League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 288 Version Update: The Big One is Here!

7 month 3 number.

QG continues with their combination of sports and live streaming.

After finishing his workout, Chen Dongqing started his live stream as usual, trying to boost his StarCraft and League of Legends rank.

When the game went live, Chen Dongqing saw that Rouge seemed to have played all night and had already returned to the number one position.

But Chen Dongqing remained calm and won three consecutive games, regaining the first place.

On the other hand, Doinb didn't seem to have the same mindset, and his score remained unchanged compared to yesterday.

Chen Dongqing won three games and lost one, raising his score to 1400 points and continuing to push the record for the highest score in the history of the Canyon.

"Alright, guys, I won't be streaming for a while now." Chen Dongqing didn't end the stream immediately as usual, but instead waved goodbye to the audience, which was quite unusual for him: "I have to fly to Kaohsiung tomorrow for the Intercontinental Cup."

The comments section was incredibly moving, with the screen filled with cheers and encouragement.

"Don't worry." Chen Dongqing gave a thumbs-up to the camera. "I'll definitely get that Grand Slam honor back!"

7 month 4 number.

Four strong LPL teams met at Hongqiao Airport.

QG was positioned in the middle of the four teams, and Chen Dongqing was in the center of QG's group. Looking at the crowd around him, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow, so many people!"

The four teams have a total of nearly forty people, including player substitutes and coaching staff.

Then there were the photographers in charge of filming, as well as executives from Vision and LPL, totaling more than fifty people.

This group of people had to take the same flight to Kaohsiung.

For this reason, LPL went all out, booking an entire plane in advance just for LPL use.

Just before boarding, Lin Weixiang chatted with Liu Qingsong and the QG team.

"You'd better play well in the intercontinental competition," Da Congming said, feigning seriousness. "Don't drag us down."

"Come on, Xiangguo ruthlessly refuted us from the sidelines. Just don't drag us down. We can easily crush any LCK team."

"We can easily crush them!" Lin Weixiang puffed out his chest. "We've never lost to an LCK team!"

"Have you guys ever played against LCK teams?" Shi Senming sneered from the side, "Having never played against them means you've never lost, right?"

Shi Senming and Lin Weixiang both came from a group called "Ionia Seven Wolves," and teasing each other was a regular occurrence for them.

Hearing this, Lin Weixiang wisely changed the subject and chuckled, saying, "Let me tell you guys, Doinb has been acting like a madman these past two days."

"Huh?" Uz asked from the side, "Why?"

"Because Chen Dongqing took the top spot in the Rift." Lin Weixiang's eyebrows twitched. "He hasn't logged in for two days straight, just watching Chen Dongqing's livestream. Isn't that insane?"

"Lin Weixiang!" Doinb's voice rang out from behind, filled with exasperation, "What nonsense are you spouting?"

Upon hearing this, Big Smart immediately realized something was wrong and quickly turned back to Little Bear, shrugging, "Huh? I didn't say anything!"

But it was obviously no use. Doinb pounced on him, and the two started fighting.

Chen Dongqing didn't stop him, and just watched happily from the side.

Ultimately, Zoom and Clid separated the two.

Seeing this, Chen Dongqing went over and added fuel to the fire. He patted Doinb on the shoulder and sighed, "It's okay, Big B. Second place in the Rift is fine too. I'm at ease knowing you're in second place."

Doinb is very diligent in ranking up, and his win rate is not low. Doinb will help him block all the people below him.

Chen Dongqing only needs to take a cut from Doinb's share to sit back and relax.

Upon hearing this, Doinb immediately heated up, preparing to unleash a barrage of punches.

But after looking at Chen Dongqing's height of 183 cm and his relatively robust physique, he thought about it and decided to give up.

We can't beat them.

"Alright, come over for a group photo." Linko jogged over from a distance, gesturing for both teams to come closer.

Chen Dongqing walked to the photo spot and saw that the WE and EDG players were already lined up, with Clearlove standing in the middle.

Yicun then took the opportunity to call out, "Come on, QG and FPX, stand in front. Shuge and Xiaogou, stand in the middle."

As required, Chen Dongqing stood in the very center of the first row, the absolute center position, with all the other contestants surrounding him like stars around the moon.

"Come on, strike a pose and smile at the camera."

Chen Dongqing thought for a moment, then chose to give a thumbs up, puff out his chest, and smile.

Several teammates around Chen Dongqing glanced at him, and those behind him looked at the first row. They all gave him a thumbs up in unison, and the hands of the people on the left and right sides were facing each other, making it look quite symmetrical and harmonious.

After boarding the plane, a flight attendant quickly came out to introduce the flight itinerary, mentioning that the flight would only last a little over two hours.

With such a short flight time, it wasn't realistic to take a nap. So Chen Dongqing simply took out his phone, scanned the QR code to connect to the airplane's Wi-Fi, and prepared to browse Tieba and read novels.

The preparation time was short, and the plane quickly stabilized in the stratosphere.

Chen Dongqing's journey to fight against online forums has finally begun.

With the regular seasons of all major regions now suspended, everyone's attention is focused on this emerging intercontinental tournament, and related discussions within the Anti-Taiwan forum are quite heated.

The Intercontinental Championship is about to begin. Let's have a rational discussion: how high are our chances of winning?

[We're definitely going to win! We have QG, and we've never lost a best-of-five series against an LCK team!]

But relying solely on QG's brute strength won't be enough; the Intercontinental Cup is all about teamwork!

Indeed, it's uncertain whether the other three teams can withstand the pressure.

[Let's hope that QG doesn't pull off a 3-1 victory while the other three teams all lose, resulting in an elimination – that would be a real mess.]

It's unlikely; I trust EDG.

[Do you trust EDG?]

Let's focus on securing second place and aiming for the championship, everyone. Let's play it safe.

It's clear that people on the Anti-Japanese Bar aren't too optimistic about the outcome of this Intercontinental Tournament.

Chen Dongqing scrolled through his browser and came across a reposted thread from the Korean INVEN forum.

On Korean forums, the style is completely different.

Numerous South Koreans are quite arrogant, saying they want to teach the LPL a lesson and let them know who the number one region is.

Chen Dongqing couldn't help but squint when he saw this.

It's not hard to understand why both sides have this mentality.

Although QG has been rampant in international competitions for the past year and a half, earning the nickname "LCK Killer," their dominance within their region is also undeniable.

Throughout the Spring Split regular season and playoffs, QG didn't lose a single game.

Furthermore, the fact that LPL had two quarterfinalists and one champion at last year's World Championship proves that the overall strength of the LPL region is still relatively weak, except for the emergence of QG, the ultimate super team.

In response to this situation, LCK viewers were quite confident, stating that LCK was certain to win.

Seeing this, Chen Dongqing couldn't help but sneer inwardly.

LCK's audience is still too young.

As long as QG exists, LCK will never be able to turn things around.

At this moment, Xiangguo, who was sitting next to him, suddenly turned his head and asked, "How come you still have internet access?"

Chen Dongqing turned his head: "It has Wi-Fi. This plane has Wi-Fi."

"How do you connect?"

Chen Dongqing pointed to the QR code on the back of the seat in front of him: "Scan the code to connect."

Xiangguo took out his phone to scan the QR code, but then realized something was wrong: "But my phone has no internet, how can I scan the code?"

Chen Dongqing smiled and nodded: "So we have to scan it before the plane takes off."

"Idiot." Xiangguo put his phone back in his pocket and closed his eyes to rest.

Chen Dongqing happily opened Qidian Reading and began reading the novel.

The starting point in 17 was when Dong Ge's "Saint Ruins" dominated the charts.

I have to say, the early chapters of "Saint Ruins" were really well written!

After reading a novel for a while, the plane quickly landed at Kaohsiung Airport.

As soon as Chen Dongqing got off the plane, he immediately felt a terrifying heat mixed with a strong sense of moisture hit him.

The entire city of Kaohsiung was like a giant steamer, putting Chen Dongqing under extreme heat.

"Holy crap, it's so hot and humid, isn't it?" Uzi groaned loudly from the side. People of his size are most afraid of this kind of thing, and he almost turned red-hot from the heat.

"Let's take a group photo." Ichimura originally wanted to take another picture with everyone, but the team members rejected the suggestion and decided to take the picture in the indoor environment of the airport first.

After taking the photos, Yicun immediately sent them to the LPL official operations team who were accompanying him. These photos quickly appeared on the LPL official Weibo account with the caption: "LPL, set off!"

After posting on Weibo, the operations staff even asked the professional player next to them to leave a comment under the post to generate some buzz.

Chen Dongqing readily agreed, took out his phone and left a message: "Go go go!" which prompted countless fans to repeat it in the comments.

At this point, everyone quickly boarded the arranged bus and hurried to the hotel.

Although there were only three competition zones this time, there were still quite a few teams, a total of twelve teams, who booked three floors of the hotel.

The LPL members were on the fourth floor. They first found their rooms according to their room numbers, put their luggage away, and then, as agreed, gathered in the conference room in the center of the fourth floor.

Chen Dongqing and Xiangguo were still sharing a room. When they walked into the conference room together, they were immediately shocked.

"Wow, what a grand setup!" Xiangguo couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Everyone's playing in the same training room?"

The training room was integrated, with four rows of computers neatly arranged in this large conference room. At the front, there were several computers for the coaching staff, a projector, and a whiteboard. All kinds of equipment were available.

At this moment, the EDG team also entered the conference room, and their first reaction was also shock.

A training room with so many computers is something no one has ever seen before.

This inevitably brings to mind the feeling of taking a computer class back in school.

As they were talking, members of the other teams also came to the training room, letting out similar exclamations.

At this moment, Linko approached, looked around, and frowned, asking, "Where's Jian Zihao?"

"He went to take a shower," Shi Senming said. "He said he sweated too much and wasn't feeling well."

Chen Dongqing chuckled and said, "There's nothing I can do, he really likes taking baths, Sister Li."

The players from the other teams: "."

We dare not accept that!

Before long, Uzbekistan also jogged over and saw the large crowd in the training room.

"Wow, so many people?" Uzi exclaimed in surprise.

"Since you're here, please take your seats." Jin Yibo greeted them from the front. "According to the Spring Split rankings, QG will sit in the first row by the window, WE in the second row, EDG in the third row, and FPX in the fourth row. As for the seating arrangement, let's follow the order of the matches, from top laner to support."

Everyone held a mouse and keyboard and took their seats as instructed.

Chen Dongqing sat in the first seat of the first row, which was the corner of the computer array.

Jin Yibo looked at the scene before him, nodded in satisfaction, and said, "From now on, the training camp for the Intercontinental Cup will officially begin. I will now hand over all decision-making power to Banbazi, the head coach of this Intercontinental Cup. You should have no objections, right?"

The head coach position is set up simply based on performance.

Although WE's coach, Hongmi, also has championships and is highly respected in the industry, Banbazi has two MSI titles and one World Championship title, all won in the last two years, so his status is still higher.

More importantly, compared to the Redmi, which still requires translation, the Banbazi is in better Chinese and can already facilitate daily communication.

Of course, no one had any objections.

With that, Jin Yibo's task was finished. He stepped aside and watched Banbazi walk to the front of the stage.

As usual, Banbazi plugged the pre-prepared USB drive into his computer, first demonstrating how to project the PowerPoint presentation onto the large screen, before finally speaking:

"This is the first time that an intercontinental competition has been held. In order to prevent anyone from not understanding the competition rules, I will first explain the competition rules."

"The intercontinental competition is divided into two stages, which will be completed over four days. The first two days are the group stage, with three regions competing against each other. The last two days are the knockout stage, which will determine the champion."

At this moment, Lin Weixiang raised his hand and said, "Then, if there are only three competition zones, why is there a knockout stage? Why not just go straight to the finals?"

Banbazi glanced sideways at Lin Weixiang, and he knew that this guy definitely wouldn't read the rules of the Intercontinental Tournament.

He replied, "The reason is simple: the group stage in the first two days will not eliminate any region. Regardless of the points, everyone can enter the knockout stage in the last two days."

Lin Weixiang raised his hand again: "Then what's the purpose of the group stage?"

Banbazi patiently replied, "Think about it, there are only three regions in total. How can the knockout stage be played? So the purpose of the group stage is to determine the top three. The first place will directly enter the knockout final, while the second and third place will need to go through the semi-finals to determine the second spot in the final."

"Aww." A chorus of nods echoed in the lounge.

Banbazi shook his head and continued, "As for the group stage format, it's very simple: fair play. It's a free-for-all between the three regions, with each team needing to play once against each of the other two teams in the same ranking from each region."

"For example, our Spring Split champion QG will have to play against both LCK champion KT and LMS champion FW once each. Simply put, the group stage is a direct test of regional strength, and the team with the highest points will definitely be the strongest team in the region as a whole."

The rule was fairly easy to understand, and everyone present nodded in agreement.

"As for the knockout stage, I've already mentioned part of it to you," Coach Cui continued. "It's a best-of-five format, with the top team in each group advancing directly to the finals."

"As for the knockout stage format, it is relatively more complicated. The order in which the four teams appear is determined by the teams themselves. The only restriction is that in the first four games of the BO5 series, each of the four teams can only play once at most."

"If the match goes to a fifth and final game, then everyone can vote to select the most suitable team to play in the final game."

Upon hearing this, everyone's minds began to race.

If the order of appearance is decided by the players themselves, then there is actually a lot of room for maneuver.

If you can use your own fourth-place team to compete against the champion, then even if you lose, you'll still have a win, since the champion can only play once in the first four games.

It's similar to the story of Tian Ji's horse racing strategy.

Of course, this cannot be said outright.

It wouldn't be pleasant to say outright which horse is superior and which is inferior.

"Now that we understand the format, let's talk about the patch." Banbazi finally spoke up: "As you all know, this Mid-Season Invitational uses patch 7.12, which is only one patch ahead of the Summer Split, so the changes aren't that significant."

After finishing speaking, Banbazi finally switched to the PowerPoint presentation to show the content.

A series of version changes are displayed in great detail on the page.

Karma slightly nerfed, Kindred slightly buffed.

"There's something noteworthy about the hero changes," Banbazi emphasized a particular hero.

[Xayah: Q skill can no longer be interrupted by auto-attacks, W cooldown increased]

When Xayah is in her prime, she can weave a basic attack into her Q skill combo.

With this mechanism in place, the control is incredibly powerful. If you use QAE, you can quickly apply control within the time it takes to cast Q.

After this change, Xayah's crowd control speed will be slightly slower, at least giving her some reaction time.

"This change will likely have some impact on Xayah and Rakan's dominance, but it's still acceptable," Banbazi said. "We'll see how it goes during scrims."

In addition to the heroes, there are also a few equipment changes.

"The shield value of the Aegis of the Legion has been slightly reduced, the healing of Redemption has been increased, and a new item, Zeke's Convergence, has been added. This item is mainly suitable for initiation-type supports, and the healing effect of Redemption has been enhanced."

"Then, the incense burner was also enhanced."

Banbazi clicked the mouse, and the data for the incense burner enhancement was displayed.

Attack speed bonus: 20% → 20%-35%, depending on target level.

[Life steal effect: 20 → 20-35, depending on the target's level]

This version of the Ardent Censer has very simple stats. After giving teammates a shield, they will gain an attack speed bonus, and their attacks will also have a healing effect. This time, it's like the attack speed bonus and healing effect have been almost doubled.

Upon seeing this enhancement, Chen Dongqing's eyes lit up.

What's been waiting for has finally arrived!

He knew that this seemingly insignificant little enhancement would change the entire S7 World Championship.

The contestants immediately narrowed their eyes slightly.

Uzi, as the AD carry, had many thoughts on his mind.

As an item exclusive to support champions, Ardent Censer is not actually a high priority item in this version.

How should support champions be built in this version? Generally, during the upgrade process of support items, you should first build Sightstone and Tier 2 Boots, and then upgrade the cost-effective support items to the maximum level.

Then, the support will usually build the Locket of the Iron Solari as their third item.

The Aegis of the Legion is a great value item, providing thousands of health to the team with a single click, making it extremely cost-effective.

It wasn't until the fourth item that they made the incense burner.

Given the team's weak economy, it usually takes more than 35 minutes at this point.

"The Ardent Censer has indeed been buffed quite a bit in the support item build curve," Uzi said. "The Locket of the Iron Solari has also been nerfed a bit this patch, so I think we can consider building the Ardent Censer before the Locket of the Iron Solari."

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.

If you build Ardent Censer directly after building Sightstone as a support item, you should be able to complete it in about 27 or 28 minutes. This is the time when an ADC has three core items and can easily dominate, which aligns with the AD carry's power curve.

"Sure, I think it's definitely worth a try," Banbazi said. "Let's play a game in the practice match later to see how it goes."

Just then, Chen Dongqing suddenly raised his hand: "I actually have an idea about incense burners."

Today is the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao). To all the brothers taking the exam, I wish you the best of luck!

Don't watch anything for the next few days, focus on preparing.

(End of this chapter)