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

Chapter 311 Don't underestimate the bond between JD Gaming and S10!
Seeing the word "failure" pop up on the screen, Rookie irritably fiddled with his hair, feeling a surge of frustration he couldn't vent.

The round of six matches has not yet entered the double-elimination stage. This loss means that V5's journey in the Summer Split has come to an end.

Looking back on the past year, Rookie felt nothing but resentment.

V5 performed exceptionally well in both the spring and summer regular seasons, ranking first in the spring season and third in the summer season.

The problem is that they haven't won a single best-of-five series all year.

The ambitions that follow the regular season will be quickly extinguished in the first best-of-five series of the playoffs.

Why is this happening?

He stood up, pursed his lips, his mind filled with many thoughts.

At this moment, Ming Jing had already walked up to him.

Mingjing wasn't familiar with Rookie, so he just nodded and said, "Good luck in the gauntlet, let's make it to Worlds together."

These words left Rookie momentarily speechless.

Aren't you also a team in the qualifying rounds now?
Are you so confident that you can make it to the finals and get the first or second seed?

Of course, he couldn't say that aloud; he just smiled and nodded.

At the end of his career, in a moment of disappointment after leaving his former team, he has achieved such a remarkable result, and he certainly wouldn't miss this opportunity.

Ming Jing didn't say much, he just kept punching his fists, and bowed to the empty audience in the center of the stage to welcome a new victory.

From the first round to the championship, EDG needs to win six best-of-five series.

We've only gone through half the journey so far.

The real challenges are yet to come.

After the match, the number of teams favoring EDG on Tieba (a Chinese online forum) increased further.

EDG has already achieved an incredible 9-0 record, and they even beat V5, who were in third place. So why can't they even look at the champion?
EDG deserves to win the championship!
Besides, a small group of people, either supporters of RNGTES or haters of EDG, still do not have a positive view of the victory and do not recognize it.

After all, everyone understands what kind of team V5 is.

They were fierce in the regular season, but once the playoffs started, the gap between them widened.

Despite starting the spring split in a double-elimination format, they managed to lose a single best-of-five series and be eliminated.

This team isn't much better than the previous WBG.

If you're so capable, then go and challenge RNG!
Of course, this is also nonsense.

RNG won the Spring Split championship and finished second in the regular season, making them a clear favorite to win the title.

If they can beat RNG, then they're already close to the championship, so what else is there to say?

On August 21st, the second round of the six-to-four elimination tournament took place.

LNG, who advanced from the lower bracket, faced JD Gaming, who finished fourth in the regular season.

JD.com's resurgence this year was actually a rather unexpected point for viewers.

Ultimately, JD.com didn't spend much money this year.

JD.com's investors are undoubtedly wealthy, especially after winning the championship, when the owner, Blue Lotus, received additional funding, making them arguably the team with the most abundant budget among all League of Legends clubs worldwide.

But they haven't touched this huge sum of money yet, because they're waiting for someone.

As long as Ming Jing nods and agrees to join, they can immediately activate their financial power and assemble a world-destroying galactic warship.

However, since Ming Jing never agreed, JDG had no choice but to save money and give up.

This is a case of "seeing a beautiful woman at first sight leads to a lifetime of regret."

Of course, it's not a problem for JDG to tank.

After all, with the championship already in hand, it's not difficult to maintain profitability by simply retaining the championship roster at a low cost.

It's important to understand that very few clubs in the entire league can generate their own profits; the vast majority rely on league revenue sharing.

JD.com's spending in the past two years has actually been very low.

Apart from Kanavi, who remains on a top salary, the salaries of the other players are not high, and some have even experienced a pay cut due to last year's dismal performance.

Even the support player, Green Hair, chose to transfer because he didn't want to take a pay cut, and is now a member of their rival LNG.

JDG made three signings during the two transfer windows this year.

The first two times were during the winter transfer window at the beginning of the season when Hope and Missing were brought in to play the bot lane, completing the roster.

The third time was during the season when, due to Zoom's dismal performance in the Spring Split, the team bought Wayward from TES, who had no games to play.

All three players were fringe players who hadn't played in any competitions, so they basically didn't spend any money, making them excellent value for money.

But this very combination actually managed to reach fourth place in the regular season, making people marvel at Redmi's skill in training players. They picked up a bunch of bottles and jars from the junkyard and actually pieced them together to create a Gundam.

Because of his former teammates, Ming Jing paid extra attention to this match and watched it live on the second stream right on time.

【? ? ? 】

[Missing person returns!]

[They actually started streaming during the playoffs, wow, are they just streaming a second stream to watch the games?]

Ming Jing looked at the comments and laughed, "You guys have to watch, JDG vs. Green Hair, aren't you going to watch?"

Previously, his old teammates would watch his games from the sidelines; it's time for him to watch them too.

Mingjing probably hadn't streamed for too long, so when he did, it spread like wildfire, with countless fans flooding into the live stream. The live stream's popularity even surpassed that of the official live stream.

The officials, of course, don't care about this. They'd love for Mingjing to stream more often and generate more viewership, since he's the face of the LPL these days.

"Who wins today?" Ming Jing continued watching the scrolling comments, answering without hesitation, "JD.com will definitely win, is that even a question? JD.com is going to face us in the final, understand?"

JD.com ranks higher and is Mingjing's former employer, so JD.com should win today, both morally and logically.

Will they really meet?

I believe JD Gaming can win against LNG, but what makes them think they can beat Topsports?

[It's just for the sake of the show; if JD Gaming beats Top Esports, I'll do a handstand and have diarrhea!]

[Green Hair: ? Aren't I an old teammate?]

[Can rogue ninja even be considered human? Rogue ninjas deserve to be brutally killed!]

【It really is】

"Brother Zuo?" Ming Jing said with a smile, "Then we can only ask him to make do."

"Brother Zuo" refers to Zuo Minghao, who was Mingjing's support player for JDG, but is now with LNG.

After Xiang's attempt to eliminate traitors failed, it's now JDG's turn to do so.

This time, the two sides are really locked in a fierce battle.

The main reason is that both teams rely heavily on their junglers, so the outcome of the game almost entirely depends on the matchup between the two junglers.

Therefore, both sides were quite attentive, frequently running into the jungle and engaging in numerous small skirmishes there.

Interestingly, both sides are rivals who originated from GRF.

The only difference is that Tarzan was a fresh starter back then, while Kanavi was just a substitute who ate leftovers, and he didn't even get to touch the computer until Tarzan rested.

Several years have passed in the blink of an eye, and the circumstances of the two people are now very different.

The substitute who used to eat leftovers is now a champion jungler, full of honors.

Meanwhile, the original starting lineup was still in a state of confusion and decline.

Although there was no real animosity between the two, Kanavi was determined not to lose to a starter who had once been superior to him. The two traded baskets, each taking a game, leading to a decisive final match.

The first two games were relatively easy, but winning the third game and taking the match point meant we truly gained the upper hand!

In this crucial battle, Kanavi went completely berserk, transforming his Monkey King into the Monkey King. He not only achieved an economic lead in the jungle but also performed amazingly in small team fights, racking up kill after kill.

At 26 minutes, while everyone else was still using two pieces of gear, Monkey King took the lead and entered the three-piece gear stage.

With his economic dominance, the monkey then descended like a god, not only dealing massive amounts of control and damage in team fights, but also forcefully smashing the AD carry's head, making for an exaggerated performance.

After securing match point, JDG players fought with increasing vigor, achieving success on all four fronts in the fourth game.

Top laner Wayward's Gnar play was commendable, and the two carries consistently performed well, aiming for solid results rather than ineffective play.

Most importantly, everyone is united as one.

In the final game, after 40 minutes, JDG's four-core lineup began to exert its strength, dominating two consecutive team fights and easily ending the game.

With a score of 3 to 1, JDG also made it into the semifinals!
Ming Jing looked at the scene before him with a smile on his lips.

His previous statement about wanting to meet JD.com in a decisive battle wasn't just for entertainment; he genuinely had that expectation.

He really wants to play a game with his old teammates.

Interestingly, he wasn't the only one with this idea.

In the post-match interview, Kanavi answered Yu Shuang's question about the upcoming matches in fairly fluent Chinese:

"Top Esports is indeed very strong, but JD Gaming is definitely not weak either. I am confident of victory. Mingjing has returned and has been performing very well recently. I hope we can face off in the final."

In other words, he has already bypassed Top Esports and is studying their opponents in the winners' bracket final.

Upon hearing this, countless viewers in Mingjing's live stream were somewhat surprised.

Wow, how come they think alike?
Are you really going to let you meet in the final?

This statement naturally drew the ire of countless Top Esports supporters.

Still thinking about playing against EDG?
You two should just stick to playing in the loser's bracket!

The finals will still be TES vs RNG!

The night passed, and it was August 22nd.

At the end of summer vacation, the LPL playoffs finally entered a heated phase.

The remaining four teams, TES, RNG, EDG, and JDG, will compete in a more equitable double-elimination tournament to determine the final champion and the first and second seeds.

The first match to begin was, of course, the showdown between EDG and RNG, who finished second in the regular season.

Ming Jing got up early and went to the training room to warm up by playing ranked matches.

Mingjing always had an excellent schedule; he might not be the last to leave, but he was always the first to arrive.

However, this time was a bit unexpected.

When Mingjing pushed open the door and entered the training room, he saw Zeka already sitting in front of the computer, engrossed in playing. There was a nearly finished Americano in front of him, indicating that he had been up for a while.

Zeka was so focused on the game that he didn't even notice Mingjing's arrival. Mingjing didn't make any noise either, but just stood behind and watched quietly.

Zeka was still playing his signature Akali, freely traversing the enemy ranks and successfully taking down the enemy mid laner.

Mingjing nodded.

It has to be said that Zeka's ability as an assassin mid-laner is truly top-notch.

It's a pity that this year has never been the meta for assassin mid laners.

Otherwise, EDG wouldn't be ranked so low.

After a crushing team fight, the opposing team gave up and surrendered.

Having reached this point, Zeka nodded in satisfaction and comfortably lay back in her chair, but the back of the chair encountered unexpected resistance.

Turning around, I realized there was someone behind me.

It's you!
Zeka immediately broke out in a sweat.
Ming Jing replied warmly, "Up so early?"

"Yes, yes." Zeka nodded. "We definitely need to practice!"

Zeka's continued practice wasn't in an attempt to compete for a starting position.

After all, he understood that as Phi's substitute, he had no chance of playing.

Scout spent a year on the bench last year, let alone him.

He simply didn't want to fall behind.

Since there are no matches to play, we have to put in double the amount of training to maintain our form.

Scout did the same thing last year, dominating the Korean server rankings for an extended period by playing countless ranked games even when there were no matches to play. He wanted to achieve the same level.

"Good luck," Ming Jing said with a smile. "You might get a chance to play when we get to the World Championship."

Mingjing is obviously referring to mixed skins.

Since SSG's substitute got a championship skin at the S7 World Championship, Riot Games changed the rules. Now, if a substitute wants to get a skin, they need to play two games in the group stage or one game in the knockout stage.

Playing two matches in the group stage is a bit risky, but if conditions allow, playing one match in the knockout stage with a 2-0 lead shouldn't be a problem.

As long as the substitutes aren't like Scout, bottling up their frustrations, Mingjing doesn't mind letting them get a skin. After all, they're on the same team, and the substitutes have contributed too.

Zeka understood Mingjing's meaning and nodded respectfully.

Ming Jing also sat down in his seat and began training.

Before they knew it, it was 3 p.m., and everyone set off on time for the Hongqiao Tiandi Performing Arts Center to prepare for the competition.

At the same time, the JDG members and the traitor Green Hair were still watching EDG's match via live stream as usual.

They always watch EDG's matches; it's become a habit.

At this moment, the live stream chat was filled with comments.

[They're playing Top Esports tomorrow, and you're still streaming today?]

In terms of relaxation, it's definitely on par with Fei Shen.

[With such a relaxed attitude, how could beating Top Esports be difficult? It's not like they haven't won before.]

[It's S12 now, buddy. Do you really think these guys at JD.com can handle it?]

[That's unreasonable. One player won a championship in S10, and neither team made it to Worlds in S11. What's the difference between the two teams? Isn't it still a 50/50 situation?]

I believe EDG can beat RNG, but I absolutely do not believe JDG can beat Top Esports.

[You'll see tomorrow; don't doubt the connection between S10 and JD.com!]

[So, the bonds have all been formed, right?]

Toothpaste watched the barrage of comments fly by, and although he didn't say anything, he actually had a good idea of ​​what to expect in tomorrow's match.

Top Esports has made some serious signings this year, but their roster strength has actually declined. It's a miracle they've made it this far, and their chances of winning tomorrow are definitely not high.

But the toothpaste seemed to be in a good mood, even somewhat relaxed.

Having already won the S10 championship, he has become indifferent to the outcome of the competition.

In short, if you win, you make a fortune; if you lose, you don't lose anything.

At this moment, there was finally some activity on the live broadcast screen. The host, Liu Hang, went on stage and invited both teams onto the stage.

BP activated!
(End of this chapter)