You promised a top lane tutorial, but you're just using Worlds as material for your videos?

Chapter 520 Even with a broken leg, C can't win! Dog fans, raise your heads!
After a bumpy road, LGD finished the regular season of the S8 Spring Split with a record of 10 wins and 9 losses in 19 regular season games.

This record only ranks fourth in the Western Conference, barely enough to make the playoffs.

Moreover, JDG, which is ranked behind LGD, actually has the same overall record as LGD, with 10 wins and 9 losses. However, LGD has one more point in net points in individual games than JDG.

With just one point advantage, LGD edged out JDG and squeezed into the playoffs.

Who would have thought that the Grand Slam team from last season would struggle to even make it to the playoffs after just half a season?

Everyone knows that LGD's players must have encountered various problems.

Various rumors have been circulating outside.

But as a Grand Slam team with a large fan base, LGD has not been eliminated yet and is still competing, so those negative rumors will not prevail in public opinion.

Many fans are also hoping that LGD can awaken in the playoffs and make a comeback.

In the first round of the playoffs, LGD fought hard for five games and narrowly defeated their opponent BLG with a score of 3-2.

As expected, Zhou Dian was the MVP of all three winning games.

Many viewers even said that Zhou Dian single-handedly won this BO5, and his legs must have broken from carrying the team!
However, after a BO5 victory, many LGD fans became optimistic.

After all, "optimism" has been a "fine tradition" of LGD fans for many years.

Only Zhou Dian himself knew that BLG was not a very strong team.

BLG doesn't have any absolute strengths; their success relies on the balanced strength of each position and their solid playing style, which enabled them to achieve a respectable third-place finish in the Eastern Conference during the regular season.

However, BLG's balanced approach is more like a small hexagon, not the large hexagon of top teams where everyone is at their peak.

In the match against LGD, apart from the top lane where Zhou Dian played, BLG did not gain a significant advantage in other positions in each game.

Therefore, throughout the entire BO5 series, BLG was completely pierced through by Zhou Dian's sharp spear with an absolute advantage.

Two days later, in the second round of the playoffs, LGD faced off against RW.

Just as Zhou Dian predicted, RW defeated LGD by a score of 3 to 1, and the whole game didn't seem to take much effort.

This time, even if Zhou Dian broke his leg, he still couldn't win!
RW team is definitely one of the few strong teams in the LPL with a truly complete system.

With the other four players all underperforming and losing every game, LGD's ability to win even one game has already impressed many viewers. Zhou Shen even seemed stronger than during his Grand Slam era last year, which is a real pity!

After defeating LGD and advancing to the playoffs semifinals, RW's mid-laner Doinb unleashed a set of monkey-style punches on the spot, his arrogant demeanor irritating Zhou Dian.

But there's nothing you can do, that's how esports is, you have to accept the loss!
The best way to retaliate against your opponent's contempt and mockery after losing a match is to win it back later.

Instead of verbally refusing to admit defeat and saying irrelevant things, which will only make people think you lack character and can't handle losing.

However, that's something the players have to do; the fans don't care about that.

LGD fans hurled insults at Doinb that very night, making him a trending topic on social media.

After all, it's only been half a year since LGD won the Grand Slam in a single year, and it's still fresh in everyone's memory. LGD fans are still one of the most powerful groups in the LPL fan community.

However, LGD's journey in the Spring Split came to an end with their elimination in the second round of the playoffs.

Previously, rumors about internal problems within the LGD team, which had been at a disadvantage in terms of public opinion, quickly gained the upper hand.

The rumors that had been circulating online about why LGD players were not performing well this season have been confirmed by various "sources".

First is the team captain PYL. He was a very unpredictable player in his early years, otherwise he wouldn't have earned the nickname "Grim Reaper".

Brilliant plays and strokes of genius happen from time to time, but when they die, they really die; when they feed, they really feed.

Season 7 was a rare year of stable performance, with relatively few mishaps.

But after LGD won all the championships and completed the Grand Slam, PYL's professional wish was fulfilled, and he lost all ambition and drive.

Given his advanced age, once he relaxed his mindset, his dual nature of being both divine and demonic was reduced to only the "demonic" aspect.

Throughout the entire Spring Split, PYL was arguably the most abstract person on the LGD team.

This spring season, PYL has truly lived up to his past nickname "Grim Reaper," frequently managing to bring imp down.

Imp also has his own problems.

After returning to his hometown in South Korea during the Lunar New Year holiday, Imp relapsed into his drinking problem, which had almost disappeared.

If you drink too much alcohol, your reaction time will inevitably decline.

Imp, in particular, plays the AD position, which requires a lot of reaction time.

In terms of gameplay, the speed at which players use Flash to dodge skills is noticeably slower than before.

Furthermore, PYL's complete transformation into a "death god" amplified the negative impact of imp's declining reaction time.

As for mid-laner Wei Shen, since returning from winning the championship, he has been obsessed with PUBG, so it's inevitable that his League of Legends skills have declined.

Eimy, the jungler, hasn't exactly given up, but after winning the Grand Slam, he's definitely become a bit lax in his approach to the game.

Of course, the main reason is that his talent is not top-notch, and last year he just happened to catch a version that suited him better.

After this year's major version change, Eimy has fallen behind.

Logically, Eimy should have put in extra effort to adapt to the new version.

Although he is still taking training and competitions seriously, he is definitely not someone who is "working twice as hard".

With his three teammates (mid, bot, and support) all having problems, it's no surprise that his performance as a jungler has noticeably declined on the field.

This is a classic case of "if you don't advance, you fall behind!"

After summarizing various comments online, it seems that Zhou Dian is the only one in LGD who doesn't have any problems.

This is largely thanks to Zhou Dian's position as a top laner, who often plays by himself.

Otherwise, he would only be dragged down by his teammates in every game, instead of being able to carry and win a few games from time to time.

Even head coach Dgc has become increasingly complacent since winning the Grand Slam.

It's just that these things happen, and perhaps that's only natural.

Maintaining a business is harder than starting one; this is not just a casual saying.

This is enough to show how many internal and external difficulties SKT overcame to successfully defend their S-series championship in S5 and S6, and how remarkable that achievement was.

As for defending their title, even though LGD was eliminated in the second round of the playoffs in the Spring Split and failed to even reach the top four in the LPL Spring Split.

Many fans are also hoping that LGD can successfully defend their title at this year's S8 World Championship.

They hope that LGD can regain its form in the Summer Split and once again show the world the LGD that was unstoppable last year.

Many fans are calling online for LGD's management to strictly manage the team members.

Only a small number of rational fans know that the LGD of the past is probably gone forever. LGD has been known for its lax management over the years.

Moreover, strictly managing the players is easier said than done.

In the LPL, even regular starting players are difficult to manage, let alone star players.

LPL star players have no say in anything other than their teammates; they can do whatever they want.

It can only be said that the LPL has been too much of a "makeshift" organization in recent years and has not been professional enough, which has led to the current situation.

Each LPL team has its own set of problems.

For LGD's management, they've made a lot of money in the past six months anyway, so as long as the players are happy, that's all that matters. In any case, their viewership hasn't decreased at all, and may even have increased.

Soon, apart from LGD's own fans, no one paid attention to this internal LGD situation.

Because the LPL Spring Split playoffs are still in full swing.

Even though LGD has been eliminated, the overall viewership of the LPL is still quite high.

Of the remaining four teams—EDG, IG, RNG, and RW—except for RW, which has fewer fans, the other three are all established teams with a large fan base.

Especially for IG, after JackeyLove reached the required age and was able to play.

The fully-formed IG achieved an incredibly impressive 18-game winning streak in this year's LPL Spring Split regular season!

LGD, who won the Summer Split with an undefeated record last year, only managed a sixteen-game winning streak in the regular season.

Of course, the sixteen-game winning streak was the limit of last year's LPL schedule, not the limit of LGD last summer.

IG's 18-game winning streak this year has also attracted a lot of new fans to this veteran club.

Unfortunately, IG lost to RNG in their first match of the Spring Split regular season this year.

Although they went on an 18-game winning streak afterward, they were temporarily unable to achieve the goal of winning the championship with a perfect record in the regular season.

Yes, after an 18-game winning streak in the regular season, IG's odds of winning the championship are now far ahead, making them the biggest favorite to win the Spring Split championship, far ahead of the other three teams in the top four.

However, no one knows whether tomorrow or an accident will come first.

Just before the semifinals began, news broke within the IG team.

IG's top laner TheShy broke his hand and will miss the playoffs!
TheShy broke his hand because the IG team leader took him out drinking, and after drinking too much, he soloed a trash can and broke his own hand.

This is absolutely amazing!

The audience quickly shifted their attention from LGD to IG.

After all, what happened with LGD is actually quite understandable; it's just human nature!

But the reason for TheShy's injury is truly unprecedented and unheard of in the field of esports.

This is even more bizarre than other incidents that have happened in other fields, such as football and basketball players breaking their legs while taking a shower!

TheShy's injury is enough to show the current state of the LPL as a ragtag organization.

That's really pretty "lousy"!

With TheShy breaking his hand, IG will have to field Duke in the playoffs for the rest of the season.

It has to be said that IG's opponent in the semifinals, RNG, really got a huge advantage.

Of course, even so, there are still more people who are optimistic about IG.

After all, Duke was the champion top laner of S6, and nominally he and TheShy had a rotation relationship, but he was not TheShy's substitute.

Duke played a third of the regular season games this spring, so he still has some skill.

He wasn't just randomly promoted from the second team.

However, Zhou Dian believes that replacing TheShy with Duke in IG's top lane has changed the BO5 match between IG and RNG from an original 80/20 chance to a 50/50 chance.

While TheShy is undoubtedly better than Duke in terms of pure skill, his influence in the game is far less significant.

Zhou Dian felt this way because IG's opponent was RNG.

With Uzi on the team, RNG is actually a bit special.

RNG's top laner is only so-so in terms of skill, and RNG's focus is completely on Uzi, so the top laner has no tactical role in RNG at all.

This is why RNG is often very afraid of the opposing top laner having a carry.

Therefore, RNG has always been very afraid of the enemy top laner being the type of top laner who can consume resources and carry the game.

Zhou Dian is this type, and TheShy is also this type.

Even after the Spring Split this year, Zhou Dian was dragged down by his team, leading many people to believe that TheShy was a better top laner than Zhou Dian based solely on this Spring Split performance.

In their last match during the regular season, IG easily defeated RNG 2-0.

In both games, TheShy completely dominated RNG's top laner, Zz1tai, and then stomped the entire team.

Currently, RNG's two top laners, Zz1tai and Letme, would be easy prey if they faced Zhou Dian and TheShy.

Unfortunately, at least in this Spring Split, neither Zhou Dian nor TheShy can take down RNG's top laner.

Duke is a good team-oriented top laner, but he can't break through RNG's top lane alone by relying on his individual skills.

As Zhou Dian predicted, RNG defeated IG after five intense games and advanced to the Spring Split finals.

Uzi delivered an outstanding performance in this BO5 series, making him the well-deserved MVP of the semifinals.

After defeating IG, the Spring Split championship seems to be beckoning to RNG.

Ultimately, RNG easily defeated EDG 3-1 in the Spring Split finals.

The finals were uneventful. With Mouse and Clearlove missing in the new season, EDG's strength was greatly diminished, and it was quite unexpected that they made it to the finals. They were indeed no match for RNG.

RNG won the 18 LPL Spring Split championship.

Uzi also won his first championship in his professional career.

After consecutive defeats to LGD in the playoffs of last year's Spring and Summer Splits.

With the absence of Zhou Dian and TheShy, two of RNG's biggest stumbling blocks, Uzi finally has a championship this year.

This time, the dog really bragged and raised its head.

One of the most "weird" fan groups in the LPL may be about to be dealt with.

(End of this chapter)