Chapter 1 The Mind Game of Lineups

The coach of the FRY team looked confident.

He held a notebook in his hand, filled with a powerful lineup researched by the FRY team's coaching staff and the balance designers from Finger Companies. With the FV team not banning any core heroes, they successfully snatched the global-roaming hero they wanted in the first pick: Blade Wing.

The FRY coach was very happy, feeling that the FV team was probably completely unprepared for this lineup, and releasing it as a trump card would definitely achieve unexpected results.

If they could get a good start in the first game of the Bo5, the subsequent games would become very smooth.

FRY wanted to play a global-roaming and split-push lineup. Blade Wing's ultimate is a displacement skill that can cover half the map, allowing him to support his teammates at any time. In this way, choosing a pressure-resistant combination for the bottom lane, and then choosing a very strong, one-on-one top laner, would complete the entire lineup.

The mid lane can gain an advantage through early and quick support, and the top lane is also a favorable matchup, ensuring development.

Once the advantage is maintained into the mid-game, both heroes have split-pushing capabilities and can easily snowball to victory.

Therefore, with many popular heroes available, FRY first grabbed Blade Wing, the core of this lineup, because this hero's ultimate is irreplaceable.

It was FV team's turn to choose.

Old Zhou's expression remained calm as he directed his team to pick Tempest Warrior.

The FRY team's coach's eyelids twitched involuntarily, because this was their ideal top lane hero!

Tempest Warrior is a very strong top lane hero in one-on-one combat, and the optimal solution for the top lane in their split-push lineup because this hero has no natural enemies in terms of laning.

Seeing the hero being snatched, the FRY team members panicked slightly.

The FRY team's coach quickly said, "Don't panic, it doesn't matter if they pick the top lane first, we can still take Death Scythe."

Death Scythe is a top lane hero with multiple dashes, a slight disadvantage against Tempest Warrior, but Death Scythe is better at coordinating with teammates to create tempo, and has more displacement skills, so he is not afraid of being ganked, making him a good substitute in this lineup.

However, as soon as the coach finished speaking, he saw that the FV team had locked in Death Scythe.

FV team's first two picks directly took two top laners, taking all the top lane heroes that best fit FRY's lineup!

It was FRY team's turn to pick heroes. The coach's mouth was slightly open, and he didn't recover for a moment.

What does this mean?

Are they even playing seriously?

What does it mean to take all our two top laners? Do you have two top lanes?

Could it be one mid and one top? Or one top and one jungler?

The FV team directly snatched all the most suitable top laners for FRY's lineup, making FRY feel disgusted. The key is that FV themselves didn't seem to get any benefits, because these two heroes didn't match at all, so FRY couldn't figure out what kind of lineup they wanted to play!

Time passed by, and the FRY team's coach quickly changed his thinking.

"Since the two most suitable top laners have been snatched, let's secure the bottom lane first, and finally choose a tool man for the top lane who can cooperate well with the jungler."

"Pick the bottom lane combination first, then the top lane."

"Consider picking Lava Ancient Tree for the top lane. He can mix lines in the early stage, and Root Entanglement as a control skill can be used to gank the opponent's top lane with the jungler."

FRY directly chose a bottom lane combination that was easier to mix lines, planning to choose a pair of top and jungle heroes that could cooperate better in the last two picks.

The top lane would definitely not be a strong lane, but as long as they chose a top lane with control and pressure resistance, and cooperated with the jungler and Blade Wing in the mid lane to kill the opponent's top lane two or three times, then in the mid-game, Blade Wing in the mid lane would still be able to split-push without pressure, and the tactics could continue to be implemented.

However, when it was FV team's turn to pick heroes, they directly locked in Lava Ancient Tree!

Immediately afterward, the FV team chose a bottom lane marksman who was strong in the early stage and useless in the mid-to-late stage, leaving only the last position unselected.

The FRY team's coach was confused.

What does this mean?

FV team directly got three top laners and a marksman. Is this how they play games?

The key is that these three top laners and marksman don't have good skill coordination!

The FRY's coach frowned, his entire face wrinkled into a ball, and began to analyze FV team's laning assignments.

Tempest Warrior seems to be going to the top lane, with a small probability of jungling; if Tempest Warrior goes to the top lane, then Death Scythe, the top lane hero with multiple dashes, is likely to be the jungler, or he may be hanging in the mid lane to mix lines and provide support; this Lava Ancient Tree... if there were no previous two heroes, he would definitely go to the top lane, but now, is he a support?

If FV team's last choice is revealed, they might be able to judge which lane these heroes are going to based on the overall lineup.

But now it's FRY team's turn to pick heroes, their lineup comes out first, and then it's FV team's turn to pick the last position.

This crazy swing instantly made the FRY team's coach dizzy.

"Coach, hurry up, there's not much time left," a team member reminded.

The FRY's coach decisively gave up the analysis. At this stage, the most important thing is not to analyze the opponent's lineup, but to secure their own lineup.

The supportive mid laner and the stable pressure-resistant bottom lane have already been selected. Now they must choose a top laner with decent laning ability and a jungler who can carry relatively well.

Because no matter how the opponent swings, the top lane will definitely be a strong top laner. Choosing a top laner with poor laning ability will directly result in a losing lane, making it impossible to play.

But the problem is that, in addition to the three top lane heroes that have already been snatched by the FV team, the other top lane heroes can only guarantee that the lane will not collapse, but cannot guarantee taking over the game in the mid-to-late stage.

So the jungler can no longer be a tool man. They must have a certain carry ability, otherwise, it will become an astonishing 5-protect-0 lineup. If this lineup is chosen and lost, the coach will definitely be flamed to hell.

The FRY team's coach immediately directed his team members to take a backup top laner with an early advantage but useless in the late stage, and also got a jungler who was relatively weak in the early stage but could take over the game when developed.

However, FV team's last pick directly selected a hero that had never been seen in this World Finals: Demolition Expert.

This hero doesn't have any special advantages, but he can push lanes and towers relatively quickly. He has a long development cycle and can't deal damage without equipment advantages, so he is a mid-to-late game hero, and can only play mid lane.

The FRY coach frowned, staring at the screen with a puzzled expression.

What does this mean?

Since the last hero pick can only be used to play mid lane, then the previous heroes are basically clear: Tempest Warrior goes to top lane, Death Scythe jungles, and Lava Ancient Tree goes to support.

The FRY coach confirmed the lineups of both sides and felt that his team's lineup should be able to work.

Top, mid, and bottom lanes are all 50-50 during the laning phase. The opponent has an advantage in the jungle, but as long as they survive the early stage and the jungler gets fed in the mid-to-late stage, there will be a significant gap in the output of both sides, then the balance of victory will tilt towards FRY.

The FRY coach was slightly relieved and patted his own jungler on the shoulder: "Cheer up, as long as we hold on in the early stage and drag it to the late game, we're bound to win!"

...

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the first game between the two sides officially began!

The onlookers couldn't see the scheming behind the lineup choices of both sides, because the lineups chosen by both sides had never appeared in the previous quarter-finals and semi-finals.

Many of the heroes are unpopular heroes, and have never had a highlight performance in so many games before, so this final gives everyone a refreshing feeling right from the start.

Most viewers felt that FRY was stable, because the FV team's lineup seemed to have a bit too much of a troll attribute!

The mid lane is a hero with slow development, short legs, and dies easily if ganked. The only feature is that he pushes lanes and towers quickly;

The bottom lane marksman is only strong in the early stage, and can't win if it drags on a little later;

The most ridiculous thing is that they grabbed three top laners to disrupt FRY's lineup, and shook two top laners to the jungle and support positions, making the whole lineup flashy.

On the other hand, FRY's strategic intention is relatively clear: develop steadily in the early stage, rely on the mid laner's ultimate to quickly support and get some advantages by playing more with less, and then directly crush the opponent with damage to win in the late game.

The commentators on the commentary stage were worried about the FV team.

It wasn't that they wanted the FV team to win, but they mainly felt that the FV team's lineup was too outrageous, and they were worried that if they lost too badly, the viewing experience of the final would be completely ruined.

On the other side, the atmosphere in the domestic live broadcast platform was completely different.

"Damn! Isn't this a variant of the tower-pushing strategy from GoG?"

"Looking at this mid laner, it seems to be true, let's see how they play specifically later!"

"Are they really going to play with the gameplay of GoG? Tower-pushing strategy restrains global-roaming strategy? Are they going to directly crush the opponent through snowballing in the early stage?"

"This is going to be a good show, either the opponent explodes or they explode!"

"...Those who don't play GoG don't understand what you're talking about, what is tower-pushing strategy? Can someone explain it?"

Today is the morning of Lunar New Year's Eve, a legal holiday, and most people are on vacation. The GPL is also on break, so the IOI Global Finals naturally attracted a large number of viewers.

Many viewers are GoG players who came to watch the IOI Finals out of boredom.

Players who only play IOI couldn't see it, but those who often watch GPL quickly recognized FV team's strategy.

In the GPL league, some teams have tried to use the so-called "tower-pushing strategy" to counter the global-roaming strategy.

And FV team's lineup selection, although the heroes are completely different from GoG, it is clearly very consistent with the definition of "tower-pushing strategy"!

The so-called "global-roaming strategy" is the support strategy, where the mid laner quickly reaches level 6 and uses their ultimate to support teammates, kill people, take resources, and then quickly snowball. After developing well, they can split-push in the mid-game, putting lane pressure on the opponent, thereby winning the game.

In the process of countering the global-roaming strategy, the choices of various teams are also different. Some teams choose to use global-roaming against global-roaming, you fly and I fly too, we compare who can support faster; some teams choose aggressive invasion lineups or hard-engage lineups, either directly crushing your mid and jungle in the early stage, or catching isolated people in the mid-game.