League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 190 Next stop, Chicago!

Chapter 191 Next Stop, Chicago!

At this moment, the LPL official TV station's live chat was also filled with countless discussions:

QG is truly reassuring; they've utterly crushed the teams in their group! Not a single match has lasted more than 30 minutes.

Indeed, achieving these stats in this version is truly outrageous!

Compared to them, EDG really looks terrible. Will they really be eliminated in the round of 16?

I think that's quite possible; we're far behind now.

Although EDG defeated the top team in their group today, taking a step back from the brink of elimination, the situation remains far from optimistic.

October 3rd, the last match day of the first round of the group stage.

There are two main events today.

One is SKT vs. TSM, and the other is ROX vs. Snake.

The first match began quickly after the very first game.

One team is SKT, who are already 2-0, and the other is TSM, who are 1-1. This match is also crucial for TSM. If they lose this match, they will fall to the same 1-2 record as EDG and INTZ, and the competition in the second round will be extremely fierce.

SKT will obviously not hold back. In the past, SKT has only lost to Flash Wolves, the Korean champions, in the group stage, but unfortunately, Flash Wolves are not in the same group as them this time.

In 35 minutes, SKT easily defeated TSM, ending the first round with a 3-0 score.

After a break of one match, Snake quickly returned to the field.

Snake's matches were much easier than EDG's. In the first two games, their top, jungle, and marksman took turns performing well, easily securing two wins.

In the battle against ROX, Snake played exceptionally well, with all three carries contributing and reaching an unprecedented level of performance, managing to upset ROX and finish the first round with a 3-0 victory!

"Wow! Snake Team even beat Tiger Team?" None of the QG players went to the venue today; they just watched the show from the rest room.

"This team's potential is really strong when it's at its peak." Banbazi nodded. He remembered that Snake Esports had beaten QG in a game during the regular season, thanks to the combined efforts of their three carries.

"However, that only applies to the group stage. The real test for Snake will come in the best-of-five knockout stage."

Seeing this, Chen Dongqing nodded in agreement.

LCK's BO1 results have been mediocre year after year, but they have won the championship every year, which has become the norm.

Besides Snake's good performance, another reason for this victory was that ROX wasn't really taking the game seriously.

Once a team has secured qualification, many will choose to experiment with different strategies and tactics.

QG was in a similar situation; they weren't playing seriously either, but the teams in their group were simply not strong enough.

At this point, the four groups of patterns have been basically determined.

Group A is a battle between two dominant teams, with ROX and Snake vying for first place. The other three groups are characterized by one super team and several strong teams, with each group having a 3-0 lead and three teams with 1-2 records following behind.

"Alright, let's have a meeting." Banbazi turned off the live stream; the remaining three matches were not relevant and not worth watching. He then asked, "What are your thoughts on the World Championship patch?"

"The version has changed a lot. Now the mainstream jungle champions are Nidalee, Lee Sin, and Olaf, followed by Elise, Gragas, and Hecarim."

"The same goes for mid lane. After Taliyah's Q skill was nerfed for pushing waves, she can no longer be played. Now Syndra and Viktor are high priority picks."

QG members shared their insights.

Uzi shook his head and said, "The bot lane has changed even more. I really don't know who came up with this Zyra support idea; it's disgusting!"

For Uzi, who values laning, Zyra is disgusting whether she's on his own turf or on the enemy team, because it infinitely narrows the laning ability gap between the two AD carries, turning the game into a support-centric one.

Although they have ways to deal with it, now is not the time.

Chen Dongqing then spoke up, saying, "The changes in the hero pool are actually secondary. Although there have been significant changes, they haven't deviated from our hero pool. The main issue is the drastic shift in the game's pace."

"That's right!" Banbazi said, "After the World Championship, I feel that the importance of the first tower has increased once again, and the tactics have also become more diverse."

During the playoffs, LPL teams generally favor the bottom lane matchup, focusing on taking down a squishy enemy's bottom tower.

However, after the World Championship, the situation changed. ROX and a number of teams with strong top laners gave a new answer: let the bot lane pick a combination of heroes with strong lane defense, and then rely on the early strength of top and jungle heroes such as Elise and Jayce to focus on attacking the top lane for the first tower!

As long as the offense is strong enough, even though the top lane tower is much tankier, it may still be able to be destroyed.

This approach did indeed give QG a bit of a shock.

They are still more accustomed to letting Chen Dongqing fight alone in the top lane and win by relying on his personal ability. When Chen Dongqing is targeted and silenced in the top lane, and the bottom lane is unable to open up the situation because the opponent picks heroes such as Zyra, the situation will become awkward.

"The core of this version is still the first tower!" Banbazi nodded in agreement. "In the current version, the first tower is far too important!"

The coaches have detailed data records.

In this version, the win rates of the red and blue teams are actually relatively balanced, with a difference of about 50.5% and 49.5% respectively.

However, this data will quickly tilt after the factor of the first blood tower is added!

If the blue team secures the first tower, their win rate will increase by 42%, quickly reaching 92.5%!

This is quite terrifying. It shows that Riot Games has gone too far. Their introduction of the first tower policy has directly changed the landscape of the game!

Now, all team selections and strategies will revolve around a specific defensive tower in the early game, and the laning ability attribute has been greatly emphasized.

Why is EDG struggling to adapt to this version? It's because their strength lies in their teamwork and rhythm.

In terms of laning, neither Mouse nor Deft can be considered top-tier, so it's actually quite difficult to implement a first tower kill strategy around these two.

The reason why Snake Esports was able to win 3-0 is because their top and bottom laners are both very skilled in lane matchups. Crystal and Flandre are only one team in the LPL where they lose to QG.

Thinking of this, Chen Dongqing suddenly remembered Crystal.

I never expected that even after making it to the World Championship, our dog would have such a highlight moment.

"Anyway, all we can do now is adapt," Banbazi said, arms crossed. "What happens next in the World Championship is still unknown, but for us, the current situation is a good thing, since we're known for our laning prowess. So, let's practice!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Dongqing nodded and immediately started playing PUBG.

I'm practicing, I'm practicing.

Behind him, the two coaches and the manager looked at Chen Dongqing's screen and couldn't help but frown slightly.

Although Chen Dongqing's PUBG skills are already a unique feature of their team, they are still somewhat worried because the World Championship is in full swing and Chen Dongqing has not changed his playing style.

Linko came over and tapped Chen Dongqing on the shoulder, saying, "My dear Brother Shu, it's the World Championship now, can't you put PUBG aside for a bit? You're not that addicted, are you?"

Chen Dongqing turned around and scratched his head.

But he didn't really have any other options.

The main issue is that he only has two attribute points left to reach the maximum level, and he currently has a little over 2000 points. He needs to grind out the remaining 2,000 points first and add a little bit of those points first.

Linko thought for a moment, then said, "Have you checked what's going on with the recent ranked games on the North American server?"

Chen Dongqing shook his head: "I don't know, what's wrong?"

Suddenly, Xiangguo said from the side, "The current North American ranked ladder is dominated by Koreans. The top three are all Koreans."

As they were talking, Xiangguo clicked into the leaderboard and saw that the first place was "mid faker", the second place was "Wang Ho", which is the transliteration of Peanut's name Han Wanghu, and the third place was "PraY 8D", which is the Tigers' AD.

"So what?" Chen Dongqing raised an eyebrow. "Let the Koreans rank up if they want to!"

"But the fans won't see it that way," Linko shook his head again. "Our LPL didn't even have a single player in the top ten!"

Looking at the three LPL teams, none of them have a player who is a ranked game maniac. Snake Esports is known for its poor ranked performance, and EDG's key players are all veterans who have long passed the stage of competing for ranked points. The young players are also unable to climb the ranks.

As for QG...

Both Xiangguo and Doinb rely heavily on their teammates for ranking, and their ability to climb the ranks in ranked games is only average, especially in the bottom lane.

Currently, among all LPL players who have come to the United States, the player with the highest score is actually substitute Lin Weixiang. He doesn't play training or many matches, but he spends all his time playing ranked games on the North American server. He has now reached eleventh place on the North American server. Can you believe it?

Because of this factor, many pro-Korean commentators on domestic forums have been jumping up and down, saying things like "If you can't even do ranked matches, how can you expect to win a game?"

Although these words that could undermine unity would be deleted instantly during foreign conflicts, they still somewhat dampened the fans' confidence.

Although ranking is just a way to maintain a good feel for the game and the score isn't that important for the players, it's still not good to be too bad, right?

Chen Dongqing watched this scene with a thoughtful expression.

Just then, a system message suddenly arrived.

[New mission released!]

[Mission Objective: Reach the top of the North American ranked ladder!]

[Reward: 4000 points!]

At this moment, Linko was still saying, "You're the fastest ranking up on our team. If you went to rank up, you might still have a chance. But I feel it's too late, after all, others have been ranking up for half a month longer."

"Who says it's too late?" Chen Dongqing glared. "It's not too late, just leave it to me! Rebuilding QG's glory is our duty!"

Linko was taken aback, looking at Chen Dongqing who had suddenly changed his personality, and was a little confused about what was going on.

"So, are you going to solo queue or...?" Xiangguo asked from the side.

"I'll definitely solo queue!" Chen Dongqing said. "The other three are all solo queuing, so it wouldn't be fair for me to duo queue. But you can help me duo queue to reach Challenger first, that way we can level up faster. I'll do the rest myself."

"Okay." Xiangguo nodded. "Then hurry up and get to Master rank, and I'll duo queue with you to climb the ranks."

Chen Dongqing nodded. His account had only just reached the placement stage (1/10), and there was still a long way to go before reaching Master level. He needed to hurry up.

His goal is to reach the King rank before the second round of the group stage begins.

After the plan was finalized, everyone in QG couldn't help but smile knowingly.

Say our LPL players aren't good at ranked games? Today we'll show you the skill of the first Challenger player in S6!

October 4th, 10 AM.

Linko, a middle-aged man, couldn't sleep. He was still browsing e-sports forums, where discussions about the group stage matches in the past few days were still going strong.

Some people are praising Snake's godlike performance, while others are criticizing EDG's poor performance.

In addition, there are many posts discussing player rankings.

[The LCK players are so hardworking, still playing ranked games at midnight. Look at QG? I haven't seen them online at all last night!]

[Don't make baseless accusations. QG has a healthy sleep schedule with everyone waking up at 9 AM, and they're all asleep now.]

Indeed, in terms of ranked play time, QG actually has quite a few, excluding ShuGe.

[Breaking news! Big news! Brother Tree is logged in! He's playing ranked matches!]

What?!?!

The comments section below the post was immediately filled with shock, as if they had witnessed some earth-shattering event.

Linko was equally shocked. Upon seeing this, he quickly switched to WeChat and opened the OP.GG mini-program.

This program can display the ranking status, score, recent wins and losses, and online status of players from various teams in real time.

When Linko clicked on the QG section, he could see that Chen Dongqing's account was actually online!

Chen Dongqing queued until 3 a.m.?

Linko felt as if he had traveled through time.

Seeing this, Linko simply got up, put on his slippers, and ran to the training room. He had to see what was going on!

Pushing open the training room door, I saw Chen Dongqing destroy the enemy base in one fell swoop, then quickly shut down his computer and got up.

"Huh? Brother Li? Why aren't you asleep yet?" Chen Dongqing asked, somewhat surprised.

"I was about to ask you that," Linko interjected, "Why are you queuing so late? Are you planning to get fined tomorrow morning?"

"Want to rank up!" Chen Dongqing laughed. "I felt like I was ranking up pretty smoothly today, so I played a Master rank game all night."

"Master?" Linko captured the key element.

He remembered that Chen Dongqing had just started playing from the second placement match that afternoon, how could he be a master?

"Alright, go back to sleep." Chen Dongqing waved his hand. "It's only three o'clock now. If I get up at nine, I can sleep for almost six more hours, which should be enough. Remember to lock the training room door."

Linko watched Chen Dongqing walk past him wearily, and was slightly stunned.

Only then did he take out his phone again, enter the OP.GG mini-program, and take a look at Chen Dongqing's recent ranking records.

First priority: Fiora; second priority: Jayce; third priority: Riven. The entire page is dedicated to these three champions.

then

Victory, victory, victory, victory, victory!

MVP! MVP! MVP! MVP!

A sea of green.

In just one day and one night, Chen Dongqing achieved a remarkable 26-game winning streak, averaging just over 20 minutes per game, and went from the second game of the placement matches to Grandmaster!

Linko was dumbfounded.

After only six hours of rest, Chen Dongqing got up again.

This mission, which only requires you to reach the top of the US server to directly receive 4,000 points, is too good to pass up. For Chen Dongqing, it's practically free points.

If he progresses quickly enough, theoretically he should be able to get the points within a week.

Yes, it's all for the points!

It's not about trying to win back LPL players, hmph.

Just then, Xiangguo also got up. After washing up, the two went to the training room together. Xiangguo said, "What rank are we in? Can we reach Master today?"

"Heh, who do you think you are?" Chen Dongqing sneered. "Reaching the King rank today!"

"?"

Of course, the claim of reaching Challenger rank is just bragging. The lowest Challenger rank in the North American server is 427 points, so it's quite difficult to go from zero to 400 points in a single day.

After all, Chen Dongqing has a high hidden MMR, and after reaching Master rank, he has started playing in top-ranked matches, which are all professional players, so there is still some resistance.

October 7th is fast approaching, the last day of the National Day Golden Week holiday, and the second round of the group stage will kick off today.

Two more days passed, and Chen Dongqing's score had reached a terrifying 450 points. As soon as he logged into the game in the morning, he saw that his account had been promoted to the highest rank, King of Glory.

Reaching the King rank in four days is not bad.

Before the match started, they played four more games, winning three and losing one, and their score increased by another 70 points, reaching 520 points.

At this moment, Chen Dongqing opened the leaderboard and glanced at it. Seeing that Faker's score was still just over 950, he nodded in satisfaction.

In three more days, we'll catch up!

"Alright, let's take a break." Banbazi quickly came over and stopped Chen Dongqing from playing ranked games. "Let's watch the match!"

Chen Dongqing's ranking frequency these past few days has frightened even him!

Aside from training matches, meals, and bathroom breaks, I spend all my time in ranked matches, and I'm always the last one to leave!

This guy is amazing when he plays ranked games, unless he doesn't!

Chen Dongqing smiled and said, "Don't worry, I know."

The QG team ate their takeout lunch while watching the match that was about to begin.

Today's battle belongs exclusively to Group A.

ROX, who finished second in the group with a 2-1 victory, faced SPY and secured another win after a grueling 30-minute battle!

Snake then quickly joined the fray against AHQ, also securing a victory and bringing the score to 4-0!

Immediately afterwards, the first and second place teams in Group A engaged in another internal battle!

This time, however, ROX emerged victorious!

Peanut and Smeb's top and jungle played a smooth offensive in this game, directly destroying Flandre's top lane!

The score is now 4-1!

After another round of crushing the noobs, the score is now 5-1!

In this situation, ROX and Snake have basically secured their places in the knockout stage, but the question remains: who will finish first in the group?

Tiebreaker!

Facing LPL's third seed for the third time, ROX showed no signs of letting up, truly treating Snake Esports as a formidable opponent!

When the Tigers get serious, they can be quite formidable.

At 35 minutes and 22 seconds, ROX defeated Snake in the tiebreaker and officially advanced as the top seed in their group!

The Tigers all stood up from their gaming chairs, beaming with smiles.

The Snake team members also stood up; although they lost the game, they had not lost their hope.

The real competition begins after the group stage ends!

After watching the match, Chen Dongqing played a few more ranked games after the training match, officially raising his score to 600 points. However, Faker seemed to have noticed Chen Dongqing's presence and also gained points, raising his score to 1000 points.

This four-digit ranking score has already broken the score cap on the North American server!

On October 8th, the Group C matches followed.

Today is the day that will determine EDG's fate.

To advance, EDG must emerge victorious from among the three teams with a 1-2 record!

The first match was a major battle between EDG and INTZ.

Facing the team that had once pushed them to the brink of elimination, EDG finally held on this time, sweeping the opponent in just 28 minutes.

Many fans were happy, but also felt a little strange.

When did EDG have to be happy about winning against a wildcard team?

The Group C matches continued, followed by one of today's highlights: TSM vs. SKT.

But this time, an unexpected event occurred.

Everyone thought that the undefeated SKT would win again, but in this game, TSM once again displayed the charm of the number one seed from North America and forcefully defeated SKT!

Immediately afterwards, TSM faced INTZ and once again won a decisive victory!

Their record instantly jumped to 3-2!

EDG then faced SKT again, but they suffered a defeat, bringing their record to 2-3.

Next, the crucial matchup will be between TSM and EDG.

If TSM wins, they advance directly. If EDG wins, they qualify for a tiebreaker.

Upon seeing this, the QG members all frowned.

Chen Dongqing, however, remained calm and said, "I believe in Pawn; he is our hope for EDG."

He recalled that when EDG was on the verge of qualifying in S6, it was General Pawn who stepped up and saved the team with a Vladimir, carrying them into the knockout stage!

In this game, Pawn once again chose Vampire!

At 43 minutes and 43 seconds, the fully equipped Vladimir finally showed his charm, making three entries and exits in the team fight, first killing the AD and then the AP, and finally surviving with low health!

EDG has preserved their seed of hope, and the two teams will now enter a tiebreaker!

In the final game, Pawn played exceptionally well, pulling out Viktor and transforming into a lightning mage, carrying the team to victory once again and finally securing EDG's place in the World Championship!

Upon seeing this, Chen Dongqing couldn't help but feel a moment of disorientation.

He recalled something the factory manager had said: "Pawn's departure won't have much of an impact on us."

But without Pawn, who can step up and save the team in dire straits?

"Alright, despite the twists and turns, EDG has finally made it to the next round!" Wawa, unable to hide his excitement, exclaimed from the commentary booth. "This year, all three of our teams have advanced to the quarterfinals!"

Although QG's match hasn't started yet, everyone knows that QG's advancement is practically guaranteed!

And what about Chen Dongqing? While Faker was playing, he quietly continued to climb the ranks, raising his score to 800 and officially entering the top ten of the North American server!

It wasn't until this point that the ID "2016TOP1" truly entered the public eye.

In just six days, he climbed from the placement matches to the King rank with 800 points and a win rate of 88%!

This terrifying win rate and incredible speed immediately attracted the attention of all players and fans.

Now everyone understands that ilex wants to rebuild the glory of LPL players.

On October 9th, the Group B matches began. This group of matches was relatively predictable, with no tiebreakers. FW and SSG successfully advanced.

Meanwhile, Chen Dongqing and Faker's ranking scores are still climbing.

Chen Dongqing scored 950 points, while Faker continued to rise, reaching 1050.

October 10th, the last day of the group stage.

The final Group D matches have finally begun.

Chen Dongqing returned to the competition after a long absence and bombarded the remaining three teams in Group D with his attacks!

After winning two matches and securing a 5-0 record to advance, everyone's attention turned to Lin Weixiang.

Chen Dongqing asked with a smile, "So, tell me, which champion skin do you want?"

Although it's only the group stage and the championship is still far from being decided, we can still make these kinds of jokes behind closed doors.

The wise man's gaze was resolute: "VN!"

Uzi glanced at Lin Weixiang and said, "Either I go up and play Vayne, or you go up and play something else. It's your choice."

In this version that emphasizes bottom lane control, picking Vayne is tantamount to suicide, so even Uzi didn't consider picking Vayne.

How could Lin Weixiang possibly get to choose?

Da Congming chuckled and said, "Just kidding. I'll pick Ashe. If you don't have Ashe, I'll pick Lucian."

OK.

QG quickly brought Lin Weixiang back onto the stage, this time focusing on the upper half of the map and easily winning the game.

After winning the match, Da Congming's eyebrows twitched, as if the prize money for the championship skin had already been deposited into his pocket.

For the three teams in Group D, all they need to do is compete for the second qualifying spot!

The three teams fought fiercely, even going so far as to have to play overtime!

In the final battle between North America's second seed CLG and Europe's second seed H2K, the North American team CLG emerged victorious.

With that, the group stage has finally come to an end, and the eight teams that have secured their advancement have arrived at the venue one after another to prepare for the knockout stage draw ceremony!

The backstage area is now overflowing with people, including not only the teams that have already advanced, but also many eliminated teams.

Since their hotel lease hadn't expired and the location was close to the venue, they certainly didn't mind coming to the site to observe and join in the fun.

At this moment, TSM's AD carry Doublelift approached Chen Dongqing and Uzi, expressing his desire to exchange team jerseys with them.

Although the senior brother fell short of the top 16 again, he was not anxious. He believed that he had a long career ahead of him and many more opportunities.

Chen Dongqing nodded and readily agreed.

At this moment, members of EDG and Snake teams also came over and chatted with the QG team with smiles on their faces.

Chen Dongqing also laughed and said, "I hope there won't be an internal battle in the first round."

The people from Snake and EDG all nodded in agreement.

Although LPL made it to the finals in both S3 and S4 by competing in internal matches, nobody really liked this kind of schedule.

And most importantly, nobody wants to fight an internal battle with QG; that's terrifying.

At this moment, the CLG players finally returned to the backstage area. After successfully advancing to the knockout stage, it was clear that the CLG players breathed a sigh of relief.

For the vast majority of teams, their mission at the World Championship is not actually to win the title.

Many people believe that advancing to the quarterfinals is a success, while others with higher aspirations believe that only reaching the semifinals constitutes a success.

The CLG players are clearly the former.

Playing on their home turf, CLG, as the only North American team to advance to the playoffs, has certainly upheld North American glory.

If all three teams were to reach the round of 16 on their home turf, it would be far too embarrassing.

"CLG's decided, so send a representative out and get ready for the draw!" The staff kept urging, "Hurry, hurry!"

After some discussion, the three LPL teams decided that Clearlove would represent EDG, while Snake declined for a long time before finally accepting the role from Flandre.

QG, on the other hand, sent out Chen Dongqing—simply because he's handsome.

At this moment, Vincent also came over and gave the three LPL representatives a final instruction: "You've all rehearsed this. If you forget where you're standing, just look at the big screen. It will display the logos of the eight teams. Just stand in front of your own team's logo!"

"Yes, yes, we understand." Chen Dongqing nodded.

At that moment, Peanut walked over and said to Chen Dongqing with a smile, "See you in the knockout stage?"

"That's not necessarily true," Chen Dongqing said with a smile. "I hope you can win and see us."

QG and ROX are both number one seeds, so they won't meet in the quarterfinals. Therefore, they will at least have to wait until the semifinals to see each other again, meaning both sides need to win at least one round.

Peanut immediately became serious and said, "You're the ones who should be praying! We'll win until the very end!"

Chen Dongqing smiled and said, "Then let's do our best together!"

"Oh, right," Peanut suddenly said with a smile, "I brought you a surprise today!"

Chen Dongqing was a little confused: "What surprise?"

Peanut didn't explain, just blinked and said, "You'll see when you get back to the training room."

"."

Chen Dongqing wanted to ask more questions, but at that moment the staff had already signaled everyone to go on stage, so Chen Dongqing could only follow behind and step onto the stage first.

A loud cheer immediately erupted from the audience.

As all eight teams took to the stage, the audience naturally started making noises to support their favorite teams.

Chen Dongqing glanced back at the screen and saw that QG's team logo was on the far left of the stage, with a spotlight shining on the stage in front of the logo, forming a halo.

The first place from each of the four groups is on the left, and the second place from each of the four groups is on the right.

Chen Dongqing moved lightly and stood in front of the circle of light.

Seeing that all eight contestants were in position, the bearded North American host quickly pointed to the left side of the stage and shouted, "Alright, let's welcome the representatives of the four group winners!"

"ROX tiger! Flash Wolves! SK Telecom T1! AndQiaoGu!"

The audience below the stage enthusiastically banged their glow sticks, cheering for the four teams.

Then, the four second-place teams from each group took to the stage: Snake, SSG, EDG, and CLG.

A quick glance from the audience revealed three LPL teams, three LCK teams, one Taiwanese team among them, and finally one North American team.

The presence of seven Asian teams left many feeling somewhat wistful.

In the MOBA game genre, Asians are far ahead.

At this moment, another person walked out from behind the stage. He was also an Asian face. He was WildTurtle, the legendary AD carry for TSM, also known as Wild Turtle.

This player had been TSM's starting AD carry for the past two years until he was replaced by Doublelift this year.

This can be considered a legendary player.

During the S5 World Championship last year, he used Mordekaiser to knock out a whole bar of Imp's Kalista's health with a single blow, proving Mordekaiser's dominance to the world.

So much so that Chen Dongqing almost couldn't hold back her laughter when she saw Brother Wild Turtle go on stage.

At this point, the host quickly began explaining the rules of the draw: "The eight teams will be divided into two halves of the bracket, with teams from the same group avoiding each other, and the first-place team in each group facing off against the second-place team in the same group. This will create four groups that will then compete in head-to-head matches!"

After the introductions, Brother Wild Turtle officially began his work, assigning the top four teams from each group to four new groups.

He first reached into pool number one on his right, stirred it for a while, and then took out a round ball.

Disassemble the sphere and unfold the roll.

"FW"

The first team drawn was Flash Wolves, the last hope of the LMS region.

Then the second draw.

ROX!

The camera then shifted to Peanut, who, with his granny gray hair, raised his hands in a greeting.

At this moment, ROX's team name appeared in the lower left corner of the big screen, on the same left side of the screen as FW, which means they are in the same half of the bracket.

Upon seeing this, the QG team members backstage were immediately stunned.

Stop messing around, Wild Turtle Bro!

Regardless of the order of the draw, SKT and QG are already fixed in the other half of the bracket.

So does that mean that to get to the finals, you have to get past SKT?

Of course, the SKT players backstage were also a bit dizzy; they were under a lot of pressure facing QG.

On the stage, Chen Dongqing exchanged a glance with Faker and saw that Faker's eyes were full of seriousness.

Chen Dongqing raised an eyebrow slightly.

Although QG and SKT do have some grudges, is it really necessary to be so fierce?

Peanut sighed slightly.

If the schedule is arranged like this, then SKT and QG will only be able to face one of them at most, which is a bit of a pity.

In Peanut's opinion, the championship he won after successfully eliminating both QG and SKT was the most valuable.

Unfortunately, I can't give it away.

Soon, the two teams in the lower bracket also emerged.

The two teams are SKT and QG. Just like last time, QG was drawn last.

Soon, Brother Wild Turtle started working on another pool, which still contained four spheres, representing the four second-place teams in their respective groups.

Chen Dongqing's mood had basically calmed down by now.

The four teams that finished second in their groups are all quite strong, but if you have to pick the strongest one, Chen Dongqing still thinks SSG is a bit stronger, after all, they were the runners-up in 2016.

In other words, as long as you don't get SSG, you've succeeded.

Of course, it would be best to draw a CLG, as I have experience playing against that team.

Soon, the sphere was disassembled one after another.

Unfortunately, CLG, which Chen Dongqing had been longing for, was drawn against Flash Wolves right at the start of the game.

Pool 2 now only has EDG, Snake, and SSG remaining.

In other words, the quarterfinals will either be an all-Chinese affair or a match against Samsung.

Chen Dongqing was a little numb. What kind of situation was this?

Is this a backlash caused by the group stage opponents being too weak?

At this moment, CLG representative Huhi had already shaken hands with Karsa in the center of the stage, and the Dragon King had a clear smile on his face.

This is an incredibly auspicious sign for them!

Look at the other three teams outside, ROX, SKT, and QG. They're all like monsters; you can tell at a glance that you can't beat them.

But Huhi looked at Karsa in front of him again, and found her pleasing to the eye no matter how he looked at her.

Karsa shares a similar mindset.

This round, this round is called evenly matched!

This is called an internal war to secure a spot in the top four!

At this moment, a circle of light formed by four spotlights appeared in the center of the stage, and the two quickly stood in the first circle of light.

Next, the draw continued, and this draw would determine ROX's opponent.

The draw resulted in Snake being chosen, but then a problem arose: Snake and ROX were in the same group.

According to the principle of avoiding teams from the same group in the same half of the bracket, two teams that advance from the same group will not be in the same half of the bracket.

Therefore, according to the rules, Snake slipped into the bottom half of the bracket, and their opponent was the first team in the bottom half, SKT.

After dodging ROX, they encountered SKT.

Saint Gun sighed, lamenting the injustice of the world.

He came onto the stage, shook hands with Faker, and then stood inside the third circle of light.

Then, the next draw continued, and this time ROX drew its opponent!

This time, the result was fine.

"EDG!"

Chen Dongqing laughed when he saw this.

That smile was 50% for the sake of not having a civil war.

The other 50% is to give 4396 enough respect.

What's meant to happen will happen.

Mingkai, on the other hand, remained calm.

Now there are only two teams left, so it doesn't really matter whether he plays ROX or QG.

When playing against ROX, the factory manager is actually more relaxed.

Because he genuinely believed that QG was better than the Korean team.

Mingkai and Peanut shook hands in the center of the stage and entered the second circle of light. The two chatted happily. Chen Dongqing also heard that Peanut was a fan of the factory manager, but he didn't know if it was true.

Once the third draw was determined, there wasn't much to say about the final draw.

To ensure fairness, Brother Wild Turtle still drew the last lot.

Without a doubt, SSG!

Chen Dongqing and Master An walked from the left and right sides of the stage to the center and shook hands.

Chen Dongqing could keenly see a distinct bitterness appear on Master An's face.

When two teams are drawn together, it's obviously more frustrating for Samsung.

Chen Dongqing expressed his understanding.

Chen Dongqing and Master An gestured to each other to let the other go first, and then stood together at the last spot of the light circle.

The knockout stage matchups are now set!

Upper half:

FW vs CLG

ROX vs EDG