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

Chapter 184 FMVP!

"Attack the base! Attack the base and we win!" With Guan Zeyuan's excited shouts, the five EDG players moved in unison, unleashing all their firepower on DK's exposed crystal!
The moment the DK base exploded again, the lights inside the entire Laugardalshll Indoor Arena instantly blazed on!

At this point, the stage is divided in the middle, with completely different scenes on both sides.

On the left side of the stage, spotlights shone brightly, illuminating the area.

Green ribbons, the theme color of this year's MSI, swirled and fell from the sky, while the dry ice generator in front of us spewed out thick white mist!

Everyone knows that the champion of this year's MSI has been decided!

Throughout the stadium, five thousand spectators cheered loudly, all applauding the winner!
Miller, his face flushed, shouted excitedly, "Three to one! Congratulations to EDG! They've won the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational!"

Guan Daxiao immediately chimed in, quoting extensively: "Six years after 2015, EDG has finally reached the top of the Mid-Season Invitational again, becoming the second MSI double champion after T1!"

At this moment, the big screen at the venue also began to play the champions of previous MSIs.

EDG, SKT, SKT, RNG, G2.

Five-time champion from S5 to S9.

Then S10 was suspended for a year due to special reasons, and now, S11!

A burst of light appeared on the large screen, followed by official photos of several EDG players, with a large "Victory" displayed below!
The world seems to be a cycle; MSI started with EDG and will also end with EDG this year.

Mingjing took off his headphones and heard the audience's cheers flooding his ears. Then, his two brothers, Jie Jie and Shengqiang, rushed over to him.

"It's awesome!"

This was the first time that Flandre and JieJie had come to the international stage, and they won the championship all the way, so they were naturally overjoyed!
I think winning the MSI championship isn't that hard!

Just find the right powerful backer!
Before entering the professional league, they were all considered geniuses, believing themselves to be the most talented people in the world.

However, after playing professionally for a long time, most players will have to admit that there are differences between people.

Someone like Ming Jing, who is unreasonable, is definitely not in the same league as the others!

But it's a bit of a pity for Flandre, since he was originally planning to perform well in the finals and avenge his defeat in the competition.

As a result, his teammates played so fiercely in the finals that he had no room to perform.

If they want to get revenge, wouldn't they have to wait until the World Championship?
Meiko and Viper joined them from the side.

Meiko, who had already won the championship, didn't seem too happy. He might have been putting on a show, because he just walked up, rubbed his glasses, and said some pretentious things like he had already won the championship once.

Viper was also winning his first international championship, and his face was full of smiles as he bumped fists with Ming Jing.

He left his hometown to come to another region for the competition, and then easily won the championship. Who could have imagined such an ending?

Back when he was with GRF, everyone said that mid laner Chovy was incredibly talented and had a bright future.

But now it seems that the phrase "the future is promising" is just empty talk.

Who among truly talented people doesn't make a name for themselves right from their debut?
Esports players only care about the present moment.

Backstage, Maokai, Zhu Kai, Abu, and others rushed out of the backstage passage with excited expressions.

This time, since his cousin wasn't there, no one came up to pat Mingjing on the shoulder, but Abu took over that role.

Abu's face was full of joy as he draped the EDG team flag over Mingjing's shoulders. "Go shake hands, there'll be a celebration banquet later!"

This gesture of draping the team flag clearly shows who the absolute core of EDG in this new era is.

Mingjing stood at the front of the group and walked towards the opposite side of the stage.

On the other side of the stage, a completely different scene unfolds.

They stood in the shadows, the spotlight did not belong to them, and the cheers did not belong to them either.

Nuguri sat there for a long time, unable to calm down. Overwhelmed by his intense disappointment, he even felt a bit nauseous for no apparent reason. He quickly took two deep breaths, which helped him calm down a little.

Seeing the EDG players slowly approaching, he quickly adjusted his demeanor and tried to appear relaxed.

He was unwilling to show weakness in front of his opponent.

Of course, his acting skills are not good.

Mingjing gripped the two corners of the team flag with his left hand, securing it to his body, and then gently shook hands with Nuguri with his right hand, saying in English, "See you next time, at the S-series."

Nuguri was not good with words, so she simply nodded.

After Nuguri, came Canyon and Showmaker.

These are all old rivals.

For the Korean team, the story that Mingjing heard most often was about Faker, the greatest player in history.

But the players I've seen the most are, of course, the DK players right in front of me.

Ming Jing had considerable respect for the contestants in front of him.

After all, this is one of the few teams that he can really enjoy playing against.

Showmaker even showed a hint of reluctance on his face when shaking hands.

Ming Jing didn't say much, but simply shook hands with everyone, displaying the posture of a victor.

After the handshake ended, Ming Jing followed his teammates to the center of the stage.

The MSI championship trophy stands under the spotlight, reflecting a golden hue—something countless teams around the world strive for.

Lifting this trophy means you are the strongest team in the first half of this season!

Scout did not take the stage this time, so the starting five still lifted the trophy.

Mingjing looked around and saw that his teammates all had a hint of impatience on their faces.

Ming Jing placed one hand on the trophy.

Saint Gun, Jie Jie, Meiko, and Viper followed closely behind, each placing one hand on top.

Everyone counted down three, two, one, and then raised the trophy together!

"Let's shout that slogan again!" Miller shouted excitedly from the commentary booth, "We are the champions!"

At that moment, the cheers from the audience noticeably increased!
The camera panned to the audience, where several members of the European champion MAD team were seen holding up their support items.

Humanoid was the most outrageous. When he saw the camera moving towards him, he simply stopped pretending and unzipped his team uniform, revealing the short-sleeved shirt underneath.

It was a black EDG team jersey with Ming Jing's signature written in white pen on the chest.

Last night, Humanoid specifically sought out Mingjing to exchange team uniforms.

Seeing their own players doing this kind of thing, the European players in the audience cheered even louder.

It can only be said that EDG's victory was what everyone expected.

At this moment, the European host Sjokz and translator Xia An strode onto the stage and shouted at the top of their lungs, "Congratulations again to EDG! To become the MSI double champions! Next, let's welcome Brandon Beck, the founder of Riot Games, to the stage to present medals to our players!"

Brandon Beck, the inspiration for Ryze, the rune mage in the game, was the president of Riot Games at the time. Behind him were two hostesses carrying seven medals.

One of these medals should have belonged to Scout, but since Scout didn't go on stage, the president had to hang the medal around Abramovich's neck for the time being.

When awarding the medal to Ming Jing, the president made a point of shaking hands with Ming Jing firmly, and then smiled and said, "You played well, keep it up, I have high hopes for you!"

From the perspective of the competitive ecosystem, Mingjing's appearance is like a star falling from the sky, landing right on Riot Games' mind!
After all, esports has always been about heroic narratives, and a good star player can really drive the entire competition ecosystem.

The first decade of the S-series was led by Faker, who won three world championships. With the support of titles such as "Great Demon King" and "God", the popularity of League of Legends has been rising year by year!

However, given Faker's gradual decline in recent years, what Riot Games needs to do is find a replacement or successor for Faker.

It is obvious that Faker is impeccable in terms of talent, hard work, and even luck, making it extremely difficult to find a suitable successor.

They supported Uzi, Caps, and JackeyLove, but all of their efforts ended in failure.

Marketing is merely an adjunct to competence. When competence fails to match fame, the fame painstakingly built through marketing will inevitably crumble sooner or later.

Just when everyone in the fist was greatly disappointed, Ming Jing suddenly appeared.

Mingjing is simply too perfect.

Even Ryze had to admit it.

This age, this honor.

It's safe to say that even Faker can't compare!
A successor? That's too high a bar.

Phi is not anyone's successor; he is simply himself.

After the awards ceremony, Ryze stood next to Mingjing and took a group photo with the five members of EDG and their coach before Sjokz stood with everyone and began the championship interview.

The first person we asked was, of course, Flandre, who was standing at the head of the team.

The usually carefree Flandre was quite serious in this interview, after all, this championship is of great significance to him.

He first expressed his joy, and then his regret, believing that his performance at this MSI was not very good.

After saying that, Flandre said with a grin, "I hope I can perform even better at the World Championship."

Jie Jie doesn't have many fancy tricks; he's just simply happy.

After asking the two of them, Sjokz finally turned her attention to Mingjing, but this time she didn't rush to ask about her feelings on winning the championship. Instead, she asked about the details of the last game.

"In the final game, you picked Lee Sin mid, a champion you'd never used before, and delivered a flawless performance. Was this a secret weapon you'd prepared all along?"

“Of course.” Mingjing answered without hesitation. “The team was preparing a mid-lane Lee Sin strategy long before MSI started. However, we had too much of an advantage in the head-to-head matches, so there was no need for us to pick it in advance. We kept it until the finals, and it worked very well.”

The audience below the stage cheered loudly upon hearing this.

now it's right!

If you think a prodigy like Phi can't develop any heroes, you're really mistaken!
Backstage, the DK members who were leaving couldn't understand Chinese, but they soon got the gist of the answer from Xia An's translation.

Everyone felt somewhat helpless upon hearing this.

They certainly understood that Phi had most likely mastered the Lee Sin skill.

But what can they do in the final round?

It can only be said that there is still a gap in strength between the two teams.

Sjokz smiled and nodded, then turned the conversation to Viper and Meiko.

After asking all the questions, we finally arrived at the highlight of the awards ceremony.

Sjokz stretched out his right hand and shouted, "Alright, next, please welcome President Tryndamere to announce the winner of the Grand Finals MVP!"

Tryndamere, another founder of Riot Games, held an envelope in his hand, waved to the audience, slowly opened it, and then said:

"The winner of this year's Mid-Season Invitational Finals MVP is..."

Before he could finish speaking, the five thousand audience members spontaneously began chanting an ID.

"PHI!"

"PHI!"

"PHI!"

The three letters were pronounced one by one in a rhythmic manner, which made them look very powerful!

The JDG players watching the game at this moment were also somewhat helpless.

"Does this FMVP even need to be discussed?" Green Hair laughed. "There can't be anyone else, right?"

Just like the finals of last year's World Championship.

The FMVP result was already determined long after the match ended.

The EDG players all had smiles on their faces at this moment, and they had no thoughts about the FMVP award.

If they were to receive the FMVP award, they would be the ones sweating buckets.

They certainly don't want to be labeled with names like "FMVP Thief".

Hearing the cheers from below, Tryndamere smiled and shouted, "EDG.Phi! Congratulations!"

Amid cheers, the large screen at the venue suddenly switched to display Ming Jing's official makeup photo.

Sjokz asked Mingjing to step forward. Tryndamere stood beside him and handed him a trophy. The two then took a photo together.

This wasn't the first time Ming Jing had won the FMVP award, so he was quite familiar with it. He glanced at the trophy in his hand.

It's less of a trophy and more of a giant medal, so big that it looks a bit disproportionate to hold it in one hand.

Ming Jing didn't think too much about it; he simply raised the trophy above his head and took a photo with Tryndamere next to him.

Tedamir didn't linger; after the group photo was over, he turned and left.

Ming Jing then returned to the center between Sjokz and Xia An to be interviewed by the FMVP.

The reason Sjokz didn't ask Mingjing about his feelings after winning was because she was waiting for this moment. She smiled and waited for the cheers to subside before asking her questions:
"Phi, according to Riot Games' official records, you debuted on August 26, 2020, officially becoming a professional player as the LPL's top recruit from the youth training program. It hasn't even been a year yet. But you already have the titles of World Championship MVP, Spring Split MVP, and MSF MVP. This is truly an unprecedented achievement. What are your thoughts on this?"

Upon hearing this, Ming Jing briefly organized his thoughts before saying, "I can only say I'm very honored. The championship is an honor that the entire team achieves through collaboration from top to bottom, and of course I want to thank everyone on the EDG team for this championship. As for the FMVP, it is awarded to the best performing player on the championship team. Therefore, I believe I deserve this honor."

As Xia An translated, the audience below the stage erupted in applause once again.

Humble yet arrogant, always telling the truth – that's how they perceive Phi.

Sjokz smiled and then posed another question: "This Spring Split championship is a perfect ending for EDG in the first half of the season. What are your expectations for the second half of the season?"

Without hesitation, Ming Jing said, "From the moment I debuted, my only goal has been to win the championship."

(End of this chapter)