Tactical Game of the Sixth Round

The lights at the esports center suddenly brightened, illuminating the center stage like daylight. The roars from the audience broke through the soundproof glass, making Lin Yu's ears tingle. The sixth game was crucial; a win would force a decider, while a loss would mean all his efforts for the entire season would be wasted. He repeatedly pressed his fingertips on his phone screen, trying to soothe the sweat from his palms, his gaze fixed on the tactical board in his coach's hands.

"We've cracked AY's Da Qiao system, but their Nakroth is a jungler. Once her economy is up, she can instantly take down the backline." The coach circled the word "Nakroth" with his pen, his voice deeper than ever. "This round, we're focusing on the jungle. Lin Yu, take Yun Zhongjun and counter-jungle at level 1 to completely disrupt Tachibana Ukyo's rhythm."

Lin Yu was about to nod when he saw "Yun Zhongjun" on the tactical board was crossed out. The coach suddenly changed his tone: "No, AY will definitely ban Yun Zhongjun. You will play Pei Qinhu on the bench. Use his human form to suppress the early game, and keep his tiger form to cut the backline. Sun Bin will follow you to ensure your invasion is safe."

Sure enough, the moment the BP screen lit up, AY immediately banned Yun Zhongjun and Guan Yu—the former being the core of SG's early-game invasions, while the latter could disrupt teamfight formations by flanking. SG, undeterred, immediately banned Da Qiao and Nakroth, completely denying AY any chance of rebuilding their teleport system.

"Pei Qin Hu, third floor!" Lin Yu's voice rang through the microphone, without hesitation. On the screen, Pei Qin Hu, armed with two claws, exuded a feral edge, replacing the blue-collar jungler Pangu. A commotion erupted in the audience, and the commentator's voice was filled with excitement: "Lin Yu picked Pei Qin Hu! This is the hero he's had a very high win rate with in the past few games. It seems SG is determined to attack early and compete with AY in the jungle!"

Almost immediately after SG locked onto Pei Qinhu, Team AY's second floor responded—Su Ran's finger landed on Sima Yi's portrait. A dark purple shadow effect spread across the screen, and Sima Yi, scythe in hand, made an oppressive entrance. Lin Yu's heart sank. He was all too aware of the threat Sima Yi posed—his ultimate, "Death's Reach," provided full-screen support, and his passive silenced mages, perfectly countering SG's mid laner, Wang Zhaojun.

The lineups for both teams were quickly determined. SG's lineup consisted of Pei Qinhu, Gongsun Li, Lü Bu, Wang Zhaojun, and Sun Bin, a lineup built around "early-game suppression combined with teamfight sprinting." The combination of Pei Qinhu and Sun Bin ensured a successful jungle invasion, Lü Bu's ultimate could both initiate teamfights and protect the backline, and Wang Zhaojun's freezes limited Sima Yi's advances. AY's lineup consisted of Tachibana Ukyo, Sima Yi, Xiang Yu, Yu Ji, and Lu Ban, relying on Sima Yi's support and Tachibana Ukyo's burst for mid-game teamfights. Lu Ban's "boost" also helped Yu Ji avoid damage.

"Match start!" the referee's voice fell, and Lin Yu controlled Pei Qinhu and headed straight for AY's red zone. Sun Bin followed closely behind, using his first skill "Time and Space Bomb" to pre-emptively target the red buff. The delayed explosion damage from this skill was just right for Pei Qinhu's basic attacks to kill the low-health wild monsters.

As expected, when Pei Qinhu reached the AY red zone, Tachibana Ukyo was entangled with the red buff. Lin Yu switched to human form, using his second skill, "Tiger Roaring Wind," to fully stack his passive. He then combined his basic attacks with his first skill, "Inch Power," to rapidly deplete the red buff's health. Tachibana Ukyo realized something was wrong and immediately abandoned the red buff, turning to use his second skill, "Iai," to repel Pei Qinhu.

"Don't let him get away!" Lin Yu's voice rang out, and at the same time he switched to tiger form, using his first skill "Tiger Leap" to pounce on Yu Jing. His basic attacks, combined with Sun Bin's bombs, instantly reduced Yu Jing's health to a meager level. Yu Jing panicked, decisively gave up his flash, and fled back to the middle lane in embarrassment. Pei Qinhu took advantage of the situation to take the red buff, and also cleared the small monsters in the red zone, instantly leading Yu Jing by 200 in economics.

"Beautiful! Brother Yu's invasion is so fierce!" Sun Bin player Li Xiang shouted excitedly.

Lin Yu ignored the call and controlled Pei Qinhu to head straight for AY's blue zone. He knew that Ju Youjing would definitely go to his own blue zone to replenish his economy, and he had to get rid of the blue buff before him to completely cut off AY's jungle rhythm. Sure enough, when Pei Qinhu arrived at the blue zone, the blue buff was still there, and Ju Youjing was rushing towards the blue zone from the river.

Pei Qinhu's jungle clearing speed was very fast, and with the help of Sun Bin, he cleared the blue buff in less than ten seconds and successfully reached level 4. He didn't want to linger in the fight, and controlled Pei Qinhu to go around the river to the middle lane - at this time, Su Ran's Sima Yi had just finished clearing the first wave of soldiers and was about to support the bottom lane, unaware of the danger.

"Catch a wave in the middle lane!" Lin Yu's voice rang out.

Wang Zhaojun immediately understood and unleashed her second skill, "Imprisoning Frost," towards Sima Yi. Su Ran reacted quickly, unleashing his ultimate, "Death's Arrival," hoping to avoid the frost by moving. However, Pei Qinhu had already switched to human form and used his first skill, "Inch Force," to slow Sima Yi. He then used his second skill, "Sky-Splitting Blade," in tiger form, to deal area damage. Combined with Wang Zhaojun's basic attacks, he instantly reduced Sima Yi's health to a trickle.

Su Ran wanted to use Flash to escape, but Sun Bin's second skill, "Time Fluctuation", was already activated, which not only accelerated his teammates but also significantly reduced Pei Qinhu's skill cooldown. Pei Qinhu's basic attack followed closely, directly killing Sima Yi and taking first blood.

"First Blood!" The system prompt sounded, and cheers broke out in the SG team's voice chat. The SG fans in the audience instantly boiled over, and the shouts of "Come on SG" drowned out the cheers of AY fans.

Lin Yu remained calm, controlling Pei Qinhu to go straight to the first tyrant: "Take the tyrant before AY's rhythm gets up." He knew that Sima Yi's resurrection time was very short, and he had to expand his advantage as soon as possible to suppress AY's counterattack.

SG's execution was strong. Lü Bu and Gongsun Li held the flanks, while Wang Zhaojun and Sun Bin followed Pei Qinhu to attack the Tyrant. Pei Qinhu's high damage output, combined with Sun Bin's healing, killed the Tyrant in less than a minute. With the Tyrant's bonus, SG's gold gap widened to 800, completely establishing their early advantage.

After Su Ran's Sima Yi revived, he didn't rush to support, but instead steadily cleared the mid lane. He knew that the jungle was currently dominated by Pei Qinhu, and rushing to support would only result in kills. He had to wait for Tachibana Ukyo to develop before he could compete with SG. Five minutes into the game, Sima Yi finally found his opportunity—SG's Gongsun Li was pushing too deep in the side lane. Sima Yi activated his ultimate, "Death Coming," instantly teleporting to Gongsun Li's side, using his passive silence combined with basic attacks to kill Gongsun Li.

"The bottom lane is gone." Player Gongsun Li's voice was filled with annoyance.

Lin Yu's fingers paused, but he remained calm. He controlled Pei Qinhu to clear monsters in the jungle, while keeping a close eye on Sima Yi's movements. Sima Yi's ultimate had a long cooldown, so as long as he avoided his support range, he could continue to suppress the jungle.

The rest of the game was a stalemate. SG, leveraging their early advantage, repeatedly invaded AY's jungle, squeezing Tachibana Ukyo's development space. AY, relying on Sima Yi's support, repeatedly killed SG's side laners, attempting to close the gold gap. By the ten-minute mark, the gold gap had shrunk to 500. The first Overlord spawned, and both teams gathered near the Overlord pit, preparing for the decisive battle.

"Keep Lu Bu's ultimate ready at any time. Once Wang Zhaojun freezes someone, start a team fight." Lin Yu communicated with his teammates in the voice chat, "I'll be responsible for killing Yu Ji, and you protect Wang Zhaojun."

"Got it!" the teammates responded in unison.

In the AY team's voice chat, Su Ran was also directing: "Xiang Yu starts the fight first, use his ultimate to push the enemy, Lu Ban protects Yu Ji, and I'll go around and kill Wang Zhaojun."

The decisive battle was imminent. Xiang Yu suddenly activated his ultimate, "Overlord Slash," pushing SG's Wang Zhaojun, Sun Bin, and Lu Bu into the Domination Pit. Master Lu Ban immediately activated "Boost," pushing Yu Ji to a safe position to deal damage. Sima Yi then activated his ultimate, flanking from behind, aiming directly at Wang Zhaojun.

"Now!" Lin Yu's voice rang out. Pei Qinhu switched to human form, using his first skill, "Inch Force," to knock back Yu Ji. His second skill, "Tiger Roaring Wind," fully stacked his passive, and his basic attacks combined with Sky-Splitting Blade dealt heavy damage. Lu Bu seized the opportunity and activated his ultimate, "Demon God's Descent," trapping AY's Xiang Yu, Lu Ban, and Tachibana Ukyo in the Domination Pit. Wang Zhaojun's ultimate, "Winter Has Arrived," covered the entire battlefield, and combined with Sun Bin's "Time and Space Bomb," instantly killed Xiang Yu.

Although Su Ran's Sima Yi successfully killed Wang Zhaojun, he was also beaten to a low health by the damage of Pei Qinhu and Gongsun Li. He wanted to use his ultimate to escape, but Pei Qinhu had already switched to tiger form and pounced on Sima Yi with his first skill "Tiger Leap", killing him.

"Double kill! Lin Yu's Pei Qinhu is so powerful!" The commentator shouted excitedly, "AY's core damage output is gone, SG can take the Overlord!"

Without Sima Yi and Xiang Yu, AY was instantly defeated, allowing SG to seize the Overlord and push down AY's mid lane tower. In the following games, SG's morale grew, and Pei Qinhu's invasions became increasingly aggressive—he repeatedly caught Tachibana Ukyo in the jungle, killing him and then counterattacking AY's jungle resources. Wang Zhaojun's freezing skills became increasingly accurate, constantly freezing AY's core damage output in teamfights.

By the 20th minute, SG's gold gap had widened to 2,000. They led their Dominant Vanguard and pushed towards AY's mid-lane high ground. AY put up a tenacious resistance, but the gold gap was too great. After Yu Ji was instantly killed by Pei Qinhu, AY's defense completely collapsed. SG then took AY's crystal, bringing the score to 3-3.

"The game is over! SG team wins! The score is 3:3! The game enters the deciding round!" The referee's voice rang out, and the cheers in the e-sports center were deafening. SG fans waved their light boards excitedly, and some even cried with excitement.

Lin Yu took off his headphones, his hair and uniform soaked with sweat. He gasped for breath and looked in the direction of Team AY. Su Ran was looking down, his fingers swiping across the screen of his phone, which was showing a replay of the previous teamfight, clearly reviewing a mistake. A strong urge suddenly surged within Lin Yu. He wanted to rush over and say, "Well done!" to Su Ran, even if it was just four simple words. But he paused as soon as he moved. They were rivals, and any consolation now might just be taken as sympathy.

"Well played!" Teammates gathered around and patted Lin Yu on the shoulders, their faces full of excitement.

Lin Yu smiled, nodded, and followed his teammates into the locker room. The coach was already waiting at the door. He patted Lin Yu on the shoulder and said with relief: "That Boqi Yu Ji just now was too crucial. Keep up this form in the next decisive game."

Lin Yu sat on a lounge chair, picked up his phone, and began to replay the game. He repeatedly watched the previous battle with Sima Yi. Su Ran's Sima Yi's positioning was very tricky, and every time he supported, he could accurately find SG's flaws. However, in the team battle, AY's coordination made a mistake, and Xiang Yu's ultimate was pushed too early, which gave SG the opportunity to counterattack.

He knew the final game would be even more intense. Su Ran would definitely adjust his tactics, and AY wouldn't allow SG to easily invade the jungle. He took a deep breath, locked his phone, and closed his eyes—he needed to rest and recharge his energy to be at his best in the final game.

In the AY team's lounge, Su Ran placed the tactical board on the table and pointed at the words "Sima Yi Support Timing." "I shouldn't have gone around to attack Wang Zhaojun just now. I should have protected Yu Ji first." His teammates nodded in agreement. Tachibana Ukyo said guiltily, "It's all my fault. We were counterattacked so hard in the jungle that I didn't help."

Su Ran shook his head and looked towards the SG lounge: "Lin Yu's Pei Qinhu played well indeed. In the deciding game, we have to change our thinking and prepare for his invasion." He picked up a pen and re-drew the tactical map on the tactical board. The sound of the pen tip scratching across the paper was particularly clear in the quiet lounge.

In the stands at the esports center, fans were still cheering for the match. The electronic screens scrolled with the words "The Final Round is About to Begin." Everyone knew that the next match would be the most exciting part of the finals and would determine the ultimate champion. The ultimate showdown between these "old rivals" Lin Yu and Su Ran had just begun.