League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 243 I am the world's number one support!

After the regular season ended, the rankings of the two groups were quickly finalized.

Group A, from top to bottom, consists of: QG, FPX, IG, Snake, RNG, and LGD.

In the battle between RNG and LGD for the last spot, LGD ultimately prevailed. Their victory in the internal battle is a cause for celebration.

Poor RNG, they just bought King's LPL spot last year and were resurrected, but now they are facing a relegation crisis.

Perhaps this is the price of choosing an all-Chinese team.

The rankings for Group B are WE, EDG, IM, OMG, GT, and VG. The same rule applies: the top four will play in the playoffs, and the bottom two will play in the relegation matches.

After a short two-day break, the first round of the playoffs kicked off on April 18.

The first match was between IG, the third-place team in Group A, and OMG, the fourth-place team in Group B.

According to the rules, IG, which ranks higher, is guaranteed a win.

With this advantage, the IG team relaxed, and Rookie finally managed to kill faster than his teammates, forcibly leading the team to a victory!

With a 2-0 lead, IG was in high spirits and continued their momentum, winning the match 3-0 to advance to the top six!

On the same day, the quarterfinals of the other half of the bracket also kicked off!

This time, Snake, the fourth-place team in Group A, will face off against IM, the third-place team in Group B.

Snake showed great resilience, winning consecutive matches despite being down by one point, and managed to bring the score to 1-2!

The crowd cheered loudly, and just when everyone thought the Snake team was about to win three straight games, IM started to exert their strength.

This team has nothing special about them except their ability to endure.

The first two games lasted over forty minutes each. Although the Snake team won, they were also severely weakened, which affected their performance to some extent.

Meanwhile, everyone at IM was still in high spirits.

Once you have a mental advantage, winning becomes much easier.

In the third game, another 50-minute battle ensued. In the end, IM's top laner AJ initiated a perfect team fight and caught the enemy's crystal, which was positioned too far forward, leading his team to victory!

The three matches lasted from 6 PM to past 9 PM, leaving the Snake team members exhausted and mentally drained!

It's possible that the Snake team was already struggling, and they made a major mistake early in the fourth game, getting caught and killed in the top lane while also being solo-killed in the mid lane!

After gaining an early advantage, IM didn't rush to attack; instead, they focused on holding on!

The fourth game still lasted over forty minutes!

The match went on until after 10 p.m., and IM finally scored one more point, defeating Snake 3-2 and advancing to the top six!

Take two days off, April 20th.

The competition to advance from six to four also began.

This time, the lower bracket matches started first. After advancing, IM faced their next opponent, FPX, the second-place team in Group A!

It has to be said that this version of FPX is indeed quite strong. They only lost three games in the entire regular season, two of which were against QG and one against WE.

Judging from their record, they are even stronger than EDG!

Doinb has brought the system he developed in QG to FPX very well. His mid-jungle duo with Clid is top-tier in the LPL, clearly stronger than IM's Athena + Flawless.

In the first game, FPX started by coordinating with Clid to kill the enemy mid laner once, and then at eight minutes, they launched a three-man gank on the top lane, killing AJ under the tower!

IM's top laner AJ has always been the backbone of the team, doing all the dirty and hard work.

FPX's goal in this game was quite clear: to dismantle your pillar!

Without the top laner's mid-game tempo-driving force, IM suddenly became like headless flies, their mid-game momentum plummeted, and the kill ratio widened further and further!

FPX won the first game 1-0 in 32 minutes!

In the second game, IM changed their strategy and chose to give some help to the top lane, but FPX changed their tactics again and launched a four-man gank on the bottom lane, which once again broke through the side lanes!

After AD gained the advantage, the game ended even faster, in less than 30 minutes!

Why do many people call FPX "Little QG"? Besides the fact that they have two members from QG, another reason is that FPX's playstyle is too similar to QG's last year.

Just like playing basketball, Doinb, as a point guard, can always attract multiple defenders and then accurately pass the ball to his open teammate outside the three-point line.

Even if the teammate outside the three-point line wasn't Uzi or Ilex, but just Lin Weixiang, the three-pointer might not have been guaranteed to go in. But at least it was an effective offensive play.

The third game started quickly.

Doinb once again found a good breakthrough. His mid-laner Kled made a decisive move, executing another classic four-man gank on the bottom lane, destroying IM's bottom lane once more and passing the ball to Lin Weixiang.

Lin Weixiang raised his arm and shot a three-pointer.

A pop-up window appears.

In the context of the League of Legends match, Ashe switched lanes to push the mid lane tower, but was caught by IM. AJ's Maokai used Flash and Root, and with the help of his teammates, Lin Weixiang was happily sent away!

The fans in the audience felt a sinking feeling in their hearts.

What are you doing?

Fortunately, this setback was only temporary. After respawning, Lin Weixiang regrouped and continued to attack the mid lane, while Liu Qingsong and Clid showed great ingenuity, finding a good opportunity to catch and kill the enemy support.

Then came the familiar continuous progress.

FPX is absolutely top-notch in team fights. After gaining an advantage, they played steadily and finally won the third game!

None of the three games lasted more than forty minutes.

Seeing this, the audience below the stage cheered with satisfaction.

The IM match the day before yesterday was torture to watch. We really need QG players to handle this!

People from the QG group are masters at dealing with turtles!

After winning this battle, FPX officially advanced to the semifinals and will face WE, the top team in Group B, in the semifinals!

On the same day, the semi-finals of the lower bracket followed closely behind.

This time it's EDG versus IG.

There's not much to say about this game; Clearlove7 is a natural at dealing with hotheads like TheShy.

The factory manager even started ganking the top lane again after a long time, but what was most interesting was that every wave was very effective, and he always left with at least one kill, which made the audience sigh.

It seems that not every top laner can reach their peak right from the start like Tree.

TheShy still needs to hone his skills.

EDG advances with a 3-0 victory.

Thus, the four finalists were determined.

In the upper bracket, QG will face EDG; in the lower bracket, WE will face FPX.

First up, of course, are the classic anime series from the first half of the series!

February 22th, around noon.

Shanghai Zhengda Plaza.

"Welcome to Zhengda Plaza, viewers! This is the venue for the LPL Spring Playoffs semifinals, QG vs. EDG!"

Guan Zeyuan appeared in the commentary booth and excitedly exclaimed, "Today's match is a classic LPL showdown!"

"Yeah!" Remember also paused the conversation. "This rivalry lasted the entire previous year!"

I remember there was one more thing I didn't say.

Last year, EDG didn't win a single game.

Of course, there's no need to remember to say it; the audience understands.

[Fun fact: EDG's record against QG is 1-12]

Is this for real?

It's true, EDG only won one game against QG in the Spring Split regular season, and then they never won again.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the score will be 1-15 tonight.

Haha, so funny!

The camera then pans to the players' benches, where the players are in different states.

On EDG's side, the players were playing on their phones in the rest room, seemingly quite relaxed.

But when the camera pans to QG, a completely different scene unfolds.

It seems like a meeting is taking place in the QG lounge, and they're discussing something.

Seeing this, many fans couldn't help but feel a little sad.

QG has already won by a huge margin just in terms of their attitude towards the game.

QG's meeting wasn't just a publicity stunt for the cameras; they were genuinely having a meeting.

Banbazi is discussing the draft picks and bans (BP) for today's match with his teammates.

After reaching the playoffs, the game version was updated to 7.7.

Compared to the regular season, this version has undergone many updates.

The biggest update is Galio's rework, transforming him from the Sentinel's Lament into the Colossus of Justice.

Furthermore, judging from the win rate in ranked matches, this champion is an absolute monster champion. However, Riot Games has learned its lesson this time. They have banned Galio from appearing in the playoffs. They need to balance the champion before releasing him in MSI, so this is not within the scope of this discussion.

Aside from that, there were some minor changes. This time, the designers still focused on the competition venue and made some small tweaks.

First, Camille got nerfed again.

That's right, this thing got nerfed again.

The ultimate skill's cooldown was changed from 4 seconds to 2.5/3.25/4 seconds in progressive increments, and then W was nerfed again, reducing its cooldown by two seconds.

If the previous blows inflicted on Camille were all aimed at weakening her individual combat abilities...

This nerf severely impacted Camille's early-game team fighting ability, essentially turning the champion into a joke.

This is the most severely nerfed champion in the history of League of Legends, no exaggeration!

What? Irelia? Seriously, don't try to pull this on me.

Then, there aren't many changes to the top lane.

Volibear received a minor buff, while Aatrox received a major buff, but these changes are geared towards ranked play; these two champions are unlikely to be seen in competitive matches.

The only notable change is Fizz. This champion's Q skill has an increased AP ratio, and the W mark duration has been increased by two seconds. It seems that the former top lane Fizz is making a comeback.

Then Graves and Rengar were also nerfed.

The "real man" (referring to a specific champion) no longer has magic resistance, making AP junglers, who already counter Graves, even more effective now. Rengar's Q skill damage and AD scaling have both been nerfed, finally ending Rengar's jungle dominance.

The jungle is now dominated by veteran junglers Lee Sin and Elise, with Jarvan IV also having his own territory.

If we disregard the nerfs to Camille, this patch is actually quite favorable for QG. All three junglers in this patch are Xiangguo's signature picks.

Banbazi concluded: "In short, for today's draft, we'll stick to what we discussed before: focus on the jungler, prioritize helping Liu Shiyu pick champions, and then decide which half of the map to focus on based on the situation. Do you guys have any questions about that?"

"No problem!" the QG team said in unison.

The meeting ended, and it was almost 2 o'clock; the competition was about to begin.

There's a little new element before the competition begins.

In 2017, LPL added a new award called Regular Season MVP.

The winner of this award will be announced immediately after the regular season ends, while the trophy will be awarded when the player makes their first appearance in the playoffs.

Today's host, Lin Yuanhua, quickly stepped onto the stage and announced in a sweet voice, "Let's welcome the 2017 LPL Spring Split Regular Season MVP—ilex! He's on stage!"

The MVP award for this regular season is pretty much a sure thing, given Chen Dongqing's consistently strong performance.

The audience erupted in applause, and Chen Dongqing's regular season stats were displayed on the big screen.

MVP数量：16（1st），总击杀：177（1st），单杀数：35（1st），场均伤害707（2nd）。

Chen Dongqing ranks among the top in a series of highly valuable data points.

It's a pity that he was overtaken by Uzi, the damage king, in terms of damage per minute and damage percentage. Otherwise, he could have achieved the top spot in all aspects of the top laner rankings.

Unfortunately, judging from the recent changes, it's clear that the designers want to buff ADCs. The Ardent Censer buff and Lulu buff ultimately benefit the AD carries.

It is precisely because of these version changes that ADCs occupy eight of the top ten spots in the average damage rankings.

Only two strange people broke in: Chen Dongqing, who was second, and Rookie, who was third.

Chen Dongqing walked quickly onto the stage and stood side by side with Lin Yuanhua.

The two were a perfect match, and as soon as they stepped onto the stage, a chorus of cheers erupted from the audience.

Nowadays, the authorities seem to be deliberately trying to bring them together, often having Lin Yuanhua interview Chen Dongqing, which has resulted in many photos of the two appearing together.

The two were already used to this phenomenon.

Chen Dongqing smiled as he accepted the trophy from Lin Yuanhua, and then gave his acceptance speech as requested.

"This MVP award is a recognition of a player's individual ability, which means that you are the best performing player in this league."

"But that's far from enough." Chen Dongqing raised the trophy and said, "The regular season MVP doesn't mean anything. The best way to prove your strength is through victory after victory. In the playoffs, my team and I will prove everything with our wins."

A burst of enthusiastic cheers erupted from the audience. Chen Dongqing raised the trophy high and left the stage. As soon as he stepped off the stage, he saw several of his teammates.

Xiangguo punched Chen Dongqing, "You've shown off again!"

Chen Dongqing smiled smugly. The first regular season MVP award actually has some merit.

He spoke so worthlessly on stage just to show off.

"Alright, hurry back and put the trophy away." Banbazi patted the player on the shoulder. "Get ready to go on stage."

Chen Dongqing walked back and forth quickly, and the staff then relayed the message to the stage.

Upon receiving the message through her headset, Lin Yuanhua immediately spoke up: "Alright, let's welcome both teams to the stage! First of all, welcome QG!"

Chen Dongqing was bumped by Xiangguo, and he quickly led his team onto the stage. A burst of enthusiastic cheers immediately erupted from the audience, with countless QG supporters waving flags and shouting, creating a deafening roar!

But the cheers subsided instantly after EDG took the stage.

The little piglets' energy is clearly no match for QG's.

Mingkai observed this phenomenon, his face expressionless, as if he were about to enter Dark Kai state.

EDG has been dominating the LPL for four years now. When have we ever suffered such unfair treatment?

Filled with indignation, the factory manager sat back down and quickly joined the designated competition room.

Guan Zeyuan's voice began to ring out in the room.

"Alright, it's still a classic matchup! This is a rematch of last year's Spring Finals and Summer Finals!" Colonel Guan announced loudly, "But compared to last year, neither team has the same members."

QG changed their mid and support players, while EDG changed their AD carry.

"But neither team's dominance has diminished!" Someone added, "They're still meeting in the playoffs! The outcome of this game is worth watching!"

As the screen transitions, BP officially begins.

At this point, we can see that both sides have completed their first three bans.

"Because QG was ranked higher, they had the priority to choose sides. In the first game, they chose the blue side and banned Poppy, Gragas, and Zyra."

Beerman is a rising star that has emerged in the recent version. In addition to his outstanding performance in the jungle, another key point is that he can be used in both the top and jungle roles.

Beerman's ability to clear lanes in the top lane is too abnormal; he can clear the wave by simply throwing Q from a distance, just like Ekko in Season 6.

The key is that Beerman has two skills, W and E, so his melee ability is not as weak as Ekko's, and even Chen Dongqing has a hard time breaking through his defenses.

If the blue side has enough ban slots, banning this hero is the optimal solution.

As for the red team, they have a clever plan.

On the other side, EDG responded by banning Fiora, Jayce, and Caitlyn before entering the champion selection phase.

Seeing this ban, Guan Daxiao stroked his chin and said, "EDG didn't ban Camille. I wonder if Tree will choose this champion."

In the previous rounds of the playoffs, Camille was practically invisible; nobody paid her any attention.

But Chen Dongqing's Camille is in a league of its own, and no one knows whether QG will still pick it.

"Alright, first pick for the blue side, QG quickly locked in Karma! A very good choice. This champion's versatility as a mid or support, along with her strong wave clear ability, can greatly benefit the team!"

In response, EDG chose to lock in Graves and Ashe.

Looking at EDG's two options, Banbazi saw the predicament EDG is currently facing.

If Pawn's departure could be argued by EDG as having little impact, given that Scout is also a competent mid-laner, then Pawn's departure is a valid point.

Deft's departure was like a fatal blow to a major artery.

Even now, Zet has not been able to completely replace Mr. Devil's role. In the current version where AD carries are highly valued, Zet's damage per minute is only 511, which ranks 23rd!

This forced the factory manager to choose heroes with higher damage output to make up for the team's lack of damage.

However, once Graves is picked, the draft phase will reveal weaknesses.

After Graves was released without magic resistance, he became an even more powerful hero.

"Take out the spider first." Coach Cui locked onto the Spider Queen without hesitation, and after a moment's thought, locked onto the Titan.

Since the jungler has chosen a champion with a significant advantage like Elise against Graves, the mid laner needs to be paired with a champion who can dominate the lane to synergize with the Paper Doll. Karma is a great choice.

In that case, the support role needs to add a team fight initiation capability, and the draft strategies for the first three picks are quite clear.

Once EDG saw Titan, their strategy became clear, and they immediately locked in Tahm Kench, entering the second round of draft picks.

In the second round, after much deliberation, EDG decided to respect the first move and banned Camille, then added Varus to the ban list.

QG had it much easier. With the opponent not picking top or mid, they simply banned both mid laners, effectively shutting down Viktor and Ryze, and then entered the champion selection phase.

"Alright, fourth pick for the red side, EDG locks in Maokai for top lane, let's see what QG's next move is!"

In the QG voice chat channel, everyone is discussing something.

"If we're talking about big trees, should we choose the little fish?" Banbazi was discussing with Chen Dongqing.

The matchup between Fizz and Treant Protector is a very strong lane matchup. Chen Dongqing once used this matchup to completely overwhelm Duke.

However, it's not easy to pick Fizz this game, so we need to discuss it.

"The Little Fishman is really no good." Chen Dongqing shook his head. "Too many AP champions."

If the mid, jungle, and support are all AP damage dealers, and the top lane picks a hybrid damage champion like Fizz, then they'll all become useless.

"Then what do you want to take?"

"Take this."

Chen Dongqing moved the mouse and selected a hero.

A gasp of surprise immediately rose from the audience.

This hero is quite rare!

Banbazi peeked over, raised an eyebrow, and nodded: "No problem."

Nods firmly, hero locked!

A warrior with wings on his back and a giant sword in hand is spotted on the fourth floor of QG!

"Aatrox!" the two commentators exclaimed in unison, followed by Guan Daxiao's commentary: "This choice is quite interesting!"

Everyone knows that Aatrox has recently been buffed, and the buff is quite significant.

However, most teams didn't take Aatrox seriously, because in many teams' minds, this kind of hero was destined not to be seen on the field.

But now, QG seems to want to dispel this doubt.

After picking Aatrox, QG then chose Lucian, while EDG finally locked in Syndra to make up for their lack of AP output.

The lineups for both sides have been finalized.

Blue side QG: Top lane Aatrox, Jungle Elise, Mid lane Karma, Bot lane Lucian and Nautilus.

Red team EDG: Top lane Maokai, Jungle Graves, Mid lane Syndra, Bot lane Ashe and Tahm Kench.

"To be fair and impartial, I think EDG's roster is better," Remember commented. "Because in terms of roster composition, their lineup is more scientifically sound!"

Upon closer inspection, the audience realized it was indeed true.

With a balanced AD/AP composition, including frontliners, initiators, and protectors, this lineup is guaranteed to be strong in team fights as long as it develops properly to its power spike.

"But I still favor QG in this match," said Guan Daxiao. "Although QG's lineup might not be as strong as EDG's in the late game, they have their own strengths, namely their incredibly high laning strength!"

The mid-lane Karma and Elise combo has lane priority and fighting ability, with top-tier early-game tempo. The bot-lane Lucian and Nautilus combo is also quite strong, capable of securing lane kills if they seize the opportunity.

Needless to say, the top laner that Brother Tree picked as a backup is unlikely to have any problems!

With advantages in all three lanes, QG simply couldn't give the opposing team a chance to complete their lineup.

In the audience, QG fans were also waving flags and cheering, because they shared the same sentiment.

"Don't put too much pressure on yourself, just play your own game." Banbazi added as a final reminder: "If you play your own game, the opponent won't be able to withstand it."

"Mhm!" Chen Dongqing nodded, appearing quite calm.

When he first debuted and played in the playoffs last year, he was indeed a little nervous.

But now, he's a seasoned veteran, and EDG is his most familiar defeated opponent, so it's hard for him to feel nervous.

The thought of beating Ah Guang again even made him a little excited.

The rest of the team were in similar situations. Gao Dewei, a veteran who had played in the playoffs many times, was already planning how to teach the opposing mid laner a lesson.

Only Shi Senming seemed slightly nervous.

Coach Cui noticed this detail, went over and patted Shi Senming on the shoulder, "Don't worry, just play your own game, you're no weaker than the opposing support."

"Really?" Shi Senming glanced at the opposing support's ID.

Meiko.

"Really," Chen Dongqing nodded in affirmation, "You are the world's number one support!"

The three teammates in the middle also nodded in agreement.

It was as if a bowl of bewitching soup had been poured into Shi Senming's stomach, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.

Yes, I am the world's number one support!

This game will end tomorrow.

By the way, I'd like to recommend this book.

(End of this chapter)