League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 247 The Finals Begin!

4 month 29 day.

QG members got off the train at Nanjing Station and quickened their pace as they looked at the crowds inside the high-speed rail station.

They are now considered public figures, not too big or too small. If a group of them is recognized, they might not be able to leave for a while.

Everyone was wearing baseball caps and walking hurriedly, but they were eventually recognized at the ticket gate at the exit.

"Brother Tree?"

Chen Dongqing looked in the direction of the sound and found that it was a woman with short hair. Judging from her Balenciaga outfit and LV suitcase, she was a wealthy woman.

Chen Dongqing lowered the brim of his hat and smiled as he made a shushing gesture.

"It really is Brother Shu!" The girl raised her eyebrows, quickly moved closer, and whispered, "Can we take a picture together?"

Chen Dongqing readily accepted, and several of his teammates stopped to wait.

"Could you help me take a picture?" the girl asked, sounding quite friendly.

Chen Dongqing took the phone and snapped a few pictures. After finishing, she returned the phone and asked, "You're from Shanghai too?"

The high-speed train from Shanghai to Nanjing only takes about two hours, so there's no need to fly for this journey. Therefore, taking the high-speed train is the optimal solution.

"Yes!" the girl replied, "I came to Nanjing specifically to watch the game, and I stopped by to meet up with some friends for a bite to eat."

The girl took the phone, opened the photo album, glanced at it, and nodded in satisfaction. "Great photos!"

Chen Dongqing nodded mechanically.

Without him, only familiar with Seoul.

I've been taking a lot of photos lately.

Goodbye, Tree Bro.

The wealthy woman didn't argue further and then carried her suitcase to the other side, presumably to be picked up by a car.

After watching the girl walk away, Xiangguo said sourly, "Oh, she said goodbye to Brother Shu, but didn't even say hello to us. So she only likes you? It's obvious she wasn't here for the competition."

"Exactly, exactly," Shi Senming chimed in. "I can't say what this person is after."

Chen Dongqing grinned and said, "Solo fans, do you even understand?"

Upon hearing this, the team members all turned their heads, took out their ID cards, and began swiping them to exit the station.

They didn't want to continue this topic.

After a minor hiccup, the QG team quickly arrived at the hotel and checked in.

Vision Boxing is clearly much more humane than Banana Project; at the very least, the hotel has a training room.

Looking at the training room converted from the conference room, with ten computers arranged in two rows, the QG team felt very gratified.

At least this time, I don't need to go to an internet cafe.

This time, the experience of playing in a different location was obviously much better.

For the next three days, the QG team stayed in the training room. They would go out to take pictures when there was a filming assignment, and otherwise they would stay in the training room to play ranked games, quietly waiting for the finals to begin.

The LPL's tournament progress is the slowest among all regions. Just a few days ago, the spring split champions of other regions were already determined.

Europe's G2, North America's TSM, Taiwan's Flash Wolves, and Vietnam's GAM are basically veteran powerhouses in their respective regions, so there haven't been any major upsets.

Currently, among all regions in the world, only QG and WE still have matches to play. All eyes are on the LPL, the champion region, to see if QG can win the championship as promised.

This situation has directly resulted in QG being unable to find any teams to schedule scrimmages with.

After winning the championship, KT went fishing in Jeju Island. Other LPL teams were also on holiday. QG couldn't train with their opponent WE, so they could only play ranked games to maintain their skills.

Of course, Chen Dongqing doesn't need to play ranked matches to maintain his skill level; he continues to dominate in StarCraft ranked matches.

In the Chinese version of StarCraft II, it's very difficult to find a match after reaching 6,000 MMR, which Chen Dongqing found extremely frustrating. So recently, he has turned his attention to the Korean version.

During this period, his Korean server rating began to rise rapidly, and he had already reached 5500 points the day before the finals!

And his win rate is a terrifying 100%!

This terrifyingly invincible account sparked heated discussions among many StarCraft fans and gave the Korean fans a little shock.

Upon seeing this, some StarCraft fans who didn't understand Chen Dongqing were surprised. With the League of Legends competition about to start, is it really okay to play StarCraft like this?

Chen Dongqing's fans, on the other hand, just smiled slightly.

You don't understand, do you? Before the match, Tree played some StarCraft, and they actually felt confident!

If one day, Brother Tree suddenly starts playing League of Legends before a match, they might even wonder if something is wrong.

Time quickly came to June 29th.

At 3 p.m., there was only one hour left before the final match began.

The area around the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center was already bustling with traffic, and countless young people were wandering around the commercial district next to the Olympic Sports Center, killing time for the last hour.

At this time, the QG players had already entered the venue, allowing the makeup artists to apply makeup to their faces.

Chen Dongqing, who was the first to finish her makeup, sat on a chair in the dressing room, chatting casually with her teammates while browsing online forums.

With the match approaching, the forum is already full of discussions about it.

But it's actually quite obvious to everyone who the forum members are supporting.

Even the discussion among netizens wasn't about whether QG could win.

[If you don't understand, can QG win the championship 3-0 and achieve an unprecedented undefeated season?]

[This seems a bit difficult; WE is really strong right now.]

Indeed, FPX is nicknamed "Little QG," and they still lost. Big QG should be careful.

Indeed, it might actually backfire.

[A mishap? Don't be ridiculous!]

Looking at the post, Chen Dongqing felt that this trend was somewhat inappropriate.

Esports fans are notoriously fickle; a fan who was praising you wildly just two hours ago might turn against you the moment you lose a match.

In my previous life, back in 18, the RNG fandom was at its peak. The Anti-RNG forum was dominated by RNG fans, and there were even some incredibly ruthless things like "rational RNG fans".

But after 1020, the atmosphere in the forum completely reversed. Until the day before Chen Dongqing's rebirth, RNG fans still didn't dare to speak loudly in the forum.

Despite QG's large fan base, if they lose a match, the resulting public outcry will be no less significant than that of RNG.

The claim that winning the championship exempts you from criticism for a year is all fake.

But then Chen Dongqing changed his mind.

If you only get criticized for losing, then why not just avoid losing?

At least before losing the game, the maggots were quite cute.

With this in mind, Chen Dongqing continued browsing Tieba and came across another interesting post.

[LPL commentators predict the final score in one chart!]

When Chen Dongqing clicked in, he found that all the commentators and hosts in the LPL had made their own predictions for the final.

Whether it's 3-1 or 3-2, all the commentators unanimously believe that QG will successfully defend their title.

It seems like the whole world is hoping QG will win the championship, and WE is just a small stumbling block on QG's road to victory.

Of all these predictions, the one at the very bottom is the most eye-catching.

Guan Zeyuan predicts that QG will defeat WE 3-0.

Chen Dongqing felt inexplicably nervous.

Could he have jinxed their perfect record and championship win?

However, this is not hard to understand.

After all, QG not only won the first championship in the region, but more importantly, they haven't lost a single game since returning from their victory, and they've now achieved a 35-game winning streak.

As a viewer, it's hard not to support them.

Meanwhile, in Seoul, South Korea.

The KT team, having finished their trip, has returned to their base to make final preparations for the MSI tournament.

Peanut, who also had no practice matches, sat listlessly in the ergonomic chair in the lounge and started a live stream.

"Here I am, friends!" Peanut sat in front of the computer with a grin and greeted the viewers in the live stream.

"What are we streaming today?" Peanut asked, glancing at the chat. "Of course, we're watching QG's match! They're our biggest rival at MSI!"

As they were talking, Peanut skillfully opened the LPL live stream, then lay back in his chair and nodded in satisfaction.

This final match will probably take at least three hours, right?

Today's livestreaming task completed!

Watching games live isn't just happening to Peanut.

The North American TSM team was also watching the game simultaneously.

The senior player, who won the North American championship again, also started watching the game live.

In Europe, G2, A-P also started streaming.

All eyes were on the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center, and everyone wanted to witness QG defend their title!

Meanwhile, the live stream footage showed the venue had gone dark.

Looking down from the top of the venue, the entire place appears completely dark, with only the stage emitting red and blue light.

The finals stage adopted a setup similar to Summoner's Rift, with the entire stage displaying the three lanes and the jungle. There was a slimmer version of the crystal in the bottom left and top right corners, and five computers were placed around the crystal.

As for the positions of the players, they will be arranged according to the red and blue teams from the first game.

At this time, both base crystals were in a closed state and did not emit any light.

Just then, a red light flashed on the stage's floor screen, and the word "僄拾" appeared on the screen.

One second later, the Chinese character changed to "贰玖".

The organizers put some thought into this event, deliberately promoting Chinese elements at the opening ceremony.

Even the promotional video for the finals featured some painters from Nanjing, who used the style of the Nanjing School of painting to depict the images of the two finalists and their representative heroes.

Upon seeing the change in the text, the domestic audience immediately understood that the 30-second countdown had begun, and cheers erupted, instantly making the atmosphere in the stadium much more enthusiastic!

However, foreign audiences were completely confused.

Perkz stared at the Chinese characters appearing on the large map, utterly bewildered. He could only vaguely guess that the countdown had begun from the pattern of the image changing every second and the reactions of the audience.

Ah P immediately started clapping and cheering in the live stream!

As the 30-second countdown reached its end, Ren Dong quickly appeared on stage and shouted, "Hello everyone, both in the audience and watching on screen! Welcome to the 2017 LPL Spring Finals venue! This is Nanjing, Jiangsu!"

Cheers and applause erupted continuously from the stands!

Fans from both sides held their respective teams' support items. WE's fans held the red ones, but from an overhead view, it could be seen that the red ones occupied very little territory and had been forced into a corner by the blue ones.

In regular LPL matches, female hosts are more common, and male hosts like Ren Dong rarely get to appear. However, when it comes to the final big stage, it is still male hosts like Ren Dong who are in charge of hosting.

The main problem is that the female host doesn't have enough presence. Unless her hosting skills are truly outstanding and reach the level of CCTV, it's difficult for her to command such a huge stage with more than 10,000 people.

"After 192 best-of-three matches in the regular season and six best-of-five matches in the playoffs, the twelve LPL teams have finally arrived here to compete for the Silver Dragon Cup!"

Ren Dong waved his right hand, pointing to the red team in the upper right corner of the venue: "First, let's welcome the top team from Group B—WE! Top laner 957! Jungler Condi! Mid laner Xiye! Bot laner Mystic! Support Ben! And finally, our coach, Homme!"

A burst of fierce shouts immediately rang out from below the tower!

The only thing that makes WE stand out is their extremely loyal fanbase.

Since winning the IPL5 championship in 12, which wasn't considered a particularly prestigious title, WE attracted a huge number of fans through exaggerated promotion in the Chinese server, earning them the nickname "60E" at their peak.

But now, 17 years have passed, almost five years, and WE has not achieved any decent results.

Even the LPL finals were the first time today that someone had made it to the finals.

Those who have persevered through those tragic five years are truly die-hard fans.

Now, it's rare to see their own team reach such heights. Countless 60E fans who have never been able to hold their heads high in the anti-fan forum are shouting loudly to cheer them on!

But soon, this cry was like a lone boat on a dark sea, instantly swallowed up by giant waves!

"Next, let's welcome the 2016 World Championship winners—QG!" Ren Dong's voice couldn't help but get louder as he pointed to the lower left corner of the stage!

The crystal in the lower left corner emitted a blue light, illuminating the five people around it.

The five players were dressed in white spring team uniforms, and on the team logo, a star reflected the spotlight, shining brightly.

As you can see, each of the five players has a QG team logo affixed to their left cheekbone.

The cheers from the audience exploded instantly, and the vast majority of people in the stadium began to scream. The grandeur of the event could be clearly heard even outside the venue.

Ren Dong was forced to pause his hosting duties due to the clamor, and only began introducing the team members after the noise subsided.

"Top laner—iiiiilex!"

The camera focused on QG's top laner, and another huge cheer erupted from the audience, forcing Ren Dong to pause his hosting duties once again.

Meanwhile, the senior brother was also sitting in the live broadcast room, looking at Chen Dongqing's face, and said with a smile: "Oh shit, I have to admit, this guy is really the most handsome professional player."

Chen Dongqing smiled with narrowed eyes and waved to the audience. He glanced down at the audience and actually saw a familiar figure.

The rich woman I met at the high-speed rail station a few days ago was sitting in the first row. After noticing Chen Dongqing's gaze, she waved excitedly.

At this point, Ren Dong continued, "Jungler mlxg! Mid laner GodV! Bot laner Uzi! Support Ming! And coach Banbazi!"

At this moment, the red and blue crystals on both sides of the stage each emitted five beams of light, extending in the directions of the Summoner's Rift, and finally converging on the diagonal of the map.

Following the director's instructions during yesterday's rehearsal, Chen Dongqing walked slowly along the leftmost line, which represented the upper route. At this time, 957 also walked over, and the two looked at each other in the center of the stage.

The rest of the teammates were in a similar situation: Xiangguo and Condi were positioned in the Baron pit, while Gao Dewei and Xiye were positioned in the mid lane, one by one.

Right in the middle of Gao Dewei and Xi Ye, a platform slowly rose up, which was the object that the two teams were chasing: the Silver Dragon Cup!

"Alright, both competitors, please take your seats and get ready. The match is about to begin!"

As soon as Ren Dong spoke, Chen Dongqing breathed a sigh of relief and quickly turned around and returned to his seat.

During the preparation time, the director switched the camera to the commentary booth.

Today, sitting in the center of the commentary booth is Changmao, with his special guests on either side of him.

Moreover, the people invited were quite interesting, being legends from both teams.

Smile and Doinb

Longhair first read out the lengthy announcement before bringing up the topic, saying, "This should be the first time these two teachers have come to the show as guest commentators, right? Any special feelings about it?"

Seeing his old team finally reach the LPL finals, Wei Xiao was naturally excited, his eyes filled with excitement as he looked at the screen.

He said with a smile, "As a former WE player and a fan of theirs, I'm very happy to be here. This represents a new level for them, and I hope they can show their talent today!"

That sounded quite nice, and Changmao nodded in satisfaction. Then, changing the subject, he asked, "So, what about Doinb?"

"Uh..." A clear hesitation appeared on Doinb's face.

To be honest, he really didn't want to be in this commentary panel.

In the finals, one side was WE, which had advanced by defeating him, and the other was his former team, which he had voluntarily left. No matter which side won, he would feel a bit resentful.

But there's nothing we can do; the official amount is too much.

And he also wants to profit from this traffic.

Doinb thought for a moment before speaking, "You know, the QG players are like brothers to me. We've fought side-by-side and defeated many opponents. Seeing them back on the finals stage makes me really happy for them, and I hope they can win the match."

Changmao noticed a hint of bitterness hidden in Doinb's smile and vaguely guessed what Doinb was thinking. He struggled to suppress his laughter.

Fortunately, the broadcast then showed the data for both teams, which eased Doinb's embarrassment.

Changmao, being sensible, immediately seized the opportunity and steered the conversation towards the level of data.

Shortly after, the three of them heard a message in their headsets that the draft phase was about to begin. Longhair nodded with a smile and called out, "Okay, the draft phase has started. Let's hand the screen over to the commentators!"

The screen then pans to show Wawa Miller and Guan Zeyuan. After the three introduce themselves, the BP screen cuts in.

"QG won the coin toss before the match, so they have the first side selection right for 135 rounds, and they chose the blue side in the first game! Let's see their ban picks!"

QG players' bench.

Chen Dongqing sat in his chair, watching the draft phase unfold before him. While banning Poppy, he said smugly, "So even without Doinb, we can still win by betting a coin?"

"That just shows that Big B isn't all that great." Xiangguo also relaxed, "I could do it too."

At this point, WE's ban list was also released, and they chose to ban Fiora.

"Alright, alright, we're all teammates, let's show some respect," Coach Cui said with a laugh from behind. "Ban Zyra."

In the current five-ban mode, the ban slots are no longer filled by the first pick. This time, it was Xiangguo who moved the mouse and banned Zyra.

WE quickly retaliated by banning Jayce.

Fiora and Jayce are now a ban pick that no team can avoid when facing QG, which makes QG's draft incredibly easy.

In their final move, QG banned Malzahar, while WE finally had some freedom in their bans and chose to ban Caitlyn, thus entering the champion selection phase.

"Alright, first pick, let's see what both sides choose!" Colonel Guan said, "Currently, the heroes available are Elise, Gragas, Karma, and Lulu. These are all worth picking. Let's see what QG has to say."

Miller then chimed in, "If it were QG, they would probably first-pick Gragas, right? Judging from the semifinal matches, they seemed really afraid of Gragas top lane; they banned it in every game!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than QG on the first floor instantly locked onto Gragas.

There are three OP heroes left outside.

The doll crossed her arms and said, "In that case, WE should just pick Elise, and then choose between Lulu and Karma? That way, neither side will lose out."

Miller didn't agree with what the doll said.

WE has better options.

Immediately afterwards, the first and second floors of WE lit up quickly.

Their choice was to lock down both Lulu and Karma!

Miller's eyes lit up.

That's what he was thinking.

Who says you have to choose one from each side?

I snatched Lulu and Karma from you all at once, and I'm giving you the Spider right away. Can you take it?

If you pick Elise, your Gragas will have to play top lane. Does your top laner want to play a passive Gragas?

This was clearly a problem. The camera panned to QG, where everyone was frowning and discussing the issue.

However, this problem is not insurmountable for QG. Chen Dongqing is a player with no weaknesses in his hero pool, and playing Gragas top lane is not a big deal for him. The main issue is the tactical focus.

"They really did steal Karma and Lulu!" Banbazi glanced at the other side of the stage and sighed slightly.

Chen Dongqing turned his head and said, "So, shall we play with the barrel this time?"

"Pick it, pick it." Banbazi nodded. "Pick it. The other team is insisting we can't play Gragas. Give them a hard time this game."

"OK!"

As soon as the words were spoken, QG immediately locked in Spider and Lucian.

WE frowned upon hearing this decision.

Seriously? Ilex really wants to play Gragas?

After thinking for a while, Redmi decided to remain unchanged in the face of all changes.

If Ilex plays Gragas, it's not necessarily a bad thing for them; they might be able to play more comfortably in the top lane.

Redmi picked Kog'Maw as their third pick, using this glass turret Kog'Maw paired with Lulu and Karma for double protection. This is a lineup that WE often uses, and in order to avoid being banned in the second round, they had to pick it first.

"Okay, fourth pick, WE picks Kennen, leaving the counter pick for Condi at the end. Now it's QG's turn to lock in their lineup."

With Kennen in the top lane, WE's thinking wasn't hard to guess. They simply weren't aiming to gain a significant advantage in the top lane; they just wanted to farm well and wait for the late-game team fights.

Coach Cui smiled with satisfaction upon seeing this, and subsequently locked in Varus and Braum, thus finalizing the lineup.

Varus in the mid lane completes the AD carry role needed by the top, mid, and jungle lanes. He is paired with Braum and Lucian to ensure the strength of the bot lane.

WE subsequently locked in Jarvan IV as their jungler, finalizing the lineups for both teams.

Blue side QG: Top lane Gragas, Jungle Elise, Mid lane Varus, Bot lane Lucian and Braum.

Red team WE: Top lane Kennen, Jungle Jarvan IV, Mid lane Karma, Bot lane Kog'Maw and Lulu.

The match is about to begin!

Qidian now has an official bug-detection function. You can long-press on a typo, click "Report Error," and I can see it directly in the background, so I won't miss it.

Thanks to the guys who caught the bugs!

See you tomorrow, brothers.

(End of this chapter)