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

Chapter 341 Surely we can't possibly lose to Vietnam?

"Ah? Really fake?"

Saint Gun was stunned when he saw the announcement, "All positive? Not a single one escaped!"

"This," Ming Jing said helplessly, "I can only say that RNG won all their matches in the first round, so they should still be able to advance."

“That’s true.” Meiko nodded. “As long as we qualify, that’s fine.”

If we absolutely had to choose a time of day, then for a team like EDGRNG that won all their first-round matches, that time of day would definitely be the best.

After all, a 3-0 record is enough to avoid being eliminated in the round of 16, and there is enough time to recover so that they can be in good form for the quarterfinals.

However, if they advance as the second-place team in their group, the quarterfinals draw will be less than ideal. They might end up being drawn against EDG, which is obviously not what the EDG team wants.

Of course, this is all predicated on qualifying for the next round.

If RNG loses all three matches today, there is a possibility of them being eliminated in a tiebreaker.

What you fear most is what happens; as the competition progresses, everything is heading in the worst possible direction.

Due to the impact of the virus, RNG's performance today was completely different from that in the first round.

Europe's fourth seed, FNC, became the key dark horse today. They first defeated an ill RNG, and then beat 100T, winning two consecutive points and bringing their win total to three, the same as RNG.

As expected, RNG lost to GEN in the subsequent match, which immediately made the situation critical.

"FNC and RNG are both 3-2 now?" Flandre looked at the standings: "Doesn't that cause a problem?"

Ming Jing glanced at the schedule and nodded, "It's getting a bit dangerous."

Both teams now have only one match left: FNC will play against GEN, while RNG will play against 100T.

For RNG to advance, they must ensure that FNC loses to GEN while they themselves win at least one match.

It's quite difficult, and we also have to consider GEN's feelings.

If GEN chooses to throw the game here and give FNC a point, then RNG will be eliminated in a very pleasant way.

Of course, GEN has no need to do such a thing.

Soon, the match between GEN and FNC began. In this game, GEN performed quite steadily, taking 32 minutes to complete a sweep with an exaggerated economic advantage of 18,000.

At this moment, the live chat was filled with "thank you," making for a very entertaining show.

RNG, as the vanguard against Korean teams this year, brought the conflict between China and Korea to a new level at MSI. Unexpectedly, they still needed the performance of Korean teams to advance in the end.

But RNG's supporters are naturally unwilling to accept this.

Why should a team that won all its matches in the first round have to depend on others?

With this, GEN finished the match with a score of 5-1, securing first place in the group.

The real highlight then came the match between RNG and 100T.

Both RNG and FNC have three wins so far. If RNG wins, they will advance with four wins. If they lose, the two teams will have a tiebreaker match.

Anyway, the margin for error is very high. RNG has a resurrection item. They can advance as long as they win one game.

However, the continuous battles obviously put even more pressure on RNG, who were playing while ill.

Through the players' individual camera shots, it's clear that the RNG players, playing in the isolation room, all looked weak.

In this crucial match that determined which teams would advance, RNG still couldn't win.

This time, they lost decisively. They started making careless mistakes during the laning phase and fed kills. Apart from Xiaohu, who managed to hold on, the mid and top lanes were both wiped out!

In the end, Xiaohu couldn't hold on any longer. His Ice Maiden was instantly killed when she entered the fray in the subsequent team fight, leading the entire RNG team to give away a huge loss.

Although the game had only been going on for a little over ten minutes, it was easy to see that what followed was bound to be a slow and agonizing defeat.

"Ouch, this feels so uncomfortable!"

In the commentary booth, Guan Daxiao's tone clearly revealed his anxiety: "The players are in terrible form today!"

Who would have thought that RNG, who won all their matches in the first round, would struggle to win a single game in the second round?
"Can't even beat 100T?" Miller was also stunned. "This Yang Lai is too damaging."

100T is a well-known RBQ in this group, currently with a record of 0-5.

RNG can't even beat them, so what if there are tiebreakers later?

After a year of anticipation for the S-series, our own team has encountered these kinds of problems one after another. Who can stand this?

Will JDG and RNG both be eliminated in the round of 16 because of this kind of nonsense?

In this match, RNG ultimately lost.

After going from 3-0 to 3-3, they will now compete in a final tiebreaker for the last qualifying spot.

At this moment, everyone, whether in the live stream, on the anti-racism forum, or even those who usually criticize RNG, started to pray.

It would be too disappointing if RNG, the MSI champions, were eliminated like this.

Unexpectedly, a miracle still occurred in the end.

It's not that RNG has recovered.
Instead, the Western storyline began.
In the final tiebreaker, FNC played extremely recklessly, even more so than the infected RNG. In just three minutes, they gave GALA two kills by diving the bottom lane tower.

At six minutes into the game, the top laner, Breathing Bro, capitalized on a mistake by FNC's top laner and secured a solo kill.

In subsequent team fights, the same scenario continued to unfold in Europe and America: some players got caught while warding, some were caught while flanking before a team fight, and the most terrifying was when the AD carry flashed forward and was instantly melted!
The two sides fought fiercely from beginning to end.

Although RNG made some minor mistakes, got caught out, or suffered losses in small team fights, the final result was that RNG maintained an 8,000 gold lead and was just one step away from victory!
【Okay, okay! 】

[Our Western allies are really something, sending supplies at such a crucial time?]

This is FNC, LPL's forever good friend.

[Fun fact: The only team from another region that Uzi has ever beaten in his professional career is FNC]

[It's true! He was the one who got reverse swept 3-2 back then!]

[If things are like this, what else is there to say? Just bring your whole team to the LPL next year!]

With such a huge advantage, even if RNG collectively lost their minds, they still understood the basics of winning the game.

RNG abandoned their meticulous macro play and directly forced a team fight at Baron Nashor, resulting in a 3-for-5 exchange and a victory in the team fight. Afterwards, their two carries pushed all the way from the mid lane and easily won the game!

The qualifying spots for Group D have now been determined.

Group 1: GEN
Second in the group: RNG
"The process was somewhat thrilling and tortuous, but fortunately we won in the end!"

Colonel Guan shouted, "Let's congratulate RNG on winning this crucial tiebreaker and advancing to the quarterfinals as the second-place team in their group!"

I never imagined that an LPL team would receive such congratulations after a hard-fought tiebreaker to advance.

After all, LPL viewers have always been quite strict with teams from their own region. Reaching the top 16 has always been considered a disgrace, and finishing second in the group stage is considered a poor performance.

However, in the current environment, there is no problem.

Ming Jing looked at the result before him and breathed a sigh of relief.

Having overcome this challenge, RNG will undoubtedly become even stronger in the upcoming matches.

Now, Mingjing only hopes that JDG, who is also infected, can also get through this smoothly.

On October 15th, the group stage matches continued. Today it was JDG's turn to play in Group C.

As usual, Mingjing sent a message before the match to inquire about JDG's situation.

Fortunately, after such a long period of adjustment, the body temperatures of all JDG members have returned to normal.

However, in accordance with epidemic prevention and control requirements, they still have to complete the competition in the quarantine hotel today.

This is a rare piece of good news, but the qualification spots for JDG players are still unclear.

After all, having lost 0-3 in the first round, they would need to win all their matches in the second round to advance.

"Can you do it?" Mingjing sent a message to the toothpaste seller to ask.

"Of course not."

There was a sense of detachment about life and death in Gao Gao's message.
Ming Jing looked at the message and couldn't help but chuckle.

As it turns out, it is indeed quite difficult to do.

JDG's crucial match came in the fourth game, against T1.

Only by winning this point will JDG have a chance to compete for second place in a tiebreaker.

Unfortunately, T1 didn't appreciate this gesture.

As the LCK's second seed and Spring Split champion, who defeated DK, T1's niche was already two levels higher than JDG's fourth seed.

Furthermore, T1 had a slight advantage over JDG to some extent, so the outcome was predictable.

The laning phase had barely begun when JDG's top laner Wayward was getting relentlessly attacked by Zeus, with every shot to the top lane showing him being beaten.

The bot lane wasn't much better. Hope picked Sivir, but was completely dominated by T1's Caitlyn and Lux ​​combo, trembling under the tower.

In less than ten minutes of the game, both the top and bottom lanes were suppressed by twenty CS.

Exactly the same as in the first round.
After the first round of matches, viewers initially thought it was due to the virus.

But T1 proved with another game that it's the same even without the virus.

JDG's biggest weakness is their poor laning phase; even compared to wildcard teams from Europe and America, their laning ability is relatively weak.

JDG's strength lies in their close coordination and excellent team fight teamwork.

However, T1 is in no way inferior to JDG in terms of coordination and teamwork, and also has top-notch laning ability, so JDG certainly has no chance of winning.

The miracle ultimately failed to happen, and JDG lost this crucial point, ending the knockout stage with a score of 2-4, unfortunately missing out on the quarterfinals.

The spots for Group C have also been determined.

Group 1 First Place: T1
Group 2: C9
"I believe that barring any unforeseen circumstances, they will definitely advance to the quarterfinals."

In the commentary booth, Remember's tone carried a hint of regret, "It's just a pity, JD Gaming's players did their best."

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

As the fourth seed, JDG was expected to reach the quarterfinals, and the audience had no expectations for them to win the championship. Now, they have suffered a misfortune and missed the next round. The audience can only feel sorry for them.

The fourth seed, he's also a weakling in the round of 16.

Next up, we'll see TES and EDG!

The night passed, and it was August 16nd.

The Group A matches, in which TES is located, have begun.

Top Esports' chances of advancing are slightly better than JDG's, but not by much.
The competition in Group A is still quite fierce. RGE defeated DRX, TES defeated RGE, completing a rock-paper-scissors cycle. Currently, all three teams are tied for first place with a record of 2-1.

Following the third team is Vietnam's GAM, who are struggling to secure a win with a 0-3 record.

In this second round of competition, if Top Esports wants to advance, they need to secure a victory against Vietnam while also defeating one of the European or South Korean teams.

"It should be fine, right?" Mingjing crossed his arms and watched the TES and GAM players take the stage. "We can't possibly lose to Vietnam, can we?"

Meiko glanced at the TES players and said, "That's hard to say."

Losing to Vietnam might sound abstract, but considering it's Top Esports, it doesn't seem impossible.
Vietnam sticks to their signature strategy, having Levi lock in Karthus as the jungler, and picking Ornn and Sett for top and mid lanes to provide strong protection.

This jungle carry playstyle was undoubtedly the best in Season 10 when Mingjing debuted, but it's not suitable for the current version.
It can only be said that weaker teams don't have the option of adapting to the current version; they can only play the path they are good at and take it one step at a time.

However, they really showed their style against Top Esports.

This match was incredibly intense, with both sides trading blows and the kill count steadily rising. The dragons were also taken in turn, highlighting a tit-for-tat dynamic.

However, as a jungle carry composition, GAM naturally has an advantage as the game progresses, given that they have multiple carries in the jungle position and Ornn as well.

The match went on forty minutes, and then Levi's Karthus played a requiem, causing the health bars to disappear in a devastating way. All five TES players lost half of their health bars at the same time, creating a visually stunning spectacle!
With Karthus's exaggerated damage, GAM managed to get a 2-for-1 trade, but unfortunately there were no minions, so they had to start the Elder Dragon fight!
In this wave of events, a turning point occurred.

JackeyLove displayed incredible skill, first miraculously stealing the Elder Dragon, and then using the Elder Dragon's buff to wipe out the entire GAM team.

"A miracle has happened!" Wang Duoduo exclaimed excitedly from the commentary booth, "GAM has four players down, TES can finish this wave!"

Amidst the applause of the North American audience who seemed to be watching the spectacle, the remaining four members of TES launched a push.

Then, another turning point occurred.

In a desperate situation, GAM's top laner Ornn chose to summon Marin, using the wave clear effect of his ultimate and Ornn's incredible tankiness to withstand the TES team for more than ten seconds, stalling for the time until his four teammates respawned.

After Levi's Karthus revived, he played another "Requiem," and with the help of Sett's skills, he managed to kill JackeyLove and Knight, the two carries, at the same time!

GAM is now left with only a bare base, but TES's remaining Nami and Renekton obviously don't have the ability to destroy the base.

"Huh?" Ming Jing narrowed his eyes immediately upon seeing this. "Something's not right!"

"Huh?" Several teammates who were watching the game together immediately turned around. "What's wrong?"

"There's a bug; the Demonblade isn't triggering," Ming Jing said. "Otherwise, Lucian wouldn't have died."

Ming Jing clearly remembered that Lucian had half health left before Karthus' ultimate skill landed.

Even if Karthus has high damage output, he shouldn't have been able to kill Lucian directly while he was under the effects of Maw of Malmortius.

"Really?" Flandre's first reaction upon hearing this was disbelief. "How could there be a bug in this?"

“Really, I couldn’t possibly be wrong.” Ming Jing’s words were utterly certain.

Mingjing couldn't possibly make any major mistakes in such simple four-digit multiplication and division; Lucian lost a full four or five hundred health in this exchange.

"But why wasn't it paused?" Meiko narrowed her eyes slightly. "Didn't you notice?"

If such a serious bug can be discovered on the spot, it can be traced back, and Meiko is very experienced in this regard.

"I guess they haven't discovered it, or they suspect it but can't be sure," Saint Gun sighed helplessly. "How could they possibly be as accurate as Ming Jing in predicting things?"

In any case, if the rollback isn't paused, it's inevitable that Top Esports will be reversed.

GAM pushed along the mid lane minion wave, completing a mid-lane roll and securing their first win in this World Championship.

After losing this game, Top Esports' record is now tied at 2-2.

Now, not only is finishing first in the group a possibility, but even their chances of advancing to the next round are in jeopardy.
(End of this chapter)