You've only been playing for half a year, and you've already reached the finals?

Chapter 165 Little Fei is such a good brother!
On May 14th, at 12:30 PM Icelandic time, there was still half an hour left before the start of the competition.

Mingjing followed the team into the competition venue—Laugardalshll Indoor Stadium.

The arena is actually quite large, with enough seating for several thousand people. However, unfortunately, due to safety concerns, there will be no spectators at the Mid-Season Invitational.

Ming Jing acknowledges Greenland's effective pandemic prevention capabilities.

When I played Plague Inc. before, this was the most difficult part to handle.

After undergoing a series of checks, Ming Jing sat down in the lounge and casually scrolled through his phone.

International roaming data is too expensive, and without Wi-Fi, you can't watch videos; at most, you can only reply to messages and browse forums.

It was 8:30 pm on Friday in China, which is considered prime time for esports viewers, so the discussion on the forum was quite heated.

Countless viewers eagerly awaited the long-awaited China-South Korea showdown!
[A rational analysis: Which team, DK or EDG, has a better chance of winning today?]

Is there even a question? EDG will definitely win. Is the second-best region trying to fool the first-best region?

Do you really think Show God can beat Little Fei?

[If Show God doesn't get beaten to a pulp today, he'll be lucky he's done his business!]

[Stop making baseless accusations! You didn't mistake Show God for Doinb or Xiaohu, did you?]

【What else? What championship do you have, Show God? Last year you only faced Black Angel and Toothpaste in lane. If you faced even one strong opponent, you'd get schooled!】

Anti-Ba has always been a place that only values ​​champions.

If DWG had won the championship last year, Showmaker's title of "God of Show" would probably have been more genuine and wouldn't have sounded so comedic as it does now.

However, Mingjing still felt unsatisfied after watching for a while, so he clicked refresh twice, and sure enough, he saw something good.

Here's some discussion from Korean online forums!

Mingjing clicked on the link and saw that there were already quite a few replies under the post. The original poster had completely translated the discussions from the Korean audience using a faithful and elegant translation.

[How skilled are these EDG players? I don't recognize any of their IDs.]

[Upstairs, did you only start watching the competition this year? It's one thing if you don't know Meiko, but surely you know Viper?]

【Viper? Who?】

There's no need to even get to know an AD carry who's been relegated to the secondary league. Aside from Phi, the rest of EDG's players are completely insignificant!

[A top laner and jungler who's never been to Worlds, an AD carry relegated to the secondary league, and an aging support who hasn't been to Worlds in over three years—does this team really have the skill?]

Yes! EDG narrowly won the Spring Finals 3-1, which is nothing compared to DK's 3-0 sweep!

[Go DK! Let's get our revenge and take back all the championships we lost last year!]

It must be said that South Koreans are quite united even when fighting abroad.

As is well known, most South Koreans are fans of Faker and T1.

However, with T1 still in a slump and practically a sideline, T1 fans can't really speak up. Apart from a small number of extreme fans, most of them naturally support whoever is playing in international matches.

Of course, these foreign teams would be better off not losing.

If you ultimately lose, then prepare for the backlash.
Not long after, there was a knock on the door of the lounge, and a staff member came in to signal the EDG members to prepare to go on stage.

Facing his old rival, Ming Jing took a deep breath and then walked onto the field with his teammates.

With no audience present, the entrance process proceeded quickly. Players from both sides took to the stage one after another, greeted the camera, and the draft phase began immediately.

Because the tournament uses a double round-robin format, the rules for choosing sides are very simple: each side takes turns choosing once.

DWG had the right to choose sides in the first round, so EDG was placed on the red side.

"If it's the red side, Lee Sin is definitely out of the question," Maokai said. "Should we ban him?"

"Let's see what Li Xuanjun has to say," Ming Jing said. "I don't feel any pressure here."

It was a real shame that Ming Jing ended up on the red side, since he had been practicing Lee Sin mid lane intensely these past two days and was planning to show off in the scrimmage, but he lost to the right to choose sides.

However, it's not a big problem.

After all, DWG's Lee Sin usage rate is not high. Although they picked Lee Sin a lot in the group stage, they mainly focused on the top lane, occasionally the jungle, and never picked the mid lane.

Not everyone can be like Ming Jing, who can train like a hero so easily.

For many players, when practicing a hero, they must consider the compatibility issue.

Showmaker is a more traditional mid-laner, a type of mage. If you ask him to play a long-range mage, he can do it with ease, but if you ask him to play a fighter like Lee Sin, he can only scratch his head. This is Doinb's domain.

Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that Showmaker might secretly have a Lee Sin skill, but we don't need to worry about that possibility. Even if Showmaker does pull it out one day, Mingjing can handle it.

"Can I try out Sett?" Flandre thought for a moment, then said, "I feel like I should be able to win."

Sett was tested in the last two days as a counter to Lee Sin.

After all, Lee Sin's main laning phase involves maxing E to slam the ground, which is exactly what Sett counters. If Lee Sin dares to come up and slam, Sett can use E to stun him and land four punches, then hold onto W, leaving Lee Sin with no chance to fight back.

“Okay.” Maokai nodded as well.

The competition in the tournament isn't very intense; it's just a matter of six teams advancing to the top four. The key is to try more.

At this point, the referee confirmed the status of both players, and the draft phase officially began.

Maokai didn't take the bans too seriously, not only deliberately letting Lee Sin through, but also letting Rumble, Morgana and other heroes through, which was a clear act of amnesty!
On the other side, DK seemed to have a similar idea. They chose to ban Akali, Lucian, and Renekton, three heroes that Mingjing had used in LPL matches, and released all the meta heroes for a head-to-head showdown!
With that, the next choice becomes relatively fixed, and both sides can simply complete the normal hero exchange.

"On the blue side, DK immediately picked Lee Sin!" In the LPL commentary booth, Wang Duoduo nodded and crossed his arms, saying, "This is one of the more popular heroes in this MSI; he can play top, mid, and jungle!"

Tongxi immediately chimed in, "And on the other side, EDG picked very quickly, swiftly securing Sett and Rumble! This Rumble should be the jungler!"

DK's second and third picks were quickly determined.

"Lee Sin, Morgana, Tristana." Maokai muttered to himself as he recalled DK's first three picks, finding them rather interesting.

Since all three picks are heroes capable of hitting mid-target units, it's like throwing out a small smokescreen.

But Maokai is a bit of a novice. Anyway, since they are on the red side, they can save the Coutner position for last and then use Mingjing's hero pool to solve the problem.

So Maokai didn't hesitate, first locking in Xayah in the third pick, and then locking in Titan in the fourth pick of the second round.

Seeing that EDG was determined to save the counter pick for last, DK had no choice but to pick Syndra and Leona, thus finalizing their lineup.

Maokai slammed his laptop shut and said into the microphone, "It's up to you now, Mingjing. Your teammates have a great lineup this game, so you can play whatever you want."

Maokai's draft strategy in this game was very simple: to create a platform for Mingjing.

Sett and Nautilus provide the front line and engage capabilities, while Rumble and Xayah provide sufficient damage output.

Next, Mingjing needs to select the hero that best counters the opposing team from his extensive hero pool and carry the game with that hero!

Looking at the opponent's lineup, Ming Jing immediately had many options in his mind, but he wasn't in a hurry to choose. Instead, he asked, "Should we play early game or late game this time?"

"Either way is fine," Maokai said. "It depends on you. The team can be adjusted according to your needs."

On DK's side, both Lee Sin and Syndra are standard early-game fighting champions, so avoiding direct confrontation and focusing on the late game shouldn't be a problem. However, EDG's top and mid laners have advantageous matchups, so they're not afraid to engage in early-game skirmishes.

"Well..." Ming Jing felt the coach's trust and his mind was made up: "Then let me get Azir, let's play a late-game game!"

Hearing this, Maokai couldn't help but chuckle, "So you're here to promote products at MSI?"

Ming Jing was also smiling broadly at this moment, "There's no problem, right?"

Ming Jing did choose the Tsar because he wanted to try out the toothpaste skin, but there was nothing wrong with that choice.

Azir has no problem protecting himself against Syndra in lane. His AP marksman output style is not afraid of Morgana's CC immunity shield, and his ultimate ability allows him to ignore Lee Sin and Leona's initiation. He is a hero that fits the situation perfectly.

“No problem.” Maokai nodded in agreement without saying much.

If you choose the Tsar, your team will need to be more focused on strategy and tactics.

Fortunately, this is exactly what EDG excels at.

At that moment, several of JDG's top players started their live streams on the Douyu platform, watching the match together via voice chat.

It has to be said that Mingjing's popularity has indeed benefited his friends. Their live streams haven't been very effective, even with the added boost of their S10 championship status, their live streams have always been lukewarm.

But whenever these guys commentate on EDG's matches, the live stream's popularity skyrockets!
They are discussing EDG's possible hero choices.

"With Morgana and Syndra on the team, it seems like mid lane is a tough pick?"

"A fox should be able to."

"Ahri should be pretty good against Syndra, but she's a bit afraid of Morgana, right? She can't seem to get close to anyone?"

"What can we choose then? With Morgana right here, any mage is in trouble."

While discussing this, Toothpaste scratched his head, and he actually came up with a pretty good hero.

He plays this hero every day lately, even in his dreams.

"Hmm, what did the Tsar say?" Toothpaste asked. "It sounds like he had something to say about it."

Upon hearing this, several teammates around him glanced at him sideways.

"Are you desperate to sell skins?" Zoom said speechlessly. "You want Mingjing to help you promote them, right?"

Actually, JDG's skins are selling very well. According to rumors, JDG's skin sales are exaggerated. With top-notch quality, although they can't compare to IG's first championship, they are more than enough to crush FPX.

Based on the current trend, when the profits are distributed, each of them will likely receive around ten million, which is definitely not a small amount.

Therefore, although everyone hopes that JDG skins can sell more copies, it hasn't reached the point where Mingjing needs to personally promote them.
“The main thing is,” Zoom laughed, “that even Ming Jing might not be able to.”

Zoom didn't hesitate to practice the champion quickly, but this kind of thing still requires a gradual approach. Azir is not a popular champion in the current version, and it is not easy to play. Even Faker was benched by Easyhoon because he couldn't master Azir.

It is perfectly normal that Ming Jing would not become the Tsar.

But at that very moment, on the fifth floor of EDG, the hero suddenly lit up and was instantly locked on!

"Shurima, your emperor has returned!"

Ah? ? ?
The JDG guys were startled when they saw what was happening before them.

They're really choosing the Tsar!

At this moment, the number of comments in the live stream rooms of several people also surged.

【ah? ? ? 】

[The Tsar! Is he really here to promote products?]

[I'm so touched, Xiaofei is such a good brother! He forced his way to MSI with a 101 KDA, just to get the championship skin, right?]

That doesn't make sense.

With that, the lineups for both sides are finalized!
Blue side DK: Top lane Lee Sin, Jungle Morgana, Mid lane Syndra, Bot lane Tristana and Leona.

Red side EDG: Top lane Sett, Jungle Rumble, Mid lane Azir, Bot lane Xayah and Nautilus.

After the heroes from both sides had been swapped, Tongxi carefully examined the lineups of both sides and then nodded, "Actually, there's nothing wrong with picking Tsar. He's definitely good against the DK lineup!"

"Yes!" Wang Duoduo nodded in agreement. "But everyone knows that Tsar is a hero with a very high skill ceiling. Now it depends on how well Xiaofei masters this hero!"

At this moment, behind DK's players' bench, coach Kkoma, who had just joined the team this year, frowned as he looked at the situation before him.

To be honest, the Tsar's choice was truly unexpected.

But there's nothing we can do about it. After all, Phi only has seven matches in total, so there's no way to prevent it.

But the DK players weren't surprised at all; in fact, they were used to it.

Because Phi did the same thing at last year's World Championship.

They appeared out of nowhere, with no competition records, and new heroes emerged one after another, catching them off guard!

The sudden appearance of the Tsar was unexpected, yet also somewhat reasonable.

"So, Xu Xiu," Kkoma said softly, "can you handle this Tsar?"

Syndra has an absolute advantage in the laning phase against Azir, that's for sure.

Showmaker's face was full of fighting spirit. He rubbed his hands together, and said seriously, "It should be fine!"

Showmaker didn't actually think that Tsar was a very good choice.

Picking the Tsar, hoping to win in the late game? Isn't that underestimating us?

The Tsar's performance in the late game was indeed ideal, but the question is whether he can actually have a late game in this game.

In terms of early-game offensive capabilities, the current Death Knight is unparalleled, with no one able to surpass it.

With the Lee Sin + Syndra + Tristana combination, their stable lane control in all three lanes is enough to defeat any opponent!
The correct solution for EDG should have been to pick a mid laner with lane priority as a counter-pick, using that as a point to break through DK's early-game offensive formation!
From this point of view, the Tsar could absolutely not do it!

Hearing Showmaker's confident words, Kkoma nodded in satisfaction, patted the mid laner on the shoulder, said "Then it's up to you," and walked to the center of the stage, punched Maokai, and then turned and left.

Kkoma is certainly confident in DK's players; their skill level is absolutely world-class.

The 3-0 sweep in the Spring Split finals is the best proof of that.

Moreover, there were no problems with the draft picks in this game, so he was quite relaxed. He didn't even go back to the lounge immediately. Instead, he went to the restroom first, then went to the designated area to smoke a cigarette, before leisurely returning to the backstage area.

At this point, the match had been going on for a few minutes.

"How is it going?" Kkoma asked as he sat down in his chair.

But all I got was silence.

Kkoma immediately realized something was wrong and looked at the screen.

The result made him dizzy.

Damn it! Why is the Tsar already leading 1-0?
(End of this chapter)