Chapter 1597: A Good But Unsustainable Game

Mo Fan suddenly went aggressive. To outsiders, it seemed to simply be a different choice due to the circumstances, a change in tempo. But to Happy, it was another breakthrough for Mo Fan.

Mo Fan had grown as a scrap picker. His instinct was to prioritize his survival, now and in the past. His entire play style revolved around survival.

In his previous matches, there were times when he rushed his opponent, but this sort of blow for blow combat was mostly out of helplessness. However, his decision to trade Exploding Flame Dragon for Fire Wave Slash was a proactive choice. This was a step forward towards his future.

Turn around and go again!

The moment Deception touched the ground, he immediately turned around to attack again. He threw a Shuriken to open up a path and quickly formed hand seals.

Ninjutsu – Hundred Streams

Hundreds of streams of water rushed towards Jiang Botao’s Empty Waves, but the distance was a bit far. Empty Waves was able to dodge it with ease. However, in that time, Deception turned into a blur and suddenly appeared in front of him.

Ninjutsu – Flickering Pursuit!

Ninjutsu – Bird Fall!

Annihilation!

Attack attack attack! Mo Fan suddenly became extremely aggressive. It was as if he had become a different person. Even if it could be considered a breakthrough, it felt rather exaggerated.

Undaunted by dangers, he attacked furiously.

At this point, even his teammates on Happy felt surprised at Mo Fan’s sudden shift in mentality, let alone Jiang Botao.

Deception weaved forward, backwards, to the side, from above, from below, all around Empty Waves, searching everywhere he could for an opening to attack. Empty Waves seemed to be at a loss. Jiang Botao was clearly caught off guard.

Samsara had obviously studied their opponents in the finals, and stand-out players like Mo Fan, who had clear and defined playstyles, were relatively easier to grasp. In the first game in the finals, Mo Fan hadn’t given them much trouble. It had only been three days since then, yet it was almost like he was a different person. They had never seen him play this way in the finals, in the semifinals, in the regular season. It just had to be now!

“Nice! Beautiful!!!” Chen Guo cheered.

“Yeah, good job!!” Ye Xiu nodded his head.

What he saw wasn’t just Mo Fan doing what he had never done before. What he saw was Mo Fan’s purpose and goal.

For someone like him who prioritized survival, why would he suddenly charge in aggressively all of a sudden? Because he noticed that Jiang Botao’s Empty Waves currently had no skills available to use. Spellblade skills were powerful, but their cooldowns were long. Not caring about combos was hard for normal players, but for pro players, it was worse for a Spellblade to overuse their skills to continue a combo.

To produce a combo, attacks needed to be chained together fast enough. However, for Spellblades, if they tried to chain their skills together that fast, their cooldowns wouldn’t be able to keep up and soon, they would have no skills left to use.

To guarantee that there were always skills that could be used, classes like Spellblades could not pursue these types of long and flashy combos.

Jiang Botao had performed this type of combo in this match though. The spectators had been in awe watching it, even singing their vice-captain’s song. However, the pro players knew what this thirty-hit Spellblade combo would entail. Mo Fan had caught on, choosing to rush down Jiang Botao, doing what he didn’t like to do.

Jiang Botao hadn’t expected this to happen. He had performed that combo in order to stir the crowd. How could he not know that their fans were downcast after Zhou Zekai’s defeat?

If he could take out Ye Xiu beautifully, he could boost their morale. Unfortunately, he failed. Instead, Ye Xiu’s Lord Grim used his 4% to take out his 24%. The crowd’s morale sunk even lower.

As a result, when he fought against Mo Fan, he did a risky Spellblade combo.

The reason that he took this risk was because he reckoned that Mo Fan wouldn’t seize the opening that came afterwards. That player would always play his own way, refusing to interact with his opponent, regardless if it was for better or for worse.

But he was wrong. Not only did Mo Fan take advantage of the opening, he was very decisive, staking everything on it.

Mo Fan still hadn’t opened up to interacting with his teammates, but he had opened a new page on the stage.

Mo Fan went all out, showing a fighting strength that he had never shown before. Jiang Botao did his best to defend.

He’s playing beautifully!

Ye Xiu agreed with Chen Guo. But… beautiful wasn’t enough.

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Mo Fan had taken advantage of the opening, but he wasn’t able to fully utilize it. He knew that Jiang Botao didn’t have many skills he could use, but he also couldn’t finish the battle here. Jiang Botao just needed to defend himself until his skills came back off cooldown, but did Mo Fan have a way to fight his opponent once those skills came off cooldown? Could take it another step and adjust his mentality to hold on to his current advantage?

It looked like he didn’t…

In the end, he lacked experience.

Mo Fan was able to seize this opportunity, but he wasn’t able to fully take advantage of it. He could burst, but he didn’t have the control to maintain a drawn-out offense.

To do the latter, he needed to have a deeper understanding of his opponent and his opponent’s class.

Happy had, of course, analyzed Jiang Botao. At this point, Mo Fan had a good understanding of every class in Glory, but for right now, it wasn’t enough.

He had created an advantageous situation for himself, but he didn’t have the experience to maintain it. It was unfortunate, but it showed hope for the future.

He lost.

In the end, Mo Fan lost.

Jiang Botao had only been caught off guard for an instant. He quickly regained his footing. Even though he hadn’t been able to retaliate much, he was able to stabilize the situation. Then, once his skills came off cooldown, he started his counterattack. In the end, he was able to gain back the upper hand and beat Mo Fan.

However, Empty Waves only had 11% of his health left. This outcome was far worse than Jiang Botao had expected. He had thought he had complete control over the battle, but he had been caught off guard by Mo Fan’s sudden outburst. The lead that he had was reduced to just 11%. It hadn’t been easy for him to reinvigorate the crowd, but unfortunately, most of his efforts had been ruined by Mo Fan’s counterattack. Luckily, he was still able to win in the end. The Samsara fans didn’t feel that their singing had been for nothing. Their vice-captain didn’t let them down, so their mood was much better than before.

Mo Fan left the stage amidst congratulatory applause. Usually, his non-interactive playstyle was frequently met with boos in away team stadiums. Today, he had shown a surprising amount of aggression. For a moment, Samsara’s fans couldn’t find anything to pick at. Instead of booing, they applauded his performance.

Mo Fan never cared though. He quietly walked back to his team.

“Nice job!” Everyone on Happy exclaimed.

Mo Fan looked at the stage and at the screen.

11%. It was a small difference. Just a bit more and he could have won. No matter how well you played, what was the point if you lost?

Mo Fan wasn’t happy with the result. As he walked back to his seat, he clenched his fists tightly, staring intently at Jiang Botao’s 11% health Empty Waves.

“Keep up the good work. There will be more chances in the future,” Su Mucheng waved her hands towards Mo Fan and said.

Mo Fan stared blankly at her. Before he could nod his head, Su Mucheng turned around and headed towards the stage. She was Happy’s next player.

The Samsara crowd had returned to their usual state, cheering excitedly for their team. Even though Empty Waves only had 11% health left, they had hopes for Jiang Botao. The fans at the away team seats cheered for their team, but the shouts from Samsara’s fans drowned them out.

Su Mucheng wasn’t as expressionless as Mo Fan. She wore a smile on her face as she walked onto the stage.

Su Mucheng was Happy’s third player in the group arena. She would be playing against Jiang Botao. The match began.

Dripstone Cave. For Sharpshooters, it provided them space and cover. Su Mucheng’s Dancing Rain was a Gunner as well, and she could take advantage of the space as well. Because she was longer ranged, it wasn’t as good for her as it was for a Sharpshooter, but in general, the map was favorable for Su Mucheng.

There was no way to choose a perfect map that would make it difficult for every opponent. After all, there would be class overlap between teams. Both teams could have players with similar play styles as well. When it was advantageous for one team, it could also be advantageous for the other team. When choosing a map, you could only do your best.

In today’s match, Su Mucheng was Happy’s winner. When the battle began, she immediately headed for the center of the cave.

Samsara’s Jiang Botao took his time though, seeing what the circumstances were. With only 11% of his health remaining, he decided not to go straight for the center, instead choosing to circle around from the left.

Su Mucheng gradually approached the center of the map. She naturally didn’t see any traces of him. She didn’t continue forward, instead stopping immediately.

She didn’t lean to the left or right. She centered herself at the center and lifted her handcannon.

She looked ahead, to the left, and to the right. For other classes, the purpose of having a wide field of view was to find the opponent earlier. However, for Launchers, their attacks could be launched from afar.

It didn’t matter what route Empty Waves took. It seemed like he wouldn’t be able to escape from Dancing Rain’s artillery fire.

The broadcast cut the screen into two. One part showed Dancing Rain’s point of view, while the other showed Empty Waves’.

The dripstone was sparsely scattered throughout the cave. Trying to move completely hidden was impossible, and it didn’t look like Empty Waves was trying to hide himself. He simply went along a straight line. What was the point of circling around then? Many members of the crowd couldn’t help but ask.