League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 230 Race Clash!

"Let's congratulate QG!" Wawa's voice was still loud and clear; this result was clearly what he wanted to see: "Another 2-0 sweep! They haven't lost a single game since the Spring Split!"

Not only have they never lost, but it's also clear that QG's offensive is becoming increasingly fluid!

Countless fans below the stage were waving their light sticks wildly, releasing their inner excitement!

The camera then panned to the QG players' bench, where Chen Dongqing could be seen smiling as he stood up and gave a high-five to his teammates.

"Awesome, Gouwei!" Chen Dongqing gave his teammate a thumbs up. "That last push was pretty powerful!"

"So-so." Godway genuinely thought it was just so-so; he didn't even have much of an expression on his face. "The enemy team was focusing fire on me like crazy, and I just used all the skills I could."

"But that's awesome enough!" Uzi patted Godway on the shoulder from behind. "Let's shake hands!"

Watching the joyful scene on screen, Miller couldn't help but exclaim, "You can tell that although Tree has been going through a lot of drama lately, his skill level hasn't been affected at all! One game with a godlike Vayne, and another with a 4-1 Kennen, he played up to his usual standard!"

Wawa crossed his arms and laughed, "Perhaps after this match, the fans can rest assured that Brother Shu is still the reliable player he always was!"

Meanwhile, the comments section was filled with messages.

[I already said, don't try to understand Brother Tree using ordinary thinking.]

No matter how much the haters criticize, it's useless; Brother Tree's talent is undeniable.

[Sure, what's wrong with being distracted while playing StarCraft? When has my brother ever been serious when playing League of Legends?]

[Waiting for Tree Bro to win another StarCraft title!]

If Tree Bro can win the StarCraft championship, then he will truly be the god of esports.

The camera then pans to the EDG players' bench, where A-Guang can be seen with a look of regret on his face. He is the first member of the EDG team to stand up and wait for a handshake.

He actually played quite well this game.

At least in terms of early-game support, he did everything he could. Shen's impact in the early to mid-game was greater than Kennen's.

As for not gaining an advantage in a 5v4 situation, that's a team problem, not his fault.

This was his best performance in all the games he'd played against Chen Dongqing.

The other four teammates, however, each had their own thoughts and their expressions were somewhat gloomy.

They haven't played this game yet, and they both have things they didn't do well.

The mid laner was solo killed, and the bottom laner was instantly killed because of his forward positioning. Only the jungler, Clearlove, performed decently, but not particularly outstandingly.

After a whole round, EDG couldn't find a way to beat QG.

"EDG is indeed undergoing a small rebuild right now," Wawa said. "The departure of their two carries has made the team less dominant than last year, and they need to go through a long period of adjustment."

In the video, the two teams have already started shaking hands, and Chen Dongqing pats A Guang's arm and laughs, "Well done, Guang."

Upon hearing Chen Dongqing's words, A Guang felt a surge of honor, as if he had met his match. He solemnly replied, "You are one too, Tree."

Today, Ah Guang really felt he played well. In the second game, he played against a long-range opponent with short-range weapons and wasn't even pressured much!

Chen Dongqing raised an eyebrow, glanced at A Guang with surprise, smiled slightly, and then walked to the center of the stage to bow in respect.

After turning around, Chen Dongqing finally couldn't help but yawn.

It's always a bit boring when he gets to choose a late-game carry to play, but thankfully he performed well in the last two team fights, so he had a good time.

Ah-Guang, who witnessed this scene, was speechless.

Halfway there, staff members appeared again and stopped Chen Dongqing.

Chen Dongqing had anticipated this, so he handed the peripherals to Gao Dewei next to him and stood still to wait.

Lin Yuanhua quickly walked up in her high heels. Today she was wearing a dark green tight-fitting long dress with a cinched waist and a slit, which showed off her good figure.

"Oh, what a coincidence!" Lin Yuanhua came up and greeted them.

"That's quite a coincidence," Chen Dongqing said with a smile. "Want to have dinner together tonight?"

"Okay, I'll wait for you at the exit."

There are so many hosts and tournaments for League of Legends now, it's really hard for the two of them to run into each other.

"Shall we go?" Chen Dongqing pointed to the stage. For him, the interview was a very easy task; he could just go up on stage.

"There's a problem this time, let's talk about it first." Lin Yuanhua quickly grabbed Chen Dongqing and then showed him the contents of the card.

Chen Dongqing glanced at it, then immediately understood, "The league would ask such a question?"

The card had questions about his foray into StarCraft, but since it involved competing games, the League probably wouldn't have brought it up.

"That's why the question didn't mention the names of other games," Lin Yuanhua explained. "It's mainly to give you a way to reassure your fans. They're a little panicked seeing you playing like this."

Chen Dongqing nodded to show that he understood, and then said, "Alright, let's go on stage."

The two walked quickly onto the stage and first stood in the interview area.

When the audience saw these two people take the stage, they immediately erupted in cheers.

Chen Dongqing greeted him cheerfully and then waited as planned.

We're still in the MVP selection phase, and the interviews won't begin until that phase is over.

Chen Dongqing glanced back at the large screen on the scene.

The MVP of this game wasn't him. Godaway delivered the highest damage output of the game, along with outstanding performances including a solo kill and crucial teamfight control, earning him the MVP award.

After the MVP selection, the two commentators briefly guided the discussion before moving on to the interview segment.

Lin Yuanhua started with a standard question: "How do you feel after winning the match?"

"Happy!" Chen Dongqing replied as usual: "This match against EDG was very important to us. It was a key point, as it affected our chances of making the playoffs and our ranking. The whole team was very happy after winning."

This kind of platitude left the audience confused. Even if QG lost this match, they would still be number one in the league. They didn't understand what the key point was.

This sounds like someone saying that Li Yunlong's attack on Ping'an County was a turning point in World War II.

Lin Yuanhua smiled and asked the second question: "In the first game, you picked a very rare top lane hero and achieved a godlike performance. Was this hero your signature move? Did you practice it in scrims, or was it an impromptu pick?"

"Of course I've practiced," Chen Dongqing laughed. "QG never picks heroes on the spot. Every hero on the field has been tested in scrims. It's just that I practice heroes faster, so my hero pool is deeper."

As they were talking, Lin Yuanhua clearly saw Chen Dongqing wink at her.

Lin Yuanhua couldn't help but roll her eyes. As her childhood sweetheart, she knew all too well what the person in front of her meant.

She immediately followed up with, "So, how many scrim games did you practice to master the champion Vayne?"

"One game!" Chen Dongqing puffed out his chest in satisfaction and answered proudly, "Because we already have a marksman top lane system, we quickly mastered the Vayne champion, and today's match proved that this is indeed a very good tactic!"

A chorus of gasps of surprise rose from the audience; many were once again shocked.

How can someone practice Vayne only once and then go on to dominate in a match?

Harbin people.

"One last question," Lin Yuanhua finally asked, "Recently, you seemed to be considering participating in other professional gaming leagues. What are your plans?"

Many audience members couldn't help but prick up their ears, as they were also very interested in the answer to this question.

"The professional leagues for other games are just a pastime for me," Chen Dongqing said, having already prepared his words. "Just like when I participate in small game competitions during my holidays, it's just a little fun I do when I'm bored. Don't take it seriously. I will always remember my identity as a professional player in the league. That's my main job, so you can rest assured."

Hearing this, the audience felt a little relieved.

If even Brother Shu himself isn't taking it seriously, then they don't need to either. Let Brother Shu have his fun; he'll probably settle down after he's been eliminated.

You can't just play around and suddenly become a world champion, can you? No matter how talented you are, you can't play like that.

After the interview, Chen Dongqing returned to the lounge to report to the team, and then went backstage to meet Lin Yuanhua. The two of them casually found a local Shanghainese restaurant to sit down.

While the dishes were being served, Chen Dongqing took out his phone and browsed some online forums.

Although it's only the regular season, the battle between EDG and QG is already the climax of the regular season, and with the added bonus of a historic event like the blitzkrieg against Poland, this match has generated a lot of discussion.

There's not much to say, just enjoy it.

How would you rate Tree's Vayne performance today?

【god!】

My assessment is that they're on par with Uzbekistan!

[Brother Shu has done all sorts of bad things. He stole the title of QG's best Marco Polo player, and now he wants to steal QG's best Sun Shangxiang player?]

[Tree Bro is really something else. I don't know why, but every time he picks a weird hero, there's a corresponding one in another game.]

Indeed, it's always about champions like Torbjörn, Sun Shangxiang, and Mi Yue.

Many fans in the forum were having a good time, making all sorts of jokes.

After QG's grand slam last year, the Anti-QG forum has long become a QG-dominated space. Although this may make fans of other teams uncomfortable, there's nothing you can do about QG's good results.

As Chen Dongqing scrolled through the page, he came across a funny post. It was a screenshot of today's interview, in which Lin Yuanhua was rolling her eyes. Under her big eyes, the whites of her eyes were quite obvious, while Chen Dongqing was chuckling beside her.

"Look at this!" Chen Dongqing immediately showed the picture to the person opposite him, and then received another big eye roll in return.

After dinner, Chen Dongqing put his girlfriend in the car to go home, and then drove back to the base in another car.

Standing at the entrance of the base, Chen Dongqing saw a group of young people walking past. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that their team uniforms were printed with "QGhappy".

"Brother Shu!" A young man from the team walked over and greeted Chen Dongqing warmly.

This man's name was Peng Yunfei, and he was none other than Fei Niu.

"What's up?" Chen Dongqing asked. "I heard you've been doing well on the field lately?"

Chen Dongqing had heard a little about Fei Niu's situation. After duo-queuing with him, Fei Niu was immediately promoted to the starting position.

At the time, Fei Niu, a player who rose to prominence by relying on others, caused some minor dissatisfaction within the team.

However, this dissatisfaction dissipated after a few matches, because in the previous few matches, he performed exceptionally well in every game, winning MVP and achieving a winning streak with QGhappy.

Seeing Fly's peak performance right from his debut, many people were reminded of Chen Dongqing last year. They felt that this guy was also a potential FMVP, and he has secured his starting position.

Upon hearing this, Fei Niu laughed loudly, "Then we definitely have to thank Brother Shu for his help!"

"No, no," Chen Dongqing said, not taking credit. "Your skill level is there, it was only a matter of time before you climbed up. Your skill is definitely superior."

Fei Niu nodded happily, quite obediently.

Chen Dongqing didn't chat with the other party for long before quickly walking back into the base, where several teammates were already seated.

He started the live stream first, greeted the audience, and then started StarCraft 2 again.

After GPL registration closes on March 9th, the online elimination rounds of 128 to 8 will begin, and these rounds will last for half a month.

On March 25th, the eight remaining members will join four veteran players who were promoted directly to compete in the group stage, which will be a 12-to-8 round. Finally, the eight players will enter the knockout stage to compete for the championship.

This means that time is tight, and Chen Dongqing still needs to practice more.

Chen Dongqing has now mastered this two-ship troop tactic to perfection, but he still occasionally loses. Although victory and defeat are common in war, Chen Dongqing still finds it hard to accept.

From the moment he embarked on his StarCraft journey, he was aiming for the world championship; he wouldn't allow himself to be outmatched by players in the Chinese server.

If even the national server can't guarantee a 100% win rate, then what's the point of winning a championship?

Of course, the main reason for the loss was that his tactics were too simplistic. Many times, when faced with tactics that countered the two-ship infantry, coupled with the fact that the opponent was also a high-level player with 6,000 points, even if Chen Dongqing's skills were superb, he was powerless to turn the tide.

Therefore, Chen Dongqing's solution to this problem is to continue cultivating the relationship between the two ships!

If you lose, it means your tactics weren't executed well enough and your execution wasn't strong enough!

Just like the theory in the Desert Reaper forum later on—the reason for losing is that your Q skill stacks are not high enough. If you can't win with a thousand stacks of Q, then try two thousand stacks.

That very night, Chen Dongqing once again wreaked havoc on the Chinese server, and his synergy with the two ship soldiers' tactics reached a new level.

QG's match continued for the remainder of the game.

QG's schedule in the second round of the inter-group round-robin is relatively easy. Their two toughest opponents, EDG and WE, are in the first and last matches respectively, while the opponents in between are all weak.

On March 5th, QG will face off against OMG from Group B.

Although OMG miraculously defeated EDG, the top team in their group, this does not diminish the fact that they are a truly weak team.

Chen Dongqing fought against one of the dark forces, Frozen Sunset, and was quite ruthless. He used a Jayce and a Riven to hack the veteran player Sunset to the point that he couldn't take care of himself.

Meanwhile, mid laner Gao Dewei, with his experience, taught the young player Icon a lesson, exerting pressure in the mid lane for two consecutive games and coordinating with Xiangguo to launch a beautiful jungle invasion.

Two to zero, an easy win!

On March 9th, in the fifth week of the regular season, QG took to the stage again to face their eighth opponent in the regular season.

This time, their opponent is IM, a team that was promoted from LSPL last year. Their roster is not much different from last year.

Therefore, the outcome of the match will not be different.

This team still uses the same strategy: pick late-game carry champions for their two carries, and then rely on the top and jungle lanes to drag the game into the late game.

This team's average match time is over 45 minutes; it's a contest of who has the biggest bladder.

But QG has never tolerated teams like that.

They crushed SKT, let alone a mere IM?

With Gao Dewei on the team, QG's early game offensive capabilities seem even stronger. In the first game, the mid and bot laners secured kills in succession, while Chen Dongqing and Xiangguo relentlessly ganked AJ.

Within ten minutes, the team had a 5,000 gold lead, shattering IM's hopes of dragging the game into the late game.

The second game followed a similar pattern.

Two to zero, an easy victory.

"Eight-game winning streak in major matches, sixteen-game winning streak in minor matches, QG is currently undefeated!" Wawa shouted excitedly from the commentary booth, "QG is the most dominant team I've ever seen!"

"And you also have to take their stats from last season into account!" Miller sighed. "After losing to IG in the Spring Split last season, they went on a seven-game winning streak, and then a sixteen-game winning streak in the Summer Split!"

"If you add it all up, they're now on a 31-game winning streak!"

Thirty-one consecutive wins—that's an outrageous number, and many people can't help but feel a chill run down their spines when they hear it.

It's outrageous!

Of course, the QG members didn't feel this deeply; as a world champion team, they were expected to win the game.

Today, registration for the StarCraft 2 GPL Gold League officially closed. 128 casual players and professional players will begin a brutal elimination battle the day after tomorrow to compete for 8 spots in the group stage.

The preliminary elimination rounds officially began on March 11th.

The first round of the competition, from 128 to 64, consists of 64 matches, which will be played over four days. Chen Dongqing was scheduled for the first day because he registered early.

There were no League of Legends matches today, so Chen Dongqing wasn't under much pressure. He won two games in a row in the best-of-three series and easily advanced to the top 64.

This was Chen Dongqing's first match in his StarCraft professional career, but because it was an online match, the tense atmosphere was greatly reduced, and Chen Dongqing did not feel any pressure, just like playing ranked matches.

He got up and stretched, ready to start his pleasant afternoon, but when he looked back, he saw that all four of his teammates were already standing behind him.

"What are you doing?" Chen Dongqing asked, somewhat confused.

"Let's see how good you are at StarCraft!" Xiangguo said matter-of-factly. "I want to see just how good you are at it!"

Chen Dongqing asked with a smile, "And the result?"

"That's awesome!" Uzi gave a thumbs up. "You're going to be invincible!"

GPL is the largest StarCraft league in China, directly connected to WCS. Chen Dongqing won so easily in the top 128 competition of such a league, which shows that he can go further and that he does have top-level StarCraft skills in China!

Chen Dongqing grinned.

The bigger ones are yet to come!

On March 12th, QG's matches continued.

This time, their opponent is slightly stronger, VG, who is ranked third in Group B.

This version of VG has a slightly different roster compared to last year, with the jungler now being two-time world champion Bengi.

Of course, everyone has a common understanding regarding this signing – Bengi is here to retire.

Although this jungler has an excellent ability to protect the mid lane, theoretically he should be able to create a good synergy when paired with his former teammate Easyhoon. However, there is one problem that they have to face.

Bengi, born in 93, and Easyhoon, born in 92, are a combined 47 years old. They are the oldest mid-jungle duo in the world, and in the youth-oriented esports industry, they really don't have much of an advantage.

Their extensive competition experience couldn't help them defeat the young men.

In the first game, Gao Dewei once again displayed his prowess, successfully solo killing Easyhoon's Azir with a classic Varus play, while Chen Dongqing also used the top lane advantage to help Xiangguo invade the jungle and kill Bengi.

Watching ilex and mlxg wreak havoc in their own jungle, the two-time champion seemed to be reliving that afternoon in New York.

Another easy 2-0 victory, adding another win to QG's winning streak.

March 16th is the first day of the sixth week of the LPL regular season. QG only has one match this week, but it's not today.

Today is also the day Chen Dongqing will compete in the round of 64 to 32, but fortunately, Chen Dongqing does not have any LPL matches today.

This time, his opponent was still an unknown high-ranking random player, and a Zerg player, which is the race that is countered by the two-ship tactic. So Chen Dongqing made a swift move and won two more games in a row, successfully advancing to the top 32!

After reaching the round of 32, the pace of the competition began to accelerate.

After only two days of rest, the competition to narrow down the field to 16 resumed on March 18th.

This time, Chen Dongqing finally met a formidable opponent.

This time, the opponent is named Punk, from Huang Xudong's Xteam team. He is a genuine professional player with considerable strength.

Unfortunately, it's also a Zerg.

Since learning to use two ships, Chen Dongqing has never lost a battle against the Zerg.

With his scattershot tactics alone, the Zerg had no chance of defeating him.

With a comfortable 2-0 victory, Chen Dongqing successfully advanced to the round of 16.

He just needs to win one more game to qualify for the GPL main event!

As his teammates, the QG members witnessed Chen Dongqing's journey to the next round, and everyone was amazed.

As top professional LOL players, they admired no one but Chen Dongqing, this monster, for his gaming talent!

On March 19th, QG returned to the LPL stage. This time, their opponent was GT, the relegation king, who were the fifth team in the Group B round-robin stage.

This team went through two rounds of promotion and relegation matches last year, but successfully avoided relegation each time. In the 17 Spring Split, they once again ranked second to last in Group B, and their ranking remained very stable.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, they will once again embark on their relegation battle; hopefully, they can succeed.

Against a relegation-threatened team like this, QG didn't even play seriously. Banbazi gave the order from the start, sending Uzi and Shi Senming to break through the opponent's defense.

GT's main carry is top laner GimGoon, and their playstyle involves the jungler camping in the top lane to provide strong protection.

In this playstyle, QG forcibly trying to break through the top lane is obviously just asking for trouble; it would be better to let Uzi easily dominate the bottom lane.

Uzi did not disappoint his teammates, winning MVP in two consecutive games and easily taking the match 2-0!

"Alright, another 2-0! QG is absolutely insane!" Changmao's voice was extremely exaggerated. "Is there really no team that can beat them even once?"

"Next, we'll see the final match of this inter-group round-robin tournament!" Beside Changmao, Su Xiaoyan looked at the schedule and said:

"QG will face their final opponent in the inter-group round-robin on March 24th, week seven, WE, who are currently at the top of Group B!"

On March 20th, the final round of the StarCraft qualifiers finally began.

This time, Chen Dongqing was facing another professional player, this time a human player.

Although Chen Dongqing's win rate against humans wasn't as terrifying as 100%, it was still as high as 95%, making him virtually invincible.

Therefore, even professional players can be easily dominated by Chen Dongqing.

Another clean and decisive 2-0 victory! Chen Dongqing successfully advanced to the GPL group stage!

As the LPL inter-group round-robin tournament draws to a close, the highly anticipated GPL Gold League is also finally reaching its climax.

But on the very night the group stage ended, an unexpected event suddenly occurred.

The official Weibo account of the GPL Golden League first issued an announcement, showcasing the list of the top 12 teams in this year's group stage.

These are Toodming, IA, XY, and Macsed, who directly advanced to the group stage from the 2016 GPL finals, and Time, CoffeeMs, Cyan, Ein, Jim, Yifeng, Slike, and finally Ilex, who advanced from the open qualifiers.

A strange name has slipped into this list, but it's clearly the one that's been discussed the most.

This list immediately sparked countless discussions.

[No way, Brother Tree can really advance?]

[Wow, did he really advance to the group stage? Is he serious?]

Why weren't the preliminary rounds streamed live? I can't see Brother Shu's journey to the next round, it's making me anxious!

It's okay, we'll see it on the 25th.

小组赛总共分三天进行，按照之前公布的日期，这三天分别是3月25日，4月1日和4月8日。

Just as everyone was looking forward to Chen Dongqing's StarCraft debut, GPL officials suddenly released another message.

「因不可抗力因素，GPL线下淘汰赛将提前一周，从4月15日-4月16日提前到4月8日-4月9日，相对应的，小组赛三天赛程也将提前到3月24日，3月28日，4月2日。」

Around the same time the announcement was made, Chen Dongqing also received a text message from the GPL official, explaining why the offline event was moved up a week.

The main reason is that this event was held at the Shanghai Kintetsu City Plaza. The time was originally agreed upon, but a celebrity was going to hold an event there during that time, so the two schedules clashed.

Esports competitions can't compare to celebrity events, so the events had to be moved up a week.

However, problems arise in this situation.

The big match between QG and WE will take place on March 24th.

But the first day of the GPL group stage is also March 24th!

The two races have collided!

This can be considered a small climax in the interstellar side story. See you tomorrow, brothers!

(End of this chapter)