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

Chapter 268 The Finals Begin!
The moment the third game ended, the lights in the arena blared on, and the DK team logo appeared on the big screen, announcing the winner of the other semi-final.

"Like autumn winds sweeping away fallen leaves, DK followed in EDG's footsteps and also swept their opponents!"

On the commentary desk, Wang Duoduo delivered his prepared congratulatory message: "EDG and DK, who were highly anticipated before the match, have finally met in the finals!"

"Both teams have maintained a 100% undefeated record so far!"

"In this battle of kings, only one team can stand to the end and lift the Summoner's Cup in glory! Let's wait and see what the outcome will be!"

All I can say is that it still comes down to DK and EDG.

Anyone who watched the matches this year could clearly feel how strong these two teams were; it seemed that only matches between these two teams could be considered true finals.

Even Showmaker stated bluntly in an interview that a final showdown between DK and EDG was inevitable, and that he would be the one to win this match.

"As expected of DK," Xiaohu sighed, "and it's a 3-0 score. I wonder if you guys can hold on."

"What are you saying?" Meiko waved her hand. "I'll definitely win easily."

Although DK showed great competitiveness today, Meiko is still confident that EDG is stronger.

That's the confidence that comes with dominating the entire year's events!
Ming Jing watched the DK players raising their hands in celebration on the live stream, but he felt nothing.

It doesn't matter to him whether DK or T1 advances.

He certainly wanted to have a showdown with DK, but he also wanted to have a best-of-five series with Faker to see how the GOAT would perform in a best-of-five match.

He'd love to beat both of them!
You can, but you can't hit them.

Let's win the championship first.

"Let's continue with the training matches."

Abu said in the voice message, "I'll have to trouble you again next week."

I'll have to endure this torture for another week.
Xiao Hu thought to himself, but he didn't refuse. "Come on."

With the final matchups decided, there's nothing more to say.

Both teams entered a busy training phase before the final.

At this stage, practice matches have limited effect and are mainly used to maintain a good feel for the game.

We can only say thank you to RNG for providing practice; otherwise, we would have had to resort to custom Void practice.

However, it is certain that GEN and T1 are also still there, probably training with DK.

In this final stage, both sides are united against a common enemy for the sake of the region's glory.

Interestingly, when Myung Kyung went to the hotel restaurant to eat fries the next evening, he happened to run into Lee Sang Hyeok, who was also heading to the restaurant for a meal, in the elevator lobby.

Their eyes met briefly, and Ming Jing, true to his nature, went up and greeted them.

"Yo, hello."

"hello."

"Just finished a practice match?"

"Ah."

The two didn't exchange many words; they simply went to the restaurant, got their food, and then found seats to chat.

They didn't have a second conversation until they finished eating and took the elevator back to the lounge together.

"Finals, play your best."

"Hmm?" Faker's voice was a little soft, and it was in Korean-accented English, so Ming Jing didn't hear it clearly at first.

"Play well in the finals," Faker repeated. "DK is very strong."

Lee Sang-hyeok is arguably the player who understands DK best among all the teams in this year's World Championship, after all, these two teams were the ones competing in the LCK Summer Finals.

During the Summer Finals, T1 was clearly able to fight back, but ultimately lost 1-3, almost going to five games.

In the semifinals, despite T1's understanding of the meta being exactly on par with T1, they were utterly crushed in three games, resulting in a clean sweep of the final score.

This alone makes it clear how much DK has improved at this year's World Championship.

"Oh." Ming Jing understood this time, but was slightly surprised.

How could Faker say something like that?
If Mingjing really wins his second championship, it will threaten Faker's historical status.

Ming Jing thought for a moment and said, "Can we arrange a practice match?"

Lee Sang-hyeok said expressionlessly, "No."

The night passed, and it was now November 2nd, four days until the finals.

Song Xuan sent a message saying that she had officially landed in Iceland, and judging from the address, the hotel was not far from Ming Jing.

This is Ming Jing's only relative or friend who came to watch the game in person.

After all, Iceland is too far away, almost halfway around the world, and its epidemic prevention measures are extremely strict, which is quite troublesome.

The parents had originally planned to come, but Mingjing persuaded them against it.

However, Song Xuan had no intention of meeting Ming Jing.

With the finals approaching, everything else can wait until the match is over.

November 4th, two days to go.

The training matches were suspended, and the two finalists traveled to various locations in Iceland to film promotional videos, as required by Riot Games.

Judging from the content of the filming, Riot Games seems to be intentionally focusing the narrative on the relationship between Mingjing and DK.

November 5th, one day to go.

The two finalists arrived at the final venue and played a coin toss to determine who would have priority in choosing sides.

Ming Jing also briefly met his opponent in the final today.

The DK members moved in unison, all focusing their attention on Ming Jing.

The DK members felt nothing but hatred for the boy who had so cruelly snatched the championship from their grasp!
Pure hatred!

Showmaker harbored an especially strong hatred for him.

This championship is something he has been dreaming of since he entered the industry, and he didn't feel good about missing out on the championship last year.

This year, Phi moved to the mid lane, and Showmaker will face him head-on, which is undoubtedly a good thing for Showmaker.

He is currently at the peak of his career, even stronger than last year. So far in the World Championship, he has consistently outperformed Doinb, Humanoid from the EU1 team, and Faker!
This time, he's determined to get his revenge!

Ahead, the referee was rattling off the rules, but everyone's familiar with coin toss, so there wasn't much to say.

The two sixpence coins, one bearing the Queen's portrait and the other a four-leaf clover, tumbled back and forth in the air before landing on the ground, watched by a dozen or so people from both sides.

After a brief yet seemingly endless rotation, what finally appeared before everyone was a four-leaf clover pattern, representing good fortune.

The expectant expressions on the faces of the DK members froze instantly upon seeing the pattern.

A cheer erupted from EDG's side!
"Awesome, Maokai!" Flandre gave a thumbs up. "So you only win crucial games, huh?"

Maokai lost all year on coin tosses, except for winning the semi-final and final!
"It's a package deal, bro." Maokai's face was full of pride.

It's as if having the right to choose sides guarantees the championship.

Finally, November 6th arrived, the day of the finals.

Mingjing woke up early as usual and then played two ranked matches to maintain his skill level.

However, today was different because all the EDG players got up exceptionally early and arrived at their posts very early.

Scout, of course, was an exception. The training room was filled with the clatter of keyboards.
The factory manager walked behind the crowd with his hands behind his back, a slight smile on his lips.

Time quickly passed and it was noon.

"Get ready to go, everyone's not in ranked matches yet, right?" Team supervisor Zhu Kai called out from the front, and after everyone got up and gathered around, he gave a pre-match pep talk.

"You all know how important today's match is without me having to tell you. Whether you're a professional player or an esports club, the opportunity to reach the finals is a once-in-a-lifetime chance!"

At this point, Zhu Kai's tone shifted, and he suddenly laughed, "Of course, Ming Jing is an exception."

Upon hearing this, everyone smiled knowingly.

They really didn't know what to say about Ming Jing, who made it to the finals and won the championship just one month after his debut.

"But no matter what, the opportunity is right in front of you, so you must seize it!" Zhu Kai said seriously, "I don't want you to regret this when you're old."

"Come on, come on! Let's cheer each other on!" Abu called out from the front, then extended his right hand to the crowd.

The EDG players stacked their hands into a thick layer, layer by layer, and then pressed down heavily!

"Let's go, charge!"

The bus departed from the hotel and headed towards the Laugardalshll Indoor Stadium.

Due to special circumstances, all of Riot Games' official esports events this year will be held in this stadium.

For the scale of the S-series finals, the thousands of spectators in this venue were actually not enough.

Of course, the main platform for esports is still the internet, so this will not have any impact on the immense popularity of the S-series.

At this time, thousands of spectators had already formed a long queue at the entrance of the venue, slowly entering under strict control.

Song Xuan was enthusiastically introducing the upcoming competition to his mother, chattering on and on.

"Oh, stop talking," Song's mother said impatiently. "I don't understand any of what you're saying. Anyway, you're just here to chase after celebrities."

In Song's mother's understanding, Song Xuan watching the game was no different from those fans watching concerts.

However, it's still a bit unbelievable that someone would travel halfway around the world just to see a "concert".

In other words, Song Xuan had achieved academic success, securing a university admission and a world championship title; otherwise, his mother would never have agreed, as it would have been far too permissive.

"Hmph, I'm not here to chase after celebrities." Song Xuan didn't offer any further explanation, but simply smiled and looked into the distance.

The view from Reykjavik is quite good; it's very open and spacious, and the view is refreshing and pleasant.

Of course, this is on the premise that it is still during the day, because the latitude here is too high and the daytime sunshine is extremely short.

Soon, a car came into view from a distance.

That was a custom bus from Riot Games, with the EDG team logo printed on it.

As the bus drew closer, Song Xuan's already delicate eyes brightened instantly, and she looked out the window.

At that moment, Ming Jing was casually browsing the discussions on the forum when he suddenly heard Holy Gunner next to him looking out the window and exclaiming, "So many people..."

Hearing this, Mingjing also looked up and glanced out the window.

Just then, he spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.

Their eyes met briefly, and then they were both startled.

Such a coincidence?
Mingjing immediately opened the window and waved.

Song Xuan also stood on tiptoe and greeted them excitedly.

Seeing this, Song's mother also looked up.

She also wanted to know who this person was that warranted such a great deal of trouble from the two of them.

Forget it.

Too short, I can't see it.

Meanwhile, the popularity of live broadcasts of domestic events has reached unprecedented heights!

In recent years, LPL's performance has been outstanding, and with EDG, a team on the road to gold, Tencent Esports has spared no effort in promoting it domestically. This has easily made the popularity of domestic live broadcasts surpass the peak of previous finals, and it continues to rise!

Hurry, hurry, hurry! It's urgent!

[It's time, open the door!]

[Go EDG! Can you take it 3-0? Please don't let it go the whole way like last year, my heart can't take it!]

I think it's unlikely; I feel the two sides are quite evenly matched.

[Close? Or is DK clearly stronger? The significance of sweeping T1 is something LPL has never beaten in their entire history]

What the hell are you talking about? It's like EDG didn't shave T1's head (a Chinese internet slang term for a masochistic person).

Stop talking nonsense, EDG, just crush them!

Amidst the flashing comments, Wang Duoduo, Gugu, and Maohuang, the three commentators, were also discussing the data provided by the director.

"We can see that, since neither team in the finals has lost a single game so far, their statistics are extremely impressive!"

Looking at the data, Wang Duoduo couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement, "This should be the first time in the history of the S-series!"

The two undefeated teams fought their way through their respective groups and halves of the bracket, and finally met at the top of the finals. This can only be described as a clash of kings.

"However, EDG's average game time is still shorter, and they also have more kills per game, which proves that EDG's level of brutality is significantly higher."

"Yes. Although DK is also known for its early-game fighting style, it still retains some of the playstyle habits of the LCK, and occasionally they will drag out the game into a slow, strategic phase."

After showing the team data, the director quickly displayed the player data for both sides.

The most striking data comes from the mid-laners of both sides.

While other DK players had KDAs starting with 4 or 5, Showmaker's KDA reached an astonishing 8.8, truly standing out from the crowd.

In addition, there are 5.4 kills per game, 543 damage per minute, and 26.4% damage share, all of which are quite excellent figures!
"But... this data is completely insignificant compared to Brother Xiaofei!"

Even though Showmaker's data is incredibly impressive, it pales in comparison to Mingjing's when they're on screen together.

"A KDA of 15.5, an average of 7.7 kills per game, 688 damage per minute, and a damage share of 29.75%." Wang Duoduo was increasingly shocked as he read on. "Wow, all of that is number one in his position!"

"And that's after he played two games with Malzahar." Cat Emperor added from the side, "Malzahar is still too much of a utility hero. Xiao Fei died in both of those games, and his damage share wasn't high either. If you remove those two games, the data would be even more terrifying!"

"This is truly a dominance that is visible to the naked eye."

The three chatted for a couple more minutes, then Wang Duoduo heard a notification in her earpiece and immediately ended the conversation:
"Hey, we've received news that the opening ceremony is about to begin. Let's switch the camera to the live broadcast!"

The camera cuts, and the scene shifts to the sky above the location.

The audience had mostly taken their seats.

Amidst the anticipation of the crowd, the countdown finally appeared on the large screen at the venue.

The European audience at the scene was incredibly enthusiastic, truly embodying the culture of watching football, with countless people cheering passionately in unison!
"ten!"

"Nine!"

"."

"Three! Two! One!"

The moment the countdown ended, a fist logo appeared on the screen, and then burst into flames!

The finals have begun!

(End of this chapter)