LOL: Can’t I play other games professionally?

Chapter 509 The Playoffs Begin

A six-hour flight.

After returning to Shanghai in the afternoon, the Asian Games team, composed of two LPL teams, took a group photo and then dispersed.

The three RNG players rushed back to the club to prepare for the next day's regular season game.

EDG, on the other hand, had a much more relaxed time. Abu even treated everyone to a big meal before heading back to Lingshi Road, before finally returning to the club satisfied as it got dark.

They also have a match tomorrow, but as mentioned before, for EDG, who have already secured first place in the Western Conference regular season, winning or losing these two regular season matches will have absolutely no impact.

Therefore, there is naturally no need to pay attention to it.

Back at the club late at night, GimGoon, Haro, iboy, and others who didn't participate in the Asian Games were playing ranked games to prepare for tomorrow's match.

Tianye, who had just returned from a long journey, went to rest early. Scout, who had been a substitute for most of the Asian Games, seemed to be in good spirits. Perhaps he was discouraged by being a substitute, because he turned on his computer and actively integrated into the team, starting ranked training.

Lin Ruo wasn't idle either; she also turned on her computer, but training was out of the question.

He had only promised his true fans that he would start a live stream the moment he returned.

He was an honest and trustworthy man, so how could Lin Ruo possibly let down the people who were having fun? As for the fact that winning the championship would generate a lot of buzz and attract many gifts, he was a man of integrity.

Ahem, none of that is the point.

To create a sense of immersion, Lin Ruo also followed the usual practice of posting a live stream announcement on Weibo.

The live stream was scheduled for 8 PM, and Lin Ruo started her broadcast at 8:01 PM.

Is this considered a preview? Your previews are released one minute and the plot starts the next, right?

Although it's ridiculous, it doesn't affect Lin Ruo's achievement of her goal. Just look at whether it trended on social media or attracted tens of thousands of viewers.

If so, then there's no problem.

Before starting the live stream, seeing Mingkai so seriously studying tomorrow's draft picks, Lin Ruo also checked the changes in version 8.16 on the League of Legends official website.

This is the draft version for the playoffs, and it will most likely continue until the end of the summer split, so it is very necessary to pay attention to it in advance.

The changes this time aren't too significant; in short, they're nerfing whoever is strong, and incidentally nerfing Irelia as well.

Among them, Aatrox was a controversial choice when he was first reworked, but after being buffed in later versions, he gradually became popular in competitive and ranked matches, and was invincible for almost an entire version.

Riot Games finally couldn't resist following the usual pattern and started the fixed nerfs, lest things really get out of control.

In addition, Taliyah, who was incredibly strong in the early game in the jungle, has also been nerfed to varying degrees, and the support Rakan in the bot lane has also been weakened.

Previously, Rakan could tank and deal damage when paired with Xayah in the bot lane, but after Xayah fell out of favor in the bot lane, he became less effective.

Seeing the rise of AD carry junglers in these two versions, and the return of the Xayah and Rakan duo to the competitive scene, Riot Games was clearly jealous and chose to directly nerf Rakan, refusing to reunite them.

The handsome Rakan was thus significantly weakened in terms of base stats, making him essentially a squishy mage-support type in the early and mid-game, no longer able to team up with bot lane supports like Alistar and Thresh.

The current Luo can be easily focused down and killed; the boldness of initiating team fights at will in the past is gone forever.

After seeing these changes, Lin Ruo felt it was alright. If Taliyah was nerfed, so be it. He had a deep enough champion pool, so he didn't care about one or two more.

As for Aatrox, he was already a favorite in this version, and now the top lane environment is such that he can be picked whenever he wants. Nerfing him will obviously affect all teams.

Since that's the case, rounding it off means there was no reduction, after all, no one benefited.

After analyzing the version changes, Lin Ruo turned her attention back to the live stream. Only five minutes had passed, and countless people had already flooded into the live stream room.

Lin Ruo only knew that within five minutes of starting his broadcast, he was already the most popular streamer on Zhanqi Live.

Basic operations.

Lin Ruo casually changed the title to "Asian Games Champion Livestream" before starting the livestream. Before playing the game, she wanted to chat with the audience to cultivate the rapport that might have been estranged since they hadn't seen each other for a long time.

Yes, yes, we also need to take out the Asian Games gold medal and wear it around our necks.

This shows good taste, and the number of comments in the live stream suddenly increased exponentially.

[Damn, is Lin Gou showing off to us? Changing the livestream title and wearing a gold medal... I mean, is this how a person acts?]

[You're only finding out now that Lin Gou isn't human?]

[Since that's the case, let's auction it off. I'm willing to pay a day's breakfast money for the gold medal around Lin Gou's neck.]

To be honest, this gold medal is really dazzling. Is this what an Asian Games gold medal is like? No wonder it's featured on CCTV News.

[Great, I like it.]

"Brothers, I'm not trying to show off. I know you've never seen an Asian Games gold medal this close before, so I wore it to satisfy your viewing desires."

Looking at the comments, Lin Ruo calmly gave an explanation.

It would have been better if I hadn't explained it; once I did, the people in the live stream believed everything I said.

It's confirmed, Lin Ruo was just showing off.

While they were talking, Lin Ruo somehow managed to snag a medal from Scout and hung it around her neck for a second round of display: "Look, guys, this is a silver medal, it's actually pretty good-looking too."

"Of course, it's definitely not as good as our gold medal."

[Holy crap, even our own people are being attacked.]

[Lin Gou calls Mingkai by all sorts of nicknames every day. Is this the first time you've heard he likes to make fun of his own people? When it comes to memes, Lin Gou never distinguishes right from wrong.]

[Is Scout streaming? I'll go check if he's popular now.]

[If I were Scout, I would have already smashed a chair over Lin Ruo's head. I've already had a tough time getting a silver medal at the Asian Games, and you still dare to mock me.]

Watching Lin Ruo's crazy display of fun, almost everyone wanted to get a closer look at Scout's expression on the screen. Fortunately, Scout, the Korean mid laner at the Asian Games, was only in a normal mood at this moment.

Although winning the Asian Games silver medal was indeed very painful, when he thought about how he was a substitute, the silver medal actually had nothing to do with him.

Scout won't feel so bad anymore.

After all, the silver medal wasn't something he earned through his own efforts; it was like picking it up for free, so it was practically the same as not having it at all. Otherwise, he wouldn't have willingly let Lin Ruo use it to cause trouble.

Scout is focused on playing well in tomorrow's regular season game. He didn't get much playing time at the Asian Games, so he'll come back and practice against these weak LPL teams to regain his competitive form.

As it turned out, they were indeed a terrible team. On the second day of the final week of the LPL regular season, Lin Ruo, who advocated for rest, didn't even go to the venue as a substitute. However, this didn't stop EDG, with their semi-main lineup, from dominating the game.

This time, facing their own team, VG, who were second to last in the Western Conference, they completely crushed them.

In order not to affect the upcoming RNG vs. IG match at 19 pm, EDG won 2-0, and both matches ended in just 50 minutes.

It didn't affect the viewers' experience at all.

Next up is a crucial match for the LPL Summer Split runner-up title. Compared to previous matches, this one is generating just as much buzz as a game featuring the popular EDG.

It's a battle for second place, after all.

After all, whoever loses between RNG and IG will secure second place in their regular season group. According to the competition rules, it's a 100% certainty that they will face the top team in the West, EDG, in the playoffs' semifinals.

Therefore, finishing third in the Summer Split is a foregone conclusion.

Conversely, securing first place in the regular season would guarantee that they wouldn't face EDG in the playoff semifinals, which would greatly increase their chances of reaching the finals.

So you can tell me whether the probability of getting second place is high or low.

The hype and predictions surrounding this competition by the netizens on Tieba perfectly aligned with the reality of the event, and can be said to be in perfect harmony with the competition itself.

RNG has already accepted the offer, while IG probably still believes they have the ability to compete with EDG.

However, after this final battle against RNG, IG realized that their status in the LPL was not just below that of EDG, but rather above all other LPL teams.

Because they were surprisingly defeated 2-0 by RNG in this final match of the regular season.

It was only then that the entire IG team realized how terrible the consequences of losing this match would be.

Because they are really going to face the league champions EDG in the playoff semifinals. They may not have been so panicked before the match, but now that the match is over, they are really going to meet them.

This can't be described as mere panic; it's downright collapse.

Who can beat EDG?

IG fans may still hold onto a sliver of hope, unlike the current situation on Tieba, where there are already premature pronouncements and even graves erected for IG.

It's the same familiar meme: the grave has an image of the IG team hanging on the front, and the EDG team's logo figure is half-squatting and making a peace sign next to it.

The tombstone also features a very farsighted inscription: "Congratulations in advance to IG for stopping at the semifinals of the Summer Split and winning the third place in the 2018 League of Legends Summer Split."

It's cruel, but it's very close to reality.

If there's any chance that this won't happen, it's only if IG doesn't even make it to the semifinals. That's the only way to avoid being crushed by EDG.

Instead of hoping that IG can actually pull off an upset and defeat EDG to advance to the finals, facing the currently dominant EDG, especially Lin Ruo, is no different from wishful thinking.

For RNG, whose performance has been somewhat inconsistent this summer, many viewers did not expect that IG, who rarely loses, would fall so cleanly in the final round.

Perhaps only Lin Ruo, who watched the game live, could accept it with a clear conscience.

After all, it was 18.

It was absolutely right for RNG to suppress IG before the World Championship; it's just that EDG's rise has made RNG less well-known this year.

The competition is still ongoing; September 2nd is the last day of the LPL Summer Split regular season.

In the final round, EDG faced FPX, who had performed well in the West and were on the verge of the playoffs. Lin Ruo came to the stadium with the team and sat comfortably next to the water bench.

As expected, there were some minor setbacks, but nothing serious. EDG secured a 2-1 victory, solidifying their first-place position in the regular season.

With the final round of the regular season officially concluded, the LPL Summer Playoffs will take a break and officially kick off in Beijing, the capital city, in two days.

It remains a two-half bracket, with a total of eight teams competing for three spots in the World Championship.

The teams in the upper bracket include Top, SNG, IG, and EDG.

The lower bracket includes FPX, JDG, RW, and RNG, who narrowly secured first place in the regular season.

It's hard to say which half of the bracket has a bigger difference in strength; the upper half, with the spring season champions and runners-up, seems to be stronger.

However, comparatively speaking, the situation in the lower half of the bracket actually looks much more promising.

Because apart from EDG and IG, the other two teams in the upper bracket can be considered as filler teams. SNG, with Kkoma as their coach, has very stable strength, but that's about it.

Teams ranked higher than them have never pulled off an upset, and they've been crushed time and time again. It seems that SNG has never been able to break through the team's ceiling.

TOP fared even worse. They were unstoppable in the first half of the Summer Split regular season, but then plummeted in the second half, falling to the very bottom.

If it weren't for their high number of points in the early stages and the poor performance of other teams in their group, TOP wouldn't have even qualified for the playoffs. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they were the worst team in the playoffs.

In comparison, this is the eastern region.

RW is fully capable of challenging RNG, and even JDG, the best-performing rookie this year, has a chance to compete with the top two teams. In terms of overall strength, the lower half of the bracket is indeed much more balanced.

With the final group assignments completed, and just as the LPL playoffs were about to begin, the LCK playoffs had already entered a heated phase.

Back in late August, SKT was eliminated from the playoffs due to their seventh-place finish in the regular season, thus earning the first spot in the gauntlet.

What most LPL viewers didn't expect was that in the subsequent first round of the LCK playoffs, the veteran team that changed its name from SSG to Gen was also swept out by AFS.

Thus, the second LCK qualifying spot has been decided: Gen.G, led by Ambition, will face SKT in the first round of the qualifying tournament for a chance to advance to the next stage.

In other words, one of SKT and Gen.G's former teams will definitely fail to qualify for the World Championship this year.

This has generated a lot of excitement among LPL viewers. In previous years, one of these two regular World Championship participants will fail to qualify for the World Championship, or rather, it is possible that neither of them will qualify.

Compared to the LPL playoffs which are also underway, the LCK is definitely more entertaining than the early stages of the LPL before the semifinals begin.

Compared to the unpredictability of the LCK, the results of the LPL are indeed quite clear.

In the first round of competition that took place on September 5, in a clearly tiered system, JDG, ranked third in the East, easily defeated FPX, ranked fourth in the West, 3-1.

The following day, SNG, the third-ranked team from the West, also defeated TOP and advanced to the top six of the Summer Split playoffs, giving them the potential to continue their journey.

It's absolutely true that whoever ranks higher in the regular season is a level above the rest in terms of strength.

The subsequent top six matches followed a similar pattern, with IG easily defeating SNG, who came up to challenge them, and RW showing no mercy to JDG.

(End of this chapter)