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

Chapter 242 Zero Shot!

Back at the hotel, Viper hurried back to the training room alone after only ordering a piece of bread in the restaurant.

Ming Jing wasn't in a hurry. He ordered a bowl of noodles and slurped them slowly, while also checking the upcoming match schedule on his phone.

Today, RNG and FPX will face PSG and C9 respectively. Given the strength of both teams, there shouldn't be any major problems.

We can't afford to lose again today.

Ming Jing actually hopes that all members of his team can advance to the quarterfinals.

Regional glory is secondary. Mingjing has always believed that regional glory belongs only to the final champion region, and it has nothing to do with how many quarterfinalists there are.

Let alone having all eight members in the top eight, even if three of them make it to the top four and they still don't win the championship, it would just be a joke.

The main reason is that Mingjing knows the teams in the region very well and is also very good at playing them.
If they could win every internal battle, that would be incredibly easy.
Two LPL teams have met in the finals, which is impressive in terms of both substance and prestige.

In today's second match, RNG finally took to the stage to face PSG, the number one seed from the Southeast Asian region.

This was actually RNG's first match in the World Championship. They were also victims of the current meta, since Xiaohu is an excellent solo laner and Lucian player.

How well this team fits the current version remains to be seen.

It's certain that if Lucian isn't available, Xiaohu will need to re-explore the meta and find a viable alternative to Lucian's niche.

Sure enough, Xiaohu started pulling stunts right from the very first game.

In his final move, Xiaohu surprisingly locked in Syndra to counter the opponent's Kennen.

Upon seeing this hand, Mingjing seemed to be deep in thought.

Generally speaking, when faced with drastic changes in the World Championship version, each team has different solutions based on its own style.

Some teams have a deep foundation and diverse styles, so they can naturally adapt to the version and change with the trend of the version.

For example, EDG's teammates are currently on the path of transformation.

However, some teams may not have that much talent, or their styles simply don't fit. Faced with the drastically changed meta in the World Championship, they can only bite the bullet and choose to fight against the meta.

Take the little tiger in front of us, for example.

Compared to other top laners, Xiaohu has both obvious strengths and weaknesses.

As a mid-lane player, he has a very shallow grasp of top-lane heroes. He can't pick tanks or fighters. If you count on your fingers, there are only four: Kennen, Jax, Gwen, and Lucian. In the words of the anti-fans, his hero pool is like a Pokémon.

His advantage lies in the fact that, as a mid-laner with many years of experience, he knows a wide variety of mid-lane heroes.

Faced with the dramatic changes in the game version, Xiaohu's choice was to leverage his strengths and counter the version's weaknesses.

Undoubtedly, this is a shortcut, but Ming Jing is not optimistic about it.

This approach will certainly have an advantage when other teams are not fully adapted to the current version.

However, as the World Championship progresses into the later stages, when other teams have perfectly adapted to the version and are demonstrating their true strength, Xiaohu's method will naturally become less effective due to its compatibility with the version.

There is no doubt that RNG won this match.

Syndra is indeed an easy matchup against Kennen, and RNG's bot lane duo of Miss Fortune and Rey also had a huge advantage against Aphelios.

With an advantage in both the top and bottom lanes, and with Twisted Fate being extremely sought-after in the mid lane, the outcome was predictable.

In the midst of the chaotic and hasty battle, RNG easily gained the lead in kills, and within just fifteen minutes, they had a 5,000 gold lead.

If nothing unexpected happens, this will be a draw in just over twenty minutes.

Unfortunately, accidents still happen.

When RNG pushed the bottom lane second tower at 17 minutes, Kennen flanked them, resulting in a 0-for-5 exchange that almost completely wiped out their advantage.

Fortunately, RNG players have excellent adjustment abilities. They played steadily and gradually regained control of the advantage, which they then expanded.

The game went on until the 37th minute, when RNG slowly secured the Fire Dragon Soul. Then, relying on the power of the Fire Dragon Soul, they steadily controlled the Baron and Elder Dragon, and finally ended the game in a team fight!
After a few matches in between, FPX took to the stage to face C9.

There's not much to say about this match. C9, as the third seed from North America, isn't much stronger than the wildcard teams. The match lasted only 25 minutes, with FPX's mid and jungle players easily pushing down the score.

Seeing this, Ming Jing nodded, feeling somewhat relieved.

In Ming Jing's opinion, advancing from the group stage should be relatively easy.

Even if they can't beat the South Korean team in their group, as long as they beat the European and American teams in the same group, they can still advance as the second-place team in the group.

If they can't even beat Europe and America, then they've truly lost all sense of shame.

Mingjing closed the webpage live stream and entered training mode.

10 month 13 number.

Day 3 of the group stage.

Although it was already time for the match, the EDG rest room was still bustling with activity, with Viper and Meiko exchanging words from time to time as they were still playing ranked games with great enthusiasm.

EDG is taking a day off today, with no matches, so the stage is in the hands of the other three teams.

Each round of the group stage lasts four days, but each team only plays three matches per round, with a rest day.

While other teams were preparing for the competition, there were no practice matches to play. Mingjing, who had already finished practicing problems in the morning, could only lie in his chair and watch the competition unfold.

Right now, RNG is taking the initiative to step onto the stage to face HLE.

HLE is only the fourth seed from LCK, and they even lost to LNG in the play-in stage. Even from the seeding order, RNG should have won.

In this game, RNG's draft picks continued to be unconventional. In addition to first picking Twisted Fate to give Cryin the necessary roaming ability, they also forced the nerfed Lucian to dominate the top half of the map.

This kind of behavior of choosing to be elected despite the weakening effect really opened Ming Jing's eyes.

This version of Lucian is really not dominant. Is he trying to defy the meta?

You might as well pick a cannon, or practice Graves.

Of course, Xiaohu's Lucian wasn't completely innocent either.

Wei locked in Lee Sin for the jungle role. Lee Sin's W [Golden Bell] is a buff skill, which can provide Lucian with some passive effects.
With the Ueno pairing confirmed, the two heroes' 2v2 combat strength is indeed formidable.

Ming Jing looked thoughtfully at RNG's top and jungle picks.

With Twisted Fate and Lee Sin providing relentless support, Xiaohu's Lucian still managed to steadily establish an advantage in the upper half of the map, controlling the Rift Herald and taking down the first tower.

However, the weakening effect still exists. Compared to the smooth offensive during the league, the pace of the upper half of the bracket was slightly slower this time. By the time the advantage was truly established, fifteen minutes had already passed.

Throughout this long period, GALA in the bottom lane endured the pressure the entire time. Even with GALA locking in the bomb, he couldn't withstand it, and the bottom lane also collapsed.

After the early laning phase ended, RNG maintained an economic advantage thanks to the bounty from the first tower, but HLE controlled two dragons, managing to keep up with RNG's pace.

Fortunately, the situation is still under control. RNG's fighting strength is clearly stronger, firstly because their top laner Lucian has a greater impact than their AD carry Kai'Sa.

Secondly, even a disadvantageous Bomber is much more useful than a disadvantageous Camille on HLE's side. A disadvantageous Bomber can still defend the tower, but a disadvantageous Camille is really useless.

RNG continues to operate using their most effective strategy, leveraging Xiaohu's strengths to maintain a steady pace and provide economic support to the other carry players.

As soon as the dragon spawns, Xiaohu will immediately return to the front to help the team control the dragon.

RNG secured the next dragons one after another, steadily winning them all.

By the 37th minute of the game, RNG already had four Infernal Dragons, forming a pure Infernal Dragon Soul.

At this stage, GALA's Bomberman began to show his power. One Q from the Bomberman would trigger the Fire Dragon Soul and take away half of HLE's health. HLE simply couldn't withstand it.

Fortunately, the bomb's self-defense ability was poor. In the subsequent Elder Dragon team fight, HLE concentrated all their firepower on GALA. Camille, Sylas, and Kai'Sa instantly focused fire and killed GALA.

But with GALA drawing all the firepower, Cryin and Xiaohu stepped up, throwing out cannon cards and yellow cards one after another, still dealing considerable damage with the blessing of the Fire Dragon Soul.

As for Lucian, his damage was explosive. With just a few dashes, he eliminated all of HLE's backline assassins!

"Not bad." Ming Jing nodded. "Winning is good enough."

With RNG's playstyle, advancing from the group stage is practically guaranteed. After all, they've been playing what they're best at, and they can easily dominate teams that are still exploring the meta.

As for the other two teams, we still need to observe them.

After a few matches, FPX took to the stage to face their last opponent in the first round, RGE.

This is the third seed from the European region, and their strength is actually quite limited, but they are indeed strong contenders for a spot in the next round, since they and FPX have the same score of 1-1.

Faced with the threat of elimination, Doinb's actions were extremely ruthless, keeping the pace of the entire match at a high level. Although RGE put up a fierce fight, it was ultimately meaningless.

At 35 minutes into the game, Doinb's Galio [Heroic Debut] knocked up three opponents, followed by Everfrost and W to create a long chain of crowd control. Several teammates then entered the fray to clean up the remaining enemies, resulting in a perfect two-for-five exchange. They pushed forward and ended the game!
After the match, FPX finished the first round with a score of 2-1 and began preparing for the second round ahead of schedule.

Following closely behind, LNG also stepped onto the stage to face TL.

It was another uneventful, one-sided game. LNG achieved a terrifying 10-1 kill score in just 25 minutes, pushing all three lanes together and easily ending the game.

In the commentary booth, Wawa shouted, "It seems that after the defeat the day before yesterday, both FPX and LNG have regained their form and each won a smooth and successful victory! LPL has once again achieved a perfect record today!"

Looking at LPL's winning streak, Wawa's face was filled with indescribable joy.

Seeing FPX and LNG lose to Korean teams one after another, Wawa is really afraid that if the two teams lose to Europe and America again, they will be eliminated.

Fortunately, both teams really showed their spirit!
"See you tomorrow, everyone!"

10 month 14 number.

The fourth day of the group stage, which is also the last day of the first round.

EDG will once again make their first appearance today, facing off against the Japanese regional champions, DFM.

After a one-day break, EDG returned to the stage, and the cheers from the Icelandic audience immediately surged like a tidal wave, giving the EDG players plenty of face.

After the epic battle between EDG and T1 the day before yesterday, the neutral audience in Iceland has now completely become EDG fans, making EDG feel like a home team in Iceland.

On the other side, the DFM players felt the cheers from below, their faces stiffening.

Both players quickly took their seats, and after a brief delay, the draft phase began.

There's not much to say about the draft picks in this game. Against weaker teams like this, EDG is mainly experimenting.

In this game, EDG locked in the Talon and Yuumi combination, which has been popular in the last two days, trying to let JieJie carry the game, while MingJing locked in Lissandra.

This champion is effective against LeBlanc and has strong synergy with junglers, especially with a jungler like Talon who lacks crowd control.

The two sides traded blows, and the lineups were finalized.

Blue side DFM: Top lane Poppy, Jungle Xin Zhao, Mid lane LeBlanc, Bot lane Jhin and Alistar.

Red team EDG: Top laner Renekton, jungler Talon, mid laner Lissandra, bot lane Miss Fortune and Yuumi.

"EDG's lineup is really aggressive!" Looking at the lineup, commentator Guan Daxiao nodded repeatedly. "All three lanes are dominated by lane-pushing champions, and the jungler is Talon. It looks like this game will be very bloody!"

Maokai looked at the lineup, satisfied, and closed his notebook. He then gave a final instruction over voice chat: "This lineup isn't your strong suit, but it's still quite powerful. I'll leave the rest to you. Give the enemy a good push!"

"Don't worry," Ming Jing licked his lips, "I'll just go straight for the kill!"

Although DFM has three Korean players, it is still a Japanese team in the end, so Mingjing has to be ruthless!
As soon as the minion waves clashed, Mingjing played aggressively, using the AOE ability of the Ice Maiden's Q skill to quickly push the lane and reach level two.

Crystal Maiden vs. LeBlanc is a fairly common counter pairing, but this counter mainly manifests in lane control and team fight capabilities.

Ice Maiden is a standard roaming hero, fast at pushing lanes, fast at roaming the map, and fast at killing, perfectly meeting Mingjing's requirements.

However, in terms of laning phase alone, Lissandra has a tough time against LeBlanc.

Therefore, Mingjing's strategy became crystal clear: push the lane and then roam!

DFM's mid laner Aria certainly understood Mingjing's intentions, and what he needed to do was to leverage LeBlanc's ability to harass Mingjing in lane and prevent all of this from happening.

But with his personal abilities, it's still a pipe dream to suppress Ming Jing.

Three minutes into the game, Aria seized an opportunity. LeBlanc used QW to step in, but only halfway through the dash was Lissandra's feet unleashing an ice ring that rooted LeBlanc!

This immobilization cannot interrupt LeBlanc's W, but it can trigger Lissandra's talent [Aftershock] through crowd control.

Aftershock provides Crystal Maiden with a high amount of armor and magic resistance, making LeBlanc's QW combo deal almost no damage!
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Mingjing used his E to directly target the starting point of LeBlanc's W, then chased after her with AQ to finish her off, before switching positions and chasing LeBlanc all the way, achieving a huge profit in the exchange of health!
After this roster overhaul, Aria immediately became much more obedient.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Mingjing pushed the lane into the tower, recalled to base to replenish supplies, and then directly teleported to the bottom lane, launching a four-man gank on the second lane.

After returning to base to replenish supplies, TPing to gank the bottom lane is a common strategy used by EDG, but DFM still had no chance against it and could only watch the duo die under the tower.

After that, the game immediately switched to easy mode.

EDG secured the dragon first, and then JieJie, who had secured the kill, relied on Talon's mobility and his teammates' lane control to roam freely in DFM's jungle, devouring the jungle resources at will.

Eight minutes in, in the mid lane, Mingjing's Lissandra used her E to retreat, then flashed into the enemy tower, unleashing a full WRQ combo. In front of DFM's jungler Xin Zhao, she killed LeBlanc and then used her second E to reposition herself, eliciting cheers from the audience.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, JieJie controlled the Herald again and then placed it in the bottom lane, easily pushing down the bottom lane tower!
DFM was powerless against EDG's formulaic rhythm and suffered repeated defeats.

When the game reached the 20-minute mark, the economic difference between the two sides had exceeded 10,000. DFM players retreated to their high ground, with no way out but to engage in a moth-to-a-flame team fight.

As expected, DFM swept through the competition with a five-for-zero exchange, successfully eliminating themselves from the game.

"Alright, let's congratulate EDG for taking 22 minutes to destroy DFM and win their third group stage match!"

On the eve of the explosion at the Guan University base, I glanced at the scoreboard above, which displayed the kill counts, dragon counts, and tower information for both sides.

On the DFM side, zero points, zero dragons, zero towers.

(End of this chapter)