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

Chapter 237: Face Off Against T1!

"It seems like Doinb lost the laning phase this game," Mingjing said.

These words caused the surrounding teammates to turn around, somewhat surprised.

This relationship hasn't even started yet, and it's already been sent?
Moreover, Galio has a huge advantage against LeBlanc, so why would he send it?
Galio is actually a very overpowered champion.

By using different runes and playstyles against different heroes, you can easily defeat any opponent.

Against mages like LeBlanc, you can easily push lanes by taking two small magic resistance runes, allowing you to mindlessly sacrifice health and then roam to control the game.

Melee assassins are even more formidable. Whether they are AD or AP, as long as they have Bone Plating and the corresponding armor and magic resistance, they can easily dominate with their W and E melee crowd control abilities.

Playing against long-range AD carries is a bit more challenging, but usually not a big problem, because long-range AD carries typically lack wave clear. Just buy Predator Boots and win by pushing the lane and roaming the map, minimizing laning time. You can also overtake them by roaming.

Of course, all of this is predicated on Galio being able to tailor his approach to the specific target.

Doinb's strategy against LeBlanc in this game was the standard double magic resistance build with Doran's Shield and double Revitalize, aiming to slowly suppress her with his sustain.

But who would have thought that the enchantress would come out with a long sword?

The Enchantress, wielding a longsword, can convert the adaptive power from her runes into attack power.

Showmaker not only chose dual adaptive abilities from the shards, but also a series of talents that increase adaptive abilities, such as Conqueror and Absolute Focus.

LeBlanc can easily maintain absolute focus when laning against Galio, and use high-frequency skills to quickly stack Conqueror, allowing LeBlanc's attack power to far exceed that of a typical AD mid laner!

Most importantly, the Conqueror tree also has a talent called "Presence of Mind," which allows LeBlanc to continuously regenerate mana by auto-attacking Galio, a rare advantage for a standard Electrocute LeBlanc build.

After all, the biggest problem for mages when facing Galio is mana.

Although the laning phase hasn't even started yet, Mingjing can already pretty much see the outcome.

Galio with magic resistance is facing an AD LeBlanc who has a stronger suppressive force than a normal AD. If the two sides are of similar skill, Galio is likely to be crushed in the laning phase!

Moreover, are the two sides really evenly matched?
Showmaker, ranked second this year only after Mingjing, is currently at the peak of his career.

He immediately demonstrated excellent understanding of minion waves, drawing minion aggro to disperse the wave and denying Galio the opportunity to clear it with AOE, then slowly whittling it down with basic attacks.

Doinb's runes don't include armor, so each of LeBlanc's basic attacks deals significantly more damage than usual. After just a few hits, Doinb's health is already quite low.

This is already the result of Doinb's extensive experience playing against long-range opponents with his short-range skills. If it were a younger player, they would probably collapse completely!
Logically, Galio would usually recall to base after clearing the fifth wave of minions. At this point, the sixth wave of siege minions would appear, and LeBlanc would be completely unable to clear this wave. Galio could then teleport back to base, which would be the moment to turn the tide.

But this time, when Doinb teleported back to the lane, Showmaker was still almost at full health and mana, and Doinb still couldn't gain any advantage!

It was precisely because of this crucial teleport difference that Showmaker was able to follow up with Doinb's ultimate support at the six-minute mark, preventing Galio from achieving the desired numerical advantage.

The final result is self-evident: with Showmaker's teleport support, DK scored a crucial 2-for-0 in the upper half of the map, essentially securing the victory.

Seeing this, several teammates couldn't help but marvel at Mingjing's forward-thinking vision.

Did they foresee this all along?

At this point, the longsword's second advantage continued to emerge.

As a piece of equipment worth 350, it can be sold for 190, resulting in a loss of only 160. Furthermore, the reuse of reusable potions further reduces this loss.

Compared to the Doran's Blade, which costs 400 gold but can only be sold for 180, the recycling rate is higher, allowing LeBlanc to easily switch back to AP after gaining an advantage.

There was little to say about the subsequent matches, as FPX watched their disadvantage grow larger and larger, ultimately suffering a crushing defeat.

And that's not all.

After a break of one match between HLE and FNC, LPL teams took to the stage again to face Korean teams.

LNG vs. GEN.

With RNG not having a match today, this will be the last match for an LPL team.

After the crushing defeat in the previous game, LPL viewers have high expectations for LNG, hoping that Qilin, who defeated HLE in the play-in stage, can continue their efforts and take down another Korean team!
But the result was disappointing.

This match was a true Shakespearean game, with the score remaining at 1-3 for twenty minutes, making the audience drowsy.

But without anyone noticing, GEN had already gained a 3,000 gold lead, plus three dragons.

At 22 minutes, in the Dragon Soul team fight, GEN executed perfectly. They first pushed the mid lane minion wave, and then scored a beautiful 5-0 exchange in the Dragon Soul team fight. After that, they pushed with double teleport and ended the game in one fell swoop!
In both matches between China and South Korea, LPL teams lost. Although it was somewhat like the "Tian Ji horse racing" strategy, since it was the second-ranked team playing against the first-ranked team and the fourth-ranked team playing against the second-ranked team, and the teams were behind in the rankings, losing was understandable. However, it was still inevitable that some people would be disappointed.

At this point, even some pro-Korean supporters in the anti-Korean forum immediately started to change their tune.

I wouldn't say these two matches were complete stomps, but that's the truth.

[Hey, isn't this our number one region? How come it's doing so poorly?]

[I told you long ago, the LPL is clearly not good right now. Apart from EDG, the other teams are just a bunch of weak teams fighting each other. Last year's champions were only because Xiaofei had an off day. Do you really think they can win again this year?]

If EDG loses to T1 tomorrow, that would be truly ridiculous.

[Brother Bao, don't you understand EDG's performance at Worlds? I'm not holding out any hope. It's bound to be another story of being invincible in the league, finishing second in the group stage, and then being eliminated in the quarterfinals.]

[@Anti-PressureBarManagementTeam1, aren't Korean trolls being banned for jumping to their defense?]

[Korean fans are truly outrageous. They don't utter a sound even after years of not winning a championship, but as soon as they win two games in the group stage, they start barking like dogs. Should we give them a prize for winning the group stage against the LPL?]

In fact, the anti-Korean forum still needs to unite against external forces. The current comments from pro-Korean individuals are not due to the inaction of the forum administrators, but rather the result of the forum administration team's frantic banning efforts, with only one in a hundred escaping the net.

Ming Jing casually scrolled through his phone, finding it quite amusing.

This made him even more eager for tomorrow's match.

He really wanted to see just how strong T1, with its greatest player in history, really was.

The bus sped through the streets of Iceland, and on the opposite side of the street, another bus of the same size was coming towards it.

It's easy to tell from the team logo on the vehicle that this is a T1 exclusive vehicle.

T1 is about to face DFM, but they haven't been focusing too much on the upcoming match.

DFM is the number one seed from the Japanese region. Although they have unprecedentedly selected three Korean players, their strength is not that great.

Given T1's operational level, they have absolutely no chance of losing to a team like this.

They are still more concerned about tomorrow's game.

With all the teams in their region having defeated their strong opponents, T1 certainly had no reason to lose.

"Sang-hyeok-hyung." Jungler Oner sat in the back seat, looking out the window, "EDG's car drove by."

"Hmm." Faker didn't actually know what "jungler" meant, but he nodded nonetheless.

"We're playing them tomorrow," Oner continued. "Can we win?"

"I don't know." Faker remained expressionless. "There will definitely be a chance. Let's cheer each other on."

"Okay brother!"

Faker enjoys unparalleled prestige within the team due to his unmatched honors and unparalleled influence, a level of prestige that no other player or team can match.

Faker was well aware that Phi's arrival had somewhat shaken his position.

He's really amazing. He won the FMVP Grand Slam in his debut year, and a second consecutive championship seemed like it was within his grasp.

However, he was not flustered. He did not believe that his honors would stop there.

If anyone can match his achievements, then he should just win another championship trophy.

Upon arrival, T1 was fully prepared to face DFM.

In this match, which was meant to be a warm-up, T1 performed flawlessly, showcasing smooth pressure across all three lanes and easily securing a draw in the next 24 minutes.

Before we knew it, it was October 12th, the second day of the group stage.

Today is very likely to be the most talked-about day of the first round of the group stage.

Because today's very first match will be the ultimate battle of popularity between EDG and T1.

It was still the first match, and Ming Jing maintained the same routine. After getting up, he spent two hours doing practice problems to revitalize his brain, which had become sluggish from sleep, before following the team to the venue.

The T1 bus also arrived at the same time, and the two teams entered the venue one after the other through the backstage passage for routine checks.

Mingjing also saw the legendary greatest of all time, Faker.

At the same time, Faker also turned around.

This was actually the first time the two had met. They looked at each other for a moment, nodded in tacit agreement, and then turned their heads away.

Everything else is superfluous; only the outcome of the match can prove everything.

On this point, the two were surprisingly in agreement.

We'll know everything after the next match is over.

After sitting in the lounge for a while, Ming Jing took out his peripherals and stepped onto the stage when the staff announced that the competition was about to begin.

"Alright viewers, this is the first match of the second day of the group stage of the S11 World Championship!"

In the commentary booth, commentator Wang Duoduo announced loudly, "The next match is a showdown between our number one seed EDG and LCK's number two seed T1!"

"In yesterday's matches, LPL teams suffered a crushing defeat. Hopefully, EDG can redeem themselves for us in today's matches!"

"There shouldn't be any major problems," Tongxi nodded with a smile. "It just goes to show that EDG's players are still trustworthy."

"Yes!"

In the video, the two contestants took to the stage one after another at the host's call.

When it was the turn of the Chinese team to take the stage, the host deliberately dragged out the pronunciation of Myung Kyung and Lee Sang Hyeok's IDs.

The Icelandic audience roared with excitement, clearly indicating that the mid-lane duel between the two teams was the real highlight of the day!

"Okay, business plan begins!"

Wang Duoduo shouted loudly: "The right to choose sides in this game belongs to T1. They have chosen the blue side, so EDG will naturally be placed on the red side!"

Both sides were well-prepared for this match, so the draft phase progressed very quickly.

On the blue side, T1 banned Cassiopeia, Yuumi, and Xin Zhao.

On the other side, EDG banned Twisted Fate, Lucian, and Azir.

Mingjing's Cassiopeia yesterday was quite intimidating, so out of respect, I had to ban her. But apart from that, there aren't any other heroes worth paying attention to in Mingjing right now.

The only card that T1 could easily have picked first on the blue side, so there was no need to ban it, and it ended up appearing in EDG's ban list.

EDG's remaining bans of Lucian and Azir were purely out of necessity. One was a champion that Viper couldn't play well, and the other didn't fit EDG's playstyle. They couldn't even pick them, so they had to ban them.

"We can see that EDG on the red side is still under some pressure in the ban phase. Let's see how they handle the picks!"

With Twisted Fate banned, the other mid-lane picks become less clearly prioritized and depend more on the player's individual style.

Faker wasn't even in a hurry to pick a champion; instead, he let Oner pick Jarvan IV first, choosing to wait and see what happens next.

At this moment, the EDG team was still discussing countermeasures.

"So what's the outlook for this game?" Maokai asked. "Are we still going to play the bottom half of the bracket? Li Xuanjun will be under a lot of pressure then."

The current T1 team still focuses on the top lane and is quite aggressive in the early game.

"It's alright," Flandre waved his hand. "We've prepared supplies too, we'll just grab them!"

"No problem." Maokai nodded. "Then let's pick Graves. This game is very important, so we have to play well!"

“Okay!” Saint Gun nodded, knowing how important this match was.

Due to the version update, EDG has lost its usual dominance in the draft phase, making every draft a difficult task that requires careful planning.

The current group stage is EDG's process of rebuilding its dominance.

And this Graves is one of EDG's long-hidden trump cards!

Graves was nerfed in the World Championship patch, with his Q skill costing 20 more mana, making him somewhat less viable in the mid lane.

But it's only in the middle lane.

The battle for lane priority in the top lane is not as intense as in the mid lane, which allows Graves to still thrive in the top lane!
The difference is that Graves in the mid lane is a ball-carry carry who needs to perform multiple tasks such as pressure, roaming, and carrying.

The top lane is much simpler; you just need to withstand pressure and then unleash your power in the late game, making you a 3D player.

Furthermore, since Mingjing has previously picked Graves for mid lane, this Graves pick has a certain degree of flexibility, which can disrupt the opponent's hero selection to some extent.

After locking in Graves, Maokai also targeted the enemy Jarvan IV, locking in Wukong as the jungler.

Monkey's ultimate skill, "Havoc in Heaven," is very effective against heroes like Prince who can engage in battle.

T1 was indeed disrupted; with Graves holding the line, they simply didn't dare to pick a mid laner with weak wave clear.

They ultimately decided to lock in Ryze to counter him, a versatile champion who can hold his own against any mid laner.

As for the top lane, they locked in Jayce, confirming their strategy of focusing on the top half of the map.

Maokai looked at the opposing team's lineup and said, "It's time to pick a hero, Mingjing."

"Okay." Ming Jing nodded and said, "Just give me the Clockwerk. Let's drag this game into the late game and play it easy."

Orianna vs. Ryze is a slightly favorable matchup, and Mingjing practiced Orianna, a core mage, when he first switched to mid lane, so proficiency isn't an issue.

Moreover, Orianna and Wukong make a very good mid-jungle combination.

“Okay.” Maokai nodded in agreement without saying anything more.

Both sides have locked in their respective top, mid, and jungle lanes as their main picks, and the bot lane picks will be used to fill any gaps in their lineups.

In the second round, T1 first locked in the combination of Bomb and Leona, while EDG locked in the combination of Jhin and Bard as their opponent, and the lineups of both sides were finalized.

Blue side T1: Top lane Jayce, Jungle Lee Sin, Mid lane Ryze, Bot lane Bottom lane Leona and Bottom lane Bottom lane

Red team EDG: Top lane Graves, Jungle Wukong, Mid lane Orianna, Bot lane Jhin and Bard.

The two coaches exchanged a fist bump in the center of the stage, and after a brief loading period, the match began!
(End of this chapter)