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

Chapter 308 The Battle of Traffic
"Well then, congratulations to EDG!"

As BLG's base exploded once again, Guan Daxiao shouted loudly: "Sweep BLG 3-0 and advance to the second round of the playoffs!"

The arena is now ablaze with light!

As soon as Ming Jing stood up, he was surrounded by several teammates, all of whom had obvious smiles on their faces.

"Awesome! Awesome!" Saint Gun punched Ming Jing and laughed, "We won."

For EDG, who suffered a losing streak at the end of the regular season, this was a long-awaited victory.

If we lose this game, I really don't want to think about it.

"Are you this happy after winning the top 10? Let's get into the top 6 first." Ming Jing chuckled and patted Saint Gun on the back, gesturing for him to go and punch the other side first.

Reaching the top six in the Summer Split will earn you points. EDG finished third in the Spring Split, so if they can make it to the top six in the Summer Split, they can at least guarantee a spot in the gauntlet. That's the goal for the first stage.

The second stage is to strive to reach the finals. If we reach the finals, the points from the spring runner-up and summer runner-up can guarantee a second seed, which is enough.

The third stage, of course, is for the champion, who will be the number one seed.

As Mingjing followed the team toward BLG's player bench, he overheard Guan Zeyuan and Miller praising them highly in the commentary booth.

"The return of Dong Shen has revitalized the team's renowned early-game offensive capabilities! All three games lasted less than thirty minutes! This is something the previous EDG could never have done!"

Colonel Guan's words were somewhat sincere.

After all, EDG's performance in the Summer Split was notoriously poor.

Because Zeka is still relatively inexperienced and not yet a reliable rhythm-setting player, the team's focus shifted to Viper during the Summer Split.

With AD as the core unit, the game time is inevitably lengthened, with an average game time of over 30 minutes. The level of brutality also drops significantly, making it incredibly agonizing.

It feels like a dream come true, like going back to the early days of EDG.

Regardless of the outcome today, at least the rhythm was right, with kills occurring almost every minute on average.

"To be honest, I feel that Fei Shen's performance today was the main surprise to me."

Colonel Guan laughed and said, "His performance today was as if he had never left the field. It felt like his four teammates were the ones who were resting!"

EDG had quite a few minor issues today, but almost all of them were due to coordination problems caused by their long absence from battle.

In terms of individual ability, there is absolutely no problem with them.

"That's the real value of two consecutive Finals MVP awards since his debut!" Miller laughed. "He hasn't even reached his peak yet! He's still improving!"

Even someone as gifted as Faker only reached the peak of his individual ability in his fourth year as a professional, during the S6 season, when he became invincible in the mid lane.

Mingjing has only been in the industry for less than two years. Although his dominance is already comparable to Faker's in S6, Miller certainly believes that he can still improve.

Geniuses can never be judged by common sense.

[You're pushing yourself too hard. You've already won two Finals MVP awards, and you still want to improve? Are you planning to take the postgraduate entrance exam?]

What makes the postgraduate entrance exam so difficult for Fei Shen?

[That's true, with someone admitted to Peking University through the national team recommendation program, a combined bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree should be standard practice by now.]

Alright, enough about beating BLG, let's beat WBG first, or we'll get carried away by TheShy.

【humor】

The camera followed the EDG players to the BLG players' bench.

On BLG's side, the players each have a different style.

Liu Qingsong's expression was calm, as if he were deep in thought.

Leng Shao put his hand into his pocket and rummaged around, already eager to go down and take a puff.

Today's result was entirely expected, so most of the BLG players didn't feel anything was wrong.

Only Bin had a rosy complexion, his face full of resentment.

Bin understood that with their BLG roster, beating EDG was nothing short of a pipe dream.

But the problem is, he shouldn't be on this team.

Mingjing also noticed Bin's unwilling expression, and he could understand it.

Put yourself in his shoes: if he won the MSI championship but failed to qualify for the World Championship due to communication and operations between clubs, his mentality would definitely be affected.

His year's efforts ended so abruptly. He might as well have used his talent in math competitions, where at least the competitions are relatively pure and less about petty scheming.

At this moment, Guan Daxiao also spoke up: "I hope everyone will give BLG a round of applause. I hope they can adjust their form and prepare to continue to shine in the S13 season next year!"

Mingjing raised his right fist: "Let's do better next year!"

Bin bowed slightly and gave Ming Jing a fist bump, saying, "I will win next year."

BLG's management has promised Bin that they will rebuild around him next year.

As a fellow contestant who debuted in the same year, Bin has always believed that he too will one day win the championship.

Of course, not now.

Transfers and rebuilding take time, but fortunately, Bin's career has just begun, and he has plenty of time to wait.

Ming Jing remained calm, exchanged fist bumps with each of the other BLG players, then packed up his mouse and keyboard and left the scene first.

As I walked to the entrance of the lounge, in addition to the management team who came out to greet me, today's host, Yu Shuang, had also been waiting for quite some time.

Today's post-match interview featured Ming Jing, who had been absent for a long time.

Ming Jing was not surprised. He put away his peripherals and then followed Yu Shuang back onto the stage.

"Let's start with a standard question," Yu Shuang said with a smile, "After more than half a year, you've returned to the competition and won the match. How do you feel now?"

"Not bad," Ming Jing said with a smile. "It's been too long since I've played, but fortunately the competition is still the same as I'm familiar with. I haven't fallen behind, which is something to be thankful for."

This remark amused the viewers watching the live stream.

What's the big deal about falling behind when playing against BLG?
Fei Shen was already capable of dominating BLG when he was born.

"Are you feeling fortunate?" Yu Shuang smiled and nodded, then continued, "After this BO5, EDG will move on to the quarterfinals against WBG, who finished sixth in the regular season. Are you confident about the upcoming match, Phi?"

Mingjing nodded. "Of course, although the tournament will be longer and more difficult starting from the first round, EDG's goal will always be the championship. No matter who the opponent is, the final winner will always be EDG."

After declaring victory, the interview came to an end. Mingjing handed back the microphone and returned to the lounge. He quickly left with the team and boarded the bus for the return trip.

Having finally won a best-of-five series, the team exuded a relaxed vibe from top to bottom.

Although the boss, Ed Zhu, was not present, he still expressed his congratulations to the team in the WeChat group and said that he would cover the cost of dinner tonight.

【Great! 】

[The boss is generous!]

The WeChat group responded instantly!

Mingjing sat on the bus, happily agreeing with the boss's generosity, before switching back to chat with his girlfriend.

Song Xuan certainly couldn't miss this match, and she was currently sending messages excitedly to express her joy.

"Why are you so happy about the first round of the playoffs?" Ming Jing typed with a smile: "You can be happy after I win the Summer Championship."

Is it the real Summer Crown?

“It’s all covered!” Mingjing replied confidently.

Although Ming Jing knew that the team was still some distance from its peak when it won the championship last year, he believed that it wouldn't take too long for the team to gel and quickly return to its previous peak.

Then, they began to surpass the peak and go even further.

At this moment, the bus slowly started moving. Ming Jing took out his earphones from his bag, put them on, randomly selected a song called "In the Name of the Father," and then began to swim in the cesspool.

Because of EDG's massive popularity, the popularity of the Anti-Gang forum reached its peak tonight, with the rating thread already having over four thousand posts.

Mingjing clicked in and sorted by popularity, and quickly found his own post.

[God among gods! The most foolish of all!]

[The King Returns! The Most Exciting Episode Ever!]

He changed EDG!

[They're really amazing; the whole team is different as soon as they came back.]

[The team falls apart as soon as someone leaves, and takes off as soon as someone returns. Are you writing a novel here? Is this some kind of eagle returning to the ranks?]

[This is far superior to the protagonists in novels who are overpowered and arrogant. Those protagonists in e-sports novels go through a lot of hard work and need a system cheat to win the championship. Fei Shen doesn't rely on anything, just pure talent.]

【It really is】

The forum users always find new ways to praise Ming Jing, and this time they even compared him to the protagonist of an online novel.

Of course, that's fine too. Ming Jing's talent is so extraordinary that it would be considered heaven-defying, even compared to the protagonists in novels.

Mingjing continued scrolling down and saw Bin's floor below.

[The first player in history to win MSI but fail to qualify for Worlds, what a pity]

[Bin had an advantage in almost all three laning phases, but his teammates couldn't hold on. He did his best.]

"It's okay, try again next year. You're still young, there will be plenty of opportunities!"

[That's hard to say. BLG is notorious for wasting money. They might buy a bunch of useless players next year, and then they're doomed.]

You know what, the possibility is actually quite high.

Most netizens felt sorry for Bin.

Part of the reason is that nowadays, the Royal Club fans have a significant voice in the anti-Bin community, and they really can't bear to part with Bin.

Without Bin, are we supposed to let Breath fight Zeus?

It makes me feel terrible just thinking about it.

It has to be said that T1's recruitment this year was a great success.

Zeus, who was promoted from the youth training program, showed extraordinary talent as soon as he debuted. He was almost invincible among LCK top laners until MSI, when he finally stumbled against Bin.

However, if we look at the entire BO5 series, the two are actually evenly matched.

Without a doubt, this year's T1 is an even greater threat than DK!
Although it sounds arrogant, Mingjing is already thinking about the possibility of facing off against T1.

Scrolling down further, after Bin, the third most popular is Leng Shao.

It was only at this point that the forum users began to abandon their rationality and unleash their aggression.

[Zero points, pure virginity]

[Colddog is really shameless. He's already pulled out an e-cigarette before he's even left the game. Look at how he was giving up in the last round, he just wanted to lose so he could take a puff, didn't he?]

[Don't worry, Leng Gou has already been fined 20,000.]

[Good punishment!]

To be honest, the main reason we lost today was because our mid laner was so bad at hooking and feeding the enemy team every game. If I were his teammate, I would have smashed the chair over his head!

Did they really think he was strong last summer? Wasn't he carried by Tazan? At Worlds, Tazan couldn't carry him anymore, and his true colors were revealed! BLG spent a fortune to buy him this year; they really struck gold!

[Colddog's participation in last year's World Championship was the biggest insult to this game; his first-round exit in this year's playoffs truly reflects his skill level.]

Leng Shao's poor performance today was obvious to all. Anyone who watched the game could see how big the gap in the mid lane could be, so of course, the fans didn't have anything good to say about him.

One of the key reasons why Leng Shao received so much attention last year was that he came from OMG, and many 60E fans were watching.

Seeing him advance all the way through the playoffs and even make it to the World Championship, 60E naturally had their best wishes for him.

Looking at him now, seeing his lackluster performance in crucial moments over the past two years, even the most loyal 60E fans would be disappointed in him.

Ming Jing didn't linger on Leng Shao's floor for long; this was just part of the usual practice of praising the winner and criticizing the loser.

The other contestants followed similar content.

Mingjing exited the thread and refreshed it, only to find that many forum members had already started discussing the upcoming matches.

Some people are discussing the match between OMG and FPX in the other half of the bracket.

Both are top 10 to top 8 matches, so this one is basically a roadside game. The only thing to watch is whether Xiang Zhangmen can advance and then go to the quarterfinals to crush Doinb's LNG team.

But it must be said that it is quite difficult.

Most people are still focused on EDG's upcoming schedule.

In the quarterfinals, EDG will face off against WBG, who has TheShy.

This is the real battle for traffic.

Since TheShy joined WBG, the team has been in constant turmoil for the past year.

They either criticize jungler SofM for not ganking top, or they criticize AD for being cowardly and not daring to deal damage, or they criticize mid laner for not having any rhythm and not using Twisted Fate's ultimate in ten minutes.

Only the support ON receives fewer attacks because ON likes to help the top lane, and has even pulled off incredible plays by using Lothar's teleport to help the top lane.

However, this does not mean that ON was not attacked. When Shy's fans launched an AOE attack to push four of his teammates into the water and electrify them, ON could not escape either.

Anyway, chaos ensued.

If WBG loses, a massive zombie horde will truly arrive, and it's uncertain whether the remaining four members of WBG can withstand it.

The following day, August 17th, the competition continued with the match between FPX and OMG.

This match didn't receive much attention, and the two sides were indeed evenly matched, going the full five games back and forth.

In the end, Lin Weixiang's desire to win was stronger, and his Xayah dominated the fifth game, dragging the team into the quarterfinals with his unique damage output.

The end of this match has added a touch of suspense to the competition in the lower bracket.

Is it not enough that Master Xiang purged the traitors in the Spring Split? Does he want to purge another wave in the Summer Playoffs?
On August 18th, the quarterfinals to the semifinals began.

EDG finally took to the stage again to face WBG.

Undoubtedly, this match garnered even more attention than the day before yesterday. Whichever team advances today will qualify for the gauntlet.

Whoever is eliminated will have their season in S12 come to an end.

Before the match even started, the live stream chat was already a chaotic mess, with countless people, for reasons unknown, still believing that WBG would definitely win and make it to the World Championship.

Of course, many people sided with EDG, believing that WBG's chances of winning were almost zero.

Amidst the farce, both players took to the stage, and the first game began!
(End of this chapter)