Because RNG failed to beat IG in league points, it was the third seed in this world championship and was placed in Group D.
The teams in Group D are FNC, 100T, RNG, and SKT.
To be honest, this year is really the worst year for SKT to enter the World Championship.
In the past, we either didn’t make the cut, or if we did, we would always be number one or two, and we had never played in a bubble match.
The problem is that SKT is a bit weak this year.
Lost the signature player, lost the signature coach.
The power struggle among the white-skinned bosses finally ended until the summer season, and it was completely too late to recruit players at this time.
If Scout hadn't performed exceptionally well, they might not even have gotten the third seed.
It’s a good thing that the Korean third seed doesn’t have to play in the qualifying round, otherwise it would be really embarrassing for a team of SKT’s level to play in the qualifying round.
RNG's performance on the first day of the group stage was acceptable, and they crushed 100T.
However, all this took a sharp turn for the worse on the second day of the group stage!
Although SKT is number three, it still has a very outstanding training and competition team.
They quickly figured out the world game meta and quickly began to poorly imitate EDG.
Move Xayah and Kaisa, and never gank the bottom lane.
This is the formula they figured out to beat RNG.
Kaisa seemed to have become a trap in the group stage, and countless teams were trying to speed up the game.
RNG is no exception.
However, they fought very hard.
The reason is that the mid and top players do not have the ability to carry.
How long have Xiaohu and Letme been playing team-based tactics?
Not to mention whether they have the ability to carry.
Even for someone like Xu Yuan, if EDG always lets him be a tool man, and then suddenly lets him become the core.
Then Xu Yuan will also feel uncomfortable for a while.
However, in today's version of the World Championship, if the mid and top do not stand out, it means that the early and mid-game are bound to be very difficult.
RNG is definitely stronger than SKT now, but their adaptability to the version is worse than SKT!
Does Uzi want to win?
This is nonsense, he must have thought.
In order to win the game, he couldn't rely on the mid and top laners, so he gave up Kaisa and started choosing heroes like Lucian.
Because Lucian is different from other ADs, such a strong AD can find the rhythm by himself.
Uzi's current playing style is based on the playing style of Xu Yuan in the S7EDG MS I finals.
If you know that you may not be able to win by attacking the middle or upper part, then don't attack the middle or upper part.
Force the opponent to come down by going against the version!
Use strong heroes to tie the opponent's rhythm to the bottom lane.
This is undoubtedly an unconventional move, but it is also the only way RNG can take.
But in this way...
The requirements for Uzi's performance are higher.
Moreover, the current version is different. With the bottom lane generally being dominated by hard supports, such an aggressive style of play will definitely be more dangerous than in S7.
Very simple truth:
The reason why Xu Yuan played like that in S7 was because the support could play soft supports like Lulu, and the mid laner could also play functional heroes.
So when he gets up, you can protect him and fight him.
However, there are no soft supports nowadays, and the softest one is like Braum.
The guarantor's ability is not at the same level at all.
Therefore, Uzi, who wanted to replicate Xu Yuan's playing style, had an extremely difficult time.
No one can protect him!
It is impossible to choose only functional heroes in the mid and top lanes. If you choose them, you will have no chance to play in the mid and late stages.
This was a crushing defeat for RNG.
Even though Uzi had gained a huge advantage in the early game, their advantage disappeared as soon as they entered the lane switching stage in the mid-game.
Faced with SKT's constant pushing and switching of lanes, RNG was completely overwhelmed.
A rash attack actually gave SKT an opportunity.
Finally, in the 33rd minute, SKT managed to turn the game around without any major problems.
"I still lost... This is too painful."
"It's not bad. After all, they are the third seed. It's OK to play like this."
"RNG is really not in line with the version. It's so frustrating!"
"Riot is really stupid. EDG is so strong and it's still EDG's version, while RNG has always been targeted but never got its own version."
"Smile, S7 isn't your RNG version? The problem is you haven't played it before!"
There was a lot of discussion in the barrage, and RNG fans were a little disappointed, but not much.
After all, the current RNG is not the invincible RNG in S8.
In the current league, RNG has always been suppressed by EDG and has never won.
I finally qualified for the bubble tournament and got the third seed.
But that's it.
So they didn't feel bad about losing to SKT, after all, they didn't win many key games this year.
Besides, the expectations that RNG bears now are completely different from the original ones.
They were once the number one seed, so the audience's expectations of them were naturally high.
Now he is just number three, so if I can’t beat him… then I can’t beat him.
In a sense, EDG saved RNG's life.
Because if RNG really gets the number one seed, the criticism they will face in this world championship will be much greater than it is now.
Unlike RNG's predicament, IG played well in the World Championship.
Although except for the mid laner rookie, the other four are basically newcomers, they are not weaklings.
The performance in the world championship was visibly outstanding.
What is different from the original is that this time IG was assigned to KT's group in the group stage.
KT, MAD, IG, GRX.
This is the team situation of the IG group.
It should be noted that this GRX is not Longcha, nor is it the name of a Korean team, but a Vietnamese team.
IG faced KT on the first day of the group stage and quickly defeated them in 27 minutes.
Facing MAD and GRX next, they also showed dominance, defeating their opponents in 24 minutes and 26 minutes respectively.
Exactly the same as EDG, also starting with three bars and zero.
Countless IG fans were moved to tears.
Although we can’t beat EDG, it seems like we can easily beat other teams!
Our IG is saved!
“This is the perfect IG!”
“IG is awesome!”
LPL fans of other teams are also very kind.
"Could it be?"
"IG is awesome! Keep it up! Let's fight for the final against EDG!"
"If IG and EDG had a civil war in the finals in Incheon, South Korea, I can't even imagine how cool it would be!"
There are also Wolf Warriors among EDG fans now.
They trembled with excitement at the thought of two LPL teams fighting a civil war in the world championship held in South Korea.
There is such a good thing?!
Fans of IG and EDG are now in the "all is fine" stage, which naturally makes RNG, which had an extremely bumpy group stage, seem a little out of place.
Although it's not so much a mockery as "Everyone is so strong, why are you the only one who's lame?"
But some gossip is inevitable.
As the group stage entered the second round, IG and EDG continued to advance rapidly.
Needless to say, EDG is a group of bugs.
He easily won 3-0 again and advanced with a score of six bars and zeroes with an absolute lead.
IG was equally violent. Except for the one game against KT where they almost lost, they won the other teams steadily.
He also qualified with a perfect record of six bars and zero.
Only RNG found it increasingly difficult in the second round.
In the final extra-game stage, they finally won against SKT and secured the last qualifying spot.
As for first place in the group?
It's FNC.
Neither SKT nor RNG have ever beaten FNC, but this team from Europe beat the Korean and Chinese teams in the group.
In fact, this is normal. FNC was originally the runner-up of this world championship. Their combat effectiveness is definitely much stronger than the current downtrodden SKT and RNG.
With RNG's qualification, it also represents the second Korean team eliminated in the round of 16.
The first one is GenG.
The legend of C9 continues. Although they failed to beat EDG, they did pull down a Korean team and advanced to the quarterfinals again.
Such a group match undoubtedly made the Korean audience feel disappointed.
Three Korean teams, two eliminated in the round of 16!
The only team that advanced was KT, the second-placed team in the group.
Many Korean audiences were completely defeated:
"Why are we so weak?"
More Korean viewers were filled with anger and began to call for:
“LCK needs change!”
It is obvious to the naked eye that operations are no longer suitable for this version, but the LCK's style of play remains rigid.
Only KT, whose playing style was not so LCK-like, managed to qualify.
This had to make them think more.
At this point, is the operation that we are so proud of a little outdated?
Just when Korean audiences were questioning their lives, EDG players also received the news that SKT was eliminated in the round of 16.
Li Xianghe's face was calm, but there was some loss in his eyes.
"The top 16..."
Although for him, the sooner SKT is eliminated, the more it proves his indispensability.
However, Li Xianghe was not so happy at this time.
After all, he has played for SKT for many years, so he has a special feeling for SKT.
Now, seeing that my former club can’t even make it to the quarterfinals, I feel a little disappointed.
Are you happy? Not really.
Xu Yuan patted his shoulder and comforted him.
"It's okay. There's no point in you staying in SKT. Maybe the original SKT didn't even make it to the World Championship."
Lee Sang Hyuk: …
If you don't know how to comfort, there is no need to comfort.
In fact, Xu Yuan was not lying. SKT in S8 really did not make it to the World Championship.
The original three Korean teams in S8 were KT, GenG, and AFS.
However, Li Xianghe was still very confident in himself and felt that he should be able to get in.
With the end of the last group match, the eight teams that entered the knockout stage were officially determined.
Group A: FW, G2
Group B: EDG, C9
Group C: IG, KT
Group D: Fnatic, RNG
The exciting knockout draw also began that evening!
The player responsible for the drawing this time is a player named flame.
In fact, LPL audiences are no strangers to him.
Flame once played in LPL, when he was in LGD.
She was also nicknamed "Big Princess".
Although many people think that it was the commentator Bald Dragon who shouted it out, it was not actually the case.
The name of the Big Princess was mainly because Flame received a lot of resources in the CJ team at that time. The whole team had to play around him, and he also had outstanding looks and was a pure flower boy.
Naturally, he got this nickname.
It is worth mentioning that after he came to LGD, LGD’s mid laner Wei Shen also got a similar nickname “Little Princess”.
Because Wei Shen's playing style is very similar to Scout's, both of them like to suck the blood of junglers, so naturally they also need the allocation of team resources.
This nickname sounds funny, but it is not really a compliment.
For example, the jungle king eimy.
Is he the real wild king?
He is a piece of shit.
"Welcome everyone to the 2018 League of Legends World Championship Knockout Draw. Now we can see that today's draw guest, player Flame, has arrived on stage."
"He will be the one to draw the final lots soon. Let's wait and see!"
Colonel Guan had a smile on his face and appeared to be in a stable mood.
There was no moment of mourning for GenG's elimination, and now Colonel Guan has already become the shape of EDG.
"Yes, I hope EDG and IG don't get drawn against RNG."
Miller spoke immediately.
"No matter what, I don't want to be drawn into a civil war."
"It's a bit of a shame. The group winner will only be drawn as the second seed. It would be better if RNG was also the group winner."
Colonel Guan said with some regret.
EDG and IG are both first in the group, while RNG is second.
Once the teams are drawn together, it will not be a very happy situation for LPL.
Although RNG is not the main force of LPL, no one wants to start a civil war in the quarterfinals.
At this time, the contestants were also watching the draw carefully in the lounge.
However, the status of each team is different.
The EDG players were very relaxed. Xu Yuan put his hands behind his head and looked at the screen calmly.
Beside him, Li Xianghe stood straight with the same calm look.
Xiaotian sat closer, talking on a bottle of iced black tea.
Meiko and Mingkai were whispering to each other, not even looking at the screen.
kkoma pushed his glasses and waited for the result.
However, other teams are not as calm as EDG.
Especially RNG.
At this moment, their faces looked very solemn.
If a civil war is drawn, it will be extremely bad for RNG.
Because this version is already obvious.
It is almost impossible for them to beat IG, let alone the more ferocious EDG.
Once they are drawn against their own team, RNG’s fate is elimination.
Now Uzi also knows that the World Championship is almost over.
It's clear, but he won't be willing to give up until he's eliminated.
Of course it would be best if we could meet EDG and IG later.
And what about Korean audiences?
They are praying.
As the Koreans say: Pray nia!
They are not afraid of playing against IG. KT still has dominance and is the number one seed after all.
As for not beating IG in the group stage...
It’s just the group stage, the Korean team in BO5 is trustworthy!
That's how they convince themselves.
And if we play against EDG... then it’s all over.
At least the Korean audience now really has lost any confidence.
The dominance displayed by EDG in the group stage was unprecedented, especially the two brutal defeats against GenG, which made many Koreans terrified.
They don't know whether it's because EDG is too strong or GenG is too weak.
But EDG is undoubtedly the strongest among the seven teams remaining in the knockout stage.
The current KT is the only child of the Han family!
It would be best if we don't meet EDG in the quarterfinals.
Flame on the stage has already reached into the No. 1 seed pool.
With a shy smile on his face, he stirred the balls and took out the first ball.
I opened the ball and took a look.
A smile suddenly appeared on his face.
The Korean audience in the audience felt nervous.
not good!
LCK players like Flame who have been to LPL are basically hated by some Korean audiences.
When I saw him smile, I subconsciously felt that this signing was probably not good for KT.
As expected, as the ball opened the next second, the Korean audience's eyes went dark.
On that piece of paper was the logo of the best team in the world that you had heard of over the past year.
【EDG】
"EDG! I got EDG in the first draw! Princess is really lucky!"
"Is this the former LGD player? Now that he's back in Korea, he still cares about our LPL. Will RNG be the next player to be drawn?"
Colonel Guan's eyes lit up and he joked.
The barrage suddenly became tense.
"Don't draw RNG, don't draw RNG, I beg you!"
"Shut up, prison officer! You want to use your deathrattle to take away our RNG after Samsung is gone? You have such a cruel heart!"
"Although it's a pig's offal, I really don't want to draw RNG. My own team will have to meet them in the semifinals at the very least, right?"
"Thank you, Piggy!"
"KT! KT! KT!"
"EDG, give me a KT draw, and send the Korean No. 1 seed away happily!"
"Beep, beep! Send your mom KT away with pleasure!"
Flame on the stage has already drawn the second group leader, which is the team in the same half as EDG.
Open it and take a look.
【FW】
Suddenly, the Wanwan brothers began to wail.
“Fuck!”
"How did we get drawn to the same zone as EDG? Flame is really awesome!"
"I'm dead now, it's all your fault! Flame you're really annoying!"
"We're going to be beaten into a dodge by the mainland again. No matter how well we play in each league, is it a success if we make it to the quarterfinals in the world championship?"
LPL is smiling.
"Wuhu! Not IG!"
"It's not bad, at least EDG and IG don't have to fight each other before the finals. As for RNG? I'll just let it be. I'm an EDG fan, a rational fan."
"No, RNG can't just go with the flow!"
For most LPL fans, the current RNG is really just a matter of fate.
Because I never counted on RNG.
But RNG’s die-hard fans are upset!
Now there are EDG and IG in the upper and lower half of the group. Even if they win the quarterfinals, they will still have to play against these two.
How can they not feel uncomfortable?
Teams from other regions may not know, but they know exactly how strong EDG and IG are.
The remaining two draws are naturally FNC and IG.
What is more important is the second pool in the group.
First hand, start drawing!
Flame took out the ball and opened it immediately.
The yellow icon is strangely familiar.
【RNG】
The barrage was silent for a moment, and then exploded.
"It's over! It's all fucking over!"
"I really got RNG... Guan Zeyuan, you deserve to die!"
“Sima Guanzeyuan Sima Guanzeyuan Sima Guanzeyuan!”
"Enough of the real Sima, can this also heal RNG!?"
Guan Zeyuan on the stage was also dumbfounded.
No way, bro, I was just saying it casually.
Do you really smoke RNG?
Although due to the avoidance selection in the same group, it is impossible for G2 and C9 to be drawn into the upper half.
But at least RNG can draw FW!
FW is in a similar situation to RNG. Although they got first place in the group, they also stumbled. RNG is not without hope of winning.
In this way, the probability of reaching the semi-finals is still very high.
But if you draw EDG... that's really lucky.
Anyone who has watched the game knows that in this version, RNG is even less qualified to challenge EDG.
Could it be possible... that we have to reach the quarterfinals again?
At this time, there was silence in the RNG lounge.
"My luck doesn't seem to be very good."
Uzi smiled bitterly.
The strongest one is the one I picked the first time, which is really hard to accept.
Why are we so unlucky?
For Uzi, the worst case scenario is to draw EDG.
Even if we play against IG, there is still some chance.
Although IG is also very strong, they play very aggressively and will give RNG some opportunities.
But EDG...
So stable.
After getting the advantage, they just operated to the death and didn't give RNG any chance at all.
In the several clashes during the summer season, we basically lost.
RNG is almost knocked out.
As a result, EDG is still being drawn in the world competition...
Uzi had to suspect that this was a punishment from God.
He stared at the screen in a daze, saying nothing.
"It's okay to be proud, we will all be beaten."
Xiaohu tried to comfort Uzi.
However, Uzi originally thought that he couldn't beat the mid and top laners, so he found it difficult to beat them.
What use is the consolation of canceling the account to him at this time?
In the second draw, Flame drew G2.
Because FW was in the upper half, G2 was moved to the lower half.
And their opponent is IG.
Maybe it's fate, IG's opponent is still G2.
"Oh, I.G."
G2 jungler Jankos couldn't help but put on the mask of pain.
They didn't get first place in the group against FW. The strength IG showed in the group stage was much stronger than FW.
The lamb has always been sensible.
"It's nothing, Jankos, believe me, it's just Theshy, right? Haha."
Top laner Wunder is very confident.
The top laner in LPL should be like that.
Letme is just that type of guy. It's not like they haven't played scrims before, so Wunder is confident that he can easily win.
Theshy, who couldn't even break through Letme's defense, is naturally nothing to be afraid of.
At least that's what Wunder thinks.
All I can say is that he is also one of the top pushin men in Europe.
"Wunder is right. If you haven't even been beaten, don't be afraid."
Although Perkz disagrees with Wunder's judgment of Theshy, he likes his confidence.
After all, Perkz is also a confident person.
The rest of the draw is basically clear.
KT was picked in the third place, and the remaining C9 naturally faced FNC.
The knockout round matches have been confirmed:
Upper half: EDG VS RNG
FW VS KT
Lower Half: IG VS G2
FNC VS C9
The knockout round will start on October 20th.
This... is another classic day.
The match between EDG and RNG will be the first one on October 20th.
After the draw, some people were happy and some were sad.
On the LPL side, the audience generally believes that the upper half is more intense than the lower half.
It’s mainly the clash between EDG and KT that’s very interesting.
KT's current lineup is not bad.
Khan is the top laner, score is the jungler, ucal is the mid laner, and deft and Mata are the bottom laner.
Khan became KT's top laner after Smeb left, and he's playing very well now.
As for the bottom lane, Deft and Mata are also a very strong bottom lane team, and they are quite experienced.
The mid-jungle combination of Score and Ucal is not bad either, and they were crazy about dragons in the LCK Summer Season.
In the lower half, in the eyes of many LPL viewers, IG's breakthrough was a natural thing.
After all, there is not even a Korean team.
Although the South Korean team performed worse than ever this year, the second and third seeds all disappeared in the round of 16.
However, many LPL viewers still think that LCK is stronger than European and American teams.
In the past two years, EDG has beaten European and American teams into the so-called European and American losers.
Naturally, LPL viewers also look down on European and American teams.
Therefore, their topics are basically focused on EDG.
"Come on EDG! Beat KT in the semifinals and meet them in Incheon, South Korea!"
However, there are still RNG fans who refuse to give up.
"If, I mean if, RNG beat EDG, will you support RNG?"
Zhuza's attitude is simple.
"There is no if. The difference in strength is too obvious. Besides, if RNG can really do it, then it is only natural to support RNG."
It has been a year since the royal offal was crushed in the country. At this time, the pig offal can be said to be calm and in a very good position.
I used to have a lot of arguments with RNG fans, mainly because both sides were not that good and their results were so bad.
It’s different now. In S7, EDG has won the championship, and it’s the first championship in LPL.
So what if RNG really wins the championship this time?
Bro, what's your first title?
And it’s not shameful to lose the civil war in the world championship.
Even if there is a one in ten thousand chance, EDG will be defeated by RNG.
That might be a little hard for EDG fans to accept, but it won't break their defense.
Be united against external scourge!
Xu Yuan stretched lazily, "I didn't expect that the final opponent would be RNG."
To be honest, he is a bit tired of playing against RNG.
It's always you?
"It can only be said that they were out of luck."
Li Xianghe couldn't help laughing when he thought about canceling his account.
He surfs more and more now and has learned a little about account closing.
This player is indeed very interesting.
"Now that we know who it is, let's start organizing our tactics right away."
Kkoma was as calm as ever.
"Don't let your guard down thinking it's easy to beat them."
"What if RNG has an epiphany? The possibility is low, but it's not impossible."
"Keep the same attitude we had in the group stage against teams like VIT, and don't think you're guaranteed to win."
He gave careful instructions and did not laugh out loud just because of playing against RNG.
Veteran coaches like kkoma are well aware that the team's strength improves rapidly during the World Championship stage.
Maybe you couldn't beat it yesterday, but suddenly you can beat it today.
Although EDG has a high winning rate, a high winning rate does not mean victory.
Especially the players' mentality must be correct.
The contestants' expressions suddenly became more serious.
Kkoma’s current prestige is enough to make the players correct their attitudes.
"yes!"
Xiaotian responded immediately.
The short but arduous training time begins again.
Xu Yuan had no intention of slacking off and continued to complete every bit of training conscientiously.
As a former viewer, he knew too well how critical the moment was.
The closer we get to the end, the more likely problems are to occur.
For Xu Yuan, he has been training for almost a year, so it shouldn't be that difficult to continue working hard for another month.
Lee Sang-hyeok has participated in many world championships, so naturally there will be no problems in this aspect.
The two biggest guys in the team are both training very hard.
Naturally, the other contestants, including Xiaotian, did not dare to be negligent or lazy.
This is the power of role models.
On the other hand, RNG was extremely unsmooth.
They forced him to cancel his account and use carry heroes with Letme during the training matches during this period. They wanted to cram for the exam at the last minute.
However, the effect... is too bad!
Even if he gets a carry hero, Letme simply doesn't have the ability to open a gap in the laning phase by himself.
The situation of account cancellation is better. Heroes like Vampire and Ryze are still good to play and can produce some results.
But there aren't many good ones.
RNG was extremely anxious at this time because they didn't have much time left.
But no matter how anxious you are... it's useless?
On the afternoon of October 20th, the players from RNG and EDG had already arrived at the home court of the quarterfinals.
The competition is about to begin!