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

Chapter 205: The laning phase collapsed right from the start.
8 month 21 number.

"Dear viewers at home, welcome to the playoffs!"

Yu Shuang, wearing her signature red dress, stood center stage and smiled at the camera: "The LPL playoffs have now entered the final double-elimination stage, with only four teams remaining."

"The next match is the upper bracket semifinals – EDG vs. LNG!"

The stands were still empty, but that didn't stop Yu Shuang from pushing forward at an orderly pace.

"Before the match begins, let's first present the regular season MVP trophy for this Summer Split!"

As early as the end of the regular season, the LPL officially released the relevant awards for this regular season.

Ming Jing won his first regular season MVP award in his professional career.

Moreover, he not only won the regular season MVP award, but also won the All-NBA First Team Mid Laner and Rookie of the Year awards.

In addition, EDG's players also gained something. Viper and Mingjing both made it into the first team, forming a great carry team.

JieJie and Meiko formed the second team's jungle and support duo, along with Flandre in the third team, so they each had their own strengths.

On the large screen at the venue, a pre-prepared short video immediately started playing, showing Ming Jing's brilliant plays during the regular race.

Akali's EEQ+AQR combo can instantly kill both carries.

While Irelia survived massive damage in the midst of the enemy team, she landed a tricky E, stunning three opponents!
Lucian, the Western Demon Shadow, uses continuous swipes to eliminate all opponents!

Then there's the most famous one: in the final match, Lee Sin first took down four JDG players, and then soloed Kanavi's Xin Zhao, achieving the first Lee Sin pentakill in the LPL!

Throughout the entire video, there are very few dazzling maneuvers; it's mostly about extreme positioning, tricky skill releases, and ingenious calculations.

Mingjing rarely makes meaningless plays. His mathematical thinking dictates that he will always choose the most efficient operations and skill releases. Just like he can easily execute the Ma's Triangle Kill in ranked matches, he would never use his precious Flash to make such plays in a competition.

But this is precisely the foundation of Mingjing's strength.

After the highlights ended, there was a photo of Ming Jing pointing at the camera with his right hand, along with his stats from the Summer Split.

Win rate: 88.89% (1st)

KDA: 9.4 (1st)

Average economic difference per game: 3496 (1st)

Average damage per game: 28.8% (1st)

Damage per minute: 601
MVP count: 18 (1st)

A huge amount of data, all showing that they are number one in the Chinese unit, which is simply outrageous!
At this moment, the comments section was flooded with messages.

[Holy crap, let's fly!]

[Wow, all the data ends with "1st"?]

[601 damage per minute, that's a bit insane, isn't it? That's higher than most AD carries, right?]

[Fun fact: This was actually done while playing Lee Sin and Irelia. Xiaofei's damage per minute was around 700 in the Spring Split and MSI, and it was over 800 when he played AD at last year's World Championship!]

This is the real king of damage.

"Then let's welcome the regular season MVP—Phi—to the stage!"

Because of the match, Mingjing simply wore EDG's black team uniform, but his 183cm height and the upright posture of a young man made him a pleasing sight to behold.

Han Xu, the head of LPL events and brand, took to the stage and handed the MVP trophy to Ming Jing.

Ming Jing glanced down at the trophy in his hand. The general shape of the trophy was exactly the same as the Spring Season FMVP trophy. It was a medal-shaped trophy with a line of small characters protruding from it.

2021 LPL SUMMER FINALS MVP.

When Ming Jing saw this line of small print, he couldn't help but frown.

No wonder it looks the same as the Spring Split FMVP trophy; it's the Summer Split FMVP trophy.
(This is a true story. If you look closely, you can see the word "FINALS" where the red arrow points.)

Mingjing glanced at the leader beside him.

"The staff member took the wrong one." Before the microphone arrived, the leader whispered, "I'll change it for you after the game."

"."

Ming Jing nodded, subtly covering the "FINALS" lettering on the trophy with his finger, took a photo with the leader, and then proceeded to the interview.

"Winning any award is a happy thing," Ming Jing said with a smile, holding the trophy. "Because it is a recognition of my personal strength, and it means that I was the best player in this regular season."

"But that's not enough. The regular season MVP means nothing. As I said before, any honor only has meaning when it's paired with a championship. So, my team and I will prove everything with victories."

From the audience, photographer Ichimura snapped photos, capturing the scene before him.

This is Phi's first regular season MVP, and this photo will definitely come in handy in the future.

The interview session ended there, and Ming Jing waved as he took the stage with the trophy.

As soon as he stepped off the stage, the trophy was taken back by his leader, Han Xu, who said that the real trophy would be delivered after the first game.

This left Mingjing empty-handed, leaving his teammates completely bewildered.

Where's your trophy?

After Mingjing explained, his teammates were at a loss for words.

This amateur troupe has really gone this far; there's no one else like them.

"Forget it, don't overthink it. The trophy is yours anyway." Maokai didn't want to dwell on irrelevant topics and steered the conversation back to the upcoming match. "What's the draft pick/ban for the next game?"

"There's no explanation," Ming Jing said, shrugging. "Why not just copy LNG's approach?"

EDG's innovation capabilities are certainly not lacking, after all, they have a large training team and the great inventor Mingjing, who often comes up with new strategies and ideas.

However, EDG's ability to copy is also exceptional.

This is inseparable from the strong individual abilities and rich competition experience of the EDG players.

Your understanding of the LNG version is indeed top-notch, so let's just copy it for now.

Moreover, because EDG has a higher ranking, they have priority in choosing sides, making the draft and ban phase easier.

“Okay.” Maokai had no objection to this: “Then shall we go for Syndra first? Be careful, Icon’s been on fire lately, he definitely has a plan to counter Syndra.”

Ming Jing waved his hand, "It's not a big problem."

After the break, both teams quickly took to the stage, and the draft phase began.

Before this, Mingjing had only picked Syndra once, in the third game of the MSI finals between EDG and DK.

In that game, EDG lost the match, which was also the only game EDG lost at MSI.

Therefore, LNG had no reason to ban Syndra, and chose to boldly release her.

This gave Ming Jing an opportunity.

EDG's Syndra locks down on the first floor in a lightning-fast move!
LNG was not surprised by this choice.

Looking back at the previous six BO5s, Syndra is undoubtedly the highest priority hero. Phi has never had a hero pool problem, so picking her is reasonable.

But they were also prepared with countermeasures. On the first and second floors of the LNG terminal, crocodiles and bombers locked onto their targets in a lightning-fast attack!
Actually, if possible, maxing W on Irelia is a very good choice for mid lane, but maxing W on Irelia with Bloodlust is a bit picky about who can play it well. Not many people can really master it, and Cold doesn't have that confidence yet, so he chose Renekton, who has a similar role, as an alternative.

Of course, the crocodile has another key advantage, which is that it can be used to flex between the mid and top lanes, blurring EDG's judgment.

EDG is indeed unsure of the location of this crocodile.

Therefore, Maokai can only counter Kennen, who is not afraid of Renekton, by locking him in the top lane.

Kennen is a versatile top laner who can go toe-to-toe with anyone. Even if LNG moves Renekton to the mid lane later, it will be difficult to find a top laner who can completely destroy Kennen.

LNG did indeed do that, pushing the Renekton pick to its last resort, but they couldn't find any good champions to counter Kennen from Ale's champion pool. Moreover, with Renekton picked in the mid lane, the top lane needed to pick a champion that could provide AD damage.

In the end, LNG simply locked in Jayce for the top lane, and the lineups for both sides were finalized.

Blue side EDG: Top lane Kennen, Jungle Fryego, Mid lane Syndra, Bot lane Aphelios and Thresh.

Red team LNG: Top lane Jayce, Jungle Lee Sin, Mid lane Renekton, Bot lane Bot lane Bottom ...

It has to be said that both teams chose the bot lane combination of Bomb and Trundle, but LNG's lineup was more reasonable than Top Esports'. Having Renekton and Lee Sin in front is better than letting Camille kick in and feed.

Ming Jing narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched LNG actually leave the crocodile in the mid lane, marveling that icon had truly gained confidence.

Crocodiles, being heavily armored melee fighters, are indeed a relatively easy type to fight against mages.

However, this is on the premise that the mid laners of both sides are at least at the same level.

Renekton's Q ability, combined with Doran's Shield and two Revitalize abilities, provides multiple forms of healing. Furthermore, he is a mana-less champion, giving him a significant advantage in prolonged battles.

If both sides are evenly matched, and Renekton's ability to switch states can match Syndra's pressure, then Renekton can use his constant regeneration to deplete Syndra's mana bar.

But conversely, what if the crocodile's abilities can't keep up?
That's a complete collapse!
Perhaps because he played so much roaming in the Summer Split, people have forgotten about his lane dominance.

Just in time, Mingjing has recently gained considerable experience in roaming and is trying to integrate roaming with laning. It's time for him to pick up laning again.

Ming Jing rubbed his hands together, already having figured out how to fight next.

At this moment, Maokai also came over and patted Mingjing on the shoulder, "Good luck, you should be fine in the laning phase this game, right?"

Ming Jing didn't say much, only replying calmly, "Don't worry."

Upon hearing this, Maokai said nothing more, simply nodded, then punched his fist and returned backstage.

In the backstage lounge, the manager, supervisor, and other staff members, including Clearlove, were already seated in front of the screen, eagerly anticipating the match that was about to begin.

Scout was certainly among them, but his thinking differed somewhat from the others.

He hoped EDG would lose this game.

He had no choice; he really wanted to play.

In the spring playoffs, Phi took the opportunity to rise to the top spot when EDG lost a game, and has held that position ever since.

If we lose today's game, then he certainly has a reason to try and win back his starting position!
Just then, the game moved past the loading phase.

Both heroes emerged from the fountain, and the first match officially began!
Taking advantage of the fact that neither side showed any intention of engaging in a level 1 team fight, the director first showed the rune selections for both sides.

Icon's runes are nothing special, just the standard Conqueror and Revitalize, paired with Doran's Shield as a starting item, focusing on sustain in lane.

Similar to the strategy of Lee Sin, once Renekton levels up and builds Iron Spike, conventional mages will be unable to farm minions.

On the other hand, Mingjing's runes were much more aggressive.

Instead of choosing conventional electrocution or phase, they directly pointed out Aery!

"Wow, Ai Li!" Wang Duoduo exclaimed in the commentary booth, "Is Brother Xiao Fei going to increase the strength of Icon?"

"But as everyone knows, Syndra isn't an easy matchup against Renekton!" Tongxi added from the side, "Next, we'll have to watch the mid laner's laning phase details twice!"

At the same time, in LNG's voice channel, everyone was discussing the next move.

"Mid lane, you absolutely have to hold on!" Although the Korean import Tarzan only joined this year, he already has no problem communicating in game terminology. "If we don't make any mistakes in the mid lane, we'll win!"

The minion had already spawned, and Icon logged in along with it. He didn't seem to be under much pressure. "Don't worry, no problem."

For professional players, mindset is an extremely important factor.

If talent is a fixed value, then mindset determines how much of that talent you can bring out.

Some people are at the top when they are in a good mood, and can even put up outstanding stats and win the FMVP. But when the team is in a losing streak or in trouble, and their mood is gloomy, their strength is reduced to less than one tenth.

Not everyone can be like Mingjing, getting stronger with each loss; this is an extremely rare quality.

Fortunately, while Icon's talent may not be top-tier, he is a player with a good mentality, and his recent northward campaign has boosted his confidence.

This confidence even amplified his strength, giving him the courage to challenge Ming Jing.

The two sides' minion waves intersected in the middle. Icon had a clear strategy, maintaining high concentration while preparing to use Q at any time, and also deliberately moving closer to give Syndra an auto-attack.

This is also a little trick for short-ranged units to fight long-ranged units. Intentionally going up to feed an attack will disrupt the minion wave's aggro, allowing the minion wave to push towards your side faster.

Since he's at full health now, his healing abilities are useless, so losing a little health is fine, as long as he doesn't get hit by Q.

but.
He had barely stepped forward when Syndra's Q [Dark Orb] quickly materialized right beneath his feet.

Icon reacted quickly, immediately moving laterally, but without boots, his movement speed was insufficient, and he was hit squarely by that Q!

After the Q skill hit, Aery was summoned and crashed straight into him, and with the scorching burn, it reduced the crocodile's health by a small amount!

And it's not over yet.

After Syndra used her Q, she didn't immediately unleash the auto-attack that the icon hoped for. Instead, she paused for a moment, as if she had timed it perfectly, before finally making her move!
A basic attack hit the crocodile, and the LNG minions nearby, following the game mechanics, immediately turned their attacks on Syndra.

But before the basic attack could even be launched, it turned back again?
Syndra's basic attack didn't cause him to take any damage from minions.
When icon saw this, his heart sank. Despite being taken advantage of, he didn't forget to make his move. Taking advantage of Syndra's auto-attack animation, the crocodile pressed forward and tried to land a Q.

However, with such childish distance control, Ming Jing only needed to use the distance slightly to trick the Crocodile into missing its Q skill, and then he immediately followed up with a basic attack.

The same tactic was repeated; the minions merely glanced at Syndra before resuming their minion brawl.

After A, Mingjing followed up with Q!
The icon turns its head left and right, but gets hit again!

He took two A's and two Q's in one hit, and was also hit twice by Ellie. His health dropped by 30% immediately!

Most importantly, the minions on both sides were constantly fighting each other from start to finish, and their health remained balanced.

In other words, the crocodile's health loss did not cause any change to the minion wave!

Moreover, Ming Jing's suppression has only just begun.

Because the crocodile was trying to use his Q ability, the two were not actually far apart, and the crocodile was still within Syndra's basic attack range.

Mingjing chased the crocodile and landed two more auto-attacks, chasing it all the way to the tower. Taking advantage of the crocodile's reluctance to turn around, he landed another Q that hit the target squarely!

Aili rammed into the crocodile for the third time, reducing the crocodile's health to 40%!
At this moment, the melee minions of both sides finally fought each other to the point of low health. Syndra turned around and walked into the minion's experience range, just in time to get the experience from the low-health melee minion.

On the other side, the crocodile, who had already been pushed back to the tower and had only 40% health left, did not receive the same treatment.

Level 1, half health, pushed out of the experience zone.

icon's laning phase was already in disarray from the very beginning.

(End of this chapter)