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

Chapter 201 Why do traitors always have the last laugh? I can't accept it!
The regular season continues.

EDG is facing off against RNG again.

The match against RNG is undoubtedly the highlight, as both teams rose to prominence this year and even clashed in the Spring Finals. Their meeting in the regular season is bound to attract a lot of attention.

But for RNG, this match wasn't actually that important.

After all, they had suffered many defeats in the first half of the regular season, and the gap in ranking with EDG was too large. Without affecting their ranking, they were not interested in winning this match and would focus on practicing.

Like Mingjing, the RNG team is constantly exploring new playstyles.

In contrast, the EDG team is much more serious, because they genuinely want to achieve a perfect record in the regular season.

While ensuring that you don't reveal your hand, try to raise your level of performance as high as possible.

Given the difference in attitude between the two sides, the outcome of the match was not much of a surprise, and the game ended with a score of 2-1, with EDG taking another point.

Time flies, and it's now July 22nd, the fourth day of the seventh week of the regular season. At 7 PM, EDG faced off against their eleventh opponent in the regular season – RA.

Because of Fu Minghang's presence, this match should have been a friendly one between old friends.

But this time, Mingjing was in a hurry.

Because at the same time that the LPL matches started, the 65th International Mathematical Olympiad in 2021 also began its final closing ceremony live broadcast.

The final results of the scoring and awards, as well as the national rankings, will be revealed today.

Ming Jing doesn't have time to waste with his opponent today; he needs to finish the match before 7 PM to avoid missing the live stream.

Today's contestant is none other than the second-stage Mingjing!
The final result can only be described as quite cruel.

I thought that the two games between EDG and TES, which lasted 47 minutes, were the fastest ever. After all, the fact that they could play so quickly was not only due to EDG's own strength, but also because TES players had a strong finish in both games.

Even if the opponent is weaker, it would be difficult for EDG to achieve this speed given their operational rhythm.

But today is different.

Mingjing played Lee Sin and Akali, and was like a dragon roaming in team fights!
Especially in the last game, Mingjing, while the jungler and support were drawing fire, went around to the back alone and instantly killed the AD with EEQ, and then killed the mid laner with AQR, continuously making the health bar disappear, which made Wang Duoduo almost shout out loud in the commentary booth!

After two games, the total time was 45 minutes, time to clock out!
Fu Minghang was so badly beaten that he kept scratching his head!
As he left, Ming Jing glanced at the time—it wasn't even seven o'clock yet—and nodded in satisfaction.

Based on the time difference, it should be 2 PM St. Petersburg time now, just as the closing ceremony is about to begin!
Ming Jing took out his phone and turned on the live stream of the event.

It was quite a coincidence that the closing ceremony had just begun and was proceeding at an extremely fast pace.

After the bronze and silver medalists went on stage to receive their awards, the gold medalists also took to the stage in turn.

Song Xuan was not seen on any of these three occasions when he appeared on stage.

Ming Jing smiled, knowing that things were in good shape.

Above the gold medalists, there is a separate award for those who achieve a perfect score in the gold medal competition!
Song Xuan finally appeared on stage this time.

Four members of the national team achieved perfect scores, and with this incredible score boost, China won the overall team score and successfully defended its title!

In addition to a perfect score, Song Xuan also won the Mirzakhani Prizes for Women, an award given in memory of deceased IMO women's gold medalists and Fields Medal winners.

As the only female contestant to receive a perfect score, Song Xuan garnered the majority of attention from the audience.

Standing alone on the podium, facing a barrage of cameras focused on him, Song Xuan grinned and extended his right hand, hooking his little finger at the camera.

The girl was the first to fulfill her promise.

Next, we just need to wait for Mingjing to win his second S-rank title.

The World Championship is still too far away, let Mingjing win the Summer Championship first to liven things up.

The regular season is still ongoing.

In the following period, EDG faced off against UP, TT, WE, and BLG in succession.

These teams aren't that much stronger.

UP and TT need no introduction; they're on par with V5. Add RW, and the four teams are collectively known as the Dark Four Kings, firmly holding the bottom four spot.

EDG faces no pressure against these two teams; they can easily crush them.

BLG and WE are ranked reasonably well, even on par with TES. The fact that the three teams are tied for fifth place in the league is clearly not surprising.

But not much.

WE's strength is well-balanced. Whether it's Breath in the top lane, Shanks in the mid lane, or Elk in the bottom lane, they are all potential powerhouses, making them somewhat difficult to target. They even managed to take down EDG once, but EDG quickly adjusted and secured the victory with a clean sweep.

BLG was much simpler, because this team relied heavily on the performance of their Korean mid-laner Zeka. So there's not much to say. Myung-kyung played consistently, getting completely crushed by Zeka in both games, easily sweeping the opponent.

Another four points were won, bringing EDG's score to 15-0!

Only one step remains to achieve a perfect regular season record!
August 8th, the final game of the regular season.

The EDG vs. JDG match was the most entertaining episode.

Although JDG won the championship last year, in terms of team popularity, JDG is incomparable to the previous two champion teams.

Because most of JDG's championship fans were originally fans of Mingjing, they have now followed Mingjing to EDG.

Of course, Mingjing and JDG parted ways amicably. JDG didn't say anything bad about Mingjing's departure, since he was only on loan.

But this didn't stop the JDG members from jokingly calling Ming Jing a traitor.

Now that the two teams have finally met, countless fans are shouting that JDG will settle scores with the traitors and end EDG's winning streak.

But is it really possible to do that?

Due to version changes, the complete disappearance of jungle carry champions weakened Kanavi's jungle dominance, and the entire JDG team also declined as a result.

After 15 matches in the Summer Split, JDG finished with a 7-8 record, ranking 11th in their group and just outside the playoffs cutoff.

Moreover, OMG, ranked tenth, has already finished the regular season with a record of 9-7, sealing the final playoff spot.

In other words, JDG is completely out of the playoffs this year!

At this level, breaking EDG's winning streak is going to be quite difficult; it depends on whether Mingjing still has any affection left for his former teammates.
As it turns out, there are some, but not many.

In the first game, Mingjing had already shown all his gentleness. He didn't even play Lee Sin or Irelia, but instead chose Azir and even used the toothpaste skin.

Even Viper followed suit, locking onto Jinx and also using the Mingjing skin.

With JDG's top laner Ornn, jungler Nidalee, and support Bard all appearing in this game, the entire JDG championship skin lineup brought tears to the eyes of countless viewers.

I knew it; Xiaofei hadn't forgotten JDG. But these two core carries are too late-game, so Maokai can only lock in Renekton in the top lane later, letting Flandre carry the tempo.

This is essentially a return to the Spring Split format.

Of course, EDG also won the Spring Split.

With Mingjing steadily developing, EDG's rhythm was naturally not as smooth as usual, and they even fell into a disadvantage at one point. However, with the Azir and Jinx as their dual carries, as long as they didn't fall too far behind in the early game, they were basically still fine.

Moreover, Flandre performed well. Although the team was behind in the bottom half of the map and lost the dragon, Flandre helped the team secure the Rift Herald thanks to the strength of his Renekton.

By using the Vanguard to help the bottom lane develop, Viper's items can be completed better, allowing him to participate in the team's rhythm earlier.

However, it is obviously too difficult to rely on Jinx to support the rhythm. EDG should try to avoid fights as much as possible. On the other hand, JDG's rhythm is fast and various team fights are launched one after another.

EDG handled these team fights with ease, and even had time to initiate ganks on the side lanes, but the economic gap inevitably continued to widen.

When the time reached 31 minutes, JDG's jungler and support killed Flandre through a clever ambush, and easily secured the Earth Dragon Soul with this crucial numerical advantage!

At this point, JDG had a 3,000 gold lead, but the key was that they had the Dragon Soul, so their actual lead was already quite significant.

If things continue at this pace, JDG might actually be able to take the first game victory!

It's worth noting that throughout the regular season, although EDG lost many games, including some against lower-ranked teams, these defeats always occurred in the second game of a best-of-three series.

EDG has never lost a first game!
This clearly demonstrates EDG's composure and dominance.

Could it be that the champion team actually has some hidden strength?

But then the camera switched back to the top lane.

While JDG grouped up to control the dragon in the bottom lane, Mingjing's Azir pushed the minion wave to the enemy's second tower in the top lane and secured the second tower bounty with two basic attacks.

At this point, Ming Jing still had a dismal record of 1-0-2, making him practically an outsider in this high-intensity battle.

However, he also managed to get 350 CS in 31 minutes, plus the extra gold from two turrets.

This is quite outrageous. Nobody knows how that last hit was done. It's like he last hit all the knives for the next round.

The director then conveniently brought up the economy panel, which clearly showed that the Tsar's personal economy was even on par with Loken's 5-2-3, placing him at the top of the leaderboard!
Moreover, and most importantly, Loken chose the armor penetration Varus build in this game.

Once you reach this four-item stage, Varus's damage output is really limited, and he can't compare to Azir at all!

When he returned to the city, the Tsar already had Nash's mask, hat, and magic wand, and even had the money to buy a stopwatch.

In contrast, the toothpaste's Syndra is a whole Penetrating Rod behind, a shockingly large gap!
At this stage, no matter how tender Mingjing was, he couldn't stop himself.
The Tsar's equipment was like a sword hanging over their heads, making JDG dare not delay any longer and they had no choice but to quickly force a team fight at Baron.

But at this point, EDG has no intention of backing down!
The two front-line heroes, Renekton and Jarvan IV, held firm at the front. Viper's Jinx had also entered the three-item stage, and her damage was quite considerable. She only needed to switch to Fishbone and fire a few shots to deal a lot of AOE damage!

But JDG had no time to pay attention to Jinx at the moment, and instead focused all their firepower on Azir!

No one in this world understands Mingjing's terror better than the JDG members!
Ornn unleashed his ultimate ability, "Hey, come here!" and the Lava Elemental charged straight at Mingjing's Azir!
On the other side, Ming Jing saw Ornn's ultimate move, but he was not flustered at all. He used EQ to directly dart into JDG's backline!

At this moment, Toothpaste Syndra decisively pushed the ball, still wanting Mingjing to win it.

But Ming Jing reacted quickly, teleporting behind Syndra and Varus, and unleashing the [Imperial Guard Wall]!

Loken reacted quickly enough to dodge the push with a Flash, but Toothpaste was in the E skill casting state and didn't have the ability to deal with it. He was pushed directly into the middle of the melee!
EDG quickly followed up, and Yagao was brought to low health as soon as he landed. Mingjing pressed W to summon sand soldiers and chased Syndra, poking her twice and easily taking the kill!
Even in its dying moments, the toothpaste pressed its ultimate move, "Energy Unleashed," determined to take down Ming Jing.

But Mingjing simply pressed the Golden Body button and dodged Syndra's ultimate and Varus's charged Q from behind!

In the commentary booth, the audience cheered continuously, while Toothpaste's vision blurred and he slumped into his gaming chair.

send!
Ming Jing's entry into the fray was not just a simple matter of taking down a toothpaste player, but also a division of the battlefield!

With the Tsar in his golden form blocking the battlefield, Loken was unable to attack anyone and could only secretly shoot arrows from behind, completely disrupting JDG's formation!
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Viper Jinx was forced to take off and unleashed a barrage of cannon fire!

Although the equipment wasn't ideal, the output environment was absolutely perfect.

Jinx blasted her way down, wiping out all of JDG's frontliners!

After Mingjing stood up, he was in pretty good condition. He looked at the armor-piercing Varus who was crouching for him to get up, used Q to pull three sand soldiers, and stabbed three times on Loken's Varus, easily taking him down!
"ACE!"

The sound of a team wipe echoed throughout the stadium as EDG secured Baron Nashor, completely changing the course of the game!

EDG's Azir and Jinx duo is incredibly strong, almost invincible in the late game.

The moment JDG lost the Baron, they had already lost any chance of winning.

The match ended in 37 minutes, with both sides winning the Elder Dragon fight.

EDG's two carries were fully equipped with six items, without any fancy moves, just pure damage output dominance. They secured the Elder Dragon Soul with a two-for-five exchange, followed by another push to end the game!

At this moment, the live stream chat was flooded with comments, and countless people were moved to tears.

Waaaaah, JD.com is down!

[A disastrous attempt to kill the traitor!]

Why do traitors always have the last laugh? I can't accept it!

It seems Xiaofei's departure was indeed the right decision. JD Gaming is purely a meta-based team; they're immediately pulled when the meta turns against them!

Thankfully, Top Esports didn't also falter. I feel the main reason is that the LPL is just too strong this year.

[That's true, all three of the top teams in the LPL this year have only recently risen to prominence.]

Watching the base finally explode, the JDG players lay on their chairs and shook their heads helplessly.

This guy still managed to turn things around.

nausea!

On the other side, Ming Jing waved to his old teammates and then returned to the backstage dressing room.

Maokai was fairly satisfied with EDG's performance in this game. After all, from the moment the draft was completed, it was destined to be a comeback game, and the players executed it perfectly.

However, EDG has absolutely no need to play this lineup.

"Next round, how should I put it?" Maokai surveyed the room. "Shouldn't we get serious now?"

"Let's get serious," Ming Jing laughed. "It's not fun if the pace is too slow. It's making me want to sleep."

It's time to give our old teammates a real shock.

(End of this chapter)