The next afternoon, the S10 World Invitational Individual Tournament began on time at the eSports Arena in Seoul. Among the top eight players, there were three Assassins, three Warriors, and two Midlaners.
And in the quarter-finals, the two midlaners had coincidentally bumped into each other.
Mitchell from the North American region debuted in the S8 season and won the Best Newcomer Award that year. Now in S10, he was a veteran player with three seasons of experience. His performance in the regular season was remarkable.
As for his opponent, TH-Sunshine, other than the Chinese fans who knew that he was the Demon King of Midlaners, the audience from the other regions did not know much about him. They only knew that he was a newcomer from China.
As a world-class Midlaner, Mitchell was much more famous than Ye Shaoyang.
Most of the audience thought that Mitchell had a better chance of winning against a newcomer. On the platform that was opened before the competition, 70% of the audience supported Mitchell, while only 30% supported Lieyang.
Ye Shaoyang did not care about the outside world and focused on preparing for the competition. Chi Shuo also took the time to edit the video of Mitchell's competition and analyze it with Ye Shaoyang to find a strategy.
At 3 p.m., the Chinese delegation walked into the eSports Arena.
The reporter did a simple interview with Ye Shaoyang. "Yangyang, are you confident that you can win against Mitchell today? The Chinese fans are all very concerned about your condition. "
Ye Shaoyang smiled and greeted the camera. "Thank you for your concern. I've played against Mitchell in a mock competition before, so I'm not nervous for today's competition. I'll do my best."
The reporter encouraged him. "Good luck!"
Ye Shaoyang gestured to the camera and then walked into the preparation room with Chi Shuo and the others.
In the preparation room next door, Mitchell was rubbing his hands together as he sent a message to his coach. "I'm going to play Lieyang today. I'm going to use Lord of the Abyss. He's not the only one who knows how to play it. I know how to play it too! Last time, he used Lord of the Abyss to kill me. This time, I'm going to kill him back! "
The coach reminded him, "Don't get too excited. Don't get carried away. Stay calm."
Mitchell's style was hot-blooded and aggressive, and he was impulsive when he played. Although he had matured and calmed down a lot this season, the coach was still a little worried. He was too impulsive and could easily lose the game.
Mitchell replied, "Don't worry, I won't get carried away today. I'll definitely stay calm."
The competition was about to begin.
Ye Shaoyang and Mitchell walked up to the stage and bowed to the audience. The two of them looked at each other, and Ye Shaoyang even gave Mitchell a friendly smile and said, "Good luck."
Mitchell: "…?"
What do you mean by cheering me on? Was this considered psychological warfare?
The two of them walked into the soundproof room and sat down. Only the two of them sat in the middle of the big stage. The lights were a little dazzling. Ye Shaoyang looked calm as he quickly adjusted the equipment.
An official commentator appointed by the Korean organizers was introducing the two players in Korean. "Mitchell, Mitchell. I believe everyone is very familiar with him. He's the main mid laner from Team FNO, a world-class mid laner! TH-Sunshine is from China's Tianhuan Squad. He's a newcomer who's participating in the international competition for the first time! "
"As we can see, 70% of the people on the betting platform are rooting for Mitchell to win! The betting odds for Sunshine have reached three times the odds! "
Yao Mu and Brother Dong were in the commentary booth on the second floor, broadcasting the match live to the Chinese audience.
Hearing this, Brother Dong said with mixed feelings, "Because the Korean audience doesn't know Lieyang, only 30% of the betting platform are rooting for him to win. However, the rooting rate doesn't mean the winning rate. Mitchell has a lot of experience and is very popular, but I think that Lieyang still has a chance of winning today's battle between the mid laners. "
Yao Mu agreed, "Yes, Lieyang is China's only remaining seed in this year's international invitational. I hope he can go further and make it into the semifinals!"
The Chinese audience was actually a little worried. China's results in the past few years had not been good. They did not win any trophies in S9, and this year's S10, the international invitational did not send any players to the duo group. Ye Shaoyang was the only one left in the individual group …
All the hope and pressure were placed on his shoulders.
Any other newcomer might have been very nervous, but from the footage captured by the camera, Lieyang looked very calm and had a relaxed smile on his face. This made many fans breathe a sigh of relief.
However, the fans were still worried and could not relax until the end of the match.
After all, his opponent was Mitchell.
Korea touted Pu Yuanxi as the world's best mid laner, but in fact, Mitchell from the North American region was the most popular mid laner in the past two years. He was also more famous internationally than Zhou Jiawen.
The fans cheered for Ye Shaoyang in the bullet screen.
The match soon began, and both sides entered the first match.
In a battle between mid laners, the way of choosing a hero was different from that of other classes. Assassins and warriors did not have to worry about heroes like [Lord of the Abyss] and [Illusionist] being snatched. However, both of them were mid laners, and if they wanted to snatch popular heroes, they would have to compete with their hand speed.
In the first round, Mitchell instakilled [Lord of the Abyss]. He was obviously very confident in this hero.
Ye Shaoyang considered for a moment and chose [Earth Mage].
Yao Mu saw this and analyzed, "Yangyang chose [Earth Mage] to fight [Lord of the Abyss]. He probably wants to use rocks and walls to control the field and restrict the opponent's black shadow. [Lord of the Abyss]'s black shadow can't directly pass through the wall obstacles. In theory, it can be fought. "
Brother Dong said, "But [Earth Mage] is very fragile. If [Lord of the Abyss] flashes through the rock obstacles and instakills him, he might not be able to withstand it. A control mage's PK Assassin has very high requirements for detailed operations! "
Yao Mu said, "Yes, let's look forward to the first match between both sides!"
Mitchell was stunned when he saw that Ye Shaoyang chose [Earth Mage]. Was he going to use walls to trap his black shadow? As long as his hand speed was fast enough, the black shadow would not be so easy to stop!
The match began, and both sides came to the middle lane. In the beginning, both of them were very stable. They cleared their troops to develop. Mitchell was not as fierce as before, only releasing one black shadow to clear the troops.
Until both sides reached level 6, Mitchell did not hesitate to summon three black shadows to instakill Ye Shaoyang. But Ye Shaoyang had already expected this. His hand speed exploded as he consecutively placed three rock walls — —
The audience saw three rock walls rise from the ground in an instant, perfectly blocking the retreat of Mitchell's black shadow.
The black shadow stacked the marks, but it was interrupted after stacking only five times.
Mitchell's burst caused Ye Shaoyang's HP to drop to about 30%. He was not killed. Mitchell raised his eyebrows and recalled the black shadow to wait for the next cooldown. Ye Shaoyang decisively pressed the return button and went home to replenish his HP.
Yao Mu said, "Yangyang played very calmly! He calculated the distance of the black shadow's displacement and used the wall to interrupt the black shadow's combo of stacking the marks! Without stacking seven times, [Lord of the Abyss]'s burst is not enough to instakill the mage! In the previous wave, Mitchell's extreme play was interrupted, and the marks were only stacked five times. "
The Korean commentator lamented, "What a pity. He was just short of two black shadow's marks, but they were blocked by the rock walls." "Lieyang went back to replenish his HP. He played very cautiously. But Mitchell still has [Blink]. If he uses [Blink] to jump over the wall to kill him, he might not be able to defend! "
A moment later, Ye Shaoyang returned to the middle lane. The two continued to face each other, and their levels were slowly increasing. Mitchell took advantage of the fact that both sides had cleared their troops and could not see each other. He suddenly hid in the bushes at the side. When the next wave of troops arrived, Mitchell decisively brought the three black shadows that he had summoned earlier forward.
The World Class Mid Laner's play was indeed very detailed. In this sudden attack, his black shadow stacked six stacks of marks on Ye Shaoyang in just one second. As long as he followed up with a WR's combo, Ye Shaoyang would die for sure!
But at this moment, Ye Shaoyang suddenly placed three walls in a row.
From the spectators' perspective, they could see that his three walls formed an "equilateral triangle", enclosing [Lord of the Abyss]'s black shadow and body in the middle of the triangle.
Then, Mitchell activated WR's combo.
Ye Shaoyang also activated his combo — —
The black abyss mark instantly exploded, and Ye Shaoyang was instakilled! However, although his body fell, a large number of rocks fell from the sky above his head. A large number of huge rocks fell like a rainstorm. Not only did they kill the three black shadows of [Lord of the Abyss], but they also instakilled [Lord of the Abyss]!
[Mitchell (Lord of the Abyss) killed TH-Sunshine (Earth Mage)!]
[TH-Sunshine (Earth Mage) killed Mitchell (Lord of the Abyss)!]
The exchange of lives happened within two seconds. The speed was so fast that the live audience was stunned. They did not see it clearly at all. The director immediately replayed it in slow motion. Only then did everyone understand how terrifying the extreme maneuvers of the two players were.
After watching it carefully, Yao Mu analyzed, "Yangyang probably guessed that Mitchell was lying in ambush nearby and wanted to instakill him, so he prepared in advance for a counterattack!"
Brother Dong said, "Yangyang is indeed very detailed. [Earth Mage] is a hero who focuses on terrain control. In the early game, if his equipment is not good, the damage of his big move is not enough. However, after [Lord of the Abyss] kills someone, his defense will be reduced by half when his skills are refreshed. At this time, he can instakill his opponent with his big move. "
Yao Mu said excitedly, "That's right, [Earth Mage]'s big move needs a one-second channeling time. When Mitchell came to kill him, he started channeling. The moment Mitchell killed him, the big move could be released! Although [Earth Mage] is dead, he summoned a large number of rocks that fell from the sky and killed [Lord of the Abyss] with his defense lowered! "
Brother Dong's eyes were full of admiration. "What's more ingenious is that Lieyang released a triangular wall to encircle the black shadow. Even if Mitchell reacted, he couldn't change positions to escape. This is actually a way to invite the enemy into the trap and exchange a life for a life! "
Spikes had high explosive power in the early game, and it was easy to instakill someone. As long as the opponent was instakilled three times, he would lose. Therefore, Ye Shaoyang used the strategy of "exchanging a life for a life". It was not a loss if he got 11 kills, and he would wait until later to find an opportunity.
Lord of the Abyss. Although this hero had a strong reaping ability, he had a fatal weakness. When he killed the enemy, his skills would be refreshed, but his defense would be reduced by half.
It would be easy to kill him after he killed himself and his defense was reduced. Only skills with a channeling time could make the short time difference between when he fell and when the skill was released again.
This was also what Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo had repeatedly verified last night.
In this wave, the Lord of the Abyss was killed, and the three black shadows were all dead.
For the next period of time, Mitchell could not fight too fiercely, not to mention that his Flash had been used. On the surface, Mitchell made the first move and got the first kill, but in terms of the details, Ye Shaoyang actually gained a lot.
Without the black shadows, the Lord of the Abyss' combat power was not to be feared.
Ye Shaoyang took the opportunity to suppress the army line, push the tower, and reduce the outer tower's HP by 30%. Mitchell had to use the black shadows to clear the army, but as soon as he released the black shadows, Ye Shaoyang blocked his path of retreat with a wall, and he killed the black shadows with a QW combo.
Therefore, in the following match, as long as Mitchell released the black shadows, Ye Shaoyang would use the wall to trap and kill the black shadows. As a result, it was difficult for Mitchell to accumulate three black shadows for a wave of explosive power.
This feeling was extremely uncomfortable.
The more Mitchell fought, the more irritated he felt. Choosing the Lord of the Abyss in front of Lieyang was asking for trouble!
He was too confident in himself, thinking that he had practiced the Lord of the Abyss well enough and could kill his opponent to regain his dignity. But in reality, Ye Shaoyang had a thorough understanding of this hero. He had accurately calculated the movement route and cooldown time of the Black Shadow. He had used a seemingly clumsy Earth Mage to directly subdue the Black Shadow!
In the first round, Mitchell fell in front of his own crystal with hatred.
Until the end of the match, he was unable to one-shot Lieyang again.
The two Korean commentators looked at each other, and after two seconds of silence, they said, "Congratulations to Lieyang for winning the first round!" "Yes, he actually beat Mitchell. This is an unexpected result!"
Yao Mu could understand Korean, so she could not help but laugh when she heard this. Our Yangyang was the first to take down the Lord of the Abyss's domestic server. What kind of unexpected result is this? It's normal play, okay?
The second round soon began.
Mitchell was very steady in this round, and he was not in a hurry to choose a hero. Ye Shaoyang first picked the Illusionist, and Mitchell picked the Shadow Warlock. The two waited until the last second to automatically prepare.
Yao Mu said, "The Illusionist and the Shadow Warlock both use a series of stabs, and a set of combo attacks to one-shot people. The advantage of the Shadow Warlock is that it can be invisible, and the advantage of the Illusionist is that it can be controlled. "
Brother Dong said, "Mitchell has Purify, and Lieyang has Blink. The PK between the dual stabs will definitely be very intense. Let's look forward to the second round!"
Compared to the control and consumption of energy in the first round, the winner was only decided after 15 minutes. In the second round, the battle between the two at Level 6 was very intense. Ye Shaoyang used Blink to control Mitchell, and Mitchell used Purify and went invisible to counterattack. The moment the Shadow Warlock appeared, Ye Shaoyang followed up with a combo attack. The result was that you one-shot me, and I one-shot you. The skills were used almost at the same time.
The audience applauded enthusiastically.
Such an intense battle was very exciting, and it could also be seen that the two were evenly matched.
In the audience area backstage, Pu Yuanxi could not help but frown. "This Lieyang's reaction is quite fast. When Mitchell went invisible to go behind and suddenly appeared, he could immediately follow up with a skill. "
Cui He rubbed his chin and said, "Looks like he does have some talent? But there's not much hope for him to win against Mitchell. "
Pu Yuanxi said, "Yes, Mitchell is stronger and has more experience."
The pace of the second round was very fast. Both of them used Burst Stabs, so of course, they would not dawdle and clear troops to push the tower. Ye Shaoyang and Mitchell also seemed to have this kind of tacit understanding — it was just a matter of who got three kills first.
The headcount ratio between the two sides went from 11 to 22. The game had reached the most intense moment!
Mitchell ambushed a wave of troops in the middle of the road. The moment the troops met, he suddenly used Purify in advance and went invisible to attack the Illusionist with a combo attack. Although Ye Shaoyang reacted quickly and turned around to control him, because Mitchell used Purify in advance, the control was ineffective.
Mitchell took the lead and got three kills first.
Both sides were tied at 11, and they entered the third round to decide the winner.
The domestic audience became more and more nervous, and Ye Shaoyang's fans had their hearts in their throats.
Everyone knew that Mitchell had not brought out his signature hero yet — [Sun Wheel Mage], which could resist and fight, was also Mitchell's famous hero.
Yao Mu guessed, "In the third round, Mitchell is likely to use [Sun Wheel Mage]?"
Brother Dong said, "His favorite hero is [Sun Wheel Mage]. His playstyle is similar to that of a Warrior, very fierce. What hero will Lieyang choose? "
In the third round, Mitchell chose [Sun Wheel Mage] as expected.
Ye Shaoyang hesitated for a moment and chose an unexpected hero — [Lord of the Forest].
This was the first time the domestic audience saw him play [Lord of the Forest]!
Yao Mu was stunned for a moment and said, "Lord of the Forest? This is a very special summoner. Unlike [Cobra King] who summons pet snakes, [Lord of the Forest] summons vines to control the field. The vines can bind the opponent and cause damage to the enemies in the path. The big move 'Thorny Strangulation' can also cause good AOE damage. "
Brother Dong said, "Using [Lord of the Forest] to fight [Sun Wheel Mage] is a good idea because [Sun Wheel Mage] has short arms, and the vines have a long attack range and can kite the opponent. But there is also a problem. [Lord of the Forest] is very fragile. As long as [Sun Wheel Mage] gets close, he can be killed in one move, and his vines are very difficult to control! "
Yao Mu said, "Yes, I have tried this hero before. It is more difficult to control than [Cobra King]'s four little snakes. I can't understand it at all! After the vines are summoned, the path and direction are controlled by the mouse. If you control several vines at the same time, it is easy to bind yourself and become a mess. "
The expert [Lord of the Forest] had four vines flying all over the sky, binding and strangling. It was very powerful.
But most of the online game players' [Lord of the Forest] would only be twisted by the vines or trip themselves.
[Sun Wheel Mage] was simple and straightforward, and had a strong burst. [Lord of the Forest] was difficult to control and required a lot of skills. The heroes chosen by the two players in the deciding game were also very suitable for their personal characteristics.
The game began.
Mitchell played very fiercely in this game. [Sun Wheel Mage] was a melee mage with high defense. He waved the golden wheel in his hand, and the normal attack was magic damage. The speed of clearing the troops was very fast.
[Lord of the Forest] needed to release vines to clear the troops, so the rhythm was relatively slow.
Mitchell's [Sun Wheel Mage] was the first to reach level 6. He decisively went up to Ye Shaoyang and took advantage of the fact that Ye Shaoyang's [Lord of the Forest] was not level 6 yet. He took the head of [Lord of the Forest] with a burst of power!
[Sun Wheel Mage] was indeed Mitchell's hero. The wheel in his hand was as fast as lightning, and he predicted Ye Shaoyang's position. The wheel threw a short stun and controlled Ye Shaoyang for one second. Ye Shaoyang did not have time to move to dodge, and he was quickly hit by seven layers of critical hits.
The output of [Sun Wheel Mage] relied on fast normal attacks and stacked critical hits. The higher the number of layers, the higher the critical hit of the spell. His playing style was more like that of a warrior. The melee mage's output was really fierce. Soon after the game started, he took down the first blood. There was a warm applause in the audience.
But Ye Shaoyang did not panic.
After returning to the line, he continued to clear the troops seriously. He did not miss a single soldier.
Soon, [Lord of the Forest] reached level 6 and had four vines.
Next, the audience saw a gorgeous performance. Two dark green vines suddenly flew out from the hands of [Lord of the Forest]. Like a snake with consciousness, they instantly entangled [Sun Wheel Mage]! The other two vines swept through the troops and cleared the troops as quickly as possible!
In order to get the kill quickly, Mitchell used [Flash] and did not use [Purify].
The binding of the vines would bind people in place and not be able to move. If Mitchell wanted to move, he would have to cut off the vines. In other words, he had to attack the vines on his body and empty the vines' HP before he could move.
The two vines inherited 30% of [Lord of the Forest]'s HP and could be destroyed quickly.
But what made Mitchell depressed was that the moment he destroyed the vines, the two troops were also killed by his own defense tower. He did not get the last hit reward!
Brother Dong said, "Did Mitchell miss two troops?"
Yao Mu reacted and said, "Yang Yang must have calculated the HP of the line of minions and suddenly used vines to control Mitchell's hand. He cleared out all the minions on the other side and let them enter the tower. The tower would eat the minions, and Mitchell, who was tied up, wouldn't be able to finish the job!"
It seemed that [Lord of the Forest] released two vines to bind [Sun Wheel Mage]. Then [Sun Wheel Mage] quickly cut off the vines. But in fact, Ye Shaoyang's goal was not to kill the opponent, but to interfere with the opponent's clearing of troops.
Following that, another wave of minions arrived. Ye Shaoyang unleashed vines from a long distance again, binding Mitchell's melee Magician to the spot. Mitchell could only watch as his minions died!
This feeling was very uncomfortable.
It was like a big meal was in front of you, but your hands and feet were tied and you could not eat it.
Moreover, he lost Artillery Troops this time. The bonus of gold coins was very high!
After losing two waves of troops in a row, Mitchell could not immediately make a Magic Critical equipment. Ye Shaoyang made a defensive equipment that increased HP by 1500 and Magic Defense by 300.
This way, [Sun Wheel Mage]'s burst would not be able to kill him directly.
Yao Mu said in surprise, "Yangyang's thinking is very clear. Is he relying on the operation to drag on the late game?"
Brother Dong also said with relief, "The hero he chose for this game can't compete with [Sun Wheel Mage] in terms of damage. But as long as it reaches the late game, [Lord of the Forest]'s vines will have more HP and will annoy the opponent to death!"
[Lord of the Forest] could summon a total of four vines. Each vine inherited 15% of its master's HP. Ye Shaoyang directly made a tank. Sun Wheel Mage could not kill him. In the late game, it would take a long time to kill the vines!
Ten minutes into the game, Mitchell was already feeling strained.
The vines' HP was getting higher and higher, and killing the vines was getting more and more time-consuming!
Moreover, Ye Shaoyang frequently released vines to harass him, which really affected his mentality.
Every time he wanted to go forward to clear the troops, Ye Shaoyang would tie him up with vines.
The other side seemed to be saying, "I won't give you the reward of last hit."
Most e-sports players had "last hit OCD." If they couldn't kill the troops and get the money, they would feel like they were losing money. Continuous losses would make the economic gap between the two of them bigger and bigger.
In the blink of an eye, [Lord of the Forest]'s economy surpassed [Sun Wheel Mage]'s.
Mitchell knew that he could not drag this out any longer. He seized the opportunity and flashed over, trying to kill the [Lord of the Forest] with a burst of power. However, the [Lord of the Forest] was equipped with HP and defensive equipment. It could not be killed instantly!
13 minutes into the game, Ye Shaoyang made two defensive equipment and changed his strategy to make magic critical hit equipment.
[Lord of the Forest] unexpectedly released four vines.
Four dark green vines covered in black poisonous thorns suddenly drilled out from the ground in the east, south, west, and north, and tied up the Sun Wheel Mage with lightning speed!
— Thorny Strangle!
The four thorny vines instantly closed up and tightly bound the Sun Wheel Mage.
The vines tightened, and the thorns on the vines would cause a negative effect of "bleeding" on the target. Mitchell began to lose HP. Because the vines inherited [Lord of the Forest]'s HP, they were extremely tanky and couldn't be broken for a while. Thus, Mitchell could only watch his HP drop rapidly.
Mitchell was speechless.
What kind of experience would it be to be bound alive by thorny vines and bleed to death with 5 layers of blood loss?
After experiencing it for himself, Mitchell wished he could crawl along the cable to Ye Shaoyang and give him a good beating!
Should he be the first mid laner to be strangled to death by vines?
In China, the audience watching the livestream posted a row of "hahaha".
Hahaha, poor Mitchell.
Although I was happy that Yangyang had killed him, I still felt sorry for him.
Using tanky equipment to increase the HP of the vines, and then relying on the bleeding from the thorns to deal damage?
Lieyang tells you: What is bondage?
Mitchell, who was tied up by the vines and bled to death, died with a grievance!
After Mitchell was resurrected, he began to craft equipment to the extreme, piling up Critical Hits to the extreme.
He seemed to be annoyed by Ye Shaoyang's attacks and wanted to kill Ye Shaoyang very fiercely. However, Ye Shaoyang's positioning had always been very cautious. Two vines were always summoned on his left and right sides as protection. No matter which direction Mitchell attacked from, he would be bound by the vines and his combo would be interrupted.
Once the [Day Mage]'s combo was interrupted, the critical hits couldn't be stacked, and it was even more difficult to kill the [Lord of the Forest], who had defensive equipment.
After a whole round of bondage, Mitchell was almost beaten to death.
In the end, Ye Shaoyang relied on the economic advantage he had accumulated in the early game to craft 3 defense + 2 damage equipment. He seized the opportunity and directly flashed over, instantly binding Mitchell with four vines.
The vines that filled the sky instantly sprang out and wrapped around Mitchell, firmly binding him like a dumpling.
With 5 layers of blood loss, the [Day Mage] died instantly!
— — TH-Sunshine (Lord of the Forest) killed Mitchell (Day Mage)!
— — TH-Sunshine (Lord of the Forest) got a triple kill!
Looking at the victory text that popped up on the screen, Ye Shaoyang smiled and stood up from his seat.
The Chinese audience watching the live broadcast cheered excitedly, and the bullet screen was filled with 666.
Chairman Qiu also stood up and applauded excitedly backstage. "Awesome, Lieyang made it to the semifinals!"
Yao Mu said, "Congratulations to Lieyang 21 for defeating Mitchell! For the North American and Korean audience, this is an unexpected result. An unknown rookie player from our country actually defeated Mitchell and made it to the semifinals! "
Brother Dong said, "A mid laner making it to the semifinals in the individual competition is already a very good result in history!"
As a rookie, Ye Shaoyang had already completed his mission by making it to the semifinals in the individual competition. Even if he lost the next round, not many people would scold him.
However, Ye Shaoyang knew that this wasn't enough.
No one would remember who made it to the semifinals. People usually only remembered the champion.
It wasn't easy to go abroad. How could he be satisfied without winning a trophy?