LOL: Can’t I play other games professionally?

Chapter 391 Another shutout, here we come for the Spring Championship!

"The game is about to end. In 19 minutes, we will congratulate EDG on taking the first game in the Spring Split semifinals. They are still the fearless champion team!"

Guan Zeyuan's excited commentary was transmitted through the speakers to every corner of the venue.

Along with the cheers from the scene, a torrent of cheers came from the crowd. EDG fans waved their support sticks and banners, their unstoppable momentum completely sweeping across Zhengda Square.

It's over, and it ended too quickly.

One second they were watching EDG push down the second mid tower, the next they were shocked to see them already on the high ground, and finally they watched in disbelief as the crystal exploded.

All of this happened in a five-on-five standoff in front of the second tower, and it only took less than two minutes.

Moreover, it seems that this was the only truly meaningful team fight in the entire game...

In the past, other matches have also ended with a team fight, but these usually involve a boring 30 or 40 minutes of gameplay before a final team fight ends the game.

However, it's quite rare for a team like EDG to end the laning phase and then quickly end the game with a single team fight in the mid lane.

They've stopped acting; once the laning phase is over, they just push straight through, like we're playing against bots.

[RNG was completely overwhelmed with only a 4,000 gold lead? That's a bit outrageous.]

[This is terrible. RNG, supposedly an S+ level team, didn't even deserve to push with a 10,000 gold lead over EDG.]

[Hilarious! EDG doesn't even want to torture RNG anymore. Why bother with a 10,000 gold lead? They might as well just push if they have a few thousand gold.]

I don't know anything, all I know is that Lin Gou seems to have solo-killed his idol...

...

During the brief moment when the EDG players left the stage, perhaps the director was also confused by the quick ending, causing the audience to miss the moment clearly. Therefore, they specially replayed the team fight after the match ended.

Adopting a "world-focused" mode, slowing down and amplifying many details of team battles, the first of which is the casual Q-snatching of the Prince across the field.

Helpless, mlxg was frozen in place. RNG's top and support naturally wanted to go up and protect him. As a result, Linruo's Olaf, who had a shield and speed boost, smashed through the ground with his hammer, hitting all three of them.

Once the slowdown was complete, Karma's RQ long-range energy blast arrived again, instantly causing devastation.

As RNG's three players lost their fighting ability, the phantom of the connected goat passed by, and a Flash plus a summoner spell was enough to wipe them out.

Then Lin Ruo entered the fray, using Karma's second shield and Predator's speed boost to charge directly at RNG's two carries on the other side.

With only half his health remaining, Mid Tiger immediately used Flash to retreat back to his high ground.

Uzi used his "Scattered Feathers" ability to dodge, but Olaf's ultimate skill prevented him from using it to hook and pull back.

As the pursuer closed in, Xayah could only retreat into the tower using her ultimate. Uzi thought this would make him safe, but he never expected that Olaf would use his speed boost to chase him into the tower and still manage to take away half of his health.

Prince Gai Da, Xayah flashed and retreated, Olaf flashed out and completed the attack with unstoppable force.

In slow motion, Lin Ruo's actions were crystal clear: he used his skills when available, and used basic attacks when not, finishing off the enemy with a clean and decisive blow.

The shot of the hammer strike is very wide, almost showing Olaf's subtle movements, followed by a close-up of Uzi spinning around and falling to feel the temperature of the corpse.

The puppy messed up... and the game crashed too.

RNG fans at the scene strongly suspected that the director was a hater, arguing that showing such clear and detailed footage was suicidal.

The post-match data panel appeared immediately. The game lasted only nineteen minutes, and neither side dealt too much damage. On the contrary, Lin Ruo's Olaf had the highest damage in the game, with a 100% team fight participation rate and participating in almost every kill EDG got.

Did the jungler have the highest damage output in the entire game? That's yet another extremely rare record.

With a KDA of 5-1-4, the MVP title was decided early on, and Lin Ruo, who had just returned to the game, easily won the Best Player award in the first semi-final.

In the RNG rest room, Uzi, his face slightly flushed, sat silently watching the MVP results after the match.

The person who must be feeling the most distressed right now is Coach Heart, whose Mandarin isn't even that fluent. He's not as good at managing the players' emotions as Firefox is.

Fortunately, RNG had never won against EDG, who had Lin Ruo, so the team felt that losing the game was probably the end of the story.

What if you can't beat them? You'll get used to it.

From last year's Spring Split to this year's Spring Split, the only person RNG might not be used to is their new coach Heart, who has only been in office for one season.

The indifferent Letme was only thinking about one thing: "Wait, why did we have to win the last game of the regular season against RW? Now we're second in the West and we're in the same bracket as EDG."

They could have avoided being in the same bracket as EDG by letting RW take second place. This would have given them a much higher chance of winning against IG in the finals than against EDG.

They don't even need to lose to RW; they only need to win 2-1 to settle the score, because RW's net score will still be higher than theirs, thus securing a spot in the second group of the Eastern Conference.

As it turns out, no one knows who it was, but that C played incredibly well and completely crushed RW.

All right.

They had a blast beating RW, but now they're having a really tough time beating EDG.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Hu turned his head away discreetly and thought for a moment, wondering who was dominating in that game...

Oh no, it seems to be him! In the early game, Akali solo-killed Orianna and started dominating, and in the second game, he completely crushed Doinb, who was in poor form.

Actually, although we had a big advantage in the mid lane that game, we were still at a disadvantage overall. But then he became incredibly strong, and the opposing AD carry, Sima Laozei, was so bad that he would yell "Akali is here!" in his sleep.

When Xiaohu turned around again, everyone's eyes turned to him.

"Don't panic, it's just one game. EDG isn't that scary. We'll carry the second game." Sensing the killing intent, Xiaohu could only make this confident promise.

Little did they know that they were also panicking inside.

The second game began shortly afterward. As soon as the draft phase started, the Guan-Ji duo immediately began to analyze the situation for RNG.

That's how commentators are: they help the weak, not the strong, except in international conflicts.

Guan Zeyuan could tell that RNG had learned from the previous game's mistakes, and the blue side chose to replicate EDG's strategy of first picking Olaf to ensure their dominance in the jungle.

"Yes, yes, that's how you play. If you want to beat EDG, you have to fight the jungler. mlxg's Olaf has some famous moments, he's really not to be underestimated."

I remember analyzing it simply and directly, when I saw EDG's first two picks, a LeBlanc and Trundle mid-jungle combination, and I was instantly terrified.

The intention in this game couldn't be clearer: you like to use Olaf to increase strength, so I'll pick Trundle and LeBlanc to give you even greater strength.

RNG and their opponents were evenly matched, with RNG picking Taliyah, intending to use lane pushing to exert pressure and gain an advantage in the early game.

As for the bot lane duo, Heart copied EDG's strategy from the previous game, picking Caitlyn and Morgana for a fast lane push.

With Taliyah on the team, their roaming range is extremely wide. As long as other lanes have lane priority, the impact they can have will be even greater. RNG is determined to gain an advantage in terms of tempo in this game. However, this choice inevitably makes Letme in the top lane a casualty once again.

The only option left is to lock down Shen to counter Ornn, whom he desperately wants to choose.

With EDG finalizing their bot lane picks as Xayah and Soraka, a unique combination of support and support champions, both teams have completed their draft picks.

Heart, who had been confident throughout the game, was somewhat puzzled by the appearance of Starmie, but he could roughly figure out a few things.

If they continue to pick the Xayah-Rakan combo like they did, Rakan is actually easily countered by Morgana, which is why they didn't gain any advantage when tower diving in the bottom lane last game.

Therefore, EDG chose to abandon the ability to fight in lane and instead use Soraka to strengthen their deep pressure resistance. Ironically, this Soraka is not necessarily afraid of Morgana in lane.

While they might not be able to win in a direct confrontation, EDG's duo is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with in terms of attrition and can also improve their margin for error and prevent being caught out. The only drawback is that they will have fewer opportunities to initiate team fights.

Before the match even started, mlxg was determined to save face in the second game, but as the match actually began, the jungler gradually changed his mind.

Lin Ruo, who started with red buff, went down the bottom lane, got double buffs, and quickly reached level 3 with the Gromp, made a move just 3 minutes into the game by invading the bottom jungle and stealing Olaf's red buff.

In this game, mlxg chose to start with the blue buff in the top half of the map, farm all the jungle camps, and then go down to farm the jungle. After all, he was facing a combination of Trundle and LeBlanc, and he couldn't replicate EDG's strategy from the first game.

In the jungle duel, Lin Ruo seized the initiative by taking down the red monster that mlxg had just punished, with a precise basic attack.

With the arrival of the two duos, a 3v3 situation was about to break out. Morgana's Q hit Soraka, who was not positioned well, and the focus fire helped Caitlyn get the first blood.

Lin Ruo also flashed and bit Morgana who was in front, and with Xayah's help, they completed a one-for-one trade.

Both sides traded blows in the early game, with mlxg gaining an advantage in both the top and mid lanes, while Lin Ruo also managed to catch his idol in the bottom lane.

The real turning point occurred around the 10-minute mark of the game.

RNG, having assembled, attempted a three-man gank on the top lane. The composed GimGoon first used his Goat to knock down most of the minions that were about to enter the tower, then used his fire breath to defend against Taliyah's attack. Immediately afterward, he flashed into a wall to avoid Olaf's close-range taunt and Shen's approaching taunt, while simultaneously headbutting the Taliyah who couldn't react in time.

Through extremely skillful maneuvers, he successfully held out until Scout's LeBlanc teleported to the ground.

In the end, although RNG managed to take down Ornn, they also gave up Taliyah's kill, let alone taking down the so-called top tower.

At the same time, Lin Ruo, who had disappeared, appeared behind the blue team's first tower with the Troll, turned around and dodged Morgana's Q skill, and flashed to bite the female police officer who was trying to retreat.

The pillar predicted the direction of the flash and slammed it in, and with the double slow effect, the duo followed up. The puppy inevitably fell to Lin Ruo's torment once again.

After securing a kill and taking down the first tower in the bottom lane, RNG gained a significant advantage in tempo, and subsequently fell into EDG's control of the game.

In a small team fight in the mid lane at 12 minutes, Scout seized an opportunity to severely damage Taliyah, forcing Shen to use his ultimate to protect his teammates.

Lin Ruo, who was lurking in the distance, made a move and, with the timely roaming of GimGoon's Ornn, summoned his ultimate. EDG, in a 3v2 situation, once again gained the upper hand in the mid lane.

After taking down the first tower in the middle, the situation completely reversed, and RNG had no chance to fight back in the second game.

The game ended after 25 minutes, with EDG taking a 2-0 lead over RNG and securing match point.

...

EDG can finally relax completely, while everyone on RNG's side is looking at Xiaohu. What happened to their promise to win the second game?

Mid Tiger hesitated and remained silent, his heart filled with mixed feelings, wondering why he had been in such a high state that day.

No way, how can someone carry like that with Akali? Could it be that RW is throwing the game and deliberately letting them go to second place in the group?

As Xiao Hu was pondering this, the third game had already begun, and with no time to think, he could only hastily continue to take the field.

At this moment, the atmosphere on both sides of the players' bench suddenly changed.

In the third game's draft phase, RNG finally picked Kai'Sa, the champion that Uzi has been carrying this season, and paired her with Xin Zhao and Ornn to form a team fight.

EDG, on the other hand, picked Malzahar for mid lane and Nocturne for jungle, with Shen in top lane, using a "lights out" strategy to punish Kai'Sa.

Uzi, who has played Kai'Sa seven times in his professional career and only died once, truly enjoyed the ultimate treatment of the AD carry role in this game.

Just six minutes into the game, Lin Ruo caught him in a counter-gank, and then Shen, with his ultimate, tower-dived and killed him. Within ten minutes, Lin Ruo had already secured three kills.

While Kai'Sa is a formidable champion in team fights, she also has a weakness: she is vulnerable in the early laning phase due to her short range.

EDG capitalized on this, using the Lucian and Gragas support bot lane to relentlessly pressure their opponents, followed by Lin Ruo's constant ganks, to the point that Uzi had absolutely no gaming experience in this game.

Finally, around the 28-minute mark, EDG pushed down RNG in a mid-lane team fight, securing a clean sweep and winning the game without any suspense.

The moment the crystal exploded and shattered, spotlights on the dome of Zhengda Plaza flashed continuously, echoing the dazzling cheers from the crowd.

"Wow, congratulations to EDG! In this crucial semi-final match, they swept RNG 3-0 to advance to the finals."

Commentator Guan Zeyuan roared, "As the sole representative of the West and the defending champion of the Spring Split, they will launch their strongest attack on the championship in the new year."

"EDG, EDG!"

A thunderous roar of cheers echoed in the ears of the EDG players as they took off their headphones. The group hugged and clapped in celebration before walking to the other side of the players' bench to shake hands.

RNG's matchday lineup.

mlxg smiled helplessly, inwardly cursing Lin Ruo for being such a monster; with him around, probably no other team in the league could win the championship.

Xiaohu was still pondering the question: why was his Akali so dominant that day?

RW is full of actors!
"Yan Junze, your hands aren't shaking anymore? That's good. Keep up this habit."

Upon hearing this, Letme's hands immediately started trembling. No, you can shake hands, but why bring this up? It reminded me of something.

As soon as the long-buried memories resurfaced, Letme couldn't help but tremble.

Ignoring mlxg and Xiaohu, Lin Ruo gave Uzi a big hug as usual and encouraged him to meet again at the peak.

This time, Uzi wasn't excited by the blind praise; instead, he silently complained, "With you around, how can I ever reach my peak?"

"Xiaoming, you did a great job this time."

Lin Ruo extended a very calm hand. This time, Shi Senming, who wasn't teased by his good friend about being bad at the game, couldn't help but raise his head: "Lin Ruo, you?"

"You did really well," Lin Ruo repeated, then whispered in his ear, "but that doesn't change the fact that I think you're bad."

Shi Senming: ***
He knew that Lin, who had fallen for a lewd face, would never change his ways.

(End of this chapter)