Full-time: Starting from Ye Xiu vs. Faker

Chapter 488 After the Match
Brother Le eventually fell from grace.

The MSI champions not only failed to win the World Championship, but they also failed to even make it to the finals. It has to be said that this is not a completely satisfactory result.

But anyone who watched the game would find it hard to really stand up and point out which aspect of Le Ge was lacking.

Two rounds of series, ten games, five wins, a bloody battle against two top teams from other regions, but ultimately lost in the last game due to fatigue from the back-and-forth battle and the exhaustion of tactics.

At this point, what more can the audience say?

All I can say is that Brother Le has once again become a tragic hero, which is both lamentable and regrettable.

Zhang Jiale himself seemed quite calm, at least during the interview he appeared rather composed, rattling off a string of platitudes, and ending with a nonchalant "Come back next year."

If only he could cover up his bright red eyes.

Whether they like it or not, Fan Hua's journey in this world championship has come to an end, with a result of reaching the semi-finals.

With one league title, one MSI title, and a world championship semi-final appearance, there's no doubt that their performance this season still places them among the world's top teams.

That semi-finalist was a little eye-catching.

Of course, it's not as eye-catching as some people who jump around and cause trouble.

"I've said it before: LPL's previous strength was entirely due to Tenghai's first-mover advantage. Only by reaping the first wave of benefits could they be so confident for half a year."

"Once the real traditional esports powerhouses realize what's happening, LPL will be able to surpass them in no time."

After finally witnessing LPL's first defeat in an international match, which was lost to the last remaining LCK representative, some people immediately started to gloat and make their own noise.

After being hunted like a stray dog ​​in the country for so long, it's finally time to finally hold my head high.

In an instant, various theories about KR's invincibility, which had just been defeated, resurfaced and became even more arrogant than before, thanks to their victory.

It's as if LPL didn't just narrowly lose in the decisive game of a BO5, but rather slunk back like some spinning top after going out and losing a round.
Unfortunately, LPL fans haven't been able to produce any compelling evidence to refute these claims in a short period of time.

All I can do is pray silently:
Whoever advances, please show some spirit and don't let the rare team look down on you!

……

"The era of LCK is about to begin!"

"SKT, the last hope of LCK, defeats Huahua and advances to the semifinals!"

"KeSPA's era of dominance is back!"

In stark contrast to the somewhat somber mood among the Chinese public, the Koreans were celebrating with champagne as if it were New Year's.

All I can say is that in the previous few times, whether it was the loss at MSI, the strength in the first round, or the prediction failure of the battle between KT and Fan Hua, none of it taught these guys who like to celebrate at halftime a lesson.

Seeing SKT triumphantly advance to the finals, they immediately began to vie for the S-series championship title.

In other words, SKT itself has strict discipline. Since the start of the World Championship, they have kept the players from receiving external information, especially the random gossip from the media, in order to maintain the players' mentality.

Otherwise, if they had a less established team, they probably would have gotten carried away by their consecutive victories and the praise from the outside world, just like G2.

Speaking of G2, they've had a rough time.

Originally, all four LEC kings fell outside the top four, three reached the round of 16 and one reached the quarterfinals. The only one who made it to the second round was easily defeated by his former opponent, who had previously beaten him 3-0, in a reverse sweep.

This dismal record was enough to draw condemnation from all over Europe, with countless angry fans launching a tirade against G2 and the clubs in any relevant online or offline setting.

After the domestic attacks subsided slightly, G2, who thought they could finally catch their breath, found themselves facing another wave of fire from the white players. Chinese fans also had something to say: "G2, if only you weren't so useless, if you could at least bring out even a little bit of SKT's strengths, even just one win would have been great!"

Perhaps when Fan Hua faces SKT, they will have a better chance;

Unfortunately, G2 failed to win even a single game, being completely dominated by SKT from start to finish, and failing to utilize any of SKT's tactical reserves.

Thus, Fan Hua could only fight SKT to the death in a state of exhaustion and with far less tactical reserves, and ultimately suffered a narrow defeat.

The elimination of Fan Hua was not entirely G2's fault.

The breaking of LPL's undefeated streak is still quite shocking, and not everyone can accept it.

So G2 will just have to suffer a bit and become the punching bag for these frustrated Chinese fans.

……

training base.

"What's there to say? Actually, there's not much to say. The speed at which those kids are improving is just too amazing."

Zhang Jiale stretched, his tone revealing little emotional inclination.

In front of him, Ye Xiu and Yu Wenzhou, the only two remaining core members of the LPL, solemnly conscripted Zhang Jiale.

They shouldn't have met at this time, since the two teams would be fighting tooth and nail in the semifinals in two days.

But before that, the defeat of Fan Hua served as a stark warning to the ruthless individuals on both sides.

Contrary to the outside world's perception that "Blooming Flowers was just one move short of the final goal," Yu Wenzhou and Ye Xiu believed that the semi-final BO5 was almost exactly the worst-case scenario they could have imagined.

SKT demonstrated an advantage in tactical reserves, forcing Fan Hua to resort to their most potent strategies almost from the very second game onwards.

Then, through several rounds of training and analysis, I successfully mastered some techniques for playing against Fan Hua in the fourth and fifth rounds and secured the victory.

If it were just a huge tactical victory, that would be one thing, but they even had a genius mid-laner whose oppressive presence was no less than that of Lao Ye at his peak, and they dominated all five games.

That seems a bit exaggerated.

So much so that before the semifinals were even over, both teams came to Zhang Jiale that very night to inquire about the specifics.

“From MSI to the first round and then to the semifinals, every time I played against them, they were evolving at an unreasonable speed.”

"Even judging from the S-series schedule alone, their rate of improvement can only be described as unbelievable."

Zhang Jiale stood up, casually took out half a piece of chalk, and started writing and drawing on the small blackboard next to him.

"In the first group stage match, their individual abilities might be significantly stronger than LGM's. However, their overall tactical awareness and discipline were not significantly different, at least that was our impression when we played against them."

"But in the second game, it was obvious that they had made some tactical arrangements to target us, and the teamwork between the players had also improved significantly."

"When we played against G2, it was obvious that they were no longer the same team."

"As for the battle we fought..."

Zhang Jiale's Anti-SKT Mini-Class is now open for enrollment.

(End of this chapter)