Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 145 Spring Tournament: The Dual-G Battle!

The end of the Demacia Cup also means that there are only two weeks left in the Spring Split.

From January 1st to 15th, RNG will be playing in the S8 Spring Split, facing off against IG and firing the first shot of the Spring Split.

Everyone was like a tightly wound spring, starting a new round of preparations, especially Xiangguo, whose task was even more serious.

If Xiangguo can't play 4 games in the Spring Split, he won't be eligible to participate in the Summer Split, let alone the playoffs.

With the addition of more players, there are now rotation players for the mid, top, and jungle positions. Not only are the second team players nervous, but even the first team players are feeling the pressure.

The food I order doesn't necessarily require me to guard the water dispenser, but I'll definitely have to take turns.

In esports, an industry where youth is a significant factor, every match played is a chance to shine, as no one knows what unexpected events might occur tomorrow.

After the awards ceremony, all the teams started training like crazy, and you could hardly see any professional players on the live stream.

All teams are in seclusion, training hard to achieve higher scores.

Time flew by, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the 14th arrived and Xiangguo passed the LPL's physical fitness test.

Tomorrow is the first match of the Spring Split. After Xiangguo's test was completed, Chris arranged the lineup for the first match.

In a best-of-three format, every point at the start is crucial, so Chris fielded last season's championship-winning lineup, which is also the lineup that RNG has had the most time to gel.

The second-team players who weren't selected didn't complain; they were well aware of the importance of this match.

As long as RNG secures a spot, they will definitely give substitutes time to play and gain experience, so there's no need for them to rush things.

January 15th arrived as scheduled!
LPL fans, who have been waiting for two weeks, are eagerly anticipating this opening battle between the two G teams.

At 2 p.m., after everyone had lunch, they took a bus to the competition venue.

The opening match was a resounding success, with almost every seat filled. The 98% ticket sales rate and 95% attendance rate demonstrate just how popular these two teams are.

TheShy, the new top laner who has now transferred to IG, has recently attracted many casual fans with his outstanding performance in live streams.

As one of the few aggressive and daring top laners in the LPL, everyone is eager to see what special skills TheShy will have today.

Since ancient times, competitive sports have been full of tension. Take boxing for example, after the weigh-in, both sides routinely exchange trash talk.

This battle was jokingly referred to by netizens as an all-Chinese team defeating the Korean team. The conflict between Xiaohu, the mid-laner, and the fans of Chicken God, in particular, reached a fever pitch.

The still-developing "chicken offal" (a term referring to a group of players who support Korean players in the LPL) were no match for the "royal offal" (another term referring to players who support Korean players in the LPL) and suffered repeated defeats. Therefore, today's match was also called the first battle by the "royal offal" to wipe out the Korean players in the LPL.

On the other side, Rw fans and EDG fans, who were also pretending to be fans, were not to be outdone. They started exposing each other's players' flaws. As the date drew closer, the fans' chants of "celebrating the New Year early" grew louder and louder.

The LPL underwent a major overhaul in S8, with several new teams joining and the long-standing elimination system being abolished. Now, there are no more relegation battles or relegation matches; those who lose will be disqualified from further competitions.

The number of league teams has increased from twelve to sixteen, making the schedule more intensive and the difficulty also greater.

In particular, in order to achieve what the official called "league-like" system, the official system was established to be the same as the NBA, and it became a home-and-away system.

Before S8, including S7, all LPL matches were held in Shanghai's Zhengda Plaza. This resulted in many earlier teams running overtime, causing later teams' matches to drag on until 11 or 12 o'clock.

After the reform, the current system allows all LPL teams to choose a city in China as their home venue. Of course, these cities are assigned by the official authorities in advance, and the selection is based on the LPL's points from last year.

RNG was the first team to choose their venue, naturally taking over the Wukesong Arena in the capital and making the capital their home ground. However, the home-and-away format undoubtedly puts a double test on the players' physical strength, which also means that there will be an extremely cruel back-to-back match format.

Even NBA players with their explosive physical abilities can't withstand this kind of mental strain, let alone these game-playing nerds.

Fortunately, the official physical fitness program was launched this year; otherwise, the Snake Esports BO10 incident from back then would probably have been repeated.

Today's match is being held at IG's home stadium, which is the Zhengda Plaza in Shanghai.

Principal Wang easily won the home game in Shanghai by using his financial power, showing everyone what it means to make up for a lack of strength with money.

When they arrived at the venue, there was still more than an hour left in the match, and Chris didn't have any specific plans for the IG team.

They're just a bunch of brutes!

As long as you can suppress IG head-on, you don't need to worry about this team playing any kind of strategy against you. It's easy for the top, mid, jungle, and ADC to all want to farm and compete for resources, causing you to collapse first.

At four o'clock sharp, the venue opened to the audience, and the dark mass of spectators was even higher than the attendance rate of the S-series tournament, with one dark cloud after another covering the entire venue.

Eighty percent of the fans were holding RNG support signs, and only a few places had Ig support signs, but these were just individual player support signs.

IG's fan base was very small at the beginning of S8, and most of them were casual fans with no fighting spirit. Most of the people who argued with RNG fans online were RNG haters, not IG fans.

Today's host is still Brother Ren Dong.

Auntie couldn't handle the big scenes, so we had to bring in veteran Ren Dong.

"Welcome everyone to the 2018 Spring Split! The first match will be a thrilling best-of-three series between RNG and IG."

"Today is also the opening ceremony of our Spring Season. Now, everyone, please be quiet and count down with me, okay?"

As Ren Dong finished speaking, the noise in the room subsided considerably, and in an instant, everyone began to count down along with the large screen behind Ren Dong.

"Ahhhhh!!!"

"10~~~"

"8~~~~"

"3~~~~"

"2~~~~"

“1~~~~~”

boom! boom!
As the countdown ended, salutes were fired throughout the Zhengda Plaza venue!

Suddenly, a giant dragon appeared on the large screen on the stage, carrying the LPL logo in its mouth, and soared down from the sky.

In the center of the stage, an empty platform slowly rose up, with the classic LPL logo engraved on the front of the platform and an 8 shining brightly on it.

The next moment, there was no commentary, and the arena was filled with smoke.

A familiar figure emerged amidst the ethereal mist, holding a trophy in his hand, visible through the smoke—a familiar scene, but with a different trophy.

After winning the championship, the LPL region finally adopted a new style. The silver trophy that the figure was holding on the Spring Split trophy was turned into gold!
This is a preferential treatment for the championship region!
This is also where the honor of the championship zone lies!
(End of this chapter)