171: Chapter 171 A Match with a Vast Disparity in Strength

Soon, the screen lit up again.

The camera appeared in the Blue Team's fountain. Instead of the conventional top-down perspective, it was a 3D view zooming in on the heroes, something countless viewers had never seen before.

As the game sound effects played, the base structures slowly appeared in the frame. Finally, the five exquisitely modeled heroes left the fountain, and the camera pulled back up to a god's-eye view.

At the same time, the commentators' voices began to ring out, officially casting this first league of legends esports match in the strict sense.

"We can see that both teams are starting with a standard opening; there are no special designs."

"After all, it's the first game. Everyone wants to adapt a bit first, so they won't be playing too aggressively right from the start."

"Standard lane assignments and jungle starts; both sides have matched up."

After both sides arrived in their lanes, the previously somewhat empty game screen was instantly filled with various data, and a panel slowly rose from the bottom.

The various data from the spectator perspective appeared quite clearly and distinctly before countless viewers.

Both sides' gold, creep score, items, and even the respawn timers for the major and minor objectives appeared on the spectator interface.

Even those who had never played league of legends could quickly judge the advantages and disadvantages of both sides through this data panel.

Although spectator mode had long been built into the game, most players had never used it and had never seen such a clear god's-eye view.

During the somewhat bland opening, many viewers' attention was actually captured by this spectator perspective.

"Regardless of anything else, this spectator perspective is something else; it can even clearly show both sides' creep score and gold data. It's too detailed."

"The opening just now was also interesting. Turns out league of legends can zoom the perspective in this low? Why can't I do it?"

"That perspective seems to be only available in custom games, but it really is interesting."

"Wait, a quiz popped up! What is the name of the A Shui Team's Top Laner? The four options are: Zz1tai, Pervert, Grandpa Tai, Sister Tai... This kind of question really only requires watching the match to answer."

Meanwhile, while many viewers were discussing this spectator perspective they were seeing for the first time, the rhythm of the game finally changed slightly.

You have to understand, because both sides were playing their first offline match with so many spectators, they were quite nervous, and the tactics for the first game were very restrained.

As a result, for several minutes, neither side broke out a single kill. The two Junglers hadn't even ganked a single lane, just kept farming the jungle.

Even the commentators couldn't help but speak up, saying these two teams were playing too cautiously, and the chat was filled with comments about how boring and uninteresting it was.

However, for top-tier league of legends players, these few minutes of probing were necessary; both sides needed to judge the other's level and strength.

Finally, at the time node when they were about to hit level six, Uzi's Miss Fortune began to act more and more aggressively, no longer playing as cautiously as at the start.

"The opposing bot lane seems really trash; they don't even dare to kite with me."

"Even though they are a Caitlyn, they don't dare to come and trade; I can look for an opportunity."

"They still seem a bit nervous; this is our chance."

At this moment, although Uzi in the bot lane already had the intent to kill, A-Shui's side didn't notice the opponent's actions. They were still farming and positioning normally; in fact, on the stats, they even had a few more creep kills than the opponent.

However, just as the next wave of minions began to clash, Uzi's Support Alistar began to position further and further forward. At first, A-Shui was cautious and didn't give him an opening, but the next moment, when the Alistar walked up to the cannon minion and performed a basic attack, A-Shui finally let his guard down.

But just as the Alistar's basic attack was about to go off, he used Flash to cancel his own movement and instantly performed the WQ combo to charge at the Caitlyn.

In previous matches, A-Shui would basically have been able to Flash away from this kind of maneuver. But in this first game, it was indeed due to nervousness, or perhaps because of some relaxation during the few minutes of laning, that he was actually knocked up.

Uzi, who was nearby, instantly followed up with an E slow and his ultimate; the sound of laughter instantly echoed through the stream.

Although Fatty's Support Lux already tried to find a way to CC and shield, the Caitlyn had already been traded into a few times. After tanking the full ultimate, she was killed instantly without even getting her Flash off.

"My bad."

Clenching his fists, A-Shui's expression was a bit frustrated. He could feel that he still hadn't fully relaxed, but that wasn't an excuse for getting killed; it was indeed his own mistake.

Meanwhile, when this scene appeared on the broadcast, even the commentators couldn't help but speak up.

"This positioning was indeed a bit too far forward."

"That's right, actually, trading this far forward is fine, but you have to be constantly aware of the opponent's hard engage. You have to know that A-Shui is playing the Caitlyn and Lux combo, but they didn't exert any pressure in the bot lane and gave up First Blood to the Miss Fortune and Alistar combo; that shouldn't have happened."

"A strong laning combo getting killed in lane; this has a huge impact on the morale of the entire team."

Besides the commentators, after this solo kill occurred, the chat was filled with undisguised mockery.

"This is a so-called professional player? A top 16 team? If you can't even Flash out of an Alistar's WQ combo, why are you even playing?"

"I'm not joking, if you let my elementary school cousin go up there, he could probably Flash out of that."

"Is that it? Is this Caitlyn even at Diamond level? I could do better than that!"

"Uzi Team, just push for the win, this is too boring."

After A-Shui was killed in lane, only half a minute passed before Zz1tai was ganked and killed by the opposing Jungler. Although he pressed Flash, it was just a 'death Flash.' Afterward, the opposing Top Laner and Jungler caught Clearlove, who was farming the jungle.

The entire state of the game underwent a drastic change within just a few minutes.

Originally, relying on his creep score fundamentals, A Shui Team actually had a gold advantage, but after these few plays, the situation became almost completely one-sided.

The subsequent course of the game was about what the commentators expected. After falling behind, A Shui Team lost all objectives and soon had all three inhibitors pushed down.

Even though the commentators had started cheering for A Shui Team, as vision was cleared around the Baron pit, A Shui Team was ambushed, and Uzi Team scored an ace.

Afterward, they easily destroyed A Shui Team's Nexus.

The first game ended in such an overwhelmingly crushing manner.

In the end, the kill ratio between the two sides was 3 to 18.

From start to finish, A Shui Team had only killed three of the opponent, but ever since the opponent killed A-Shui at the start and gained momentum, their kills and advantage never stopped.

After the match ended, the players from both sides left the stage. A-Shui and the others all kept their heads down, unable to even speak, their faces full of unwillingness to accept defeat.

They knew there might be a gap, but they didn't expect it to be a complete stomp.

In the first two rounds of matches, they had never been crushed this badly; this was definitely not their normal level of play!

They could even imagine what the atmosphere in the chat was like right now.

And at this moment, in the league of legends client's stream, countless comments were scrolling by.

"It's over already?"

"It's over. I have a feeling there won't be five games today; we're only going to get one skin chest."

"I really can't hold back one thing: this game match is really ugly to watch."

"It really is a bit boring; it was a one-sided stomp from start to finish."

Although countless viewers had lost interest in this match and felt it couldn't possibly be good, for the sake of the skin chest, the number of viewers in the various stream rooms did not decrease because of it.

...

After a short break, the players from both sides took the stage again.

Although Liu Yang had comforted everyone quite a bit backstage, their expressions were still somewhat grim.

With no major changes to the bans and picks, the hero selection for the second game ended quickly.

This time, A Shui Team even gave up on utilizing every second reasonably; they just wanted to get into the game quickly. Being young and unwilling to admit defeat, after being crushed in one game...

all they could think about was how to turn the situation around. They didn't believe they were really that bad.

Even though Liu Yang repeatedly asked them to calm down, looking at the few who seemed unable to listen to his words, he could only shake his head.

Finally, the second game began quickly.