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

Chapter 332 Believe
This year's championship skins were released much later than in previous years, only officially launching in the World Championship version and being promoted alongside the World Championship.

It has to be said that Riot Games is quite the business genius to postpone the sale of championship skins until next year's World Championship.

After all, EDG is the first team in history to maintain strong competitiveness after winning the championship until the following year's World Championship.

If EDG performs well enough at this year's World Championship, it might actually boost the sales of the championship skins!
Here we are, with the goods on board!
Aphelios, Yuumi, and Fryegor—these are all championship heroes for EDG!
“It’s not a problem at all.”

Looking at the three picks, Tong Xi smiled and said, "EDG's heroes were originally available for selection, as they all appeared in the qualifying rounds."

“Yes.” 957 nodded with a smile: “As long as you don’t pick Lucian in the middle lane or Graves in the top lane, there shouldn’t be any problem.”

Several of EDG's championship-winning champions are still quite strong in the current World Championship version. Although Nami has been nerfed and her Water Ball can no longer trigger Electrocute, Luna is still a popular pick in this version.

Needless to say, Graves is still banned by EDG.

This actually reveals the extra considerations the designers made in order to sell championship skins.

From a financial perspective, they certainly wouldn't let these five heroes be too weak, otherwise the skins wouldn't sell.
The championship roster will remain competitive in the following year – allowing Riot to delay the sale of championship skins until the World Championship to boost sales – effectively guaranteeing the strength of the champions during the World Championship.

It has to be said that EDG has reaped the benefits of its success.
Soon, BP entered the second round.

In the second round, EDG certainly won't be able to recklessly choose strange heroes anymore.

First, Lucian and Graves were both banned. Second, even if they were available, EDG wouldn't pick them; picking them would ruin their lineup.

With the jungler picking all carry roles and the support also choosing a soft support, the mid and top laners must push out the front line.

EDG focused on filling gaps and weaknesses, first picking Ornn in the top lane to strengthen their frontline, and then locking in Galio to counter EG's mid laner Viktor, ensuring lane dominance while further strengthening their frontline and crowd control.

The lineup is now finalized.

Blue side EG: Top lane Aatrox, Jungle Hecarim, Mid lane Viktor, Bot lane Varus and Nautilus.

Red side EDG: Top lane Ornn, jungle Blade of the Ruined King, mid lane Galio, bot lane Aphelios and Yuumi.

Domestically, in the commentary booth, Guan Zeyuan looked at both teams' lineups with a sense of reassurance.

"EDG made those last two very good plays!" Guan Daxiao nodded and analyzed, "Top laner Flandre was slightly behind in lane, but fortunately he had Ornn who could hold his own, so the mid lane was very comfortable!"

“Yes!” 957 agreed, “Actually, we were at a significant disadvantage in the first few picks, since the opponent picked Nautilus to counter Yuumi, while we picked Ornn to counter Aatrox in order to fill the front line, which meant we were at a disadvantage in two lanes.”

"But picking Galio is so comfortable, he can help on both lanes!"

Everyone recognizes Ming Jing's Galio.

Although not many were selected, each time one was chosen, its effectiveness was truly maximized.

Even though both the top and bottom lanes are at a disadvantage, everyone believes that Fei Shen will definitely be able to turn the tide of the entire situation!
But as the competition began, everyone quickly realized that things were not quite as expected.

The problem wasn't with Mingjing.

Instead, it seems that neither the top nor bottom lanes have any disadvantages at all.

Putting aside everything else, Flandre's ability to lane is truly exceptional. He's fearless in lane with Ornn, and even against champions like Aatrox who don't have high early-level pressure, he dares to actively engage and auto-attack Undying.

The bottom lane is all about skillful gameplay.

The two seemed to disregard Titan's hook, charging in at level one to whittle down its health using their range.

The opposing team, of course, wasn't going to let that slide either, and Titan immediately launched a hook attack!
Meiko was prepared; the cat immediately used its W ability to block a hook for the AD.

The cat is relatively fragile, but the level 1 Varus and Nautilus on the other side aren't that strong either. What's more, Varus is armor penetration and has the Comet rune, so he has no ability to go all in.

Before the opponent could apply Ignite, Meiko immediately used Heal to recover her health. Without even planning to retreat, she turned around and used Weakness on Varus, then immediately followed up with a basic attack!
Viper also took this opportunity to switch to the green blade to increase his range, and his basic attacks were also aimed at Varus!
The two had a clear plan from the start: to deliberately take the hook and then use Meiko's health to trade for the enemy Varus's health!

With two ranged attacks focused down, plus healing and weakness used by all of them, EDG's trade of blows is destined to be a win.

Five seconds later, Meiko used his W ability to fly back to Varus.

Although he was brought to low health, the cat's health bar was fake; once it was attached to the AD carry, no one could hit it.

"In comparison, Varus on the other side also lost most of his health, which is a big blow!"

Colonel Guan's tone was clearly tinged with joy, "The other side is finished!"

With AD down to low health, would Titan still dare to use his hook?

A Titan that dares not use its hook is just a punching bag.
Is this what laning in the bottom lane looks like?
"Looks like a 4v2 gank!" 957 looked at the minimap. "Flying God is pushing the lane in mid! JieJie is also farming down there. EDG is prepared!"

At this moment, the camera cuts to the middle lane.

It was clear that Mingjing's Galio's health was not very good, having lost more than 30% of his health, but he gained an advantage in the minion wave. At this moment, Galio had already reached level two first and continued to sacrifice health to push the minion wave towards the enemy tower.

Colonel Guan's eyes lit up as he looked at it, "That's right, it's getting better and better!"

Logically speaking, Galio shouldn't fight Viktor, who has long range, in this way.

The most comfortable strategy is to let the minion wave come over, then sell health and hold the tower.

Viktor, with his short legs, is unplayable when Galio blocks his lane. He'll either get caught by the jungler and flash, potentially losing his life, or he'll have to call for the jungler to clear the lane. This would give EDG a lead in jungle rotations.

But in this game, Mingjing didn't do that. Instead, he directly sacrificed his health to push the lane.

At the same time, it can be clearly seen that JieJie's Blade of the Ruined King did not choose the conventional fast level 4, but instead accelerated and moved towards the bottom lane.

Clearly, EDG had anticipated the advantage in the bottom lane and used that as a basis for their opening strategy.

"Are EDG playing with that much confidence?"

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

Galio's early-game wave clear is unmatched; as long as he's willing to sacrifice health, mages like Viktor have no chance to harass him.

Mingjing didn't take Viktor's basic attacks seriously. He used Galio's QA combo to quickly push the minion wave into the tower while the cannon minion was on the lane, and then retreated back to the tower to recall.

Meanwhile, in the bottom lane, the minion wave was about to push into the tower, and JieJie also completed a quick level 3 and appeared behind the EG tower!

The moment the minion wave reached the tower, the TP light flashed instantly, and a four-man gank on the two was just around the corner!

At this point, even if the EG duo wanted to run, it was too late. They could only crouch under the tower and try to trade kills.

However, EDG has extensive experience in tower diving and will not give such an opportunity.

Once Galio landed via Teleport, the four of them focused their attention on Varus, who, even after drinking a health potion, only had a little over half health left.

JieJie used Q to draw the turret's aggro, then walked directly outside the turret. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Galio used QA, and Aphelios and Yuumi each contributed auto-attacks, easily securing Varus's kill.

"First blood!"

"First blood secured! Viper got the kill, that feels great!"

EG's support Titan had no choice but to hook Blade of the Ruined King, attempting to trade kills, but JieJie wasn't about to give him a chance, flashing out of the tower and resetting its aggro. "What's going on with Titan? He triggered his own Aftershock, looks like he's going to die too!"

This tower dive is clearly not over yet.

After leaving the tower, the EDG team returned.

This time, Viper was allowed to tank the tower first, and Aphelios used a basic attack to draw the tower's aggro.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Galio used a fully charged W, followed by Fiosco's fully charged W and Galio's charge punch.

This is EDG's true burst of skill; even if the Titan's health is relatively good, there is absolutely no chance of him withstanding it.

Galio flapped his wings, unleashing a gust of wind that followed with a punch, securing the Titan's head.

"EDG Phi has killed EG Vulcan!"

"Flying God will also get a head, no problem! The Killing Ring is now at level three!"

Ming Jing was definitely the biggest beneficiary of this tower dive. After all, he didn't tank the tower during this tower dive because he had to go back to the mid lane to lane. He also got a kill, an assist, and three stacks of the Killing Ring, which can be described as a huge boost!
"Awesome! Awesome! Go for it, brothers!" Ming Jing was overjoyed.

He wasn't one to take credit; he clearly understood that the three layers of the killing ring were entirely fed to him by his three teammates, and had little to do with him.

But since he has consumed resources, he must naturally have some use; he is not someone who just eats and doesn't excrete.

When Mingjing returned to the mid lane, the laning phase was no longer too difficult.

Even before the kills and assists translate into gold, the 15 ability power from three stacks of the Killing Ring is enough to give Viktor a run for his money.

However, there was no suitable opportunity to start a rhythm at the moment, so Mingjing was not in a hurry. He simply pushed the lane normally and then cooperated with JieJie to invade and help JieJie take down a F6 camp.

In the blink of an eye, five minutes had passed, and the dragon spawned.

EDG now has an absolute advantage in the bottom half of the map, and they are certainly not going to hold back when it comes to controlling the dragons. With a push of the mid and bottom lane minions, they easily take down a dragon.

"A dragon at exactly five minutes' mark," 957 laughed. "EDG is under no pressure this game."

EDG's lane priority and dragon-speed strategy remains the best approach in the current version.

EG followed this answer and that's why they chose the combination of Armor Penetration Varus and Titan.

After all, the armor-piercing Varus was created specifically for controlling dragons. Against a combination like Aphelios and Yuumi, controlling dragons is a piece of cake, isn't it?

But who could have imagined that the first dragon would fall into the hands of EDG?
All I can say is that the North American teams are still too weak, especially since they are only the third seed, which is basically at the level of wildcards.

After securing the dragon, Mingjing and Jiejie pushed a wave in the mid lane before returning to base to replenish their supplies.

When he went out again, a pair of mercury shoes were already under Galio's feet.

Galio with Mercury Shoes is Viktor's father, and I don't think anyone would disagree with that.

Mingjing firmly controlled the lane, and then, as the time approached eight minutes, his roaming rhythm picked up again.

The goal this time is to get on the road.

Jejef Yego covered the rear and held off the enemy, helping Mingjing Galio land his ultimate.

Da Mu wanted to run, but under the control of Ornn and Fryegor, he couldn't even get out of Galio's ultimate range before being knocked away by his butt.

Mingjing charged forward with an E, then followed up with a fully charged W and a QA combo, securing another kill and bringing his Killing Ring to five stacks.

At that moment, the Vanguard spawned.

Taking advantage of their numerical advantage, EDG easily secured the Rift Herald.

At this point, the camera cuts to the bottom lane.

EG's jungler, Hecarim, followed the formula of trading half of the map and went to the bottom lane to catch EDG's bot lane duo.

However, it's unrealistic to expect a single Centaur to hold back Aphelios, who has two summons, when even Titan hasn't reached level six.

Viper didn't hold back either, using Cleanse to instantly remove Hecarim's ultimate fear, then Flash to switch positions, avoiding Hecarim's counter-kick, and successfully running back to the tower without even losing much health!

With a score of 3-0, EDG's offensive momentum has only just begun.

Saint Gun did not disappoint Viper's sacrifice. His understanding of the situation has always been unique among top laners. He controlled the minion wave and pushed the lane into the tower just over ten minutes before the second dragon spawned, and then headed straight to the bottom lane.

Because of the incident in the previous wave, Viper, without both summoner spells, has lost his laning advantage and can only let the wave go and farm under the tower.

This gave EDG the opportunity to make a move.

Ming Jing didn't participate this time because he knew that if he disappeared from the mid lane, the opposing bottom lane would immediately run away.

So he farmed minions in the mid lane, giving the illusion that the enemy bot lane could continue to exert pressure.

But in reality, Flandre and JieJie had already split up into two groups, one going to the lane and the other going to the river, heading towards the bottom lane to gank.

When the opposing bot lane duo saw the special effects of Foygo's [Scorched Earth], it was all over.

"Woo~"

With a shout of "Sheep, come!", Holy Gun Bro activated his ultimate skill, slowing down the opposing duo at maximum range.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Viper's Aphelios, absorbing the cat's speed boost, chased after them with the Purple Blade, Falling Light!
First, use two basic attacks to apply the Fallen Light passive to both of them. Then, listening to the sound, just as Ornn unleashes his second ultimate, use a Q to immobilize both of them!
Ornn followed up with his ultimate, knocking both of them up and effectively sealing their fate!
"JieJie has arrived too! Fryegor uses W to stun, Varus is instantly killed! Nautilus can't escape either!"

"Giving the second kill to Viper is perfectly fine!"

"With the duo kill and the Rift Herald still in hand, it looks like EDG could take down the first tower and the dragon in one fell swoop!"

The camera then cuts to the top lane, where Ming Jing finally sets off, but instead of going to the bottom lane, he goes to the top lane to farm.

After clearing the mid lane, he moved on to the top lane, gaining minion wave advantage. Everyone has a bright future ahead.

"The Red Legion destroyed the first tower!"

"The Red Legion has slain the Cloud Dragon!"

The sounds of EDG conquering territory echoed throughout the match venue.

In just over ten minutes, EDG already had a 3,000 gold lead and two dragons in hand, and were only one step away from victory.

The North American audience members watching the scene were momentarily stunned.

Although no one expected EG to beat EDG, even their own North American viewers were no exception.

But at least they fought back!

(End of this chapter)