Believe me, I really am a professional League of Legends player.

Chapter 111 is generating a lot of buzz! Who's really involved?

In fact, there's another trending topic in the esports section that's been trending for two days already.

That was the match between RNG and EDG.

Ever since Li Fan said "participation is the most important thing" in an interview, it has been trending on Weibo.

It has never fallen...

The main reason is that it's very active here; the comments and replies haven't stopped even now.

With the LPL officials intentionally fueling the hype, the buzz has remained incredibly high.

After all, there are many investors who need to invest in the Summer Split, so the higher the momentum of the semifinals, the more advantageous it is for them.

After all, the competition is officially starting tomorrow.

More and more people are posting and replying in the early hours of the morning.

[Don't actually think EDG is invincible, will they? This is just a facade of success; they'll be exposed for what they are when they face RNG in the semifinals.]

Based on their current performance, RNG is a shoo-in for the Spring Split championship. And it seems Uzi will be facing his arch-rival Faker again.

[Don't you have any self-awareness? If you call yourselves arch-enemies, do you think anyone's going to listen to you?]

[Hilarious! The arch-rival of the triple crown winner is the zero-crown winner?]

You guys love to stir up trouble with Uzi, but so what? It still can't overshadow the brilliance of the LPL's best ADC.

All professional players say Uzi is strong, with top-tier dominance, and they can't argue with you haters.

[It wasn't like this before. I can only say that there were fangirls who made the esports scene rotten. I won't name names here.]

[I'm speechless. What are you guys barking about? What's wrong with a newcomer to Unreal Engine? Just because he's popular and has buzz, are you blindly attacking him?]

[Hehe, the one who cheated is an RNG fan. Just because he said "participation is the most important thing," he deliberately cheated to target Unreal, so I can't say anything about this fan group.]

[If you fangirls had stomped EDG, you wouldn't be barking like dogs here!]

[You son of a bitch, that fat guy isn't even as good as Unreal Engine!]

Fans from all sides were furious with their criticisms, and almost all of the top four teams in the Spring Split were eliminated.

This is the first time LPL has encountered such a situation since its inception.

It has to be said that online flame wars are the primary driver of generating buzz!
The number of views for the Spring Split semifinals reached a staggering 2.5 million...

However, behind this seemingly chaotic public opinion arena, countless eyes are peering through data screens, scrutinizing the immense energy represented by this esports extravaganza.

Although it was late at night, the conference room of Topsports was still brightly lit.

"For a league semi-final to achieve this level of attention solely through pre-match media coverage, without the support of international competitions or the final day itself..."

"This has already surpassed the popularity of the regular season in many traditional sports."

The middle-aged man pushed up his glasses, his tone filled with undisguised amazement.

"The key is its user profile: young, highly active, with a strong willingness to pay, and highly concentrated in online communities... This is exactly our target group."

"It seems our previous valuation of the LPL was too conservative. I think we need to speed up our plans; we must secure a spot in the Summer Split!"

"And if possible... I think we should buy Unreal! His popularity is more explosive than any other player! This is evident not only in League of Legends, but in all other games as well. He is the most suitable professional player for us."

Similar scenarios are also playing out among other investors who were initially observing the situation.

It's just too terrifying!

This is how it is now... The World Championship is being held in the country!

What kind of spectacle would it be if we won the World Championship?

The commotion and undercurrents of the night subsided temporarily in the morning light, but this was merely the prelude to an even more terrifying eruption.

For countless viewers and fans who were watching the game, the night passed both exceptionally long and exceptionally quickly.

Many people's first action upon waking up is to grab their phone and check the time.

"It's only eight o'clock?!" Similar cries of anguish echoed from different corners.

There are still a full six hours until the semi-finals begin!

For fans, those six hours were more agonizing than an entire season.

The popularity on social media platforms such as Weibo, Baidu Tieba, and Hupu did not diminish as dawn broke; instead, it continued to rise as more people woke up.

Various pre-match predictions, lineup analyses, and posts about "jinxing" and "counter-jinxing" have emerged one after another.

[A rational analysis: Can EDG break through RNG's "bottom lane core" system?]

[Unreal vs. Xiaohu: A clash between the old and new mid laners – who will dominate the mid lane?]

[Factory Director's Level 2 Gank VS Mlxg's Starvation Jungle: A Classic Battle of the Jungle!]

[I'm an OMG fan! I'll offer incense to WE first, then wait for the big show at 5 PM!]

[The 2 PM match was also great! OMG, the dark forces, and WE, the red team—it's all about youth!]

The number of people booking matches on major live streaming platforms has increased dramatically at a visible rate.

The atmosphere offline was equally enthusiastic.

Around the competition venue centered around Shanghai Zhengda Plaza, although there was still a long time before entry, many people wearing the jerseys of the four teams could already be seen gathering in advance.

Holding up support banners, their faces beamed with excitement and anticipation...

It can be seen that Yu Luo had already gathered about twenty or thirty people waiting on the side.

After all, the semi-finals are a hot topic... so tickets are still very hard to buy.

Even at this time, scalpers kept asking, "Does anyone want to buy tickets?"

There's nothing we can do; once the competition starts, the ticket is useless.

Previously, the price was as high as two or three thousand, but now you only need to make a small profit.

And you know what? Quite a few people are willing to pay that money.

The main problem is that two or three thousand is hard to accept, but a little over a thousand is something I can grit my teeth and give.

The semi-finals... if you miss them, you'll just have to watch the replay!

Meanwhile, the atmosphere at the various team bases was much more serious and tense. In EDG's training room, the whiteboard was covered with tactical points and player habits from RNG's recent matches, which QuickStar was explaining.

The team members had just finished their morning warm-up training. They showed no signs of fatigue, only focused concentration.

The real challenge has arrived.

The teams we encountered earlier were relatively weak, so it was normal for us to crush them.

But this team today... has a rich tactical reserve and is full of star players, so they still put a lot of pressure on us in the semifinals.

Because RNG's bot lane has extremely strong penetration ability, and they have almost perfected their synergy in the matches, while EDG's weakest point is actually the bot lane.

"Everyone, cheer up! Five o'clock this afternoon will be the time to test the results of our efforts over this period."

The same applies to the RNG base.

Feng Ge, holding his notebook, kept emphasizing the details of the laning phase and the vision control of resource groups in the mid-game.

Uzi sat in his seat, expressionless...

However, Xiao Hu looked worried.

Today's match was a bit too much pressure for him.

The video I watched a few days ago really made me feel weak.

Since the competition started at 5 PM, both teams had relatively ample time.

The teams WE and OMG have already arrived at the venue.

At 1 p.m., the venue began checking tickets, and fans who had been waiting for a long time poured in like a tide.

At exactly 2:00 PM, accompanied by rousing theme music and cheers from the entire audience, the event began.

The first match of the LPL Spring Split playoffs semifinals, WE vs OMG, has officially begun!
……

At 3:30, EDG had already gotten off the bus and entered the venue.

At this point, the match between WE and OMG had entered a heated phase.

The score is now 2-0. If OMG loses again, they will be swept 3-0.

However, by the 34th minute of the game, neither side had a clear advantage.

As for the team compositions, both sides have late-game heroes.

WE's Vladimir, OMG's Orianna...

Both sides are playing very cautiously, and now, whoever makes a mistake will be swept away in one fell swoop.

That's why if resources are lost, they should be withdrawn immediately.

In this situation, it took another seven minutes!
In the final battle at the Dragon's Mouth, Clockwerk pulled off a perfect ultimate, successfully pulling three enemies!

This immediately made the OMG fans at the scene stand up excitedly.

After being suppressed for two games, finally... finally, we're about to win a game.

The comeback from 0-2 to 3-2 starts here.

However, the cold reality quickly extinguished their enthusiasm.

Condi fully demonstrated his ferocity in this game, choosing Spider as a top-tier assassin and firmly controlling the pace of the game from the start.

Three and a half minutes in, Spider silently crept to the bottom lane, her cocoon accurately hitting OMG's support. Combined with Mystic's Ashe damage, they easily secured the first blood.

The cheers from WE fans instantly drowned out the support from OMG fans.

And this is just the beginning.

At six minutes, Condi visited the mid lane and formed a pincer attack with Xiye's Syndra. Despite Icon's Orianna's best efforts to dodge, he was ultimately killed under the mid lane tower by Elise's burst damage combined with Syndra's damage.

After two consecutive waves of attacks, OMG's bottom and mid lanes both fell into a disadvantage.

World Sister's Rek'Sai faced an Elise who was already ahead in levels and equipment in the jungle and completely lost the initiative, with the jungle being constantly countered and compressed.

"It's Condi again! His Spider is on fire today!" Remember shouted excitedly, "This completely disrupts OMG's rhythm!"

WE gave OMG no chance to breathe.

After gaining an advantage, they demonstrated a strong ability to snowball their lead.

On the other hand, OMG's momentum from the previous comeback seemed to have been completely shattered, their gameplay started to falter, and their communication appeared to be in trouble.

Twenty-seven minutes.

With an economic lead of over 10,000, WE's five players gathered in the mid lane and easily crushed OMG!

WE 3:1 OMG!

"Congratulations to WE! They defeated OMG cleanly and decisively with a score of 3 to 1, becoming the first team to advance to the 2017 LPL Spring Split Finals!" Su Xiaoyan's voice echoed throughout the venue through the speakers.

WE's red flags were waved wildly at the scene, and the cheers of the fans were deafening.

The EDG players backstage also watched the final stages of the match through the screen in the lounge.

"WE is in great form today, Condi is playing at full speed," Meiko said, watching the WE players hugging and celebrating on the screen.

"Yeah, the intensity of the playoffs really goes up. WE isn't as carefree as they were in the regular season." Clearlove nodded as he looked at the big screen.

This WE team is completely different from the one in the regular season...

“Now it’s our turn!” Abu stood up and patted everyone on the shoulder.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the RNG team, Feng Ge was also motivating the players.

The first game of a best-of-five series is crucial. Securing a key point, in addition to testing the waters, can completely change the momentum of the game.

On stage, WE's players are bowing to the audience.

Beneath the stage, the undercurrents between EDG and RNG are surging ever stronger.

The atmosphere in the venue was pushed to another climax at this moment!

The battle between WE and OMG is over.

Now, everyone's attention is focused on the upcoming EDG vs RNG match!

Who is truly focused on participation?
(End of this chapter)