The pain of adjusting to the new lineup
At 7:30 in the morning, sunlight slanted through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the AY Team training room, casting long, streaked spots of light across the floor. Lin Yu stood at the door, backpack strap clutched in his hand, his gaze sweeping across the room. A brand-new gaming chair sat by the window, his ID "LinYu" emblazoned on the back. Next to it sat Su Ran's seat.
"Brother Yu, you're here!" The first person to notice him was support player Xiao Zhou, holding a freshly unwrapped breakfast bread. "Have a seat! I adjusted your peripherals for you yesterday. The mouse sensitivity is still adjusted according to the parameters from your previous competition."
Lin Yu smiled and thanked him. Just as he put down his backpack, veteran jungler Chen Yang came over with two cups of hot soy milk. He handed him one and said, "Brother Yu, welcome aboard! Honestly, I'm relieved to have you here. I haven't been able to adjust to my current form lately, always worried about dragging the team down. Now that you're here, I can rest assured to switch to the bench and calm down. Next time, I'll try to learn the jungle rhythm from you."
Chen Yang's tone was candid, without a hint of hidden disappointment. Lin Yu's unfamiliarity instantly dissipated. He took the soy milk, feeling the warmth on his fingertips. "Brother Yang, you're so polite. I just joined and am not familiar with the team's tactical details. I'll definitely need your advice in the future."
As he spoke, the coach walked in at the bell, clutching a thick playbook and a stack of printed match data. He placed them on the central conference table with a thump. "Everyone's here, let's have a quick meeting. For the next two weeks, our core task is to refine the 'Lin Yu jungler + Su Ran mid laner' system."
He reached out and pushed the tactical board to the center of the table. He circled two core positions in red. "Lin Yu, your jungle style leans towards early-game invasions, excelling at taking advantage of the opposing jungler's breaks from farming and disrupting their rhythm. Su Ran, you're a typical 'supportive mid laner,' with fast skill connections and the ability to leverage small teamfights to help the jungler expand their advantage. But the problem right now is that your two rhythms don't sync up. Lin Yu is used to looking for opportunities to invade three minutes in advance, while Su Ran needs to clear two waves of minion waves first to stabilize his level. This often leads to disconnects where you're counter-jungling while he's clearing lanes."
The coach paused, pointing to the red mark on the data sheet. "Yesterday, I watched the recording of your private team-up. In pub games, you can rely on individual skills to fill in the gaps in coordination, but not in professional competitions. For the next two weeks, you two will practice two hours of doubles scrimmages every day. You must reduce the time difference between 'invasion-support' to less than 10 seconds."
Lin Yu and Su Ran exchanged a glance and nodded simultaneously. Lin Yu knew this wasn't just about tactical adjustments; it also meant breaking the ingrained habits he'd developed in SG for three years and adapting to a new rhythm. Previously, in SG, the midlaner was better at holding lanes, and his incursions were mostly solo. Now, he needed to learn to rely on Su Ran's support, and Su Ran also needed to learn to give up his lane for him.
On the first day of practice, their opponent was the mid-tier HT team. When choosing a hero, Lin Yu chose Lan without hesitation—it was his highest win rate hero, and his proficiency was enough to handle early-game emergencies. Su Ran chose Mai Shiranui, a hero with flexible movement and fast support, making her their most common combination in private games.
"I'll go counter the red buff first. You come back to support me after you clear the first wave of minions," Lin Yu said in the voice chat, controlling Lan to move towards the HT team's red zone. According to his previous experience, HT junglers tend to attack the blue buff first, leaving the red zone open for about 1 minute and 30 seconds, enough time for him to steal the red buff before retreating.
But he didn't expect that Team HT seemed to have predicted his move. When Lan reached the brush near the red buff, HT's support Zhang Fei suddenly burst out, activating his ultimate ability, "Beast Blood," blocking Lan's escape with his massive body. Mid laner Daji followed closely behind, her second ability, "Idol Charm," landing a precise hit and stunning Lan.
"Support!" Lin Yu's voice was a little hurried, and his fingers quickly tapped the screen, trying to break through with his first skill "Breaking Waves", but Daji's first skill "Soul Shock" and Zhang Fei's normal attack had already landed on him, and Lan's blood volume dropped at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Su Ran's Mai Shiranui had just finished clearing the first wave of minions when she heard the shouts and immediately rushed to the red zone. He abandoned the second wave of minions and used his second skill, "Flower Butterfly Fan," to clear the small monsters in the river to speed up. However, by the time he reached the red zone, Lan had already used Flash and fled back to his own jungle with low health. The red buff was taken by the HT jungler Han Xin, who even cleared the small monsters in the red zone in the process.
"My problem." During the training break, Lin Yu was the first to take off his headphones, his tone filled with annoyance. "I didn't communicate the specific invasion time with you in advance, and I didn't let the support scout the vision. I took it for granted."
Su Ran also took off his headphones and turned the phone screen towards Lin Yu, tracing Mai Shiranui's movement trajectory with his fingertips. "Don't blame you, I was too slow in clearing the lane. I shouldn't have been so obsessed with replenishing the last ranged soldier just now. I could have used my first skill, 'Flying Dragon Flame Formation', to quickly clear the lane and reach the red zone 10 seconds earlier. Now, next time you want to invade a certain lane, you don't have to explain to me why. Just shout 'center right' or 'center left' in the voice chat, and I'll follow you immediately. I'll find a way to replenish the soldiers."
Chen Yang also came over at this time, pointing to the blind spot on the minimap and said, "Brother Yu, HT's jungler has recently practiced a counter-camping routine. Their support often hunkers down on the enemy invasion route in advance. Next time before you invade, have Xiao Zhou's support scout the vision first. His Xiao Ming has a chain, so we can share vision. It's much safer than you rushing in blindly."
Lin Yu nodded seriously, took out a notebook from his backpack, and wrote down these suggestions one by one: "Okay, next time I will communicate with Xiao Zhou in advance about the vision, and wait for the auxiliary to explore the way before invading."
Similar mistakes continued to occur in the following scrimmages. In the second game, Lin Yu miscalculated Su Ran's cooldown when attacking the Tyrant. He assumed Mai Shiranui's second skill was ready, so he called for Su Ran to help control the dragon. However, Su Ran's "Flower and Butterfly Fan" was still on cooldown, so he could only use basic attacks, resulting in the Tyrant being snatched away by the HT jungler. In the third game, Su Ran, anticipating Lin Yu's support in bottom lane, headed for the river ahead of time. However, Lin Yu suddenly changed his mind and headed for top lane, completely diverging their support routes. Xiahou Dun in bottom lane was killed by the enemy's tower dive.
By the time training ended, it was already 10 p.m. As the other teammates packed up and left, Lin Yu and Su Ran remained in the training room, their computer screens replaying the day's training session.
"Look here," Su Ran dragged the progress bar to the scene of grabbing the Tyrant, pointing to the time in the upper right corner of the screen. "When you asked me to control the dragon, my second skill still had an 8-second cooldown. You can actually wait for 10 seconds, or you can beat the Tyrant to low health first, and then I'll use my ultimate to grab it. Next time before we fight the dragon, I'll tell you the skill cooldown in advance, and we can calculate the time before we start."
Lin Yu nodded, his fingers tapping on the keyboard, saving the video. "And in the third game, I wanted to go to the bottom lane, but when I saw that Lu Bu in the opponent's top lane didn't flash, I changed my mind at the last minute. I didn't tell you in time, so you made a wasted trip. From now on, if I change the support route, I will shout "Change Lane" in the voice chat, and you don't have to go in the original direction."
It was completely dark outside the window, and the only sounds in the training room were the tapping of their keyboards and the occasional chatter. Su Ran got up and went to the tea room. When she returned, she held two cups of hot coffee and handed one to Lin Yu. "Don't worry too much. We worked so well together in the pub scene before. It just takes time to get used to the professional scene. You just joined, and you need to adapt to your new teammates and the new tactical system. I also need to adapt to your jungling rhythm. Take your time. We have two weeks."
Lin Yu took the coffee, his fingertips accidentally brushing against Su Ran's hand. Their eyes met in mid-air, and they both couldn't help but smile. The heat of the coffee lingered in the air, carrying a faint milky aroma. The anxiety that had accumulated from his previous mistakes seemed to be diluted by this warmth. Lin Yu looked at Su Ran's profile as she carefully analyzed the video, and his heart suddenly warmed. Before, when he was at SG, he had to handle problems on his own. Now, with someone he loved by his side to review and solve them together, he felt more confident, no matter how difficult the process was.
Over the next few days, the two practiced two hours of doubles scrimmages every day. They arrived at the practice room 10 minutes early to work out the day's training plan: today, focus on the timing of "invasion-support," tomorrow on "dragon attack-dragon defense" coordination, and the day after tomorrow on turning the tide in a losing game. After each scrimmages, they spent 20 minutes reviewing, noting down any mistakes in a shared document. Before bed, they would remind each other of the details to focus on the next day.
Su Ran would deliberately adjust his support habits for Lin Yu - he would no longer insist on clearing every wave of soldiers, but would use his skills to consume the opponent's mid laner's health in advance, forcing the opponent to return to the city or retreat to the tower, buying time for support for himself; Lin Yu would also change the invasion rhythm for Su Ran - he would communicate the invasion plan with Su Ran 30 seconds in advance, so that Su Ran had enough time to prepare, and would even deliberately slow down the jungle speed and wait for Su Ran to arrive before starting a team fight.
A week later, in a practice match, Team AY faced off against the league's powerhouse, Team WT. This time, Lin Yu chose Pei Qinhu, a hero with ranged damage in human form and burst damage in tiger form, making him a strong early-game invading force. Su Ran chose Wu Zetian, whose ultimate, "Empress's Radiance," grants full-screen support, making up for Pei Qinhu's limited early-game range.
"Center left." 1 minute and 10 seconds into the game, Lin Yu's voice sounded in the voice chat, concise and clear.
Su Ran's Wu Zetian didn't hesitate. Her first skill, "Empress's Majesty," cleared the ranged minions in the first wave. Her second skill, "Life and Death," moved forward, abandoning the second wave and heading towards WT's blue zone. Xiao Ming, Xiao Zhou's support, followed Pei Qinhu closely, chained to him, sharing vision and providing an attack speed bonus.
When Pei Qinhu reached the WT blue zone, WT jungler Li Bai was already halfway down, battling the blue buff. Su Ran's Wu Zetian immediately activated her ultimate, "Empress's Radiance." A golden beam of light descended from the sky, accurately striking Li Bai and stunning him. Lin Yu's Pei Qinhu switched to tiger form, using his first skill, "Tiger Roar," to pounce on Li Bai. His basic attacks, combined with the damage from his second skill, "Tiger Leap," instantly reduced Li Bai's health to a meager dregs.
WT's mid laner Sima Yi had just finished clearing the minion wave and was about to rush over to support, but Su Ran's Wu Zetian had already slowed him down with her first skill, "Empress's Majesty," forcing him to retreat back to the tower. Ultimately, Pei Qinhu took Li Bai's kill, taking the blue buff and clearing the small monsters in the blue zone, instantly giving him a 200 gold lead over Li Bai.
"Beautiful!" Xiao Zhou's voice cheered in the chat room. "Brother Yu and Brother Ran, this teamwork was amazing! Much better than before!"
Lin Yu and Su Ran remained silent, but the smiles on their faces were unmistakable. They knew their efforts this week had paid off—Su Ran's support was 15 seconds faster than before, and Lin Yu's invasions had more advanced vision. They had finally found their rhythm.
In the following matches, their coordination became increasingly fluid. When Lin Yu controlled the dragon, Su Ran would preemptively use Wu Zetian's abilities to clear the minions around the dragon pit, preventing WT from circling and attacking from behind. When Su Ran was stalked by Sima Yi, Lin Yu would always find a way out of the jungle and use Pei Qinhu's second ability, "Tiger Leap," to send Sima Yi flying and rescue Su Ran. Even in a losing game, Lin Yu would deliberately expose weaknesses to draw WT's attention, allowing Su Ran to circling and steal the Overlord, securing a chance for a comeback.
In the end, Team AY defeated Team WT 2:0. When the system prompted the word "Victory," enthusiastic applause rang out in the training room, and even the usually serious coach couldn't help but smile.
"This is exactly what we wanted!" The coach came over and patted Lin Yu and Su Ran on the shoulders. "You two have finally matched your rhythm. Lin Yu's attacks are no longer blind, and Su Ran's support is more decisive. Keep up this form, and next week's regular season will be no problem."
Lin Yu and Su Ran exchanged a glance, each seeing confidence in the other's eyes. Moonlight streamed through the glass, falling on their computer screens, where the victory screen was still displayed. They knew that while the initial pain of adjustment was difficult, with mistakes, anxiety, and even late-night bouts of self-doubt, as long as they trusted each other and made adjustments, no difficulty would be insurmountable.
And the road to glory that belongs to them, to the AY team, has just begun.
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