LOL: Can’t I play other games professionally?

Chapter 527 Group 1 Advances to the Next Round
The game continues.

At the 12-minute mark of the game, both sides engaged in a team fight around the Rift Herald.

GEN was determined to initiate team fights and gain an advantage in the early game.

As expected, EDG, under Lin Ruo's command, did not rush to counterattack. Instead, they first gave up the dragon pit position and pushed back two lanes of minions before gathering to try and contest the dragon pit.

Lin Ruo originally planned to wait and see, and if it didn't work out, he would take the dragon to stop the loss. After all, in terms of the current lineup, GEN's early team fighting ability is obviously stronger than theirs.

With Nightmare, Lissandra, and Nautilus, GEN's burst damage potential is terrifying. If the opponent makes a rash move, they can easily be focused down and eliminated, disrupting their formation.

What Lin Ruo didn't expect was that, in the end, it seemed that the one on the other side was the one who had acted rashly...

Knowing that simply taking the Rift Herald would be a disservice to the team's collective effort, GEN, eager to gain a greater advantage in the fight, adopted a more aggressive approach.

That is to give it away.

They could have easily captured the Rift Herald, but they couldn't move when they saw the EDG team arrive.

Desperate to avenge his previous defeat, Crown Bro used a teleportation ability to leave the dragon pit and attempt to actively rejoin the battle.

Lin Ruo knew what he wanted to do, so she flashed into the team and activated her ultimate skill to freeze herself, thus slowing down five enemies and creating an opportunity for her teammates to enter the fray.

Good idea.

However, the actual operation may not be so good.

The Crown successfully demonstrated what it means for reality and imagination to have a huge impact.

Because Lin Ruo, controlling Zhao Xin, used only one ultimate skill to knock away Lissandra, who had just landed, so Crown didn't have time to flash into the space to freeze herself.

This put Master An in an awkward position, as he had already activated his ultimate skill, the Nightfall effect, to protect his teammates.

He didn't know whether he should fly or not.

If you don't fly and don't have any special moves, won't you just get surrounded and ganged up on in the dragon pit?
So Master An still flew away, and with the help of Cuvée driving over and launching an attack, Sion took the lead and charged ahead.

Ruler also flew in, finding a great angle to break in and using his teammates to draw fire from the front while unleashing a barrage of attacks.

However, this so-called output did not seem to last for more than two seconds.

Lin Ruo, who had a shield from his ultimate ability, was not initially the target of GEN's attacks, which gave him time to focus his attention on Kai'Sa.

The moment Kai'Sa flew into the edge of the crowd to find the best position to deal damage, Lin Ruo, controlling Xin Zhao, swiftly prepared his third Q and used a Flash-E combo to knock up Kai'Sa who had just landed.

Ruler simply can't react in time.

Then came LeBlanc's two stomp attacks, and Kai'Sa, who had just entered the fray, was instantly gone.

"Kasha has entered the arena!"

In the Korean commentary booth, the two LCK commentators were excitedly preparing for Director Ruler's god-like entrance, but the next second their eyes widened in surprise.

"Kasa entered the fray, and Kai'Sa got instantly killed..."

Zhao Xin's merciless stab completely ended Ruler's output space, leaving him with absolutely no room to deal damage.

With the death of their core player, GEN collapsed as well.

The situation turned sour again in the early stages. After 15 minutes, the kill ratio between the two sides reached 9:1, and the economic gap also exceeded 4000.

"I feel like GEN is going to be gone."

In the commentary booth, Miller even regretted using the word "feeling," which, to put it bluntly, meant that it was about to end.

“GEN’s idea was very good, but they didn’t execute it well in practice and made too many mistakes, which prevented EDG from getting any significant momentum and they gave away their biggest risk.”

The doll next to him chimed in, "GEN suffered huge losses in the Rift Herald team fight. This lineup is supposed to be all about initiating team fights, but GEN's initiation in the last two waves has been terrible. They haven't been able to make good use of their champions' strengths at all."

"Especially in the bot lane, Kai'Sa's laning environment is very worrying. The first tower fell too early, and Kai'Sa didn't have a proper space to farm. This is a fatal blow to GEN."

As the two delved deeper into their analysis, the voices of the South Korean audience grew quieter and quieter.

They certainly wanted to see GEN defeat EDG and seize their last chance to prove themselves.

But, it's disappointing.

What's the point of shouting after a fight like this? The last bit of respect is not to start cursing from the sidelines.

The truth is, they really deserve to be criticized.

South Korean viewers quickly realized that the first 15 minutes of the plot were relatively mild.

Because GEN's condition worsened later on.

Even when Crown was playing Lissandra, Scout's LeBlanc managed to catch him off guard on the sideline and burst him down to low health. He had to use his ultimate to heal and save himself, but even that couldn't save his life.

Edgar, watching from the sidelines, turned red in the face.

If you can't solo kill a support mid-laner, then what hero can't be solo killed?

If I had known that the team's performance in the Spring Split would be poor, I should have replaced the Crown.

After the peak of S6, the Crown in S7 could still get by with its utility, but now in S8 it's a complete black hole.

GEN continued to underperform, even being pushed to the high ground turret by EDG with a single Rift Herald.

It was a simple operational mistake. GEN failed to respond in time, and the only player who came to help, Ambition's Nightmare, was killed by the group under the tower due to poor positioning.

This made it even harder for GEN, who were down to one man, to defend the tower, and they could only watch helplessly as their high ground seemed to be about to fall in less than 20 minutes.

Dragon, Baron, Red Buff, Blue Buff – all map resources fell into EDG's hands.

GEN wanted to fight, but they couldn't win.

When they finally couldn't resist launching a final attack, they were met with a devastating team wipe.

The match ended precisely at 23 minutes, and the completely numb GEN was unable to accept the reality of losing the game.

0-4.

With such a performance in the group stage, they are destined to be one of the teams eliminated.

Upon learning the result, the GEN players sat in their seats with dazed eyes, filled with a sense of utter devastation.

Sect Leader An remained silent.

Crown Bro was sobbing uncontrollably, his head resting on the table. He knew this was his last year.

However, his performance in his last year was terrible, completely unworthy of his star performance in S6. By the time he arrived in S7, Crown had begun to lean towards being a utility player, at least still able to make a contribution.

However, now that it's S8, not only does it have no effect, but more importantly, it's a side effect.

Therefore, this crying won't garner any sympathy, only more insults.

[Get lost, you loser and you're still crying? Aren't you ashamed?] [I've been looking forward to this for three days, and it's a complete disaster. They won't even be able to get home. I'm hiring trucks to block their way; they'll all be sleeping on the streets tonight.]

GEN is a disgrace to the LCK! How can there be such a team? Can't they be expelled from the LCK?

[I can tolerate you getting beaten like a son in front of EDG, but I absolutely cannot tolerate you doing the same thing in front of European and American teams.]

[Master An has really ruined his reputation in his later years. He retired too late; this one match has completely destroyed his name. I'm starting to dislike him now.]

[The second team in LCK history to be eliminated in the group stage, and on their home turf in Korea no less. Anyone who can resist criticizing GEN should probably stay silent from now on.]

After finishing their rant, the Korean viewers left the live stream early, not wanting to see EDG swaggering around on their home turf.

But this is unavoidable.

"Hey, congratulations to EDG for easily defeating GEN again and securing their fourth win. They have also qualified for the knockout stage early, becoming the first team to advance from the group stage."

"As for our GEN, they will also be saying goodbye to the World Championship early. They still have two group stage matches left, so hopefully they can get their first win."

In the LCK commentary box.

The Korean commentators and viewers had different opinions; they were completely impressed by EDG's performance, which was simply too invincible from beginning to end.

"If they maintain this form, EDG will undoubtedly remain the biggest favorite to win this World Championship. They are just too strong."

"Yes, it's hard for me to know whether GRF is even worth a shot, but I hope they can learn from GEN's failure and give it their all."

The two Korean commentators were discussing and even starting to worry about the future, saying that there was no need to dwell on the elimination of GEN, and that reminding GRF to be prepared was the most important thing.

"Congratulations to EDG, try your best to win all your matches and advance."

On the LPL commentary booth.

The Haier Brothers cheered with joy. Although they had expected EDG to easily defeat GEN and advance early, they couldn't help but get excited when it actually happened, no matter how much they were mentally prepared.

If RNG and IG advance in the same way, they will obviously be even more excited.

Unlike in the official LPL live stream, where viewers in the chat are already used to it.

[Brothers, I just logged in. I woke up to find EDG had won another match.]

[I knew I was right not to watch the matches. What's so interesting about stomping noobs? Seriously, I'd rather play a few more games as a farmer. Hmph, from now on, I won't watch any matches where Lin Ruo is a starter.]

[Let's bring Haro up next. I don't have any particular ideas, I just want to see a more intense matchup. Speedruns every day aren't fun anymore.]

[Hmph, you'll have to wait and see how G2 and GEN play next; it's bound to be a close match.]

[Not necessarily. Look at how badly GEN got beaten; they're probably tilted and might get crushed by G2 again. So it's very likely to be another fast-paced game.]

Indeed, judging from the current situation, GEN's mentality has collapsed, but LPL viewers have obviously overlooked another point.

That is because G2 lost to GEN and then defeated TL in the first game today, so they have most likely secured the second place in the group.

There could be unexpected events, but only if they lose to EDG and GEN in succession, and TL wins against both teams, so that there will be a final tiebreaker.

But is that possible? Is it realistic?
G2, who thought it unrealistic, opened their qualifying champagne in the lounge early on.

"Nice, this time it's not the round of 16, we've made it to the quarterfinals."

Perzk, who shed tears last year after being eliminated in the group stage, has finally redeemed himself this year, and reaching the quarterfinals is a new step forward for him.

This allowed G2 to completely relax and, in their subsequent back-to-back match against GEN, they directly switched to a so-called "fun mode."

in other words.

It can also be called a trial lineup.

Perzk was very happy to pick Yasuo for mid lane.

This is actually one of G2's hidden tactics, but they rarely win when they use it.

If that's the case, why not use this against the already eliminated GEN to practice tactics and see the results?

Since it was just a test of tactics, it didn't affect GEN's victory after a hard-fought 35 minutes, securing their first win in the group stage.

From this point on, GEN's score was no longer zero.

Despite winning the match, the GEN players found it difficult to be happy; it was no different from losing. They also failed to win applause from the already disappointed LCK audience.

On the other hand, G2, who actually lost the game, were relaxed and chatting and laughing.

After both teams left the stage, the next match was the rematch between EDG and TL.

EDG needs to win this game to secure first place in the group, so Lin Ruo will remain in the starting lineup to ensure there are no surprises.

So it's no surprise that Lin Ruo is there.

EDG didn't emphasize early-game aggression in this match; instead, they opted for a solid mid-game teamfight composition. Unfortunately, TL didn't perform well.

They picked a great early-game lineup, but failed to capitalize on their power spike, instead feeding EDG's key players who were going to dominate in the mid-to-late game, preventing them from reaching their power spike before they even had a chance to shine.

EDG had already gained the upper hand in the game, both in terms of economy and damage.

In the end, EDG secured the victory effortlessly, achieving their fourth win in the group stage and advancing to the next stage of the knockout rounds as the top seed in Group A.

As expected, TL was eliminated after this match. They still have a rematch with the losers of GEN to decide the group's third and fourth place.

Once again, the senior brother suffered a crushing defeat in the round of 16 and could only vent all his resentment and anger on the members of GEN.

If we can't beat EDG, we can't beat GEN.

GEN probably didn't expect that TL, who played more freely after being eliminated, would perform so well in this match and win with an even better performance at the end.

In a post-match interview, Doublelift tearfully expressed his disappointment, citing the victory over GEN as an example to illustrate that the team had done its best. He hoped that the audience would continue to support the team and that they would surely return as champions next year.

A triumphant return? Western netizens have absolutely no opinion. After all, this phrase has been repeated countless times, and it carries no real weight whatsoever.

However, Western audiences were more focused on GEN at this time, as the air traffic controller was making some sarcastic remarks behind the scenes, refusing to admit defeat.

Most people didn't expect GEN to be eliminated, given LCK's consistent strength; if they didn't perform well in the first round, they should be back in the second.

It's normal that they still can't beat EDG, but it shouldn't be that they can't even beat Europe and America in the second round.

Unfortunately, the answer was that they never actually won. G2 played it safe, while TL got serious and beat GEN.

This is GEN, the LCK's third seed, who finished bottom of Group A with a 1-5 record and was eliminated, refreshing the impression of LCK's dominance among European and American audiences.

This forces them to acknowledge that the LCK seems to be truly failing now.

The current true powerhouse is the LPL, and the world's number one team is EDG, which also comes from the LPL.

(End of this chapter)