When Bai Yu first met Cao Xinzhi, he thought this guy was pretty shy. He didn’t expect that after playing in LPL for a few years, he’d also become a slick talker.
Bai Yu spoke with disdain, but his tone was affectionate: “Talking without watching the situation, I’ll definitely deal with him later.”
Fang Zhixu suddenly blinked beside him and leaned in toward Bai Yu, “Captain, if Cao Xinzhi’s contract also expires, will you still sign me?”
Bai Yu knew what he was thinking and teased him: “No.”
Fang Zhixu looked at him plaintively, “Captain, I’ve been so obedient, and you’re still not satisfied, do you really want me to sleep under your bed…”
Bai Yu surrendered quickly, “Okay okay okay, I’ll sign you, I’ll sign you. Do you know how expensive your transfer fee is? Ahwen’s heart still bleeds every time he sees you, but luckily you’re obedient, so the money wasn’t wasted…”
Fang Zhixu immediately lying beside Bai Yu’s hand, “I knew Captain liked me the most.”
Xu Bo was sitting next to them. Hearing his voice made his whole body get goosebumps, “Fang Zhixu, aren’t you disgusting? So old and still acting cutesy?”
Fang Zhixu blinked and said, “I’m younger than you, Xu-ge.”
That “Xu-ge” instantly made Xu Bo bristle, rolling up his sleeves, swearing he’d beat him up.
Luckily Bai Yu was in between to stop him, “Alright, tomorrow is our first match, everyone head to the meeting room.”
RAG’s first opponent was DT. This match was important. Why?
Because DT was the recognized playoff gatekeeper. Every time the regular season ended, they would just miss the playoffs at ninth place. So there was always a saying in the scene: only the team that beats DT qualifies for playoffs.
Bai Yu’s goal was clear.
“We must win this match, and win clean, not giving them a single point. This affects our final ranking against DT.”
He underlined the key point on the blackboard with a pen, “The reason DT wants to sign Fang Zhixu this year is because their former jungler is seriously injured, and they urgently need a new jungler to share the pressure. We’ve met them many times in scrims. Their new jungler’s weaknesses are obvious. The starter hasn’t changed either, so I suspect they’re going to use a double-jungle system this year.”
The so-called double-jungle system is to change playstyle by rotating junglers, which many teams do. This meant that Fang Zhixu’s test was about to begin.
Lu Sheng rested his head on his hand, looking at Bai Yu on stage with a slight smile, not a hint of fear in his eyes, even a trace of hidden anticipation.
—
Soon it was the next day. This was RAG’s debut match, and also DT’s debut match. Both sides wanted to make a statement in this game that neither would give in.
DT immediately locked in the meta-strong jungler, who was also their old jungler’s best champion: Maokai.
This guy’s playstyle was steady, the stabilizing anchor of the team. This time he got Maokai, a rhythm-stable champion, no matter what they picked afterward, it was rock solid.
But Bai Yu also had his stabilizing anchor.
“God Shi, how about you take Shen this game?”
Shen’s ultimate is a support skill. No matter who gets CC’d by Maokai, Shen’s ult could save their life. With this, they balanced out the matchup.
But soon after, DT revealed Camille. Even the casters smelled something off.
“Maokai’s a trap, RAG might’ve fallen for it.”
Originally Shen could counter jungle Maokai well, but with Camille as the top laner, things changed instantly. Her ultimate could forcibly interrupt Shen’s ultimate, and if Maokai didn’t gank other lanes and instead focused top, then Chen Shi’an’s Shen would become a punching bag.
[Wow! The tension is thick!]
[DT’s is solid, heavy counter!]
[My poor God Shi just returned and you’re already doing him like this!]
[Please let the elderly be…]
But at that moment, Bai Yu slightly curled his lips.
“Who exactly fell for the trap?”
Before the match even started, top streamer Brother Dong went live to broadcast the game. He was an old legend in the esports scene, once the dominant top laner. Even after retirement, he had massive connections and ran a booming investment business. Streaming was just a side hustle.
After DT picked Maokai, he said, “If Chen Shi’an takes Shen, he’ll definitely lose.”
Sure enough, just as he predicted, DT followed up with Camille, locking Chen Shi’an in the top lane.
Just as he was trashing RAG as a trash group, RAG locked in Galio and Nocturne. Both champions had global ultimates to support top. This meant that DT’s Maokai didn’t dare gank Chen Shi’an anymore, because once RAG’s mid and jungle supported, Maokai’s damage wouldn’t be enough, and they’d lose the fight no matter what.
The situation reversed instantly.
[Wow! Global comp!]
[RAG’s comp is insane!]
[DT is completely confused hahaha]
[Bai Yu’s idea is god-tier!]
Brother Dong quickly changed his tone: “Taking Shen doesn’t necessarily mean losing, teammates can also support.”
The bullet chat roared with laughter. But after laughing, they saw RAG pick Tahm Kench, and suddenly no one was laughing anymore. Because they suddenly realized something terrifying. RAG was playing a full global comp.
A global comp means full-map support. No matter where a teamfight starts, they can instantly bring all five members. Shen’s ult can teleport to any teammate and give a shield. Galio’s ult flies to allies and knocks up nearby enemies, can cross half the map. Nocturne’s ult dives into enemies from far away. And the support, Tahm Kench, his powerful W lets him dive underground with a teammate to anywhere, meaning Bai Yu could take Qi Yi to support any lane.
This created a strange situation. DT didn’t dare teamfight at all. But Maokai was picked to teamfight. DT’s faces changed instantly.
They had analyzed the standings before the match. SG had now fallen to the bottom, opening up a playoff spot. As long as they beat RAG in the regular season, the two teams would form a win/loss tie, giving DT a high chance of edging out RAG for playoffs.
So they were dead set on winning this game. But before the match even began, they’d already lost in this line up.
[Interesting, this match is interesting.]
[I didn’t expect sparks to fly between these two teams, so funny.]
[Heard that in scrims, DT and RAG had similar win rates, probably fighting for the same playoff spot. This match determines the tiebreak.]
[Wait, RAG’s win rate is similar to DT? Didn’t they sign Lu Sheng.]
[So what if they did? No time to build synergy.]
[All six members are newly signed. Can you believe it?]
[Even the coach is a rookie…]
[Honestly, RAG’s just a makeshift crew now, not even a real system. How do they compete with established teams?]
[Ah, LPL is harder than I thought.]
The match started soon, and just as predicted. DT didn’t just avoid teamfighting RAG, they had to run. Maokai couldn’t outfarm Fang Zhixu, couldn’t gank either. Soon the jungle was invaded, rhythm fell apart. After a few waves, when they opened the gold panel, Fang Zhixu was already five camps ahead, a full level above…
This gap stunned the audience. Though Bai Yu’s idea was genius, Fang Zhixu’s individual skill was undeniably strong.
Brother Dong commented: “If they keep playing like this, DT might as well surrender.”
Of course DT wouldn’t just sit and lose. They really cared about this match. Maokai gave up the bot-side jungle and tried to use Fang Zhixu’s farming time to surprise gank Chen Shi’an.
Camille ults first, Maokai follows up, and just when they were about to kill Chen Shi’an, a giant ult dropped from the sky, knocking them all up.
It was Lu Sheng.
Somehow, even though he was just playing Galio, the moment he landed, they had the urge to run away. And they were right. Lu Sheng’s aggression was terrifying. With Phase Rush active, he landed and slammed a massive combo. Their Camille’s HP dropped instantly.
His damage was insane, and the skill combo speed was ridiculous. At this rate, they were all going to die. Camille instinctively tried to trade kills with Chen Shi’an. Just as she dropped her second-phase ult kick, a river appeared underfoot, and Tahm Kench leapt out of it.
The entire arena was fired up, and the commentator shouted, "It’s Tahm coming to top lane"
At that time, when Fang Zhixu wanted to take the lower jungle, he told Bai Yu about it: "I’m going to take the enemy jungle. Maokai will definitely go top for a strong gank."
Bai Yu made a snap decision: "I’ll recall now and go support top."
So he and Qi Yi fought a high-stakes 2v2 with the enemy. Both sides ended up low HP and recalled. No one expected Bai Yu, who had been protecting Qi Yi all this time, to suddenly go top to support at that moment, catching the enemy completely off guard.
Bai Yu’s arrival was perfectly timed. He tunneled to Chen Shi’an’s feet and arrived at the frontline, and just as the enemy’s damage was about to instantly kill Shen, he opened his huge mouth and swallowed him, forcefully saving the low-HP Chen Shi’an.
Chen Shi’an smiled and said, "Thanks."
He waited for cooldowns and skill windows, climbed out from Tahm’s mouth, landed a taunt, and, together with Lu Sheng’s damage, counter-killed the bronze shadow.
At this point, Maokai faced two choices: either retreat, or trade one for Chen Shi’an.
He originally planned to back off, but Lu Sheng was too bloodthirsty, landing a taunt that rooted him in place and blocked his escape path, forcing him to trade for Chen Shi’an.
Without hesitation, he flashed in and landed a root.
By then, Bai Yu had already arrived at the battlefield. First, a Tongue Lash to slow the enemy, then he chased and triggered his full passive, swallowed the enemy whole, and dragged them into the abyss of death. Maokai couldn’t even move and was finished off by Lu Sheng.
A game they had the upper hand in ended with two players being counter-killed by RAG. DT looked like the sky was falling. Who said their coordination was bad? This coordination was godlike.
[Didn’t they say RAG’s synergy was bad? I think their teamwork is pretty good.]
[No idea, my friend said RAG’s scrims were a mess and they’ve already been kicked out of the strong team tier in LPL.]
[Mainly they just formed the team, so it’s normal for their coordination to be poor, right?]
[These players all have very strong personal styles, it’s hard for them to compromise, but I believe Bai Yu will find a way to tame them.]
[Bai Yu never had trouble adapting, right? When he first joined TG, he worked well with two different ADs. Look at Xu Bo and Qi Yi. Most teams fear poor synergy in the bot lane and don’t even have substitute ADs, but Bai Yu is different, he dares to play with two ADs at once.]
[I don’t know about scrims, I only know they’re playing great this match.]
[Were the scrims staged?]
[Hiss... now that you mention it, it’s very possible...]
At this moment, watching from the lounge, Song Bo was wiping the sweat off his forehead like crazy: No, really, it wasn’t staged...
The reason this wave was played so well was entirely due to Lu Sheng’s insane reaction speed, plus Bai Yu’s wide vision, making it a seamless combo.
Before the match, Bai Yu had already said not to show weaknesses to the opponent. That’s why he let Fang Zhixu invade the enemy jungle and went to top to support. If it had been Fang Zhixu instead, who knows how the coordination would’ve turned out.
Qi Yi in the bot lane was leaving Bai Yu for the first time, but his long-time solo habits gave him strong survival instincts. Even a Q-flash combo from the enemy couldn’t control him. He flashed out and escaped under his tower.
[Damn, this rookie’s reaction speed?]
[He dodged that Q-flash combo? That was in blind vision...]
[I dare say 90% of LPL ADs couldn’t dodge that.]
[Our little baby’s hand speed is just that fast!]
[This is the little genius who dragged OT to sixth place. If he hadn’t left, OT would be eating at the table this year.]
[Now I understand what godlike hand speed means.]
After this play, DT’s win rate dropped at least 10%, and everyone soon noticed something even scarier. Fang Zhixu was two levels ahead of the enemy jungler.
What does that mean? It’s like the enemy jungler AFKed for five minutes. Once Fang Zhixu starts taking resources, DT might as well surrender.
—.
As the match neared its end, Fang Zhixu had already taken three drakes and six scuttlers. DT had no ability to contest resources and could only watch the enemy devour their resources, invade their territory, and destroy their towers.
Come to think of it, this game was lost the moment the line up were locked in. Bai Yu was like a strategist sitting above the board, controlling the whole field.
When they locked in Maokai, their fate was already sealed.
Under the high-definition camera, Bai Yu gave a slight smile. DT’s Nexus shattered, declaring defeat.
This match was even more exciting than anyone imagined. not just in mechanics, but in the clash of strategies. It was only after this clash that everyone realized Bai Yu’s algorithm had been crushing the opponents all along.
While everyone was busy discussing the teammates he signed, Bai Yu had already, from an unremarkable corner, used his algorithm to bring a massive advantage to the team.
[Hahaha, I just realized the support was Bai Yu!]
[Bai Yu, that’s the Bai Yu.]
[I never doubted Bai Yu’s gold content.]
[Even those two nobodies from SG could make it to the table with Bai Yu, and someone still doubts him?]
[I feel like someone needs to apologize to Bai Yu.]
[SG fans, go apologize now! Without him, you guys are nothing!]
[I got misled by the barrage too, focusing only on Qi Yi, but actually the match was won in the BP phase.]
[But Qi Yi also played amazingly! Super fun to watch!]
[The jungler wrecked the enemy.]
[God Shi is insane too. after two years of retirement, he is still so stable.]
[While no one noticed, our little Qi Yi was quietly grinding away! (starry eyes)]
[Wow, watching from Bai Yu’s perspective suddenly makes the game so much more exciting.]
[Bai Yu: So this is what changing teammates feels like?] [Laughs in victory...]
RAG’s form truly shocked DT. But after the match, with the help of the coaching staff, they slowly came to realize that Bai Yu had been deliberately avoiding high-frequency coordination.
“We scrimmed them three times. Their jungler’s mobility is extremely high. It’s actually too high, which messes up synergy with the top laner. This game he picked Nocturne just to hide the flaws in their coordination, so they didn’t dare compete with us on coordination.” The coach spoke with confidence, every word making sense.
They understood the logic — the problem was, who the hell had the ability to shake Chen Shi’an?
Even if they could, their top-jungle indeed had coordination issues, but they still had Lu Sheng… Mid lane truly felt hopeless. “He’s playing Galio and still dishing out that much damage. Are we really his match?”
Back on the Rift, DT was under immense pressure. This was RAG’s side-select game. Right off the bat, they snatched Maokai for Chen Shi’an, completely killing DT’s tactics...
DT put in a new jungler this round, hoping to crack Chen Shi’an’s defense with aggressive plays, but a veteran top laner with ten years of experience simply doesn’t give any openings.
By midgame, the situation was clear. DT couldn’t break through Chen Shi’an at all. Lu Sheng was lurking mid, Fang Zhixu was always ready to pounce, and the moment he saw a chance, he’d burrow in and snowball the lead. Qi Yi hadn’t even started yet, and DT was already overwhelmed.
Brother Dong shook his head as he watched, basically confirming: “DT’s done. Their tactics have been completely dismantled by RAG.”
At this moment, the barrage was still talking about the scrims. Some said RAG may have faked their scrims, others claimed the win was just luck.
As a veteran player who’d been in the scene for over ten years, Brother Dong knew all too well, “First of all, there’s no such thing as match-fixing in scrims, okay? They’re scrims, the point is to probe the opponent’s strength. Maybe you hold back some tactics, but as players, you definitely go all out. Also, let me break it down: scrims are mostly for practicing champs and drafts. There’s a lot of randomness. Wins and losses are totally normal. RAG is a brand new team. All their tactics need trial and error. Now that they’ve tested them in scrims, Bai Yu pretty much knows his teammates’ weaknesses. Once on stage, he avoids them. Got it?”
The barrage was a bit stunned hearing this, and started chattering again. A lot of people watching Bai Yu for the first time were really shocked, they thought a support just did coordination, never imagined he could dominate the game.
Brother Dong had watched Bai Yu grow up and knew clearly: “Bai Yu isn’t your average pick. I’ve said this so many times. His time in SG wasn’t great because the team didn’t give him full decision-making power, so he couldn’t use his strengths. Now RAG is a team he built himself, and he has even more authority than when he was at TG. Just watch, he’ll bring out things that’ll drop your jaw.”
These days, teams usually give the coach all the power. It’s really rare for a player to hold the reins.
Someone in the barrage asked: [He only plays support. Won’t his decisions be limited? Only the coach should have a full view of the game, right?]
Brother Dong shook his head. He wasn’t Bai Yu’s shill; he was just voicing his honest opinion: 'Bai Yu is definitely not just a support player. His understanding of the other four roles might be even deeper than the ones who actually play them. What the coach can see, he can see. What the coach can’t see, he can also see. Back when he was in TG, a lot of teams didn’t even dare scrim with them. Why? Because he always saw more than his opponents. Whoever scrimmed with him, lost out. This training match was the best proof.'
The livestream chat grew even more chaotic, they truly hadn’t expected this. Everyone thought RAG had taken a big loss, but it turns out they were just using scrims as a springboard!
Some fully believed Brother Dong’s words, deeply impressed by Bai Yu. Others thought he was exaggerating and sat back waiting for RAG to flop.
At this point, the match also came to an end. DT’s new jungler lacked experience and got completely played by Fang Zhixu. He also couldn’t hold up in lane and ended up losing even faster than last week. RAG ultimately won 2:0 against DT.
Both matches had Fang Zhixu dominating the enemy jungler and earning MVP. Lu Sheng had the highest damage output, and Chen Shi'an tanked the most damage. As for bot lane, they hadn’t even started exerting force before the game was won. This was something few people expected before the match.
After it was over, many changed their views of RAG including several teams, who immediately spent the night rethinking their strategies after watching the match.
The game ended with both sides shaking hands amicably.
In both matches, Fang Zhixu crushed the enemy jungler and won MVP. So this time Bai Yu arranged for him to attend the post-match interview.
With his pink hair and fair skin, he looked clearly delighted like a little dog wagging its tail. No matter what question the host asked, he insisted on praising Bai Yu first: 'Ah, it’s mainly because of our captain. Our captain is so amazing, that’s why I was able to get this MVP. Mm, I just really want to praise our captain. Sometimes I think he’s super smart. Without him, I wouldn’t even know what to do...'
Host: ???
Should I just interview your captain instead?
[Hahaha what’s with the pink hair?]
[Team... team treasure boy?]
[Help, he’s seriously so cute, it should be illegal!]
[Someone actually thinks Fang Zhixu is cute...?]
[Fanbase really changed, anyone watching matches knows Fang Zhixu is the worst.]
[Wuwuwu he’s just the team’s treasure boy, what did he do wrong!]
Meanwhile in the lounge watching the interview, Bai Yu: "......"
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