League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 151 The Finals Begin!

After the match, Chen Dongqing was still invited down for an interview, but this time he was led into the English stream.

English stream host Sjokz introduced Chen Dongqing with a smile, and then quickly asked a question.

"How does it feel to win your first BO5 World Championship title in your professional career?"

Chen Dongqing listened to the translation, and then calmly said, "It feels pretty good. The feeling of victory is definitely not bad, but this positive feedback is actually far less than the pressure I feel from entering the finals."

"OK." Sjokz nodded with a smile, glanced at the handsome Asian guy next to him, and then said, "In tomorrow's other semi-final, the winner between CLG and SKT will be your opponent in the finals. Which team would you prefer to face?"

Chen Dongqing listened quietly to the translation, then immediately sensed something was amiss.

He hadn't forgotten that this was an English stream, between North American and Korean teams, and he should give the North American audience some face by saying he hoped CLG would advance.

But this is only the second layer.

There is actually a third layer.

Sjokz is the host for the European region.

Although she hosted major events in Europe and America in his early years, she mainly focused on Europe each season.

It's obvious that the region interviewing him is the European region, and the two regions are sworn enemies. Theoretically speaking, people from the European region would love for the North American CLG to die.

so.

"I still hope SKT advances," Chen Dongqing said with a smile. "Because only by defeating SKT will I feel like a true world champion."

well said!

When Sjokz heard how sensible the young man in front of her was, she immediately smiled and gave Chen Dongqing a thumbs up.

Meanwhile, another major battle between Europe and America erupted in the live broadcast room of Mouse TV.

The North American region, which had advanced to the knockout stage, vehemently mocked the European team for being eliminated in the group stage, while Europe quickly retaliated, saying that QG didn't even consider them opponents, and the two sides argued fiercely.

Of course, Chen Dongqing had nothing to do with the aftermath of all this; he was just stirring things up.

After the match, to celebrate the team's first-ever BO5 victory in a World Championship, Linko unsurprisingly treated his teammates to a big meal once again.

This time, they went straight to a lavishly decorated upscale restaurant where a single dish cost over 200 yuan.

"Haha, this meal's on me!" Linko laughed loudly. "Everyone, get into good shape and good luck in the competition the day after tomorrow!"

The QG members were also quite excited, and Uzi next to him quickly bent down and began to study the menu in front of him.

Chen Dongqing, as usual, took a look at the anti-racism forum.

The competition has just ended, and all sorts of posts are popping up everywhere, including some that are copied from Taiwanese forums.

The comments reveal that the Taiwanese fans, who were down 0-3, were extremely upset and directed all their criticism at Flash Wolves, while also making sarcastic remarks targeting QG.

"Since the competition is going to be held on the mainland anyway, I might as well swim back."

"Besides Haoxuan, I didn't see anyone on the team who wanted to win. I really feel ashamed that this team went to MSI!"

"After seeing the Electro Wolves eliminated, I lost interest in watching the finals."

"Don't worry, QG has no chance of beating SKT."

"Yeah, the combined ranked scores of all five QG players aren't even as high as Faker's alone. How can they possibly win?"

Chen Dongqing found the forum content somewhat amusing.

It must be said that some of the comments on this underworld forum are quite similar to those on Baidu Tieba.

It's nothing more than whoever loses coming back and criticizing them, then cursing the other side to be eliminated in the next round.

At that moment, Uzi turned his head and glanced over, then raised an eyebrow: "Our combined ranked points aren't even as high as Faker's alone? Really?"

"I don't know," Chen Dongqing shrugged. "It shouldn't be possible. Our team has inb, he's almost a thousand points on his own, and all of us combined are probably higher than him, right?"

"That's not necessarily true," Doinb said from the side. "Faker has two accounts, both at Challenger rank, totaling over 2000 points."

Coach Banbazi quickly responded: "Currently, Faker's main account is ranked first in the Korean server with 1290 points, and his smurf account Hide on bush is ranked second with 1257 points, for a total of 2547 points."

"And what about us?" Uz asked. "How much do we make in total?"

The players' ranking scores are updated and recorded daily by the coaches.

"Let me see," Banbazi said, getting excited. He pulled out a notebook from his backpack, glanced at the information recorded inside, and then muttered, "Inb is currently at 963 points in the Korean server Challenger rank, Jian Zihao is at 697 points, Liu Qingsong is at 443 points, and Liu Shiyu is at 372 points. Let's add them together..."

Banbazi did the math on his phone and then said, "2475 points, 72 points behind."

A moment of silence fell over the room.

"Isn't this enough?" Chen Dongqing raised an eyebrow and said, "What about my scores?"

"You? Where did you get your score?" Banbazi asked in surprise. His first thought was: Did this kid secretly play on a smurf account?

Then I thought about it again and realized it was impossible. This guy is just lazing around in front of everyone all day long, how could he have time to secretly play on a secondary account?

Chen Dongqing replied matter-of-factly, "I'm a Platinum I with 100 points, so adding that 100 points in would make it over, right?"

"..." Xiangguo was utterly speechless: "You dare call yourself Platinum One? Can't you just stay out of the picture?"

Chen Dongqing puffed out his chest: "Isn't Platinum I rank enough? I'm ranked in the Challenger tier, which is practically equivalent to Challenger rank!"

"Alright, alright," Linko ended the awkward conversation. "Let's order first."

"Aww!"

Chen Dongqing was always easygoing when it came to meals. He gave the menu to his teammates to order, then exited the thread and continued browsing for a while. Then, a thread caught his eye.

How would you evaluate the fact that all five members of QG have a lower ranked score than Faker alone?

The calculations in the post are exactly the same as what Banbazi just said, not a single number is different.

Chen Dongqing: "."

Good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels fast, right?

At this moment, countless people were making jokes about QG in the comments section of the post, while many Korean fans were also banding together to offer support.

Chen Dongqing wasn't interested in these comments. The Korean supporters in the forum had been almost wiped out in the past few days. Although there was a slight resurgence with SKT's winning streak, it hadn't been long enough to form a significant force. Currently, the general trend in the forum was still in favor of QG.

He exited the thread and refreshed it again. A post from the Anti-Pressure Forum Management Team 1 caught his eye.

From now on, the post-match scoring section will be posted separately by the official account of the Anti-Japanese Cultural Troupe. Any posts made by forum members will be deleted.

This wave, this wave, is called the inevitability of history.

Chen Dongqing laughed when he saw it.

Sure enough, once the rating posts became popular in the forum, the next step for the Anti-Gang was to monopolize them, keeping all the experience and popularity for themselves.

Of course, part of the reason is that there are too many people posting rating threads, the comments are too scattered, and the forum is full of ratings, which is not visually appealing. Regulation is inevitable.

However, it's been over an hour since the competition ended, and the troupe's official account still hasn't posted the scoring. Their efficiency is ridiculously low.

Chen Dongqing shook his head, turned off his phone screen, and focused on picking up food.

The next day, July 14th.

The semifinals in the lower bracket between SKT and CLG have officially begun.

There was actually some suspense between these two teams, at least more suspense than in yesterday's match.

After all, CLG is the team with the higher ranking, no matter what.

Moreover, it must be said that CLG is quite well-suited to this version. Their preferred system is nothing more than mid-lane roaming plus AD fast push, with the goal of getting the AD to reach the late-game power spike quickly, and then winning with a four-protect-one Caitlyn.

Overall, it's very similar to RNG in the later S9 season.

This playstyle is very much in line with the current slow-paced version.

The main question is whether CLG can maintain their offensive rhythm against SKT.

Soon, the final match began.

As the first game began, SKT quickly delivered a resounding slap to CLG's face.

In the first game, both sides tacitly opted for a lane swap, which was actually what CLG wanted, because only in this way could their AD carry develop faster.

However, a problem arose on the top lane.

Three minutes in, CLG's top laner Darshan, playing Poppy, seized the opportunity when Wolf roamed the jungle and took the initiative to attack Bang's Ezreal.

Poppy successfully pinned Ezreal against the wall and unleashed her full combo, but unfortunately, she was still one step behind. With his passive and Fervor fully charged, Ezreal didn't even bother to move and simply stood there, allowing Poppy to finish him off.

Then, a few minutes later, during a jungle invasion, Faker's Azir flanked WEQ, blocking CLG's mid and jungle retreat and securing a triple kill!

CLG's proud mid-jungle roaming strategy was completely ineffective against SKT!

And what about the bottom lane?

At 23 minutes, Bang's Ezreal had his Manamune fully stacked, and with Iceborn Gauntlet, he entered his power spike.

Immediately afterwards, EZ took the lead and led his team to start the offensive!

In the mid-lane team fight, EZ's [Secretary Shot] was unerring, hitting a third of the enemy with a single Q. CLG was powerless to resist and SKT killed their jungler and support one after another, handing over the mid-lane second tower and the dragon.

With such a huge advantage, the outcome of the game was quickly decided.

In the second game, Duke took over. Facing CLG's Poppy pick, he countered by picking Aatrox, going straight for Trinity Force and Ravenous Strike, and went on a rampage in the side lanes.

In this game, Duke focused on split pushing and never engaged in team fights. However, this very split pushing strategy caught CLG off guard, leaving them unable to defend effectively and ultimately leading to their defeat.

In the third game, the two sides were evenly matched, with the kill score remaining close for 35 minutes without any significant difference.

But looking at the economic data, SKT is already four thousand ahead.

Furthermore, SKT's lineup becomes even stronger in the later stages of the game.

Soon, a team fight broke out in the mid lane.

But at this point, you need to think about a question.

When SKT engages in team fights with you, it's not because you initiated the fight well, but because SKT believes they can win and is therefore willing to engage.

And that proved to be true. Faker, the Thunder King, was there in person. With his three-item build of Time Warp, Archangel's Staff, and Void Staff, Ryze's tankiness and damage were all maxed out. He stood at the front of the team and kept shooting out various magic orbs. When his health was low, he would just press Archangel's Staff and immediately get a shield that filled his health bar!

Meanwhile, Bang's Lucian was also sliding around like crazy. Although he was being marked, he still managed to defuse CLG's attack with his skillful maneuvers and deal explosive damage!

Faced with such terrifying performance, CLG was simply unable to cope and ultimately suffered a crushing defeat, resulting in a complete wipeout!

"This team wipe was achieved right on CLG's turf! This means SKT can end the game in one fell swoop!"

"Alright, let's congratulate SKT!" the commentator announced loudly. "They also won cleanly and decisively 3-0, advancing to the finals!"

I remember shouting loudly, "Same process as last year, LPL and LCK will once again clash at the top of the Mid-Season Invitational! Let's wait and see how it goes this time!"

At this moment, the QG team members were sitting in the training room and witnessed this scene.

At this moment, the CLG team members could be seen looking somewhat somber.

They came to this MSI with high hopes, but this MSI journey has been a major blow to them.

First, QG dealt them a crushing defeat in the opening match, and now they've been swept by SKT in the knockout stage.

These two blows were even more devastating for them than G2's elimination in the group stage.

If we had known we were going to lose 3-0, we might as well have sent G2 up to try and win!

ultra!

At this moment, it can be seen that CLG's support player, Lao Hei, has an even darker complexion. In the dark, enclosed arena, he is almost invisible.

On the other side, SKT didn't seem too happy about the victory. After a simple handshake, they went to the center of the arena to bow in acknowledgment, their faces showing little emotion.

It was as if defeating CLG was nothing special to them.

Or perhaps, after experiencing a four-game losing streak in the group stage and nearly being eliminated, SKT is now more serious and more eager for victory than any other team. They will not relax until the championship is in their hands.

Although Chen Dongqing had long anticipated that SKT would advance, he still felt some pressure when he saw the score of 3-0.

"Tsk tsk, that's a complete stomp." He sighed, "It's a pity SKT didn't do anything."

If CLG can put in a little more effort and give SKT a piece of the pie, that would give them more time to prepare for the finals.

In this game, SKT won 3-0. They used a defensive counter-attacking strategy from start to finish and won the game easily, which was still a bit frustrating.

"Anyway, SKT will definitely have some surprises up their sleeve in the finals." Banbazi shook his head and said, "Everyone should be prepared for SKT to have some big moves up their sleeves. They're not in the same league as FW."

SKT has actually revealed quite a few tricks so far, such as the Rammus top laner that appeared in the LCK Spring Finals to counter Graves and Kindred, and the Zilean mid laner that appeared after the Spring Finals and the group stage after four consecutive losses.

QG has been prepared for both of these moves, but after today's match, QG will still have to consider the issue of the Troll top laner.

"But we still have an advantage," Linko said, trying to ease the tension. "No matter what, they've been playing back-to-back games for two days straight, while we've had a day off in between and are well-rested. If we win the coin toss tomorrow, we can take them down 3-0!"

Hearing this, everyone relaxed, feeling that there was indeed some truth to it.

Just then, Chen Dongqing raised an eyebrow: "Is it possible that after they crushed CLG, their performance remained hot until tomorrow, and then they won the coin toss, and then they crushed us 3-0?"

All the QG players turned their attention to this.

"Get out of here!" Uz nearly blushed. "Why are you talking so rudely?"

Seeing this, banbazi simply laughed and said, "Anyway, just keep a calm mindset. The strength of our two teams is about the same. The outcome depends on our performance tomorrow. Whoever performs better will win."

After that, Coach Park spoke up from the side: "Now that the match is over, let's prepare for the practice match. Today's opponent is still EDG."

"Okay!" The QG team readily agreed.

When the training room was being set up, the factory manager even sent a message of encouragement: "The finals are tomorrow, how's the preparation?"

Chen Dongqing typed cheerfully: "Of course there's no problem. You guys beat SKT last year, how could we possibly lose?"

"You little brat!" the factory manager said irritably, "You'd better win the championship. If you lose, I'll personally lead the charge in criticizing you!"

"Haha, that's not a good idea."

The training session ended a little after 11 p.m.

The QG team had perfect rest schedules and immediately returned to the hotel to prepare for sleep, so they could be in peak condition for the match.

Back at the hotel, Chen Dongqing familiarly opened Honor of Kings, planning to play a couple of rounds before going to sleep.

Since discovering the cheat that allows players to practice hero proficiency in Honor of Kings, Chen Dongqing usually plays two games every night.

I've been practicing a lot of heroes lately.

For example, after yesterday's match, he played a game of Mulan.

This version of Mulan hasn't been reworked yet, and her skills are exactly the same as Riven's. He casually leveled up Riven's proficiency to 95 as well.

Of course, it was just one game. His Riven proficiency was already as high as 94, not far from 95, so this was just a small boost and not very noticeable.

It's a pity that Charlotte's version hasn't been released yet.

Chen Dongqing smacked his lips, and after thinking about it for a while, he felt it didn't really matter.

His Fiora proficiency is already high, definitely not inferior to Riven, either 94 or 95, so there's no need for him to practice.

He came here tonight with a specific goal in mind.

After entering ranked mode, he quickly selected Master Lu.

Today, Duke picked Trundle as the second pick and completely dominated Darshan's Poppy. Although Trundle was specifically chosen to counter Poppy, and QG never plays Poppy, so Trundle is unlikely to be picked tomorrow, Chen Dongqing still believes it is necessary to come up with a countermeasure.

His chosen strategy was the Weapon Master, which is a hard counter to trolls.

So, I need to practice my old master's skills today.

Chen Dongqing's rank is still not high, he has just reached Diamond, so he played relatively easily. Ten minutes later, the game ended.

As expected, the system message arrived quickly.

[Hidden Mission in Honor of Kings: Win against Master Lu in Ranked Mode to complete!]

[Mission Reward: Weapon Mastery Proficiency +1, repeatable!]

[Current Weapon Mastery Level: 90, cap increased to 95!]

As a top laner with fundamental skills, Chen Dongqing's proficiency with Jax is certainly not a problem, starting at a high 89 points!

Five wins are needed, and an hour will be enough!

Chen Dongqing nodded and decisively agreed to start the liver transplant!

Meanwhile, Xiangguo also came out of the bathroom. He had washed his hair, which was unusual for him tonight, and busily dried it. Then he glanced at Chen Dongqing and said, "Get some rest, buddy. The finals are tomorrow, and you're still playing King of Glory!"

The opening ceremony of the finals will start at 1:30 in Xialu tomorrow, but it's not enough to just arrive at 1:00. They need to prepare several hours in advance, including rehearsals, so the teams are required to get up at 10:00.

It's just past midnight now, and time is already at its limit.

"It's okay, I'll go to sleep right away." Chen Dongqing nodded and turned off the phone.

He doesn't really need to worry about his condition. Even if he doesn't sleep tonight, he'll still be at his peak when he goes to the competition tomorrow.

Xiangguo didn't think too much about it. He lay back on the bed, closed his eyes, and fell fast asleep within a minute.

Chen Dongqing quickly started the second ranked game and once again instantly chose Lao Fu Zi. Seeing that the top lane was taken, he did not hesitate and directly chose the jungle position.

The fight went on until 1:30 a.m.

Because I lost a game in the middle, my score-farming efficiency was a little slow, but fortunately, after hard work, my weapon proficiency finally reached 95 points.

Having achieved his goal, Chen Dongqing yawned and glanced at his WeChat messages.

As you can see, many people are sending him messages of encouragement, including classmates, former LGD teammates, and Lin Yuanhua.

Even Imp sent him a WeChat message: "Keep it up! You absolutely have to crush Faker and Bang tomorrow!"

Chen Dongqing couldn't help but chuckle when he saw the WeChat message, and replied with "I'll try my best."

He then sent two messages back to Lin Yuanhua.

Lin Yuanhua replied quickly: "Aren't you asleep yet!?"

"I'm too excited to sleep," Chen Dongqing casually made up an excuse, but then he typed, "But I'm about to go to sleep."

"Then you should go to sleep now, goodnight! Good luck in tomorrow's game!"

"Good night."

The two quickly ended the conversation; they always preferred face-to-face chats and rarely spoke much on WeChat.

As for the other messages, Chen Dongqing was too lazy to reply. He closed his eyes, and drowsiness quickly overcame him.

There are only eight and a half hours left until it's time to get up, so there's still enough time to sleep.

...

5 p.m. on September 15.

Half an hour before the opening ceremony, the MSI tournament live stream rooms on major streaming platforms were already packed with viewers.

Go QG!

Can this be resolved within four rounds today?

Not three sets? Not three sets?

A large number of bullet comments flooded the screen, covering the entire live stream and making the picture look somewhat like the static screen that appeared when watching TV as a child, forcing many people to manually reduce the density of bullet comments.

Because of the immense popularity of this global tournament, and because LPL is the defending champion region, even viewers who don't usually watch matches or even play LOL have been drawn in.

The venue was packed, with even the front row family section completely full!

All eyes were focused on this battle to defend the title!

Just then, the lights in the stadium suddenly dimmed, and the 15,000 audience members shouted in unison. Then the sound system vibrated, and countdown numbers appeared on the four water droplet screens in the stadium!

10

9 ...

The opening ceremony is about to begin!

A small group of audience members were very enthusiastic, shouting along with the numbers displayed on the screen. As the numbers got smaller, the shouts got louder and louder!

When 15,000 people shouted "1" together, and the screen showed a fist breaking glass, the cheers in the stadium quickly reached their peak!

After a series of promotional videos, the camera returned to the venue, where all the spotlights were focused on a high platform. The MSI championship trophy sat atop this platform, reflecting a dazzling light, and the aura of championship glory filled the entire arena.

"Good afternoon, Summoners both at the venue and watching the live stream! Welcome to the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational Finals!"

Ren Dong strode onto the stage, his voice deep and powerful.

"The month-long competition is drawing to a close. After the group stage and two rounds of semifinals, QG and SKT have emerged victorious and are about to face off in the final!"

"Next, let's welcome both teams to the stage!"

Here are 6,000 words. There's a little less content today, but there's nothing I can do about it. These past few days have been the busiest time of my life. I've only managed to write 2,000 words in the last few days, purely using up my stockpile.

I have to count the remaining drafts on my fingers, afraid I won't have enough.

That's all for now. I'll update more frequently after the holiday. See you tomorrow, guys!

PS: Thank you Ruogan for the 3000 Qidian Coins reward, and thank you Sijishen for the 500 Qidian Coins reward. Thank you, boss.

(End of this chapter)