LOL: Can’t I play other games professionally?

Chapter 494 Is the final round necessary?
When neither side can adjust quickly, time becomes the most lethal weapon.

Because the upcoming Asian Games semifinals will only have one night of rest, unlike previous international events which would have at least two days of rest.

This is a meteoric rise for teams in good form, but for teams that have been in poor form from the start, it's just a matter of one problem not being solved before another one is about to emerge.

The shorter the time frame, the less room there is for adjustment, and the more critical the problems that arise will become.

Therefore, after the competition ended, the Chinese team returned to their Asian Games accommodation and continued to relax as much as possible. Under such a tight schedule, getting some rest early to prepare for the next day's competition was the key.

Unlike the South Korean team, Kkoma was forced to hold a three-hour debriefing and discussion in the training room on the night the group stage ended.

Since landing in Jakarta, he has been subjected to at least two hours of lectures every night. Coupled with the failure of the matches, even the mentally stable Faker has become somewhat numb.

Not to mention rookie players like Aiming, so the Korean team is destined to have a sleepless night.

Although they shouldn't be under so much pressure playing against the Taiwan provincial team tomorrow, after being swept aside by the Chinese team in two consecutive matches, this pressure will obviously radiate outwards.

Coupled with public opinion, the current situation has naturally emerged.

Therefore, Kkoma was too embarrassed to say much, and in the end, he had to give his teammates a psychological counseling session to help them adjust their state before the day's preparations were finally over.

...

On the second day of the semi-finals, all four participating teams arrived early at the venue's lounge to prepare.

The starting lineup for the Chinese team has changed. Today is the debut of substitute support player Xiaoming. Abu has obviously taken into account the principle of everyone having a chance.

However, Xiaoming was delusional: "Do I have to play in an amateur team? It's unnecessary. Can't I just lie down all the time?"

There's not much to say; he just wants to lie there until he wins the championship.

Lin Ruo thought so too, so she gave Abu her opinion: "The bottom lane is a duo lane after all, so it's best not to change the support casually and affect the level of synergy. How about this, let Xiao Ming take my place in the jungle so that it won't affect anything."

Going to the jungle would provide Xiaoming with opportunities to play, without affecting the synergy that the bottom lane has always maintained. In Lin Ruo's view, it was a perfect idea.

Of course, Abu, who didn't really care, glared at him and said only one word: "Get lost!"

He had never seen a professional player so reluctant to play, but indeed, their opponent in this match, Saudi Arabia, was hardly a professional team.

After all, it's a welfare bureau.

So Abu didn't have much to say about the draft picks; the players could play whatever they wanted. In fact, after the match started, Abu stopped watching the process altogether and turned to study the other semi-final match that started at the same time.

How far in advance did they study the finals? They started studying them before the semifinals were even over, perfectly emulating Mingkai's foresight.

Less than 20 minutes later, with the end of the first semi-final match in the upper bracket, both the Chinese and Saudi Arabian teams left the field in high spirits. Back in the locker room, everyone couldn't help but gather around Abu's computer to watch the ongoing battle.

As they expected, the South Korean team and the provincial team were evenly matched in the first game, with very few kills after 20 minutes and the pace of the game was quite slow.

The provincial team, which is known for its all-out effort, wasn't unwilling to give it its all, but the South Korean team simply didn't give them any opportunities, or rather, they were too conservative, playing it safe to the extreme.

Ironically, their lineup actually makes them quite easy to win in the late game.

As for what happened next, no one knows. Anyway, when everyone left the training room and came back on the court, the first game between the Korean team and the provincial team still did not show any obvious difference in rhythm.

The footage was shown at the scene.

Guan Zeyuan, who was in charge of today's semi-finals, already showed his signature smile: "Hello, viewers. You are now watching the semi-finals of the League of Legends esports event at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, where the Chinese team will face the Saudi Arabian team. Welcome back."

"The two sides have just finished a round. In the first game, the Chinese team, on whom we had high hopes, swept the Saudi Arabian team with a very comfortable performance. Obviously, the gap in strength between the two sides is still quite large in various aspects."

"So let's see if anything new happens in the second match of the BO5 series."

After the background information was given, Guan Zeyuan appeared very relaxed. If it weren't for the Asian Games label, today's match could have been treated as an annual entertainment match held by the LPL and provided with commentary.

The main problem is that it's too one-sided; it might not even qualify as an entertainment match.

Therefore, Guan Zeyuan never considered exchanging jobs with Wang Duoduo to commentate on the match between the South Korean team and the provincial team, since that match at least had some so-called highlights.

"I learned two Arabic phrases last night, but I don't know if my friend in the headscarf across from me can understand them."

On the players' bench, before the match even started, Lin Ruo was already fiddling with communicating with his opponents in the game room. As it turned out, his opponents couldn't quite understand his words.

Lin Ruo thought there was something wrong with her typing until Xiao Ming next to her reminded her: "Not all of them are from Saudi Arabia; some are foreign aid workers from other countries who have naturalized."

what…

Lin Ruo, who had just realized what was happening, was genuinely surprised. Did Saudi Arabia really need to hire foreign aid just to find a few players who were skilled in the Canyon Diamonds?
That foreign player is really bad.

Since that was the case, Lin Ruo had no choice but to communicate with her opponent in English, which she was familiar with. Fortunately, her opponent understood most of it, and the conversation went smoothly.

All we could say was to go easy on them and give us a chance to push the tower.

Lin Ruo agreed to all of this. "Don't worry, I'll just play Miracle Walker in these three rounds. If I try to catch anyone, I'll consider it a loss."

Do you think Lin Ruo doesn't want to go online? No, it's because if she goes online, her teammates will blame her for affecting their lane kills, so she can only control the dragon at most.

In the end, the entire match lasted no more than 20 minutes, and the Chinese team easily defeated the Saudi Arabian team to reach match point.

Guan Zeyuan, the commentator, really didn't know what tactics to explain. After all, no matter which lane the camera cut to, it was all about lane kills. How could you tell me there were tactics involved?
That's true, they even picked Malphite for mid lane, so the strategy might be related to champion selection.

Therefore, throughout the entire match, Guan Zeyuan worked hard to fulfill the responsibility of a popular science commentator, for example, when both sides reached level six.

"Viewers may not know that level six is ​​a crucial level in League of Legends matches. It grants champions their ultimate abilities. Xiaohu's Malphite ultimate was just released in this way. Before reaching level six, you can't actually use it."

"Also, the dragon is very important. Different types of dragons can apply different attribute buffs to heroes. As for why Lin Ruo hasn't controlled a single dragon since the start of the game, well, maybe the Wind Dragon Soul isn't to his liking." This remark caused a burst of laughter from the audience. Clearly, there were still quite a few Chinese viewers present to show their support, even though the match wouldn't be much of a surprise or any exciting plays.

But this did not stop most of the Chinese audience from cheering for the Chinese team, nor did it stop the national flag from waving freely in the stadium and fluttering in the wind.

After the second game ended, a huge cheer erupted again. The five Chinese players left the court chatting and laughing, and occasionally waved to the audience.

To maintain such enthusiasm in a match with such a clear disparity in skill, who can deny that their Chinese fans are incredibly supportive, ensuring these athletes have support wherever they go?

"How's the match with the Korean team going?" The first thing the group of people who went down to check was Abu's computer. At this point, the low-spec version of the China-Korea match had entered the second round of the draft phase.

The score in the upper right corner of the game shows that the South Korean team won the first game as expected, but this does not mean that the South Korean team is in good form.

Because the second game was met with a hysterical massacre from the very beginning.

Taiwan's provincial team adjusted their draft strategy, which gave the South Korean team a significant shock in the second game. In less than 26 minutes, the score was tied 1-1, bringing them back to square one.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, the third match between the Chinese team and the Saudi Arabian team had also come to an end, with the final score unsurprisingly a clean sweep of 3-0, without any delays.

The camera then shifts to Lin Ruo, a member of the Chinese team, who is being interviewed by a CCTV reporter in a corner. He is simply greeting the reporter, sharing his thoughts on today's match, and giving a final preview of the game.

During the nearly 10-minute interview, Lin Ruo tried her best to appear very serious until she finally couldn't hold back and said, "The final will definitely be 3-0, no matter which team, the Korean team or the provincial team, comes up."

Be confident, because that's the truth.

Especially when they saw the South Korean team and the provincial team still locked in a close battle off-camera, no one believed the final score would be any different.

In the third game, most people didn't expect the provincial team to make the first move, with Maple picking Sion in the mid lane.

The invasion at level 1 almost completely disrupted the Korean team's entire strategy.

It's no exaggeration to say that when Sion transforms into his corpse form, he's not someone that two or three enemy heroes can easily take down.

So Maple gave up, but the result was that she killed one of them and even stole Score's red monster.

After a disastrous start, the South Korean team lost their initiative in the game and, overwhelmed by confusion, lost the third set, helplessly handing over match point.

The morale of the South Korean team seemed to completely explode as they continued playing.

What was unexpected was that the most stable player on the Korean team was actually Kiin, the top laner. This newly crowned LCK number one top laner, who had just made a name for himself, helped his team gain an advantage by getting two solo kills in the fourth game.

Finally, they delivered a crushing blow, dragging the match into a deciding game in just 24 minutes.

"Aiming's gameplay seems a bit off, but Kiin is really steady." On the way back to his accommodation in the van, Mouse had to admit that Kiin is a terrifying player.

Moreover, there are differences even among newcomers.

So the question is, why was Aiming able to make it into the South Korean national team?
In the most critical moment, he even managed to use a reverse flash, which is enough to prove that he has the worst mentality among the Korean teams.

"Still watching?" Lin Ruo, who was playing on her phone, had given up watching the game. The fact that the two sides were evenly matched and the game had reached this point only proved one thing.

No matter who makes it to the finals, they have no chance.

Perhaps this is the limit for the provincial team, but the South Korean team is in solid form, and it's basically impossible for them to recover to their previous high potential after this Asian Games.

Do you think South Korea really has no strength? No, it's just that it's been suppressed for too long and it's really hard for it to stand up again.

This is similar to the situation of the South Korean team, who ultimately won the final match. Although they defeated the Taiwan team 3-2 to advance to the final, whether or not it was worth celebrating was a clear answer on everyone's face.

Even when bowing to the South Korean audience cheering for them, the five members of the South Korean team did not show much enthusiasm.

Because they won 3-2, the whole process was quite thrilling, and they were even behind in match point at the beginning.

All of this combined only shows one thing: their current condition is still quite poor. Instead of hoping to recover overnight, they should go back and rest earlier.

Who knows, tomorrow's final will be against the strongest Chinese team, and the team going up to challenge this Chinese team will be the South Korean team, which is not much different from the previous two days.

So, what's the result? Need I say more?
While it's important not to be discouraged, and while Faker and others also held onto the hope of winning, this didn't prevent despair from passing through their hearts most of the time.

This also exhausted Kkoma. Even though they knew their chances of winning the finals were slim, they still had to give it their all.

Sometimes this is not a hope, but rather a torment.

They've already fought to the finals against the provincial team, and they still want to beat the Chinese team at 100%? Who would really expect them to win? Absolutely not.

However, the result after losing will definitely not be anything ordinary.

So much so that when facing an interview with the Korean media, Kkoma, who was present as a coach, spoke with a lack of confidence in his most confident words.

"Tomorrow's match will definitely be difficult. We will prepare for the worst and do our best."

If they could be given time to adjust and find the problem, that would be fine, but they only have one night. Kkoma felt that the most important thing he should do was go back and cover the players with blankets.

Then, without knowing when, he vaguely heard that familiar line.

"Good morning, everyone! Welcome to the finals of the League of Legends esports tournament at the Jakarta Asian Games. Today's match is between Team China and Team South Korea!"

Having slept for less than five hours, Kkoma tried his best to wake himself up, and even went to the toilet to wash his face before finally leading his team slowly into the venue.

So the finals have already started.

(End of this chapter)