Chapter 221: The top team advances to the quarterfinals!
In SKT's lounge before the opening match of the group stage.
Coach Kouma glanced at everyone, his tone more serious than ever before.
"The top laner on the opposite side should still be that person."
"Never mind the road! Never mind the road! Never mind the road!"
"Remember! Top lane is just one lane and can't affect the entire battle situation!"
"Don't forget what we, SKT, rely on to win the game."
After hearing this, the other members of SKT were fine, but Benji had a thoughtful look on his face.
Coach, I got it!
Soon, under the anticipation of countless viewers around the world, the BO1 group match arrived.
IG's starting lineup is still Li Fu as top laner and Achuan as jungler. At the same time, this is also Li Fu's first appearance in the world championship as top laner.
When the BP started, many people thought that SKT would definitely design a top laner. After all, in the official player rankings released during this period, Li Fu's ranking in the top lane has already ranked among the top three, and he can be considered a world-class top laner.
But unexpectedly, SKT did not target IG's top lane too much, and did not use any of Li Fu's well-known heroes such as Graves and Vladimir, seemingly choosing to trust their own top laner.
However, in response, SKT put great pressure on Rookie in the mid lane ban position.
Two balls and one Ji, all the Leblanc and Syndra were banned, and then the mid and jungle Clockwork and Lee Sin were directly snatched, it was almost obvious that the plan was to attack the mid and jungle.
Li Fu was not panicking. Facing Duke's Captain, he counterattacked and took down a vampire to develop.
Once both sides are locked in, the game begins.
SKT's Lee Sin on the red side started at red in the upper half of the zone, and after clearing a jungle area, he went straight to the middle zone, triggered Rookie's flash, and then walked to the lower zone in front of him to continue clearing his own lower jungle area.
Seeing that the opponent was so arrogant, Axun wanted to take advantage of the time difference to counter-jungle.
Unexpectedly, SKT's jungler and support worked very well together, and Wolf immediately persuaded Achuan, who was trying to counter-jungle, to retreat in the river.
Next, for quite a long time, Bian Ji's Lee Sin was in invisible state, and people almost forgot his existence.
Until the level 6 wave that went around from behind.
At this point in time, Faker's Clockwork read the city return function after pushing the line. Rookie, who was hit by a flash in the early stage, naturally wanted to go home to recover. Just as he started to read the city return function, Faker suddenly took a step forward and threw out the puppet.
Of course Rookie stepped back subconsciously.
Then, a wave of heavenly sound came across the wall, and the W-shaped dragon swung its tail.
One library!
Accompanied by a loud shout!
Rookie was kicked backwards under the tower in an instant, and with the cooperation of SKT's old mid and jungle partners, he directly got the first blood.
Then it snowballed.
After gaining the advantage, Faker not only pushed the middle lane, but also put considerable pressure on the upper and lower side lanes and even the jungle to varying degrees - this is why Kouma said that the top lane has little impact. If Li Fu was a jungler, he would still be afraid of the opponent's three-pointer, but even if the top lane has a teleport, its dominance over the game is far less than that of the middle lane.
Therefore, they just need to play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses, and focus on the middle lane.
Who is the strongest in SKT midfield?
That must be the stupid chicken!
The game lasted until the 17th minute. With the team pushing towers, taking dragons, roaming and catching enemies, SKT's rhythm was smooth under Faker's leadership.
It was not until the bottom lane was broken that the duo switched to the middle lane. After Li Fu returned home, he came out of the fountain and directly ganked the middle lane. Bang's Jinx was greedy for the line and was taken away by Li Fu and his teammates. The situation began to reverse.
So, the next game is to find the big brother.
The big brother on SKT's side is obviously Faker with 3/0.
Although IG's Li Fu's Vampire is only 1/0, the fact that the top lane has a smaller radiation force on the canyon battlefield also has a small advantage. He is not like Faker who roams frequently to help his teammates find the rhythm. He has been focusing on developing in the top lane. Even if he has two fewer kills, his equipment is almost the same.
The level is still one level ahead.
At 21 minutes, Bang, who had just taken the red buff, got lost in the upper half of the map and bumped into Li Fu who was there to provide vision, and was immediately taken away by him.
Then IG started to take the big dragon.
Faker was unwilling to give up the dragon, so he led the remaining three teammates to fight.
Li Fu TPed directly to the Baron pit and went around, cooperating with his teammates to exchange two for four, successfully taking down the Baron.
After taking down the Baron, IG's morale was greatly boosted, and they broke through the high ground in the top and middle lanes.
At 23 minutes, Bang cleared the soldiers on the bottom lane high ground and walked back, but he didn't notice that the vampire didn't destroy the high ground tower this time and came up directly. He directly beat him down with one wave and killed him with the help of jungler Axun's male gun's ultimate skill.
Then Li Fu used his vampire ultimate on SKT in the group, dealing explosive damage that directly pushed SKT to the ground in one wave.
“Congratulations IG!”
"Congratulations to IG for winning the first round of the World Championship group stage."
In China, spontaneous cheers rang out in the small rooms of residential buildings in the early morning.
In the IG competition seat, Rookie looked a little lost.
He wanted to prove himself in this world championship, why couldn't I be the best player in the world, but the result once again proved that Faker is still Faker.
Li Fu, who was about to go over to shake hands, passed by Rookie and noticed that the fat boy was a little depressed. He couldn't help but smiled and said, "Let's go, let's go over and shake hands. There's nothing to be sad about."
"I'm not sad. I'm happy because I won the game." Rookie said stubbornly.
Li Fu smiled and shrugged, "Oh, is that so? Never mind. I was thinking that next time we play against SKT, I'll play jungle for you to have some fun."
Rookie was stunned and immediately shouted:
"Don't! Brother Fu, I'm so sad! I'm very sad right now."
At the same time, SKT competition seat.
After the game, Faker pursed his lips and said nothing.
Bang next to him shook his hands, looked at his 1/7 Jinx, shook his head and sighed, "Oh, I should have picked a hero with displacement."
"Be happy, Xianghe. It's just a BO1 group stage. There will be plenty of opportunities later." Benji comforted Faker.
Faker's mouth twitched, but his complexion did not improve significantly.
Again, when losing a game, the most painful thing is not the one who gives away the super ghost, but the crazy C who wants to win but can't.
Faker is clearly the latter.
When he was leaving the stage after shaking hands, he glanced at the World Championship trophy in front of the stage, then glanced at Bang beside him, and inexplicably felt that maybe there should be something stuffed in the trophy.
But no matter what, the opening battle between IG and SKT has earned enough hype for this World Championship, with the number of views directly exceeding any other event of the same period, allowing countless sponsors to once again feel the huge market potential of e-sports competitions.
Next, September 30th to October 3rd.
The first round of the group stage ended. IG in Group B won three games and ranked first with the same record as ROX. The second batch included teams such as SKT, which lost one game and had a score of 2/1.
Among the three LPL teams, EDG currently belongs to the second batch.
As for RNG in Group D, they only got 1/2 and belong to the third tier.
As the second seed of LPL, this performance can be said to have somewhat disappointed the fans' expectations, and it once again set off a wave of public opinion on the Internet.
"No, I can understand losing to SSG, but you can't even beat the European and American bastards?"
"I should have not come if I had known. It's really embarrassing."
"Stop cursing. Group D is the group of death after all. RNG's result is pretty good."
"I laughed. Group of death? Group B has no death? Which one of SKT, C9 and Flash Wolves is not strong? Why can IG win 3/0?"
“…”
As the saying goes, there is no harm without comparison.
The performance of LPL teams in the S games over the years has always been sluggish. Originally, everyone was holding hands, which was nothing, but now suddenly a Tibetan mastiff has appeared among the thin dogs.
This thin dog is very eye-catching.
Su Xiaoluo even left the meeting room and slammed the table. The purpose of the World Championship was to avenge the past, not to embarrass himself. If the next round of group matches continued like this, he might as well go home as soon as possible.
And then... they really went home.
The second round of group matches was four days apart from the first round, from October 7 to October 10, which was still four days. After the final match, the results of advancing to the quarterfinals were quickly announced.
Group A advances: ROX, ANX
Group B advances: IG, SKT
Group C advances: EDG, H2K
Group D advances: TSM, SSG
Yes, RNG and TSM in Group D both had a record of 3/3, but according to the group stage rules, they were eliminated. This was after last year's LPL champion and number one seed LGD was eliminated in the round of 16. This year's LPL runner-up and number two seed also stopped in the round of 16 again, which immediately sparked heated discussions online.
"No way? No way?"
"Someone qualified as the top team? Someone couldn't even make it to the quarterfinals?"
"Is this the LPL Galaxy Battleship? Even a wildcard can make it to the quarterfinals, how funny."
"I've already told you, who among those called Galaxy Battleship has a good ending?"
"Then we can only look at EDG and IG now."
"I think it's mysterious. All three LCK teams next door have advanced. I'm afraid they will explode in the quarterfinals."
"Hey, isn't today's finals going to be another LCK civil war?"
"Reaching the semi-finals is considered a win."
“…”
After the group stage, RNG’s defeat made domestic fans feel somewhat pessimistic.
But soon, the draw ceremony started again and the results of the draw for the quarterfinals were soon announced.
Upper half: SKT vs. EDG, IG vs. SSG.
Bottom half: ROX vs. H2K, TSM vs. ANX
That’s right, IG’s opponent in the quarterfinals is SSG, the Samsung team that once pushed the Big Devil down for a whole year.
But with the S5 season, after the once top ten teams from Samsung turned into a sky full of stars and came to LPL, this team also sank for a whole year and even missed the playoffs in last year's summer season.
Until this year.
In the spring, SSG regained their form with top laner CuVee, jungler Ambition, mid laner Crown, and bottom laner CoreJJ and Stitch.
In the summer, ADC player Ruler joined SSG, and the team's former ADC player Corejj transformed into a support, finally allowing this former OGN (formerly LCK) powerhouse team to step onto the world championship stage again after a year's absence.
This year,
They are the same as SKT in S5.
They all came with a whole year of depression and the determination to win the championship.
"So what if the LPL is the No. 1 seed?"
In the locker room vlog shot during the draw, the Samsung coach patted his chest and said, "This time we have only one goal, and that is to win the championship!"
Hearing this, everyone in SSG under the camera also laughed.
The draw result did not put any pressure on them. After all, the performance of last year's LPL No. 1 seed LGD was still fresh in their minds, and that arrow has not flown back until today.
To be honest, compared to the number one seeds in other regions, SSG is more afraid of the LCK civil war. After all, those are the teams that they know each other well, and it is really stressful to play against them.
After the draw was over, I don’t know if it was an official prank by Riot, but they released a video of the players and coaches of each team watching the draw in the lounge.
After seeing the results, most teams either looked nervous or breathed a sigh of relief...but when it came to SSG, their cheerful laughter was extremely contagious.
"Holy crap! Is Samsung jumping like this?"
"Oh my god! Do you think you're a Samsung S4?"
" I've never heard of this team except for Master An . Who is Ruler?"
"IG, come on! Teach the Korean kid how to sit on someone."
“…”
There was a heated discussion on the Internet.
IG didn't think too much about it and was already preparing for the quarterfinals four days later.
There is still a big difference between the quarterfinals and the group stage. The group stage is a BO1 game with only one game played. Winning is winning and losing is losing. There are not many tactical competitions, but the quarterfinals are a BO5 game.
SSG was able to advance directly to the second round of the bubble match with the full year points among so many strong teams in LCK. In the bubble match, they first came back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat AFs, and then played a full five games with KT, finally defeating KT 3:2 and becoming the third seed of LCK.
It is not difficult to see from the above that SSG is a team that is extremely good at BO5, so even though IG knew that they were facing the third seed of LCK, they still did not take it lightly.
It’s just that Axun was a little annoyed after watching the video online.
"These guys are so funny."
"The happier you laugh, the harder you cry." Save patted Achun's shoulder.
"So confident?" Ah Xun was surprised.
"Of course." Save glanced at Li Fu, "I have great confidence in Brother Fu."
A Xun felt a little annoyed when he thought about this.
This group won’t be playing in LPL for the first time, so they will just get the Summer Finals and S Championship without any effort, right?
If he gets the championship skin, his value will skyrocket next year, whether he stays in the team or tests the transfer market... When he thinks about how he has been in the LPL for so long and is only now finally making it, Ashun feels a subtle imbalance in his heart.
It’s really frustrating to compare yourself with others!
Of course, this subtle imbalance was soon eliminated as the training intensified.
The substitute that IG brought to this world championship is Save, but there are two sets of lineups. The coach requires that the substitutes must also be trained, with the goal of ensuring that the opponent will never see through your underwear until the last moment.
…
Four days passed in a flash.
October 14th, at six in the morning Beijing time, was just an ordinary morning.
But this is no longer ordinary because of an event in Chicago, across the ocean.
Those who get up early, those who go jungle hunting, those who stay in bed... I don’t know how many young people in China all picked up their mobile phones at this moment, and the familiar voices of Miller and Wawa were heard on the screen.
"Hello, audience friends, welcome to the 2016 World Championship quarterfinals. Today, EDG and SKT will be playing for us."
"Yes, speaking of which, this should be the first meeting between these two teams since the MSI Mid-Season Invitational Finals held in Florida, USA last May."
"Yes, the last time EDG won the MSI championship, it was the superior team. So after a year and a half, what kind of sparks will be created when the two teams meet again in the quarterfinals of the BO5? Let's wait and see."
“…”
EDG's World Quarterfinals have never lacked attention.
There seems to be a connection between the quarterfinals and EDG, but also an inexplicable curse.
If you don't believe me, look at the two characters "Ming Kai". Each character has eight strokes, and year after year...
Therefore, today is the first day of the quarterfinals, and EDG is facing a team led by the great devil Faker. Many people are looking forward to EDG breaking the curse today and recreating the glory of last year's MSI.
After the players on both sides were ready, the first game of BO5 began.
