LPL History

Chapter 161 Stars Hang Low Over the Yellow River, Three Flowers Reach the Heavens, Lingering Regret on the Han River, Zero Seal and Shaved Head

SKT lounge.

Lee Sang-hyeok sat blankly on the sofa, his eyes filled with confusion.

There was a silent, oppressive atmosphere throughout SKT.

Although the finals are a best-of-five series, they only lost the first game, so they still have many opportunities left.

However, in the first game, they were completely swept by EDG, which was undoubtedly a huge blow to the morale of the team.

What does it mean to get completely shaved in a League of Legends match?
Even when professional teams play against internet cafe teams, this situation is not guaranteed.

Moreover, whether in pre-match predictions or in the players' own minds, SKT recognized that EDG was very strong, but they only thought it was a 50/50 situation.

However, the reality was that EDG beat SKT like an adult beating a child, completely dominating them and leaving them no chance to fight back.

As the strongest team in the current Korean region, this immense sense of humiliation felt like a slow, agonizing torture, constantly tearing at the mentality of the SKT players.

Koma looked at the dazed crowd and spoke in a serious tone:

"Alright, look at yourselves! This is only the first game. If you're going to be beaten like this after just one game, then there's no point in continuing. I'll just tell the organizers that we're forfeiting!"

"Why are you looking at me with such anger? Did I say something wrong? Do you want to continue embarrassing yourselves? If you still want to compete, if you still want the championship, then wake up and get out of this state right now!"

Seeing that everyone had reacted, Koma changed his tone and said:

"Being shut out by the opponent is indeed humiliating. But what we need to understand now is why this happened! Is it because we are much weaker than them? I watched the match backstage, and I can tell you definitively, no! Any one of you individually is absolutely no weaker than them!"

Seeing the puzzled looks on everyone's faces, Koma continued:

"EDG is a very cunning team! Especially Lion! The first time he appeared in the World Championship, he faced us and picked Draven, completely dominating our bot lane! But we reviewed the match afterwards! Actually, we had many opportunities to deal with his Draven! If he dares to pick Draven against us again, we have already developed seven or eight strategies that can perfectly eliminate him!"

"It's the same today! He suddenly switched to the mid lane, and we had absolutely no idea about his champion pool, playstyle, or anything else in the mid lane! This led to Benji's attempts to target the mid lane repeatedly having the opposite effect. Ultimately, this triggered a chain reaction! The result of today's match is indeed shameful, but you must remember, EDG can only use this kind of unconventional tactic once! And what we're facing is a best-of-five series!"

Although Koma himself felt somewhat guilty for saying those words.

Having watched various slow-motion replays of Zhou Li's gameplay from a god-like perspective, Kkoma's understanding of Zhou Li's terror is undoubtedly much deeper than that of the SKT players.

Putting aside the kid's terrifying skills, from a coach's perspective, Zhou Li's real-time command during the game was flawless.

This is what really gives Kouma a headache.

League of Legends is a five-player game. When your opponent is extremely strong and you find that you cannot defeat them, you can try to defeat their teammates as a roundabout way to achieve your goal.

However, with Zhou Li on the team, his teammates rarely made mistakes under his ridiculously high-intensity screen-switching commands.

How can we defeat a team like this?

But clearly, his words still had some effect on the contestants.

At least the lounge has regained some life.

Meanwhile, on Korean online forums, Korean netizens were furious because SKT had been completely outplayed by EDG.

After all, losing the game is secondary; being shut out is truly humiliating!

Having made it to the finals, SKT is now facing warm well-wishes from Korean netizens.

For a long time, some talented people in the LPL attributed the LPL's poor performance to the fans being too harsh on the players and the cyberbullying being too terrible.

However, in reality, although Koreans, due to their limited vocabulary, can only hurl a few "shiba" insults, when it comes to cyberbullying, they are much more vehement than Chinese netizens.

As the saying goes, the more you lack something, the more you emphasize it.

Koreans are exceptionally sensitive to so-called dignity and self-confidence.

If SKT were to be swept aside at the World Championship, it would be like the face of South Korea being trampled on.

Soon, a news item on a South Korean website became a trending topic in China.

Because South Korean netizens were so angry about SKT being stripped of their citizenship, they launched an online petition demanding that the Blue House (the presidential residence) strip SKT players and coaches of their citizenship.

Even more extreme, some went directly to the US military base in South Korea and called on American soldiers to shoot down the SKT plane that was returning to base.

Meanwhile, in the EDG rest area.

Lu Benwei was watching the heated discussions on Korean online forums, laughing like a baboon.

"Hehehehehehe! Guys, these Koreans are really something else! I'm dying of laughter at their comments! We're awesome!"

Tabe glanced at Lu Benwei.

"This doesn't seem to concern you, does it?"

Lu Benwei's face darkened instantly.

"Wow, bro, there's no point in saying that. Even though I didn't play, ask Brother Zhou if I, Lu Benwei, contributed my share."

Tabe asked in confusion:
What contribution did you make?

"Brother!" Lu Benwei stood up and shouted, "The power of the spirit!"

He then added:

"To be honest, I just watched Faker backstage, and he's really just so-so. In training, he was about even with me. If Zhou Ge plays, it's a one-dimensional attack, but if I, Lu Benwei, play, it's not that bad."

Zhou Li glanced at Lu Benwei and said with a smile:

"Ah Wei, do you really want to play?"

Lu Benwei was stunned for a moment: "Wow, bro, I was just kidding."

His comment about a 50/50 split during an interview has become quite popular online.

The main reason was his confident pre-match remarks, but when the match came, Zhou Li benched him without giving him a chance to play, which drew ridicule from netizens.

The nickname "55 Open" became popular in a different way.

However, in fact, when Lu Benwei was interviewed at the time, although he said "I am evenly matched with Faker", he actually added at the end "although it felt like he wasn't playing seriously".

As a result, the clips circulating online all cut out the second half of his sentence.

Zhou Li patted Lu Benwei on the shoulder and said:

"Get ready, you're going to play in the third match."

Lu Benwei was stunned for a moment, then his eyes widened:
"Brother Zhou, are you really letting me play?"

He seemed somewhat resistant.

"Brother Zhou, I haven't offended you recently, Brother Zhou!"

Lu Benwei isn't stupid either.

With Zhou Li as a shining example, he completely dominated Faker.

If he plays and gets completely destroyed by Faker, wouldn't he lose all face?
Why not just not play and directly win the championship?

Zhou Li grabbed Lu Benwei's shoulder and said seriously, "Benwei, do you know why I'm playing as the mid laner?"

"My goal is to do everything in my power to crush Faker, to make him question his existence, to make his gameplay completely distorted. When you go back on stage, don't aim for a 50/50 split, you have to go for a 70/30 split! Let those who look down on you see what Lu Benwei's strength is all about!"

Upon hearing Zhou Li's words, Lu Benwei remained stunned for a long time, his voice trembling:
"Brother Zhou...you..."

Zhou Li turned around, his back to the crowd, his tone sorrowful.

“You know what? I had a dream last night. I dreamt that I met the Jade Emperor, who said I was an angel who came down to earth to save Chinese esports. Now we are about to win the world championship, and perhaps my mission will be over. But I know that a world championship doesn’t mean anything. I hope that even if I leave one day, you will still be able to shoulder the responsibility of LPL and lead Chinese esports to a better future.”

Tabe paused for a moment, then hesitated before speaking:

"But Brother Zhou, angels aren't under the Jade Emperor's jurisdiction, are they?" "Tabe talked back to the boss, fined 500."

"Waaaaah, Brother Zhou is an angel! Brother Zhou is great!"

"Brother Zhou, don't go! We can't live without you!"
-
"Viewers watching the live stream, you are now watching the 2013 League of Legends World Championship! I'm your commentator, Miller! The two teams competing are SKT Esports Club from South Korea and EDG Esports Club from our LPL!"

"I'm the commentator, Waa!"

"I'm commentator Xiao Cang!"

In the commentary booth, the three commentators were all smiles, clearly in a good mood.

"In the first game that just ended, EDG delivered a resounding victory, sweeping the Korean powerhouse SKT with a score of 18-0! I think that achieving such a lopsided score in the first game of the finals is an extremely exciting thing for EDG, and for all of us LPL viewers!"

“Yes,” Xiao Cang nodded excitedly, “To be honest, towards the end of the match, I almost forgot to commentate! Lion’s Zed was just too cool, I was completely mesmerized!”

Hearing Xiao Cang's words, the doll smiled and teased:
"I understand how you feel, especially when you see Lion alone surrounded, it really makes you feel like you can't even breathe! In the last game, SKT targeted Lion's Zed from the very first minute until the end! But even under these circumstances, Lion's Zed still delivered a godlike performance, leading EDG to a crushing victory, which was truly exhilarating!"

Miller also smiled and said:

"A heads-up for new viewers: this is the final match of the World Championship! SKT is the champion of the Summer Split from Korea, and they only lost one game to EDG in the group stage. In the semifinals, they swept FNC, a top European team, 3-0! So SKT can be said to be the best team in the world right now! We don't need to say more about the significance of EDG's result in the last game!"

"Yes," Wawa was clearly getting carried away with his boasting, "To be honest, before the match started, probably no one could have predicted this outcome! You know, in esports, China started much later than South Korea! Even in terms of League of Legends versions, our domestic version is lagging behind South Korea's! And some viewers may know that EDG is a team with a lot of contradictions and controversies. To be honest, we used to say that to win a battle, you need the right timing, the right place, and the right people, but EDG didn't have any of those. Even so, they fought their way from the group stage to now, it's really not easy for them!"

Miller nodded and said:

"Alright! We hope EDG can continue their good form from the first game and bring our LPL its first League of Legends World Championship trophy!! The players from both sides have now entered the arena! We're about to begin the second game!! The blue side is SKT Esports Club, and the red side is EDG Esports Club!!"

SKT players' bench.

Lee Sang-hyeok took a deep breath to calm his heartbeat.

In the last game, including him, SKT's performance was undoubtedly disastrous.

And he also became the target of public criticism.

Because Benji provided him with a lot of help in the previous game.

In this game, SKT changed their tactics.

Under Kouma's tactical arrangement, Bengi will no longer focus on his mid lane as before.

In Kouma's words, judging from his performance on Zhou Li in the previous game, although Zhou Li has switched to the mid lane position, his laning strategy is still that of an ADC.

In other words, play cautiously and focus on development in the early game, then carry in the mid-to-late game.

Although Faker didn't quite agree with Kkma's idea, as the culprit in the previous game, he didn't have much say.

Therefore, in this game, he will have to face Zhou Li alone in the mid lane.

This made Lee Sang-hyeok nervous.

As a talented mid-laner from South Korea, Lee Sang-hyeok has never felt such immense pressure in the mid-lane since joining SKT's second team in February of this year, until he was promoted to the first team, and then to the Summer Split Finals and the previous World Championship.

Before this, no matter what opponent or situation Lee Sang-hyeok faced in the mid lane, his first thought was always confident that he could control the opponent.

But when facing Zhou Li, the first thought that popped into his mind was—he can manipulate me!

Fortunately, in this game, although Lee Sang-hyeok's tactical role in the game was abandoned, Koma still gave Lee Sang-hyeok some consideration in the draft phase.

"Looking at the bans from both sides, SKT has banned Renekton, Elise, and Thresh!"

"As for EDG, they first banned Zyra and Shen... Will they choose to ban Zed for the last ban?"

Under Xiao Cang's watchful eye, EDG chose to ban Lee Sin as their last ban.

"Eh! In that case, Zed is out again! SKT, being on the blue side, has a chance to pick him first, and I feel like they'll definitely take him! Zed is also Faker's signature champion!!"

SKT players' bench.

Seeing that Jie had been released, the idiot immediately spoke up:

"Shall we rob Sang-hyeok first? Is that alright, Sang-hyeok?"

Hearing what the chicken said, Lee Sang-hyeok hesitated for two seconds before nodding.

Normally, he would have confidently nodded and immediately asked Da Mu to lock him in place.

But now, he hesitated.

When Lee Sang-hyeok saw EDG let Zed play, his first reaction wasn't that he could make the play this game, but rather—

Lion deliberately let Zed out; is there some kind of trap waiting for him?!
The clumsy chicken noticed Lee Sang-hyeok's hesitation and encouraged him:

"Sang-hyeok, believe in yourself, I'll help you."

Hearing Benji's words, Lee Sang-hyeok was stunned for a moment. He turned his head and saw Benji raising an eyebrow at him, looking like he could rest assured that Benji would handle things well.

Although Kkoma had arranged a strategy before the match, allowing Benji to target EDG's bottom lane.

But now that he's sitting in front of the computer, Koma can no longer control him.

Benji still chose to trust his partner, a young and talented junior, whom he had trusted for a long time.

Lee Sang-hyeok didn't say much, he just nodded.

But at this moment, all the hesitation in his heart and the panic he tried so hard to hide vanished.

On the commentary desk, Miller couldn't help but feel a little worried when he saw SKT pick Zed.

"Ah! SKT really did snatch the kill on the first floor! Does it feel like EDG deliberately let SKT win? Otherwise, it doesn't make sense."

In the live stream, netizens were also discussing it animatedly.

Wow, did they just hand Zed to SKT like that?

[Zhou Chu: Xiang He, did you learn anything from that lesson? Come and show me.]

[EDG, a team with a long history of poor performance, must have had a reason for letting SKT win the Zed match.]

Trust Zhou Chu; after all, Zhou Chu loves messing with Xianjing the most.

[Typo: 贤京 (Xiánjīng), 陷陷 (Xiànxiàn)]

[Zhou Chu: Using puns will result in a 500 yuan fine!]

[Brothers, is the rumor circulating online about Director Zhou and Li Xianjing true? I feel like someone as talented as Director Zhou should be dating a girl from China.]

[I remember when Zhou Chu was interviewed on the Duowan forum, he said that he wouldn't date girls from China because of the gender imbalance in the country, and he decided to leave the good girls in China for boys from China.]

Greatness needs no words!

[Your mom just wants to drive an imported car, but she makes it sound so high-class.]

[Never mind that, I, Zhou Chu, can bring glory to the country both on the field and in bed! He is the pride of Chinese esports!]

On the EDG player bench, seeing that Faker had indeed locked in Zed, Shenchao asked:
"Brother Zhou, what do you say? Should I take it for you first?"

"No rush," Zhou Li shook his head, "Let's get weapons and Vi for Shenchao and Mingkai first!!"

The purpose of taking the weapons is self-evident.

This move by Vi was actually a trap deliberately set for SKT!
Vi, as a T0-level jungler in the current version, is basically always banned.

This time, EDG, playing on the red side, neither targeted Vi nor Zed.

If SKT picks Zed, then EDG will pick Vi and lock in the kill.

(End of this chapter)