LOL: I just turned 18, let me fight back and be reborn

Chapter 264 The winner of the winners' bracket, not the champion!

The MSI schedule is extremely tight, almost like back-to-back games with no rest time.

The winners' bracket semifinals have ended and the next stage of the competition will begin immediately.

As everyone expected, the clash between the upper and lower halves of the bracket immediately revealed a clear difference in skill, proving the bracket's reputation as a death trap.

The next day.

The highly anticipated V5 vs. G2 upper bracket final has begun.

However, before the match, both the G2 team and the European audience were extremely excited and full of confidence!
After all, putting everything else aside, G2's ability to reach the upper bracket finals first on home soil at this MSI, just one step away from the finals, is already their best result since their peak in S9!
Before the match, G2's official Twitter account posted a promotional image with the caption "Rebuilding European Glory is Our Duty!"

In addition to Pierce the cat, former G2 legend Perkz was also invited to the commentary booth. There were also many local fans in the stands below cheering for their team, showing the home advantage.

"Today's match is crucial. The winner will skip the rest of the competition and advance directly to the finals, where they can sit back and watch their opponent challenge them!"

Pierce didn't mix up his own country's teams, instead pulling the two people next to him aside for a prediction and analysis: "Who do you two favor before the match? After all, both are 2-0, and both are number one seeds!"

Cat remained noncommittal, trying to be as tactful as possible out of consideration for the home team: "Based on the game performance, I am more optimistic about V5, and as for the score, I would give it 3 to 1."

However, on the other side, A-P, whether trying to sabotage or deliberately trying to ruin his former team, spoke with extreme arrogance: "Oh! How could it be three to one? I'm very optimistic about G2! They're incredibly strong this year! I even think it could be three to zero!"

But this was such a ridiculous statement that even the seasoned critic Pierce couldn't stand it.

"No, no, not at all. Although there were some doubts about V5's lineup at the beginning of the season, they have proven to be right so far. In comparison, G2's lineup is still slightly inferior."

A-P, however, disagreed and retorted quite seriously, "No, actually the two teams are very similar! Have you all forgotten what G2 was called this year?"

Do you remember in the first round of the group stage, when G2 was playing against GG, one of the three North American and Korean teams, they all flashed the V5 logo?

That's actually G2 playing on their own meme, because G2 has been jokingly called "European V5" by foreign netizens this year.

And it's not just a blatant attempt to copy; there are indeed some similarities!

Their continued dominance in Europe this year is inseparable from their complete rebuilding of the team, which rebuilt a four-person team with Caps as the core.

Top laner BB has been a professional player for many years but has never entered the World Championship. It was only in recent years that he gradually entered the mainstream European scene. After TSM won the North American championship, he moved to G2.

The jungler, Yike, is also a rookie; the mid laner, Caps, is the undisputed best mid laner in Europe; and the support is an older player who relies on strategy rather than skill.
As for Hans Sama, who plays the AD position, that's interesting—his nickname is "Oppa".

European brother!
Besides sharing the same unwavering gaze, both experienced a decline in performance year after year after leaving their initial successful teammates, both displayed aggressive playstyles that were occasionally bordering on reckless, both reached Challenger rank at the age of 14, both featured Draven as their signature champion, and both even dyed their hair red.
On stage, Perkz continued to fuel the fire: "I'm not exaggerating, YE is strong enough, but for the real MSI, it has to be Caps. He's the king of mid lane at MSI!"

"Just you wait and see, the mid laner is going to dominate! It's a 3-0 score!"

He's so sincere, I can't tell if he's just bluffing or if he's genuinely sincere.

Actually, YE is quite good, and there's no need to force Caps on. If YE were willing to join G2, we G2 fans would be happy to accept it.

[Don't be so resentful, A-P. It's just that Caps stole your mid-lane position and refused to leave, causing you to lose your job. It's not a capital offense!]

Don't underestimate them, G2 wields the legendary sword passed down through generations! The last team to open champagne like this before a match is now the infamous "1020" (a reference to a popular Chinese internet meme).

This match must be 3-0; if it's not 3-0, I'll eat my words.

Clearly, nobody took A-P's words seriously, not even G2 themselves.

They were confident in themselves, but they were also very clear about V5's strength, especially Caps, who had been thoroughly taught a lesson by Ye Bo in last year's S-series. They were all extremely serious about defeating their strong opponent on home turf.

but.

The reason G2 is called "European V5" is mainly due to their playing style.

Top laner BB is one of the most outstanding aggressive top laners in Europe in recent years, and jungler Yike is a master of counter-jungling and carry junglers. It's not hard to see his style since he can be called "Oge" (meaning "Oge" in Chinese).

This five-person combination employed a similar early-game offensive strategy to V5 throughout the spring.

They're basically the type that will make your base smoke if you can't kill them in 25 minutes!

This offensive style helped them to be invincible in European civil wars. With the top strength of their three players in the league, they could face the real "V5" and were immediately exposed!

First up is Yike, the best rookie who has been hyped up by EU netizens. In the past, he often dominated the jungle in 1v1 battles in the region with his Nidalee and Kindred skills.

But when faced with an opponent like Xun, whose personality is a perfect match—he was completely dominated and beaten the entire time!
Whether it's individual skill, competition experience, or the occasional flash of inspiration from "backstabs," Yik was completely overwhelmed!
BB's prized offensive top laner couldn't break through Flandre's defenses at all, and even gave him frequent opportunities as a result.

Caps opted for a mid-lane Nautilus build focused on tankiness to ensure his survival.

Unfortunately, OG in the bottom lane showed his prowess, confidently picking Draven with a single pick, but Ye Bo's Quesant repeatedly exploited his weaknesses, even using his classic Cleanse to break free from knock-ups more than once.

The first match was incredibly bloody.

In just 19 minutes, they achieved a 17-1 lead in kills!

All the European viewers gasped when the base exploded, and even the local commentators on the commentary desk visibly looked uneasy.

—Except for Ah P, who seems to be openly "smirking".

"Wow, this is way too easy!" Xun gestured with a slightly dirty hem as he stepped off the stage: "Seriously, even Brother Chuan could do this, it feels like there's no challenge at all!"

"How about we let Kawakami come and have a go? It's not easy to come to MSI," Flandre suggested.

He genuinely felt no pressure, and he empathized with Kitagawa, who had finally made it to the event and must have really wanted to go on stage while sitting backstage.

"I have no opinion."

"Let's go, let's go~ Master Ye, what do you think?"

As everyone spoke, they all looked to Ye Bo for his final opinion.

Ye Bo, of course, had no objections.

After all, such opportunities to train in international competitions are rare, and they have an extraordinary effect on the players' development, which is incomparable to league competitions.

V5 initially bought Kitagawa with the idea of ​​having both of them improve together. However, Xun's progress was significantly faster than Kitagawa's, but they never gave up on nurturing the latter.

"Oh!? Breaking news: V5 has changed their jungler!" Pierce, who had almost given up hope after watching the first game, was overjoyed again.

"This could be an opportunity for G2! As far as I know, Beichuan has only appeared a handful of times for V5, so he's probably not one of their main players!"

Cat nodded and said, "G2 is now on the blue side, so this should be their best chance. If they lose, V5 will probably switch back to Xun immediately."

The G2 players on the other side thought the same thing.

In the second game, they took everything from the draft to the gameplay extremely seriously, choosing a standard four-protect-one AD carry lineup, and surprisingly managed to stabilize in the early game.

Of course, the main reason is that V5 was also practicing their lineup in the second game, which led Kitagawa to use tanky utility heroes that Xun doesn't usually use.

This is actually a tacit understanding between the two of them.

The two junglers communicate frequently and have become quite similar in their understanding of gameplay.

Xun specializes in his preferred jungle carry offensive system, while Kitagawa uses more champions like Maokai, Poppy, Sejuani, and even Ivern.
It's clear that the special training in Kitagawa has been effective!
Although he chose a utility champion, his actual playstyle was still the same aggressive one. This resulted in him picking Sejuani but constantly countering Poppy's jungle, leaving Yike equally exhausted.

Ye Bo also practiced a game with Clockwerk, a champion he doesn't usually have the chance to play, which led to a slower pace in the early game.

But it was slow, though.

Once team fights begin, the difference in strength between the two sides immediately becomes apparent.

"Sejuani flashes in with the ball! Orianna's ball pulls back three people in mid-air! But Jinx uses Flash!"

"Hans Sama is in a great position! He can deal damage without pressure and no one can touch him. This team fight is still uncertain! G2 has a chance."

"How come Jinx seems to be taking no damage at all!"

A Jinx with nearly three items in her build, supporting the enemy team, was bombarded with rocket launchers by Ornn, Sejuani, and Braum.

Even though Sejuani had been brought to low health by the four-man counterattack, they couldn't kill her even after shooting her for a long time.

If she manages to kill even one enemy, Jinx might have room to maneuver once she goes berserk!
"Ah, so Jinx's third item was Rapid Firecannon, that makes sense. In that case, we should wait until she buys Armor Piercer as her fourth item before she can fight in team fights," Pierce reassured the others.

"Wait a minute! Why did he go home and buy a vampire scepter!?"

"Is he going to build Blade of the Ruined King? But it doesn't feel as powerful as Armor Penetration Bow, the three tanky enemies are too tough." But in reality...

Against such a tanky lineup, Jinx's fourth item wasn't even Blade of the Ruined King, but Bloodthirster!

This equipment was so well-understood that even the opposing V5 team couldn't figure it out.

Hans sama was just thinking that the enemy Orianna could often poke him at the very edge of the map, but he didn't want to build Maw of Malmortius, so he bought Bloodthirster to prevent being poked. He didn't think much of it.

But it's such a simple item build choice.

It can be said that this almost directly led to G2's defeat!
In the crucial team fight around the 30-minute mark, G2 showed no signs of being able to put up a fight head-on. The three tanky minions pushed forward and were easily defeated, and Jinx's damage output was barely noticeable to the naked eye!

A four-protect-one lineup resulted in zero damage!
V5 is going to use the same trick again, preparing to have Sejuani bring the ball onto the field.

However, perhaps due to a lack of practice, Kitagawa and Ye Bo made some mistakes in their coordination. Sejuani flashed and used QR a little too early, and before the ball was fully on Ye Bo's hand, which was on the R key, he had already pressed it!
But at that moment, Ye Bo suddenly looked slightly stunned.

He seemed to notice something strange.

It seems that things are not quite the way I expected?
"OH MY GOD!!! Clockwork Sejuani pulled five!!! YE and Chaung's teamwork!"

"Why is it that YE's Orianna always manages to initiate team fights like this? His Orianna is just different from everyone else's!"

"Furthermore, although Jinx reacted extremely quickly with Cleanse, Flash, and Dash to create distance, she really didn't deal any damage! She couldn't even shoot down Sejuani's skin! It feels like Orianna could win even if she missed her ultimate and V5 was on the verge of defeating her!"

[Is this a joke? Pro players don't know how to build items? Even I, in Silver rank, know that this composition absolutely requires armor penetration items first!]

So it really is all a makeshift team. Professional players aren't as good as you think. I feel like I could do it too!

[A classic example to negate the whole picture, right? Those European and American players are already bad, try sitting in V5's mid lane position and see what happens!]

To be fair, I think Xiao Chuan is quite handsome.

[To be honest, Chuan's perspective is actually quite good. It seems a bit of a waste for him to stay on the bench. He might actually be a good fit for some teams with weak junglers, right?]

The fleeting change, and the subsequent eye-popping five-man R-full bombardment team fight, successfully captured everyone's attention.

Apart from Ye Bo himself, no one noticed the slightly strange change that had just occurred.

After 2-0.

G2 has clearly started the traditional "open-air" format, directly selecting their signature moves.

The "Cap King" picked Yasuo to counter Sylas, and top laner BB even pulled out the classic "ranked champion" Darius!
Of course, BB's Darius and another European rookie, Aamd Adam, are known as the "two great gods of Europe," which is truly their specialty.

Unfortunately, Flandre wasn't going to let it go, and immediately picked Quinn for top lane to torment his opponent!

"They have this kind of hero pool? The global ban/pick mode is a real buff for players with such a deep hero pool," Pierce exclaimed. "Gentlemen, do you think they have a chance in this match?"

Ah P couldn't hide his grin any longer, so he simply stopped pretending and said with a wide smile, "Of course it's gone!"

"Although Sylas isn't strong this patch, this is YE's Sylas! Giving him the lead in a match point game would be asking for trouble!"

"If you ask me, G2 might as well have released Akali. Since it's all fireworks anyway, let's give everyone the biggest one!"

Cat still gave face to the home team and tried to save face, saying, "That's not necessarily true. Beichuan does seem a bit nervous. We couldn't really tell when he played Sejuani last time, but he might have a chance against a champion like Blade of the Ruined King this time."

The pressure of international competitions is completely different from that of domestic leagues—this is the core reason why many people excel in domestic leagues but underperform in international competitions.

Let alone someone like Kitagawa who is playing in an international competition for the first time, even some veterans who have been playing for many years are the same.

Of course, V5 played more freely because they saw that their opponents were starting to play aggressively, and they wanted to find their rhythm for the finals.

And as the commentators said.

Although Sylas isn't strong this patch, it still depends on the player's ID.

Caps seemed to be back in last year's World Championship; his eyes became clear as he faced off in lane, and soon good news came from the mid lane.

However, special skills still have their charm.

BB's Darius found an opportunity to Q-flash into the fight during a team fight in the Rift, and his sharp Noxian Guillotine killed Quinn, triggering Bloodrage!
IQ instantly drops by 200%, courage instantly increases by 500%!

"Darren rushed in! Darren went down instantly!"

"Darius's armor build against Quinn is practically nonexistent compared to Sylas. This is a clear indication of why he didn't play well in the mid lane. Sylas's damage is just too high; even stealing Darius's ultimate hurts so much. Otherwise, I feel like BB could have wiped them out!"

"But V5's bot lane didn't come, leaving only their mid and jungle to fight back? G2, despite their poor form, still has four players!"

"Wait, what???"

The Ruined King possessed Darius's body and, together with Sylas, pursued him.

G2 lost the bottom lane tower and then the Rift Herald. It's fair to say that even if they had gotten the Rift Herald, they wouldn't have gained anything. Now that they see two opponents still chasing, they have no reason to retreat.

But that broken Darius, as if he had received the highest order from the Order of the Balance, charged into the crowd without regard for his life, and smoothly unleashed AWEAAA on anyone he caught.

By the time A's Bloodrage was activated, Darius with Blade of the Ruined King was already close to death.

However, some people have already vaguely guessed what's going on.
The Ruined King Darius suddenly flashed before using his Q to apply Bloodrage to his opponent, while Sylas, whose Execute reset, flashed into Darius's phantom and slammed down [The Way of the Man - Noxian Guillotine]!
"lb!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Sylas stealing Darius's ultimate prevents him from stacking Bloodrage, while Blade of the Ruined King possessing Darius and stacking Bloodrage prevents him from using his ultimate to perform a slash. However, combining the two creates a very interesting effect!

The pickpocket duo can be described as stealing everything from you!
Ou Ge flashed forward, still trying to make a move, but was almost killed by the full stacks of true damage from Bloodrage.

Only Xiao Mao managed to escape with his life by swinging his left arm and running away without looking back.

"It's over!"

The European audience at the scene cheered enthusiastically.

After all, only a few people genuinely believed that G2 could win before the match, and V5 also had a lot of fans in their home country. After the result was announced, the atmosphere was still comparable to that of a home game.

"Congratulations to V5! They have emerged victorious from the winners' bracket! With a 3-0 record, they have proudly advanced to the MSI Finals!"

"They will soon be waiting for the results of the second half of the draw in the final stage, and then they will meet their final opponent!"

"Our G2 team will also return to the lower bracket of the bracket for a brutal 2-1 match to fight for the last ticket to the finals."

[This is so easy! It feels like the awards ceremony could be held early! I wonder who can compete in the bottom half of the draw?]

[G2 is really horrible, this guy is even more masculine than his brother, the flavor is too strong]

[Who is my brother? I'm not familiar with people who can't even come to MSI.]

JD Gaming must be grinning from ear to ear. With V5 helping them develop a psychological barrier against G2 and GEN, winning is a piece of cake. They should just give up if they make it to the finals.

[Haha, does anyone really think V5 has it in the bag? They're just the winners of the upper bracket, not the champions!]

[That makes sense. LOL competitions have been going on for so many years, where have we ever had a champion? They're all just winners from custom games. Playing a custom game will just cause a lot of trouble.]

The non-stop competition continued the following day.

The V5 team remained calm and observed their opponents, analyzing the battle situation and eagerly anticipating what their two biggest rivals would reveal in their final clash.

The four teams with a 2-1 record will be drawn in two rounds, and each team must win two more best-of-five matches to advance to the finals.

This will undoubtedly expose a lot of things, and it can be considered one of the advantages of advancing to the finals with a 3-0 lead.

And Ah P, who was drawing lots on site, somehow managed to create a huge mess—JDG and GEN were matched up a round early!
Of course, the result was not much different. After all, these four teams were most likely to be the final confrontation between these two teams, it was just that the order in which they played each other was different.

However, the next day...

What truly surprised and shocked everyone was the unexpected thing.
It's unclear whether GEN was so badly beaten that they lost their composure or JDG suddenly found their rhythm; no one could have predicted this outcome.

The normal situation is actually a completely one-sided confrontation!
On the commentary booth, Pierce shouted excitedly: "JDG!!! It looks like the LPL is going to be the first to send the entire LCK team home!!!"

"I knew it! Europe really is the second-best region!"

(End of this chapter)