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

Why is Chapter 232 a bad sign?

After finishing the match, Ming Jing checked the leaderboard first to confirm that he was in first place before nodding in satisfaction.

"It's alright." Ming Jing was still streaming live when he laughed, "This time it only took a little over a week to get on the list, it was pretty easy."

Upon hearing this, the guys behind him didn't dare to breathe loudly.

They were afraid that Scout would hear this and turn around and start a fight with Ming Jing!

Even the chat room comments felt that the streamer was being a bit too over-the-top.

[Is this what Mom keeps bragging about—being number one in the Korean server? It's not very prestigious, I think. Xiaofei could just do it if he wanted to!]

Indeed, for someone of Xiaofei's caliber, becoming number one in the Korean server is just a matter of lifting a finger.

[The junior can already consider which team to transfer to next year. With Xiaofei blocking his way, he'll never have a chance.]

"Hey buddy, shut up. The victim's listening right behind us."

[Fast forward to the training room for a melee, Scout smashes a gaming chair onto Xiaofei's head]

It's really hard to say who will win. Although Xiao Fei is young, he's quite big.

[No, no, it's not that bad. I'm just the number one player in the Korean server.]

Of course, a fight is still out of the question.

Scout originally snatched the top spot in the Korean server from Mingjing.

It doesn't matter if it gets taken back; he can just fight it back.

Scout didn't say much, but simply started another ranked game.

In the end, Maokai eased the awkwardness in the training room. He clapped his hands at the front, attracting everyone's attention, "Everyone's back? Let's have a meeting and talk about the World Championship patch."

Upon hearing this, Ming Jing simply ended the broadcast and then dragged his gaming chair to sit in front of the projector.

Just in the last two days, the designers officially announced the final version of the World Championship – the 11.19 update announcement.

This version will be officially released on September 22nd, a few days from now.

Ming Jing had glanced at the update announcement.

Considering Riot Games' 11.18 patch released two weeks ago, it's clear that it was specifically targeted at a particular group.

The opening scene was a lightning strike; Maokai's screen changed, and Lucian had undergone a minor rework.

The base attack power has been reduced, the ultimate skill's level growth has been weakened, the equipment growth has been increased, and a new passive effect has been added that is only available in duo lanes.

This change is quite targeted, as Riot Games clearly stated in the patch notes that it's a nerf to Lucian in solo lanes. (See image above)
The significant nerf to the level scaling of Lucian's ultimate ability prevents him from snowballing his level advantage in solo lanes. In duo lanes, where players are generally lower level but have an economic lead, the enhanced item scaling is just right.

The newly added passive effect forces Lucian to be paired with a support, making it completely unusable for solo laners!

All I can say is that the knife skills were precise.

"This change is only subtle, but it's actually a huge buff for the bot lane!"

Maokai said helplessly, "It's foreseeable that Lucian's pick rate at Worlds will be very high, but he'll only appear in the bot lane. So, how well does Viper play Lucian?"

"I haven't played in a long time." Viper scratched his head, a little embarrassed, but quickly added, "But I should be able to learn it!"

In the early years of Viper's career, during Seasons 8 and 9, he frequently played Lucian and had a fairly high win rate.

However, in the last two years, because Lucian has become less popular in the bot lane, he hasn't picked this champion for two years.

"You must hurry up, we can't fall behind the version because we can't master a hero." Maokai gave a few more serious instructions, and then continued to push forward with the update.

"Lee Sin has been nerfed for two consecutive patches, with his W's lifesteal and base attack damage being reduced. Now he's not only unplayable in the game, but also in the jungle."

"Irelia has also been nerfed. The healing effect of her Q skill has been slightly reduced, the cooldown of her W skill has been increased by two seconds, and her base magic resistance has also been reduced a bit, which will greatly affect her laning phase."

"Graves has also been nerfed. The mana cost of his Q skill has increased from 60 to 80. This update is quite damaging; it feels like mid-lane Graves is becoming unplayable."

Reading through all the updates has almost made Ming Jing dizzy.

These are all the heroes he wants to choose!
Mingjing's four signature champions in the Summer Split are Lucian, Akali, Lee Sin, and Irelia. If the blue side gets any one of them, they will carry. Even if the red side gets three bans and one pick and can't get them, it doesn't matter. Mingjing can just pick any champion that is good against the opponent and still win!

These four heroes gave EDG a huge advantage in the draft phase during the Summer Split, and even helped the team achieve a perfect record in the regular season!

But now, looking at these four heroes, Akali and Lee Sin were nerfed to the point of being unplayable in the playoffs patch, and now Lucian has been nerfed to the point of being unplayable in the World Championship patch.

Of the four heroes, only Irelia remains, and she has also been heavily nerfed in lane, making her practically useless!

Even the Graves mid laner, who was newly introduced in the finals, was nerfed by the designers, who significantly reduced his wave clear ability by reducing his mana cost!
Don't underestimate this mana cost.

Syndra went from being a popular mid-laner to being completely ignored and useless because her mana cost was increased from 40 to 60. This was for a mage with a relatively high initial mana cost. For a mage like Graves with a relatively low initial mana cost, every bit of mana cost reduction was a fatal blow!

Ming Jing flipped through the update announcement and saw that every line of the announcement was scrawled with the words "environmental adjustments." Unable to sleep, Ming Jing carefully read through it for half the night before finally discerning the meaning between the lines: the entire announcement was filled with the two words "targeting"!

Even Maokai sighed helplessly and laughed, "Now, our draft advantage has been completely wiped out."

Admittedly, Mingjing still has some special skills like Twisted Fate and Syndra, but these kinds of heroes are considered basic skills for mid-lane players. Not only can Mingjing play them, but the opponent can also play them, so they don't bring much advantage to EDG in the draft phase.

This is very different from situations like Lucian and Irelia, where only Mingjing can play them and the opponent can't play them, so they have to ban them.

It can only be said that the designers went to great lengths to weaken EDG's dominance and to make the World Championship more suspenseful.

In addition, there are a wide variety of hero changes, affecting nearly a quarter of all heroes.

Fryego has been heavily nerfed, with his attack range reduced from 225 to 200. In return, he has gained extra item bonuses to his passive and Q skill, effectively eliminating any possibility of Fryego going to lane.

Fortunately, Flandre isn't very good at it.

There are also buffs, such as the buff to the Prince, whose passive cooldown has been reduced and whose ultimate damage has been increased.

Yone's W has been buffed, increasing the shield's strength and improving his lane sustain.

Vampires have been buffed; the conversion rate between passive health and ability power has been increased.

This requires the competition to test the results.

These heroes were already regulars in competitive matches, and now with their stats buffed, they will most likely appear in the World Championship.

"Anyway, the World Championship is all about adaptability." Maokai's tone carried a hint of helplessness. "We've been weakened quite a bit this time, so we need to adapt to more things than other teams, but I believe you guys shouldn't have too much of a problem."

Upon hearing this, the EDG members nodded, their expressions serious.

The designers have been targeting them for a long time, and in recent versions they have been openly nerfing them without any attempt to hide it.

That's precisely why they're so serious and meticulous. Do the designers really think this slight reduction will make a difference?
This championship can only belong to them!
Ming Jing was also very confident about this.

This is his second time entering the World Championship.

The last World Championship journey was filled with formidable opponents, a difficult journey, a gap so large it was despairing, and a year in which we fought with everything we could to win by the narrowest of margins.

This time, no matter how much the designers weaken it, EDG's overall strength is now much stronger than JDG's last year.

Ming Jing has no reason to let this championship go.

"It's good that you all left early, but the version for the World Championship hasn't been released on the official server yet, so there won't be any scrims for the next few days."

Maokai continued, "These next few days, practice ranked games on your own to maintain your skills. Once the update is released on the 22nd, training matches will start immediately!"

Upon hearing this, the EDG players nodded and then all entered ranked mode.

Time seemed to be accelerated, and the days passed by amidst the arduous training.

This year's World Championship came a little later than usual, giving EDG more time to prepare.

9 month 22 number.

The 11.19 patch for the World Championship has been officially released, and Riot Games has also officially launched promotional activities for the World Championship.

In addition to promoting the event on various social media platforms, Riot Games also officially launched the draw ceremony for the Play-In Stage and Group Stage that same evening.

European legend Jankos was invited to the stage to conduct the draw for the qualifying rounds.

The qualifying rounds consist of the bottom seeds from the four major regions and the champion teams from the wildcard regions, totaling ten teams. They are divided into two groups to compete for four spots in the group stage.

The LPL team responsible for participating is, of course, the fourth seed LNG. LNG seems to have had bad luck in the draw this time, as they were drawn into the same group as the fourth seed HLE from South Korea.

Only two teams from each group will advance to the play-in stage. With China and South Korea in the same group, it is an absolute nightmare for the wildcard teams in the same group. This means that if they want to advance, they must defeat one of the Chinese or South Korean teams.

However, there is also an extra pressure for the Chinese and Korean teams. If they lose to the wildcard team and are eliminated in the top 22 of the qualifying round, they will really lose face.

But this had nothing to do with Ming Jing; he was more concerned about EDG's group assignment.

Following the play-in stage draw, the group stage draw will take place immediately.

There are currently only twelve teams in the group stage. This draw will divide the existing twelve teams into four groups. After the play-in stage ends and the four teams that advance are determined, a further draw will be conducted to place the four teams into four groups according to the rule of avoiding teams from the same region.

Watching Jankos's hand churning the seed pool, Meiko even felt a rare moment of nervousness and began to pray, "Please, give me a good seed!"

"Isn't it too early to pray now?" Ming Jing laughed. "The teams in Pool One are the same no matter how they're assigned."

“That’s not how it works,” Meiko said solemnly. “There’s more to this than meets the eye.”

Meiko has participated in many World Championships. Since his debut in S5, he has only missed two World Championships, S9 and S10. He has been the first, second and third seed, but has never made it past the quarterfinals.

After repeated failures, he had no choice but to start believing in metaphysics.

Jankos drew the four teams from Pool 1 one by one and divided them into four different groups.

Group A: DK
Group B: EDG
Group C: PSG
Group D: MAD
This time, no teams from the North American region made it into the number one seed pool.

The North American region is one of the major regions, but due to its dismal performance in recent years, it has been stripped of its number one seed by Riot Games and replaced by the Southeast Asian region.

The Southeast Asian region was originally composed of the LMS region. Although it has declined in popularity, its performance is still better than that of North America.

Jankos then moved on to the second seed pool, starting by assigning opponents to DK in Group A.

There was no particular reason for this draw, since it didn't matter to EDG who DK played against. Meiko even hoped that DK would be drawn against FPX so that the two teams could have a showdown and see what level DK's strength was at.

But Jankos' luck was clearly not on EDG's side. He stretched out his hand, opened the rubber ball, unfurled the banner, and a red team logo appeared.

T1
Upon seeing the team name, Meiko's expression changed, and she immediately sensed that something terrible was about to happen.

The group stage draw has only one restriction: teams from the same region will be drawn together. If teams from the same region are drawn into the same group, the group will automatically be moved to the next group.

DK and T1 both belong to the LCK region, so they obviously cannot be grouped together. Therefore...
On the big screen at the venue, the highlights of the T1 team in the Summer Split were first played.

Although T1 is only the third seed from the LCK region, it is also the runner-up team in the LCK Summer Split. In terms of overall strength in the current version, it can be ranked second among LCK teams!

As long as Faker, the greatest player in history, is still on the team, T1 will always be a team that the LPL needs to take seriously!
After the loop played, T1 appeared directly in Group B, where EDG was!
Seeing this, Flandre couldn't help but slap his forehead, "What bad luck! Why is my luck so bad? Damn it!"

Unable to resist uttering a couple of curses, Saint Gun turned around and saw that Ming Jing, standing to the side, was calm and even had a smile on his face.

"No," Flandre asked, "Aren't you nervous playing against T1?"

At this point, Ming Jing was puzzled, "What's there to be nervous about? Is T1 really that strong?"

Saint Gun paused slightly before saying, "It's not a matter of strength, it's mainly..."

Even Flandre couldn't explain it.

This actually has nothing to do with intensity.

Anyone who came through the early days of the LPL will feel a chill when they hear the name SKT.

After all, the World Championship has been held for so many years, and LPL teams have never defeated SKT and Faker head-on in the World Championship.

But Mingjing only debuted in S10, and in his eyes, Faker is just an aging legend.

It's time for a change of era.

Even Ming Jing felt some regret.

The two teams that advance from the group stage will be placed in different halves of the bracket in the knockout stage.

This means that EDG is unlikely to encounter T1 in the knockout stage.

Mingjing had long wanted to have a showdown with Faker in a best-of-five series.

Just then, Jankos made a series of quick movements, drawing out the teams one by one, and the group assignments gradually became clear.

Group A: DK, FPX, RGE.

Group B: EDG, T1, 100T.

Group C: PSG, FNC, RNG.

Group D: MAD, GEN, TL.

(End of this chapter)