LOL: Can’t I play other games professionally?

Chapter 531 Is EDG finished?
10 month 18 day.

Busan, which has been experiencing a prolonged rainy season, has finally seen a rare glimpse of sunny weather.

Lin Ruo, who arrived at the Busan venue late in the afternoon, finally had a chance to bask in the sun. A large number of Chinese fans gathered outside the venue that day, holding up flags.

Lin Ruo, having some free time, spent quite a bit of time greeting people.

Compared to other matches, Korean spectators usually make up more than half of the audience at the venue, such as the GRF vs. KT match a couple of days ago.

Perhaps due to the severe defeat last year, Korean fans are eager to regain face at home this year. They also know the strength of the support from Chinese audiences, so they have obviously made a great effort in terms of audience numbers this time, trying their best to maintain the support advantage of playing at home.

However, there were surprisingly few Korean fans at EDG's match today.

It's not that they don't like coming because there aren't any LCK teams.

On the contrary, South Korean viewers are more willing than anyone else to come to the stadium to cheer for their opponents when LPL teams play.

This time, however, this so-called encouragement will obviously have no effect whatsoever.

Because VIT's opponent is the powerful EDG, while EDG's opponent is the weak VIT.

Is there any need to see who wins and who loses?
Korean viewers aren't stupid; they don't want to waste their money coming to the stadium to watch EDG dominate, only to sit there like autistic patients.

This kind of match is like EDG playing against GEN in the group stage.

In reality, I'm afraid that apart from being able to shout at the beginning, he won't be able to open his mouth at all afterward.

So rather than coming to the stadium only to be disappointed, it's better to pretend the game didn't happen and not come at all.

Therefore, the Busan venue today was almost entirely filled with Chinese spectators and EDG fans, giving it the unparalleled atmosphere of an EDG home turf.

However, there weren't many, since the Busan venue could only accommodate a limited number of spectators.

When they came on stage later, looking at the packed audience in the small space, Lin Ruo and the rest of EDG chose to quietly lean back in their chairs and close their eyes to rest.

On-site, in the commentary booth.

The Korean commentators, as usual, began their pre-match analysis, hoping to find some chance for VIT to win, but the result proved that it would be a miracle if they had any chance at all.

So I can only tell the truth: "Today's match was probably the one with the biggest gap in strength since the quarterfinals. I hope VIT can play to their full potential, but the chances of them advancing are extremely slim."

"Yes, EDG is still too strong. This makes me look forward to the semi-final match against GRF. As the two strongest teams in this World Championship, I believe they will definitely put on a wonderful show."

Unable to praise VIT, the Korean commentators naturally shifted their focus to the semifinals, expressing their admiration for GRF.

However, many viewers who understood the situation saw this as blatant self-praise for their own team.

After all, can GRF and EDG really be considered to be in the same league? I always feel there's a gap between them.

"Alright, good afternoon to all the viewers here and watching the live stream. The final battle of the quarterfinals is about to begin. Compared to the two thrilling China-Korea matches we experienced in our own region, this one is undoubtedly the one we can watch with the most peace of mind."

On the LPL commentary booth.

After almost a week, Guan Zeyuan has emerged from the shadow of being eliminated by GEN and returned to being the Guan Daxiao who loves to make jinxing predictions.

"I think today's match was no better than 3-0. Losing one game would be a failure for EDG."

"Don't say that, it's not good."

Wang, who was standing next to him, was almost scared to death when he heard this. He immediately interrupted with a smile: "VIT was able to defeat FW and advance to the quarterfinals, so they obviously have the strength. We can't let our guard down. I still hope that both sides can put on a great match."

"Next, let's report from the match. Since EDG qualified as the top team in the group, they had the right to choose sides first and chose the blue side."

I remember I hadn't finished speaking yet.

The broadcast announced through my headset that the match was about to begin. When I looked up again, both teams, having finished their adjustments, had already started the draft phase.

Neither side made any headstrong decisions in the initial draft phase. EDG banned Aatrox, while VIT banned Urgot.

VIT completely shut down strong early-game champion combinations such as LeBlanc, Alistar, and Taliyah.

EDG, on the other hand, focused on banning the heroes that VIT had used most frequently since the group stage, aiming to reduce the opponent's familiarity with them as much as possible.

Regarding hero selection.

After seeing VIT reveal their Kai'Sa build on the first floor of the red side.

For the first time, EDG changed their playstyle and chose the most aggressive measures to deal with the situation.

In the current meta, Kai'Sa is almost always the core champion to be played. RNG is the most obvious example, having picked Kai'Sa and built their game strategy around her for half of their group stage matches.

If we had to choose the fastest way to end the game, it would undoubtedly be to crush Kai'Sa in the early stages.

In response, EDG directly pulled out a strong bot lane combination of Draven and Thresh, aiming to compress Kai'Sa's survival and development space.

They then pulled out a mid-jungle duo of Ryze and Xin Zhao, plus an absolute front-line Sion, making their synergy and early-game playstyle undeniable.

"Has iboy ever played Draven? I don't remember." This question was raised by someone in the commentary booth.

Guan Zeyuan's answer was naturally no; iboy has never played since his debut this year.

So, EDG's open and aboveboard decision this time suggests either they're well-prepared, or...

They simply didn't take VIT seriously, which is why they were able to pick a lineup they hadn't tried much before. So, in terms of the level of play in today's match, EDG was clearly playing much more freely than usual.

However, considering that they will be facing GRF in the semifinals, if they really want to be absolutely sure of their ability to deal with the ever-changing draft strategies of the Korean champions, then practicing against the relatively weak VIT in this quarterfinals is indeed the best option.

The EDG players' bench at this moment.

Mingkai's smile has widened; signing Draven is probably the biggest gamble of his coaching career, bar none.

Draven either explodes or takes off; he never just coasts along.

It was precisely because he considered that the opponent was VIT that he dared to let iboy, who had never used it before, take it.

"Are you all okay? Today is just for practicing lineups, so mistakes are allowed, but we can't afford to make too many mistakes."

"Hey, if iboy dares to feed next game, let Haro come up to jungle and I'll play ADC." Hearing Mingkai's words, Lin Ruo quickly switched to teasing his teammates to indirectly encourage them.

iboy also has something to say.

It seems like this isn't the ADC he really wanted to choose.

After all, he wasn't a JK who played Draven in dire straits, so iboy's impression of Draven was just so-so. The main problem was that the ground-based energy affected his positioning too much, making him a little uncomfortable playing the champion.

However, he is not afraid of technical skills. Learning to play any ADC is the basic duty of a bot lane player. If you don't know how, you have to learn.

"Alright, the draft and ban agreements have been finalized for both sides."

"EDG (blue side): Sion (top), Xin Zhao (jungle), Ryze (mid), Draven and Thresh (bot lane duo)."

"Red side VIT, top lane Ornn, jungle Lee Sin, mid lane Lissandra, bot lane duo Kai'Sa and Gragas."

As commentator Guan Zeyuan finished speaking, the ten players from both sides quickly entered Summoner's Rift.

Logically, with Draven already picked, EDG's pace should have been fast and ruthless. However, in this game, EDG only managed to be fast, but not ruthless.

Just three minutes into the game, Lin Ruo, who had started with red buff in the bottom jungle, seized the opportunity to tower dive using the combined pressure of Draven and Thresh. However, the tower's damage was still a bit too high. Tian Ye had done his best to initiate, but that didn't stop him from being killed by the tower in just two hits.

at the same time.

EDG's three players couldn't keep up with the damage, allowing the low-health Kai'Sa to escape death.

EDG's first gank resulted in a relatively unprofitable outcome.

EDG, who are never one to suffer a loss, suffered a significant setback right from the start, much to the surprise of the LCK commentators on site.

"Wow, EDG clearly didn't treat their opponents like human beings this time. Actually, Kai'Sa's health is still above half, which is quite healthy. If it's too early, the best choice to tower dive is when her health is relatively low."

It's clear that in the early game, with only 3 minutes left, unless you can consistently apply crowd control and damage, tower diving is very likely to result in unexpected situations.

EDG failed to do so, which naturally led to an unexpected situation.

"Fortunately, Draven didn't die, otherwise it would have been a complete disaster right from the start."

After this wave, Kai'Sa, who needed the most development from VIT, got the kill, and the LCK commentators couldn't help but perk up immediately.

They were somewhat looking forward to what unexpected events might unfold next.

This plot unfolded very quickly. At 6 minutes, Zhao Xin and Thresh invaded the jungle again. After stealing the jungle monsters, they lingered in the river and didn't notice the spies in the bushes.

As a result, he was hit by Gragas's E-flash through the wall, and then surrounded and killed by Lee Sin and Kai'Sa who had entered the river from the lane.

Tianye Thresh inevitably gave away another kill, and this storyline is far from over.

Less than a minute later, Lissandra, along with Lee Sin, quickly found Lin Ruo, who was farming jungle camps.

With his ultimate ability to freeze enemies, Lin Ruo's Xin Zhao had nowhere to escape from Lissandra's chain of crowd control. Combined with Lee Sin's damage, he was powerless to resist and gave away his third kill.

When the game reached about 10 minutes, the kill ratio between the two sides remained at 0:3.

EDG is 0, VIT is 3.

The LCK and LPL commentators present were all in disbelief.

EDG rarely falls behind in the early game, right?
No, no, that's not how you should say it.

Rather, it means that being behind in the early stages was not a problem for EDG at all. At least judging from all the match data since the beginning of this year, Lin Ruo has been able to maintain a full game rhythm in every match.

EDG rarely fell behind in the early stages.

But today, EDG fell behind.

After failing to tower dive at 3 minutes, VIT seemed to have found the initiative, taking advantage of EDG's mistakes to gradually take control of the situation.

This established a leading position.

Is this something that could happen within the EDG team?
To everyone's surprise, not only did this happen, but even 20 minutes later, during what would normally be the time when EDG would finish the game, this happened.

EDG is still lagging behind.

With a kill score of 6-10 on both sides, EDG was still lagging behind by more than 2000 gold as usual.

This is clearly a huge disadvantage for a team that has Draven.

Especially when the opponent is Kai'Sa, the team fight coordination is obviously completely different after getting three items.

For VIT, it seems that all they need to do at this point is drag it out.

The only good news for EDG is that Draven has never died, meaning there's still a chance to take off with just one kill.

Of course, there is also the possibility that dying once could lead to a complete explosion.

At this point, what EDG needed to do most was to force a team fight, but VIT obviously didn't fall for it in the Baron fight that started at 24 minutes.

They neither allowed EDG to secure the Baron nor to get any kills.

The pace remains slow, which is worse for EDG as the game drags on, while for VIT, the situation is getting better and better.

Although there were very few Korean spectators at the venue, the number of viewers on the Korean online streaming platform surged rapidly after learning that EDG was on the back foot in the first game.

Nobody was unaware that EDG might lose the first game.

[Damn, is this still EDG? How come they're lagging behind in kills, economy, and tempo?]

Has it started? Could it be that EDG's performance is also starting to decline?

There are no invincible teams in this world. EDG has been strong for almost two years, so it's time for them to decline.

However, EDG picked Draven this time, which might be because they're testing different team compositions and playstyles; it's hard to say what will happen.

...

As the situation became increasingly unfavorable for EDG, Korean netizens became more and more agitated. However, they also understood that the bot lane lineup was very unusual for EDG.

Therefore, it would be arbitrary to judge EDG's condition based solely on this one game.

Moreover, EDG later turned the tide and won.

Yes, it all comes down to this: EDG only needs Draven to get one kill to turn the tide.

After holding back for more than 20 minutes, Draven getting a kill is equivalent to being able to immediately buy a complete item.

VIT couldn't hold back in the end, and EDG seized the opportunity to score a 2-4 kill exchange.

thus.

As Draven took off, EDG also secured the coveted Baron Nashor at the 26-minute mark of the game.

The situation was reversed just like that.

The one who will suffer next is obviously the Vitality Test, which has endured a long time before.

Draven taking away half of Kai'Sa's health with a single strike is now commonplace.

This is what Draven looks like when he takes off.

At the 30-minute mark, EDG secured the victory in this bottom lane battle, taking a 1-0 lead over VIT in the quarterfinals.

A classic that's worth watching.

Korean viewers who were drawn into the live stream couldn't help but feel a mix of regret and anger.

[Damn it, there's no need to rush, why did Lissandra take the initiative to drive?]

[That's how European and American teams are; they simply don't have the same level of discipline as our LCK teams.]

We were so close to winning, it's a pity we couldn't hold on when we were in our dominant phase.

Although they lost the first game, Korean viewers had a feeling that given EDG's current form, the second game was definitely worth watching.

(End of this chapter)