League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 422 There is a difference between giving and receiving.

The very next day, the battle resumed at QG's home stadium.

FPX and IG took to the stage for another semi-final match.

Instead of playing practice matches, the members of the QGLOL division dragged their chairs to the projector right on time to watch today's semi-final match.

But Chen Dongqing wasn't in a hurry yet. He had only played half of a CS:GO game and would wait until he finished it before making a move.

When viewers in his live stream saw Chen Dongqing's relaxed demeanor, they flooded the chat with teasing comments.

[Not training?]

[The finals are almost here, and you're still playing CS:GO?]

[This is what Brother Tree is like]

[But this is usually QG's scrim time, right? Aren't they scrimming today?]

QG really wanted to play scrims, but they couldn't get a match scheduled.

During this semi-final period, the other eliminated teams have already gone on vacation, and what awaits them is an extra-long holiday of more than a month.

QG had no choice but to bite the bullet and go to EDG for a practice match.

EDG will actually have to wait two more days before their break, but the players will mainly be doing some filming at the base these two days. They definitely wouldn't want to play scrims.

Damn it, you just beat us up yesterday, and now you're looking to beat us up again?

Isn't this like taking a dump on our heads and then asking us for toilet paper?

We're really not familiar with each other.

There was no other way; QG could only move around freely, which gave Chen Dongqing time to stream.

In fact, before his live stream this afternoon, Chen Dongqing went to visit the neighboring DOTA2 division and played a couple of knives before returning to his own training room.

Chen Dongqing rushed out and was instantly headshot and killed by the opponent. He glanced at the chat and said, "Stop criticizing. The streamer is playing CS:GO because the chat is asking him to. The streamer isn't responsible for the chat's problems."

This statement once again drew a barrage of question marks from the viewers.

However, it must be said that Chen Dongqing should indeed end the broadcast. During the upcoming viewing segment, some inside information that cannot be disclosed will inevitably be discussed, and this kind of thing cannot be spread.

Next, Chen Dongqing stopped stalling and focused on steady, slow and methodical play, easily winning the next few rounds before ending the live stream.

Chen Dongqing dragged a chair to sit in front of the projector, where he could see that the draft picks for both teams had been completed.

Chen Dongqing took a special look at IG's top laner selection and found that it was still Duke.

Then things are hard to say.

Without TheShy, IG will become more stable, but they will also lose a carry player.

FPX's mid-jungle duo of Doinb and Karsa is top-tier in the LPL and even globally, and they are not inferior to QG at all.

This highly compatible mid-jungle duo helped FPX achieve the third-best record in the league.

Against this mid-jungle duo, IG's usually unstoppable mid-jungle synergy might not be so effective.

If the mid and jungle lanes falter and the top laner can't step up, how will IG win the game?

Chen Dongqing sat up straight and watched the duel intently.

The competition was indeed developing in the direction Chen Dongqing had predicted.

The mid and jungle players of IG and FPX clashed, fighting fiercely in the mid lane, but neither side achieved any significant results.

Although the number of kills and deaths on both sides continued to rise, the gap between the two sides did not widen, and it had almost no impact on the overall pace.

In this situation, IG seems to have lost their way.

Their top lane lacks the ability to carry on their own, and their bottom lane consists of two rookies. Both lanes rely too heavily on Rookie's rhythm in the mid lane. If Rookie disappears, their entire situation will fall into a stalemate.

But FPX doesn't have this problem.

Because FPX's support player Liu Qingsong is different from Baolan. Liu Qingsong has been a huge fan of roaming support players since his debut.

During the S6 championship run, Liu Qingsong was involved in the rhythm of the game at a high intensity, which caused Uzi to frequently turn red.

In the bottom lane, after Liu Qingsong's Rakan helped Lin Weixiang push the lane, he immediately disappeared from sight and started to coordinate with Karsa.

Karsa's awareness is still strong. He led Liu Qingsong into IG's bottom jungle, easily found Ning, and forced him to use his Flash.

Immediately afterwards, the two quickly turned around and headed to the bottom lane, only to be caught red-handed by the two young players, JackeyLove and Baolan, who were pushing the lane!

IG's bot lane duo never expected that they would be the ones to suffer!

They didn't have time to run away. Karsa's Sejuani unleashed her ultimate, and with the help of Liu Qingsong's Rakan W, they easily kept Baolan in place.

As for JackeyLove, he could only obediently retreat to the second tower and watch as a wave of minions was wiped out by the tower.

From that moment on, the scales of victory began to tip. Liu Qingsong's Rakan reached level six in eight minutes, unleashing a powerful ultimate ability to roam the mid lane and completely change the situation there.

Doinb's roaming rhythm was late but arrived, a four-man gank on the bottom lane completely destroyed IG's bottom lane and firmly grasped the game advantage!

In the end, FPX took 32 minutes to easily win the first game!

Banbazi looked at the scene before him, lost in thought.

To be fair, Chen Dongqing's judgment yesterday was indeed correct.

In the regular season match between the two teams, IG emerged as the ultimate winner. In one of the victories, TheShy stepped up during a stalemate, helping the team break through the deadlock.

If TheShy had been involved in this match, the situation might have been different.

Of course, IG's other win was a standard carry game by veteran Rookie, so if Rookie can seize the opportunity later, IG might not necessarily lose today.

So, we'll have to wait and see.

What if Rookie suddenly turns on his C?

During his break, Chen Dongqing took out his phone and browsed Tieba. He saw that the Anti-Fighting Tieba was full of posts from FPX fans celebrating. Seeing their team win the first game, they all felt that the game was in the bag.

The break passed quickly, and the second game started soon.

In this game, IG changed their strategy very quickly. They chose the red side and gave Rookie the right to pick the last position.

Furthermore, in their initial picks, they chose Shen for top lane and Camille for jungle, emphasizing support for the mid lane! Their bot lane composition was a push-push combination, denying Liu Qingsong any opportunities to roam.

As for his final pick, Rookie locked in the classic Syndra to set the pace of the game.

This strategy worked perfectly.

Ning's Camille in this game chose the strategy of ganking mid at level 3.

But I must say, it really worked.

Camille arrived in the mid lane at level 3, Rookie pushed the ball to stun her accurately, and Ning followed up with further crowd control, and the two successfully secured the first blood!

At the peak of his career, Rookie was known for his aggressive and consistent play. After securing that kill, he became unstoppable, firmly controlling the mid lane and subsequently coordinating with the top and jungle to engage in numerous fights, further expanding the team's advantage.

Because the battlefield was in the upper half of the map, and the bottom lane was constantly being pushed, Liu Qingsong's roaming ability was completely rendered useless.

In the end, IG won the second game, bringing the match to a decisive third game.

When Chen Dongqing opened the forum again, he saw that the tide had turned again. This time, the "dog son" was gaining the upper hand and was quite arrogant, highlighting a turn-based situation.

Next, we'll have to wait and see in the third game.

In a best-of-five (BO5) match, with the first two games tied 1-1, the third game is often referred to as the "battle of the titans."

The team that wins the third game will be the first to reach match point, and their chances of winning will be virtually unlimited.

FPX will not tolerate being swept in two games. In the third game, they will likely pull out all their cards.

The third game started quickly.

Sure enough, the underwear arrived.

In their third pick, FPX immediately chose Kled for the mid lane.

This has always been Doinb's trump card. As long as he has Mercury's Treads and Tiamat, no mage can take lane control from Kled.

Rookie had actually taken good precautions against Doinb's Kled, and even specifically picked Lissandra, a champion who is not afraid of melee combat, in this game.

But alas, it was all for naught.

In the first eight minutes, Karsa used his radar-style jungling to control all of Ning's moves and counter them one by one.

Prince Ning always felt like he was living in Karsa's shadow, unable to do anything.

Nine minutes in, Doinb recalled to base to replenish supplies, and then immediately used his ultimate skill, cooperating with Karsa to launch a four-man gank on the bottom lane, successfully freeing up the bottom lane!

Rookie had anticipated that Doinb would target the bot lane, and he had gone there beforehand, but he couldn't stop him and could only watch his bot lane duo go to their dominance.

This is the biggest characteristic of the 16 version of QG: the whole world knows they are going to use a four-man gank on the bottom lane, but the opponent just can't defend against it!

After clearing the bottom lane, Liu Qingsong then joined the momentum and killed Ning in the jungle.

Faced with a collapsing situation, what can Rookie, an Ice Maiden, do?

This game lasted 27 minutes. FPX relied on their smooth and fierce offensive momentum to push down IG's base and win the crucial game!

At this moment, the live stream chat exploded with excitement.

Looks like IG still isn't working, did they send it anyway?

Is this the true value of an 18-1 regular season record? Will they end up just getting third place?

[Winning third place with an 18-1 record? That's something to be happy about!]

There's a difference between BO3 and BO5; IG's tactical reserves are too weak, they just rely on their carry player.

At this moment, Chen Dongqing also spoke up, saying, "Now, TheShy should be going to play."

IG's main problem right now is the lack of a carry player, which they themselves are probably aware of.

They cannot remain unchanged.

as predicted.

Chen Dongqing's phone rang; it was the food delivery driver calling.

Yesterday, Chen Dongqing won his third consecutive MVP award, so as is customary, he was supposed to treat his teammates to dinner. However, Linko paid for dinner last night, so Chen Dongqing chose to treat his teammates to milk tea today.

Chen Dongqing went out and came back with a big bag of milk tea, only to see that both teams had already taken the stage for the fourth time.

At this point, it can be seen that IG's top laner has been quietly replaced by TheShy.

Moreover, it can be seen that everyone in IG, from top to bottom, has a serious expression, especially coach Kim Kyung-soo, whose face is extremely tense.

They're clearly serious.

Now it's interesting.

Chen Dongqing distributed the milk tea, sat down, sipped the Shanghai Auntie's milk tea, and watched the fourth round of the draft phase begin.

Since TheShy joined, it seems that the drafting strategy has changed.

The team's focus gradually shifted to the top lane, with the mid and jungle picking a tempo-based composition of Camille and Galio, and the top lane picking Jayce, forming an extremely strong early-game half-lane combination!

From this point on, the trend in gaming underwent a huge shift.

TheShy's Jayce skill level is beyond question. He only needed four minutes to achieve the beginner level achievement of "Blood Pressure A Guang's Ten Strikes". Then, when the minion wave pushed into the tower, he directly pressed his face to accelerate and use his W-R combo to transform, switch to his hammer and swing it three times. Finally, he used E followed by Q to clear Gnar's health bar, and then flashed out of the tower to complete the solo kill!

At that moment, countless dogs in the audience started screaming!

TheShy is a completely different player when he's on the field!

As expected, TheShy is only bad at beating Tree; he can easily beat other top laners!

Sometimes, a victory in a match is a snowball effect that starts with a single solo kill.

IG capitalized on TheShy's vulnerability in the top lane.

Ning attempted a tower dive in the top lane, but Karsa was right there, appearing just in time.

Unfortunately, Ning brought Rookie with him this time.

Rookie still couldn't shake off Doinb's lane control, but Galio's biggest characteristic is that he doesn't need to worry about lane control when roaming.

Rookie abandoned the minion wave, took two steps up, and then used his ultimate to fly to the top lane!

A three-on-one attack resulted in Ah Guang's death under the tower once again!

After that, the game lost its suspense.

FPX acted quickly, rapidly shifting to the bottom lane and managing to gain some ground.

But it's not very meaningful.

Although Lin Weixiang is a little chubby, it's completely useless.

During mid-game team fights, TheShy only needs to fire one shot, and Lin Weixiang has to obediently replenish his health and mana.

No matter how fed the AD carry is, they are nothing compared to the top laner's dominance.

In the fourth game, IG pulled one back, forcing a decisive fifth game!

The battle song begins.

With the two semi-finalists battling it out to the fifth game, everyone's expectations were instantly raised.

They never expected that TheShy's return would bring about such a big change to the IG team.

It can only be said that because of Chen Dongqing in the LPL, all the top laners in the region have been greatly underestimated.

When you mention TheShy, everyone will think of him as the top laner who gets crushed by Tree in every game.

But actually, this proves nothing.

TheShy is still dominating other top laners every day, but the audience doesn't seem to remember it.

Now it's the stage for the playoffs semifinals, and unlike the regular season, almost all LPL viewers have their eyes on this stage.

On this stage, countless viewers finally began to take this carry-type top laner from South Korea seriously.

It seems that it's actually quite powerful.

The final decisive game ended even faster than everyone expected.

This time, the variable comes from the bottom lane.

In this match, JackeyLove also pulled out his signature champion – Draven.

As a prodigy who reached the top of both servers at the age of 15 with Draven, his Draven has its own system and is worth a team's resources to cultivate.

In this game, the two sides fought fiercely in the bottom lane for a full ten minutes. IG relied on Draven's strong early-game fighting power and excellent snowballing ability to successfully roll to an 8-4 kill score and take the lead in breaking through the bottom lane tower!

After Draven recalled to base and bought Bloodthirster, his snowballing ability reached a new peak. During this period, IG's team fight frequency increased even further, and the number of kills on both sides began to rise continuously!

However, because of the damage output of Draven with Bloodthirster, IG rarely lost small team fights, and their advantage began to grow.

At 22 minutes and 00 seconds into the game, IG's economic advantage had already reached 9.3K!

Once IG secured the Baron buff, the outcome of the game was already decided.

Draven, with his snowballing three-item build, was ahead of the entire game with an Infinity Edge, and his damage output was simply exceptionally high. IG swept through the game like autumn leaves, crushing the opponent and winning the decisive game!

"Three to two!" the commentator with long hair shouted from the commentary booth. "Let's congratulate IG for narrowly defeating FPX and securing the last ticket to the finals!"

"And their opponent is none other than our LPL's four-time champion, QG!"

Amid the commentators' shouts, IG's veteran Rookie stood up, his eyes narrowing into slits with a smile.

He came to IG as a freebie from Kakao in December 2014, and he has seen too many ups and downs.

Reaching the semifinals in the spring and summer of S5, and the round of 16 in the World Championship, that was already the peak of the IG team.

After that, in S6 and S7, IG never reached such heights again.

Over the past three years, Kakao, the original leader of the team, has long since disappeared, while he, who was given away as a bonus, has stayed until now.

Now, it's the fourth year.

His perseverance seems to have paid off. A group of teenagers who call him "Brother Yijin" followed behind him and helped him reach a height he had never achieved since joining IG—the LPL finals.

Rookie believes that they will not be a flash in the pan like WE, and that IG's story this year will definitely not end here.

The live stream chat was flooded with comments, and countless fans were incredibly excited!

Wow, TheShy completely dominated and won both games after he joined?

[So TheShy is that crucial?]

[Is this IG team really that strong? Their five starters completely crushed FPX?]

I never expected that FPX, who reached the semifinals of last year's World Championship, wouldn't even make it to the LPL finals this year after making some new signings.

This IG team is really strong; they seem even stronger than EDG and WE, whom QG faced in the LPL finals before.

[This son of a bitch is already barking? So Void is stronger than EDG, huh? Enough already.]

The moment the match ended, the chat erupted with all sorts of arguments, but it has to be said that countless viewers were truly optimistic about this IG team.

It's worth noting that last year's FPX team fought their way into the semifinals and even won a game against QG, making them a true runner-up in terms of raw strength.

Despite FPX losing to IG this year, with Zoom replacing A Guang and Clid replacing Karsa, and the team's roster seemingly strengthened, FPX still managed to lose.

So what level is this IG team at?

"It's no exaggeration to say that this IG team is probably stronger than our opponents in the finals in the past two years." Banbazi turned off the projector and turned to the QG players to summarize.

Upon hearing this, Chen Dongqing pondered for a moment.

Who were the opponents in the LPL finals in the past two years?

EDG, EDG, WE, EDG.

That's fine.

IG is definitely much stronger than EDG in S6 and WE.EDG in S7.

They are indeed the strongest opponent QG has ever faced in the LPL finals.

"But thankfully," Banbazi continued with a smile, "I believe we can achieve victory."

With the second semi-final match over, there are only six days left until the final.

On April 23, QG and IG boarded their respective planes and arrived in Chengdu, the land of abundance.

After getting off the plane, Chen Dongqing went straight to the hotel to check in. While sitting on the bus, Chen Dongqing took a special look at the scenery outside the window and felt a little sentimental.

He's only been to Chengdu twice in his two lifetimes combined.

One time was a month ago, when he came to OMG's home stadium to participate in a match.

The second time is now.

I've heard there are a lot of certain minority groups here, but I don't know if that's true.

Chen Dongqing turned her gaze back to her phone and looked at the content on it.

In the past few days, the other regions have continued to advance their matches faster, concluding their Spring Split finals first.

It wasn't that Chen Dongqing was overconfident and was studying the MSI opponents in advance; it was just that the other regions had already finished their matches, and he still had to take a look.

This year, the MSI tournament has expanded again, with the number of participating teams officially increasing to 14.

There's no need to consider wildcard regions; it mainly depends on what the five major regions say.

In Europe, the Galacticos version of G2, formed after A-P kicked four players out of the league, has not performed well.

Before the reorganization, G2 was a pure European powerhouse, winning all the championships in 16 and 17, and taking four consecutive regional titles.

In all major regions, only Flash Wolves and QG have achieved the same feat.

But this year, after the restructuring, they actually faltered.

With Rekkles and Caps on the roster, FNC swept G2 3-0 in the Spring Finals, securing the world's first MSI ticket.

Following closely behind are North America and LMS.

As expected, neither of these two regions saw their respective powerhouses, Doublelift and Flash Wolves, dominate their regions and win the championship one after the other.

Yes, the god-tier team in the North American region is Doublelift, not TSM.

In Season 8, Doublelift officially transferred to Team Liquid, perfectly continuing his regional dominance and successfully leading this team, which had twice avoided relegation last year, to the Spring Split championship!

Finally, there's the LCK region.

On the afternoon Chen Dongqing arrived in Chengdu, the match between KT and Longzhu was in full swing.

As predicted during the transfer window, SKT will most likely continue to decline this year.

As expected, SKT was eliminated in the semifinals this year, and then lost to AFs in the third-place match, finishing in fourth place.

As for Samsung, the runner-up of last year's World Championship, there's not much to say. They're a meta team, and like WE, they're practically nonexistent.

This year's LCK semifinals are Longzhu and KT, who are currently in the finals, as well as AFs (third place) and SKT (fourth place).

As for the two teams in today's finals, it can only be said that it has a similar feel to yesterday's FPX vs. IG match.

Both teams are aggressive and fight-oriented, which is very different from SKT's operational style.

Chen Dongqing had witnessed a journey filled with bloodshed.

Khan and Smeb in the top lane, and Score and Peanut in the jungle, are not players who like to farm.

Once the two teams started fighting, the battle in the upper half of the bracket lasted from beginning to end.

Even LCK fans who are used to seeing how things are run have to cover their eyes after seeing this, exclaiming that it's too terrifying!

The two sides fought back and forth, and the battle went all the way to the decisive game of the best-of-five series!

Chen Dongqing had already checked into the hotel. He took his phone and watched the live stream while walking into the training room, where he chose a machine on the edge of the room and sat down.

Chen Dongqing thought that this fifth round would be a round where both sides would play all their cards and fight to the bitter end, but the result was quite tragic.

Both sides inexplicably started acting up.

There's nothing they can do about Dragon Ball because they have too many old men.

They have Score in the jungle and the two veterans in the bot lane. All three of them are over 23 years old. This kind of high-intensity BO5 match is a complete blow to them.

In this match, although kills were still occurring frequently, overall it was almost entirely a series of blunders by the Dragon Ball team.

As kills rolled in from both sides, KT quickly gained a huge lead, as if victory was within reach.

But just then, KT started again.

Don't forget, KT also has older men.

KT's support Mata first appeared in a strange location and was caught by Dragon Ball.

Without hesitation, Dragon Ball, having gained a numerical advantage, activated the Great Dragon!

KT was certainly unwilling to give up Baron Nashor so easily. Anyway, losing one support wasn't a big problem. With such a huge economic advantage, they could even fight a 4v5!

Unfortunately, it turned out that four against five was a tough fight.

The extra support player on Longzhu's side became crucial. Gorilla's Rakan support used two key Ws in a row, helping the team achieve a three-for-four exchange and secure Baron Nashor!

After this wave, Dragon Ball's energy has mostly returned!

But KT's performance has only just begun.

This time, it was Mr. Dai who made the move.

Deft, born in 96, is only 21 years old now, so he's not considered a veteran.

But unfortunately, Deft threw away crucial games, for no apparent reason.

Many players love to give gifts, but there are differences between giving gifts.

Some players only send a paltry 300 gold coins, and no matter how many they send, it's hard to make any difference in the game. This is undoubtedly the behavior of a novice.

However, some players can often lead their entire team to defeat with a single high-quality kill, causing a dramatic change in the situation.

Only a few players can pull off this kind of high-quality feed, and every time it happens, it brings a knowing smile to people's faces, who exclaim, "As expected of you!"

And pilots are the best of the best.

In this match, the pilot took off from Wuhu, and the small cannon launched a gank attack, sending KT straight into the abyss.

Upon seeing this, the chat room erupted in laughter.

As expected of you!

[Alright, alright, let's take off!]

[Mr. Dai, you've become an old man at such a young age, haven't you? How will you manage when you get old?]

This is the LCK finals? Seriously, don't make me laugh.

Why should we be quick to criticize?

When Chen Dongqing saw the comments, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Although Deft achieved a legendary feat as the fourth seed to win the S12 World Championship, it must be said that at this stage, Mr. Deft is truly full of witty remarks and humor.

It's a sad state of mind, but after all these years, LCK has only produced one or two masters of feeding (or feeding) in the end.

But the LPL side is truly a constellation of stars.

Those who know, know; those who don't, I won't say much.

In the video, thanks to Deft's takeoff, KT squandered their winning streak.

The rest of the story was, of course, a foregone conclusion: the remaining three members of Dragon Ball stormed forward and turned the KT base into countless fragments!

KZ, also known as Dragon Ball Team, has officially been crowned the new king of LCK!

With this, the spring split champions of the other major regions have all been determined, and now the world's attention is focused on the last and strongest region, the LPL.

As for the LPL champions, I believe every viewer has their own answer.

Now, all the world needs to do is wait and see what the first region does.

I went to watch a game today, so I'm a little late. Sorry.

(Cheng Lu is about to take the stage! Today's main event! The glory of the fourth seed still depends on my Weibo post to rebuild it!)

This chapter sets the stage for MSI; it's always good to lay the groundwork.

(End of this chapter)