The FRY team’s coach looked confident, holding a notebook filled with strong composition strategies researched by FRY’s coaching staff and Finger Games’ balance team. With FV team not banning any core heroes, they successfully secured their desired global flow hero on the first pick: Blade Wing.

FRY’s coach was pleased, believing FV team likely had no preparation for this composition and that revealing it as their ace would surely catch them off guard. Winning the first game in this BO5 would make the rest of the series much smoother.

FRY planned to run a global flow composition with heavy split-pushing. Their mid Blade Wing had an ultimate ability that could cover half the map, allowing instant support for teammates. Combined with a sustain-focused bottom lane and a lane-dominant, strong duelist top laner, the composition would be complete.

Mid lane could gain advantages through early roams, while top lane could farm safely with a winning matchup. Once they maintained their lead into the mid-game, both heroes could split-push effectively, easily snowballing to victory.

Therefore, with many popular heroes still available, FRY prioritized securing Blade Wing, the irreplaceable core of their strategy, on first pick.

It was FV team’s turn to select.

Old Zhou maintained his calm expression and directed his team to pick Storm Warrior God.

FRY’s coach’s eyes twitched as this was exactly their ideal top lane choice!

Storm Warrior God was a top laner with incredible 1v1 potential and the optimal pick for their split-push strategy, having no natural counters in lane.

Seeing their pick stolen, FRY’s players showed signs of panic.

“Don’t worry,” FRY’s coach reassured them, “It’s fine if they take top first. We can still get Death’s Scythe.”

Death’s Scythe was a multi-dash top laner who had a slight disadvantage against Storm Warrior God, but offered better team coordination and gank resistance thanks to its mobility, making it a solid alternative for their composition.

However, just as the coach finished speaking, FV team locked in Death’s Scythe.

FV team’s first two picks had stolen both top laners that perfectly fit FRY’s composition!

It was FRY’s turn again, and the coach stared with his mouth hanging open, unable to process what just happened.

What did this mean?

Were they serious about this?

Stealing both our top laners – what’s the point? Do you have two top lanes?

Were they planning one mid, one top? Or one top, one jungle?

FV team had snatched both of FRY’s optimal top lane picks, leaving FRY thoroughly frustrated. The key issue was that FV seemed to gain nothing from it either, as these heroes had no synergy, making it impossible for FRY to predict their composition!

Time ticked by as FRY’s coach had a sudden realization and quickly adjusted their strategy.

“Since both optimal top laners are taken, let’s secure bottom lane first and choose a utility top laner to synergize with our jungler.”

“Pick bottom lane duo, then top lane.”

“Consider Ancient Molten Tree for top – it can survive lane phase with Root Entangle as crowd control to set up ganks.”

FRY immediately selected an easy-to-farm bottom lane duo, planning to pick a supportive top-jungle duo for their final two selections.

Top lane couldn’t be a power pick anymore, but choosing a utility top laner with crowd control could work with jungler and mid Blade Wing to shut down enemy top. By mid-game, Blade Wing could split-push freely, maintaining their strategy.

However, when FV team picked next, they instantly locked Ancient Molten Tree!

Following up, FV selected an early-game dominant but late-game underwhelming ADC, leaving just one position to fill.

FRY’s coach was baffled.

What was this supposed to mean?

FV team had picked three top laners and one ADC. Who plays like this?

More importantly, these three top laners and ADC had no meaningful synergy!

FRY’s coach frowned deeply, his face scrunched in concentration as he analyzed FV’s potential lane assignments.

Storm Warrior God likely top lane, possibly jungle; if Storm Warrior top, then Death’s Scythe with its multiple dashes probably jungle, or mid lane for roams; Ancient Molten Tree… normally top, but now perhaps support?

Once FV revealed their final pick, analyzing their full composition might make their lanes clear.

But FRY had to pick first, showing their hand before FV’s final selection.

This extreme role flexibility had completely confused FRY’s coach.

“Coach, hurry, time’s running out,” a player reminded him.

FRY’s coach decisively abandoned analysis. At this stage, securing their own composition mattered more than deciphering the opponent’s strategy.

With their roaming mid and stable bottom already locked in, they needed a lane-capable top laner and a carry jungler.

Regardless of FV’s lane assignments, their top would certainly be powerful. Picking a weak laner would result in disaster.

The problem was that after FV’s top lane bans, remaining top laners could only survive lane without guaranteeing late-game impact.

Therefore, their jungler couldn’t be utility-focused. They needed carry potential to avoid the disastrous 5-protect-0 composition that would result in massive backlash if they lost.

FRY’s coach directed his team to select a strong-early-weak-late backup top laner and a weak-early-strong-late carry jungler.

FV team’s final pick was a hero unseen in this Worlds: Blast Engineer.

This hero’s only strengths were fast wave-clear and tower-taking, requiring long farm time and item advantages for damage output. A late-game mid-only champion.

FRY’s coach stared at the screen in confusion.

What was the meaning behind this?

With the final pick being a mid-only champion, the other roles became clear: Storm Warrior God top, Death’s Scythe jungle, Ancient Molten Tree support.

FRY’s coach analyzed both compositions, feeling theirs could compete.

All three lanes were even during laning phase, with FV having jungle advantage. But surviving early game would let their jungler scale better than FV’s damage dealers, tilting victory toward FRY.

FRY’s coach relaxed slightly, patting their jungler’s shoulder: “Stay strong early game. Once we reach late game, victory is guaranteed!”

…

Under intense scrutiny, Game 1 officially began!

Spectators couldn’t grasp the strategic mind games in champion select, as both teams ran compositions never seen in quarter or semifinals.

Many picks were unconventional with no prior highlights, giving viewers a fresh perspective from the start.

Most viewers expected FRY to win, as FV’s composition seemed too experimental!

Mid lane featured a slow-scaling, immobile, gank-prone champion whose only strength was wave-clear and tower damage;

ADC dominated early but fell off dramatically;

Most questionable was stealing three top laners to disrupt FRY, then role-swapping two to jungle and support, creating a chaotic composition.

FRY’s strategy was clearer: stable early game, mid-game advantages through mid ultimate for ganks, late-game damage superiority for victory.

Commentary desk worried for FV team.

Not favoring FV, but concerned their outlandish picks might result in an embarrassing loss, ruining finals entertainment value.

Meanwhile, domestic streaming platforms showed completely different chat reactions:

“Holy shit! Isn’t this like GOG’s Fast Tower Push strategy variant?”

“Looking at mid lane, definitely seems like it! Let’s see how they execute!”

“Using GOG tactics in ioi? Fast Tower Push countering Global Flow through early snowball?”

“This will be exciting! Either they explode or we explode!”

“…Non-GOG players don’t understand. Can someone explain Fast Tower Push?”

With New Year’s Eve morning being a holiday, most were free, and GPL on break, naturally drawing massive viewership to ioi Worlds.

Many viewers were GOG players watching ioi casually.

Non-ioi players missed it, but GPL viewers instantly recognized FV’s strategy.

In GPL, teams had attempted “Fast Tower Push” to counter Global Flow.

Though using different heroes, FV’s composition clearly embodied Fast Tower Push principles!

Global Flow meant roaming mid using ultimate to support teammates, securing kills and objectives to snowball. Once strong, mid-game split-pushing applied pressure for victory.

Teams countered Global Flow differently: some mirrored it for roam speed duels; others chose aggressive invasion or hard-engage compositions to crush their mid-jungle early or catch isolated targets mid-game.