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

Chapter 234 The Crown Defender

10 month 11 number.

On the first day of the group stage, Ming Jing maintained his good routine as always. The match was scheduled to start at noon Iceland time, but he woke up early at eight o'clock.

This is also one of Mingjing's personal habits. He believes that the morning is when a person is most alert, so he usually takes advantage of this time to do some practice problems.

The group stage schedule isn't too demanding yet. The key is that the game version hasn't fully stabilized, and it's still unclear which heroes to practice. So, the training isn't too strenuous at the moment.

Once it's rolled up, there won't be any time left to practice coding problems.

I was engrossed in writing until 10 o'clock when I finally heard some noise – it was Saint Gun waking up.

"Hey, what time is it?" Flandre asked, his voice slightly dazed.

"It's ten o'clock." Ming Jing said without looking up. "If you don't get up now, you'll miss the competition."

"Holy crap!" Flandre immediately snapped to attention, sprang to his feet, and began washing up. He then went out with Mingjing, who was already dressed, and they ran right into the EDG team.

"Not bad, just right." Abu nodded. "Let's go, we have the opening match to play, and the task is quite important!"

Flandre yawned and mumbled, "If you ask me, these Europeans are just weird. Why don't they, as the hosts, go up and unveil the curtain themselves? Why do they make us do it?"

"I guess it's because of the time difference," Meiko adjusted her glasses. "It's exactly 8 PM in China, prime time for watching the game."

Flandre asked again, "Then why play against North America? Wouldn't it be better to play against T1? That way you can take care of both China and Korea."

In the opening match of the group stage, EDG will face North America's number one seed, 100T.

"I don't know about that." Meiko shook her head. "They probably just want to annoy the North American team and make them get beaten up in the opening game."

It is well known that Europe and North America have never gotten along.

Especially now that North America is in dire straits, Europe is naturally eager to take advantage of its misfortune.

That's bad.

The EDG players chatted amongst themselves as they drove to the Laugardalshll Indoor Stadium.

It was the same familiar venue, the same place where MSI was held. The EDG team knew their way around and easily found their way to the lounge.

Saint Gun and Jiejie, who had never played in the World Championship, found a seat and immediately took a deep breath, looking somewhat nervous.

Meiko and Viper, who had both played in the World Championship, were no better off, their faces serious and far less relaxed than in previous matches.

It's quite strange, but the guys from EDG actually started to get nervous at this point.

The S-series championship is the ultimate dream of every professional player. After so many years of setbacks, we finally have the chance to compete for the championship, so it's normal to be nervous.

Zhu Kai, the team supervisor at the time, was an expert in interpersonal relationships and reading people's expressions. He immediately noticed that the team members were not in good condition and began to talk to them one by one.

Zhu Kai is a classic domestic coach; his off-field abilities, in addition to gaming, are also quite outstanding.

He took his teammates one by one, giving them pep talks about dreams, friendship, regrets, and so on. Gradually, the expressions on the faces of his teammates became more resolute.

Ming Jing, on the other hand, was in a good mood. Although his professional career was short, he had already walked a path that none of his four teammates had ever walked. Now he was also the defending champion, so of course there was nothing to be nervous about.

He peeked at his teammates from the side and watched as their condition gradually improved, which put his mind at ease.

"If you ask me, what's there to be nervous about playing against North America?" Ming Jing laughed. "Isn't this just a chance for us to get a feel for the game?"

Mingjing was very glad that his first opponent was not T1, but North America.

Otherwise, he estimated his teammates would be even more nervous.

Playing against North America first to get a feel for the game, and then facing T1 in top form tomorrow, couldn't be better!
"Indeed." Flandre chuckled. "Watch me dominate the North American top laner!"

"Forget it." Meiko patted Flandre on the shoulder. "If you don't feed in the top lane, you're guaranteed to win."

Seeing that his teammates had regained their composure, Ming Jing stood up, straightened his team uniform, and left the rest room.

He still had some things to do before the match started.

At this moment, the European host on stage drew out his opening remarks for this year's World Championship.

After the speech was finished, the Riot Games logo finally lit up on the big screen, and the promotional video for the group stage of the World Championship began to play.

After a brief black screen, the first thing that catches the eye is the enormous and exquisitely designed Summoner's Cup.

A hand reached in from outside the frame, and the camera followed, revealing that the hand belonged to Humanoid, the European champion mid-laner.

But before his hand could touch the trophy, the off-screen voice rang out.

"do not move."

Showmaker, the mid-laner for LCK champions, strode in from the left side of the stage. His small stature and round face brought a touch of humor to the tense and serious atmosphere.

"The championship is mine," Brother Xu said seriously.

"No, it's mine." Doinb walked out from the right and stood opposite Xu Ge, the two of them gazing at each other with their arms crossed.

"We'll only know whose it is after we fight it." This was followed by Abbedagge, the North American champion mid-laner.

Surrounding these trophies, the champion mid-laners from each major region emerged one after another, forming a circle around the trophies, and the atmosphere instantly became extremely tense.

The screen also began playing montages of various teams.

Chovy and his HLE teammates stood in a blue light and waved at the camera.

"The warm-up is finally over, it's time to get serious."

FNC players stood in the red light, with Bwipo, then the jungler, grinning.

"We will end EDG's dominance!"

Faker walks past the camera as fireworks burst nearby.

"Your king has returned."

The camera flashes, then cuts back to the very beginning.

At this moment, the trophy was surrounded by countless professional players.

But just then, a thunderous roar came from within the scene. Everyone turned around in the direction of the sound and saw a person sitting on the steps in the distance. The person was backlit and could not see his face clearly. His elbows were resting on his knees, and he looked quite dignified.

The light source then slowly shifted, and everyone saw that it was Phi.

Ming Jing slowly stood up in the scene and walked towards the trophy. More and more light moved onto him, and the professional players made way for him, allowing Ming Jing to gradually become the center of attention in the scene.

Ming Jing didn't say a word, but slowly walked to the trophy, and with both hands, lifted the 60-pound trophy up in one go.

The promotional video ended there, and the scene finally switched back to the venue.

From the venue, the angry roar of the European presenter could be heard.

"Let's welcome the 2020 World Championship Finals MVP—Phi!" Fireworks lit up the scene, and the camera panned to show Ming Jing, just like in the promotional video, holding the Summoner's Cup with both hands as he slowly walked onto the stage.

As the spotlight moved, the young man's face radiated boundless confidence and pride. The trophy, held firmly in his hands, was slowly placed on the pedestal in the center of the stage.

With JDG's performance plummeting this year, Mingjing is the only defending champion in this year's World Championship.

"No destruction, no construction! The 2021 League of Legends World Championship has officially begun!"

Having completed his task, Ming Jing waved to the camera and quickly left the scene.

When I returned backstage, I saw that my teammates were all ready and waiting to go on stage.

Mingjing took out his peripherals and then went back on stage with the team to enter the final preparation stage.

Behind them, Zhu Kai, who had come on stage with Mao Kai, was still cheering him on.

"Brothers, the opponents aren't strong today, so let's all focus and get off to a good start!"

"If you want to win the championship, you'd better not lose today's match!"

"."

On the LPL commentary booth, Guan Daxiao took a deep breath as he looked at the screen before officially starting his commentary.

"Alright viewers, all the players from EDG and 100T have taken the stage, and the draft phase is about to begin!"

"Because the group stage is a double round-robin format, the right to choose sides also alternates between the two sides. In this game, EDG had the right to choose sides and took the initiative to choose the blue side!"

"Next, let's take a look at the hero selections on both sides!"

When the BP screen was switched out, both sides had already completed the first three bans. On the blue side, Maokai chose to ban Malphite, Ryze, and Jarvan IV.

The World Championship patch has just started, and the two teams haven't played any scrims yet, so there's not much to say about the bans; they just ban based on the opponent's hero data from their respective leagues.

On the other hand, the ban slots for 100T are somewhat uncertain.

As we all know, EDG's secret weapon in the Summer Finals is the Lucian, Irelia, and Twisted Fate cards.

If the version remains unchanged, they can also follow this answer to ban.

Now that the version has changed drastically, only one card remains out of the three heroes, so why are they banning it?

Hesitantly, 100T could only spread out their bans, choosing to ban Twisted Fate, Aphelios, and Xin Zhao, the latter two of which are heroes with extremely high pick rates by EDG.

On the EDG player bench, Ming Jing couldn't help but click his tongue as he looked at the opposing team's bans.

Banning only one hero?
Ming Jing was used to being banned three times by the opposing team, so the fact that only one was banned now felt a bit off to him.

"So, Mingjing," Maokai's voice came through the headset, "which hero do you want to pick first? How about Tryndamere?"

Tryndamere is a relatively popular hero in the play-in stage, with a high pick rate and win rate. EDG has also picked him in recent scrims.

But Mingjing shook his head when he heard this option.

"Barbarian King is no good," Ming Jing said. "Let the other side choose; I can play him."

Tryndamere, as a roaming mid-laner, is decent at pushing lanes and roaming the map, basically as efficient as Lee Sin, but he also has fatal flaws.

The final killing spree was far too inefficient!

Unlike Lee Sin, Tryndamere can't quickly end a fight with control and high burst damage. Instead, he needs to go over and use his W to slow down the enemy, then hack away at them one by one. Because of the lack of control, he often can't even kill anyone.

Admittedly, Tryndamere's side-lane split-pushing ability is significantly stronger, making him a more strategically superior mid-laner warrior, and he has his own unique strengths, but that's not what Mingjing wants.

He doesn't want to slowly build up his strength and drag things out; he wants to speed things up and crush his opponents!
Furthermore, Mingjing also believes that Tryndamere mid lane is definitely not the final answer for this version.

“Okay.” Maokai nodded, thought for a moment, and then said, “Then let’s choose the cat.”

Yuumi also received a slight buff in the World Championship patch, with a significant reduction in the early-game cooldown of her passive, which can be considered a minor enhancement to the champion's early-game strength.

This enhancement is actually quite crucial.

The cat in professional leagues and the cat in ranked matches are actually two completely different heroes.

Since most players who use the cat are female, or fill in the support role, if they play it a lot in ranked games, they may easily think that the cat is a very weak hero in lane, extremely easy to lose the lane, and basically a noob.

The designers clearly looked at the ranked data before deciding to buff the cat's early-game abilities.

But in reality, cats are not weak in their early stages.

As a long-range hero with shields and regeneration, capable of harassing opponents without taking damage, how could he be weak? In the hands of a pro player, paired with a long-range AD carry, he becomes an early-game lane bully!
If you can carry this advantage into the mid-game, and then start to play the role of "big brother amplifier", then you will be unstoppable!
This enhancement is clearly spot on.

EDG's analyst team didn't notice this when they were just looking at the version update, but through the play-in stage and scrims, they quickly realized that something was wrong with Yuumi, so they quickly added her to their hero pool.

That's the allure of the World Championship.

In an environment with extremely low tolerance for error and fierce competition, one must maintain continuous improvement throughout the entire process in order to have any chance of winning the championship.

On the other side, 100T's choice was straightforward: he simply picked Tryndamere and then locked in Lucian.

Lucian is also a popular pick in scrims. Although his solo lane ability has been nerfed, his duo lane ability has been greatly increased. Paired with Nami, he is a perfect match and is almost a must-ban or must-pick in the bot lane.

Picking Lucian first is also fine, because Lucian can synergize with any enchanter support. The opponent is unlikely to pick Nami just to cut off Luna, as that would be like cutting off their own arm.

EDG could actually pick Lucian, but Viper felt his Lucian proficiency wasn't high enough to be used on stage, so he had to give up.

Seeing the first round of ban/pick exchanges between the two sides, Guan Daxiao, the LPL commentator, narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "Then it depends on EDG's two carries. Let's see which heroes they plan to use to deal with them!"

It's not hard to see from this the impact the version has had on EDG.

100T is not a strong team, but they were able to get both Tryndamere and Luna, which are popular champions in the current meta, on the red side when facing EDG!

In previous versions, such a good thing would never have happened.
Watching the Summer Split, it's clear that EDG is increasingly affected by the game version. From their previously unsolvable draft picks to their current predicament, they've reached a point where their players' champion pools are being put to the test.

The choice is now in EDG's favor.

With the cat in hand, the subsequent choices are naturally determined. It's essential to ensure the strength of the main hero; only then will the cat be a worthwhile choice.

After only a moment's thought, Ming Jing locked onto the snake woman.

Cassiopeia is a strong counter to Lee Sin and Irelia, and the same applies to Tryndamere.

Most importantly, this hero paired with a cat is practically invincible.

Viper opted for Ezreal as his partner, hoping to synergize with Yuumi to gain an advantage in lane.

The two sides traded blows, and the hero was determined.

Blue side EDG: Top lane Jayce, Jungle Lee Sin, Mid lane Cassiopeia, Bot lane Ezreal and Yuumi.

Red team 100T: Top lane Kennen, Jungle Blade of the Ruined King, Mid lane Tryndamere, Bot lane Lucian and Nami.

With the draft completed, the 2021 group stage opening match officially begins amidst much anticipation!
(End of this chapter)