed to have recovered, but in reality, he was still under a lot of pressure during the match, and his performance was not stable. Around seven minutes into the game, he made two mistakes, both of which Yang Sinian seized upon to secure kills. It was also clear that Qin Yu was trying his best in this game, but he couldn't find his most stable state, leading to another loss for yLs.
At this point, yLs was trailing gdt 0-2. Both the commentators and invited guests analyzed that Qin Yu's performance that day was somewhat erratic. After losing two consecutive games due to his own play, Qin Yu was clearly struggling to cope.
It's unknown what communication happened between the yLs players in private, but when the third game began, Qin Yu and Sheng Kuang swapped positions. Qin Yu moved to jungle, and Sheng Kuang played marksman.
Sheng Kuang's Gongsun Li had been on hot searches multiple times, just like the jungler heroes he had become famous for; she was unbeatable.
Thus, yLs won the third game in under seventeen minutes.
In the fourth game, Sheng Kuang remained in the marksman position, playing Baili Shouyue in the mid lane, while He Wang played Miyuki and took the side lane.
Sheng Kuang's Baili Shouyue had only been used once in the autumn season, when commentators jokingly said he wasn't playing Honor of Kings but PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, comparing his Baili Shouyue to a 98k, hitting targets perfectly and draining half their health with a single shot.
Sheng Kuang's previous legendary performance with Baili Shouyue was so well-known that when he picked the hero, the commentators became excitedly enthusiastic, and even during the match, they leisurely began to tally how many times Sheng Kuang's Baili Shouyue hit its mark.
In one match, Sheng Kuang missed only one shot, essentially achieving a near-perfect accuracy rate.
The score between the two teams was tied. After this game, the halftime break was slightly longer.
As topics like #ShengKuangMarksman and #ShengKuangBailiShouyue climbed the trending charts, the fifth game began.