ATIBTF Chapter 69

JW and AFK are two teams with vastly different styles.

JW prefers to group up and fight as a team early in the game, while AFK leans more towards establishing advantages online before exerting pressure.

JW’s strategy actually relies on the individual strengths of its players. Among the five members, only the mid laner Jiang Min’s laning ability is top-notch, while the other four players, in terms of laning alone, aren’t able to dominate their opponents online.

JW’s gameplay revolves around team play, with the third position leading the charge while the second position focuses on sniping opponents who are alone and farming.

AFK, on the other hand, relies on controlling different lanes and map resources from an operational standpoint to secure victory.

The online capabilities of AFK’s players are generally considered superior within the WPL league. Therefore, for JW, the key to this match is whether they can stabilize the early game online.

As the match officially begins, JW’s players don’t rush to their lanes but instead gather as five to prepare for a level one team fight.

AFK, however, takes a more cautious approach, with their players hiding under towers while only the fifth position goes out to place wards.

When AFK’s fifth position, Ring, goes to place vision near the bottom lane river, his position is anticipated by Yu Hao.

Though it’s just a regular match, JW has made thorough preparations to deal with AFK, the formidable top-ranked opponent.

In the days leading up to the match, Yu Hao specifically studied AFK’s common warding positions, knowing that AFK’s fifth position, Ring, tends to place wards near the river at the beginning of the game.

JW’s players, who were already lying in ambush, swiftly converge and mercilessly eliminate the vulnerable AFK fifth position, Ring.

There’s even a heated debate among JW’s players about who should take the kill.

“Sugar, you take the kill! The early-game attack power of the Paladin isn’t high. If you’re facing off against the Shadow Dancer, it’s better for you to get a kill first to buy some equipment or buy more potions!” Hao Qianyi suggests.

“No need. I’ve faced Flow many times before, and I’m confident against him in lane. Let Yu take the kill. He’ll benefit more from the early game roaming and economic advantage.” Jiang Min says.

Yu Hao then says, “It’s okay, I can make up for the gold. Don’t worry about me. Just hold the lanes, especially you, Hao Qianyi. I’ll be roaming a lot early on to speed up the pace of the game. You have to handle the pressure.”

Hao Qianyi reassures, “No problem, rest assured! So, who’s taking the kill?”

If they don’t deliver the final blow to Ring soon, he’ll slip away.

“Then let Ya Bo take it. The early-game attack of the Velociraptor isn’t that high. A bit more gold for you and Ya Feng will have a better time in lane against them.” Yu Hao suggests.

First Blood!

The kill is claimed by Wei Yabo’s Velociraptor.

“Ah, feels good!” Wei Yabo says as he watches the gold from the kill fill his pockets.

After tasting the sweetness of the level one fight, JW’s five players quickly disperse and return to their lanes.

The battle horn sounds, minions clash, and the laning phase officially begins.

Jiang Min and AFK’s mid laner, Flow, are both top-tier mid laners in the league, and their matchup in the mid lane is quite stable.

However, Flow’s style tends to be more conservative. Even with a burst hero like the Shadow Dancer, he remains defensive around his tower and doesn’t engage in aggressive exchanges with Jiang Min.

In the top lane, it’s Wei Yabo and Wei Yafeng against AFK’s third and fourth positions.

AFK’s third and fourth positions are also strong laners during the laning phase.

The Golden and Silver Mantou twins were chosen for JW not because of their laning strength but because of their prowess in team fights. Against strong laning opponents, the twins inevitably fall behind.

Fortunately, Wei Yabo’s last-hitting skills are decent, and he hasn’t suffered much economically while farming under the tower.

However, in the bottom lane, Hao Qianyi seems to be struggling a bit.

Yu Hao originally planned to roam early to set the pace, coordinating with various lanes to secure kills and establish an early advantage.

However, Hao Qianyi seems unable to handle the combination of AKF’s first and fifth positions led by Shu Lou.

Several times, his skills were baited by the “cunning” movements of Shu Lou’s fifth position, leading to situations where he didn’t have skills to trade with the first position of the opponent, making his situation somewhat dire.

Yu Hao has no choice but to stay in the lane.

As a result, JW’s mid lane is still holding up, but the top and bottom lanes are gradually falling into a disadvantage.

“If this continues, we’ll fall into the rhythm AFK likes, and if JW doesn’t set the pace in the early game, it’ll be difficult for them later. Their lineup revolves around a 4-protect-1 strategy, and the Velociraptor is a hero that heavily relies on economy. Normally at this time, they should be establishing advantages in all lanes to let the Velociraptor farm, but he’s still stuck under their own tower at this point,” the commentator, Uncle Yuan, analyzed the game situation. “JW must find a solution.”

The commentators could see it, and naturally, JW’s players could see it too.

The only lane with a slight advantage among the three is the mid lane, but the Paladin is a relatively slow hero, excelling in team fights but not so much in roaming.

However, the current situation forces Jiang Min to help the first and fifth positions of his team instead of Yu Hao.

“Sugar God, can you go top? At least let Ya Bo get out of the tower. Otherwise, if he keeps farming under the tower without gaining other resources, his economy will fall behind,” Yu Hao said, focusing on the bottom lane while speaking.

“Yeah, I’m about to go,” Jiang Min replied, finishing off the last minion of the wave and turning to head towards the top lane.

Just at that moment, Flow’s Shadow Dancer suddenly made an aggressive move, advancing to slow down Jiang Min’s Paladin with a dart.

Jiang Min reacted quickly, but unexpectedly, Flow had already laid a trap nearby. The Paladin was caught in the trap, and the Shadow Dancer swiftly moved in for a combo.

Fortunately, Jiang Min had built tanky items first, so the damage wasn’t too painful.

However, this situation also gave him a clear signal.

—Flow wouldn’t easily let him roam away from the lane.

Compared to the Paladin, the Shadow Dancer is a much more agile hero.

At first, Jiang Min wondered why Flow, who usually prefers team-oriented mid lane heroes, suddenly chose the Shadow Dancer. Now he understood.

AFK deliberately chose a lane-dominant hero to stick to him tightly, preventing him from roaming.

And if he insists on roaming, the Shadow Dancer will quickly follow.

In a situation where both sides have equal numbers, if they engage in fights online, JW’s disadvantaged top and bottom lanes combined won’t be able to match the opponent.

Yu Hao, observing the overall situation, also understood this.

JW was completely being led by AFK’s rhythm.

The early advantage from taking the first blood had vanished.

However, dealing with laning phase disadvantages was quite common for JW.

Apart from the mid lane, the other two lanes often find themselves suppressed by the opponents.

There’s only one solution to crack this: Fight them head-on!

JW rallied early, clashed with AFK near the abyss, and quickly regained some economy.

However, AFK’s pace of pushing was also swift. While JW was still recovering economically, AFK seized the opportunity to kill JW’s first position, Wei Yabo, and the third position, Hao Qianyi, several times, taking down many towers in the process.

Yu Hao once again organized the team to go invisible and engage AFK in fights.

A 5v4 skirmish allowed JW to catch up economically once again.

However, a smart play by Flow led to JW’s unfortunate defeat in the first game.

AFK temporarily led by one point.

After the first game, the players returned to the backstage lounge.

“Our laning phase rhythm was too poor. We can’t continue like this,” Coach Bai Yin analyzed the game for the players, wasting no time. “And our snowballing ability is lacking. After taking the first blood in the early game, I didn’t see any advantage it brought us. After winning the mid-game fight, we failed to push in time. On the contrary, AFK, after taking your kills, swiftly moved into action, securing resources and towers. We need to pay attention to this in the next game and not let them lead us by the nose!”

“Yes, coach,” Wei Yabo nodded.

He also knew his laning ability wasn’t top-notch, but he didn’t expect the gap between him and AFK to suddenly become so large this season.

Last season, JW had also faced AFK, in both the spring and summer seasons before the restructuring.

However, this season, it seems AFK’s third and fourth positions are cooperating better, and the third position is stronger than before.

With the cooperation of the fourth position, he and Wei Yafeng were pressured quite a bit.

Even though AFK is recognized as a strong laning team, the gap in laning prowess still left Wei Yabo feeling frustrated.

A hand landed on Wei Yabo’s shoulder.

He turned around to see the team captain, Yu Hao.

“It’s okay, Yabo,” Yu Hao said. “Not every player excels in laning, and our team’s style isn’t about dominating the opponent in the laning phase. Getting together and fighting as a group is what matters! Don’t worry, we’ll come back strong in the next game!”

“We played beautifully in that fight near the abyss, didn’t we? And in the end, we lost because they stole our jungle. It shows that we’re capable of beating them; we just need to make sure they don’t get opportunities in the future,” Yu Hao continued.

Jiang Min nodded in agreement.

As the captain, Yu Hao not only commanded the team as the roaming position but also played a crucial role in uniting the team and maintaining team morale.

In this regard, after several months of regular season matches, Jiang Min believed that Yu Hao had been doing a great job.

Although he was young, Yu Hao could be considered a competent captain.

——

Halftime was over.

The players from both AFK and JW returned to the arena.

The second game began.

In the ban-pick phase, AFK continued their banning strategy from the previous game, opting for oppressive heroes in the top and bottom lanes. Similar to the previous game, they picked the Shadow Dancer to contain Jiang Min in the mid lane.

Flow’s Shadow Dancer played conservatively, with no flashy moves, but excelled in delaying opponents, showcasing the full potential of this cunning assassin hero.

Since JW had decided to focus on fighting to suppress AFK, their draft leaned towards early and mid-game dominant heroes.

Even if they were behind in the laning phase, they could quickly farm the jungle and engage in fights, heroes of that kind.

Wei Yabo chose the Star Swordsmaster, a melee hero wielding dual swords.

This was a typical early-to-mid-game dominant strength hero.

The choices for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th positions were quite conventional, with Yu Hao’s 4th position Enchantress being a hero that often makes highlight reels.

This is because its key ability allows it to replicate allied or enemy heroes for a period of time, inheriting their attributes and skills.

The last choice for the counter position was left to Jiang Min.

“Sugar God, what do you think would be a good pick for this match?” Bai Yin, as always, respected Jiang Min’s opinion.

“Anything works. Flow’s Shadow Dancer isn’t particularly strong, so I feel it’s best to pick a more dominant hero to completely suppress him and not give him the chance to drag me down,” Jiang Min replied.

After some thought, Yu Hao proposed an idea: “How about picking the Storm Spirit, Sugar?”

Author’s note: Is my signature hero, the Storm Spirit, finally making an appearance? 🙂

¹TL: YSIAD “You can support me if you like my translations by leaving a comment below, or by sending me a Ko-fi. Thank you and Enjoy reading ❤️”

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  TL: YSIAD “You can support me if you like my translations by leaving a comment below, or by sending me a Ko-fi. Thank you and Enjoy reading ❤️”