Chapter 173 – Canglan VS Cheetah (Trap Cooling)
As Bai Xuan said, the Cheetah team was currently the overall weakest team in the Miracle League. Before the Canglan team returned to the league, the Terminator team was ranked at the bottom with Cheetah right above them. Cheetah ranked second last in the sixth season"s regular season.
This team"s style was very clear. It mainly relied on the hunters" traps for output.
Cheetah"s captain, Jiang Xu was a player who debuted in the second season with Su Guangmo and Yu Pingsheng. However, Jiang Xu was low-ley in the league compared to the highly popular Su Guangmo. He was known as the best hunter but he didn"t have many fans.
The operation of a hunter in Miracle was extremely complicated. The number of people playing a hunter in the players base wasn"t big and Jiang Xu wasn"t handsome compared to the other captain. His face naturally couldn"t capture beauty fans.
Of course, Jiang Xu had his own means if he could lead the Cheetah team for so many years in the Miracle League. A;though the Cheetah team"s tactic was the "trap flow" style, many strong teams had been beaten by it, especially in the regular season. The giant teams of Flying Feathers, Time and Wind Colour had all lost to Cheetah before. Jiang Xu"s use of maps to set up tactics couldn"t be underestimated.
Last season, an old player of Cheetah retired and Jiang Xu discovered the talented newcomer Chen Anran. This newcomer"s debut was different from Cheng Wei and Qin Mo. He was as low-key as his captain and no one noticed him until the end of the season where the judges discovered that this 16 year old was particularly stable.
The Most Promising Rookie Award went to Chen Anran, leaving many viewers confused. However, most of the league"s captains recognized Xiao Chen"s level.
This included Li Cangyu. He watched the videos of Cheetah"s games and noticed that Chen Anran, a player with almost no sense of existence, was the Cheetah team"s most powerful weapon.
***
For the preparations this week, Li Cangyu specifically arranged for Zhuo Hang to watch the videos of the Cheetah team and to ask if he didn"t understand anything.
Watching videos over and over was more boring than daily training. Li Cangyu originally thought that Zhuo Hang wouldn"t be eager to do this due to his pride and narcissism. Surprisingly, Zhuo Hang was very serious. He didn"t show any impatience despite watching the same video ten times in a row.
On a closer look, it was discovered that Li Xiaojiang was sitting next to him.
Li Cangyu had confirmed in advance that Li Xiaojiang wouldn"t be playing in the match against Cheetah. His black magician had no advantage over the hunters who could quickly set traps. He had Li Xiaojiang train by himself for a few days which would allow him to digest what he learnt.
There was no need to play on the weekend. Other players might used this time to rest but Li Xiaojiang had always been the most serious person. He might not have to play in the next match but he wasn"t idle. He sat seriously and watched the videos together with Zhuo Hang.
The two little guys had been working together for a long time and their relationship had improved greatly. Even if Zhuo Hang might not be happy in his heart about Cat G.o.d"s arrangement, Li Xiaojiang was watching the videos so seriously that Zhuo Hang didn"t dare express it.
He watched it many times and made a discovery. He looked back at Li Cangyu and said, "Captain, this Chen Anran plays a terran hunter. It is reasonable to say that his movement speed shouldn"t be faster than an elf hunter. However, I found that when he is setting traps, he is actually faster than his captain Jiang Xu and he is a lot faster than me!"
“Being able to find it means that you are looking carefully." Li Cangyu patted him on the shoulder. "You should figure out the reason yourself."
"Okay!" Zhuo Hang scratched his head and thought carefully. Then Li Xiaojiang suddenly whispered, "Is it because of his hand, hand, hand speed?"
Zhuo Hang"s eyes brightened and he immediately pulled up the game"s statistics panel. Sure enough, Chen Anran"s hand speed actually exceeded 500. This was almost comparable to the great G.o.ds with the best hand speed in the league!
The fastest players in the Miracle League were undoubtedly Ling Xuefeng and Li Cangyu. Their peak outbreak could reach a hand speed of more than 550. Other big captains like Tan s.h.i.tian, Su Guangmo and Lou Wushuang could reach a speed of almost 500. Chen Anran"s hand speed could reach the level of these great G.o.ds. It was no wonder why he won the Most Promising Rookie Award last season.
Zhuo Hang couldn"t help sighing. "This is why he plays a terran hunter. His hand speed is fast enough and he doesn"t need the agility advantage of an elf. A terran hunter might lack speed but he can make up for it with his hand speed. A terran hunter has higher survivability so his hunter is a fast, defensive and highly flexible output."
Li Xiaojiang seriously asked, "B-But don"t skills have cooldowns? How can he become faster by relying on his hand speed?"
Zhuo Hang listened to his stuttered question and couldn"t help smiling. He explained, "Hunters have a difficult method of play called trap cooling. It means that a trap placed by a hunter can reduce the cooldown time of a trap and enhance the damage as long as it successfully captures the prey. In other words, if a hunter"s operation is accurate enough and the traps always capture the prey then in theory, the trap skills can be continuously released without a cooldown."
"Oh!" Li Xiaojiang nodded as he realized. He was silent for a moment before saying doubtfully, "Isn"t, isn"t this just a theory? It should be difficult to actually achieve."
"Yes." Zhuo Hang patiently replied, "At present, the world"s strongest hunter can achieve the seamless connection of common trap skills at key moments. My, cough, my accuracy isn"t high enough. At this point, Chen Anran is much more powerful than me."
Xiao Han heard the conversation between them and couldn"t help interrupting, "Are you actually admitting someone is better than you? This is rare."
Zhuo Hang, "…"
"Youngster, do you have to be so honest? I know it in my heart. Do you need to say it?"
Xiao Han"s words made Zhuo Hang cough with embarra.s.sment a few times. Li Xiaojiang saw this and couldn"t help smiling. Xiao Han"s words were true. Zhuo Hang always said things like, "I am handsome", "I am very good" and "watch my powerful performance." This was the first time he said that someone was better than him.
Zhuo Hang saw Li Xiaojiang smiling and his ears turned red. He glanced at Xiao Han and cried out, "Go practice and stop fooling around!"
Xiao Han made an innocent expression. "I am listening to you speak about the hunter"s trap cooling. Your words are very reasonable."
Zhuo Hang, "…"
Li Cangyu"s fingers were quickly tapping the keyboard but his ears weren"t idle. He heard the words of the teenagers in his ears.
He ignored Xiao Han"s blunt words and was very happy that Zhuo Hang could find Chen Anran"s advantages and admit his own shortcomings.
It seemed that Zhuo Hang"s mentality had changed after working with the sluggish Li Xiaojiang for a long time.
Compared to the initial Zhuo Hang who was proud and looked down on this teammates, this Zhuo Hang was willing to discuss issues and share his experiences with his teammates. It was definitely a great improvement.
The child was proud due to being spoiled but he wasn"t blind to the facts. He only spoke narcissistic words but his heart was calm. The best thing in a match was to recognize the gap between yourself and your opponent. It was only by understanding the opponent"s strength and your weaknesses that it would be possible to find a way to win.
Li Cangyu saw that Zhuo Hang was still watching the video and walked behind him. "If you play with Chen Anran alone, what do you think is the most important thing?"
Zhuo Hang seriously thought about it and replied, "Breaking his rhythm?"
"You have a good understanding." Li Cangyu smiled and confirmed his answer. Then he said, "How do you interrupt your opponent"s fast pace? Come to the arena and fight me. I will personally teach you."
Zhuo Hang excitedly jumped out of his seat. This was the first time that Cat G.o.d would be personally guiding him!
***
Li Cangyu took Zhuo Hang to a corner of the training room and found two free computers. They sat down, opened a side account and created a locked room in human-machine training mode.
Xiao Han, Gu Siming and the others had their own training tasks. They were curious but didn"t dare run around. Li Xiaojiang looked over with a curious expression and Li Cangyu couldn"t help smiling. "Xiaojiang, come here and watch."
Li Xiaojiang was happy and immediately pulled a chair to sit behind Zhuo Hang.
The Miracle human-machine training mode could be set by him. Li Cangyu chose a forest map filled with mobs and also opened a hunter account. It was the first time Zhuo Hang had seen Cat G.o.d playing a hunter.
He thought that Li Cangyu was a master of summoning. Now he was playing a hunter and Zhuo Hang should be able to cope. It turned out that Cat G.o.d might not be a professional hunter but he could rely on his hand speed to give the enemy great trouble!
Trap cooling… this style of play was used by Li Cangyu. Zhuo Hang could only feel dazzled as colourful and beautiful light effects flashed without interruption. The hunter"s traps were placed one by one and the mobs on the ground fell one by one. Cat G.o.d wasn"t playing a hunter, he was simply a bulldozer!
In less than a minute, the nearby mobs were wiped out by Cat G.o.d. Li Xiaojiang looked at the captain with adoration and Zhuo Hang was gobsmacked.
Li Cangyu saw the teenager"s surprised face and patted him on the head. He asked, "Do you understand?"
Zhuo Hang smiled with embarra.s.sment. "…No, it"s too fast."
Li Cangyu explained, "It will be like this against Chen Anran. You will find that his speed isn"t slower than me. He is a full-time hunter and is definitely better at the hunter"s skills. The Cheetah team is strong in team battles because Chen Anran and Jiang Xu will rely on trap cooling to reduce the cooldown and clean up the mobs on the map as quickly as possible. This might not seem terrible but once it acc.u.mulates, their economic benefits will become the highest in the game."
Zhuo Hang suddenly realized. "I understand. He relies on this quick killing method to gain a higher economy and take the advantage?"
Li Cangyu smiled. "Yes, if you want to confront him then you must find a way to interrupt his rhythm."
Zhuo Hang carefully pondered on it. He seemed to understand and seriously gripped his mouse. "Try again!"
Li Cangyu pressed start and the two people entered the dense mob forest map to practice releasing traps.
Zhuo Hang was extremely serious and had a high understanding. It only took him a bit of time to know what to do, making a hint a appreciation form in Li Cangyu"s heart.
Perhaps Zhuo Hang wasn"t as impetuous as he was in the beginning due to the subtle influence of Li Xiaojiang. Now he could calm down and practice this boring and monotonous operation. He had no complaints despite the hours of continuous practice. Li Cangyu"s decision to let him partner with Li Xiaojiang was really correct. The people with opposite personalities had a positive influence on each other. This was a good thing as they could progress together.
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Chapter 174 – Canglan VS Cheetah (Unexpected Selection)
The week pa.s.sed quickly and it was time for the match between Canglan and Cheetah.
After experiencing three losses, Canglan"s popularity dropped severely. Many reporters weren"t optimistic about them. Some reporters even speculated that their initial wins were because many teams didn"t know much about the new team. Now the new team halo had pa.s.sed and they lost three games. This showed that Canglan couldn"t enter the playoffs.
Of course, there were reporters who firmly stood on the side of the Canglan team, writing detailed reports on the three losses. They were optimistic about the growth of the newcomers and insisted that Canglan would win the championship this season.
Regardless of the outside world"s evaluation, Li Cangyu"s att.i.tude was as calm as usual. He rarely appeared in Weibo, showing an att.i.tude of "only playing the game without caring about the outside world."
This time the match between Canglan and Cheetah was scheduled at 3 o"clock on Sunday afternoon. The number of spectators were higher in the afternoon and the audience rating of the broadcast was slightly higher at 80%.
The Cheetah team"s leopard pattern uniform was very distinctive. Their logo was a vigorously running leopard and the whole team seemed imposing as they entered the soundproof room in their uniforms.
This was Canglan"s home court and many fans were wearing the Canglan uniform to cheer for them. Li Cangyu waved to everyone before taking the players to the soundproof room.
In the commentators" room, Yu Bing compiled the information of the two teams and started with a simple introduction of the players. "Audience members, this is the sixth week of the seventh season. It it the Canglan team"s home match against the Cheetah team. Let"s look at the information of both sides."
The audience were very familiar with the eight people of Canglan but many faces in the Cheetah team were new.
Kou Hongyi enthusiastically introduced them. "Cheetah"s captain Jiang Xu is 21 years old and a well-known elf hunter in the Miracle League. The vice-captain Chen Anran is a terran hunter and the winner of last year"s Most Promising Rookie Award. He is only 16 years old and became the vice-captain this season. He is the youngest vice-captain in the league."
Yu Bing continued, "Xiao Chen is a very talented player. He is especially distinctive among the newcomers who joined the league in recent years. Becoming a vice-captain at the age of 16, this is also the first case in the history of the Miracle League."
“Yes, he is really young and promising." Kou Hongyi praised. "He isn"t as sharp as some newcomers and his personality is more introverted. It is said that he is very shy and he hides behind his teammates when asked a question by reporters."
Yu Bing had seen the scene of Chen Anran shrinking back to avoid the reporters and couldn"t help smiling a bit. "Well, he is young and probably isn"t used to being surrounded by reporters."
"For the rest of the eight Cheetah players, there is a necessary front row paladin and back row healer. The remaining six players are four hunters, one a.s.sa.s.sin and one swordsman." Kou Hongyi turned the topic back to the lineup of the team. "This team is dominated by hunters and uses the trap flow system that the rest of the league teams can"t replicate."
Yu Bing nodded. "The trap flow requires a suitable map and isn"t stable enough. Therefore, the Cheetah team"s winning rate at home is high. It is over 70%. However, the winning rate at away matches is less than 30%."
"It is because the captains of other teams will make targeted arrangements against Cheetah. For example, if there isn"t a suitable map then it will be hard for the Cheetah team"s hunters to win against the explosive combination of swordsmen and magicians." Kou Hongyi glanced at the game data and said, "Last week, Cheetah won 2:1 against Red Fox at home. This week I think the Cheetah team"s winning percentage isn"t large. After all, Cat G.o.d can choose three arena games or select a difficult map. Sister Bing, what do you think?"
Yu Bing calmly answered, "It isn"t necessarily the case. I can"t guess Cat G.o.d"s tactical thinking."
***
In the soundproof room, both teams quickly debugged their equipment. After the referee gave the signal, Li Cangyu submitted the mode for today"s match.
Three team battles?
The audience"s eyes widened with surprise and even Yu Bing was speechless.
Everyone knew that Cheetah was strong in team battles. Once the four hunters joined forces, they would set down many traps. They would often send three hunters plus an a.s.sa.s.sin or swordsman and use the hunter"s traps to fight the opponent. Then the a.s.sa.s.sin/swordsman would finish off the harvest.
Canglan"s chances of winning in the arena were very high. There was the Shu Bai combination and Cat G.o.d and his apprentice combination. There was no need to be afraid of double hunters. Why did Li Cangyu choose three team battles?
Many people on Weibo wrote: [Cat G.o.d, why do you want do die? What are you thinking?] [Does Cat G.o.d want the achievement of four continuous losses?] [Cat G.o.d"s mind isn"t something that stupid humans can understand…]
The comments exploded when Li Cangyu submitted the lineup for the first team battle.
Gu Siming, Xiao Han, Xie Shurong, Bai Xuan, Zhuo Hang and Zhang Jueming.
Li Xiaojiang not playing was in line with everyone"s expectations but Li Cangyu wasn"t playing. This made many viewers who came to watch the game disappointed. The professional players watching on TV couldn"t help feeling admiration. Cat G.o.d was giving an opportunity to Old Zhang!
After submitting the list, Li Cangyu walked calmly back to his seat. The Cheetah team submitted the cla.s.sic trap flow lineup of a paladin, a healer and four hunters.
Now it was up to his teammates. Li Cangyu believed that after this week"s devil training, Zhuo Hang and Zhang Jueming could impress everyone!
The command of the game was given to Zhang Jueming. After the six players sat down, the indicator light turned on at Zhang Jueming"s seat. The referee opened the command channel and Zhang Jueming skillfully moved the mouse to select a map.
The map he chose was the Beast Tribe.
It was obvious by the name but this was the land of beasts. In Miracle, the beast race always lived in ancient forests. The forests were full of dense and towering trees with various animals in the forest. The Beast Tribe map had dense trees and dim lighting.
This map wasn"t high in difficulty compared to the kill map of Endless Sea or the deceleration map of Ice Valley. There was no map effect and it could be regarded as a conventional mountain forest map. However, the dense trees was the highest among all mountain forest maps.
Yu Bing summed it up in one sentence. "This is the Cheetah team"s most commonly used map."
There was no expression on her face but she was clearly shocked by Cat G.o.d"s decisions.
It was a home match but he chose the other team"s favourite map!
Kou Hongyi was silent for a moment before he touched his nose. "Canglan actually chose the map that the Cheetah team loves the most. I really can"t understand this decision. Is it to train the newcomers? Is there a need to fight like this? If they lost another game then the playoffs will be in danger. Canglan"s current ranking is worrying."
Yu Bing was also silent for a moment until the two teams refreshed on the map. "Let"s pay attention to the performance of both sides. Perhaps there is a special intention behind choosing the Beast Tribe map?"
Li Cangyu sat under the stage and smiled. This smile made many audience members guess that Cat G.o.d had a special trick.
Ling Xuefeng frowned slightly in front of the TV. This extreme practice was truly b.l.o.o.d.y. He guessed that Li Cangyu wanted to test Zhuo Hang and deliberately chose a map that was beneficial to the opponents.
However, Ling Xuefeng believed that Li Cangyu wouldn"t be bold enough to choose Beast Tribe three times. The audience guessed wrong. The first game was just an appetizer while the true focus would be the last two games!
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