LOL: My talent is top-tier, my professional skills are unparalleled.

Chapter 537: Departure! S9 Draw Ceremony! Nirvana Theme Song!

Soon, a few days passed.

Although IG lost their chance to compete for the Summer Championship, it doesn't mean they've given up.

LPL has one last ticket to the S9 World Championship to compete for.

Aside from the Summer Championship winners EDG and FPX, IG also has to compete with JDG and RNG for the last remaining spot.

In the first match, IG faced off against JDG, who were in excellent form.

It's worth mentioning that IG's loss in the LPL Summer Split also caused a huge uproar worldwide.

IG, who were invincible in international competitions, have somehow ended up having to compete for the third seed in the World Championship.

Is it because the LPL is too strong, or is IG just too bad this year?
To say that IG is weak is an overstatement. If you look at each player individually, they are all incredibly strong.

It's absurd that he's fallen to this state.

There's no need to elaborate on TheShy, the top laner. Even though IG lost to EDG last year, TheShy is still one of the world's top top laners.

Not even one!

Ning, the jungler, is a highly skilled and distinctive jungler.

Mid laner Rookie, and needless to say, were once the pillars of IG.

JKL and Baolan in the bottom lane were also the runner-up bot lane duo in S8. Logically speaking, their synergy should be getting better and better.

But since the start of the Summer Split, let alone Baolan's disastrous performance, Rookie's fluctuating form has shocked IG fans.

In short, it gives the impression that Rookie is gradually going down the path of being brainless and adorable.

Sometimes even the commentators can't figure out what he's thinking.

They recklessly charged in when they shouldn't have, causing the team to collapse.

Fortunately, this is a domestic league. If this happened in a world championship, fans would probably suspect that he was bribed.

In short, they played terribly.

Moreover, he's the kind of person who can completely ruin the reputation that Rookie has built up over four or five years in the LPL!
In fact, Wang Yao could roughly guess the reason; to put it bluntly, his skills had deteriorated.

Or rather, it's not that his skills have declined, but rather that mid-lane heroes are now tankier, making it impossible for him to break through them.

Sometimes, being reckless isn't wrong, but if you can't execute it well, it just becomes a feeding opportunity.

What made Rookie famous? Single-handed stringing!
Before S8, IG relied entirely on Rookie, whose exceptional individual skills carried the team to victory.

One god carrying four noobs—that's the kind of ruthless person who can lead Kid to the finals.

The biggest advantage of this type of player is their confidence—they are extremely confident.

However, the downside is also overconfidence, blind overconfidence.

Whether one's confidence is blind or not depends on whether they take action or are outmaneuvered.

When all the heroes you're good at are nerfed.

Furthermore, in the current version where the importance of mid laners is constantly decreasing, Rookie's mid lane style is out of step with the current meta, both in terms of champion pool and playstyle.

The popular mid-lane heroes have completely changed.

The main focus is on pushing lanes and providing support, which is reminiscent of the first half of S8, thus negating his advantage of strong laning.

He gets anxious when the technique doesn't feel right, and the more anxious he gets, the more he tries to manipulate the technique, which leads to further distortion of the technique—it's a vicious cycle.

In addition, TheShy is becoming more and more abstract, Baolan has become Xiaobao, and Ning has become Shoe King.

The entire IG team is abstract to the extreme.

Therefore, IG's poor performance has also brought unprecedented attention to the LPL S9 qualifiers.

Not only domestically, but a significant portion of data traffic originates from overseas.

Other top teams from other regions are eager to see what exactly went wrong with IG.

G2, in particular, frequently tagged IG on Twitter.

Ah P jumped around like a hapless spectator, basically saying:
"Hey! It's been a year, what happened to you? You've gotten so bloated!"

"Oh no, we're doomed."

"Hey, isn't this the IG team that crushed all the other teams last year? What happened to them?!"

Ah P's witty remarks naturally reached Wang Yao's eyes as well.

He just laughed it off, saying it was nothing, and that Ah P still had his classic line, "1v1?", to say.

It's hard to say about other teams, but G2 will definitely crush P's little brother in one game, leave him breathless in two, and make him exclaim in the third.

The qualifying rounds officially began on September 7th.

At this point, IG stopped playing aggressively and changed their starting top laner and jungler to TheShy and Ning.

The first game of the best-of-five series officially began amidst great anticipation, and the very first game successfully put IG fans on edge.

The same problem persists: Rookie in the mid lane is not very consistent.

Baolan in the bottom lane had a serious mental breakdown, and the problems with the mid and support lanes backfired on Ning in the jungle, causing him to disappear from the game.

This match was extremely fierce, with IG losing 17-3, almost completely wiped out by JDG.

Apart from TheShy's top lane performance, all other positions had negative win-loss records.

At the start of the second game, IG proactively changed their tactics and decisively unbanned Rookie's playstyle.

Rookie doesn't understand how to play a team-oriented mid laner, so he might as well just maximize his laning strength.

IG gave Ah Shui an Ezreal to carry the team, and then immediately switched to their most familiar mid-top dual-core strategy.

Ning plays jungle as a support, picking a control-oriented champion to carry the mid and top lanes.

TheShy and Rookie went against the meta, one picking Akali and the other Jayce, and they split pushed through both lanes in 10 minutes, ending the game in 25 minutes.

They retaliated against JDG with the same large score difference.

This game seemed to restore Rookie's confidence, and he played Irelia and Corki in the next two games quite well.

TheShy secured three consecutive Akali victories, effortlessly eliminating imp in team fights and completing a comeback to win 3-1 and advance.

The match against RNG on the second day will be a bit difficult.

Because Uzi this year is truly terrifying!
This represents the pinnacle of his professional career, a level of skill that, with one person carrying four incredible teammates, gives him a very high chance of making it to the World Championship!
But this year, Xiao Hu seems to have lost his mind; his actions are anything but abstract.

The competition between these two teams is no longer about which team can play better.

Rather, it's about which side makes fewer mistakes and which player makes fewer errors.

Unfortunately, RNG had more players with serious illnesses than IG, and their symptoms were more severe!
In fact, IG did make mistakes during that period, but each time TheShy, Rookie, or JackeyLove were able to save the day and protect the team.

Even though Uzi in the bottom lane risked his life to carry the game, he still couldn't stop Xiaohu and Langx in the top lane from feeding together.

In the end, RNG was defeated by IG 3-2, and IG successfully advanced to the S9 World Championship.

The news that IG successfully advanced to the next round brought a huge sigh of relief to both fans and the club.

Although my blood pressure was extremely high during the process, the result was ultimately good.

Most importantly, after securing a spot in the next round, there is a guaranteed one-month period of calm to allow the IG players to regain their form.

This is the most precious thing.

Through these two qualifying matches, it seems that Rookie's strong laning ability has finally come in handy.

You can't really say that Rookie's playstyle is bad.

But he's just playing around with the game; a mid-laner of Xiaohu's caliber can easily dominate.

But who are his opponents in the World Championship?!

Faker, Showmaker, and Scout are all top-tier fighters.

When it comes to laning strength, Scout is truly on par with Rookie.

Moreover, Scout doesn't even play core mid laners much this season; he's basically been playing a support role for the jungler.

Even if you pick Sion in the mid lane and just let the game run, you can win the game in about 20 minutes.

The IG team's fluctuating performance has caught the attention of Wang Sicong, who has gradually faded from the IG club's management and moved behind the scenes.

Since IG's near-miss in Incheon last year, the once ambitious Principal Wang has suddenly lost interest.

Everything became dull and tasteless.

He went from personally taking charge of club management to working behind the scenes.

The various crises that IG encountered this time brought him to the forefront.

On the last night of the 2019 World Championship Play-In Stage, Riot Games held a countdown event for the S9 World Championship, lighting up both banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai.

This is also the send-off ceremony for LPL teams!
The host's countdown ended.

The buildings along both banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai are illuminated with dazzling neon lights and LED billboards.

The logos and names of League of Legends teams IG, EDG, and FPX shone brightly against the backdrop of the Huangpu River at night.

"EDG! EDG!"

"IG!!"

"FPX! FPX Little Phoenix!" "Kshine! Kshine!!"

First, cheers rose and fell between the EDG and IG teams.

EDG needs no introduction; as a top LPL team with two consecutive championships, they are the ace of the LPL this year!
Although IG has been underperforming recently, they are still the runner-up team in Incheon last year and a veteran powerhouse in the LPL with a huge fan base.

FPX is a rising powerhouse in the LPL this year; they even crushed RNG, sending them to the gauntlet.

This team, with its exceptional resilience, unlimited potential, and playstyle perfectly suited to the current meta, is EDG's biggest rival!

Even now, the fighting power of IG fans is still incredibly terrifying.

Perhaps realizing that IG's next season would be doomed if they didn't succeed, the fans went into a frenzy, as if in a final burst of energy.

Just like this scene, even though there were far fewer people than the EDG fan group, their shouts and cheers were just as enthusiastic, which was simply outrageous.

But compared to EDG's fans, or rather Wang Yao's fans, the combined fans of IG and FPX are not even half of Wang Yao's fan base!
When Wang Yao walked off the stage, the cheers from the audience instantly overwhelmed the fans of both teams.

This event was broadcast live, and while there were many viewers outside the venue, there were even more viewers behind the camera.

Amidst the cheers of the assembled audience and team fans, the delicate drumbeats and slightly husky voices entered everyone's ears.

That's the theme song for this year's World Championship.

Phoenix - Rebirth!

As the song ended, all the cameras focused on Wang Yao, and the audience erupted in deafening cheers and screams.

The heated and restless atmosphere drew the attention of the police officers maintaining order at the scene.

At first, they didn't take it too seriously, thinking that the higher-ups were making a mountain out of a molehill, as it was just a simple event or party.

It seems the bigwigs at the top were indeed prepared; this level of intensity is almost on par with live concerts from the last century.

This song is the theme song for the S9 World Championship, which was released by Riot Games just a few days ago.

In addition, all the spotlights in the entire venue were focused on Wang Yao.

Isn't this a bit too much of a coincidence?

"what?!"

"Damn it, guys, I'm getting it, I'm getting it."

"My goodness, it has all the elements: 'Going forward is rebirth, going backward is mediocrity,' 'Phoenix fly,' 'Creating a new dynasty.' If EDG doesn't win the championship this year, it will be a disservice to this theme song."

"Goodness gracious, official jinxes are the most deadly!"

"I'm so angry! It was clearly meant to be about our FPX Little Phoenix, how did it become the theme song for EDG's three-peat championship?!"

"This Riot Games is something else, they're practically calling them out directly!"

"..."

After all the players from the three teams stood on the stage and posed, the EDG players, who were already used to it, all had calm expressions.

The scene was just a bit too boring.

Flandre even tried to be silly to ease the boring atmosphere, but it only made his teammates look at him as if he were a fool.

Scout looked at everyone's reactions with a strange expression, his small eyes filled with confusion.

Meiko and iboy looked at each other, their lips moved but they didn't know what to say.

In contrast, the players from IG and FPX on the other side seemed much calmer.

IG is feeling somewhat anxious due to recent public opinion and their own situation.

FPX, on the other hand, felt a lot of pressure because they had to challenge a formidable team like EDG.

Then it's just a matter of waiting for the event to end so we can go back to the club and continue training.

With the departure ceremony completed and the theme song officially revealed, the start date of the S-series tournament is drawing ever closer.

EDG's training intensity is also increasing, and even Wang Yao has started to join the training group to give Zhu Kai and Mao Kai guidance on the current version of the game.

The club will not interfere with Wang Yao's behavior; everything will be done according to Wang Yao's own habits and ideas.

Zhu Kai thoroughly enjoyed this.

All he needs to do as head coach is give pep talks and manage the training schedule; he can only win by doing nothing and be honored as a championship coach.

Isn't this much better than personally going up and making a business plan?

In fact, Zhu Kai was well aware of his own drafting skills.

Even making a draft based on the comments is much better than the brilliant drafts he comes up with by racking his brains!
Coach Maokai's draft picks are nothing special, but usable. He mainly relies on Wang Yao to give suggestions in advance and arrange the draft pick design.

In the past few days, South Korean media outlets have also reported the latest news about the S9 World Championship.

Korean media reports that this year's World Championship will allow seven-man rosters, with teams allowed to bring two substitutes!

This is a major event that concerns every team.

As everyone knows, in previous World Championships, only one substitute player was allowed.

This has caused a lot of trouble for some teams with many substitute players. After much deliberation, they can only bring the most suitable substitutes.

This year's World Championship will allow seven-player rosters, with teams allowed to bring two substitutes.

The complete World Championship rules will be announced soon, which is undoubtedly very beneficial to LPL teams.

However, for EDG, whose entire roster only has six players, it doesn't have much effect.

Saint Gun has always been the core starter in the top lane, while Wang Yao and Clearlove rotate in the jungle position.

But the factory manager mostly just comes up to show off his face, leaving EDG's long-time fans with something to look forward to.

After all, the factory manager has already decided that he will most likely retire next year, completely handing over his position to the younger generation.

He may take over as EDG's coach.

At that point, it will probably really be a scene where the EDG head coach is warming up and preparing to substitute Kshine into the game!
As for Scout in the mid lane, he was a temporary player signed by EDG for a year.

To put it bluntly, he just wants to win another championship.

If Scout leaves next year, Wang Yao will probably switch back to mid lane, and then EDG will continue to try their luck with drafting a jungler.

Recently, EDG's second team has indeed found a promising jungler named Jiejie.

Once the factory manager retires, Jiejie will officially take over as the substitute jungler for EDG's first team.

As for iboy and Meiko in the bottom lane, this bot lane duo is quite old.

iboy's talent is truly top-tier among all the young ADCs in the LPL!

Even JKL is a step below him.

Especially after winning two championships with Wang Yao, iboy's confidence and training attitude are completely different from his previous life.

Perhaps knowing how hard-won this opportunity was, iboy realized he needed to train like crazy and win every game.

During this period, the atmosphere within the EDG club became increasingly tense, resembling that of the college entrance examination.

After all, they are aiming for a three-peat!

Actually, we weren't that nervous at first, but Coach Maokai hoped that EDG could try to develop more gameplay strategies.

This will give EDG more options on the world stage.

With other regular training schedules added to the mix, EDG inevitably became very busy.

However, the results were very encouraging. After the fiercely competitive qualifying rounds, the team had completed the familiarization and refinement of their strategies before the official start of the group stage.

At the same time, Riot Games officially confirmed that the S9 tournament version will be 9.19.

Patch 9.19 made changes and adjustments to 26 champions. Karma and Sylas were nerfed, and the reworked Aatrox received a slight buff, but he still couldn't return to Tier 1.

Simply put, all the previously popular heroes have been nerfed, giving many heroes who were previously relegated to the lower ranks a chance to shine.

The late-game carry meta has been weakened, including heroes like Azir, Xayah, and Kai'Sa.

The strength of early-game heroes will be enhanced, further shortening game time and accelerating the game pace.

In other words, the World Championship version has once again shifted the focus of the game to the top, mid, and jungle, making countless EDG fans exclaim that Wang Yao is about to take off again.

Of course, there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes.

EDG fans believe EDG is about to take off, and IG fans also believe IG is about to take off.

With so many mid-lane champions available, Rookie is about to take off!

Rookie really depends on how much the version of the game favors him.

Currently, it seems that top laners have been buffed, but many of the buffed heroes are also viable in the mid lane.

However, with so many heroes available, Wang Yao believes that what is more challenging is the players' hero pool and the synergy between the top, mid, jungle, and support players.

Around 8 PM, Guan Zeyuan, Ji De, and Cat were already sitting in the commentary booth in the live broadcast room, chatting away. In the background behind them, the S9 draw ceremony was about to begin.

"We will be conducting the draw for the group stage of the 2019 World Championship."

"Before the draw begins, please note the following key rules: First of all, teams from the same region will not be placed in the same group."

"Now, let's welcome Jiizuke and Yamato Cannon as our draw guests for tonight to draw the group stage teams together."

"First, let's invite our guests to come forward to draw lots for the first seed pool in the group stage."

(End of this chapter)