Nirvana Top Laner, Reborn Tokyo Girl

Chapter 183, Question 180: What is the strongest?
From beginning to end, no one felt that the CFO was the one who shouldn't have won or couldn't win.

No one thinks that CFO is a team that shouldn't have won against T1.

Whether it's the previous championship or the pre-match public opinion, it gives everyone a certain amount of confidence in this team.

However, this confidence is undermined when the opponent is T1.

'I feel like winning is possible, but it will probably go the distance.'

"I feel like either side could win. It depends on Dolan's form and whether he can hold his own against Shimamura today."

Such comments were common before the match.

Basically, people are more optimistic about T1.

Even if the CFO wins the Pioneer Tournament, it's the same.

after all
As mentioned before, all the teams participating in the Pioneer Tournament were rotten maggots and none of them made it to MSI.

Your CFO winning against these maggots is completely unconvincing.

Therefore, people do not believe that the CFO can crush T1, nor do they believe that the CFO will have an advantage against T1.

Everyone thinks that a 50/50 chance is ideal.

However, what defied everyone's conventional wisdom was...
The CFO not only won, but won in such a dominant manner.

Yuna Shimamura's performance in the second match was also very satisfying.

To put it bluntly, many people come to watch CFO and become fans of CFO not because of the quality of the team.

After all, how could a team from the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan wildcard region have any fans?

Even if there are some local fans, how many are there?

Everyone came because of Shimamura Yuna.

Without Shimamura Yuna, no matter how many times you win, no one cares. Everyone only cares whether Shimamura Yuna can perform brilliantly and carry the game.

From this perspective, the second game of this match was clearly much more interesting than the first.

Compared to the first game where Shimamura Yuna was carried to victory in the top lane, the second game better showcased her unique value to the team.

The commentators on stage immediately started praising it.

"This match clearly shows that Shimamura Yuna truly has a unique value to this team."

"It is undeniable that in the second stage, the CFO team as a whole looked much stronger than in the first stage. The team as a whole looked better than in the first stage, and it even gave people the feeling that Shimamura Yuna was no longer such a necessary figure for this team."

"However, this match showed us that she is still essential. When her teammates perform well, she is the most reliable player who can create an economic advantage in the top lane. And when her teammates don't perform well, she can step up as the key player to break the deadlock."

"Shimamura Yuna! She is the absolute embodiment of individual heroism!"

"Indeed, I remember we were talking about how Jayce, with a TP advantage, might be able to make a difference in the dragon fight. We were also saying that Doran needed to do his best to keep an eye on Shimamura and prevent her from running around. But what we didn't expect was that Shimamura would kill you first, then come down to fight – the best choice for both of you!"

"Yes, this is the best demonstration of Shimamura Yuna's personal strength. She is indeed one of the best players in the entire competition right now."

The commentator's praise sounded a bit exaggerated.

However, this is what the audience wants to hear, or rather, this is what the audience is thinking.

The reason why Yuna Shimamura has become one of the most popular and well-liked players in the world is definitely not because she is a female player.

Beyond being a female contestant, she also possesses a charm that can be felt even without gender.

This allure is now propelling the entire team toward even greater heights.

After winning the second game, all the CFOs returned to the training room, where the atmosphere was exceptionally relaxed.

Public opinion not only affects the mindset of the audience, but also the mindset of the team members.

It's not just the audience who think "T1 might be a tough opponent," but the CFO team members feel the same way.

The contestants are also human beings; they also go online, and they are also affected by the gossip of others.

When the whole world says "T1 is not an easy opponent to beat", they themselves will have similar thoughts, feel uneasy and afraid, and be afraid of the urban legend that "T1 is very strong in BO5".

This was especially true for CFO and T1, who had no practice matches before the tournament.

Before the group stage began, both sides already knew that, according to the group rules of this competition, as long as T1 could enter the knockout stage, they would almost certainly run into CFO, so it was impossible for them to play scrims together.

Although the two teams have a good relationship, they still need to maintain a basic level of discretion.

The result is that they lack practice matches, have an information gap, and are unaware of each other's recent form.

In this situation, the CFO of a wildcard team is actually at a psychological disadvantage.

However, after actually playing two matches, they were finally able to relax completely.

"Hey, does T1 seem weak too? They seem to be in a bad state."

"That's true, they're not as good as when they were playing practice matches against us before."

"I feel like their performance in recent practice matches hasn't been quite right."

They could all clearly feel that victory in this BO5 series was within their grasp.

Simultaneously
'We definitely seem to be one of the favorites to win this competition.'

'Even T1 is no match for us.'

This idea also strongly stimulated everyone.

However, T1's resilience in BO5 matches is indeed as terrifying as an urban legend.

Playing against this team, unless you win the last game decisively and kill the game completely, you'll have a sense of panic that "we might be turned around soon" or "we might be caught up soon".

To kill this sense of panic.

Now they just want to win the last game as soon as possible.

So the game continued.

It must be said that T1 is indeed a team with a rich history.

When everyone thought "it's going to be a 3-0 victory today" and "T1 is going to be shut out", T1 still managed to win a game back after the third round.

In this third game, T1 still showed their resilience as a veteran Korean champion team, picking the amazing Galio + Zed mid-jungle combination.

Faker was in a slump in the first two games, unable to beat HongQ in lane and his support was no more effective than HongQ's.

However, after picking Galio, he seemed to undergo a complete transformation.

It's as if since S7, Faker's Galio has become his most signature and typical champion.

Strong team fight control, ample support capabilities, and relatively high tankiness for a mage-type character.

This is a characteristic of the hero Galio.

Furthermore, when paired with Faker, a player who has been playing League of Legends for over a decade, won five World Championships, and whose awareness and overall game sense have reached the pinnacle of the game, the inherent characteristics of the Galio character are amplified infinitely by his awareness and overall game sense.

All the decline was swept away as soon as he acquired Galio.

Laning, damage output, teamfight control, and roaming support – Faker truly excelled in every aspect of this game.

Yuna Shimamura chose the wolf mother in this game.

She's good at playing this hero, but if we're talking about her own gameplay, it's just average, nothing special.

However, given the hero attrition in two consecutive games and the fact that Yorick is still banned, there aren't many better options than this character.

She picked the Wolf Mother champion and still performed well in the laning phase, completely dominating Doran.

However, Faker's strong performance overshadowed her Wolf Mother.

After two quiet games, T1 fans were finally able to cheer loudly in this game.

One after another, colossal figures of justice descended from the sky.

Punches and gusts of wind, one after another.

Faker, who seemed weak and exhausted, appeared to rediscover his strongest and most confident self when he picked up this champion.

The Great Demon King is back.

Yuna Shimamura felt that she had done everything she could to create opportunities.

However, Faker's Galio truly exemplified what a wall of defense is.

It has output, control, support, and tankiness.

He exemplified what a true, perfect hero is.

One small team fight after another that seemed to give the CFO an advantage was thwarted by Faker's individual performance.

Thus, after a series of team fight losses, the outcome of the match inevitably turned in favor of T1.

The CFO, who had been elated and confident of victory in the previous game, felt as if he had been doused with a bucket of cold water after losing this game.

It's not that we can't lose.

It's not that defeat is unacceptable.

After all, they have a two-point advantage, so there is still room for error.

However, when the opponent is T1 and Faker, this panic and anxiety will be amplified uncontrollably.

Losing just one game makes people wonder: are we going to get swept 3-2?

Whenever Faker performs well, people start to think: Has Faker regained his form?

It's not that the CFO is overreacting.

Such things have precedents.

T1 is in poor form, T1 makes a series of blunders, T1 is forced into a desperate situation, and T1 gives a victory speech.

Such incidents are a common occurrence in the history of League of Legends esports.

The CFO is terrified that he will once again become the backdrop for T1's great comeback.

In particular, T1's momentum looks pretty strong.

If they were to lose 2-0 and then come back to win 3-2, the CFO's mentality would probably completely collapse.

Therefore, it was obvious to the naked eye that after the game ended and everyone returned to the rest room, the atmosphere of the team was completely different.

The group went from being carefree and nonchalant in the previous game to becoming serious and tense.

"No, Faker is playing too well, he's in such good form. We feel we need to be more cautious in the next two games."

"T1's form has improved, but we can't underestimate them; we must stay focused."

"This match is very important to us. Before the match, we did consider the possibility of losing, but now that we have a 2-0 lead, we can't afford to lose."

"The moment we took a 2-0 lead, for us, the only acceptable result in this match was winning, do you understand?"

The coach continued to put pressure on the other players in the locker room.

Yuna Shimamura understood what he was trying to say.

"Losing a best-of-five series after taking a 2-0 lead is more devastating to our mentality than losing a normal game, so we can't afford to lose."

That's what he meant.

However, right now, the more he says these things, the more nervous the team members will become, and the less afraid they will be to lose.

But Shimamura Yuna had long understood a principle.

That is.
The more afraid you are of losing, the more likely you are to lose.

Only by completely letting go and not caring about the outcome can you unleash your full potential.

Coach Chawy was probably too hasty at the time and didn't pay much attention to his tone of voice.

His remarks have already placed a real psychological burden on the players.

Thinking of this, she stopped the coach from speaking further.

"Alright, that's enough. Let's stop creating an atmosphere of anxiety."

Shimamura Yuna's tone unusually carried a hint of impatience and dissatisfaction.

This startled the other team members, and the rest room fell silent almost instantly.

Although Shimamura Yuna is a core member of the team, she has a gentle personality, doesn't like to argue with people, and doesn't care about her say in the team.

Therefore, they usually give people the impression of being easygoing and unlikely to have conflicts with others.

When her teammates argue, she's always the one who tries to smooth things over.

But this never means that she has no status in the team, nor does it mean that she has little say.

When a normally mild-mannered and calm senior member of the team suddenly speaks in a somewhat impatient tone, it basically means that he is in a very bad mood.

Realizing this, everyone became tense.

This tension even momentarily overshadowed the fear of the T1 team and the superstitious belief in the urban legend of T1's brutal performance in BO5 matches.

They all turned their heads, staring intently at Shimamura Yuna, trying to see what she wanted to say.

Then, Shimamura Yuna spoke up: "Your current reaction is completely unacceptable."

"We were leading by two points, and we played quite well before, but as soon as T1 showed signs of recovery, we started to lose our composure."

"What is this? Is it cowardice? Is it admitting that you can only beat T1 when they're not in good form and can't even compare to wildcard teams? Do you think you're invincible once T1 returns to their normal form?"

"If that's the kind of thinking you have, then it's really ugly."

"If you don't have the determination to overcome the past, what's the point of winning against a depleted T1 team? Can you beat AL? Can you beat GENG? Such a half-hearted attitude is just too embarrassing."

"The team that wins the championship is undoubtedly the strongest. But do you really understand what 'strongest' means?"

(End of this chapter)