LOL: Can’t I play other games professionally?

Chapter 417: Is it really that easy for the national team to beat the provincial team?

Khan paid the price for not giving up his teleport, but he didn't expect the price to be so high that it almost cost him the entire game.

Perhaps it shouldn't be said that it was close, but rather that it was completely destroyed.

Because EDG then grouped up and took advantage of the situation to take down the mid tower, exchanged the top tower for the mid tower, and added three kills, the loss was self-evident.

No, it seems there are four...

Khan turned around and realized that Kai'Sa seemed to have also died in the blue buff area where the EDG duo was chasing due to positioning problems. So, in less than 15 minutes, they suffered a small team wipe?

What's the point of continuing like this? Even if his Illaoi is fed, he can't possibly withstand the attack from all five members of EDG.

However, all KZ can do next is prioritize ensuring Illaoi's development in order to create space for the team to delay the game.

After the bottom tower was on the verge of collapse due to the previous small team wipe, EDG managed to push through and establish an advantage in just two minutes.

As both sides returned to base to replenish supplies, KZ made a preemptive move, sending Illaoi to the bottom lane first. They determined that after the bottom tower fell, EDG would definitely switch lanes to the top lane to continue suppressing Illaoi's survival space.

However, EDG did not do that. The duo still went to the bottom lane and did not have any intention of switching lanes, which led to Khan facing a 1v2 situation.

When they switch back using teleport, there will likely be another period of developmental delay. This doesn't refer to Illaoi with teleport, but specifically to the KZ duo who are constantly running back and forth.

Kai'Sa simply couldn't withstand such turmoil, so KZ had no choice but to continue maintaining the status quo.

This resulted in Illaoi being severely restricted in team fights, almost like she was at a huge disadvantage in her lane.

KZ lost the first game without any suspense, and as usual, they had no chance to fight back. The story also started in the jungle.

Looking at the situation backstage, Coach Sin couldn't help but think about changing the jungler. No matter what Peanut's condition was, he was always beaten like a machine when facing Lin Ruo.

The good news is that he believes he has found the problem.

Bad news: they don't have a substitute jungler on their team... so Peanut will have to play again in the second game.

After all, the head coach can't exactly warm up, can he? He's not the coach next door, and besides, he wasn't a jungler before.
Therefore, Peanut still needs to continue playing, and Sin can only try to avoid direct confrontations in the jungle during the draft phase so that Peanut can have a chance to develop peacefully.

In the second game, Peanut didn't face much threat in the early stages, but the sad face was simply transferred to someone else.

After Pray got Kog'Maw in this game, EDG seemed to have a clear strategy, which was to target the bot lane.

In just fifteen minutes, it was targeted at no less than four times.

First, at 6 minutes, the mid and jungle laners successfully ganked the opponent's bottom lane duo with a four-man gank. Then, Tianye's Tahm Kench used his ultimate to gank and kill Kog'Maw and Braum again.

Then came another five-man tower dive against two opponents. As for Peanut? Well, he's become a complete farmer, lost in the vast ocean of the jungle.

After containing KZ's core, EDG steadily advanced in the mid-game, constantly taking map resources and eventually expanding their advantage to win the game, ending the match in 30 minutes with a slow push.

KZ was defeated 0-2 without any suspense, and they were just one step away from boarding their flight home.

Surprisingly, apart from the audience at the scene, the spectators on both sides were unusually calm.

LPL fans never thought EDG would lose, and LCK viewers never thought KZ would win either. Well, they probably did before the first round of the group stage.

As for what happens next, we can only judge when he swims back.

So they seemed to have guessed what would happen in the third game: EDG ruthlessly promoted Haro as well, intending to use the struggling KZ to train their newcomers.

Korean netizens immediately felt extremely humiliated. EDG was clearly looking down on them, even bringing on their substitutes in the end.

However, some Korean netizens held a different view, believing that EDG was throwing the game by bringing in their substitutes.

If KZ can win one game, their loss won't be too bad.

However, if KZ loses the third game even with the substitute EDG lineup, then their performance cannot be described as merely a bad loss; they should be expelled from the LCK along with their chairs.

As it turns out, KZ did indeed deserve to be expelled from the LCK, because in the third game they made numerous mistakes due to excessive pressure, and even lost faster than in the first two games.

Haro didn't expect this either.

KZ, trailing by three match points, will perform at a level far below their group stage performance, so much so that he will face no pressure in the jungle position in this match.

KZ's ability to withstand pressure is clearly worse than expected, making them completely unsuitable to be LCK champions.

The match ended without any suspense, and it wasn't even as entertaining as yesterday's Taiwan vs. Europe match.

After losing the game, the five KZ players were dejected. In the third game, they were completely lacking in energy and spirit. Suddenly, they encountered the opposing team's substitutes. It seemed like an easy game, but in reality, the pressure on them suddenly increased several times.

As a result, they were in their worst form of the game.

"With the game ending at the base, congratulations to EDG for easily defeating KZ 3-0 and advancing to the MSI finals. They are only one step away from their title defense and the glory of becoming MSI's third champion."

In the commentary booth, Guan Zeyuan was completely excited.

The victory was so easy that he felt no pressure whatsoever throughout the entire process.

Thinking back to when he first stepped onto the LPL commentary booth, wasn't today's situation something only Korean teams would experience?
Guan Zeyuan couldn't believe it. Although he had already utterly crushed the Korean team last year, he could only add one sentence to that.

It turns out that EDG's championship last year only symbolized the rise of a dynasty, not its peak, and EDG's path to the peak of the dynasty is clearly still continuing.

"KZ is having a really tough time. In the first game, we might have thought it was just a difference in jungler skills, but after three games, it feels like there's a difference in every aspect."

I remember smiling as I repeated, "Congratulations to EDG for advancing to the finals, see you in the future!"

In the finals the following day, EDG will face FW from the LMS region in what will be a battle between the top two teams from their group in this Mid-Season Invitational.

It remains a battle with no suspense in everyone's eyes; KZ cannot beat EDG, and viewers from all regions do not believe that FW has a chance to defeat EDG.

The only remaining question is whether FW can actually take a point from EDG.

However, at this point, the biggest hot topic has already emerged.

"An all-Chinese finals match at MSI!"

Just two minutes after the match ended, the biggest buzz surrounding the game jumped to the top of Weibo's trending topics.

The term "civil war" has made it incredibly popular, both aligning with current trends and strongly promoting unification. Many probably never imagined that a video game competition could escalate to such a level.

This further devastated LCK viewers. Not only had they been eliminated in the MSI semifinals for two consecutive years, but they had also been dealt a heavy blow by the LPL.

After all, they have never wanted the great Eastern country to prosper and have always supported Taiwan's independence. Now, EDG has stepped on their heads and said NO.

In particular, Lin Ruo's post-match tweet directly used the term "civil war," expressing his hope that both sides would deliver a brilliant performance in the final.

This garnered support and comments from most viewers in Europe and America.

Western audiences weren't interested in discussing Taiwan; they just wanted to talk to Lin Ruo about the match and his usual praise for his perfect performance, especially that kick by Lee Sin.

This indirectly promoted the publicity about Taiwan Province.

Lin Ruo had already mentioned a civil war, and most of the European and American viewers watching the game didn't object, so they naturally and subtly came to agree with this viewpoint.

However, Taiwanese forums clearly disagreed, with many Taiwanese netizens expressing extreme anger.

They didn't expect that their own team, FW, making it to the finals and setting a record would actually give LPL a huge boost in publicity, turning it into an ideal internal battle.

It seems like it would have been better if he hadn't made it to the finals, because Lin Ruo's influence on foreign websites meant that his European and American supporters didn't voice much dissent.

Now, not only are the voices of Taiwanese viewers useless, but at least until the final is over, all they will see on social media are the two fearless words "civil war".

And they have no choice but to accept this overwhelming propaganda.

In the brief moment Lin Ruo posted a tweet, all the procedures on stage had already ended, and as the biggest draw of this year's MSI, he naturally had to go up and give an interview.

After all, he rarely went up to the interview booth before the semifinals of this MSI, so it's normal that he couldn't refuse this time.

On the spacious stage, at the host siokz's shout, Lin Ruo calmly walked from the edge of the stage to the high platform in the center.

During the event, he would walk through the front of the audience, high-fiving each of the European spectators who cheered for him, before finally arriving at the center of the stage to take the microphone from the beautiful host, Siokz.

"Congratulations to EDG for defeating KZ and advancing to the finals with a crushing 3-0 score. What are your thoughts on today's match, Lin Ruo?"

Sjokz asked the same routine question that Lin Ruo could easily guess, and he naturally had plenty of answers to it, replying without hesitation, "I don't feel anything, so I can't comment."

Lin Ruo believed he was telling the truth, because he had won too easily today, and most importantly, he had only played two games, unlike his usual three games, so he hadn't even gotten a feel for it yet.

That's obviously the standard answer.

As soon as he finished speaking, the cheers that erupted from the crowd almost lifted the roof off the stadium.

European audiences certainly knew that Lin Ruo liked to make witty remarks, but this was a long-awaited opportunity to hear Lin Ruo make witty remarks live; nothing beats watching it on a live stream.

A wave of sound swept through the air.

Only the domestic audience had already started to burst into laughter and began to add fuel to the fire in the comments section.

[Tahm Kench, what's it like for Lin to keep winning? You definitely have to make him lose one game before you can ask this kind of question.]

[Indeed, if I won for a year or two in a row, I wouldn't feel anything either. KZ is too bad. I was hoping to make EDG stumble. Oh no, I mean the LCK is too bad. No, no, all the teams except EDG are too bad. How can they not even win a single game against EDG with Lin Ruo playing?]

[If a professional Go player can dominate every region, then League of Legends is beyond saving; it should just disband.]

[I support disbanding, but isn't Lin Gou a professional Overwatch player? I've even watched him play matches.]

[Hmph, he's clearly a professional Dota 2 player, don't talk nonsense. He only reached number one in the Chinese server a little over a month ago.]

[Well, he's definitely not a professional League of Legends player, because I've never seen him play League of Legends on stream.]

The case is solved.

...

Unlike LPL commentators, Sjokz felt that Lin Ruo was stirring up trouble by saying that, because in their European leagues, it is only natural for the strong to humiliate the weak.

Moreover, there was humiliation before the match, let alone after winning the match, so Lin Ruo's words made a lot of sense to him.

Isn't the point of an interview to throw out hot topics and get answers? Sjokz smiled slightly and quickly pressed on with the next question: "You'll be facing FW in the finals this time. How likely do you think you are to achieve the feat of winning three MSI championships?"

After Sjokz finished speaking, he looked at Lin Ruo with great anticipation, waiting for the most confident answer, such as "one hundred percent, we will not lose a single game."

With Lin Ruo's confidence, she was certain she would hear a satisfactory answer.

Lin Ruo later provided an answer, but whether he was satisfied with it is unknown.

Lin Ruo shook her head and shrugged: "I don't know. I was a substitute in the finals. I didn't even play, so how would I know the odds of winning? I'll have to see how the other five teammates perform."

The voice just fell.

After a brief moment of astonishment, waves of laughter erupted from the crowd.

All the European audience members were amused by Lin Ruo, especially since Lin Ruo spoke in English, so they could immediately understand the jokes without needing a translator to repeat them.

But after realizing that, another question popped into my mind: Why isn't Lin Ruo going to the finals?

Many European viewers, after a moment's thought, suddenly realized that this was the ultimate level of pretentiousness. Lin Ruo's words seemed to be the truth, but in reality, they had reached the highest level of pretentiousness.

When other teams look down on their opponents, they'll say things like "3-0 in the finals" and "I'll get a solo kill."

Lin Ruo's only way of looking down on his opponents is to say, "Sorry, you're so weak that I don't even need to play in the finals. The substitutes alone can take care of you."

Look, is this human language?
It was so pretentious that the European and American audiences, both at the venue and watching the live stream, couldn't help but love it even more.

This is their Lin Shen, who has no end to showing off and spouting nonsense, so awesome that all of them combined don't even amount to a tenth of him.

Lin Ruo also has something to say to the viewers who think he's showing off.

No, since when did the national team need to be fully equipped to play against provincial teams? Don't they just field substitutes and easily beat them, using it as training and practice?
Therefore, his actions were simply following the established rules.

(End of this chapter)