Sister, Choose Me, I'm Super Sweet [Esports] - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The True “Support Player”

Tong Yi smiled lightly, walked over, and patted Qu Feng’s shoulder. “Don’t be so anxious. You’ve only been playing professionally for two years. You’re in your prime now. There will be bigger stages waiting for you in the future.”

Qu Feng was stunned for a moment, then nodded gratefully. “Okay, I understand, Captain.”

After this little event, everyone’s morale was restored, and they were no longer looking so listless and unmotivated.

So Zhou Shiqing quickly said, “Alright, everyone, come over here and listen to me.”

The marksman and support player, Wen Xia, who were sitting farther away, came over. Tong Yi glanced at the bandage on Wen Xia’s hand and asked with concern, “How does your hand feel now? Is it okay?”

“It’s great. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine for today’s match,” Wen Xia said with a smile.

Only then did Tong Yi nod in relief.

She had taken over as captain two years ago. In the team, she was in the middle age-wise, younger than Wen Xia and Xia Yun, but older than the two rookies, Xu Yue and Qu Feng.

Wen Xia had been suffering from a hand injury for a long time. It was at its worst last year, when she couldn’t play for two months. It was a little better now after some rest, but she would likely retire after this season. At that point, the only old members of New Fire left would be Tong Yi and Xia Yun.

Ten minutes later, a staff member came to call them to the stage.

The ten members of the New Fire and RG teams sat down at their respective positions. Tong Yi glanced at the audience. Since it was a regular season match, there weren’t many people. Almost half of the people in the audience were holding support signs for the RG team. Only a few scattered signs were for New Fire.

The big screen showed the players’ photos and their registered league IDs. New Fire’s player IDs were: top laner NewFire.Cloud, jungler NewFire.maple, mid-laner NewFire.LittleYi, marksman NewFire.moon, and support NewFire.MorningGlow.

As they were in the process of setting up their equipment, the two commentators began to chat.

Commentator A: “The New Fire team was once a strong team that made it to the World Championship, but their performance has been unsatisfactory these past two years.”

Commentator B: “Yes, but I personally believe that New Fire’s biggest problem is between their jungler and mid-laner.”

Commentator A: “How so?”

Commentator B: “In New Fire’s strongest period, they always ran a dual-carry lineup with the mid and jungle. The previous jungler, who is now their top laner, Cloud, they had a very good synergy together.”

Commentator A: “Indeed. New Fire in the S6 and S7 seasons relied on the mid and jungle to set the pace of the entire game.”

Commentator B: “And the current jungler, maple, clearly has insufficient synergy with Captain Tong. They can’t build a rapport and can’t play the dual-carry lineup. In fact, Captain Tong has been a very aggressive player since her debut. Now, how should I put it… she might have had to make a compromise for the team and hold back her aggression.”

Commentator A: “That’s right. If the jungler doesn’t coordinate well with our Captain Tong, they can’t have a dual-carry synergy. In last year’s spring season, you could still see New Fire trying to continue their usual mid-jungle synergy, but because they couldn’t coordinate well, they ended up losing all three lanes. In the end, New Fire had to give up on this strategy.”

The live stream of the match was being broadcast in all the major streaming rooms. The comments in the official stream were flying by, and the fans’ opinions were naturally not as neutral as the commentators’. They were much more aggressive.

What do you mean ‘can’t coordinate well’? I’ll just say it, this jungler can’t keep up with Little Yi’s rhythm at all. It would be a miracle if they could link up!

There’s no harm in a little comparison. Let’s bring Cloud back to play with Captain Tong. Maybe they can salvage the team.

Don’t even think about it. It’s a known fact that Cloud’s skill level has declined. There were signs in the S7 season. It’s impossible for her to go back to jungling.

Commentator A: “Alright, we’ve entered the pick/ban phase. New Fire is on the blue side.”

It was the pick/ban phase, and as the blue side, New Fire had the priority to ban and pick heroes. Zhou Shiqing stood behind the players with a notebook, commanding them to ban and pick heroes.

New Fire’s first ban was a powerful support hero, Quince. RG, in turn, banned the mid-laner JadeOrb, an assassin-mage hero that Tong Yi became famous for in the S6 season. Now, almost every team they play against will ban JadeOrb.

Zhou Shiqing thought for a moment and said, “Ban CloudRiver too.”

So New Fire’s second ban was the jungler CloudRiver. This hero was a favorite of the RG team’s jungler. By banning CloudRiver, Qu Feng would be able to play more comfortably.

Next, RG’s second ban was still a mid-laner. They had now banned two mid-lane heroes, both of which were heroes that Tong Yi excelled at.

Commentator A: “Now RG has banned two of Captain Tong’s mid-laners. It seems Captain Tong is still very intimidating. Two bans were used to target her… Okay, New Fire’s first pick is the jungler. They’ve chosen AzureMaiden.”

Soon, the RG team’s first two heroes were also chosen. They first picked their jungler and mid-laner. Then it was New Fire’s turn. New Fire’s second and third picks were the marksman and support, respectively.

Commentator B: “Hmm? New Fire still hasn’t picked a mid-laner? Then in the next two ban slots, RG can continue to target the mid-laner.”

Commentator A: “You can see this is a sacrifice Captain Tong is making for the team. If they had picked a mid-laner first, RG’s next two bans would have been used to target the marksman. Then moon would definitely not be able to get a hero she’s good at. The reason for letting the support pick a hero in the third slot is also simple. The marksman and support that New Fire has chosen can create a combo, and if they coordinate well, they are very strong and can both attack and defend.”

Commentator B: “Yes. If they don’t let the marksman and support pick together, it’s very likely that RG will break up this combo.”

As expected, after RG picked a marksman in their third slot, they immediately banned another assassin-mage mid-laner.

In the S6 season, when Tong Yi first became a starter for New Fire, the entire team had a lot of momentum, and Tong Yi entered everyone’s view with her agile assassin-mage mid-laner plays. Because she played so aggressively, after just one spring season, the assassin-mage heroes she excelled at were firmly locked in the ban slots. Her main hero, JadeOrb, was almost never released.

It wasn’t until last year’s S8 season, when the team’s roster was restructured, that the lack of synergy between the new jungler and Tong Yi made it impossible to use the mid-jungle synergy lineup. The marksman position was also constantly being changed. They could never find an excellent marksman. Even moon, the current one, could only be considered an average marksman, not an excellent one.

Her teammates couldn’t create a safe environment for her to deal damage in the mid lane. Plus, the current meta heavily favors junglers, so most teams have adopted a jungle-focused strategy. Therefore, Tong Yi gradually transitioned into a “support-focused” mid-laner. Another reason was that New Fire’s mid-jungle synergy strategy had already been studied and countered by coaches from all the major teams. Specifically, Tong Yi’s mid-laner would be heavily targeted in the early game to prevent her from farming, and New Fire had never been able to come up with a new lineup or strategy to counter this.

With the mid-laner being targeted so heavily and the marksman’s skill level being insufficient, New Fire ultimately had to shift its focus to the jungler. But even so, teams that played against New Fire would still target the mid-laner in the ban phase.

Commentator A: “Now we can see that in the second round of banning heroes, RG has used one ban slot on the mid lane, and the other ban slot is for Cloud’s specialty top-laner.”

Commentator B: “It seems that the major teams are still very afraid of Captain Tong’s agile mid-laner plays. Although we haven’t seen Captain Tong use an assassin-mage in a long time, it’s hard to say if she’ll use them if they’re left unbanned!”

Commentator A: “That’s right. So now, when teams play against New Fire, they would rather waste a ban slot on the mid-laner than let Little Yi—our Captain Tong—get her most skilled assassin-mage. It might sound bad, but to put it bluntly, they’re simply not afraid of anyone on the team besides Captain Tong.”

Commentator B: “Speaking of which, when I first saw her play in the S6 season, she seemed very green. Now she’s the captain of the New Fire team, and everyone’s title for her has changed from Little Yi to Captain Tong.”

Soon, both teams had chosen their heroes. Zhou Shiqing also went down to shake hands with the RG team’s coach.

“Welcome to the Battle Arena!”

As the sound effect of the game’s start rang out, both teams went to their respective lanes.

As expected, Tong Yi finally chose a “support-focused” mid-laner, LeafyHero. This hero has no mobility but has many crowd control skills and a hard stun, making them perfect for team-wide crowd control.

At the same time, the comments in the live stream were flying by faster and more enthusiastically.

The two commentators are being too subtle. They should just say that New Fire has no one who can play well besides Captain Tong!

I already know New Fire is going to get crushed this game. It’s so boring.

Why not let Captain Tong be the carry? Why pick a support-focused hero? They only banned three of your assassin-mages. It’s not like there are no other heroes to choose from. Isn’t her hero pool quite deep?

It’s no use. Captain Tong can only carry in the early game. In the late game, after the opposing team builds magic resistance, she won’t be able to do any damage. The most crucial problem is that her teammates can’t keep up with her rhythm. So Captain Tong can only play as a support-focused hero, giving resources to the jungler and marksman and letting them carry.

In the game, moon’s marksman immediately followed Captain Tong to the mid-lane.

There are three lanes on the map: top, mid, and bottom. The minion waves in the mid-lane meet the fastest, so moon can come to the mid-lane to get some gold and then immediately go to the bottom lane. This gives her a higher income in the early game and makes her more comfortable to play.

Everyone thought that Tong Yi and moon would share the first wave of minions in the mid-lane. However, Tong Yi and the jungler, Qu Feng, went straight to the enemy’s red side to invade their jungle.

Confirmed as a true ‘support player’.

People who don’t know any better would think Captain Tong is the support. Heh heh.

Commentator A: “It’s true that in this season, we often see Captain Tong, as a mid-laner, giving up minions and resources to the jungler, but this is the first time she’s completely given the first wave of minions to the marksman.”

Commentator B: “But this way, Captain Tong can take advantage of this time to do other things. Will this jungle invasion give them an advantage? … The enemy mid-laner has spotted them!”