League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 439: A Good Deal!

The semifinals officially began on May 18th and were held over two days.

After two days of semi-finals, there was no rest time; the finals started directly on May 20th.

The schedule is quite tight.

As the top team in their group, QG will start their semi-final matches directly on the first day, and will then have a day to prepare before the finals, allowing them to be well-rested and ready to fight.

The two-day break after the group stage passed quickly, and May 18th arrived soon after.

In the early morning hours in Paris, Chen Dongqing, carrying a backpack, stepped into the Zenith Stadium in Paris.

"Not bad." Chen Dongqing looked at the huge stadium not far ahead and nodded in satisfaction. "This venue is just right."

After leaving the studio that could only accommodate two hundred audience members, we arrived at a super venue that could accommodate up to seventy thousand audience members!

In order to ensure the viewing experience, large venues like this definitely cannot use waterdrop screens. They must leave one seat empty to place a large screen, but they can still seat at least 50,000 people.

France has the strongest e-sports atmosphere, and if it's a China-Korea match, French viewers will definitely support QG unconditionally. Chen Dongqing can't even imagine how exciting it will be when the match starts.

Chen Dongqing handed his peripherals to the staff on site for inspection, and then sat down in the backstage lounge to wait for the game to begin.

Time quickly came to 11:00 AM Paris time.

In China, that would be 6 PM on the same day.

The advantage of playing in Europe is that the time difference isn't too great, ensuring that spectators for both sides can find a comfortable viewing time.

The Tian Ding Sports Center was packed with people, with every seat filled.

"Alright, welcome to the 2018 Mid-Season Invitational, the semifinals! This is Paris, France!" Guan Zeyuan's voice rang out in the LPL live broadcast room. "The two teams about to start the semifinals are KZ, the number one seed from LCK! And our number one seed, QG!"

"I have to say, it was quite unexpected that the two regions would meet in the semifinals so early."

I remember laughingly remarking from the sidelines, "Many people are saying this match is like the finals being played out early! I think that's not entirely wrong! Okay, let's take a look at the match statistics for both teams provided by the broadcast director!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a data panel appeared on the live stream screen, perfectly displaying the group stage match data of both teams.

Upon seeing the data, all three commentators were stunned for a second, unsure of what to say.

After all, one side is an undefeated team with a 10-0 record, while the other side is a team with a 5-5 record, which is on par with FNC and FW. The difference in statistics between the two sides is almost unimaginable!

After taking a look, he said, "First of all, in terms of win rate, we have 100%, while the other side only has 50%."

"Haha, there's not much to say about this, is there?" Guan Zeyuan laughed. "Then, regarding the average gold difference, KZ's win rate isn't high, so their average gold lead is only 4639 points, but QG is terrifying. Their average gold lead is a whopping 11239! A full 6600 points ahead!"

"Furthermore, in terms of average kills per game, dragon control rate, and Baron control rate, QG is far ahead in all of them!"

Today's commentator is Doinb, a former QG player.

It's a long-standing tradition to invite QG players to provide commentary during QG's matches.

Doinb has a performative personality. He wasn't shy at all on the commentary desk and started off in a very casual manner: "To be honest, if you only look at the data, you'll think this is a completely different level of team."

For an official commentator, this was a rather bold statement, so Guan Daxiao quickly added in a way of clarifying, "But esports is always full of unknowns! Let the results speak for themselves as to who wins today's match!"

"Alright, both players are on stage now. Let's take a look at the draft picks and bans for the first game!"

The camera then cuts to the stage, where both contestants have taken their seats after bowing to the audience.

A quick pan of the camera reveals that the two players are in very different states.

All five members of KZ looked extremely serious, clearly feeling immense pressure from this match.

Meanwhile, QG sat quite relaxed in their chairs, chatting and laughing.

After being seated, they were given ten minutes to adjust.

Xiao Hu quickly adjusted his equipment and joined the room. Seeing that there was still some time, he simply dragged his teammates to play a solo match to get a feel for the laning phase.

"Are you sure you want to call me?" Chen Dongqing turned and asked. "Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

Before the match even starts, they're already mentally crushing their own mid-laner?

"Oh, then garlic." Little Tiger shook his head and looked around.

Uzi is also soloing, so I can't beat him.

"Shi Senming, come here!" Xiaohu invited his support player.

A question mark appeared above Xiaoming's head: "What do you mean? Are you trying to boost your confidence by focusing on my support role?"

"Come on, come on, just have some fun."

"Wander." Shi Senming nodded. He was bored anyway, so he clicked into Xiaohu's custom room.

Chen Dongqing had finished his adjustments, so he simply turned his chair around and craned his neck to watch Xiao Hu's operation.

five minutes later

"Holy crap!" Xiaohu stared at his black-and-white image, utterly incredulous. "What the hell is going on?! When did you start playing this hero?"

In this match, Shi Senming played Big Eyes and was completely outmatched by Xiaohu.

Finally, a precise E plus QW combo secured an unremarkable solo kill.

Shi Senming grinned and said with a wicked smile, "Li Yuanhao, you don't really think I'm bad at laning, do you?"

How could a player who can dominate the bot lane alongside Uzi be weak in lane?

Xiaohu, however, had never studied his support teammate's laning habits, nor had he ever laned against a ward like Vel'Koz, and he was immediately caught off guard.

Xiao Hu's first reaction was dissatisfaction, and he immediately asked to play another round.

But time didn't give him another chance. The referee had already started checking the players' conditions, so Xiaohu had no choice but to return to the competition room and check his preparation status.

With the referee confirming the status of both sides and giving the referee's order, Khan from the blue side clicked to start the game, and the first round of ban/pick officially began!

"Because QG ranked higher in the group stage, they had the priority to choose sides in this round of matches! And in the first game, they proactively chose the red side!"

The commentator, Guan Zeyuan, was quite excited, shouting loudly, "At this moment, we can see that both teams are pushing forward in the ban phase very quickly, banning Ezreal and Poppy in the first round. If nothing unexpected happens, KZ should ban Fiora in the second round!"

As expected, KZ banned Fiora as their second pick, while QG banned BDD's Taliyah.

"Final ban! Both sides have chosen to ban Irelia and Ryze, and we're now in the champion selection phase!"

In this match, neither side made any particularly flashy or unusual hero selections.

KZ banned EZ, clearly aiming for Kai'Sa, and they decisively locked in her.

On the other side, QG was also prepared, and they locked in the Xayah and Rakan duo as their bottom lane counter.

With their next move, KZ locked in Lulu and Jayce, finalizing their first three hero picks.

Choosing Jayce first was Khan's last act of defiance. He was unwilling to pick Ornn to withstand pressure because he knew he couldn't survive against Ilex and had to rely on skillful maneuvers.

The choice now falls to QG.

"What do you mean?" Bbanbazi asked in the voice chat, "The enemy team has already picked Jayce, so should we pick top lane first?"

Although they have a trick to get Xiaohu to the top lane, it only works well on the blue side. If they are on the red side, they should just pick normally.

As for how to beat Jayce?

Chen Dongqing certainly had an idea.

QG's third pick, Viktor, is locked in!

Viktor doesn't have an easy time laning against Jayce, but Chen Dongqing can overcome this disadvantage through his individual skill.

Once Viktor builds Iceborn Gauntlet and upgrades his Q, Jayce will be nothing more than a toy.

Next, the choices are relatively fixed. Both sides still have mid and jungle players left to choose from. QG will naturally lock in a jungler first, and then select a unit.

For his fourth pick, Xiangguo chose Jarvan IV as his jungler to address the lack of initiation and team fight control caused by Viktor's top lane role.

On the other side, KZ first picked Galio, and then chose Sejuani, maximizing control in the mid and jungle.

Finally, in response to Galio and Sejuani, Xiaohu picked Cassiopeia, and the team compositions for both sides were finalized.

Blue side KZ: Top lane Jayce, Jungle Sejuani, Mid lane Galio, Bot lane Kai'Sa and Lulu.

Red team QG: Top lane Viktor, Jungle Jarvan IV, Mid lane Cassiopeia, Bot lane Xayah and Rakan.

"In terms of roster composition, the preferences of both sides are quite obvious!"

Looking at the lineup, Colonel Guan analyzed, "KZ's lineup is clearly geared towards the early game! These three heroes in the top half of the map are invincible in the early game, so they can play however they want."

"On the other hand, QG is the complete opposite. They have a standard three-core system, requiring all three carries to be fully developed before they can engage in team fights!"

Upon hearing this, I casually remarked, "So, this is another classic one-on-one attack and one-on-defense match?"

"That's right!" Colonel Guan said, "Because none of QG's three carries have mobility skills, they just need to be careful in the early game, do a good job of withstanding pressure, and once their carries have their items, team fights will be much easier!"

At this moment, Coach Banbazi was giving his final instructions: "We are much stronger than the opponent in the late game, so you don't need to rush to attack. Only make your move when you are confident. Try to exchange resources with the opponent. I believe you understand how to play this game better than I do."

Hearing this, everyone in QG nodded, and Xiangguo even laughed and said, "Alright, just go backstage and watch how I do it!"

In games where the early game focuses on defense, the jungler is the most crucial element.

Be good at counter-ganking and create opportunities to get kills for the team whenever possible.

If the jungler is good enough, they can reduce the team's disadvantage, or even turn the tide and create an advantage!

The first ten minutes of this game were all about Xiangguo's rhythm.

Soon, the game finished loading, and the heroes from both sides appeared in Summoner's Rift.

Chen Dongqing bought the corruption potion and slowly headed towards the Ueno area.

For the first ten minutes of the game, he was practically invisible, just playing the role of a thief in the top lane, stealing money from Jayce.

Just as Chen Dongqing was simulating the laning phase in his mind, an unexpected situation occurred.

KZ's team came in with great force, actually grouping up in threes and charging straight into QG's upper half of the map!

Want to switch jungle areas?

Chen Dongqing raised an eyebrow. He didn't dare to linger and turned to run!

At this moment, Xiangguo, who was also preparing to start with a red card, quickly retreated to the lower half of the game!

"Hey, is KZ trying to openly trade jungle camps?" Guan Daxiao exclaimed, watching the screen, "That's not good news!"

"Yeah!" Doinb said, his brows furrowing slightly. "If we switch jungle areas, then Tree in the top lane will be completely isolated and helpless."

KZ's actions were a blatant attempt to swap jungle camps with QG.

Xiangguo could only waste some time and chose to solo in KZ's bottom jungle.

This effectively changes the boundary between the junglers' territories from the river to the mid lane.

The journey will become a complete island.

KZ's tactic can only be described as having a clear intention.

Chen Dongqing squinted slightly as he looked at the scene.

Whatever, let them arrest me.

Given the strength of KZ's mid and jungle, catching a small Viktor like him would be a piece of cake.

They're willing to die if they dare to arrest someone.

Of course, Chen Dongqing trusts his teammates.

If the enemy team ganks top, his teammates will definitely help him get revenge.

Therefore, there's no need to prepare anything special; just play normally in lane.

Soon, the minion waves clashed.

Chen Dongqing took down TAB and glanced at Jayce's starting outfit.

Khan played very steadily this game, using Aery and Corrupting Potion, and he wasn't greedy at all, which made Chen Dongqing's laning phase a bit more difficult.

At level one, Chen Dongqing didn't rush to trade blows with Jess. Instead, he focused on farming peacefully, replenishing his first three melee minions, and then pushed the lane until level two.

During the line-laying process, Khan took the initiative to push forward and steal points, and Chen Dongqing seized the opportunity to retaliate with a QA, stealing five points.

Chen Dongqing's laning strategy in this game was to minimize the damage he took and create obstacles for the opponent to gank top lane.

But at this moment, Chen Dongqing could clearly see that Khan's Jayce in this game did not seem to have any intention of rushing to level two; he was also slowly pushing and developing peacefully.

Even after the second wave of minions arrived, the minions still met in the middle of the top lane.

Seeing this, Chen Dongqing pondered for a moment and quickly figured out the reason.

Meanwhile, Cuzz's Sejuani started in QG's jungle with red buff, but instead of returning to her own jungle, she farmed all the way up from the F6 camp to the Krugs!

Cuzz's strategy is quite simple—three jungle camps, gank top directly, even if you can't gank, at least get a flash.

From the very beginning of the match, KZ knew that ganking top would be a long and arduous process, not something that could be accomplished overnight.

After defeating the Stone Beetle, Cuzz didn't waste any time and headed straight for the top road!

Sejuani emerged from QG's jungle and appeared directly behind Chen Dongqing.

This was a very blatant gank on the top lane; KZ's top jungle was practically unrestrained!

Chen Dongqing had anticipated this.

He realized as early as when he saw Khan choose not to rush level 2 and farm peacefully that this Sejuani would definitely rush to level 3 in the half of the map and directly attack his top lane.

So Chen Dongqing prepared early on; he didn't even study E for the two levels, but instead studied W!

As he retreated, he kept a close eye on Piggy's movements.

He deliberately stood in a high and back position to avoid giving Sejuani the distance to attack him passively.

At this current distance, Sejuani needs to initiate with her Q if she wants to catch him!

This gave Chen Dongqing some room to maneuver.

At this moment, Cuzz was standing at a 45-degree angle to the bottom right of Viktor, which is the best angle for the skill to hit. He watched Viktor's forward steps and decisively used Q!

In that instant, Chen Dongqing's 99-point reaction came into play. He almost instantly placed the W at his feet and then quickly moved to the lower left corner!

This crucial twist allowed Viktor to narrowly avoid Sejuani's charge and use his W to trap her inside!

That's it.

Chen Dongqing took a deep breath, then turned around and walked towards the center of the W-shaped circle.

At this moment, Khan's Jayce also used Sky Leap to hammer in, but Viktor was currently standing inside his W, so Jayce's hammer was equivalent to sending himself in as well!

Although the two quickly applied Sejuani's passive to Viktor, Sejuani was stunned on the spot because Viktor's W field was activated at this time, and she didn't have time to use her E. As a result, Viktor ran back to the tower with one-third of his health left!

"Awesome!" Even Doinb couldn't help but praise after seeing this: "That was such a calm and collected move!"

"Wow, he didn't even manage to use Flash?" On the commentary booth, Guan Daxiao's face lit up with joy. "That's good news! If he still had Flash, then maybe Tree Bro can withstand the next gank!"

At this moment, under QG's top tower, Chen Dongqing, despite having low health, didn't think about returning to base and instead continued laning.

He still has three bottles of medicine and some cookies coming soon, so the laning phase isn't too difficult; he'll just play passively.

Chen Dongqing stood under the tower, healing himself while switching the camera to the bottom lane.

Cuzz isn't the only one who chooses to directly grab people in the half-zone fast three-pointer.

Because Xiangguo needs to travel a long way to the bottom half of the jungle to farm, his level three speed is slightly slower.

But it's not a big problem.

Xiangguo's ganking efficiency is far superior to Cuzz's!

In the bottom lane, Xiangguo's Prince appeared behind KZ's bottom lane duo, carrying the military flag, and launched a similarly aggressive gank.

"I'll go first!" Xiangguo declared arrogantly. "I'm sure I'll get it. Get ready to call!"

Upon hearing this, Uzi and Shi Senming were both on high alert.

Xiangguo didn't hold back either. As soon as Kai'Sa entered the range of EQ, he immediately used EQ to unleash a double attack!

With the addition of the champion prince skin, Xiangguo's EQ combo looks incredibly fast and powerful!

Pray was startled by this EQ move. He shuddered and quickly used Flash to get away!

But Xiangguo was extremely confident in his skills and immediately followed up with a Flash!

Two flashes of light appeared one after the other. Xiangguo used an EQ flash to forcefully catch up with Kai'Sa, who was trying to escape with a flash, and completed a top-notch initiation control!

"Nice!"

The voice came from all three of them at the same time!

Shi Senming quickly followed up with a Flash W, launching Kai'Sa into the air once again!

In that instant, Ignite was already on Kai'Sa!

Uzi knew that Kai'Sa couldn't escape without Flash, so he wasn't in a hurry. He slowly took two steps to catch up, activated W, and relentlessly attacked Kai'Sa!

The three of them used the slow effect of Prince's W to chase Kai'Sa all the way to the tower, and finally Uzi used Q to get the first blood from a distance!

"First blood!"

A blood is born!

They tried to address both the top and bottom levels, but the results were worlds apart!

"The top laner didn't even manage to use Flash, but the bottom lane got First Blood!" I remember laughing out loud when I saw this: "That was a great start!"

Doinb then spoke up, "And the most crucial point is that Maokai with Flash still has a chance to make plays when caught in the next wave. But that's not the case on the other side; Kai'Sa without Flash will still die in the next wave!"

The doll smiled and said, "Then let's see what moves they make next."

When will the two sides make their next move?

The two commentators then asked Doinb, who was standing next to them, a question.

Doinb's strategic vision is world-class. He immediately said, "It depends on KZ's strategy, because their mid and jungle are stronger, so they have the initiative."

Doinb's words make sense, because KZ didn't even mourn for the first blood given up by the bot lane; they had already started discussing their next strategy.

Of course, their goal was clear—just get on the road and be done with it!

The timeline is also quite clear: wait until Galio reaches level six!

KZ wasn't in a hurry. Cuzz went back to farm jungle camps to catch up on levels. After he finished farming the second round of jungle monsters, it was exactly five and a half minutes.

At the same time, BDD in the mid lane also cleared the mid lane minion wave using Galio's wave-pushing ability.

Immediately afterwards, Galio quickly headed up the river!

In the mid lane, Xiaohu saw Galio charging upwards and immediately pinged a signal, "Galio's going up!"

Chen Dongqing glanced at the situation in the mid lane and then looked at the minion wave that was about to enter the tower in the top lane.

He knew that he had most likely lost this round of money.

But there's a way to try and save him.

"I'm out of tanks," Xiaohu asked in the voice chat. "My support will be very slow this wave!"

"It's alright, no need for support," Chen Dongqing said. "You go with Liu Shiyu to the bottom lane. If you can't kill anyone, trade for the dragon and take back the loot."

In a disadvantageous situation, don't force a team fight; avoid direct confrontation and trade resources instead. Korean teams love to play this way.

"good!"

As Chen Dongqing spoke, Pig Girl had already appeared behind his tower.

Obviously, once the minion wave pushes into the tower, Sejuani will push him down, and Galio will unleash his ultimate, guaranteeing his death.

Therefore, Chen Dongqing's strategy was very clear: Viktor took the initiative to rush out and push the minion wave outside the tower!

Chen Dongqing has already returned to the city once. He is now in top condition with plenty of supplies and can hold off this minion wave for a long time!

If the minion wave can't reach the tower, then tower diving can't be initiated!

Khan was quite anxious and wanted to push Viktor in, but Chen Dongqing's Viktor had returned to base and bought Glacial Armor, making him very tanky. Relying solely on Jayce's two attacks in cannon form, it was impossible to shake Viktor's health bar!

On the contrary, Chen Dongqing used his skills to clear the wave and eliminate the siege minions, and then leveled up to level six right in front of the three KZ players!

KZ's choice of when to tower dive was already sensitive; they chose to do so when the mid laner was level six.

But if you're already level 6 in the mid lane, how much difference does it make if you're level 6 in the top lane?

Immediately afterwards, Viktor unleashed his ultimate ability, seemingly intending to wipe out all the minions!

Upon seeing this, everyone in KZ panicked.

If you really clear out the troops, then what's the point of us even crossing the border?

"This won't do, we have to kill him outright!" Cuzz said urgently in the voice chat. "Donghe, can you hold him off for a bit?"

"Okay!" Khan responded quickly. Jayce switched to hammer form, used Q to dash directly under Viktor's tower, and then used A followed by E to hammer Viktor deep into the turret!

His action immediately drew the turret's aggro.

After Khan finished his combo, he stopped moving and stood at the edge of the turret. He watched his Sejuani teammate charge under the turret, and when he couldn't withstand the damage either, he finally stepped out of the turret.

Chen Dongqing ignored Jayce and instead focused his attention on Sejuani.

At this moment, Sejuani had already rushed to Viktor's face. The instant she swung her W whip, she used Q to knock Viktor in the face and stun him!

At the same time, Galio unleashed his ultimate ability.

The stun from W plus Q at point-blank range guarantees two crowd control effects.

These two crowd control abilities are enough to allow Galio's ultimate to land.

With Galio's follow-up damage, killing a Viktor is more than enough!

However, KZ's people still missed two pieces of information.

That is, how high is the damage of the turret after being warmed up by Jayce?

And, Viktor still has a W in his hand, how much of an impact will that have on them?

At this moment, the turret fired a shot, and even though Sejuani was tough, she still lost 30% of her health in one shot from the fully heated turret!

The instant Sejuani used her W, Viktor's W landed precisely at Sejuani's feet!

The moment Cuzz saw the W, his mind went blank.

That W was fatal.

He now only has two options: either use Flash and run away, and pretend this tower dive didn't happen.

Alternatively, force Viktor's W to deal maximum damage, followed by his E for crowd control.

Thinking of this, Cuzz gritted his teeth and simply chose to stay in place, unleash the second W damage, and then A followed by E to forcefully apply crowd control!

As a consequence, he was also stunned in place by Viktor's W.

Another turret attack reduced his health to only 30%.

During the duration of Sejuani's E control, Galio's ultimate ability completed its cast, and the Colossus of Justice crashed down.

After landing, BDD quickly presses E, and Galio charges towards Viktor with a punch!

However, as we all know, Galio's ultimate ability doesn't provide enough seamless control to follow up with E; there's always room for a Flash combo.

Chen Dongqing was prepared and quickly flashed away, narrowly dodging Galio's E!

What's even more outrageous is that Chen Dongqing was even thinking of counterattacking!

Viktor flashed not in the direction of escape, but in the direction of where Jess was.

Viktor flashed right in front of Jayce, who was tanking the tower and had low health, and threw a Q at him!

With Jayce's current health, he can't withstand one of his QA attacks!

Khan was also startled by Viktor's desperate flash, but fortunately he reacted quickly and flashed away to dodge Viktor's Q skill followed by a laser!

Chen Dongqing had no choice but to fire the laser at Sejuani, who was pinned under the tower, to lower her health.

In that instant, he saw Galio next to him unleash a Q attack on him!

Galio's Q at mid-range is not easy to dodge because of its large range.

But Chen Dongqing reacted quickly, and hurriedly made a sideways movement, at the cost of taking a small section of the side wind, to escape Galio's skill range!

Everyone was shocked to see this.

Damn it, did they run away again?

BDD was almost frantic at this moment. He quickly flashed in, used W and passive auto-attack to finally kill the hateful Viktor!

But at the same time, Cuzz's Sejuani, who was stunned under the tower, couldn't run away either. The tower fired a shot, and Cuzz's Sejuani's health bar was also emptied.

At that moment, cheers erupted!

"One for one!" In the commentary booth, Guan Zeyuan's voice clearly betrayed a hint of joy. "Brother Shu's play was incredible! Facing a three-man gank, he not only cleared all the minions but also traded one for one! He definitely won this trade!"

Being tower-dived is less about giving away kills and more about the significant loss from the minion wave that pushes into the tower.

However, Chen Dongqing cleared most of the minion wave early on, so he didn't lose anything in the minion wave.

Moreover, thanks to the perfect performance of the tower, he successfully traded one person, and even used the Flash he saved in the previous wave to trade Galio's Flash!

Although LPL commentators always like to insist that LPL teams are not at a disadvantage when they are eliminated, this time they really are!

Khan only got an assist in this play, which is worth 75 gold, while Viktor got a kill without losing any minions!

When you do the math, Khan actually lost out!

Just then, the camera suddenly switched to the bottom lane.

On QG's side, Xiaohu and Xiangguo have already surrounded the tower behind the Xuanming Elders.

A four-man gank on two opponents, victory is assured!

P.S.: Thanks to Ruogan for the 4396 Qidian coins (This is the second time, you little brat, your account is gone).

Why even bother watching JDG's matches? Another victory after I finish writing this!

(End of this chapter)