On July 5th, EDG set off for the venue of this intercontinental competition.
The venue for this intercontinental competition was not chosen in the LPL or LCK, but was arranged in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Riot has its reasons for doing this.
The final will most likely be between LCK and LPL. Regardless of whether it is held in LPL or LCK, some people will inevitably question why the other side has the home advantage.
Just put it in LMS.
Anyway, LMS can't make it to the finals, so this is fair to both LPL and LCK.
LMS that has been eliminated by Riot:
Fuck you, do you dare to come out and show me how to fight?!
In a sense, this is also a humiliation to LMS.
Xu Yuan, who arrived in Kaohsiung with the team wearing the EDG team uniform, was shocked by Kaohsiung at the first moment.
It’s not because Kaohsiung is too developed, but because Kaohsiung is too dilapidated.
It is hard to imagine that this is already a relatively developed city in Taiwan. Even the airport looks shabby and dilapidated.
Not to mention compared with super first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, it is completely inferior even to first-tier cities, at most it is at the level of second-tier cities.
This is what it became like after the Americans didn't have the guts to stay any longer.
After all, it was thanks to the support of others that we first became successful, so it's normal that the support is gone now.
When they walked out of the airport, they also saw the staff sent by Riot.
The staff was relatively polite and diligently escorted EDG to the hotel where the Intercontinental players were resting.
“Is this thing really habitable?”
Xu Yuan sat on the bed, looking at the exposed headboard and the fallen wall paint from the ceiling in the corner, and couldn't help scratching his head.
This is a double room with two large beds.
He lives with Smeb, because Mingkai and Meiko went downstairs to go shopping, so they just happen to share one room.
"Perhaps."
Smeb patted the bed and nodded in satisfaction.
It's OK, although it's a bit shabby, but at least it's clean and there's not much dust.
"Xu Yuan, what are your plans for now?"
He asked.
"No, I don't want to go out."
"Besides, I don't know where to go in Kaohsiung, and I don't have much time."
Xu Yuan simply shook his head.
He has no desire to travel and is essentially a relatively self-disciplined player.
Soon he would let his opponents know:
How terrible are self-disciplined people!
"Then can you accompany me to KT to take a look?"
Smeb hesitated for a moment, but finally spoke.
"KT?"
Don’t say it, don’t say it!
He is actually quite interested in KT.
The main reason is that I have a lot of acquaintances in KT.
Not to mention deft, Xu Yuan still has the EDG team jersey that he gave to him.
The mid laner Pawn was also EDG's former Buddha. Although I have never met him, the professional players who know him all say that Pawn is a very nice person.
Khan on the top lane was also quite interesting. Although he said something like "four Chinese can't twin", he did apologize later and his personality isn't that bad.
As for the support player Mata, he is quite interesting.
The founder of One-Handed Jayce and Windtalker Zyra.
Former support for RNG.
After the fight in S6, MS disliked Wuxincai and said he wanted Uzi to come.
As soon as Uzi came, he started to roam around, and after playing for half a year, he started to run smoothly.
It's a bit deliberate.
Basically, except for the jungler and old captain Score, all the players on KT have played in LPL before.
In a sense, it is not an exaggeration to say that they are the fifth seed of LPL.
Khan also played in the LPL secondary league before returning to Korea.
As soon as the two people went out, Xu Yuan frowned.
"...bang?"
How come I always run into him?
Although you are my idol, we are enemies now. Are you trying to get me to show mercy by coming to me all the time?
"Savior?"
Bang was also a little surprised. He looked back at his house number.
Just opposite.
Soon, a smile appeared on his face.
"haven't seen you for a long time."
It’s not that long actually, only about one or two months.
But these past two months have been the hardest days for Bang since the S6 World Championship.
Although Bang has always been thinking about starting a business, he is also ready to go to North America.
But this doesn't mean that he is shameless.
The defeat in MSI had a huge impact on him, and it could even be said that he once again felt the desire for the championship.
Since his debut.
There are very few AD players who can beat him head-on and create a real matchup gap.
And Xu Yuan is one of them!
Bang is willing to hand over the throne of the world's No. 1 AD to Xu Yuan after he goes to North America.
Because he recognized Xu Yuan.
But that doesn’t mean he can just watch Xu Yuan take it away by force!
I can give.
You can't rob!
That's why he lamented that they haven't seen each other for a long time, because he had been almost going crazy wanting to beat Xu Yuan during this period of time.
"It's been a long time since we last met."
Xu Yuan nodded slightly.
"When did you get here?"
"It won't be long, but we have made sufficient preparations. You have to be careful in this intercontinental competition."
Bang smiled gently,
"You played really well at MSI. I hope you can play like that again this time. Otherwise, our win might be boring."
The sky cleared up, the rain stopped, and Bang felt that he was fine again.
Xu Yuan was not surprised by his confidence, he just showed a smile that could not be suppressed like a strong man.
Bang obviously noticed his disapproval, but he said nothing. He just smiled, nodded and made way.
There is no point in making harsh remarks now.
Only the harsh words you say after winning will be intimidating enough!
It's best to shut up until you win.
This is bang's style.
"...He seems to have a good impression of you."
As the two walked towards KT's room, Smeb smiled and spoke.
"He always thought I should go to SKT."
Xu Yuan replied casually.
"What do you think?"
"I don't have that idea for now. Isn't it just Green Formula now? They were the champions before I went there. There's no point."
The two chatted and finally arrived at the door of KT.
Smeb has not lost contact with KT's coach, and this time he told KT in advance.
So when he knocked on the door, the KT coach quickly opened it.
"Jinghao..."
When he saw Smeb, obvious joy appeared on his face.
He accidentally saw Xu Yuan next to Smeb, and immediately reacted and stretched out his hand.
"Are you Savior? Hello, I'm KT coach Kim Jun-hee."
After Xu Yuan shook hands with him and introduced himself, he followed Smeb in.
His Korean was a bit surprising to the KT coach.
To be honest, more authentic than Khan.
Not all the players were in the room. Deft was quietly looking at the traffic outside the window, while Mata was lying on the sofa bored and talking to Pawn.
Khan is putting a finger between his eyes, trying to make them cross-eyed.
"Score went downstairs to buy them some drinks. I called him to bring up an extra portion."
The KT coach didn't seem particularly hostile to Xu Yuan and said with a smile.
The contestants who noticed the commotion turned their eyes to him. Xu Yuan looked normal with a smile on his face.
"Oh!? Savior!"
Khan's reaction was the most excited. He immediately stood up, took a closer look at Xu Yuan, and exclaimed in amazement.
"Ah, this guy is so handsome. He's handsome and good at playing games. This kind of player really makes me want to punch him."
He didn't know that Xu Yuan could speak Korean, so he didn't have too many concerns when speaking.
The KT coach who was smiling behind Xu Yuan suddenly had a stiff smile.
"...Khan, Savior can speak Korean."
He spoke suddenly.
Khan: ah?
"sorry!"
Without any hesitation for the sake of saving his face, Khan apologized immediately with a huge bow.
Even Khan would feel embarrassed to say such things in front of others.
Xu Yuan didn't care and sat where the KT coach indicated for him to sit.
At this time, S meb was reminiscing with his teammates, and Xu Yuan seemed a little left out for a while.
"…How is your current condition?"
However, this period of time did not last long.
deft sat next to Xu Yuan and spoke in a gentle voice.
He is a very gentle person, so it is impossible for him to ignore Xu Yuan.
"It was pretty good. The flight didn't take too long. I should have no problem competing in the Intercontinental Championship this time."
"That's good."
deft nodded slightly and praised calmly.
"Savior, you played really well in MSI. Winning the game under those circumstances was something that was hard for even me to do, but you did it."
"It seems that I did not entrust my trust to the wrong person. You are indeed the one who can save EDG."
He paused and asked.
"How are everyone in EDG doing now?"
"Meiko used to love watching anime in the middle of the night. I guess that didn't affect you?"
"clearlove was sometimes very hesitant, but now he seems much more decisive. Is it your credit?"
"Li Can has finally become a starter. He should be very happy, right?"
For Deft, he only played in LCK for more than a year, but played in LPL for two full years.
That memory is naturally unforgettable.
"Everything is fine. We are very confident now. We don't want to lose this intercontinental competition."
Xu Yuan answered calmly.
"Ha...Me too, Savior."
Deft looked him in the eyes, "We haven't had a formal competition yet, right?"
"Although it's not the S-League now, if we have the chance to meet, I will not show mercy."
"I'm looking forward to fighting you."
Who is the strongest AD in EDG's history?
deft doesn't think he will lose.
The two chatted while waiting for Smeb. When they walked out of the KT room, Xu Yuan asked the doubts in his heart.
"Why is KT so nice to me? The players are fine, but the coach is weird, right?"
"It's not surprising actually. Think about which team you won against at MSI."
Smeb chuckled.
Xu Yuan thought about it for a moment and immediately showed a look of sudden realization.
SKT.
In today's LCK, SKT fans have provoked more than just one or two teams.
Even a team like KT has many members that have grudges against SKT.
LCK is not a monolithic group. At least KT and Samsung hate SKT.
That's why KT coach's attitude is so friendly.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
There was no training that night.
After Abu spoke briefly, he let the players go to rest.
The game schedule has been released, and tomorrow is EDG's first game.
The opponent is not some bad team, but SSG from LCK.
The schedule of the Intercontinental Championship is not that long, and it can be completed in four days in total.
Two days of group matches, one day of semi-finals, and one day of finals.
Each team will have at most two group matches. The region with the most wins in the group matches will become the seeded region and advance directly to the finals.
The remaining second and third places will have to play another semi-final.
This schedule also sparked heated discussions among LPL viewers.
"The first game is between JT and SSG. Has anyone heard of this team?"
"Jay's team, right?"
"I've never heard of it. It should be a bunch of rubbish. It's probably a Korean kid!"
"What are you talking about? Besides FW, is there any LMS team that can beat the Koreans?"
"Haha, it's not FW that's good at playing, it's Karsa that's good at playing! Every time Karsa meets Koreans in a world competition, it's like he took medicine."
"OMG played MVP in the second game. Both teams were ranked fourth. We should still have a chance, right?"
"If you ask me, OMG is in a difficult situation. They were still playing in the relegation match last year. They have made some progress this year, but there is still It all depends on the double C."
"No, OMG is rubbish, that's fine. I've watched MVP's games, and he's not that good. If EDG plays, it'll probably be a man-machine game."
“It’s just a fight between two weaklings. I hope OMG can win!”
"I'm still looking forward to the third game the most! EDG vs. SSG, turtle! This game should be interesting. SSG is still in a strong momentum in the summer season and their strength should be up to par."
"It's okay. Trust the Abyss God [Smiling Big Nostril]!"
"Shakudi acted like a beast in the S6 World Championship. Do you think he can stand up to Abyss God in S7? I really don't believe it. What SSG should worry about most is the mid, top and jungle. Crown is still very strong."
"Don't worry about the top lane, we have Smeb now!"
"Will Feichang not fulfill his filial duty to Peanut and then to Master An? I can't stand it!"
"RNG's shit luck! He was able to draw a crappy AHQ on the first day, so awesome!"
"Really? If you don't understand, please don't say anything. I'm Huang Za. I know best what kind of team RNG is over the years. When you think they're going to win, RNG usually loses."
“Awesome!”
"It shouldn't be that serious, right? Uzi is pretty heavy-handed when he kills pigs."
Overall, apart from the doubts about EDG, the general consensus is that it will be difficult to lose on the first day.
Although LMS is a region that once won the world championship, that was S2, and now it is S7.
In fantasy novels, several great eras have passed.
The Doudi bloodline passed down from the ancestors has now been almost diluted.
All I can say is that as long as there is still a little bit of fighting power, it’s not that there is no fighting power at all!
Karsa, perhaps he is their last Xiao Yan.
Of course, according to the original development process, the final Xiao Yan actually became a Runren.
But this really can't be blamed on Karsa.
The LMS environment is too bad, and it will soon be disqualified from major competitions.
Even the most basic treatment cannot be compared with LPL or LCK.
For a player as capable as Karsa, there is no hope for him to continue staying in the LMS region.
He controls the thunder and lightning in every league, and then brings players like Hanabi and Betty to the world competition.
Can you win?
It's very blue.
You let Luo Ge play in the first-tier league of the national football team, and let him lead this group of Bs to play in the world competition.
Then Luo Ge will also be numb.
At noon on July 6, all participating teams arrived at the Kaohsiung Arena in advance.
This is the venue for this year's Intercontinental Championship, and it can be regarded as the only relatively decent venue in LMS.
Xu Yuan also met many LCK star players whom he had not seen last time.
The ruler has a cold expression and is somewhat silent.
Master An, wearing glasses and with a serious expression, has ambition.
At this time, the pressure on the LCK team is actually greater than that of the LPL!
The reason is simple. SKT, which represented LCK in MSI, lost to EDG.
Because of this ending that LCK audiences had never imagined, SKT was immediately subjected to countless abuses after returning to China.
Such an outcome also made other LCK teams feel awed.
You have to know that SKT’s current number of fans is extremely exaggerated.
However, even in this situation, SKT was still liquidated after losing MSI, and it was a liquidation without any resistance!
If even SKT can’t withstand it, how can other teams withstand it?
Therefore, the pressure on LCK teams is much greater than that of LPL because they cannot afford to lose.
LPL will feel bad even if they lose, but at least the MSI championship has been won by EDG. As long as they are not beaten too badly this time, it can be accepted.
But LCK can't do that.
Any LCK team that loses to LPL in the group stage will most likely be blasted.
This is not a joke!
If you joke with Korean audiences, they will kill you.
Therefore, the pressure on LCK is now much greater than that on LPL, and they dare not relax at all.
Although some people on the Korean Internet now say:
It is normal to lose one or two games in the group stage. After all, LPL just won the MSI and has a high level.
But it’s all a lie.
The contestants knew very well that if any unlucky person really lost, they would not be comforted but questioned:
Wow! You really lost! ?
“They are under a lot of pressure.”
Mingkai secretly glanced at the Korean contestants in the dressing room. They all had mushroom-shaped hair and stern expressions.
So he whispered to Xu Yuan.
"The greater the pressure, the more conservative they play, and the better our tactics work."
Xu Yuan smiled.
“That’s true.”
Mingkai approved.
There is no need to question the strength of the incense burner, and the only problem with this routine is how fast it takes to make the incense burner.
The faster you get it done, the sooner the strong period will come!
And once the Korean team chooses to play safe, it is obvious that nothing will happen to EDG's bottom lane.
As long as they develop enough to make the Censer, EDG can take the initiative to fight with the strength of the bottom lane group.
National server incense burner, please fight!
At 1:30 p.m., commentators from each major competition area were already in place.
Today's LPL commentator is no longer Miller Doll, but Wang Duoduo and Guan Zeyuan.
Colonel Guan is still quite proud of himself now.
After all, his professional ability is quite outstanding, so now more and more of him is commentating on international competitions.
"Okay, hello everyone in front of the screen, welcome to the live broadcast room of the 2017 League of Legends Intercontinental Championship Asia Showdown. What we are about to bring you is the first round of the group stage. The first game is between JT and SSG!"
In the commentary booth, Colonel Guan was dressed in a suit and tie with a smile on his face.
"This group stage will be played directly over two days, and the region with the highest winning points will qualify directly for the finals."
"Yes, we all know that the difference between the Intercontinental Championship and the MSI is that the results of the Intercontinental Championship are calculated based on the results of all teams in the region."
"So for LPL, every game is crucial, because once the score falls behind LCK, they will have to play one more BO5, which will also cause their own tactics to be exposed a little more."
Wang Duoduo's expression became more serious.
He is now a fan of EDG and naturally has absolute trust in EDG.
The problem is the other three teams… no one knows how good their level is.
Except for MVP, which ranked fourth, the three LCK teams all seemed difficult to deal with.
There are many confrontations between China and South Korea in the current grouping, and Wang Duoduo has no confidence that he can qualify as the first.
After all, even if EDG wins both games, that's only two points.
Naturally, the comments on the barrage also thought of this, so most of them were cheering for the other three teams.
As for EDG?
They still have some confidence in EDG.
The Koreans are really good at BO5, but the group stage is different.
FW can sometimes beat the Korean team in the group stage.
EDG defeated SKT twice in the last group stage, which gave them confidence in EDG's group stage.
SKT is the well-deserved LCK Spring Champion. Beating them means that EDG does not have many problems during the group stage.
"OMG, stop making trouble! Go back to LPL and give away gifts as you like. Anyway, I'm not an OMG fan."
"I'm just a passerby. Why should I watch RNG's games? I wake up to another victory."
"If you can't beat them, wait for Uzi's three-piece suit! Don't be impatient, RNG!"
"Fight me, bathing dog. If you win today, you will be my brother Uzi!"
"11.9 billion people, lend your strength to WE and OMG!"
All I can say is that the main focus is reality.
Although many people usually think:
What kind of garbage are these teams?
But when it comes to the World Championship...
Then we can only support it.
After all, to put it bluntly, it is still our own team in the final analysis.
If you don’t support your own team, who else can you support?
Of course, support is support.
If you really lose, you will have to swim or go to a prisoner-of-war camp, you can't escape.
The performance of losing a game can be divided into: prisoner-of-war level performance, not wearing swimming trunks level performance, and wearing swimming trunks level performance.
The prisoner of war level means that they lost when they shouldn't have lost, so this is the most hateful.
Not wearing swimming trunks, as the name suggests, means you can only swim back home, and you are not even given a pair of pants, which is also very serious.
Wearing swimming trunks means that some athletes who try harder may be allowed to wear pants when swimming back home.
Of course, there is actually one that is even more exaggerated than the POW level:
Spinach grade.
As the name suggests, the audience thinks you are playing a fake game.
For example: 2018 10 20 knockout match, RNG VS G2.
After the game, many people who couldn't believe the result thought that the guys on the stage were fixing the game and that the boss Shirahoshi was just eating spinach.
This is worse than being a prisoner of war.
Because TES became prisoners of war, everyone still has the mood to make memes.
When RNG lost to G2, everyone had only two emotions: "That's good, it's a relief" and extreme disappointment.
Many people didn't dare to watch this game until S13.
As the warm-up music stopped, the lights in the venue gradually lit up.
"It's coming! The contestants are ready to go on stage now!"
In the commentary booth, Guan Zeyuan was also cheered up.
"Finally I can see my Yuan Shen La again!"
“Hurry, hurry, hurry!”
The barrage was also very anxious.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the contestant walked onto the stage!
The Intercontinental Championship officially begins.