LOL: Can’t I play other games professionally?

Chapter 414 How Can You Win When They're All My People? (First Update)
Korean viewers probably didn't expect that the second day of the semifinals at the Paris Zenith Arena would turn into what looked like EDG's home stadium.

Not only did Chinese viewers make up nearly half of the audience, but more remarkably, it seems that the other half, European viewers, also supported the defending champion EDG team.

This was specifically reflected in the reactions of both teams offstage and the waving of flags and light boards; in every aspect, KZ was completely outmatched.

Especially the shouts when Lin Ruo appeared completely drowned out the noise from all directions, and the European Union audience's God was at its peak at that moment.

Why wasn't it SKT?

Before the first game of the semifinals even started its draft phase, the biggest trending topic on Korean online forums had already emerged.

Many fans believe that SKT might not be a match for EDG at MSI, but as the most popular team, SKT's pre-match support and cheers will certainly not be inferior to EDG's.

So at least we can win an atmosphere of evenly matched strength, instead of being like KZ, who can't even beat us, and were completely crushed even before the match.

Yes, in the eyes of the West African audience, KZ is simply no match for EDG.

Simply because EDG is too terrifying.

The news of KZ's ten consecutive victories over G2 in scrims had already spread across the international internet yesterday. With such a performance, it's no wonder KZ couldn't win.

Moreover, KZ's condition is not good either... Even facing FW would be quite difficult.

There were three people in the Chinese commentary booth at the venue, responsible for commentating on today's semi-final.

The commentators are Guan Zeyuan, Jide, and Wang Duoduo. This is the first time that LPL has had neither Miller nor Wawa in the commentary booth for an international China-Korea match.

"Hello everyone, both those at the venue and those watching the live stream, I'm your commentator, Guan Zeyuan."

"I remember."

"I am Wang Duoduo."

After a brief self-introduction and opening remarks, the reactions of the audience before the live broadcast confirmed that the three commentators had a very solid foundation in their skills.

So even though the veteran commentators weren't there for the big-budget match, it didn't dampen the audience's enthusiasm.

With the match yet to begin, the three of them conducted a thorough analysis of the possible match scenarios from the inside out.

"I don't think EDG's playstyle will change much. They mainly rely on Lin Ruo's leadership and do well in the early game."

Wang Duoduo offered the most rigorous analysis.

Remember nodded in agreement: "Yes, we should remain unchanged in the face of all changes, and take steady and solid steps. This is the most correct decision, because in our current situation, we don't need to come up with any innovative ideas or surprise attacks."

What they meant was simple.

Clearly, the focus of today's match remains the same: both sides must exert their full strength to control the overall rhythm of the game.

This was also the focus of the early stages of the confrontation.

After a short chat, following a prompt from the on-site English director, Guan Zeyuan immediately began: "The draft picks for both teams are ready. EDG is on the blue side, and KZ is on the red side. Let's move on to the draft pick screen."

As the words fell, the large screen displayed the match, with both sides having already completed their first three bans.

KZ's strategy was extremely targeted, eliminating Graves and Olaf, two potential early-game powerhouses, and then picking Alistar to prevent EDG from initiating team fights.

“EDG banned Rakan and Tahm Kench first, and then added Morgana. These three bans seem to have the same meaning: don’t pick anything in the bot lane, just watch.”

Wang Duoduo was somewhat surprised. EDG's draft was rather domineering, forcing KZ to focus the entire game on the top, mid, and jungle positions, rather than allowing them to play a farming or protective lineup in the bottom lane.

Since they're clearly going to play a top-half game, it's easy to guess what EDG's first pick will be, given that they have the first pick on the blue side.

Regardless of the category, you must have the majority of the time in the first 15 minutes.

And the best answer is undoubtedly... Ornn.

BP chose to come to KZ, and the choice of Troll Warlord and Kai'Sa was almost undisputed.

After banning Graves, Trundle's jungle dominance was undoubtedly revealed again, so letting Peanut lock him in early wasn't a bad idea.

Kai'Sa, as the strongest bot lane core of the season, once again proved KZ's direction: they will not completely put all the tempo into the top jungle like EDG.

EDG has also made the best response. They still want to dominate the bottom lane, right?
The Varus and Thresh combo was instantly locked in.

"This is no ordinary level of intensity!" Guan Zeyuan exclaimed from the commentary booth. This is a bot lane duo that no one dares to claim as the best in the laning phase. Basically, if they hook each other, they'll unleash their skills.

This choice clearly tells KZ that in the early game, Kai'Sa in the bot lane should only stay under the tower to farm minions and do nothing else.

When the choice was given to the red side, Coach Sin was clearly stunned and immediately ordered his team to lock in Braum, forming an ultimate pressure-resistant lane combination in the bottom lane.

All they want is for Kai'Sa to farm enough, so there's no need to go head-to-head with EDG. They can just pick Braum to secure their bot lane advantage.

Both sides quickly moved on to the second round of banning.

EDG immediately banned Camille to prevent KZ from repeating their first-round dominance over Ornn, thus ensuring GimGoon's secure position in the top lane.

Later, press the button again to continue increasing the strength of Fiora, and never give the top laner even the slightest chance to break through.

Seeing this, GimGoon on the player's bench was extremely excited: "We've got this, guys! We're definitely going to push the lane hard this time and not give the other side any chance!"

With Camille and Fiora activated, his top lane environment became incredibly comfortable.

However, this comfortable feeling only lasted for less than two and a half minutes. After KZ eliminated Skarner and Malzahar in succession, a very peculiar choice was made: Illaoi, the Tentacle Mom.

GimGoon's face instantly turned several shades darker. Illaoi attacking a tank... isn't that something anyone can do?

"Wow, KZ's choice has suddenly reversed the situation in the top lane. Illaoi now has an absolute advantage in the laning phase."

As the shouts of surprise from the audience grew louder, the three commentators each wore distinct expressions, clearly indicating that this was KZ's final trump card.

If we can't even win the first game, then we can really get a 3-0 speedrun today.

"Brothers, I take back what I just said, this is going to be a bit tricky." GimGoon swallowed hard. It was his first time laning against a top laner like Illaoi, but he knew what kind of situation he was in without even thinking about it.

Lin Ruo offered some words of comfort: "Don't panic. If the other side dares to pick Illaoi, I have my own way of dealing with it."

It's actually very simple; he just won't go on the road.

It's common knowledge that the more people there are in Illaoi, the more excited they get; they love group activities. So Lin Ruo definitely has no reason to go. Let them have a 1v1 real man battle in the top lane.

However, in response, EDG still locked in Taliyah on the mid lane in the fourth position, allowing her to roam and help out very freely.

Next up was the versatile jungler Lee Sin. Given the current lack of good junglers to counter Trundle, Lin Ruo chose Lee Sin, a jungler with strong early-game fighting power and a high skill ceiling. This also generated considerable excitement among the audience.

Anyone who watched this year's LPL Spring Split knows just how amazing Lin Ruo's Lee Sin is.

With KZ finally deciding on Karma, a utility mid-laner who can suppress Taliyah in lane, to protect both top and bottom lanes, the draft phase officially came to an end.

"EDG (blue side): top laner Ornn, jungler Lee Sin, mid laner Taliyah, bot lane duo Varus and Thresh."

"Red team KZ, top lane Illaoi, jungle Trundle, mid lane Karma, bot lane duo Kai'Sa and Braum."

In the commentary booth, Wang Duoduo, who was in charge of wrapping up the commentary, suddenly raised his voice: "The first round of the MSI semifinals between EDG and KZ is about to begin. Who will take the first win? Let's wait and see!"

The words fell.

The stadium erupted in cheers, with European spectators giving their all to the match.

The ten people on both sides quickly entered Summoner's Rift amidst the noise.

On the first-tier team side, neither side allowed the atmosphere to cool down quickly to a dull stage.

At the start of the game, EDG made a collective move to the top lane, attempting to catch Illaoi in the red side's tri-bush in order to exert pressure in the early stages.

However, Khan seemed to have anticipated this, as he maintained a view through the wall in the triangular grass and did not immediately go in and dart around.

Once you see Thresh step into the bushes, quickly turn around and walk away to avoid any potential risks.

KZ successfully prevented EDG's invasion, but the latter did not suffer any losses. They grouped up and came to the mid-river, invaded the jungle and left vision at the red pit. EDG also completed their mission.

Upon learning of EDG's movements, KZ's bot lane duo promptly invaded the red buff area, establishing vision control in the red pit.

The vision in both jungle areas was illuminated by the sunlight at the same time.

However, there was a slight difference: EDG's bot lane duo recalled to base and headed to the bottom jungle to prepare for taking down the red buff.

KZ went a step further, leaving spies in the F6 bush area below, and then the three trolls who came down crouched in the bushes on both sides of the red monster, launching a wait-and-see operation to prepare to do something.

Lin Ruo, who had returned to his own jungle first, lingered in the bushes near F6. As a jungler, he should have basic judgment and awareness of prevention.

Before Thresh arrives, he won't rashly enter the red buff area, giving KZ, who have already invaded and lost vision, any chance.

Even when he first entered the F6 bush, he proactively learned the Q skill, Sonic Wave, to test the area before feeling safe to enter.

“The other side might be camping us. Tianye, come up from the middle lane and come in with me. Scout, go into the river and scout the bush behind the red monster.”

Lin Ruo quickly made the most perfect command.

With Ornn also arriving in the mid lane to assist, when the three KZ members saw Lee Sin and Thresh joining up and heading towards the red pit, while Taliyah and Ornn were advancing towards the bush behind the red monster, this inevitably created a pincer attack from both sides.

Plus, Varus might come down from the bottom lane...

As a result, the three who had been lying in ambush for a long time had to reveal their movements in advance, and under Karma's cover, they quickly returned to the river in front of EDG.

The probing between the two sides ultimately came to nothing.

However, KZ visibly suffered losses because their retreat occurred during the time when the red monsters spawned.

When Lee Sin used his Sonic Wave to initiate the fight and take the lead in the red buff, Trundle was still lingering in the river. EDG undoubtedly gained an advantage in the level 1 matchup.

The player who might lose out on them is Ornn, who came to support, because he will be late in returning to the top lane to lane against Illaoi due to time constraints.

While Ornn does have a certain disadvantage in pushing lanes in the early game, it's not a significant disadvantage against an opponent like Illaoi.

It is necessary to allow Illaoi to avoid resource depletion by laying out the front line, so GimGoon's late return to the front line is perfectly acceptable and will not have any consequences.

"Lifting a stone only to drop it on one's own foot"—this best summarizes KZ's actions.

Guan Zeyuan analyzed the situation and said, "Xiao Hua can only go to the blue buff to level up to level two. The bot lane can't help him much, since you've only just entered the jungle. EDG's bot lane might already be online."

This wave.

Trolls are definitely the most miserable, without a doubt.

Moreover, this discomfort may continue to last, because after Lin Ruo returned to the upper jungle after leveling up to level two, he went straight to the river and then entered KZ's upper jungle.

The troll, being a bit slow, is taking on the blue monster alone, which is obviously much slower than expected.

So when the troll had just leveled up to level two, the Lee Sin had already reached the F6 area, hit the wall with his Sonic Wave, and then started attacking the red buff without restraint.

The situation had barely begun when it mirrored the first round of the group stage, with Lin Ruo once again enjoying an extremely comfortable start with two buffs.

Little Peanut, on the other hand, was in a miserable situation.

Now he couldn't go up there anymore. He had to take down the blue monster and focus on clearing out the lower half of the area.

Even if he, a guy with the blue monster, could get up in time, he would obviously be chased and beaten by the blind monk with the red monster and wouldn't be able to fight back.

With two red buffs in hand, Lin Ruo went to the top lane and first greeted Illaoi, who was pressing down on the lane, to ease the situation for his own top laner.

He said before the game that he wouldn't target Illaoi, but that was after the qualitative change at level six. In the early stages, it's still necessary to actively greet him.

Afterwards, go back from behind the first tower to clear the gromp and blue buff in your own upper jungle, then take the river crab and the three wolves and follow the same route.

Karma has a suppressive effect on Taliyah in lane, so it's necessary to secure the Rift Scuttler to ensure a clearer vision situation in the river.

After finishing these battles, I returned to town and bought two longswords and boots. Although I didn't get the desired ganking momentum, I actually had a huge lead in my lane.

On the contrary, Peanut was the one who had the worst time, because all he could do after going up was farm one set of F6.

He can certainly farm with the Stone Beetle, but constantly moving up and away from the bottom lane doesn't fit their strategy for this game.

Illaoi pushing the lane can help, but it's unnecessary; Kai'Sa's development in the bot lane is the most important thing for the whole team.

Therefore, after clearing the F6 camp, Peanut chose to go bot lane again. Regardless of whether he ganked or not, he at least had to help the bot lane duo establish vision control to prevent the Lee Sin from ganking them at will.

There's nothing that can be done about sacrifices in the jungle role, even if the player is in a bad situation.

Unless it's a carry-type jungler, any jungler must prioritize laning.

(End of this chapter)