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

Chapter 172 Time is running out for the Vietnamese.

"Seriously, isn't this year's MSI format a bit too rushed?" On the way back, Flandre couldn't help but complain, "After the scrimmages, they only get a day off before jumping straight into the knockout stage?"

The LPL takes more than a week off from the regular season to the knockout stage!
"It's alright." Meiko didn't seem to care. "MSI isn't a very high-level competition anyway. When I played before, we didn't take a break. The day after the group stage, we would start a best-of-five series."

Meiko participated in the 2015 MSI right after his debut and ultimately defeated Faker's SKT to win the championship, leaving a deep impression on the young Meiko at the time.

"However, this schedule is a bit unreasonable," the factory manager said from the side. "Why are we playing later?"

The schedule shows that EDG is scheduled for the second day of the semifinals.

And after the match, there will be no rest; the final match will start immediately.

In other words, EDG will have to play back-to-back games.

In previous MSI tournaments, although the knockout stage was played consecutively, it seemed that the group winners always played first.

"It doesn't really matter," Ming Jing, who had been scrolling through his phone, looked up. "It's not a big problem, just consider it a warm-up."

At this time, people on Tieba were also discussing this issue.

Some aggressive individuals believe that Riot Games is envious and is targeting the LPL again.

Another group of people think it doesn't matter.

The first day of playing could be described as having plenty of rest, while the second day of playing back-to-back games meant that players were in excellent form. There are actually several reasons for this.

Ultimately, EDG isn't under much pressure playing against GAM, and their level of commitment might not be much higher than in scrims.

Just treat it as a few practice matches, and then go to the finals the next day. What pressure can there be?
Train when you need to train, and rest when you need to rest.

At this stage, MAD is the only scrim opponent EDG can arrange.

The Europeans' primary task is to get past the Korean team; they no longer have the energy to guard against EDG, their hypothetical opponent in the finals.

Even in scrimmages, MAD's mid laner Humanoid specifically sought Mingjing's advice on how to counter DK.

Mingjing gave his answer to the European's sincere request for advice: strengthen the laning phase in the bottom half of the map and crush the DK's two carries in the laning phase.

This left Humanoid speechless, and it replied with a string of ellipses.

Destroying DK's bottom lane is relatively easy; it's not too difficult.

But they completely dominated the mid lane.
Bro, do you think everyone is like you?

Before you transferred to Showmaker, Showmaker was recognized as the best school in the world. How could I possibly beat them?

"NONONO, DK isn't strong, and neither is Showmaker!"

Mingjing typed out in English, "Don't put too much pressure on yourself, be brave! As long as you win in the mid lane, MAD will win!"

Mingjing's English is standard exam-oriented English, with very formal vocabulary. Although it looks somewhat formal, the meaning is still very clear.

This is also his true thought.

The bottom and middle lanes of DK have never been strong in the laning phase.

There's no need to say much about Ghost in the bottom lane; he's universally acknowledged as weak, and anyone can easily stomp on him.

The mid lane is relatively weak.

Showmaker's laning phase isn't too weak; it's top-tier and he can handle most professional mid laners without much trouble. However, compared to truly elite mid laners, there's still a gap.

Let alone compared to Ming Jing, he's even a bit inferior to Scout.

Strictly speaking, his role in DK is actually very similar to that of Toothpaste, leaning towards a support role in the jungle.

So why was DK, despite their weak mid and bot lane matchups, able to exert such terrifying dominance at last year's World Championship?
This is due to version differences.

Last year's World Championship was dominated by junglers.

At that time, the goal of the three lanes was not to win the lane or suppress the opponent in the lane.

It is the line weight.

After pushing the minion wave, just help the jungler invade and control the dragon.

Wild dad fat is the real fat.

So at that time, DK showed extraordinary dominance because they didn't care about winning or losing in lane. They just needed to clear the creep waves and then coordinate their attacks, aiming for small-scale team fights.

This is why DK was able to exert such terrifying dominance last year, even finishing as runners-up. Their overall win rate at Worlds was even higher than JDG's.

In terms of early-game small-scale team fights, DK is undoubtedly one of the world's best.

At that time, DK cleverly circumvented the problem of insufficient mid and bot lane laning ability.

But that's different now.

The jungler role these days is dominated by champions like Udyr and Morgana.

Although Rumble is a top carry in the jungle, his skill set is actually not enough to support a jungle carry playstyle. This champion does not have the ability to counter-jungle; counter-jungling is just feeding kills!

In the current version, the jungler's role is completely opposite to that of last year's World Championship; now, the jungler is the support for the lanes.

In this environment, you can no longer rely on controlling lane priority to escape lane opponents.

You have to really go toe-to-toe with the laners, pressure the enemy, and get the plating done.

Therefore, the mid lane became the key factor in defeating DK.

With the bottom lane at a natural disadvantage and the jungler also constrained by the current meta, if the mid laner can suppress Showmaker, it's equivalent to suppressing the entire DK!

DK lost both games at this MSI because ShowMaker was suppressed.

In one game, Syndra was suppressed by Azir; in another game, Lee Sin was simply playing around.

Hearing Mingjing's explanation, MAD's mid laner Humanoid felt a chill run down his spine.

This is way too difficult!
“But beating DK is never an easy thing,” Mingjing continued typing. “So good luck.”

Clearly, MAD's mid laner Humanoid is one of those mid laners who are in the top tier, but still have a way to go before reaching the absolute best.

However, the variable is that this person's laning ability is still quite decent.

Based on Mingjing's personal experience, he is probably on par with Showmaker.

This laning ability might bring some variables to the upcoming semifinals.

In the following period, Ming Jing focused on nothing but training matches and ranked matches, pushing the training intensity to its maximum.

When there were no scrims, Mingjing even created a smurf account to continue honing his proficiency with mid-lane Lee Sin.

Mingjing has been practicing Lee Sin in the mid lane for a long time and originally planned to use it against DK in the second round of the tournament.

As a result, DK lost to MAD and lost the qualification to compete for first place in the group, so there was no need to bring out Lee Sin, which made Lee Sin a half trump card for the team.

Therefore, Mingjing must practice on a smaller scale to avoid revealing his hand.

Of course, whether this hidden trick can fool the Death Knight is another matter entirely.

Before we knew it, it was August 21th.

The match between DK and MAD kicked off first.

Clearly, MAD took Mingjing's words to heart.

They made a huge change just from the perspective of business partners.

In the group stage and scrimmages, they frequently pick Orianna and Viktor, as these two champions are a very high priority for them.

But now, these two heroes have been abandoned by them, and replaced by the early-game fighting king - Sylas!

Moreover, Humanoid clearly went all out in this game, playing very aggressively in the laning phase. He basically rushed in to trade blows whenever he had the chance, trying to suppress Showmaker!
This strategy is certainly quite risky. With strong opponents all around, one mistake could lead to the utter destruction of the entire team.

He quickly made a mistake.

He clearly overlooked the crucial factor of support roaming. When Beryl's Tahm Kench roamed to the mid lane, he used his E to dash there.

The next second, Tahm Kench used his ultimate ability, Deep Dive, to sneak up behind him with a Rumble.

Humanoid's expression changed, but it was too late. In the end, the kill was fed to Showmaker, and the slight advantage that Humanoid had painstakingly accumulated in the laning phase vanished.

Seeing this, Mingjing shook his head, knowing that MAD was probably gone.

The first ten minutes are considered a golden period when facing DK.

Because DK has extremely strong small-scale team fight capabilities in the mid-game, all their strategies, teamwork, and lineup choices are prepared for this period.

You need to build up a significant advantage in the first ten minutes to get through this period!

Now that MAD has not only failed to gain any advantage, but is even at a disadvantage, it is naturally doomed to fail.

that's the truth.

The pace of the game was very slow in the early stages, with the kill score only 0-1 even after ten minutes.

But the score difference widened rapidly in the next ten minutes, quickly reaching 2-8!

MAD was six kills and four thousand gold behind, and had no chance to fight back.

The first game ended at 26 minutes, with DK taking the lead.

MAD's mid laner Humanoid pondered for a long time after losing the game.

He didn't think Phi's approach was wrong; he was just reflecting on where he hadn't done well enough.

He could sense that they were just one step away from victory!
Soon, the second game began.

This time, Humanoid locked in Zoe, further enhancing her laning capabilities.

On the other side, DK seemed to have made preparations, pulling out Yone as their last pick.

Yone is a standard counter to Zoe because Yone's second E can directly negate Zoe's [Sleep Bubble], which is a counter at the mechanism level.

Of course, Yone is short-ranged against long-ranged opponents, so he will definitely be at a disadvantage in the laning phase. However, as long as he can get through the laning phase, Yone can gradually turn the tide and eventually become the dominant force in the late game.

But how to survive the laning phase is something Showmaker has to consider.

This was not easy for him.

Humanoid reached level two early on, and Zoe pushed up the lane and used her EQ combo to bring Yone to low health, successfully establishing a lane advantage.

At the seven-minute mark, Zoe landed another long-range Starfall on Yone, leaving Showmaker completely stunned.

Showmaker hardened his heart and used his ultimate move, [Sealed Dust Slash], to lock onto the starting point of Zoe's ultimate move, still wanting to engage in close combat!

But Humanoid still had Flash available. He pressed D repeatedly, flashing out of the skill range at the last second, and then turned around and hit Yone with an E! Showmaker could only use E to chase Zoe and slash a few times, and then use E to resurrect before the sleep bubble was triggered, thus taking away the sleep.

But at this point, whether sleep is triggered or not is irrelevant.

Zoe had no intention of leaving; instead, she stayed by Yone's spirit and kept attacking with basic attacks.

Showmaker was sweating profusely at this point.

Although he still has Flash available, Zoe also has W, so there's no point in him using Flash to escape!

Humanoid then used the Ignite effect obtained from the Unsealed Spellbook, and with the speed boost and extra damage provided by W, he managed to secure a solo kill in his lane!

This solo kill was like a turning point, leading the game into a completely different storyline from the previous game!

With the advantage established by the solo kill in the mid lane, MAD shifted their focus to the bottom half of the map for the remainder of the game.

DK's bot laner Carzzy is also a very good player, with an aggressive playstyle and a tendency to take risks.

But generally speaking, these types of players are usually mechanically amazing!
In the bottom lane, MAD had a considerable advantage in the laning phase, managing to farm and plate turrets without neglecting either, thus establishing a significant economic lead.

Now that the two Cs have merged, MAD's small group is naturally invincible.

After several back-and-forth team fights, MAD finally gained the upper hand and won the game in 32 minutes!

In the third game, MAD seemed to have found the formula to victory, and continued to relentlessly attack in the early game!

In this game, MAD even had a 3-way advantage. Their jungler Elyoya was able to gank and succeed no matter what he did in the top lane. In the mid lane, since they chose the mid laner first, they didn't gain any advantage, but they didn't suffer any losses either.

In a disadvantageous laning phase, not losing is winning!

The bottom lane was a complete massacre!

With all three lanes performing well, MAD won this game exceptionally smoothly, firmly controlling the Fire Dragon Soul and Baron, and then pushing forward to bring the score to 2-1!

Upon seeing this, the commentators from various regions couldn't help but shout "Wow!"

No one expected that Europeans would be so fierce!

This inevitably reminded everyone of G2 two years ago.

In the 2019 season, G2, with the addition of Caps, entered its golden age, defeating Faker's SKT in that year's MSI and ultimately winning the championship!
That year was the year Europe rose to prominence. G2 was just one step away from an unprecedented path to gold, but unfortunately, they ultimately fell to FPX.

Has Europe's glory not yet faded? Are they still rising again?

Ming Jing couldn't help but smile as he looked at the scene before him.

As expected.

He had long believed that MAD could win one or even two games against DK if they found the right method.

The current result of two to one can only be said to confirm his judgment.

But in addition to this judgment, Mingjing has a second judgment.

That means MAD is bound to lose.

Even a Death Knight can become desperate when cornered.

At this stage, which top team doesn't have a trump card up their sleeve?
What Mingjing wants to see is the scene where DK is forced to reveal his trump card when MAD puts him in a desperate situation!

In the fourth game, DK went on a rampage, locking in Nidalee for Canyon.

Although Nidalee has fallen out of favor as a meta champion, in Canyon's hands, she will always be a champion to be trusted!
Canyon seemed like a completely different person when he picked Nidalee. He was no longer the sleepy player he had been in the previous games. He played aggressively and was killed by MAD's jungler Rumble!
Invade, control the dragon, invade, tower dive, solo kill in the jungle, tower dive again!

Canyon practically turned the game into his own personal show, leading DK to an easy 22-minute push!
The EDG players watched the scene unfold before them, making the Nidalee a key point in their minds.

In the decisive game, the battle song began.

Left with no other option, MAD had to ban Nidalee.

But the price was that Lee Sin was released.

DK decisively locked onto Lee Sin.

But this time, the Lee Sin isn't playing top lane, nor mid lane.

Still playing jungle!

Seeing this, the EDG players narrowed their eyes slightly.

Lee Sin jungle is a perfectly normal choice. In all the League of Legends World Championships, Lee Sin has always been the most frequently picked champion across all positions.

Even when Canyon debuted in S9, he was a skilled Lee Sin player, and his appearances were far more frequent.

However, as the game entered the S10 jungle carry meta, Lee Sin was relegated to the sidelines by Canyon and has not been picked for almost a year.

Why did they not choose for a whole year, but now they're making a choice in a do-or-die situation?

Everyone knew that this was what they had been waiting for.

But given the current special circumstances, this is definitely a trump card that DK has been keeping hidden all along!
Canyon clearly understands Lee Sin; he didn't follow the crowd and use the Supreme Fist skin, but instead used the God Fist skin, which must be a personal habit developed through years of practice.

And his performance did not disappoint anyone. Whether it was the Lee Sin jungle clearing at the start of the game or his ganking and fighting skills, Canyon's performance was impeccable and as smooth as silk!
Even in the mid-game, Lee Sin's equipment advantage was so exaggerated that Canyon stopped using his Insec kick and simply became a god of war in team fights!
With the combined buffs of Bloodthirster, Bloodthirster, and Death's Dance, Lee Sin was virtually unstoppable in team fights, securing a triple kill!

With Lee Sin's godlike performance, DK accumulated a significant advantage, and the carries on all three lanes began to exert their strength, making their advantage even greater!

The outcome of the match was no longer in doubt; DK defeated MAD 3-2, narrowly advancing to the finals!
Seeing this, smiles appeared on the faces of everyone in EDG.

All I can say is that watching this game was definitely worthwhile!
Although MAD ultimately lost, they provided them with invaluable intelligence!
Brothers!
Nidalee, right? Lee Sin, right?
There are plenty of ways to deal with you!

That very night, EDG received a message from MAD.

After receiving permission, Humanoid went to EDG's rest room and exchanged team jerseys with Mingjing. He also said that MAD would stay in Iceland until the end of the finals and could continue to practice with EDG.

But in exchange, EDG must defeat DK to avenge their loss.

"Don't worry, Bro," Mingjing said with a smile. "This is exactly what I was supposed to do."

Humanoid has a standard square face, which is quite rare in Europe. He also said with a smile, "You guys should beat GAM first."

The night passed, and it was May 22nd when another semi-final match kicked off!
The outcome of this match was not much of a surprise, but that didn't stop countless viewers from sitting in front of their screens and turning on the live stream.

Yesterday, MAD almost got knocked off by DK. Who can say for sure?

Mingjing sat with the team in the backstage lounge, listening to Maokai outlining tactics from the front.

"There's not much to say about GAM. Their only outstanding position is their jungler. Teams with such obvious strengths are the easiest to target. We should focus on our mid and jungle. After pushing the top and bottom lanes, we should follow JieJie into the jungle. As long as we can shut down the enemy jungler, we'll win easily!"

No one in EDG had any objection to this.

If we were to draw a pentagram representing the five positions of both sides, EDG's pentagram would completely encircle GAM, with the only difference being a slightly smaller gap in the jungle position.

Kill at will.

"Enough talk, all we need to do is give it our all!" Maokai closed his notebook and said with a smile, "As long as you play to your full potential, a 3-0 victory shouldn't be a problem. Go for it!"

EDG actually has a pretty deep impression of the GAM team.

After all, the two teams had indeed faced each other twice in a series of matches.

In addition, during the second round of the competition, in the match between GAM and PSG, the scene of GAM's jungler Karthus bathing in dragon blood and chanting the devastating "Requiem" in his soul form certainly left a deep impression on them.

To defeat this team, EDG must relentlessly target the jungler and prevent Levi from getting ahead!

In the first game, EDG put this concept into practice, with all five players targeting the jungler to an almost frantic degree!
At level three, Flandre accompanied JieJie to invade the jungle, caught Levi's Graves jungler's Flash, and also took over half of the jungle!

While Graves has strong late-game carry potential, his early-game fighting power is nowhere near that of meta champions like Udyr!
With Graves unable to use Flash, EDG's strategy became increasingly clear.

In just 6 minutes, Mingjing's Akali displayed explosive lane dominance, forcing GAM's mid laner to recall for supplies. Then, taking advantage of this crucial numerical advantage, he invaded the jungle once again!

With Akali's support at level six, JieJie's gameplay was almost mindless. Udyr flashed and used his paw to stun Graves, allowing Akali's RE to land and sealing Graves's fate!
Mingjing kicked in with his second E, followed by an AQR combo, and with Udyr's burst damage, easily secured the kill!

And that's not all.

Meiko finished in eight minutes.

This should have been EDG's time to secure the Rift Herald, but EDG came up with a surprising move. Their mid, jungle, and support once again invaded the jungle and, with a perfect chain of control, caught Graves again!

The Vietnamese jungler was getting a bit dizzy from being targeted.

Who plays games like this? They're relentlessly targeting the jungler? Aren't they afraid of my teammates?

All I can say is that I'm really not afraid.

The most tragic thing is that even though EDG has targeted the jungler so much, they still have a CS lead in all three lanes.

Even the bot lane has taken two layers of turret plating!

With an advantage in all four lanes, the outcome was naturally a foregone conclusion. EDG easily swept the first game in 24 minutes with a kill score of 13:3!

Countless Vietnamese viewers watching the match closed the live stream in disappointment after seeing the footage.

They didn't really expect their own team to beat EDG, since the gap between the two teams was indeed obvious.

But if you lose, at least lose gracefully!

Why can't we do what Europe did yesterday and give our opponents a big thrashing?

It can only be said that this is destined to be a pipe dream.

The second game ended even faster than the first.

EDG's overwhelming pace left the Vietnamese players feeling almost suffocated.

Double kill in the bottom lane within four minutes.

A solo kill in the mid lane at six minutes.

Seven minutes later, three players tower-dived on the top lane but managed to kill one of them. Then, they took control of the dragon in the bottom half of the map!
The vanguard team achieved a 2-for-0 exchange in one team fight, and at the 12-minute mark, a 3-for-1 exchange occurred in a mid-lane team fight.

The vanguard charged forward one after another, and the defensive towers collapsed one after another.

In just fifteen minutes, the economic difference between the two sides had already exceeded 10,000!
This has nothing to do with tactics or rhythm; it's simply a crushing defeat of raw power!

The match ended at 22 minutes and 28 seconds, with the kill score set at 11:2.

Despite their best efforts, the Vietnamese managed to kill Saint Gun twice.

The score is now 2-0.

Everybody knows.

Time is running out for the Vietnamese.

(End of this chapter)