League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 423 This is a sure thing!

4 month 28 day.

Chengdu, now in springtime, enjoys sunny weather and pleasant temperatures.

Chen Dongqing, wearing the spring team uniform, boarded the bus after a long absence.

This year, QG's team uniform has also undergone some minor modifications. For example, the color scheme of the uniform has been changed from the initial white and gold combination to the current white base with black ink stripes.

Chen Dongqing turned his head and saw that Xiao Hu's eyes were glazed over and his hands were trembling slightly, which was obviously a sign of nervousness.

"No, what's going on?" Chen Dongqing asked with a smile, "Why are you so nervous?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Hu was at a loss for words.

Not everyone has a big heart. This is his first time entering the finals, and he is facing a mid-laner from the first team. It's normal to be nervous, right?

"It's alright, it's alright." Chen Dongqing waved his hand dismissively and said, "You shouldn't be nervous anymore once you're on stage."

Based on his experience watching matches, Xiaohu might have a moment of weakness at the World Championship, but he has never held back in LPL matches, so he shouldn't be someone who gets stage fright.

"Besides, we are well prepared, so today's challenge is not too great."

Xiao Hu felt a little more at ease after hearing Chen Dongqing's words.

Later, Xiangguo, unusually, smiled and said, "Haven't you always wanted to prove yourself? Now a top-tier mid laner is right in front of you. As long as you don't suffer in lane today, you'll be completely redeemed, understand?"

"Do I need you to tell me?" Little Tiger retorted, turning around. "Just rinse it off!"

Chen Dongqing smiled and looked down at the forum.

With the finals approaching, the discussion on the anti-fan forum has reached a peak today, with fans from all walks of life impersonating others and posting all sorts of things, making it difficult to distinguish between male and female.

While scrolling through the page, I unexpectedly received a WeChat message from Gao Dewei.

[Keep it up! I'll be watching your match live today, don't lose!]

After switching to PUBG, Gao Dewei funded and founded the 4AM team.

Surprisingly, Gao Dewei's team wasn't just playing around; their results were actually quite good.

While they may not have achieved the league dominance of QG, they have at least reached the level of FPX, placing them in the upper echelons of the league.

I heard that 4AM is about to participate in a world-class tournament, which means they're finally on the right track.

Chen Dongqing smiled and typed, "Don't worry, watch my performance. For the sake of our skin sales, I have to win this Spring Championship."

As in previous years, this year's championship skins will be officially released during the MSI update.

The reason why QG's championship skins sold so well last year was largely because QG won both the LPL Spring Championship and the MSI Championship during the period when the championship skins were released.

The two championships have brought QG a lot of exposure.

This is an opportunity you absolutely can't miss; it's all pure cash!

Godwin was amused by the news and replied with a smile, "Looks like we have to win today."

The bus slowly came to a stop backstage at the Magic Cube Performing Arts Center. As soon as Chen Dongqing got off the bus, he experienced the long-awaited feeling of being greeted by fans.

"Go, Tree Bro!"

Go QG!

Various cheers began to rise, and Chen Dongqing smiled and waved to the fans before walking into the competition venue.

After entering the venue, there was a set of tedious preparations, which Chen Dongqing was quite familiar with. After going through the whole process, an hour had already passed.

The group hadn't been sitting in the lounge for long when it was time to go on stage.

At this point, discussing tactical arrangements is pointless. Banbazi, as usual, simply reminded everyone of the things they needed to pay attention to in today's match.

"We've been preparing thoroughly these past few days, so brothers, don't feel pressured. Just do your jobs, work together as a cohesive unit, and winning the game won't be too difficult!"

"Li Yuanhao, remember to be careful of the three-level attack in front of you, be prepared!"

"Liu Shiyu, against IG, you need to be more aggressive in the early game!"

Xiao Hu took a deep breath, adjusted himself to his best state, and then nodded to indicate that he understood.

"Now that we're ready, let's go on stage!" Linko shouted from the sidelines, "Brothers, charge!"

Everyone in the lounge stood up and escorted the five starters and one coach all the way to the end of the backstage passage.

At this moment, you can see that the water droplet screen at the top of the venue has begun a 30-second countdown.

As the countdown reached one, all the lights went out, leaving only a few spotlights focused on the center of the stage, where a keyboardist played, and the music began to flow gently as the keys fell.

Then, one light after another lit up, and instruments such as flutes, guzheng, and pipa appeared one after another, playing together a beautiful traditional Chinese melody.

This is "Opening the Sky," a theme song specially produced for this year's LPL finals.

The production quality of this music is quite high; it's clear that money was spent on it.

This year, LPL has made a fortune. Each of the fourteen teams paid a starting fee of 30 million RMB for their spots, and the team has collected over 400 million RMB just from these fees!

I wouldn't feel bad about taking out even a tiny bit to make music.

After the song ended, Ren Dong appeared in the audience. He stood up from his seat and began hosting the final competition.

"Alright, welcome to the Chengdu Grand Cube Performing Arts Center! This is the live broadcast of the 2018 League of Legends Pro League Spring Finals! Can you feel the enthusiasm of all the League of Legends Summoners here?!"

Tens of thousands of spectators waved their glow sticks, creating a frenzied roar!

"After a spring of hard work and sweat, the grudges and rivalries among the fourteen teams, the battle that spanned five cities and two thousand kilometers, has finally come to an end today!"

Ren Dong continued shouting loudly, "Today, two teams have come here and entered the finals stage!"

"First up, our team making it to the finals for the first time—Invictus Gaming!" Ren Dong shouted. "Top laner TheShy, jungler Ning, mid laner Rookie, bot laner JackeyLove, support Baolan, coach KIM, and lastly, substitute Duke!"

At this moment, a Mercedes-Benz GLA SUV drove up to the center of the venue. IG's players came up from the left and stood on the left side of the Mercedes-Benz.

IG has been performing poorly for many years, but now it has finally taken off, thanks to the strong cohesion of its fans.

Although they only occupied a small area in the audience, the fans' cheers were exceptionally loud, creating quite a commotion.

Of course, they are quite different from today's featured teams.

"Next up is the two-time World Championship winner, the four-time LPL champion!" Ren Dong drawled out his words, shouting, "Qiao! Gu!"

"Top laner Ilex!"

Chen Dongqing followed the sound onto the stage. Ren Dong wisely paused, waiting for the cheers to subside slightly before continuing, "Jungler mlxg! Mid laner Xiaohu! Bot laner Uzi! Support Ming! And finally, coach Banbazi and substitute Mouse!"

After both teams announced their entry onto the stage and the atmosphere of the final was building, Ren Dong spoke again: "Alright, both sides are ready! Let's compete for supremacy on the Shu Road and see who will lift the Silver Dragon Cup!"

Once both contestants were seated, the lights around the stage went out again, and this time the screen at the top of the venue lit up and began playing the promotional video for the final.

As the camera pans across the city of Chengdu, what comes into clear view are the Grand Cube Performing Arts Center, the Chunxi Road commercial district, and Tianfu Avenue, which stretches straight south.

The two contestants soon appeared under a skyscraper, standing facing each other with the Silver Dragon Cup as the dividing line.

After the promotional video for the finals ended, the camera cut back to the Rubik's Cube, where both contestants sat on the stage and began their trash talk.

As soon as he entered, Uzbekistan greeted him with a cheerful, chubby face: "I know IG very well, they're our old rivals."

Uzi, a player who has been playing since Season 3, has been fighting against IG since the LPL was first established. He has been fighting against them since the PDD generation, so they are indeed old rivals.

Uzi then added, "But then again, I don't think I've ever really lost."

In the video, JackeyLove immediately retorted, "Haven't you lost yet? Didn't you just lose in the Spring Split?"

Xiao Hu then chimed in: "It's because Brother Shu wasn't here back then! If Brother Shu had been here, maybe we could have achieved a perfect record in the regular season?"

Immediately afterwards, Chen Dongqing appeared on screen and said lazily, "IG's top laner, TheShy, is indeed a rather excellent top laner. Well, I mean, his research and development capabilities are quite excellent."

That's when they became aggressive.

Although it is only 2018, the live streams of well-known green streamers such as Yu XiaoC, BaGe, and DongZhu have already featured memes related to research and development.

After TheShy's combined score of 1-12 in two games against QG, countless netizens jokingly said that TheShy was at the forefront of technology and had successfully developed the i12.

It's fair to say that This is how TheShy's reputation was ruined.

Fortunately, this young man lived up to expectations and proved himself again in the semi-finals.

Upon hearing the joke about Brother Shu personally participating in the research and development, a burst of laughter immediately erupted from the audience.

However, TheShy, whose Chinese is not yet fluent, obviously did not understand what "research and development" meant. He was still grinning foolishly and saying silly things like "Tree Bro is my idol".

Chen Dongqing spouted a lot of witty remarks, but unfortunately, his opponent was a Korean player who only had a basic understanding of Chinese, so his words had little effect. He could only finally say, "Anyway, there's not much to analyze when playing against IG, right? I'll just solo kill them in the top lane. Today's top lane is a true man's battle, so nobody should come near me, okay?"

TheShy understood this time and shyly said, "Howl!"

Next came the interaction between the other contestants on both sides.

The trash talk between Xiangguo and Ning became the core of this discussion. These two reckless junglers, neither willing to back down, decided to settle their differences today.

Finally, Rookie spoke up, saying, "This is the first time in all my years of professional career that I've reached the LPL finals, and I definitely won't let this opportunity slip by."

Finally, a serious statement is always needed to elevate the theme.

Chen Dongqing then appeared on screen and said, "Everyone has their reasons for wanting to win, but in the end, the outcome is determined by the strength of both teams. I believe that QG will always be the strongest, and I am ready to lift the Silver Dragon Cup for the fifth time."

Cheers erupted from the audience, and the live stream chat was flooded with comments!

【QG, charge!】

[G2 and TSM are both gone, Flash Wolves rose to prominence late, QG only needs one more win to become the club with the most league titles in the world!]

[Bet placed! How many units will TheShy develop this time?]

[No way, it's a best-of-five series today. TheShy is bound to get a few kills. It's too difficult to develop a strategy for that.]

【really】

It has to be said that, after reading the whole thing, QG's trash talk is definitely of higher quality.

This is quite normal, since the two teams have different roles when speaking.

On one hand, there's the persona of someone who persevered for many years and finally made it to the LPL finals; on the other hand, there's the persona of a four-time league champion and a two-time S-series champion.

With so many accolades to its name, QG naturally has the confidence to talk trash.

After the trash talk segment ended, the camera naturally switched to the commentary booth.

Today's commentary team is led by Wawa Miller, with a special guest commentator, Lu Wei; it's all familiar faces.

The three of them immediately began analyzing the data from both teams provided by the director.

Let's take a look at the performance statistics of both teams!

With a smile, Wawa said, "We can see that as two teams that both achieved an 18-1 record in the regular season, their statistics are simply outrageous, and they each have their own strengths!"

Miller was also staring at the data.

Of the six statistical categories on the field, QG ranked first in three and IG ranked first in three. At first glance, they do seem to have their own strengths, but upon closer inspection...

"QG boasts a higher season win rate, a higher team K/D ratio, and a larger average gold difference! On the other hand, IG has shorter game durations, higher team damage per minute, and a higher level of brutality!"

Looking at this data, one can only say that the director's skill in maintaining a fair balance is evident.

QG leads in win rate, KD ratio, and gold difference – metrics that reflect a team's strength and style.

But when it came to IG, we could say that their style was there, but their strength was completely absent.

Shorter game duration, even losing quickly counts.

There's also the team's average damage per minute. A high number of this statistic only indicates that the team likes to fight, which is essentially the same thing as the level of gore mentioned later.

When it comes to the level of gore, Miller didn't even know what algorithm was used to calculate the 0.77 level of gore.

Anyway, if you say that IG is more bloody than QG, that's quite reasonable, since this team is known for its high kill count.

The three analyzed the data for a long time, and Miller finally concluded: "Judging from the data, both sides are teams that focus on the early game. I believe today's match will definitely not be boring!"

At that moment, a notification came through the director's earpieces to the three of them.

"Okay, business development has started!"

The child perked up, "We received news that IG won the coin toss before the match. They used their first-choice-side advantage to proactively select a position on the red side in the first game!"

Hearing this, Miller casually remarked, "QG's coin toss still isn't working."

Doinb, who was watching the game in Shanghai at the time: ? ? ?

Soon after, the BP panel also seamlessly transitioned into the market.

"Okay, we can see that QG, on the blue side, has already banned Draven in the first pick. It seems they are quite wary of IG's trump card in the bot lane!"

Draven was IG's secret weapon to defeat FPX in the decisive game, with an almost invincible snowballing ability.

The problem is that Uzi doesn't know Draven either, so there's no other way but to ban this champion.

On the other hand, IG's draft strategy was also clear; they chose to ban Caitlyn first.

The alternating banning of AD carries by both sides can only be described as fair.

"Then in the second round, QG banned Poppy, and IG banned Fiora, resulting in another ban exchange between the two sides!"

"Then in the third round, QG chose to ban Rakan, while IG banned Camille! Hey, is no one banning Irelia this game? What does QG say? Should they pick her?"

This question was then posed to Chen Dongqing.

"Irelia has been released, should we pick her or not?" Banbazi asked.

IG is the victim of Chen Dongqing's godlike Irelia game. Since they dared to let Irelia out, it means they have obviously found a way to deal with this champion.

If you have to make a choice at this point, you'll need to think it over carefully.

Chen Dongqing turned to Li Yuanhao and asked, "Li Yuanhao, have you mastered the 'Knife Girl' technique?"

"I have practiced," Xiao Hu shook his head, "but it doesn't feel very stable."

Irelia is a newly reworked champion, and she's quite difficult to play.

Although Xiaohu has been contacting us very diligently lately, unfortunately, his talent is stuck here.

If you let him play Irelia in a regular season game, that's fine, but today is the finals. It's not a sure thing.

"This is risky," Chen Dongqing pursed his lips. "It's okay, let's pick. Since they dared to let Irelia through, they'll definitely pick her first. We have no reason to back down!"

Nothing much to say, first floor, Irelia, definitely locked in!

When the hero appeared on stage, another cheer erupted from the audience.

Here it comes, Tree Bro's Irelia is back again.

Ever since Chen Dongqing picked Irelia and went on a godlike streak, countless viewers have been eagerly anticipating his Irelia gameplay.

After all, these flashy heroes are certainly entertaining to watch.

On the other side, IG also made a quick choice, selecting Varus and Tahm Kench, a relatively stable bot lane combination.

After a moment's thought, Banbazi decided to pick Ezreal. As for support, this time Banbazi didn't pair him with Karma for lane dominance, but instead locked in Morgana, forming a more stable bot lane duo.

Irelia is a champion who inevitably needs to push the lane, and pushing the lane makes her vulnerable to ganks, so she definitely needs to be protected. The bot lane should prioritize stability; picking Karma would only harm them.

On the other hand, because there was a slight possibility that Irelia might be unpredictable, IG did not rush to choose a solo lane champion, but instead locked in a jungler, Lee Sin, as their third pick.

In the fourth pick of the second round, IG came up with a unique idea, first locking in a Cassiopeia who is not afraid of Irelia, leaving the top laner for last.

At this point, QG was the first to lock in their lineup.

Since IG has already picked Cassiopeia for mid lane, Irelia definitely can't go mid. But fortunately, this gives Xiaohu a chance to pick a back laner.

At Xiangguo's urging, Xiaohu gritted his teeth and decided to lock onto Zoe and go head-to-head with Rookie.

IG then locked in Jax as their last pick to counter Irelia, thus finalizing the champion picks for both sides!

Blue side QG: Top lane Irelia, Jungle Gragas, Mid lane Zoe, Bot lane Ezreal and Morgana.

Red side IG: Top lane Jax, Jungle Lee Sin, Mid lane Cassiopeia, Bot lane Varus and Tahm Kench.

Chen Dongqing looked at IG's lineup and couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly.

Judging from the lineup, it's clear that IG came prepared for this game.

Weapons that allow you to dodge basic attacks, Lee Sin who can kick away Irelia, Cassiopeia who counters mobility, and Tahm Kench who counters backline assassins.

From start to finish, they were limiting Irelia's development.

No wonder they dared to release Irelia directly; they had set a trap for him.

"This is a bit too difficult for you," Banbazi said, standing next to Chen Dongqing. "But you should be able to handle it, right?"

"Who knows?" Chen Dongqing shrugged with a smile. "I can only say I'm confident."

"Your confidence is enough." Banbazi placed his hand on Chen Dongqing's shoulder, squeezed it hard, patted it, and then walked to the center of the stage to shake hands.

Chen Dongqing lay back in the chair, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and adjusted his state.

As he exhaled his last breath, the sound effects of both teams' heroes appearing in the fountain after the game started came through his headphones.

Chen Dongqing opened his eyes and got into the game.

It's definitely not easy for Irelia to fight against weapons.

After all, the weapon's "flower hand" mechanic gives it an advantage against heroes who rely on basic attacks.

However, the weapon doesn't have a significant advantage against this version of Irelia.

You can dodge, I can disarm, neither of us can do anything to the other.

If a weapon player wants to consistently outclass Irelia, they need to wait until the late game after acquiring three core items, and only when their E skill level and cooldown reduction are stacked up can they truly dominate Irelia.

For the first twenty minutes, the weapon didn't have an advantage, and Irelia even had more initiative.

So, the game will end in these twenty minutes!

So the first small goal is to call on the jungler to gank TheShy once.

Of course, tower diving requires lane control; you need to push the lane to the tower and deplete its health enough.

Pushing the lane with the weapon is obviously not an easy task for Irelia.

Soon, the minions came online and the fight began in the middle.

TheShy didn't seem to back down. He stood next to the melee minions, stacking passives on the minions and probing back and forth, clearly wanting to exchange a few more blows with Chen Dongqing.

Chen Dongqing watched TheShy's eager movements and couldn't help but focus on them more intently.

You've thought of a couple of moves? That's perfect, I was just afraid you'd chicken out!

Chen Dongqing had no reason to back down and walked towards the weapons!

TheShy didn't back down either, right-clicking on both sides and charging in both directions!

However, because Irelia's attack range is 50 yards longer than Jax's and her attack animation is slower, TheShy clearly saw that Irelia's basic attack was launched ahead of time and slashed towards Jax!

TheShy reacted quickly, immediately activating his E [Counterattack Storm] and taking advantage of Irelia's auto-attack animation delay to close the distance!

Chen Dongqing reacted even faster. His reaction value of 99 points gave him more room to maneuver. He clearly saw the weapon activate its E skill, so he decisively turned around and pulled away, not giving the weapon a chance to attack!

TheShy wanted to chase again while his E skill was active, and he was determined to get at least one E-A combo in this wave.

But Chen Dongqing remained calm. He silently counted the time, and when a sensitive moment arrived, he controlled Irelia to quickly use her E skill!

Place one E behind the weapon, and the second E at your feet. The two E segments quickly form and begin to connect towards the middle!

The camera was currently focused on the top lane, and the three commentators' eyelids twitched as they watched Irelia use her E skill.

How come this E is so fast?

A weapon that learns E at level 1 definitely can't dodge this E, and TheShy was directly stunned on the spot!

Taking advantage of this time, Chen Dongqing once again demonstrated his top-notch distance control, stopping one step outside the range of his weapon's E skill.

At that moment, the weapon's E [Counter Strike] was ready, unleashing a stun wave, but Irelia stood outside the circle and was completely unaffected!

Instead, taking advantage of the last bit of time left before the dizziness subsided, Chen Dongqing turned back and slashed at the weapon with his sword!

At this moment, TheShy finally came to his senses. Seeing that the Irelia still dared to attack him, he, not wanting to suffer any loss, immediately stepped forward and chased after her, wanting to get his auto-attack back!

But after Chen Dongqing finished his attack, he turned around and left, and TheShy couldn't catch up with him!

TheShy could only turn around and pull away, but the next second the Irelia suddenly turned around again and hit the weapon with a basic attack!

Actually, the weapon was always within the attack range of the Irelia, but Chen Dongqing didn't rush to attack. He was waiting for the weapon to turn around so he could get a free hit!

Chen Dongqing reaped the full benefits of Irelia's 50-range attack advantage over Jax!

TheShy was getting impatient from being auto-attacked so much that he turned around again, but the result was the same. He turned to chase, and Irelia ran away. He turned to run, and Irelia auto-attacked him again, which added another new scar to Jax's body!

In this sequence of actions, Irelia managed to land three free auto-attacks on the weapon and also got hit by her E skill.

But after that combo, Irelia is still at full health.

Backstage, IG's dressing room.

Coach Kim looked at the scene before him and helplessly covered his eyes.

Do you really have to play mind games with Ilex?

You messed up at level one, how are you supposed to play this lane?

send!

At this point, TheShy's passive attack speed buff had all expired, and he dared not fight any longer, so he could only helplessly turn around and pull away.

But with this retreat, the line control was clearly no longer his concern.

By maneuvering back and forth, Chen Dongqing successfully gained control of the lane.

Surprisingly simple.

"OK," Chen Dongqing smiled and said, "Game over."

Chen Dongqing's words were filled with pride.

Is this TheShy from S8? He doesn't seem much different from Duke.

Next to him, several teammates all turned their heads, their faces full of question marks.

How come the game ended after only one minute?

With a puzzled look in his eyes, Xiaohu switched the camera to the top lane and saw a weapon with 60% health and a full-health Irelia. He was even more confused, his head full of question marks, looking exactly like a Buddha Knight.

Can a level 1 Irelia really play like that against a weapon? Did the enemy disconnect?

Xiangguo glanced at the top lane but didn't show any surprise. He continued farming the jungle.

Nothing else, I'm used to it.

Every time they set up a plan to advance to the next level, Chen Dongqing always managed to secure the line control; there were never any unexpected incidents.

This time will be no exception.

Next, all he needs to do is appear behind the enemy's tower at the right time, and the first blood will be his for the taking!

This is a sure thing!

Sorry, I had something to do today, and I just finished writing this right on time. Please send it first and I'll correct any typos later.

(End of this chapter)