Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 197 Takeoff! Esports!

"Let's go shake hands first," Li Luo said helplessly, looking at the slightly excited group.

The TL players seemed quite disappointed and didn't say much. After the interview, they returned to their hotel to continue watching the FNC vs. SKT match.

RNG's continued winning streak has left everyone on a rollercoaster ride, feeling tense at times and excited at others.

That's precisely what makes esports so captivating.

In world-class competitions like this, any team that leaves a lasting impression is no nobody and has the potential to win.

Even if everyone has 100% confidence in RNG, how could the opponent possibly give up until the very last moment when they have secured victory?

Actually, it's not just esports; upsets happen in any competitive sport, especially in sports like sprinting, high jump, and boxing. In fact, they are extremely common.

Even someone as strong as Faker couldn't make it to the World Championship in S10, watching helplessly as other teams shone on the stage he longed for.

Following TL's resilience in the morning, the odds for the afternoon match between FNC and SKT dropped sharply. Even SKT, who had a perfect record in the group stage like RNG, saw their odds drop from 1.8 to 1.3.

If even one lucky viewer had correctly predicted the outcome, it would have been a sure thing for them to win big.

Unfortunately, TL's momentum from the morning did not continue, and in the afternoon, Skt won the match with an even cleaner and more decisive 3-0 victory than Rng.

Thus, the two teams that will compete in the 2018 MSI finals have been officially determined.

Rng vs Skt
Like a destined showdown, RNG was able to win the S7 championship because they overcame their mental block in the semifinals and defeated SKT, which led to their championship in the finals.

Now, both teams have moved from the World Championship to the MSI. Skt has brought in Hanzi, making the team stronger on paper.

Bang, who was expected to underperform in S8, started training hard and seemed to have returned to his peak form.

Even more outrageous was Faker in the mid lane.

Throughout the history of League of Legends, Doinb, the mid-laner who won the S9 championship, is most famous for his support capabilities.

Doinb sacrificed his laning ability and invested all his points into support capabilities, which coincided with the S9 version, allowing him to soar to new heights.

However, in S10, after the mid-lane ecosystem was revamped, the traditional mages became more dominant against unconventional mid-laners, and the emergence of jungle carry strategies directly caused FPX's record to decline. They lost more games than they won against e-commerce teams like JDG and SN.

It wasn't until after the two champion teams, IG and FPX, failed to qualify for the World Championship in S8 and S9 that all the fans who liked Faker began to analyze the situation.

Faker in S7 once invested his talent points into roaming and supporting abilities, and achieved considerable success.

But Faker started out playing assassins and mages, unlike Doinb. Although Faker's skills have become increasingly lackluster, he still maintains a top-tier mid-lane level.

Therefore, Brother Li was reluctant to invest all his points, so he took a different approach and put all the ability he had invested in roaming and support back into command and operation.

Therefore, in S9, Faker became the mainstay of SKT, commanding the team by switching screens, which was a source of great pride for all League of Legends fans.

Unfortunately, whether it was because Faker's initial stats in this area were too low or he lacked talent, Skt did not improve much under Faker's command, and their performance did not change significantly.

So, after much painful reflection, Faker in S10 finally began to think about how to win the game.

However, by this time, his age and hand speed were not what they used to be. Relying on awareness to play the game was not reliable in S10, which is why he was unable to go to the World Championship for the third time in his professional career.

Now, under the influence of S7Rng, Faker has awakened ahead of schedule and has devoted all his abilities to roaming and supporting others.

If the roaming and support capabilities demonstrated by S7 Colossus were rated at 80, then now they are at least 95.

This is a blatant super doinb template, an enhanced version of doinb.

It's easy to imagine how terrifying the impact of this transformation will be, especially since most teams are currently unable to cope with this level of support capabilities.

Bo5 is the best format to test a team's strength, comprehensively testing their hero pool, tactical depth, player mentality, and focus.

A loss in a best-of-one (BO1) match could be attributed to carelessness and underestimating the opponent, but a loss in a best-of-five (BO5) match simply means the player was outmatched, and there's nothing more to say about that.

Three games, three heroes.

Galio, Titan, Karma.

Three utility heroes that are universally criticized in casual games, yet three spectacular victories, all made people realize the return of the Demon King.

Although he has changed from a player with sharp skills to one who is unpredictable and elusive, fans who like Faker have come to like him even more.

The meeting of two foreign teams at the Tian Ding Arena was a humiliating experience for the European home crowd.

But they didn't care much; instead, they started discussing the strength of the two finalist teams on Twitter.

Both teams have impressive records, but RNG falls short compared to Skt.

The score of 3 to 2 indicates that the two teams are evenly matched in terms of strength and form. If they were to play again, the chances of either side winning would be 50/50, and it wouldn't be surprising if either side won. It would depend more on the players' luck and mental stability.

The score of 3 to 1 shows that there is a certain gap between the two teams. This gap can be large or small, but judging from the match between RNG and TL, the two teams are roughly equal in strength.

As for a score of 3-0, it means that the two teams are not on the same level at all. It was a complete crushing of the losing side by the winning side. Whether it was the individual strength of the players or the overall teamwork, they were not on the same level.

Now, Skt has won a perfect 3-0 victory over Fnc, while Rng has won 3-1. Therefore, netizens are more optimistic about this veteran powerhouse's triumphant return in S8.

"Skt is down 3-0, it's not an exaggeration to say they're shooing in for the championship, right?"

"Both teams are really strong this year. If Xiaohu can't keep up with Faker in the mid lane, it's hard to say who will win."

"Thank goodness they removed the Green Field Blade, otherwise LCK would be too strong right now."

"A massive order of 30,000 is placed directly on Skt. Those who know, know. Brothers, get on board now, that's all."

"Li Laoba, you just said FNC was 2-3 last round, you'd pay with your life!"

The topic was very popular on Twitter abroad, and also on Baidu Tieba, Weibo, and other online forums in China.

Everyone was praising their favorite team and player.

Some even boldly predicted that RNG would defeat SKT 3-0.

The last time an LCK team achieved a 3-0 victory was during the S4 era, on October 6, 2014, when OMG defeated NajinShield 3-0.

That match is still talked about by many people, and even many streamers rewatch it whenever they have time. It also has millions of views on Bilibili, with countless people watching this morale-boosting match and cheering for the Dark Force OMG.

This level of hype is enough to prove just how profound and memorable the 3-0 victory over the LCK team was for the audience.

Of course, amidst this revelry, there were also other voices.

"To be honest, does anyone really think Letme won't get completely crushed in lane by Khan? As the strongest top laner in LCK right now, Khan's KDA in the Korean server Spring Split was insane. He was dominating everywhere and basically got a godlike streak in every game. Although Letme is stronger now than in S7, he is still clearly not as good as a true top laner, okay?"

"That's right. Let's not even talk about Letme in the top lane. Just look at Faker in the mid lane against Xiaohu. Isn't that a complete domination? Right now, RNG's advantage is their bot lane and jungle, but since the nerf to the fasting jungle, Xiangguo's pressure is much weaker than before. I wonder if he can keep up with the opposing jungler, Black King."

"The collaboration between Xiao Hei and Li Ge is becoming more and more classic. The two of them work together so well that they are absolutely on par with Xiao Hu and Xiang Guo."

These are fans with high skill levels who understand the game. They spoke very rationally and provided data, making a lot of sense.

Unfortunately, LPL fans, who have been oppressed by LCK for so many years, would not listen to these words they didn't want to hear in the first place. Instead, many of them were labeled as emboldening others and "Korean fans".

Gradually, the storm of Skt's 3-0 victory suddenly swept in for some unknown reason, and it intensified.

Even the homepage of WeGame displayed RNG's predicted score, a blatant 3-0, making unsuspecting viewers think the match was already over.

The concept of "World's Number One Region" was introduced by Riot Games during Season 8. As long as a region is named the number one region, it will be eligible for four World Championship tickets.

Many owners behind LPL teams are also arranging online trolls to promote RNG, trying to create a god-like phenomenon for everyone involved.

They transformed RNG into a new generation of legends, forcing Riot Games to designate the LPL as the number one region.

Winning the MSI championship will give RNG their second world championship in team history, and Uzi will take another step closer to achieving his Grand Slam honor. This kind of competition is simply amazing.

Whether this marks the arrival of the LPL era or a renaissance for the LCK remains to be seen, depending on the finals three days from now.

The training match proceeded smoothly.

Several domestic teams did not decline the invitation from RNG, the current top team in the LPL, and actively participated in training matches to familiarize themselves with the new version.

Several teams, including Rw, IG, and EDG, have also brought a lot of ideas to RNG in the new version.

After a few simple scrims with Edg, RNG players burst into laughter when they saw Clearlove abandon his four teammates and slip away early.

After cheerfully typing "GG" in the public chat, both sides quit the game.

The player was back in a custom room when they exited, and the factory manager posted in the public chat:

"Uzi, you're really something. Congratulations! We'll be teammates again, haha."

In the past few days, during the scrims with EDG, Clearlove, as a senior player, shared a lot of MSI experience with me.

The team had a lot of fun in the training matches. After all, they had won the team championship at the S7 All-Star event, and their relationship had become even closer.

Upon seeing the factory manager's words, Li Luo was stunned for a second, then immediately asked in the public chat.

"The Asian Games?"

"Go on Weibo, you should be able to see it even with a VPN on your end."

The RNG members were taken aback when they saw this, and quickly and skillfully connected to the VPN and opened Weibo.

Previously, everyone said they didn't care about the Asian Games and would focus on the current competitions first. But now that the news has come out, they've all forgotten what they said before and are getting more and more impatient.

At this moment, it was still afternoon in China. Although it wasn't yet the golden hour of 8 o'clock and everyone had just finished get off work, a terrifying heatwave had already begun to spread on the subway and buses.

This time it's not about boasting about RNG, but about the previously rampant rumors that esports has been selected for the Asian Games.

Countless students who play games but are not approved by their parents also hope that e-sports can be recognized as a respectable sport.

The news of his selection has been circulating since 2015. Almost every year around this time, it is brought up by people with ulterior motives to generate buzz, and once the hype dies down, it is treated as if nothing happened.

I never expected that news like esports being included in the Olympics or the Asian Games would actually come true on an ordinary afternoon!

The top trending topic was undoubtedly #EsportsSelectedForAsianGames#, followed closely by #LOL and DotaSelectedForAsianGames#, and fourth was #WhatIsEsports?#.

The deep red "explosive" mark next to each trending topic fully demonstrates the far-reaching impact of this event.

People's Daily: #Don't be prejudiced against esports# On May 15, the Olympic Council of Asia, the Olympic Council of Asia, and the Olympic Council of China officially announced that esports has been officially selected as an international sport in the 18th Jakarta Asian Games, becoming the 40th international sport and one of the nine non-Olympic sports.

Among them, League of Legends and Dota were successfully selected as competitive events. As the champion of League of Legends last year, @Rng Royal Club, congratulations on this new milestone in esports.

The 18th Asian Games is the largest multi-sport event in Asia. This year's e-sports event will have more than 45 participating countries, making it a very significant debut for the sport.
Please don't be prejudiced against esports!

The article, spanning over a thousand words, presented a well-reasoned and evidence-based argument, detailing the various imperfections of the domestic esports system, its subsequent improvement, and the various reforms that followed. It even included a carefully edited compilation of a competition training video.

Coupled with the cheers from the audience, the atmosphere was no less impressive than that of traditional sports competitions.

Blasted!

This news completely blew up Weibo!
Within ten minutes, a polarization trend immediately emerged in the comments section of this Weibo post.

A group of people began to criticize esports, saying it's just playing games and has no intention of pushing the limits.

Another group of more open-minded young people argued that playing games is playing games, internet addiction is internet addiction, and e-sports is e-sports.

Some hot-tempered young people couldn't stand the stubborn ideas of these die-hards. In an instant, hot-tempered guys from feminist forums, anti-China forums, and other similar forums gathered on this Weibo post to start arguing.

Beautiful Chinese phrases and sarcastic remarks from the commentators generated over 100,000 comments on Weibo within an hour.

There's not even the slightest sign of it stopping.

Each refresh results in hundreds or thousands of new entries.

All esports media outlets also reposted the message and expressed their opinions.

No one in the esports industry opposes esports being included in the Asian Games; some optimists have even begun to envision a bright future for esports.

This time, it's not a fake exhibition match, not an exhibition match where even Honor of Kings could be selected.

This time, esports is getting serious!
(End of this chapter)