An ominous feeling washed over Zhou Mu Tong, and he instinctively lowered his head. Upon turning his head to the side, he realized Zhang Cheng Hao was staring at him fiercely.
“Ha, it won't bother us even if it's a trap,” Zhou Mu Tong tried to calm the atmosphere immediately. But as his eyes flickered back over to his screen, he shouted, “s.h.i.t!”
Both teams took turns to ban and pick in the Ban/Pick section. However, each side could only ban one hero at a time, while there was a change in the number of heroes when it came to picking. The first team to pick could pick one hero. In this case, Zhang Cheng Hao had picked Luna. Now it was Team Lang Qi's turn to choose, but they could pick two heroes this time. Their first pick was Yang Jian, Zhou Mu Tong's best hero. He thought he could play the hero as it wasn't banned; he never expected Team Lang Qi to choose it first. Therefore he had let out a “s.h.i.t!”.
In the second pick, Old Master was pre-selected at first, but it wasn't confirmed. Zhang Cheng Hao looked at the opposite team. They were still discussing and seemed undecided. As the countdown approached zero, Team Lang Qi still had yet to lock in a decision. In the last second, the picture of Old Master changed, and the final decision was Ake, the a.s.sa.s.sin. Gao Ge gave Zhao Jin Ran a disappointed glance.
Zhang Cheng Hao laughed, and his teammates looked at him in confusion. In response, he just shook his head lightly. It was their turn again to pick. They could pick two heroes, too, this time. Zhang Cheng Hao had made up his mind.
“Old Master, Zhang Liang,” Zhang Cheng Hao said.
“Huh?” Zhou Mu Tong and Yang Zhuo were confused.
One was a top-laner, and another was a mid-laner. However, neither Old Master nor Zhang Liang was Zhou Mu Tong or Yang Zhuo's best hero, so why did Zhang Cheng Hao ask them to use them? There were no line-ups like this in their prior discussions!
“Choose them so they can't play them,” Zhang Cheng Hao explained after hearing their doubts.
They realized the use of these heroes immediately since they were Legend rank players, after all. Old Master's ultimate, Sage's Glory, could tie a target around his lamp for 5 seconds. Zhang Liang's ultimate, Power Word – Control, could control a target for 2 seconds. These two abilities were similar to Dong Huang Taiyi's ultimate and could very effectively restrict Luna. Zhang Cheng Hao intended to prevent Team Lang Qi from picking these heroes so his Luna would have a better advantage.
“My Old Master is just average…” Zhou Mu Tong said sadly, although he did not oppose the idea after knowing Zhang Cheng Hao's intention.
“My Zhang Liang, too,” Yang Zhuo said.
“Don't worry,” Zhang Cheng Hao, who felt that he had seen through the opposition's plan, comforted his teammates.
It was Team Lang Qi's turn to pick, and Zhang Cheng Hao continued to observe his opponents' faces. He could see some frustration from the looks of Gao Ge and Zhou Mo. Finally, Team Lang Qi picked Bian Que and Su Lie.
“Alright, you can pick anything you want now,” Zhang Cheng Hao was relieved, and he started imagining how his Luna was going to own the game in his mind. He left the two remaining picks to his teammates to decide.
Marco Polo and Zhang Fei were selected for Team Huang Chao, while Team Lang Qi had also selected Hou Yi as their final pick.
Both teams had finished picking their heroes.
Team Huang Chao: Old Master, Luna, Zhang Liang, Marco Polo, Zhang Fei.
Team Lang Qi: Yang Jian, Ake, Bian Que, Hou Yi, Su Lie.
It was then the final adjustment section, where they could swap their heroes to whoever that wanted to use. Zhang Cheng Hao stared firmly at the opposition's Bian Que and was relaxed after making sure that Bian Que wasn't given to Gao Ge. Zhang Cheng Hao gave Gao Ge a regretful face after seeing her hero was Su Lie.
However, Gao Ge never raised her head, focusing solely on her phone. The game began shortly after the final adjustment section, and Zhang Cheng Hao's Luna rushed straight to the red sentinel jungle after buying a Jungling Blade. At the same time, he instructed the mid-laner, “Help me check on the blue sentinel's pit.”
Zhang Cheng Hao's teammates had already known that he was determined to be the carry of the team. After being able to play his best hero, Luna, he became even more determined. Even Xu Kai Huai, who was playing Marco Polo, a high-damaging dealer, was ready to play just an a.s.sisting role. Together with Zeng Xiao Bo's Zhang Fei, Xu Kai Huai followed Luna to the jungle to help kill the red sentinel, raising the efficiency of Luna's jungling.
Meanwhile, Team Lang Qi was sneaking up to Team Huang Chao's blue sentinel's pit. When Gao Gao realized that Zhang Cheng Hao first attacked the red sentinel's jungle, she immediately made adjustments. “Hou Yi and Bian Que go get our blue sentinel now!”
“Red Opening?” He Yu immediately realized what happened. Hou Yi, who had just swapped lanes with Yang Jian, gave up the jungle monster that he just started attacking and rushed towards the Blue Sentinel.
Yang Zhuo, who received Zhang Cheng Hao's instruction, was carefully executing the command. He headed straight to the blue sentinel's pit to check it out, but three heroes from Team Lang Qi jumped out suddenly. Surprised by the sheer amount of people, Yang Zhuo even thought the Yang Jian he saw was an illusion.
Even Yang Jian came?
Yang Zhuo could feel Team Lang Qi's determination when he saw Yang Jian, who was supposed to be at the top lane, appear in front of him. Together with Hou Yi from the bottom lane and Bian Que from the middle lane, Team Lang Qi had the whole team here to s.n.a.t.c.h Luna's blue sentinel!
“We lost it, get their blue sentinel!” Yang Zhuo said instantly, while Zhang Liang quickly escaped after throwing a second ability.
Zhang Cheng Hao could see the ma.s.s gathering at the Blue Sentinel from the minimap and had the same thought as Yang Zhuo after seeing Yang Jian: Team Lang Qi had the whole team there. He couldn't help but feel somewhat happy after seeing how the other team saw him as a significant threat.
“Get their blue sentinel!” Zhang Cheng Hao gave up other jungle monsters after killing his Red Sentinel. He gathered Zhang Fei and Marco Polo to attack the opponent's Blue Sentinel. Yang Zhuo's Zhang Liang was heading towards the same direction after clearing his minions, but as he approached the bush near the river, a poisoned gla.s.s was thrown at him, and his whole body was full of poison. Another second ability, Fatal Diagnosis, was thrown at him.
This familiar ambush had terrified Yang Zhuo, and he shouted and flashed back to his turret.
“Did they swap their accounts?” Staring at the four stacks of poison on his body, Yang Zhuo was trembling, thinking about what had happened. In an instant, Yang Jian's heavenly dog jumped out and bit him. Yang Jian's body followed and appeared at his side, killing Yang Zhuo in an instant. It was the first blood.
Yang Zhuo, who was waiting to resp.a.w.n, looked around blankly. Luna, Marco Polo, and Zhang Fei were stunned for a second after seeing the blue sentinel's pit empty. At this moment, Zhou Mu Tong's Old Master had finished clearing his lane and was attacking the turret, but no one came to attack him. When he was feeling upset, Su Lie suddenly appeared behind him. Old Master turned and tried to run away, but he was pushed back by Su Lie's second ability, The Undefeated. Ake also appeared from the bush and kept attacking Old Master violently. Red numbers were floating in the air, but there weren't any critical hits. Old Master flashed and used his second ability, Intuition, to run back to his turret.
“What a pity,” Zhao Jin Ran, who had used all his skills, said regretfully.
“One critical hit would've killed him,” Gao Ge groaned.
“Yea, luck's not on our side. I will buy a Punching Glove first,” Zhao Jin Ran said.
The channel became very quiet suddenly. He Yu and Zhou Mo did not say anything. Eventually, Gao Ge calmly asked, “Who brought you to Diamond rank?”
“Lee Si Jie, of course,” Zhao Jin Ran said.
“Understood,” Gao Ge nodded, “Buy a Stormy Sword instead. It's more useful than Punching Glove.”
“But Ake's damage is all from critical hits,” Zhao Jin Ran said.
“That's right, but Ake's critical hits come from her play, so there's no use increasing critical chances. Read her pa.s.sive ability carefully,” Gao Ge said.
