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

Chapter 310 The Spread of a Wildfire
After the match ended, there was another long post-match process.

The post-match interview was conducted with Flandre, so Mingjing had some free time, replying to Song Xuan's messages while waiting for his teammates to return from the interview.

While happily typing away on the sofa, Mingjing suddenly saw a hand holding a water glass come into view.

Mingjing habitually assumed that his cousin had poured the water for him, but when he took the cup, he realized that it was actually Zeka, who was on the substitute bench.

"Hmm?" Ming Jing was somewhat surprised. "Thank you."

Upon hearing Ming Jing's words, Zeka's face clearly showed nervousness, and she quickly waved her hand, "No, no, no need to thank me!"

Zeka's respect for Mingjing is beyond question.

This was evident as early as when he first joined EDG; the two practically bowed at a right angle when they shook hands.

This respect was further enhanced after Zeka served as the starting mid laner for six months.

Xiba, playing mid lane for EDG must be too much pressure, right?
The inexplicable malice from the opposing mid and jungle, along with the intense pressure of their tempo, left Zeka feeling completely lost.

After Ming Jing returned to the team in the playoffs and led the team to two 3-0 sweeps of their opponents, this respect reached a new peak.

too strong!
I need to find a way to latch onto this powerful figure; maybe I can even get a champion skin!

"..." Ming Jing was a little confused, but still gave Zeka a kind look and took a sip of water.

To be honest, he often forgets that there is a substitute in the team.

After all, Mingjing hadn't even spoken to Scout during the entire year of competition.

Yes, not a single word.

Scout and Mingjing play the same position and have no chance to play together. Scout is also eager to kill Mingjing, so of course he wouldn't say a single word to him.

Soon after, Flandre returned from his interview, picked up his backpack, got up, and joined the team to go to the celebration banquet.

Sitting in the car, Ming Jing and Song Xuan's conversation came to a temporary end, and he finally had the chance to open the forum and see what the scene was like.

He definitely won't miss today's protest.
As expected, the forum was even more lively today than yesterday, with a dazzling array of posts.

[Those still thinking EDG will sweep through the competition can forget about it. Shy will definitely crush these pigs today, and he means it!]

[Shy Bro? Not your Shy dad? If WBG wins even one game today, I'll stream myself running a five-speed fan for the entire day. Feel free to dig this up!]

Various conflicting prophecy posts were unearthed, some by forum members to criticize the original posters, and others by the original posters themselves, who then took advantage of the momentum to launch a barrage of attacks on the replies in the thread.

Of course, what Mingjing cares about most is the rating post.

Because Mingjing arrived a little late today, the number of replies to the rating post has already approached 10,000!
Ming Jing first opened the rating post and saw that, in chronological order, many netizens were excitedly replying in the comments, and even the second floor was arguing. The number of replies in the comments exceeded one hundred, making it quite lively.

Mingjing clicked on the popularity ranking and, sure enough, found TheShy's post on the second floor.

In Mingjing's matches, few people can surpass him in the number of replies to rating posts; TheShy is one of them.
[Eating the most resources and receiving the most timely rain, that's our little sweet ginger!]

[Gwen's last E into the enemy team and 1v5 made me laugh. She's really gone completely insane, hasn't she?]

[That's enough of the haters. Shy is clearly getting impatient because his teammates are so bad. They don't even have a front-line tank; how can he, as Gwen, possibly play?]

[After leaving JackeyLove, IG didn't make it to Worlds for three years. Now do you know who was really carrying IG back then?]

[Addendum: Before Ah Shui arrived, they couldn't even qualify for the World Championship.]

[Is the formula for Ah Shui in the trench closed loop?]

[The comment above is pretty much the same as the one from the water ghost. Has Bingbing's performance been good since leaving IG? Did TES make it to Worlds last year?]

[Is the zombie team getting anxious already? But TES does have a Summer Split championship and a top-four finish, which is better than feeding every crucial game, right?]

This is the secret to TheShy's numerous replies below his posts.

Any match involving IG players will generate a lot of discussion, and it might even escalate.

Ming Jing continued scrolling down happily and soon saw his floor.

There's actually not much to say beneath this layer; it's just a bunch of terms like "god among gods," "uncle," and "husband."

Mingjing's performance today was undoubtedly excellent compared to other mid laners. Whether it was KD, team fight participation, or damage output, he was far ahead of other mid laners.

However, Mingjing always compares himself to himself.

Compared to his dominant performance the day before yesterday, today's performance did seem rather ordinary.

Mingjing continued to slide down, but on the third floor he saw an unexpected contestant.

Huanfeng.

Logically speaking, given Huanfeng's popularity, his discussion volume should not possibly rank third.

Even if extreme fans want to attack teammates, they should prioritize attacking the mid and jungle players who don't help the top lane.

It was only then that Ming Jing clicked into the inner room of the building to take a closer look, and quickly learned the whole story.

[The most disgusting ADC, whose average damage per game is always among the lowest for AD carries!]

[TheShy may give a lot of gifts, but you're not exactly innocent either!]

[The first Aphelios with the red and white swords was so disgusting that he didn't dare to join the group. If Flying God had come, they would have all been wiped out.]

[The zombies are at it again, after wreaking havoc on the mid and jungle, are they going to wreak havoc on the AD now? Several teammates were retreating, but Jiang flashed in with his ultimate, who could possibly follow up? I ask you!]

[A professional player can't even react to this much? Crystal was almost frantic during his stream. How can you possibly understand the game better than a former professional player?]

[Which one is Crystal Bro from?]

The discussion mainly focused on the first game, and Mingjing couldn't help but recall it while reading the comments.

In the first game, TheShy's Kennen flashed and used his ultimate to engage, catching all nine players off guard.
Ming Jing recalled the details of that wave, then shook his head.

To be honest, there's really no way to solve this.

The red and white Aphelios is only strong in lane; in team fights, it is far inferior to the green and white or blue and purple versions.

Ming Jing still remembers that Aphelios had just used his red sword Q to refresh his ammo, with the aim of switching to green and white, but his own teammates caught him off guard when his skills were on cooldown.

In addition, both the crocodile and Sejuani have Flash.

To put it bluntly, Aphelios didn't have much room to deal damage in that team fight.

Is this what you're going to criticize AD for?

Ming Jing couldn't help but purse his lips.

Teaming up with Luo Wenjun was already a difficult situation; not getting into the top ranks was a regular occurrence.

Of course, this kind of duo is not uncommon; in fact, it's become a mainstream strategy in recent years. For example, in DK's game, Ghost plays a similar role to Huanfeng. The problem is that DK rarely needs Ghost to carry the game. Most of the time, he just needs to play as a Bomber, throw some mines, and defend the towers; that's his job.

But at WBG, the situation is quite different.

Thinking about it carefully, in WBG's hellish environment, if you want to play AD without getting flamed, then perhaps only Mingjing can do it. No other AD in the world could do it.

Stopping his wild thoughts, Mingjing slowly finished reading the rating post, then returned to the Tieba homepage to refresh it and continue swimming in the cesspool.

With EDG already boasting a 6-0 record, many viewers have begun to seriously consider the possibility of EDG winning the championship.

Some believe that EDG has recovered to 90% of its peak form and is more than capable of dominating LPL teams. They might even create an unprecedented first-round sweep to win the championship.

However, many people believe that EDG's victories over BLG and WBG don't prove anything.

Ultimately, neither team is truly a top team, with one ranking tenth and the other fifth.

The gap between the top four teams in this summer's regular season and the teams behind them is still quite significant.

This can be seen from the points.

After acquiring Karsa and Rookie, V5 performed exceptionally well in the Spring Split, taking the top spot in the regular season standings and staging a remarkable comeback from 0-16 to 14-2, a feat jokingly referred to by viewers as a "losing streak followed by a swift victory."

In the summer season, V5 didn't actually decline too much, only dropping from 14 wins to 13 wins.

But that one point difference caused them to drop from first to third, and they were tied with fourth-placed JDG in terms of total points, barely taking the lead by a single point.

This shows just how fierce the competition is at the top of the LPL.

However, their winning streak then declined sharply.

LNG and WBG, ranked fifth and sixth respectively, both have only 10 wins, a difference that is obvious to the naked eye!

Therefore, winning against WBG is not something to be proud of. EDG's true strength will only be known after they play against top teams in the double-elimination stage.

For LPL viewers, they certainly hope that EDG can return to its peak form from last year and continue its legendary run.

However, champagne shouldn't be opened indiscriminately; the extent of recovery will ultimately be determined by the match results.

On August 19th, in the lower bracket of the playoffs, FPX will face off against LNG.

The biggest highlight of this battle was the clash between Master Xiang and the traitor Doinb.

However, no matter what, expecting FPX, who finished ninth in the regular season, to defeat LNG, who finished fifth, is still too difficult.

In the first two games, LNG won consecutively, and with perfect rhythm, they made FPX helpless and easily won the match point.

In the third game, FPX rallied and pulled back, winning the game thanks to the excellent performance of their top and jungle players.

However, given that FPX started with a 2-0 lead, it's unrealistic to expect them to come back and win three games in a row.

In the fourth game, LNG made a slight adjustment, picking a combination of Gyrocopter and Troll Warlord on the blue side to counter the opponent's Azir and Poppy.

The matchup between Troll Warlord and Poppy is a classic 90/10 matchup. Whether it's the reduction of Poppy's tankiness by his ultimate or the pillar preventing her from entering the fray, Troll Warlord's counter to Poppy is fundamental.

With a superior position, Tanzan gave FPX no room to maneuver, relentlessly invading their jungle.

Doinb was even struggling to keep up with the pace, but fortunately he didn't need to. He just needed to keep the enemy mid laner in the mid lane and wait for the jungler to make his move.

Tarzan is indeed trustworthy; he even plays Troll, a standard utility jungler, with a style reminiscent of a warrior jungler.

The Troll Warlord relentlessly pursued and devoured the opposing team, controlling all resources and also ganking and counter-jungling effectively. In just fifteen minutes, he crushed FPX, helping the team advance to the top six with a 3-1 victory and keeping their chances of entering the World Championship alive.

The playoffs have officially entered the six-to-four stage.

EDG is on the move again!

It has to be said that it's quite exciting for the audience to see a team like EDG, which has both strength and popularity, start from the first round.

According to the playoff matchup rules, positions 1, 4, 5, 8, and 9 form one path, while positions 2, 3, 6, and 7 form another.

After defeating WBG, who finished sixth, EDG's next opponent is V5, who finished third in the regular season.

It can be said to be a true test of strength.

But the players from EDG weren't the ones who were nervous at that moment.

On V5's side, Karsa couldn't help but feel bitter as he watched his first playoff match against EDG.

What kind of suffering did they endure?
After two months of hard work in the Summer Split, we finally managed to get third place amidst extremely fierce competition, and the reward was EDG?

I should have deliberately lost one game and dropped to fourth place. It would have been much easier to beat LNG then.
Although V5 topped the regular season standings in the Spring Split, their playoff journey was far from ideal. First, they were sent to the loser's bracket by Top Esports in a best-of-five series, and then they were easily eliminated by EDG in another best-of-five series!

That's right, they couldn't even beat EDG in the Spring Split without Mingjing, let alone now.
There was no other way; things had come to this point, and the V5 team had no choice but to bite the bullet and move forward.

But the result was quite cruel.

In the first game, Mingjing locked in Taliyah as the second pick to counter Rookie's Lissandra. Although he didn't gain much of an advantage in the laning phase, he completely dominated the tempo of the game!

Taliyah relied on her passive and ultimate ability to roam the map and gank throughout the game. The director almost constantly switched the camera to Mingjing, watching him gank or counter-gank, and continuously expanding his advantage!

In the second game, EDG was positioned on the blue side this time, and Mingjing locked in Akali first, once again facing off against Rookie's Lissandra.

This is a disadvantageous matchup, but as long as Mingjing gets Akali, there is absolutely no possibility of him being at a disadvantage in the laning phase.

Mingjing took advantage of the fact that Rookie was getting old and his skills were no longer at their peak. He used the maximum range of his Q skill and the stealth to initiate multiple trades with Rookie.

Although Rookie was playing Aftershock Crystal Maiden, which should have given him a huge advantage against melee champions, the skill gap between the two players caused Rookie to gradually fall into a disadvantageous position and lose his roaming control.

At 8:30, both sides initiated a 5v5 vanguard team fight.

Mingjing's performance was impeccable. Under the cover of the top laner, he entered the fray later, first using QA to kill the half-health Ice Maiden who had lost her ultimate, and then using a tricky ultimate to pierce through the battlefield and kill the low-health Zhao Xin.

Finally, use E to hook Sivir, then use the second E to get close, place a smoke bomb, and use QA all the way through.

Photic was clearly helpless against a fully-equipped Akali with a smoke bomb, and could only watch as the screen turned gray.

After Ming Jing got three kills, the rest is self-explanatory.

When it comes to split pushing, Akali, with her economic advantage, is unstoppable, slaying Rich under the tower!

In team fights, Akali is unbeatable; the entire V5 team needs to be constantly on guard against Akali's entry.

Even so, it was still no use. Mingjing used his invincibility and smoke bomb to neutralize several key counterattacks from V5, and then killed Sivir in front of everyone before leaving gracefully.

In the second game, EDG won another game thanks to Mingjing's unstoppable performance!
In the third game, both sides coordinated to start a chaotic brawl in the bottom lane, with various forms of support and counter-ganking emerging one after another.

After playing 4v4 for more than ten minutes, EDG ultimately prevailed and took a slight lead.

This lead quickly expanded into an unstoppable, wildfire-like victory.

Three clean and decisive games, EDG is the first to advance to the semifinals!
(End of this chapter)