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

Chapter 544: The Battle for Redemption! The Last Glimmer of IG at the Peak! They Advance!
IG finally defeated CG team, their brows slick with sweat.

Why do you say he was covered in sweat?
Because Rookie felt he hadn't had enough bad plays before, he was going to "show off" a couple of plays even against a weak team.

So in this game, Rookie played Akali in the mid lane, facing Kayle in lane.

The rookie played fairly well online; he didn't make any significant contributions, but he certainly didn't make any mistakes either.

However, when he reached the bush near the bottom lane's second turret and saw Qiyana with low health, Rookie got an idea.

Akali teleported down, then used Flash, her ultimate, E (Falcon Dance), and W (Smoke Bomb), using all her abilities.

The result was that it only dealt the damage of a single Hextech Gun.

They let Qiyana, who was almost dead, escape!

This is not the most critical.

Half a minute later, Akali, who was at full health, was solo killed by an ADC who was two levels behind.

This is a highlight reel of Akali plays from the same game!
After seeing the bot's amazing plays, the LPL live streams and forums completely exploded!

"You damn beast! You beast!"

"My God, if Akali makes even one mistake, Qiyana will be dead too!"

"I'm dying of laughter! I was just watching De Yun Se's live stream. Baldy said, 'This one can be killed, right?' Then the next second, the hilarious Akali appeared! Fatty said, 'This one shouldn't die, right?' Then the next second, he was in Zhonya's Hourglass waiting to die!"

"Okay, okay, so this is how you play? How many botnets did you buy? You're really reckless!"

"You promised you could always trust Song Yijin, right? Song Yijin? I'll give you a pound of it! Is this Akali even a human being? I'll eat it!"

"..."

Although Rookie's Akali play in this game was a bit hilarious.

Fortunately, JKL was still quite strong after getting EZ.

He went straight for the CG-like face during the mid-game and kept attacking, eventually winning the game.

But this also made LPL viewers realize the reality: it seems that this year IG can only get a minimum number of points against weak teams like CG.

Then, after SKT won the first game against IG and had a winning advantage, FNC pulled off a stunning upset with a 21-7 score, completely stunning Faker.

The most terrifying thing is that FNC's comeback from behind has directly made up for the points lost in the early stages.

They are now tied with IG in points, both with a 4-2 record.

This means that the two teams will have a final showdown where the winner is decided in a single match.

Finally, the final battle between IG and FNC began.

The EDG players did not go to the venue to watch the match, but instead chose to watch it from the rest room.

Before the BP (Ban/Pick) session began, Wang Yao idly picked up his phone and clicked into Sun Yalong's live stream, only to be stunned by what he saw.

In Xiaoxiao's video, he pulled out a gong from somewhere and started banging it in the live stream, shouting, "IG will win!"

They even recorded it with a loudspeaker!

puff!
Wang Yao, who had just drunk a glass of water, almost spat it out.

These former IG players were praying desperately for IG's actions, even going so far as to pull off something this ruthless.

Not afraid of his own jinx, he directly cursed IG to death!

However, to be honest, Wang Yao is more optimistic that IG can make it to the end.

After all, this team has a very high ceiling, and the strength they unleash when facing elimination is something FNC certainly cannot withstand.

As expected, the ensuing match confirmed Wang Yao's guess, but the intense competition between the two teams exceeded his expectations.

The sound of gongs attracted Meiko and iboy, who all crowded around.

When they saw Xika holding a megaphone and shouting "IG will win! IG, go!" on camera, they were all stunned.

"Wow, have they always been playing this elaborate game?"

With all this banging and drumming, those who know you might say you're watching the game and getting a buff, but those who don't might think De Yun Se has some deep-seated grudge against IG.

He set up a bunch of flags in his room.

At this point, IG's match entered its main phase, with FNC, on the blue side, banning Qiyana, Jarvan IV, and Kayle in succession.

IG, on the other hand, gave out Twisted Fate, Pantheon, and Veigar.

IG's strengths and weaknesses are clearly reflected in their draft picks.

Pantheon and Twisted Fate's ability to provide half-map support is what IG fears most.

In addition, FNC's mid laner Nemesis had just been backdoor'd by Faker's Twisted Fate, and Twisted Fate is a staple in his champion pool.

Then it was IG's turn to select players.

Top lane Gnar, jungle Lee Sin, mid lane Ryze, bot lane duo Ezreal + Lulu.

That's right, it's Ezreal paired with Lulu!
Hmm... this combination isn't unplayable, but facing such a lineup, FNC started with four players going to the bottom lane to secure vision at level one.

Before leaving, the barrel placed a fake ward in the river grass, and Wang Yao sensed something was wrong:

"This barrel of wine should be taken down at level two."

Upon hearing this, Maokai, who was watching the live broadcast on the big screen, replied casually:
"The blue team starts with red buff and ganks bot lane at level two; this is the most basic strategy against all AD carries in China."

Soon, after squatting in the triangular grass of the river for a while, the barrel walked out.

EZ and Lulu, who were pushing the lane, immediately retreated, but it was too late.

Broxh ignored Ezreal who was spraying water and swaggered towards Lulu.

Pyke uses E-Flash to apply Ignite and coordinate with his teammates for damage output, while Lulu tries to Flash to avoid it.

The barrel didn't even use its E skill; it just took down the enemy with a single Q.

Throughout the entire process, none of the three intended to waste damage on EZ; their purpose was very clear.

A classic level 2 gank; a gank here guarantees death.

Baolan played Comet Lulu in this game, a strong laning combination with Ezreal.

The opposing team is Xayah and Pyke. Whoever reaches level two first in this laning pairing will have a burst of power.

A Pyke who gets to level two first has both E and Q, giving him two opportunities to capitalize on Lulu's mistakes in a single burst.

And with Xayah now equipped with a backhook, the laning phase becomes incredibly difficult.

Therefore, EZ and Lulu either choose to give up their second lane and wait for the enemy to push the lane.

After the Blind Monk cleared the upper half of the red zone, he headed straight to the bottom lane to defend.

Either push forward first, then attack second, and wear down the enemy.

Furthermore, Baolan's Lulu gameplay also had issues.

Ning's Lee Sin started with red buff in the top jungle, and his Lulu dared to position herself like that—wasn't that just provoking the enemy to attack?!
At least JKL's Ezreal reached level two and had his E skill available before coming back!

FNC's jungler Gragas made the right gamble this time.

If he fails to secure a kill on IG, his top jungle will be completely taken over by Lee Sin, leading to a complete collapse of his jungle.

To put it simply, this is a dynamic game of mutual interaction, where different choices will lead to different results.

However, IG made a fatal mistake.

That was the ward that Gragas placed at level one, which made them realize that IG had not placed any river wards.

This oversight greatly increased the likelihood of the barrel being snatched.

After all, ganking in the enemy's sights and ganking blindly give junglers a completely different feeling.

FNC's gank on Lulu, which resulted in a kill for Gragas, indirectly offset most of the loss of Gragas's resources from the top side of the jungle.

With Lulu gone, IG's 70% win rate dropped by 30%.

But this is not the end.

Perhaps feeling that one person committing a crime in the team wasn't enough, Rookie couldn't let Baolan feed alone, so his Ryze also started to take action.

Wait until the game has been going on for 5 minutes.

FNC ganked again, with Pyke and Gragas initiating, making it almost certain that Baolan's Lulu would die.

But it doesn't matter, his Lulu no longer affects the overall situation.

JKL's Ezreal, with Ning's Lee Sin's counter-gank, was able to take down Pyke who initiated the team fight.

But Ryze teleported down.

Ryze was playing well in lane, but suddenly used TP to teleport.

Everyone realized that something was wrong.

Bad thing!
Even Saint Gunner, sitting next to Wang Yao, shook his head and said, "We're doomed."

From an outsider's perspective, he knew how little benefit the mid laner would get from teleporting down in this situation.

This is purely for the purpose of protecting the bottom lane, but even if it's for the purpose of protecting the bottom lane, this is not how you play a four-protect-one strategy!
And the result was exactly as they expected.

This Ryze teleported down, but accomplished absolutely nothing.

Even more outrageous, after landing, Rookie's Ryze didn't go to his teammates Ezreal and Lee Sin, but instead walked towards the enemy.

At this point, JKL's Ezreal and Ning's Lee Sin were already thinking of retreating, because although the enemy support Pyke killed Lulu, he himself was also killed by Ezreal.

Judging solely from the number of kills, IG didn't lose out in this round. This is actually making things worse.

But Rookie's Ryze made a brilliant play, going in and taking down Xayah.

However, his back was blocked by the Cassiopeia who teleported from the bush, and his movement was blocked by the Cassiopeia's W skill, Poisonous Mist.

In a three-on-one situation, Ryze naturally has little room to maneuver.

Ryze couldn't even use his Flash!

In the end, Ryze used a death flash at the last moment, and the kill was actually taken by the opposing Cassiopeia!

The most outrageous thing was that they forced the duck onto the shelf to fight back, which affected Prince Ning's mentality due to the sudden and drastic change in the situation.

Ning, a player whose mentality is already unstable, has relapsed into his old habits in such a crucial World Championship situation.

Subsequently, influenced by Rookie's Ryze, Lee Sin also got carried away and turned around to continue attacking the low-health Cassiopeia.

But at this moment, Ning Wang's mindset was completely distorted, and his actions were so abstract that they could not be described.

Facing a Cassiopeia with only a sliver of health left, Lee Sin flashed and used his reverse Q, causing Cassiopeia to fail to trade kills, while Lee Sin's kill was taken by the enemy ADC Xayah.

Boom!

It exploded on the spot!

The bottom lane has completely collapsed after this wave.

Lulu died twice, but both times the kills were secured by the support Pyke or the jungler Gragas.

Although Ning didn't get any kills, he still managed to get some resources thanks to his early jungle advantage.

But now Ning's jungler Lee Sin not only died once, but also gave back all the jungle resources he had previously stolen.

And Ryze in the mid lane goes without saying!
Now things are really messed up. Rookie already had no advantage in the mid lane, and now that his lane opponent, Cassiopeia, has gotten a kill, Rookie's gameplay has become even more erratic.

I used all my skills to clear the minion wave, and I didn't dare to go forward and attack even once, not even a single basic attack!
This makes it impossible for Ning's Lee Sin to coordinate with the jungler and counter-attack!

FNC seems to have figured out IG's weaknesses and directly targeted them.

Within two minutes, Rookie, who had just returned to the mid lane, was killed by Gragas and Pyke who arrived and sent him back to the fountain.

Now even the mid lane has collapsed.

The EDG players were staring at each other in bewilderment, completely speechless.

"Clap!"

"Don't use your phone for the next few days, we can start training ahead of schedule!"

It turned out that Coach Maokai walked up to the computer, turned it off, and clapped his hands to attract the attention of his teammates before speaking.

Seeing his actions and the images on the screen, everyone understood perfectly well; it was practically a blatant warning that a team was about to suffer a major setback online.

It's best to avoid watching matches that can so negatively impact your mindset!
Although EDG is not the team that will immediately suffer, they should still learn from this experience and do what they should do.

Otherwise, they'll be the next ones to suffer!
Saint Gun and Meiko obediently turned off their phones, and Saint Gun even casually asked:

"Is there really no chance left?"

"It's only been 6 minutes! What if the JKL three-piece set really can turn the tide?!"

Saint Gun genuinely cares about the teams in the LPL region and still harbors a sliver of hope.

Seeing Flandre's unwilling look, Wang Yao also felt that IG should still have a chance to turn things around, after all, this team is still strong in the ability to play from behind.

"It's all gone!"

"This is truly the end!"

"The bottom lane has been completely destroyed. Lulu didn't have Flash. Once she reaches level six, the enemy Gragas and Pyke won't be easy to kill! They'll die every time they come at her."

"Just like how we ganked two opponents, FNC will gank two IG in the same way this game!"

Coach Maokai also shook his head.

"That's just how Lulu is! If she gains an advantage in lane, she's fine, but once she falls behind, she dies too easily."

"Besides, Lulu and Ezreal don't synergize well!"

iboy and Scout also joined the discussion.

"Xia has already built a B.F. Sword, and it's certain she'll get a Mana Dagger by 9 minutes."

"Unless Ning's Lee Sin stays in the bot lane the whole time to help EZ stabilize the situation, the bot lane will inevitably become an ATM!"

"The mid and bot lanes are completely collapsing. Ning's jungler Lee Sin is stuck in the bot lane. Who can turn this game around?"

"Relying on TheShy's Gnar? But he's laning against Gangplank, so the laning pressure is on TheShy's side!"

"..."

Amid the discussions, Wang Yao felt that Ning could help TheShy in the top lane to create an opening.

This team is IG after all, the IG that can reach the semifinals, not RNG, which went straight to the round of 16 and went home in the previous life.

And soon, IG, which was in dire straits, really had a turnaround!
Just as Wang Yao predicted, IG, who were only one step away from going home, finally started to exert their strength.

In the following match, the IG team, which should have been overwhelmed by FNC, seemed to have suddenly found its way to victory.

Ning and TheShy's coordinated four-man gank on FNC's bottom lane allowed them to take action before FNC could launch a full-scale attack on the bottom lane.

Ning's Lee Sin also showcased a redemption moment by kicking two enemies at once, helping EZ, who needed the most farm, secure a crucial kill.

Although the score difference between IG and FNC did not widen much in the later games, the situation was indeed brought back to a balance!
The various outrageous mistakes IG made in the early stages are starting to improve at this moment.

But only Wang Yao knew that this might be the last glimmer of IG's peak.

Or perhaps, this is the last gasp of IG's peak!
They may not win the championship this year, but they will definitely not stop at the round of 16!

But after that, this best IG team will be forever buried in the river of time, never to return.

Seeing that IG seemed to be gaining momentum, the EDG players, who were just about to go back to prepare for the training match, returned to their computers to continue watching the game.

Here, Rookie, who finally managed to stabilize his development in the mid lane, is like a completely different person compared to when the game started.

His Ryze stopped focusing on the ADC in the bottom lane and instead teamed up with Ning to relentlessly gank FNC's top laner, Gangplank.

When they were in dire straits, everyone on IG placed their bets on TheShy!
TheShy lived up to expectations, transforming into a demon king in the side lane after taking down three tower plates and securing a kill on the enemy Gangplank.

One person can hold off 2-3 FNC players coming to surround him while he's dribbling alone on the side lane.

During this period, Ryze and Ezreal frantically farmed, while Ning did his best to control jungle resources.

The two sides dragged out this intense battle for 45 minutes, and finally IG wiped out FNC in a desperate 4-for-5 team fight at the Baron pit.

JKL's EZ, carrying the support of LPL fans, pushed the mid lane minions all the way and single-handedly destroyed FNC's base.

In the end, IG pulled off an incredible late-game comeback, preventing FNC from making a comeback and successfully advancing to the quarterfinals of the World Championship!

At that moment, the domestic Weibo platform exploded.

IG's redemption match has shown everyone their weakness. When facing FNC and CG, they were completely outwardly strong but inwardly weak.

This year's champions don't belong to IG!

Fortunately, IG did win the game. Even though they stumbled along the way in the group stage, they still made it into the quarterfinals.

Despite the victory, the guys on the forum, still seething with anger, analyzed the match frame by frame.

They started looking for the mole on IG!
It turned out that among the five IG players, TheShy, who is usually the most unpredictable and reckless, actually played the most steadily in crucial moments!
The rookie, who should have been the star player, went on a crazy rampage in the early game, making all sorts of incredible plays.

It's safe to say that, apart from TheShy, the other four were all traitors!

"Good heavens, good heavens! At first I thought only Rookie was bought, but I didn't expect that they bought all four except Top Lane!"

"My Shy almost burned himself out. After those four bastards in the mid, bot, and jungle are done fighting, hurry up and kowtow to my Shy in the backstage."

"To be honest, JKL was the key to turning the game around. Without the double carries on the top and bottom lanes to protect him, Rookie would have been feeding the enemy team to death."

"Baolan and Ning in the bot lane are also very abstract, especially that gank in the early bot lane, they could even miss my Q when they were right in front of me!"

"I don't know why, but seeing IG sweating so much even against FNC, they might as well just go home in the round of 16!"

"No, no, no, it's better to be in the quarterfinals than to go home. RNG next door can only watch their matches at home right now."

"Haha, that's how we chicken giblets are. We've been doing this for ages, we've got a whole repertoire of ways to 'save the chicken from the emperor' tactics."

"..."

While domestic esports forums were discussing this year's LPL teams, EDG's match started quickly the next day.

This is the qualifying round of Group B. After today's matches, the draw for the quarterfinals will begin!
Facing weak teams like JT, GAM, and SPY, EDG has a significant skill gap compared to them.

Ultimately, EDG won all three matches spectacularly, freeing IG from the barrage of public criticism.

Thus, LPL once again achieved the extraordinary feat of having all three seeded teams advance to the quarterfinals!
This year's World Championship is practically a rematch of the China-Korea showdown!
"I can only watch EDG's matches, that's when I feel comfortable watching them. I can always trust Yao Ge."

"IG? What trash! Don't contact me again, I'm afraid EDG will misunderstand!"

"An EDG fan of ten years has come uninvited, no, I should say Yao Ge's fan of ten years has come uninvited!"

"Where have all the royalists gone this year? I've been bombarded with criticism these past few days, and I can't find a single royalist to vent my anger on!"

"The crystal sliding coffin made of starch has been rented to Royal Fans. Royal Fans are still lying there, waiting for their rebirth in S10 next year."

"..."

(End of this chapter)