Chapter 162: It is our responsibility to restore the glory of LPL!
When the semi-final draw results came out, there was an uproar on Weibo and major forums and Tieba!
Although many people praise IG, after all, this MSI is held at home. If two teams from other regions play in the finals, it will be the LPL players who lose.
Therefore, most people still hope that IG can at least get second place.
But in this semi-final you faced SKT, a team you had never won in the group stage. This was a death sentence.
How to win?
Win by willpower?
"Nothing, meeting adjourned!"
"I suggest you just surrender in the semi-finals instead of going up and embarrassing yourself."
"You don't even need to watch to know it's 3-0. It's really boring."
"Indeed, they are a lucky team. Let's learn from QG and go to B05 in one minute."
“…”
Some people also directed their criticism at the contestants.
"I was wrong. Fu Huang is really a 'factory manager' type jungler. His performance in this foreign war is almost on par with Factory Manager."
"Don't be so mean, Czar has won the MSI championship. I think it's better to let EDG play."
"I wonder why RNG is so strong, but they become weak when facing SKT?"
"I've already said that he's just like the factory manager. He likes research. He's a typical bully. He becomes weak when he meets the Korean guy."
Of course, Li Fu was not the only one being criticized.
"Didn't anyone realize that Rookie's mid laner couldn't handle the pressure against SKT? He was crushed by Faker twice."
"Faker is really the demon of all Korean mid laners. There is no escape from him. Maybe it would be okay if Xiye took over."
"That's enough of 60E's fans. That loser Xiye made me laugh to death."
"Indeed, but those who praised IG for their jungler being the carry after the Spring Finals should stop now. I wonder how they lost because of the poor performance of the mid laner? This shows that IG still has to rely on the mid laner."
"Have you ever played the game? How can you win if the mid lane collapses and the jungler is the C?"
"Fu Xiaozi is here! I know you are anxious, but don't worry yet. You will be even more anxious when you lose to SKT 3-0 in the semifinals."
"Hahahaha, it's really filial piety!"
“…”
After SKT was drawn in the semi-finals, negative comments flooded the Internet.
For a time, labels such as "capital team" and "luck team" were once again put on IG's head. Almost no one was optimistic about this team. After all, SKT was too strong in S6.
During the period before the semi-finals on May 13, Zzitai would check his phone every day, gritting his teeth every time he saw these things.
Every time I see someone taunting Rookie, I will show it to Rookie, and then use a small account to curse back, "Xiaohu/Xiye/Pawn can beat Faker in the laning phase, so why didn't they come to this MSI? Don't they want to come?"
This usually turns out to be a killer shot.
The person on the other end of the network cable was choked and speechless for a long time.
Coach Chris saw that Zizi was afraid that he might be affected, so he wanted Zizi to stop talking so much.
But Li Fu felt that Chris was thinking too much.
From the end of the group stage on May 8th until the start of the semi-finals on the 13th, Rookie almost exclusively stayed between his dormitory, the dining hall, and the training room.
Sleep when you are sleepy and practice when you wake up.
There is hardly any time for entertainment.
Li Fu had seen Rookie sitting in front of the computer late at night more than once, playing the two heroes, Azar and Syndra, over and over again, because Azar was the hero who was beaten by Faker's Ryze in the mid lane during his first match against SKT.
One night, when Rookie came back from extra practice, he climbed onto the bed quietly.
As soon as he covered himself with the quilt and turned sideways, Li Fu couldn't help but ask Rookie why he had to work so hard?
He knows that other people are different from him.
Li Fu plays Rank because of the system assistance. Every victory before level 80 will have attribute point bonus.
But Rookie is different. As a top professional player, excessive ranks cannot provide much effective training.
He wanted to persuade Rookie to relax a little. Everyone has a string in their head, and if it is pulled too tight, it will break.
But something Rookie said late that night prevented Li Fu from saying anything to persuade him.
Rookie said that facing an opponent like SKT, he can no longer carry the team in the mid lane like before, and he feels very sorry, but the bottom line he has set for himself is that at least he cannot hold the team back.
What can Li Fu say about this?
Tell him "We are different?", "Rank training doesn't have much effect on you?".
Forget it.
Li Fu couldn't say such words.
Because he could actually feel that Rookie was not unaware that super-standard Rank training was of little use to a top professional player like him. He even advised Li Fu when Li Fu was frantically grinding Rank in the last two weeks of the regular season.
To put it bluntly, Rookie just wanted to face the big devil who had reached the top of the mountain after an absence of two years, so that he would not have too many regrets if he was still standing still.
I have to say, sometimes a team really needs a hard-working person. Rookie's determination to fight to the death without leaving any regrets soon infected other members of IG.
From posture to little time, and then to auxiliary shooting Coco.
After the training match, every time I passed by the training room and saw the lights on and the fat figure, I was ready to go back to watch some TV and sleep after a tiring day, but suddenly I gritted my teeth, pushed open the door of the training room and turned on the computer again.
If you are not good at it, practice more!
Let’s not talk about winning or losing for now.
At least there will be no regrets.
But compared to the crazy involution of everyone, Li Fu, who was once the famous "King of Hard Work" in the IG team, can be said to be a bit "lazy" during this period.
Is the liver emperor taking a break?
In response to the doubts of his coach and teammates, Li Fu could only smile bitterly in his heart, but he was unable to explain too much.
It cannot be said that for him at this stage, the Rank training method has no effect - after all, all his attributes have exceeded the level of 80 first-line players. In the process of sprinting towards world-class players, he can only improve through regular professional competitions and cannot improve through Rank.
After the group stage of this MSI was over, each of the eight victories seemed to provide him with objective attribute bonuses.
Open the system's personal data panel:
[Position details: 80]
【Hand speed reaction: 93.9】
【Overall Awareness: 80】
【Competition mentality: 80】
【Version understanding: 80】
[Command and Operation: 80]
Nowadays, Li Fu's hand speed reaction has exceeded the 90-point average level of world-class players, which can definitely be called his strongest point.
Of course, Li Fu is not against playing Rank. He will practice until the early morning after the basic training games. However, compared to rookie and others who stay up until late at night, he does not gank as much.
Time passes slowly like this.
The almost 5-day window period seemed slow, but it actually passed very quickly, and soon it was the day before the semi-finals.
The IG team got on a special car and was taken by team leader Su Xiaoluo to the competition venue at Jianghai Oriental Sports Center to record a promotional video for the semi-finals, which was actually a bit like the pre-match trash talk session.
In the stadium, facing the camera of Riot's official staff, Rookie said what he had always wanted to say - even if he is still not a match for that man this time, he cannot drag his teammates down, so he will do his best.
When it was Zzitai's turn, he said, DUKE is a very strong player, but after the first two matches, I think I have kept up with his rhythm.
I want to say to the Duke players, there won’t be a third time.
Next, after the IG bottom lane duo finished their pre-match announcement, it was Li Fu's turn as the top jungler.
With the camera lens blocked by a light shield, the image of Li Fu in the camera looked very textured. He crossed his hands on his knees and said to the camera in a calm tone:
"SKT is a respectable team. They have already won the double championship. To be honest, this time I didn't want to play against SKT in the semi-finals, but since we have met, I have to consider whether this will be the only chance in my career..."
"...Talent is important, but so is hard work. No one's hard work is more noble than anyone else's..."
Li Fu spoke a long speech to the camera.
After saying this, everyone in IG was stunned.
Xiao Shiguang looked around at his teammates with determined eyes on both sides, and thought of the training day and night in the past week. He firmly believed that the time and attitude he spent on training this week were the most dedicated and focused in his career.
Skt's bot lane is very strong, talented, and hard working.
But Xiao Shiguang felt that what Li Fu said was right, no one's efforts were nobler than anyone else's.
Inexplicably, a sense of self-confidence surged out from deep within his heart, as if an extra grid suddenly appeared in his equipment column. That grid carried the self-confidence of a man after hard work.
At the same time, even the Riot staff at the scene felt that Li Fu spoke very well. Compared with other players, he could speak one or two golden sentences from time to time.
You should know that not all the material shot today will be broadcast, and it will be edited afterwards. Some contestants said a lot, but very little can be edited, and for someone like Li Fu, it seems that there will be a lot of shots of him in this promotional video.
Anyway, I felt quite regretful after reading Zizhi's speech. I felt that my speech was not domineering enough. It would be better if I could speak like Li Fu.
But then again, being a professional player doesn't just depend on your mouth. You have to have real results before people will listen to what you say.
Just like Feike said,
When you lose, everything you say is an excuse.
And when you win,
Whatever he said became a wise saying.
Unexpectedly, the recording of the pre-match promotional video material turned into a confession game for IG. Several teenagers in their teens took the opportunity of the recording to speak out what they had always kept in their hearts and their ambitions for this World Championship.
So after finishing recording the material, we took the bus back to the IG club base.
Although it was the last day before the game, there was not much tension in the team. Perhaps this was the confidence that hard work gave people. Even if they lost, at least they would not have any regrets when they recalled the past in the future.
The outside world was in turmoil, but IG remained silent all night.
…
May 13th, sunny.
After lunch, Ig's nanny car parked in the parking lot outside the Jianghai Oriental Sports Center.
As soon as he got off the bus, Li Fu saw countless crowds of people. It looked like a dark sea at first glance, and there were several endless long queues outside the ticket gate outside the venue.
Some people were holding IG support boards in their hands, but most people did not bring anything and just came to watch the game.
Perhaps, even if IG was defeated by SKT 3:0 in the semi-finals today, since they are not fans of IG, they will not be too disappointed.
…
The game starts at 1:30 pm.
At noon, several entries about the semi-final between IG and SKT appeared on the hot searches on Weibo, attracting the attention and heated discussions of countless netizens.
At 1 p.m., the camera first turned to the guest commentary seat.
Today we have two big hosts as guest commentators, pdd and xiaoxiao.
The reason why LPL invited these two people to be guest commentators is not only because they can attract traffic as top anchors, but also because pdd and Xiaoxiao have something in common.
Yes, both of them are veteran players of the IG team. PDD is the first generation top laner of IG, and Xiaoxiao is also the first generation support of IG.
The host sitting in the middle of the commentary seat is LPL's leading commentator Su Xiaoyan.
At this moment, Su Xiaoyan noticed that the camera was focused on the commentary booth. She immediately lifted a strand of hair that fell on her face and said to the camera with a smile, "Hello, dear audience friends, welcome to the 2016 League of Legends MSI Mid-Season Invitational semi-finals. I am today's commentary guest Su Xiaoyan."
"Hello everyone, I am pdd."
"I am Xiaoxiao."
After hearing PDD and Xiaoxiao greet the audience, Su Xiaoyan said with a smile , "Okay, the two guest teachers sitting next to me are all familiar to everyone, so I won't introduce them here. Then I would like to ask the two teachers to predict the direction of today's IG vs. SKT game for us."
"Ahem..." Pdd clenched his fist and coughed. "As an old IG player, from my personal perspective, I definitely hope IG wins. But for today's semi-final, judging from the two teams' record in this World Championship, I think the hope of IG winning cannot be said to be zero, but it can only be said to be very small."
"Yes."
Xiaoxiao beside him nodded and said, "Honestly speaking, I believe that there is no LPL audience who came to the scene today who does not hope that IG can win today's game. However, even though SKT this season does not have Ma Run, it is still unreasonably strong."
"Especially Brother Li in the middle lane."
"Wow! This guy is really strong, really! With his current state, I feel that it's a bit difficult for RNG and WE to play against him this year, unless it's EDG from last year's MSI, and it has to be the fat general who doesn't have a waist injury."
"You mean rookie is not good enough?" Pdd interrupted.
"Actually, Rookie is not really bad, but I always feel that when he is playing in the game, he is shrouded by an inexplicable aura, or a debuff, and he can't play to his full strength, you know?" Xiaoxiao said.
"Oh, that's true."
PDD also nodded and sighed, "I hope he can play like a real rookie today. Believe in yourself and keep going."
"Come on Rookie! Come on IG!" Xiaoxiao also clenched his fist.
However, there were very few responses to the cheers from the two guests in the comment section. Only IG fans in a certain area in the middle and west shouted a few words.
It was at this time that
The contestants from both teams came on stage and started to connect and debug the equipment.
The big screen behind the stage began to play the pre-match video of the semi-finals of this year's MSI Mid-Season Invitational, and the players who appeared one after another instantly attracted the attention of many audiences.
The first person to appear in front of the camera was Lee Sang-hyuk, the most popular champion mid laner in the world. He caused cheers at the scene as soon as he appeared. It was obvious that a considerable number of champion fans were also gathered among the LPL audience.
"Because last year's MSI journey was quite regrettable, I don't want to have any regrets this year. I will lead the team to win the MSI championship and complete the last piece of the puzzle for our championship Grand Slam." Faker said calmly.
"I know I'm not the best mid laner, but today, I just want to be a mid laner who doesn't let my teammates down." Rookie.
"Some people say that I am the successor to the champion top laner. For a long time, this has been a lot of pressure , but today I hope I can inherit the MVP honor from him as well." Duke.
"Third time is better than last time. This time I will be in control of the journey." Attitude.
"Honestly, when I found out that IG's bottom laner was a newcomer to the World Championship, I told myself that we could win today, but there was no need to be so cruel. This league needs some fresh blood." Bang.
“…”
The images were moving on the big screen, and players from different positions of the two teams took turns to play, and finally they quickly came to the jungle position.
SKT's junglers are Xiaohei and Benji, who face the camera together.
"Before the game, I heard that the jungler of the team representing LPL in the MSI World Championship has a similar style to that of Clearlove, but judging from the match in the group stage, I think Clearlove should be stronger. I feel a little regretful that I didn't play against Clearlove again this year."
Xiao Hei was a little shy when facing the camera:
"IG's jungler is very strong and handsome! But if he's with Stupid Chicken, I think there's no reason for the two of us to lose to him alone."
Soon, the scene turned to Li Fu again .
When recording the material, Li Fu spoke a long speech, but not much of it was edited and presented on the big screen to countless viewers around the world.
"LPL had a brief period of dominance in ancient times, and WE played an indispensable role in that year. The golden rain when Zhazi won the trophy at MSI last year will be unforgettable for me, even though it was a dawn and then darkness in the end."
"Honestly, playing against SKT in the semifinals is not what I wanted to see. SKT is the highest mountain and the longest river we have encountered so far in this world championship. I have to consider whether this will be the only chance in my career in this lifetime."
"But now that the baton has been handed over to us, the only thing we can do is to climb over that mountain and cross that river and let the world hear our voice."
“It is our responsibility to pass on the torch and restore the glory of LPL!”
“…”
Under the director's lens on the big screen, the man's eyes were sincere and focused.
For a moment, the huge "Crown of the Sea" venue suddenly became quiet.
Even many LPL viewers who didn't have IG support cards in their hands and came purely for fun were stunned at this moment, and their eyes couldn't help but stare at the man on the big screen in front of them.
He seems...
I really want to win.
