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

Chapter 339 The Rise of LCK

In the LCK commentary box.

The three, led by Roaring Emperor, screamed in alarm as their bottom lane duo walked into the range of the Stone Golem's ultimate ability without any warning.

"Flandre! What are you doing!"

"Can you spot it? Let's shoot a searchlight arrow and see!"

"Why is the searchlight arrow aimed at the river?! The grass along the path is clearly more dangerous!"

"Stop moving forward! Pizza! Please notice me!"

Amidst the cries of the three Korean commentators, Flandre's Malphite charged headfirst into the enemy, sending the DK duo flying without any reaction!
Yasuo followed up with his ultimate, and the two of them unleashed a burst of damage, instantly wiping out Ashe's health bar!

"Ah!!! I was instantly killed!"

The commentator CT immediately started yelling, "Pizza! A complete pizza! Can you run one? Hurry up and run!"

In the video, Braum turns around and throws out his ultimate, but since the two were pushing the lane forward, there's no foothold for Braum to use for movement.

Yasuo's AQA combo triggered the Blade of the Ruined King's slow effect. Two seconds later, Malphite threw another Q, and Braum struggled to move. In the end, Yasuo caught up with him, knocked him away, and then unleashed a series of slashes before sending him back to the fountain.

"Double kill!"

The sound of a double kill rang in the ears of the three Korean commentators, and CT's wailing grew even louder.

Although the Roaring Emperor didn't say anything, he couldn't help but feel bitter when he saw Yasuo, who had a score of 6-1-4 after getting a double kill.

If this person gets six kills, does DK still have a chance to win the game?
While some were happy and others were sad, the LCK was filled with lamentations, while the LPL was naturally celebrating with singing and dancing.

"Double kill! Beautiful!"

Mao Mao's tone was full of surprise, "You did a great job, Holy Gun Bro! You ambushed the enemy's bot lane duo in the bushes!"

"Is this a way of redeeming himself?" Wang Duoduo laughed. "He lost his rhythm, so he has to find it himself!"

[Holy crap, a gun!]

Is this really a move a Malphite player could pull off?

[When I saw Flandre playing with snakes, I thought Malphite himself was using a different account.]

[Global Golem players' brains went blank for ten seconds!]

[And that one incident where the perpetrator cleared his name with a single collision]

A good gun is one that doesn't require complicated maneuvers.

In the EDG voice chat, Flandre, who had made a great contribution, finally smiled and began to boast: "How about it, should I mourn or not!"

"Awesome! Great job!" Ming Jing, who had just secured two more kills, gave a thumbs-up. "That was truly awesome!"

To be fair, Flandre's ability to read the situation is quite excellent.

Many of the ingenious ideas he came up with were things that even Ming Jing couldn't have come up with.

Just like this time.

But almost every clever idea he comes up with brings huge benefits to the team!

After killing the enemy duo, DK had a clear path before going up the tower!
The two quickly pushed the minion wave forward, and in just a few moves, they destroyed the top lane tower, which had little health left.

At the same time, Jie Jie also came over with the Vanguard.

JieJie was also full of praise for Flandre's performance. The Lee Sin released the Herald he had just captured, and the three of them pushed forward with the Herald, and once again destroyed DK's top lane second tower!
Thanks to Flandre's deliberate avoidance, the huge bounty for the second tower only went into the pockets of the mid and jungle players.

Mingjing secured two kills and two towers in this wave, a huge amount of gold. On the eve of the dragon's spawn, this gold was like a death knell for DK!
When Yasuo went out again, his equipment underwent another qualitative change.

The Critical Strike Cloak in his hand evolved directly into the Infinity Blade!
Mingjing originally planned to stick to building shields and bows, but he was just too rich, so he decided to go for Endless Mode.

Since Endless was upgraded to a Mythic item, the requirement of 60% critical strike chance to increase critical strike damage has been removed. It now provides an additional 35% critical strike damage unconditionally.

Since Yasuo's passive ability can multiply his critical strike chance by 2.5, rushing an Infinity Edge would be extremely beneficial.

As usual, EDG secured their positions early at the entrance to the Dragon Pit.

This time, Flandre didn't have a relapse. Under Mingjing's command, he stood obediently in front, playing the role of the front row.

"Don't rush, don't rush!" Ming Jing shouted into the voice chat, "Just hold the position, push the bottom lane forward, and slowly kite! Wait for the ultimate!"

Although Flandre has built a lot of cooldown reduction items, Malphite's ultimate is still a long cooldown skill, with one minute remaining on its cooldown.

So EDG is stubbornly clinging to their position without actually doing anything, just dragging things out!
Even though DK saw that EDG didn't make a move, they grouped up and pushed down EDG's mid-lane tower. In response, EDG pushed down the bottom lane tower as well.

A minute passes in the blink of an eye.

Once Flandre's ultimate ability was ready, the team fight finally began.

Saint Gun Bro now understands his role in team fights. He doesn't need to unleash any amazing ultimate abilities. Since Ming Jing's equipment is so good, all he needs to do is initiate the team fight.

So without much hesitation, he seized the moment when Xiaolong was low on health and charged headfirst into the crocodile and the tree in his face!

The key control from Malphite's ultimate ability prevents Maokai from unleashing his high burst damage with Q Smite.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, JieJie's Lee Sin used Q to smite and securely took the Electric Dragon!
Ming Jing looked at the two dotted lines in front of him. He remained calm and did not use his ultimate skill. Instead, he followed up and released a wind wall to block the enemy's two main damage dealers, cooperating with his teammates to deal with the front line first.

Yasuo's damage with the Ruined King and Infinity Edge is so high it's unbelievable. Just a few hits from Yasuo and Renekton's health drops like water!

DK was also in a hurry. Showmaker's Twisted Fate had a yellow card on his head, so he simply jumped over the Wind Wall and threw a yellow card at Yasuo's head.

However, his act of jumping over the wind wall was clearly a bit rash and not very reasonable.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Jie Jie went straight up and unleashed a powerful shot!
Ming Jing had been waiting for this moment. Yasuo instantly followed up with his ultimate, using the animation of his ultimate to override the control effect of the yellow card.

Viper's Lucian followed up with E followed by Gale Force, firing his dual pistols to kill Showmaker first!

The team fight was instantly chaotic, but one thing is certain: EDG's victory is already secured!

"Yasuo and Lucian's damage is just too high! DK's Ashe alone can't compare!"

"ACE!"

A resounding 5-0 victory was achieved, and the time had reached 19 minutes and 40 seconds. With a clear strategy, the EDG team headed straight for the top river.

As I approached the entrance to the Dragon Pit, Baron Nash emerged from the pit to clock in for work.

The next second, [Steel-Cutting Flash] pierced its face.

This may be the shortest Baron Nashor survival time in this World Championship. In just 20 minutes and 15 seconds, the Baron Nashor's health bar was emptied, turning into a purple buff under the feet of the five EDG players.

At this point, the outcome of the match is no longer in doubt.

EDG returned to base to regroup, converting their economic advantage into equipment. They then used the Baron buff to push forward separately, easily destroying the opponent's two inhibitor towers.

At this moment, the economic gap between the two sides has officially exceeded 10,000.

EDG replenished their supplies and then grouped up to push the top lane.

After the two lanes of super minions naturally pushed to the high ground, EDG took the opportunity to launch the final team fight, crushing DK's base with a single blow! At that moment, the lights in the entire arena turned on, and all the spotlights focused on the EDG players.

"Then let's congratulate EDG!"

In the commentary booth, Wang Duoduo shouted loudly: "Defeating the strong opponent DK in the group, EDG has ended the first round of the group stage with an undefeated record of 3-0! After winning the game, EDG's chances of advancing are quite clear!"

"Although EDG made some mistakes in decision-making and player judgment in this game, they quickly adjusted and won the game with a stronger performance! It was a victory that was close but not too close!"

The camera then panned to the EDG players' bench, where all five players had stood up and were lightly fist bumping in celebration.

"Well done, brothers," Flandre said with a grin. "It's good to have you guys."

Saint Gunner was well aware that his performance in that dragon fight was disastrous. Not only did it cause the team to lose the dragon, but his ultimate also resulted in a mess, only managing to knock up one card without Flash.

Fortunately, his teammates were incredibly strong at covering for him. The mid and jungle duo coordinated their ultimate abilities to eliminate both carries, and the bot lane duo managed to kite and kill the top and jungle, managing to forcefully win the team fight.

Subsequent team fights proved that as long as Flandre stood in the front, the team fights were an undisputed crushing victory.

"Fortunately."

Mingjing patted Flandre on the back, "You also deserve credit."

Saint Gun's ambush in the top lane was undoubtedly the key turning point in the game, turning the advantage into a victory, and it can be considered his self-redemption.

They are the ones who break the deadlock in a stalemate, but don't ask why it's a stalemate.

The EDG team moved with practiced ease, walking across the stage to the DK players' bench amidst cheers from the North American audience.

This time, Ming Jing stood at the front of the group and lightly bumped fists with his old rival.

Having been rivals for so long, both sides had developed a bit of a bond, and Mingjing's gaze towards Showmaker held a touch more appreciation.

"Well played," Ming Jing said in English. "Keep it up."

It has to be said that DK's performance today was indeed beyond Mingjing's expectations.

At this moment, Wang Duoduo, a commentator in the LPL commentary booth, was also praising DK's performance today.

"Perhaps we should give DK a round of applause first," Wang Duoduo said. "Their performance today proves to us that this runner-up team from last year still retains extremely strong competitiveness!"

There's probably not a single team in the entire LPL that can go toe-to-toe with EDG in terms of offense and offense!
Who would have thought that DK, the third seed from LCK, could actually do that?

Does this mean that DK's relegation to third seed is not due to a significant decline, but rather because GEN and T1 are too strong?

Combined with T1's previous victories over a sick JDG and DRX's defeat of TES, it's clear that the LCK region has completely weathered the growing pains and achieved a resurgence this year.

The root cause of this resurgence is not hard to guess; it was the durability patch during the mid-season.

This sweeping change that increases the tankiness of all characters not only delivers a fatal blow to fighting teams, but more importantly, it gives Korean-style macro teams a significant boost!

This is precisely why the landscape of LCK has undergone such a dramatic change. DK, whose strength has not declined too much, went from dominating the league last year to struggling to win a championship this year, barely making it into the next round as the third seed.

It is clear that LPL's path to consecutive championships this year will not be easy.

After packing up their peripherals and leaving the venue, hosts from the three major competition regions of China, South Korea, and the United States appeared and invited EDG players to conduct interviews.

This time, Ming Jing was once again approached by his own Chinese streaming platform.

Ming Jing set up his peripherals first, and then he and Xia An went to a small interview room to begin the interview.

In the interview room, besides a small camera, there was also a small screen broadcasting the live stream.

The live stream was currently showing the MVP selection for this match.

The MVP of this match undoubtedly goes to Ming Jing.

Ironically, the only one who could rival Mingjing for MVP in this match was actually Flandre.

After all, Flandre's stats in this match were quite outstanding, with no deaths and a brilliant performance that turned the tide of the battle.

However, all things considered, it still can't compare to Mingjing.

The highlight of the game was the flash-EQ combo that took down three opponents in the dragon fight.

As the MVP segment was about to end, Xia An exchanged a glance with Ming Jing, and then began the interview segment.

The Chinese-language interview was the one that truly connected with the domestic audience, so the two first greeted the camera warmly before the interview actually began.

"First of all, congratulations to EDG for finishing the first round of the group stage with a score of 3-0."

Xia An looked at the camera and asked, "Phi, how are you feeling right now?"

"To be honest, in my opinion, this was a hard-won victory."

Ming Jing spoke calmly, but what he said was unexpected: "DK's performance far exceeded the level expected of a third seed, which was something none of us expected before the tournament."

Difficult—that's how Mingjing describes this victory.

Ming Jing could clearly sense that they were only one step away from failure.

If DK's initial tower dive had succeeded, and if it weren't for Mingjing's EQ combo during the dragon fight, the game would have gone in a completely different direction.

When people saw DK, who dominated the region last year, fall to the third seed, most would have thought that the departure of Ghost and Beryl led to a significant drop in the team's strength.

But after playing today, I realized that DK doesn't seem to have declined much.

As the third seed, DK's strength is absolutely outstanding.

No matter what, EDG has not lost a single game this year and has not felt much pressure.

Of course, these words have a different meaning in the ears of the audience.

After all, from the audience's perspective, apart from the slightly dangerous tower dive at the start, EDG basically dominated the game and won without a doubt.

And you can still describe it as difficult? That doesn't make sense.

Ming Jing's next sentence did indeed conform to the audience's stereotypes.

Xia An continued, "After today's match, EDG will start the second round of matches a week later with an undefeated record of 3-0. What are Phi's goals for the upcoming second round?"

“Then of course it’s a complete victory,” Ming Jing said with a smile. “If you want to become the champion, you have to defeat all your opponents.”

As soon as he said that, the comments section burst into laughter again.

Didn't you just say it was going to be tough? How come you're winning all the way now?

The interview ended there. Ming Jing waved to the audience in China, halfway around the world, across the internet, wishing them a wonderful day, before handing the microphone back to them.

Sitting on the bus on the return trip, Ming Jing patted his empty stomach, feeling somewhat regretful.

After such a crucial victory, it should have been a time for a celebration banquet, but due to quarantine requirements, we could only eat hamburgers and fries in the hotel, which was inevitably a bit frustrating.

The celebration banquet will have to wait until after the World Championship.

Ming Jing sighed inwardly and opened the forum.

(End of this chapter)