League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 515 First Division!

Early morning of October 21st.

When Chen Dongqing came down for breakfast, he ran into the players from FPX and IG.

The fact that these two teams would come down for breakfast together shows that it was pre-arranged.

Chen Dongqing learned after going over that they were preparing to hone their skills at the last minute and play two more training matches in the morning.

"You should have said so earlier!" Chen Dongqing said cheerfully, "If you want to play scrims, QG is ready anytime!"

"No way," JackeyLove waved his hand. "We're here to warm up in scrims, not to mess with our mentality."

If you get slaughtered by an Akali in a scrim, will your hands shake when you encounter Akali again in a match?

Speechless after being rejected, Chen Dongqing could only say in the end, "Good luck, it's all up to you today."

Time quickly came to noon.

Chen Dongqing sat in the training room, watching the two teams, FPX and SKT, take the stage.

In this home stadium in Busan, South Korea, Doinb's gaze was as resolute as if he were about to join the Communist Party.

This is Doinb's third year on the world stage. Since joining QG in 2016, he has consistently been among the world's top mid laners and has never fallen out of the top ranks.

Even if his opponent today is Faker, he will definitely step over Faker's body and head to Gwangju!

Of course, Doinb has also proven that he does indeed have the ability.

Doinb didn't hold back; in the very first game, he unleashed his long-hidden signature move—Irelia.

Irelia mid lane is not uncommon, and it's even a fairly common choice in this World Championship.

But Doinb's mid-lane Irelia is slightly different from others.

He doesn't use the Mercury's Treads, Trinity Force, or Wit's End build; his playstyle focuses on bullying short-range mages.

His first item was Tiamat.

Moreover, his skill point allocation is slightly different; he actually prioritizes the W skill.

Irelia with maxed W, rushing Tiamat.

It has to be said that there is a reason why Irelia prioritizes W. Once W is leveled up, a fully charged W can be fired at minions, instantly killing ranged minions at full health. Then, Doinb can use Tiamat's auto-attack followed by its active effect to clear out melee minions in a few hits. After that, he can meet up with Karsa in the jungle and start coordinating!

Doinb didn't plan to lane against Faker this game; his main strategy was to roam and coordinate with his teammates!

Faker had never seen anything like this before. He barely blinked when Irelia wiped out the entire wave of minions with a single skill!

This wave clear speed is something even Faker's crappy Azir can't match!

With the mid-lane Irelia's unlimited lane control, Doinb roamed around relentlessly. Given his ability to read the game, helping the team gain an advantage was a piece of cake!

In just twelve minutes, the kill score had reached 8-2, giving FPX a huge lead!

Moreover, Doinb's build for Irelia was quite bizarre. After Mercury's Treads, he directly upgraded Tiamat into Titanic Hydra, relying on Titanic Hydra's overpowered stats to fight in the front line.

This front-line Irelia becomes incredibly tanky after entering the fray with her W activated, making her virtually unkillable by SKT. Then, she unleashes her W to stab the enemy, followed by her Q to charge in and auto-attack, then two more attacks with Titanic Hydra active, instantly taking away most of the enemy's health!

It's a true meat-type weapon that deals just as much damage as other weapons.

Immediately afterwards, the second item was Black Cleaver, and the third item was Bloodthirster!

This build for Irelia may sacrifice her split-pushing ability, but she's incredibly strong in team fights!

When you're at a disadvantage, don't be afraid of the enemy's squishy and fed characters, because as long as they're squishy, ​​there's always a chance to focus fire and kill them.

I'm afraid the other side might have a super fed warrior!

This kind of being that can't be broken or withstand attacks makes the chance of a comeback almost zero!

Meanwhile, Doinb maintained a good rhythm, leading Karsa to roam all three lanes, constantly initiating ganks and small team fights, and widening the kill gap!

The smooth rhythm was a feast for the eyes, and even the QG team couldn't help but admire it.

"Wow! This Irelia is amazing!" Xiaohu couldn't help but exclaim, "There's something special about her!"

"Indeed." Chen Dongqing couldn't help but agree, and said with a smile, "Now that we've seen it, why don't we start copying it? This W-focused Irelia doesn't seem to require much skill, it's purely about awareness and rhythm."

Xiao Hu said seriously, "Okay, I'll start training in the next few days!"

Xiao Hu always felt that his contribution to the team was too small, so he certainly wouldn't miss the opportunity to improve himself.

Chen Dongqing nodded, said nothing more, and turned his attention back to the competition.

Given Xiaohu's speed of learning new champions, even with a champion like Irelia that he already has a certain level of proficiency with, mastering this W-max Irelia build would take him more than just a day or two.

Don't expect Xiaohu to be able to pull it out anytime soon.

As for the first game, FPX has already won.

Under Doinb's relentless pressure, FPX easily secured victory in the first game.

After a short break, the second game quickly began.

In the second game, SKT had the right to choose sides, so they chose the blue side and picked Irelia for Faker.

Faker certainly wouldn't play like Doinb with his W-max build. It's not just about skill point allocation and item builds; it's a system that requires the entire team's coordination to support it.

However, Irelia's standard gameplay is enough to make her a strong lane-control champion.

Of course, Doinb still has tricks up his sleeve.

Doinb, playing second, instantly locked in the Krugs.

Mid lane Malphite may seem a bit unpredictable, but if you're using him to counter Irelia, he's actually an excellent choice!

Doinb's Malphite playstyle was quite extreme. He used Undying to carry the team, then immediately started rushing Ninja Tabi and Sunfire Cape, without even learning Q, and directly used W and E to level up.

Once they reached level six, WE cleared the lane and then started roaming!

The ultimate attack knocked Blank completely disoriented!

Chen Dongqing narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched this scene.

He knew that with the game now over, the series was essentially finished.

FPX will definitely defeat SKT 3-0, there is no doubt about it.

In theory, FPX's team style is actually a counter to SKT's.

Since Faker lost to QG in New York in 2016, his playstyle has begun to change subtly.

The disastrous defeats caused by the collapse of both the top and bottom lanes led him to become less reliant on his teammates.

He went from being the fearless mid-laner who focused on laning to becoming the protector of the entire SKT team.

Starting in 2017, he stopped focusing solely on laning and began actively choosing team-oriented champions like Galio, Azir, Lissandra, and Ryze, constantly switching between screens and keeping a close eye on all sides.

This playstyle allows Faker's influence to spread throughout the entire game, and also makes his teammates more reliant on his performance.

If Faker falters and loses his rhythm, the entire SKT team will become lost.

If Faker goes off to rest, those guys will become like headless flies, and they won't even know how to play the game!

This actually happened during the Spring Split.

FPX is actually quite similar to SKT, as they are extremely reliant on the mid laner's tempo; if the mid laner is invisible, it's equivalent to losing the game.

When these two teams meet, it's destined to be a one-sided match, because only one of the mid laners can make a difference.

But this time, Doinb still won.

Doinb's champion pool is more extreme, maximizing his lane control and mid-jungle matchup capabilities.

While Faker was still picking a standard mid laner like Azir, Doinb immediately picked a W-maxed Irelia.

When Faker picked the standard Irelia, Doinb picked Malphite again!

These two heroes directly countered SKT's Achilles' heel!

Moreover, Doinb's unconventional tactics don't stop there.

There's also Kled, Titan, and even Pantheon.

Back in the S6 MSI, Doinb used these unconventional tactics to crush the peak SKT, and now in S8, these tactics are still effective.

This SKT team from S8 was a team that didn't even make it to the World Championship in Chen Dongqing's previous life.

They only managed to break through and enter the world championships because of the chain reaction brought about by Chen Dongqing's time travel.

Now that we've reached the quarterfinals, it's about time it ended.

At the 31-minute mark, Doinb's Malphite charged forward, simultaneously knocking up both Faker and Bang's carries!

Lin Weixiang's Kai'Sa immediately used her ultimate to enter the fray, unleashing explosive damage through crowd control!

After winning the team fight, FPX took control of Baron Nashor, and the gold difference between the two sides has now exceeded 10,000!

Next, FPX used the Baron buff to destroy two lanes of inhibitors, and then, with the help of two lanes of super minions, secured the Elder Dragon.

37 minutes in, FPX's massive army is pressing in!

Doinb initiated the team fight again, with Malphite using his ultimate to enter the fray and simultaneously knock up the enemy jungler and support!

With such a huge economic advantage, starting a group doesn't need to be so picky; you just need to start the group!

In the end, FPX crushed the opponent and won the second game!

"Two to zero!" In the LPL commentary booth, Remember was practically beaming with joy. "FPX's performance today has been phenomenal! They just need one more win to advance to the semifinals!"

Doinb clenched his fist and strode backstage with his teammates.

There's only one last step left, so we absolutely cannot let our guard down!

Chen Dongqing watched this scene through the live stream and finally felt relieved, then looked down at her phone.

At this time, discussions about FPX had already dominated the Chinese anti-FPX forums, with countless people praising Doinb's performance!

Wow, you can really suppress Faker?

Do you even realize the significance of Big B's solo kill against Faker in the S6 semifinals? Big B is Faker's nemesis!

[As expected of a team split from QG, they really don't hold back when it comes to Korean teams.]

Just one more game! Just one more game!

Chen Dongqing looked at the post and couldn't help but smile.

He really wanted to see how the Korean online forums would react, but unfortunately no one had shared it yet, so he could only wait.

Chen Dongqing thought for a moment, then opened Twitter again for a look.

We beat G2 yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to check the reactions on the international websites yet.

Since today's match has little to do with Europe and America, most of the discussions on Twitter are still about yesterday's match.

The screen was filled with European viewers popping champagne!

Since TL, the sole North American representative, was eliminated yesterday, and it was FNC that eliminated them, today's forum is naturally a winners' reckoning session!

The barrage of comments was so loud that North American players couldn't even lift their heads!

Even G2, another loser from yesterday, personally tweeted: "Given that TL is the No. 1 seed from North America, G2 is the No. 3 seed from Europe, and both TL and G2 reached the quarterfinals, what is the answer?"

The comments under this tweet were all about "EU > NA!"

Chen Dongqing laughed when he saw this tweet.

They were just eliminated yesterday, and now they're driving themselves again. G2 really knows how to take risks.

But the senior brother was naturally unhappy to be mocked like that, and immediately launched a counterattack!

He chose to post a photo of himself and Chen Dongqing on his Twitter account, with the caption: "It's okay, I believe my friends will avenge me."

After this post was published, countless European players immediately fell silent.

Although they were happily popping champagne, they were really just celebrating yesterday's victory.

They dared not have any expectations for future matches, and there was hardly anyone to talk to about them.

In the semifinals, FNC will be playing against QG.

Discussing this kind of thing on such a joyous occasion would only make things unpleasant.

Chen Dongqing noticed this situation, and after a moment's thought, he simply used his own Twitter account to reply with a question mark under his senior brother's tweet.

The eldest brother acted quickly, replying with a question mark as well.

These two question marks prompted countless European viewers to leave comments hoping that Chen Dongqing would go easy on him in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, the North American players, who had been oppressed for a long time, found an outlet and left messages urging Chen Dongqing to crush FNC!

As they continued exchanging messages, they grew increasingly annoyed with each other, and ended up arguing again under Chen Dongqing's reply!

Chen Dongqing couldn't help but chuckle as he watched the constantly refreshing replies.

The viewing experience for audiences in Europe and America is truly top-notch!

Chen Dongqing put away his phone and turned his attention back to the broadcast screen, only to see that the draft phase of the third game had already begun.

Looking up, Chen Dongqing saw that Doinb had chosen Galio for mid lane.

This hero needs no introduction; he is the perfect fit for the FPX system.

Needless to say, this game is over.

In this game, Doinb continued to dominate Faker in his lane, easily controlling the pace of the entire match!

The match ended at 41 minutes, with FPX securing a top-tier team fight where they traded one for five, helping the team win the game!

Lin Weixiang performed extremely consistently in all three games, achieving a perfect record of zero deaths, becoming a key part of FPX's advancement!

"Wow! That's awesome, Coin!" Even Xiangguo couldn't help but exclaim, "They just wiped SKT out of the water? That's incredible!"

"Well then, it's all about IG now," Uzi said, looking at the screen with a hint of anticipation. "If IG can win too, then we'll really be on fire!"

"Don't worry," Chen Dongqing laughed, "IG is even more stable than FPX."

Uz tilted his head: "Really?"

"Really!" Chen Dongqing said cheerfully, "Have you forgotten who swept you two in the regular season?"

Uzbekistan fell silent.

Losing twice to IG during the regular season while leading his team is a pain that will forever remain in Uzi's heart.

But if you think about it that way, it makes sense that Chen Dongqing has confidence in IG.

Uzi believes that when he was leading the team, QG's strength was definitely no weaker than this KT team. After all, the two teams had played scrims during the summer split, and QG's win rate was significantly higher.

But they were defeated twice by IG.

Based on this, IG did indeed perform well today.

Time quickly came to 4 p.m., and under the guidance of the host, the players from IG and KT took to the stage.

The reactions of the South Korean fans in the audience were quite genuine, with them once again performing a Sichuan opera face-changing act.

When KT took the stage, the cheers from the audience were incredibly loud, as if they wanted to lift the entire venue up!

But when IG took the stage, this chant disappeared again, and Busan Library reappeared!

Of course, their current state is understandable.

After all, with SKT eliminated, KT became the last remaining team in the LCK region.

The Korean region has been dominant since Season 3, consistently finishing as runner-up even when not winning the championship!

In this S-series tournament hosted by South Korea, they were surprisingly eliminated in the quarterfinals.

This is something that Koreans absolutely cannot accept!

Unfortunately, they were destined to be disappointed.

The three-game match lasted a total of 96 minutes and 43 seconds. IG swept KT 3-0 and advanced to the semifinals.

There's a bit less today, so stopping the story here is quite appropriate.

Recommend a book

(End of this chapter)