Chapter 51: Mechanisms and Bugs, AD and Eggs [4K Dual Edition]

"Ah? How did 69 get solo killed at level 3?!" Jiejie, having just enjoyed the royal duel between his two mid-lane teammates, suddenly heard the good news coming from the top lane.

"Oh dear, looks like his spacing failed. As expected, is he still not going to cut it..." Ye Bo forced a smile. "By the way, Zoe has no flash."

"OK, anyway Brother 69 should be able to hold his own at least. Let's focus on the mid lane first!"

Getting solo killed in ranked games was completely normal. After all, even professional players could not maintain their peak competitive state all the time. Faker was also frequently solo killed in solo queue—that was how the nickname "Li Guapi" came to be.

Yet clearly, everyone had underestimated the sheer brutality of the top lane.

Yone versus Gnar was a matchup that heavily tested both players' individual mechanics.

Although Yone possessed formidable gap-closing capabilities, the moment his third-Q dash missed its sweet spot, Gnar would immediately chase him down for a counter-attack. A maximum of two mistakes would break him.

Simply put, this was a matchup that relied on mechanics, and relied even more on spacing.

Unfortunately, someone's spacing records were not quite ideal.

Barely six minutes in, another piece of triumphant news emerged from the top lane.

Fortunately, the good news was that the mid lane was successfully apprehended as well, courtesy of the jungler Jarvan IV's repetitive and cyclical camping Ganks.

"Zhao Lijie!!!" Scout let out a roar toward the heavens, his voice echoing through the base.

"Hmm? Are you calling me?" Ye Bo took off his headset and turned around in confusion.

"What~ did~ you~ say, Scou~t-hyung! I'm wearing my headset! I~ can't~ hear~ you~!" Jiejie tilted his head, shouting back with an expression of utter innocence.

Scout gnashed his teeth in frustration.

Knowing damn well I'm streaming... and yet you keep humiliating me!

You fickle bastard!

Ranked matches differed greatly from professional games.

Especially the factors that could influence the match.

As everyone knew, in solo queue, the top and bottom lanes were relatively harder positions to carry games from.

In comparison, the mid-jungle duo was the frequent haunt of high-elo "boosters."

And although this match featured three professional players on each side, the distribution of their roles could be described as rather unfair.

The mid-jungle duo formed by Ye Bo and Jiejie, having already secured a mid-lane advantage independently at the start, quickly took control and dominated the pace of the match.

Though the Hecarim operated by the solo queue player was also a master-tier player on the Korean server, running into LPL-level mid-jungle opponents like these—while failing to communicate smoothly with their own mid laner—meant being suppressed throughout the entire game was only natural.

That was precisely why official authorities chose to close the duo-queue channel above the Master tier.

Otherwise, mid-jungle, bot-support, or top-jungle duos formed by professional players would easily imbalance high-elo matchmaking, delivering a "dimensional reduction strike" to high-tier players whose skills were already far from low.

"hajima!"

Gumayusi inside the T1 base, after being sneak-attacked and soloed by Akshan once again right outside the minion wave, could not help but wail, "Aish, this champion is so disgusting. If the support isn't smart, there's simply no way to defend against him!"

"Wooje, can you hurry up and get some kills? Bro is about to hold on no more."

"No way, this Gnar refuses to fight me, he's just turtling under the tower spinning in circles..." Top laner Zeus replied upon hearing the voice from the adjacent desk. "The enemy mid-jungle's tempo is a bit too good this game."

"Eh? Fans are saying the enemy mid-jungle is... from EDG?"

The streaming contracts for all T1 members were signed with Douyu, making them arguably the most closely watched LCK team in China, and the chat had actually prompted them about this quite early on.

It was just that they couldn't read Chinese, and the translator girl had only just translated that particular segment.

"Isn't EDG's mid laner Scout-hyung? He's right here with us, I recognize his ID."

"Oh is that so? But Scout-hyung... seems to be having a rather miserable time this game."

Zeus and Gumayusi were members of T1's new generation and clearly didn't know Scout well, yet out of Korea's ingrained seniority culture, they still had to address him as hyung.

But Zeus remembered.

This mid lane just now... seemed to have been solo killed at level 1, right?

Even faster than he killed the guy on the opposite side!

"It's fine, the enemy top laner feels like he's only diamond III level, I'll find another opening." Zeus stated his objective evaluation bluntly.

"But the viewers say the enemy top laner is also a pro player, and a top-tier tier-one top laner at that!"

"Really? No way!" Hearing this, Zeus was noticeably much more surprised than when he heard the Zoe was Scout: "Could it be an impostor?"

After hearing Gumayusi read out the ID, Zeus realized he indeed had no impression of this person.

The LPL top laners he currently remembered most clearly were only three.

One was Bin, who had just finished playing MSI against him and won; one was TheShy, whom it was virtually impossible not to know; and one was Flandre, who had just won the championship.

As for this numerical-named player, he wasn't quite sure.

Yet he clearly didn't take it to heart; after all, people who weren't strong enough truly had no meaning worth remembering their IDs for.

For players belonging to two different regions, nearly the only opportunity to cross paths was the twice-yearly World Championship. If one side couldn't even make it to Worlds, there simply wouldn't be any intersection.

And if they happened to meet at Worlds, there would always be a chance to remember them then.

What a pity, Zeus miscalculated.

Though the numerical-named top laner's mechanics looked rather sluggish, when it came to running away, he was an absolute master.

After all, a good top-lane spinning top knew both self-rotation and revolution, naturally carrying an isolation attribute.

Even though Yone had already built up a massive laning advantage, trying to forcibly kill a Gnar who only knew how to spin under the tower was still quite difficult.

Furthermore, the enemy mid-jungle's tempo was too good, completely crushing their own jungler. The rhythm of the entire match was being led by the nose by the opposing pair, making it very hard for him as a top laner to accomplish anything alone.

In this match, Ye Bo tried out a special school of thought—starting level 3 Q and then maxing W, known as the "Stealth Mosquito Build."

Akshan's W had a massive 18-second cooldown at rank one, but every rank reduced a huge amount of cooldown.

Once maxed, it dropped to a mere 2-second cooldown while also costing zero mana.

In situations where Akshan's E skill couldn't deal its full damage, he inherently relied on basic attacks and his passive three-hit proc to output damage. Both Q and E could serve as triggers for the three-hit passive, so he wouldn't suffer from a severe lack of damage just by maxing W.

More importantly, this playstyle itself wasn't designed for "solo operations" in the first place.

Zoe, feeling as though she had no jungler on her team and lacking Flash herself, didn't dare to step out too far; otherwise, she would easily be locked down by Jarvan's ultimate and executed.

Amidst the duo-dragon dance of Akshan and Jarvan, the top lane's Yone also began falling victim to consecutive three-man snipers.

Accompanying this was a stark contrast between the two mid laners.

Scout's expression looked somewhat unpleasant.

Yet what caused him to break mentally even more was that, just as the outcome had all but been decided.

With the Korean server's all-chat left unclosed, their own jungler Hecarim actually typed out Pinyin interactions with the opposing side.

"qijixingzhe (Hecarim): yeshifu, wo shi ni fensi a! (Master Ye, I am your fan!)"

The streaming room was instantly amused, and the chat commentary began throwing shade relentlessly.

[This is our Jie-Bo combo right here, do you guys have a Jie-Bo mid-jungle like this?]

[As expected of the starter, the difference in caliber is clear at a glance. Can't match in laning, can't match in mechanics, can't match in roaming. Truly a mid-lane gap.]

[No, you haters are reaching so hard! It's so disgusting! Can't you see how the enemy jungler ganked this game? Jiejie too, showing zero respect for his elders! Besides, this Hecarim is clearly a paid crisis actor from our country! Look, he even exposed himself directly!]

[True, true. Crushed out of lane at level 1 and solo killed at level 2—it's entirely the jungler's fault! Blame Hecarim for stealing camps from his own jungle! He ruined our mid laner's farm!]

[Let's reflect: why are high-elo players Master Ye's fans, rather than Thief Saint's fans?]

[Hecarim being 3/3/0 makes him an actor, but the enemy top laner going 2/5/0 in a heavily winning game isn't an actor, right? At the end of the day, it's still a mid-jungle gap, lol. The two big brothers' thighs are just different thicknesses, haha.]

Compared to the flying trolls across Scout's streaming room.

Across the way, 369's streaming room appeared unusually harmonious.

Perhaps upon discovering that he was laning against Zeus—the T1 youngster who had just debuted this year and led his team to capture the LCK Spring Championship—he was undoubtedly already one of the foremost candidates globally in the top lane currently.

369's fans had always been quite lenient with him; getting crushed by his opponent was still something they could comfort themselves over.

[69, keep it up! It's just a ranked game, it doesn't prove anything! Take your revenge back at Worlds this year!]

[Nothing wrong with that. T1 got wrecked by RNG at MSI, and RNG got wrecked by JDG in the Summer Split. What does that prove? T1, if you have the guts, make it to Worlds, and watch how JDG beats you guys this year!]

[Well, well, 369, how dare you坑 (wrong) my Master Ye! Just wait! Sooner or later I'll get my revenge!]

[69 ah, you really need to practice your Gnar more...]

369 glanced at the chat, his mood improving slightly.

Yet when he saw that earnest piece of advice encouraging him to study, his fragile mentality cracked once more, and he let out an indignant huff in his stream.

"Ahahaha! I'm not playing anymore!"

"I really don't ever want to practice this champion again!"

At the 21-minute mark, a match featuring massive advantages across the mid, jungle, and bottom lanes had nearly lost all suspense, and the blue side was already preparing to assault the inhibitor turret.

Gumayusi, hiding within the virtual wall of the high ground, prepared to sneak a Blighted Quiver shot to coordinate with Yone for one final desperate teamfight.

Yet at that moment, an Akshan who had quietly hugged the wall and crept forward appeared once again!

Boomerang blade followed by dual auto-attacks, plus a hookshot EE rapid-fire landing.

Varus turned around with lightning-fast reflexes to cast his R... but immediately following that came yet another thrown boomerang!

Varus flashed away, but Akshan had already activated his ultimate in advance to lock on and fire.

"Ah!?"

"Eh??"

Gumayusi and Ye Bo, situated at opposite ends, let out expressions of astonished inquiry at the exact same time.

Gumayusi was shocked by the champion's damage output, feeling nothing else out of the ordinary.

Yet Ye Bo furrowed his brows in profound confusion.

"This feels like a bug..."

Ye Bo had pressed Q+EE for rapid-fire earlier because the third segment of his E skill upon landing granted an extra burst of supplementary attack damage that instantly triggered his passive.

However, if he had been bound by Varus's ultimate first, he would have been knocked down instantly, losing that portion of damage as well.

Perhaps because he pressed it extremely fast and habitually mashed the Q key a few times, the combo unexpectedly turned into QEEQ......

Miraculously and instantaneously executing two Qs!

Furthermore, he noticed that the moment he pressed his ultimate, the icon for his Q skill had refreshed yet again!

Triple Q in one second?

League of Legends had always struggled to define the boundary between "game mechanics" and "bugs."

Even the designers had repeatedly jumped back and forth in patch notes, slapping their own faces without ever being able to explain it clearly.

Some believed that whatever wasn't written in the skill description was a bug.

Yet others retorted that in that case, "Lee Sin's R doesn't mention he can flash or kick backward," "Riven's passive doesn't mention she can use Q to pull off fast-combo QA," "Tristana's W doesn't mention it possesses crowd-control mitigation," "Azir's EQ ultra-long drift far exceeds the distance of his E itself"......

Still others believed they should learn the great spirit of a certain open-world game.

Anyway, as long as the officials hadn't deleted it, it was a mechanic!

It was a feature!

After all, players and pros were here to play the game, not to code it. Was encountering bugs our fault?

Regarding this, Ye Bo's personal view was simple.

As long as one could figure out the underlying principle of the mechanism and provide a logical "explanation" for the operation, then it could be considered a reasonable "mechanism."

Yet this instance of the Triple Q looked nothing like a mechanism no matter how Ye Bo examined it, nor could he find a rational explanation for it.

That was precisely why he called it a bug.

And if it was indeed a bug, Ye Bo believed that as a professional player, he certainly shouldn't exploit it.

"What did you say, what bug?" Jiejie's voice inquired from the voice comms.

"I don't know, I think I found an Akshan bug, I'm going to report it to the official staff."

Since Ye Bo wasn't streaming, the viewers didn't witness his first-person perspective and had no idea what had actually happened.

Of course, the truth was that Ye Bo had accidentally triggered it by mashing keys, and he hadn't known beforehand.

Nevertheless, this upright behavior instantly won him favorable reviews once again.

The atmosphere in the stream room seemed to grow somewhat heavy with flavor, and the chat was entirely filled with reminders from cooks asking not to add too much salt......

Seeing that Ye Bo really went off to report it to official staff, Jiejie queued up for another game by himself.

On the other side.

The T1 duo also re-entered the queue.

As for Gumayusi, who had been inexplicably deleted just moments ago, he was currently chatting idly in his stream with a helpless expression, while the translator girl provided real-time translations.

"That's right, this is the ADC experience, exactly this feeling."

"How should I put it, if we use instant noodles as an analogy, the AD is the egg."

"The top, mid, jungle, and support are respectively the noodles, water, seasoning packet, and the bowl, while the AD is the egg. Having one is great, but without one, it's fine too."

"Only when both sides are identical bowls of ramen will the side with the egg taste much better. Yup, AD is roughly that kind of feeling."

Speaking thus, Gumayusi turned his head to look left and right. Only Oner, who was also queuing, was closest.

"Hyeonjun-ah, do you think what I'm saying is right?"

Oner turned his head as well, his expression freezing for a brief moment before he nodded and replied, "Yeah, boiled eggs with salt taste good."

"............"

Faker, pushing open the door and walking in while gnawing on a banana, raised his voice: "What boiled eggs?"

"Nothing, my bad. Our jungler's brain probably only contains protein powder and boiled eggs; he probably even treats protein powder as seasoning when cooking noodles!"

"By the way, Sanghyuk-hyung, Wooje and I got wrecked by an Akshan just now. This champion seems to have some merit to him, do you want to try him too?"

Faker pulled out his chair and sat down: "Akshan? That champion is no good."

Not daring to join in the banter and trying hard to suppress his laughter, Zeus finally chimed in: "Or maybe it's just that the guy played really well. Didn't they say he's EDG's new mid laner? His mechanics are actually pretty good."

"That goes without saying, otherwise how could he rotate Scout-hyung out? Didn't he even solo kill Scout-hyung at level 1?" Gumayusi replied matter-of-factly.

Hearing the name of an old acquaintance, Faker finally displayed a sudden and obvious spark of interest.

That, perhaps, made things a bit interesting.

"What's his ID?"

"I don't know, we can ask the stream... Oh, it seems to be called Ye?"

"Ye..."

Faker repeated the ID to himself, swallowing the last bite of his banana.

He hadn't started his stream today, but just like any other day, he had opened the client to queue up for ranked.

Only while waiting in the queue.

Having nothing better to do, Faker searched for this ID in a browser tab as well, checking out the opponent's subsequent schedule......